Ghetto Conscious: Evolution of a Rebel, uses poetry and illustration in order to offer readers a coming of age story that depicts the tragedies and triumphs of growing up within the turbulent spaces of America’s inner cities. Through his creation of the character known as Conscious, Vega cautions us, in the prologue, that this book is a “testament of faith” that will reveal how one is capable of surviving the cruelties that arrive unannounced at one’s doorstep. Whether these be the dissolution of a marriage, random acts of violence, or the generational weight of racism and prejudice, the great pains of the character are organized in such a manner that the text can be construed as a hero’s journey through both the proverbial and literal maze that is growing up.