Meet The New Ms. Marvel

SuperMegaFest 2012 Capt Marvel (Photo credit: Dex1138)

With Carol Danvers promotion from Ms. Marvel to Make Sure DC Can’t Call Him Captain Marvel, the fine nitwits at Marvel decided they needed a new Ms. Marvel. My issues with Marvel Comics’ move aside I don’t have a problem with the comic and I’ve heard good things about it, but it does cheapen a title when anyone can use it. Wasn’t that the point made during Osborne’s “Dark Avengers”? Carol had full claim on Ms. Marvel (except when Moonstone was stealing her identity) and now they’re cheapening that name the way Marvel has their Captain Marvel. Ah, I’m just annoyed that the real Captain Marvel can’t use his name anymore. There have been one or two other Ms. Marvels, but they can’t hold a candle to Carol.

We don’t know a lot about the new Ms. Marvel (after all, she hasn’t come out yet, except for one page in this week’s Captain Namesake–I just told you I’m still bitter about it!), but leave it to marketing to never let any surprise get in the way of promotion. Let’s meet the new heroine in town.

I’m not going to link to the New York Times article because the writer’s an idiot. Don’t believe me?

No exploding planet, death of a relative or irradiated spider led to Kamala’s creation. Her genesis began more mundanely, in a conversation between Sana Amanat and Steve Wacker, two editors at Marvel.

Because that’s all superheroes are, right? Look, i know you’re a regular newspaper and we’ll get into why she’s such big news outside of comics but this is why comic fans feel insulted by non-comics news media.

Anyway, our new Ms. Marvel is a shapeshifting teenager from Jersey City named Kamala Khan. The big deal to the Times is that she is a Pakistani Muslim. Yeah, that’s the only reason they care. Kamala (based on Arnanat’s experiences growing up, so woe be to Kamala as soon as she gets into someone else’s hands) idolizes Carol and decides to take on one of her many old superhero identities, even using her old “Warbird” symbol. (It will be more obvious when I show you the cover later.) The story will see her balance her superheroing with her family life, with a paranoid mother, conservative brother, and overbearing father. I’m not sure what all that means, but Amanat claims that she will not use the comic to evangelize Islam. Although I’m sure her beliefs will have some impact. The family, or at least Kamala, represents Ananat growing up so it would have to. That’s not a complaint, just an observation. You can bet my faith would influence my writing, but my main hero universe wouldn’t be a Christian comic. Although creating a Christian comic universe in the future is not out of the realm of possibility.

As I finished this article an interview was posted to Marvel’s site with Amanat and G. Winslow Wilson. Not sure what he’s doing but here are some highlights.

G. Willow Wilson: The Ms. Marvel mantle has passed to Kamala Khan, a high school student from Jersey City who struggles to reconcile being an American teenager with the conservative customs of her Pakistani Muslim family. So in a sense, she has a “dual identity” before she even puts on a super hero costume. Like a lot of children of immigrants, she feels torn between two worlds: the family she loves, but which drives her crazy, and her peers, who don’t really understand what her home life is like.

This makes her tough and vulnerable at the same time. When you try to straddle two worlds, one of the first things you learn is that instead of defending good people from bad people, you have to spend a lot of time defending good people from each other. It’s both illuminating and emotionally brutal. That’s what makes this book different.

That actually is an interesting idea. It may make Kamala more of a problem solver or at least learn to become one due to circumstances in her life.

G. Willow Wilson: We will see her interact with the wider Marvel Universe, and since Captain Marvel is a personal hero of hers, that’s definitely in the mix.

I think it would be disappointing if the two Marvels DIDN’T meet at some point.

Sana Amanat:  Also, as you’ll discover in the story, Kamala is a part of a much larger event in the Marvel U—which she won’t really understand the ramifications of until later down the road. We will definitely get there; we just want you to get to know Kamala first.

Great, another event. We haven’t had one of those in weeks.

G. Willow Wilson: Islam is both an essential part of her identity and something she struggles mightily with. She’s not a poster girl for the religion, or some kind of token minority. She does not cover her hair –most American Muslim women don’t—and she’s going through a rebellious phase. She wants to go to parties and stay out past 9 PM and feel “normal.” Yet at the same time, she feels the need to defend her family and their beliefs.

Sana Amanat: As much as Islam is a part of Kamala’s identity, this book isn’t preaching about religion or the Islamic faith in particular. It’s about what happens when you struggle with the labels imposed on you, and how that forms your sense of self. It’s a struggle we’ve all faced in one form or another, and isn’t just particular to Kamala because she’s Muslim. Her religion is just one aspect of the many ways she defines herself.

I already commented on that above. I just wanted it in their words. The first story arc is just going to be her adjusting to her new situation, balancing her current issues with the option of following in her hero’s footsteps. No mention yet of how Kamala gets her powers, though. Hopefully it’s less traumatic than Carol’s.

I have to give Marvel credit for succeeding where DC is failing by bringing out another female heroine and giving her her own title. What’s DC got? Wonder Woman, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, and….and the treatment of those characters is questionable at best. I have a feeling Amanat will be more invested in making a decent female character as well as at least exploring her faith if not promoting it (at least on purpose). I wish it luck but we’ll have to see what the reviews say when it comes out. I also wonder what will happen when the two Marvels finally meet?

Oh, as for the cover….

I’m not the only one to make this connection.I like Peter David’s work, but I never got into that version of Supergirl.