A New Ms. Marvel: Selling Out?

You probably heard back in November that a new character was taking on the moniker of “Ms. Marvel.” That character is one Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American Muslim superheroine from New Jersey, the creation of two artists/writers who are themselves Muslim (Sana Amanat and G. Willow Wilson). Kamala made her first appearance in Captain Marvel #14 back in August of last year and is a huge fan of Carol Danvers. In fact, according to Kelly Sue DeConnick, “she is very deliberately placed in a position where she sees Carol protecting civilians from Yon-Rogg.” When Kamala discovers her own powers, she chooses to adopt the Ms. Marvel title in honor of her idol.

Kamala’s first 2014 appearance and her formal debut as Ms. Marvel was in All-New Marvel NOW! Point-One #1, a comic that served as an intro for a number of characters. She now headlines the third volume of Ms. Marvel, which will debut in February. So why am I talking about this? It’s not like she’s the first Muslim superhero on a major imprint, because we’ve had Simon Baz. She’s not even the first Muslim female superhero, if you count Dust, M St. Croix, Faiza Hussain, and others. Again, why am I talking about this?

Because she is so popular. Let me modulate that by saying that she’s popular among the set of people who read Captain Marvel comics, but Captain Marvel #17, in which she is featured, did completely sell out its initial run, inspiring hope for the success of Ms. Marvel Vol. 3. However, there’s a concern to be raised: Does Kamala Khan sell out issues because she’s a sellout? Put another way, is she really the counter to Islamophobia that Muaaz Khan of the Guardian claims her to be?

Web Crush Wednesdays: haterfreewednesdays

I got into American comics fandom over a year ago now, and doing it terrified me. Many women have told horror stories about their first foray into a comics shop. Although comics as a fandom has taken many steps forward in the last few years, there’s still a tremendously long way to go to make a community where everyone feels safe and welcomed. The plethora of stories about awful misogynistic comic book store staff and patrons being rude to potential female customers was nearly enough to scare me away.

In the end, my desire to not let assholes control my behavior (and my desire to hold a copy of Hawkeye in my hands) trumped my fears, and it turned out that my local comic book store was staffed entirely by friendly, welcoming people.

It would have been nice to know that beforehand, though, and that’s where haterfreewednesdays comes in.

In Brightest Day: Loki

If you’ve read enough of my articles, you know I’m usually a fan of DC Comics over Marvel. However, with DC’s recent record in the amazing game of “Let’s See How Many People We Can Piss Off,” I’ve started paying more attention to Marvel characters not named Tony Stark.

Here is a shocker: Loki’s character is interesting as hell. But not because of his actions in the movies or comics. It’s not because Tom Hiddleston plays him so well (although he does). It’s the actions before we even see Loki the first time that make him so interesting.

Theatre Thursdays: Coriolanus

Imagine, if you will, the following: Tom Hiddleston killing it. Hard, right? Not simply being pretty good, or reasonably impressive, but really killing it. And not just killing it, but killing everyone. Hiddles has taken his bit back to London’s West End, where he is currently starring in a production of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus. This underrated revenge tragedy follows a battle-hardened Roman general who, betrayed for his tyrannical leanings, moves to take revenge on the city itself. The production, running at London’s Donmar Warehouse (which is technically in the West End) until February 8, has been widely lauded.

Arrow Season 2 Midseason Review

We haven’t spent much time talking about Arrow here. Okay, there was that once, but that was a review of the very first episode, so we’ve definitely got some lost time to make up.

I never really bothered to review the show during its first season because, well, I didn’t think it was much to write home about. Much like my decision to keep buying the Fearless Defenders comic, I tuned in weekly more out of a desire to give a hopeful, just-starting-out superhero show good ratings so that the CW would continue making superhero shows. (I was apparently successful, as they’re planning a Flash spinoff series. Dammit, CW, make a show about a lady superhero, not another white guy.) The writing was sort of terrible, the plots were sort of predictable, and at least half of Oliver’s manpain was based on the fridging of his illicit lady-love. The only character who had consistently decent dialogue for the entire first season was our hero’s go-to hacker Felicity Smoak, a queen among women.

Anyway, I’m glad I gave the so-so first season a shot, because the second season is pretty much kicking it in the ass. Spoilers below the jump.

Trailer Tuesdays: I, Frankenstein

Should I start crying now or later?

Seriously, there are so many interesting stories out there, waiting to be told, missing out on their chance at the big screen because some production company thought “yes, what we need is a generic dark urban fantasy story about Harvey Dent fighting shapeshifting gargoyles. Oooh, and let’s throw an innocent and generic blonde romantic interest, some religious imagery, and lots of explosions in, too!”

Not Dismissing Problems in Dumbing of Age

“I’ve never seen this happen, so it isn’t a real issue,” is a line spoken way too often in geek culture. Unfortunately, with more and more types of people being recognized as consumers, more hate has reared its head. Geek culture has been progressing and has become more accepting than before of the increasing audience, but this hasn’t always been quick or easy. The previously mentioned line is at the heart of this slow process.

With more groups present, however, more experiences are available to the group mindset. Having members of various ethnic groups, genders, and sexualities provides more experiences than a single person can have on their own. However, it is not impossible for someone to speak on an experience they haven’t personally lived, as long as it’s handled with care.

David Willis, probably best known for his Shortpacked! strip about false equivalence, has been doing a pretty decent job with this. Another comic of his, Dumbing of Age, is a “slice-of-life” comic set at Indiana University chronicling the lives of many of his characters from other works, re-imagined as college kids. It’s like a reboot that exists parallel to the normal universe. In this comic, he explores issues like dating, struggling with one’s own religion, various college struggles, sexuality, parental issues, and race. For example, during the past year, he introduced a transgender character, an action which was met with much praise.

Spoilers for Dumbing of Age ahead.

Web Crush Wednesdays: Lose the F*$#ing Misogyny

Happy New Year, ya filthy animals! It’s been eight months since you all started reading my ridiculous moaning about feminism, comics, and video games, and I’m excited to welcome you into a new year. Here’s to all the bad decisions we made last night, and all the ones that I’m sure we’ll keep making in 2014. If you need help making a resolution, how about “popping a wheelie on the zeitgeist?” Or how about just being a little nicer to yourself this year? What? Oh. Apparently, I’m supposed to be writing a post on something here.

Your New Year’s Resolutions Should Include Reading Saga

Confession time: until just a few weeks ago, I still hadn’t read Saga. I actually bought the first trade paperback of Brian Vaughan and Fiona Staples’s award-winning comic ages ago when I had some extra money, but for some reason I had never sat down and actually read it. Well, unemployment has its upsides, and one of those is significantly increased amounts of reading time, so let me tell you a thing:

You should be reading Saga.

Penny Arcade Expo and “Zoo” Diversity

Geek culture is a beautiful thing, and terrible. In that way it is kind of like Galadriel. It is also very, very white. In that way it is also like Galadriel. Unlike Galadriel, it is not very female. In all seriousness, one of the things that geek culture struggles with most is being inclusive and diverse, on pretty much every axis. We have serious problems with the most 101-level diversity stuff. Don’t buy that? Donald Glover couldn’t even suggest a film with a black Spider-Man without people freaking out and calling him ‘nigger’ for trying to “take Peter Parker from [them],” even though black Spider Man is already a thing. A woman can’t even suggest that GTA V might be sexist (who would have guessed that?) without receiving awful transphobic comments and threats. We, as a community, stumble on the most basic race/gender stuff. Class/ableism seems to elude us entirely. I don’t want to ignore or diminish all the great parts of our community that are actively doing something about that and representing in fantastic ways, but when I step back and look at all of our failures in that arena, I get pretty sad.