Muslim Teenaged Ms. Marvel

[turbojet]

So if you haven't heard from the Colbert Show, there is a Muslim Teenaged Girl named Kamala Khan who is set to become Ms. Marvel. She has the power to stretch her limbs into multiple shapes and stuff. She is set to have a long standing comic series. Here is the cover for her first book.

I like how she has an United States History textbook next to the Hadith, which is essentially a re-interpretation of the Quaran. It shows that she will be culturally a Muslim as well since she is Pakistani as well. The only con that I can say about her is that she is from New Jersey. IAnyways, there was predictable outrage about this of course as people declared that Marvel is trying to be make a publicity stunt and lazily reboot an old character. There have been a lot of racist statements including one from a well-known comedian.

First off, while I hope that the series does well, I doubt Kamala will survive long in the Marvel U. Heroes of color die faster or fade into obscurity quicker than black folks in a b-roll horror film. Classic example of the latter, Static Shock. Unless your name is Blade or Luke Cage, your ass is certifiably expendable. At best, you will be placed on some obscure ass Avengers team because Marvel just wants to milk that bullshit for as much as possible. At worst, your ass gets sent to a death match that is oddly similar to Hunger Games so you can kill off other minority teenaged superheroes for Arcade's enjoyment. Secondly, the first Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers, is not dead. She just got a promotion and has left that gendered bullshit and became Captain Marvel.  So I don't know why people are even angry(I do know why, but I wanted to save it for the point I'm about to make).  However, this reaction does not surprise me because I've seen this with two other characters as well: Miles Morales and Bilal Asselah. 

 

Every time this happens, there is this predictable outrage of equality being perceived as a loss like affirmative action.  It is understandable that fans of the previous character being upset that their character is no longer the person behind the mask however, to be still upset about the change two years later of upset about the change of the character even though said character has not been in anything worth noting is ridiculous. It was the case for Miles Morales as even I was upset that they killed Ultimate Peter Parker only for Bendis to work his magic and make me wish that the 616 Peter died so Miles can be the one and only Spider-man. Yeah, I fucking said it. Peter Parker should have retired a long ass time ago and lived happily ever after with Mary Jane. Now we have some half-assed story about one of his arch-nemesis stealing his body and somehow everyone close to Peter can't figure out that something is wrong with him while justifying his actions as Spider-man. To the point that he gets a slap on the wrist for everything he does. The irony of this is that the comic book fans who love Superior Spider-man but put down Miles Morales as a fake don't care about the character being in character. They just want their white superhero to stay white in spite of Ultimate Spider-man staying more true to the origins of Spider-man than the mainstream universe has in decades. Hell, even suggesting that Miles replacing Peter totally gets vitriol. Bilal Asselah a.k.a. Nightrunner a.k.a. the Algerian French Batman faced the same scrutiny. And the fucked up part of it is that it was supposed to be an annual so he was never going to be a permanent thing. People said that the French Batman should be of French nationality as if the Algerian minority in France aren't true Frenchmen. It's funny because the population of France largely liked Bilal and it was Americans that complained. 

 

As a fan of superhero comic books, I did not have that representation of my skin color in characters like Spider-man until Static Shock or the Justice League's Jon Stewart. Even then, Blade was not the best of role models because he was a thug and nothing positive can be said of Blade other than he slays Vampires like Cullen. When Miles Morales came onto the scene, I was skeptical at first then I saw a scene of his uncle and him watching kung-fu movies at home just like I did with my dad when I was a kid. I have friends who work at comic book shops telling me of little black kids getting excited about the prospect of Spider-man, media icon of goodness and responsibility and goodwill, looking like them. Now we live in a post-911 world where racist and postmodern feminist declare the hijab as oppressive or demean women of Islam as being in need of saving. Their entire culture has been under attack or the western world is imposing secularism into their culture thus diluting the meaning of Islam. I tell you right now that if Kamala can make one little Muslim feel happy and proud, then this publicity stunt will be well worth it.

[Solkia]

Good to know O'Brien is still a piece of shit.

[Tornado]

Once I got it, I thought that joke was funny as hell, so...

[Blue Blood]

I love how people get offended by these kinds of jokes, when they're blatantly being made by least discriminatory people you'll find.

 

Gay jokes, religion jokes, sexist jokes, racist jokes... if you're accepting of something, you'll be able to make light of it.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Blue Blood

[Solkia]

I'm more offended such an unfunny man ever had his own show.

[Rinzler]

As a muslim myself I'm quite looking forward to this. Though I am worried they'll kill her off or just make Islam akin to Christianity/any other organized religion; i.e something inherently evil that must be purged.

[MegaMonster54]

I support this idea. My xenophobic non comic reading though he thinks he knows comics step dad however... Not so much. He still thinks Main universe spider-man is a black homosexual. No, he's actually Doctor Octopus... Comic's are weird... But hey, fuck him and fuck anyone saying "A Muslin superhero!? PROOF THAT AMERICA IS DYING!!!!!!!! PANIC, PANIC!!!!!!!!" (Looking at you Glen Beck, Ann Coulter, and Bill O' Reilly).In all honesty, her being Muslim really shouldn't matter. Unfortunately, superheros who aren't white do get axed off faster than a red wood tree. But hell, if the story is good I'll read it. 

 

Also, Conan has always been a bit extreme. Remember Masturbating Bear?

Edited November 10, 2013 by MegaMonster54

[Lady Soniko]

Good to know O'Brien is still a piece of shit.

 

Once a piece of shit, always a piece of shit.

 

This is...Interesting, but I can't see this being anything but a publicity stunt, for Marvel to say "Yeah, fuck racism, we're a Super Hero company where any one can become a hero!" If that was the case they wouldn't have to state the fact she's Muslim or even enforce it outside of her Character bio and profile.

 

I can't see this being big any where but the target demo graph it's aimed at, not in this world where racial equality is still a big problem, this is just trying to be the elephant in the room.

 

She looks hot from what I can see on the cover though~

Edited November 10, 2013 by Super Soniko

[MegaMonster54]

As a muslim myself I'm quite looking forward to this. Though I am worried they'll kill her off or just make Islam akin to Christianity/any other organized religion; i.e something inherently evil that must be purged.

As an atheist, and as a white guy, I really don't care if shes Muslim. You are right however, comic writers have had a bad history with making religion seem like an evil that needs to be purged. I have no problem with religion, just don't shove it down my throat.

[NiGHTS]

This is all to please others so they don't bash Marvel. This reminds me of the whole gay couple in both DC and Marvel as a stunt to be on the news. This is another. After a year or so, it will old news.

[Tornado]

I'll also point out that your rant is incredibly scattershot, covering so many broad and unrelated (and in a couple cases, pretty overblown) points that it's hard to even get what your main point is. Are you complaining about anti-Muslim sentiment post-911 that spills over into comics? Misogyny in comics (or... real life)? Short shelf lives of minority characters? Spiderman fans? Lack of representation of black people in mainstream comics? Whether or not Muslim practices are oppressive to women in real life?

 

I can't connect all of them into a single point, because Ms. Marvel now being a Muslim (nevermind people reacting by cracking jokes about it or thinking it's just a publicity stunt) doesn't really have anything to do with Spiderman fans wanting Peter Parker as Spiderman no matter what else happens, or whether or not Blade is a good character to use as a role model, or whether or not Muslim religious garb is sexist in real life; so what are you trying to argue?

[Lady Soniko]

Yeah I honestly don't understand what you're getting at here, it's very jittery scatter shot since you're pretty much going off on mini rants that have no coherency to the original topic you opened with...

[Dejimon11]

I'm more offended such an unfunny man ever had his own show.

seth macfarlane is worse but I digress. This looks interesting I just hope that they will treat her as a normal human being instead of shoving the fact that she's from a different culture unlike most things I've seen.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Dejimon11

[Badnik Zero]

Hey now Turbo. She's from Jersey most likely because there's a large Muslim community in Jersey City, where the first panel says she's from. That's where I live. It's cool she's Pakistani, whatever I think it's cool she's from Jersey City.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

Eh... On the one hand, alright. Could be an interesting character. On the other hand, lotta pitfalls ahead in terms of writing. Experience has taught me that religious characters in comics boil down to evil jerkwads, self-righteous sticks-in-the-mud, or so watered down that the religious aspect of a character is on a level of significance of which orange juice they like the most. If they can pull it off, I guess hats off to them. But the comics industry, as it is, just doesn't seem the type I'd trust with something like this. Even if they pull it off with one writer, I'd hate to see the next.

[MegaMonster54]

so watered down that the religious aspect of a character is on a level of significance of which orange juice they like the most. 

Well, should't religion be that way to a character unless there uber religious? I mean, teenagers today really don't care what religion they are so I think if a teenage superhero does happen to be religious I don't think it should be a big factor in there character.

[Dr. Mechano]

The whole point is probably to show that she's not different and is in fact just like everyone else. Hence, her being a Muslim superhero is intended to be seen as no big deal.

 

The fact that people are reacting so strongly to this - including making vastly unfunny and stereotypical jokes - is pretty disappointing, and goes against the spirit of what this is trying to do in the first place.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

Well, should't religion be that way to a character unless there uber religious? I mean, teenagers today really don't care what religion they are so I think if a teenage superhero does happen to be religious I don't think it should be a big factor in there character.

 

I'm a teenager and I consider myself pretty religious. If it's not that big a deal, why mention it?

[MegaMonster54]

I'm a teenager and I consider myself pretty religious. If it's not that big a deal, why mention it?

As a writer, religion is seen as one of three things in the community. 1. An evil force that is brainwashing people into outdated dogma. 2. a meh thing with varying degrees of success, but if followed blindly can be dangerous. 3. No big deal really, I don't pay attention to it anyway because I recognize that the religion one is in is probably due to location and indoctrination but I really don't care. Most writers use the 1st and 2nd options when writing, I use the 3rd. Religion is this thing that people use as a moral crutch now a days, it really doesn't matter. But hey, if you're religious that's OK, just don't shove it down my throat.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

As a writer, religion is seen as one of three things in the community. 1. An evil force that is brainwashing people into outdated dogma. 2. a meh thing with varying degrees of success, but if followed blindly can be dangerous. 3. No big deal really, I don't pay attention to it anyway because I recognize that the religion one is in is probably due to location and indoctrination but I really don't care.

 

...Yeah, I caught that part, comrade. What I'm saying is that, if they intend to treat this characters religious aspect as just another sort-of significant trait, then the marketing is both misleading and probably a good deal disappointing to audience it's marketing towards.

[MegaMonster54]

...Yeah, I caught that part, comrade. What I'm saying is that, if they intend to treat this characters religious aspect as just another sort-of significant trait, then the marketing is both misleading and probably a good deal disappointing to audience it's marketing towards.

That's sort of a lost cause. I bet the mind set for the author was "Muslims aren't different from anyone else. Religion is a religion, nothing more and nothing less. I'll create a character to show this and I won't even touch on her religious background." More than likely Marvel is on a creative high that there marketing will make anything a big deal. "This character has pink hair and is Jewish? MARKET IT!!!!!". But a problem modern writers have today is that if they are to write anyone to challenge the beliefs of this character they come off as a stupid straw man who is a complete jackass. It's like one of those stupid modern day parables where in this imaginary world Christians are the minority and atheists are the majority when in fact its the opposite. 

[Badnik Zero]

So I'm gonna give a serious response to the topic for once. I think maybe the first issue with diversity in comics is the scarcity of diverse writers in the larger comic industry? Correct me if I'm wrong, and certainly I'm sure there are notable ones, but among writers at Marvel and DC how many could write a relevant non-white character? And you could say well maybe the point is to just write them like you would any character. But doesn't that make them whatever they are in-name-only and not relevant to the point of being representative of that group or culture? Watered down, like people said, a token? I was at NYCC this year and there were some indie comics that were all about being Afro or Asian centric, but those books are so about the ethnic subject matter that they are seldom good and up being very niche. The ones that are good are about coming to terms with minority status, or set in some historical period, but none of them are superhero books. Minority non-white superheroes are important because good comics besides escapism try to address modern issues through fable, and try to remain culturally relevant, but it's a very fine balance they gotta strike here, and I think it starts with having a writer in this case from a Muslim background. This will determine if she becomes a token or not. I could see maybe one or two arcs dealing with her status as a Pakistani-American specifically. At the same time be writing a superhero comic though. She doesn't have to be super-Muslim all the time to remind us she's a Pakistani Muslim am I right? Like maybe sometimes her friends will remember she doesn't drink when she goes out you know. It's a fine balance. Also the comic has to in general not suck, to be successful in general.

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

Really, if you want a character to stay true to their beliefs while not shoving doctrine down the unwilling throats of the public, the obvious answer is to just have your superhero act according to their beliefs and talk about it at length sparingly. Show, don't tell, as the old adage goes. The non-religious audience or audience of other religions appreciate the lack of lectures, and the religious audience enjoys the evidence that someone can be a follower of their beliefs and still be a superhero.

[MegaMonster54]

Really, if you want a character to stay true to their beliefs while not shoving doctrine down the unwilling throats of the public, the obvious answer is to just have your superhero act according to their beliefs and talk about it at length sparingly. Show, don't tell, as the old adage goes. The non-religious audience or audience of other religions appreciate the lack of lectures, and the religious audience enjoys the evidence that someone can be a follower of their beliefs and still be a superhero.

Easier said than done

[SIXTH-RATE SOMA]

Easier said than done

 

Certainly, which is why I said I don't trust the comics industry to do it.