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New Ms. Marvel
random73
Posts: 2,318
New Muslum-American Ms. Marvel
comicsalliance.com/marvel-comics-ms-marvel-g-willow-wilson-alphona-muslim-teen/
comicsalliance.com/marvel-comics-ms-marvel-g-willow-wilson-alphona-muslim-teen/
Comments
Matthew
This is a new character taking over her abandoned Ms. Marvel codename, in the same way we've recently had Victor Alvarez take over Luke Cage's old Power Man codename, which Luke had taken over from Erik Josten, who had taken over the Goliath codename from Hank Pym.
Secondly, I think there should definitely be diversity in comics & media all together.
Anyone else tired of these "we've got a diverse, minority character" press releases? I always get concerned the minority aspect overshadows the character. What I know most about Batwoman is that she's a lesbian & not allowed to get married. I know Ultimate Spider-man is an African-American kid.
One of my favorite comic series was Spider-man 2099. There wasn't a big deal made about his Hispanic heritage or that he came from a broken home. It was apart of who he is, not what defined him.
The "GL" Alan Scott is gay & Booster Gold is Canadian is just ridiculous nonsense to crowbar diversity in the new 52.
I hope wherever I am, I'm not looked at as "a straight, middle class, Caucasian guy," but rather "just a guy."
It hasn't been released yet, but I can only hope Ms. Marvel's Islamic background isn't the focus of the character & book, but rather apart of who she is.
M
*eye roll*
Sorry, @David_D. Couldn't resist!
You know what I'd really like to see? A Sunspot/Cannonball buddy comic with a little 90's Nomad (or GL/GA hard traveling heroes) tour across America.
And, perhaps, support the book, so that the book continues to exist, and maybe years from now as the book continues on, supported by a broad audience, the character is, simply, "Ms. Marvel" rather than "the new Pakistani-Muslim Ms. Marvel". You know what I mean? But for that to happen, an audience needs to find and support the book first. So I don't fault them for trying to get some press to do that. Just as I don't fault them for trying to get press for when a character dies. (I mean, I fault THE PRESS for actually covering such a silly, almost always temporary thing) But I don't fault the publisher for trying to sell their wares. Hopefully the wares will be quality.
Really though I like Carol Danvers as Ms. Marvel, hopefully the new relaunch will be just a little better than the last one.
Anyone familiar with the series, is this the girl that was following Carol around in Captain Marvel? I didn't keep up with it enough to remember her name. If that's her at least they have someone that's organically been with the character for a little while now, and not just thrown in a book out of nowhere. Or that might not be her.
And as always, I'll be the a-hole who says "Let's not knock the book until we've actually had a chance to read it." :)
What about Roy & Harry Osbourne's addiction? What about Risk continuing on despite missing an arm?
Maybe its just a social media, PR driven society right now. Perhaps if the Golden Age of comics was beginning there would be 1 focusing on an Alien from another planet, a peak-level orphan, & a nerdy outcast who's climbing walls.
Ultimately, one perspective I cannot fully understand at this point in time is being a minority. I understand the thought about making a new diverse character to garner a new readership. Maybe it will work. At this point, I can say I'd read, follow, or watch a fictional character because "we" believe the same types of things or look the same.
Same with not reading, following, or watching a fictional character because "we" don't believe the same types of things or look the same. I already mentioned Miguel O'Hara. One of the coolest characters I was introduced to through CGS was Midnighter. I don't believe men are attractive like he does (how my wife can stand my naked, hairy body is a mystery to me), but I wouldn't not read the character because that's the 1 thing I cannot relate to.
M
I wonder if it's wise for Marvel to make a big deal and to go to the media about it. If they want new diverse characters..great! good for Marvel..comics will be better for it..but don't expect the general public to care.
I'm most likely not going to buy the new Ms. Marvel; I didn't buy the old Ms. Marvel (or Kelly Sue's Capt. Marvel). I'm not interested in reading them. I am also not buying the Avengers or XMen right now for the same reason.
Not because I care that it is a "Muslum-American" character, but because I enjoyed the previous version of Ms. Marvel and am interested to find out the connection between the old and new. If the story and artwork is good (appeals to me), I will continue to buy it.
If the "Muslum-American Ms. Marvel" aspect is forced, it will detract from the story and I'll drop it.
Also, I do think her gender, race, and religion are worth noting because in a time where superhero publishers are always talking about how much they want their comics to reflect the real world, this is the one of the biggest ways they can go about making it happen. Real people can't fly or lift buildings, but nor are they all (or mostly) white, male, or straight.
Could these press announcements be written better? Oh hell yes. I still cringe when I think back to all that "lipstick lesbian" copy in the press releases announcing the introduction of the Kate Kane Batwoman a while back. As long as there are comic book press releases, there will always be hyperbole, back patting, and the chance for publishers to misinterpret the importance of their own actions. Particularly when it's Marvel, because everyone's still trying to be Stan Lee.
This is over the top and it completely ignores other Marvel female Muslim heroes like Dust or Excalibur (from MI-13), but at the same time, neither of them headlined their own book. This may not be to your taste, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an important step. I'm interested in the concept, I think the writer is interesting, and I'm looking forward to check this out.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/28/arts/28gustines.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0
His words, not a press release. But then that article got reblogged and off it went.
but ain't never gonna happen :)
FWIW, I have even less interest in picking this all-new Ms Marvel up than I did Millie the Model back-issues, which is nil.
Is the issue that they are trying to get people to pay attention to their books?
Or is the issue that this is one of the only things that press, especially mainstream press, actually takes interest in?
And, if it is the latter, is that really the fault of the publisher?
"The idea to create a new Muslim solo hero within the Marvel universe was conceived by Amanat in conversation with Spider-Man group editor Steve Wacker, and has been billed as part of a continued effort to push diversity at the publisher."
This gives me pause. That they are consciously pushing diversity at us, instead of it being normal and organic. Could just be poor word choice. But I don't think that it's far from the truth.
That being said, I hope it does well. A lot of the rest of the article seems to parallel old X-men and Spider-man concepts. So that can't be bad. I hope the series is good and this new character takes off. I loved Carol as Ms. Marvel, and loved that she got "promoted" to Capt. Marvel, and would love to see this new character flourish.
I also like the idea that she was inspired by Carol, giving Carol some more weight and tangible positive effects on the people in the Marvel Universe. Something old DC used to do very well, and with the exception of Captain America, Marvel tended to stay away from.
http://teamcoco.com/video/conan-monologue-11-06-2013
About 2:20 in, couldn't get the video to embed.
And these are the same publishers that often get criticized around here for not doing a better job of reminding the not-yet-comics-reading members of the public that comics exist and they should try them. Well, here is an instance where the mainstream might pay attention. Where a comic book. . . A COMIC BOOK. . . will get some buzz and talk on Stephen Colbert the same day it is announced. . . and for that, we criticize.
It seems in these situations are always a lose-lose for the publisher- at least, in the way we existing readers tend to judge. We want them to do this, but we want them to either already have done it. Or to do it but not make a thing of it. (Even though they make a thing of EVERYTHING else they do). So basically we want this to be the one thing they DON'T make a thing of. Lose-lose. You know what I mean?
Here's the thing. A lot of times words like organic and gradual get used in these discussions. That diversity shouldn't get pushed, it should just happen.
Well. Had that happened a long time ago, that would have been great. Even preferable. But it is now too late for that. Because now it is a matter of playing catch up. It is hard for things to seem organic and matter-of-fact when barriers are being broken. When a count is going from zero to one.
The fact is, these universes- largely anchored by and focused on characters that got popular decades ago- are already decades behind in representing the modern world their readers live in. And I don't think that is by design or for any nefarious reasons. It is largely for market reasons, and risk-averse inertia.
We all know how toxic of an environment it is for new characters to find an audience. Heck, even for old and established characters outside of a few popular franchises to find an audience. It NEEDS a push. It actually NEEDS to try to appeal to audiences outside of the existing comic book audience, if it is going to have a chance to survive. I know some may feel like diversity is being forced. But I think being promoted is different than being forced (again, with the context that Marvel promotes books of theirs all the time. Seriously- it is the rare weekday that there isn't a press release about something).
So it seems like the options some readers are leaving the publisher is to "organically" launch a series, but not seek attention for it (even though every new #1 gets a press release). This is a press release that the mainstream is going to pick up on, so they should have this be a title they DON'T do a press release about, out of some sense of... what? Discretion? That seems a strange ask when they make noise about every new thing they put on the market.
It seems like we want them to succeed, but we stand in judgment of the way they might go about doing it. And I think we all know the market well enough to know that any new solo character (even taking on a legacy name), ESPECIALLY a female character, needs all the help they can get.
If this attention gets someone intrigued to give the work a try, and then continues reading because they actually like what they read. . . is that a problem?
If someone who doesn't see themselves represented in media decides that this might be a superhero that they have things in common with, and therefore decides to give it a try (hell, it might be that person's first comic book) and comics get a new reader out of the deal, is that a problem?
And I also don't see how we as the existing readers have anything to lose by a press release. How is this skin off our nose? No Wolverine books were harmed or cancelled in the making of this new Ms. Marvel. You know what I mean? And I don't think that Marvel is embarrassing themselves in the way they have talked about this book, nor do I think there is anything wrong with their success in getting people to talk about it.
Seriously-- last night a comic book got talked about on Conan and Colbert, as well as all sorts of other places. And it didn't even need to be a comic with a president's face on it. Or the temporary "death" of a character from 70 years ago. It was an announcement of the launch of a new comic with a new character. And THAT got buzz.
Sorry. That sounds like a win to me.
I didn't realize publishers are releasing announcements on all their new characters all the time. Makes sense for them to do so, and also for the news to focus on a diverse character such as this one.
Again, I want diversity in characters, just like the diversity I want with my friends (I hate clones!) I would just hate for any new character be defined BY that diversity.
I'm glad she'll be written by an Islamic writer so it won't be like the Cleveland Show (aka the Minstrel Show as I've heard it been called.) I would just hate for her Islamic beliefs to be what defines her. It would cheapen her character (not specifically the Ms. Marvel name, but her directly.)
Look, I have no interest in the character now any more or less then I did with cosmic-type characters a week ago. If it was revealed Batman was Jewish or an athesis it wouldn't matter to me because I don't care about his or any other character's religious beliefs. Knowing/not knowing was never the reason I latched onto any character.
As for the organic aspect of the above, I think it can still be handled well. In Buffy, there was a slow build toward Willow being a lesbian. It didn't seem crowbarred, but an organic reveal.
Same with Midnighter & Apollo. It was several issues of them showing some type of closeness before they kissed. Again, not forced.
A great example of the crowbarred aspect is the reboot of Knight Rider a few years ago. In the TV movie/backdoor pilot the FBI agent was revealed to be a lesbian in her quick intro. I have zero issues with it, but it was never referenced again. Same with Michael Traceur's Hispanic friend. He was never mentioned once the show premiered. The TV movie seemed to try & cover all diversities it looked like all those multi-racial gangs TV shows had.
I hope this title gets a huge following, with a successful run. I'd just hate for "Spider-man" to meet her & say "hey, aren't you that Muslim hero?!"
M