YouTube star Meghan Camarena (commonly known as Strawburry17) has already made a big name for herself on her streaming video channel, but now she’s ready to take on a whole new platform using comic books as a launching point. Meghan has teamed with Instagram and celebrity photographer Michael Becker to create a murder mystery set in Marvel’s Spider-ManSpider-Verse” universe. Together, with a number of other influencers in the entertainment industry, Camarena has managed to put together a fun little mystery that users can follow along with. More details about the #MarvelMurderMystery, which launches today, can be found on Instagram here {link no longer active}.

[a]listdaily sat down with Meghan to talk about the Marvel Murder Mystery project, its challenges, and using some special powers to put it all together.

1. How did creating a Marvel Murder Mystery on Instagram come about?

I wanted to do another photography project with Michael Becker, and I pitched him the idea. It’s a little bit outside his realm but he was able to get on board! He loved the idea of shooting something similar to the comic book style, having all of my friends be apart of it, and trying to figure out a really immersive story. He and I worked together to create that. And what better time than Halloween to do a murder mystery and dress up in costumes

2. What about Instagram makes it a compelling storytelling platform?

The simplicity of Instagram is why it’s such a great storytelling platform. You can look at a person’s profile and see a collection of what’s happening in that person’s life. For the way that we’re telling the story, we wanted people to be able to do that. They’ll be visiting many different profiles to collect clues. Instagram just has the prettiest layout and really great searchability with the use of the hashtag, and that’s why we chose it.

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3. What was the biggest challenge when it came to putting such a multiple layered mystery together?

The biggest challenge was definitely time. We’ve never done something like this before, so we ended up having to do re-shoots, and only half of the cast could come in for them. But we were still able to tell a lot of the story from the photos we got that first day. Something like this is a full-on production and going into it we thought, “eh, we have our shot list so we’ll just get these and it’ll be good,” but after reviewing the first round of photos we knew this could definitely be so much more, and we needed to give it a little bit more time.

4. Out of all the Marvel properties available, why do you think the “Spider-Verse” was the best fit for the Murder Mystery?

What is happening in the Amazing Spider-Man comics right now is kind of incredible, with Secret Wars and everything coming to an end. It’s fun to see all the different Spider-Men from all the different universes! It’s just a fun idea that there are multiple versions of a superhero we all love and admire. There’s even a Spider-Pig, which is great, and obviously Spider-Gwen, who I love cosplaying as. The costumes are just so fun and exciting; RPC Studio provided all of them custom made for us. It’s all spandex but the amount of detail in each costume meant there was no need for props so we just had to put our best Spidey face on!

5. You’re collaborating with other influencers like Ashlyn Pearce, Joanna Sotomura, Joey Graceffa and more, and frequent collaboration has become a regularity in this industry. In what ways does collaborating benefit the projects you work on?

I think the best thing about collaborating is introducing something new to different audiences. For example Ashlyn Pearce: she’s an actress and was on The Bold and The Beautiful. Even though she’s playing MJ [Mary Jane], I don’t think her audience is too familiar with cosplay, so we’re introducing something completely new to them. Same with Nikki Phillippi, who is a lifestyle vlogger. When she posted the picture of her in her Spider-Woman cosplay, people in the comments were freaking out and saying they never thought they’d see her in cosplay, but it was amazing! They may not have been comic fans before but now they’re going to be because someone they admire is embracing a character that they might be interested in. I think that’s why collaborations are vital, because even though we all have our own brand we stick to, we do offer something new that can cater to a very different audience.

6. Considering the growth of Instagram’s audience as of late, do you believe that Marvel Murder Mystery is coming along at just the right time for them?

When I decided I wanted to do the murder mystery, it just made complete sense to do it on Instagram. I believe that they’re very innovative in how they tell stories and how they share pictures. It’s becoming much more than just a photo sharing site, It’s a way to express yourself. You see a lot of professional photographers on Instagram as well. Michael Becker is a truly incredible celebrity photographer who has shot for American Horror Story and Sons of Anarchy, and his stuff is something new to contribute to this kind of platform. With the murder mystery project, it’s still amazing, stunning photography but with the nerdy comic and cosplay element.

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7. What is your approach to collaboration?

I basically had a cool idea and asked my friends! I asked if they wanted to be a part of this really exciting photo shoot with Michael Becker and I centered around the Spider-Verse. They’d get some great content for October and be able to keep the custom made suits. All of them said yes, in a heartbeat! Maybe if it had been any other time of the year it would’ve been harder to pitch, but they were excited to do it because it’s a free costume and it’s just so fun dressing up for Halloween. This is usually when people catch the cosplay itch, so hopefully I’ve inspired them!

8. If successful, could we see other arcs in the Murder Mystery introduced Or perhaps new universes in the Marvel realm?

I would love for this to be something we continue to do! Michael and I actually have a few other secret projects in the works. I’m a huge fan of Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel. I would love to dive in deeper to the Marvel realm and maybe even explore other comics. I think that could be a great idea and I am ready and willing to do it!