Over at Mighty Mighty Godking, John Seavey raves about the new Ms Marvel and how it’s a really great comic. As you know Bob, the new Ms Marvel is a Pakistani-American Muslim teenage girl, first time a Muslim hero has had her own Marvel comics and as such has been a Big Deal before the first issue came out. Seavey is at pains to point out that despite its “worthiness”, Ms Marvel is a great comic in its own right. This annoys one commenter to go on a bit of a rant how it’s never allowed to just enjoy seeing somebody like you in comics
I bring this up because I have actually had straight people bitch me out for telling them that I like a book or a movie JUST BECAUSE it has queer characters. They get so incredibly offended by this, the idea that I might derive enjoyment from nothing more than seeing myself existing in the world of fiction, this blessing that they’ve taken for granted all their lives.
So I wouldn’t actually be bothered if Ms Marvel sucked. It’s THERE, in the midst of a sea of white, white, white superhero books. Its mere existence is heroic. If nasty little white fanboys have an issue with that, maybe they shouldn’t have created the problem in the first place.
Comics have always had a problem with showing heroes other than straight, white males, something that has been slowly changing. Because so many of the attempts to change this, to showcase somebody else for a change were godawful, done by well intentioned but clueless white men and because that meant any “minority” book is judged extra harshly by fans, I can understand why Seavey felt the need to emphasis that Ms Marvel first and foremost was a good comic. But I understand tickstander’s irritation even better. There are so few heroes of colour or queer heroes or even heroines that even get their own titles and when they do they largely get ignored or written off as “politically correct”; certain “fans” do seem to hate these titles just for existing.
Truth is, a greater diversity can only help comics and attempts like Ms. Marvel should be applauded for just existing. What helps is that the writer, G. Willow Wilson is herself Muslim, though through conversion, so has some sympathy and experience with what she writes about.
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