Representation is a vital thing. It lets us know that we aren’t different or weird and it makes us know we aren’t alone. In the character of Ms. Marvel or Kamala Khan we have a comic character that is changing visual media and the world. This might seem like an outlandish thing to say, but it’s true. The photo my brother found one day was faded…In it my mum was reading a 1970s issue of the Carol Danvers Ms Marvel. Someone who looked utterly different to her as a mixed race Turkish girl. As Kamala says early on in this volume ‘I have super powers. I saved somebody’s life today….But everybody’s expecting Ms. Marvel…Not a sixteen year old brown girl with a 9pm curfew.’ I think if my mum had been able to experience the Kamala Khan version of Ms Marvel she might have found the representation empowering and comforting. As a girl with sisters who didn’t look white, but didn’t look like a specific ethnicity or race my mum and her family endured horrible racism. They were brought up catholic instead of Muslim and when a Turkish man tried to assassinate the pope it resulted in racist abuse from fellow students.
Ms Marvel is a lifeline and utterly inspiring for those of Muslim and middle eastern backgrounds who until recently had seldom seen themselves represented in media unless negatively. In the post 9-11 world Muslim people have had to deal with increasing islamophobia and hatred. The creation of Ms. Marvel speaks of hope. Of a way forward…
What is Ms. Marvel about? It’s the Spiderman of the 21st century. A comic book story as old as the media. Kamala is a typical New Jersey teenager who has to deal with the reality of juggling her background and upbringing in America. She goes to school/mosque, hangs out with friends and obsesses over superheroes. She is as much a fan of characters like the avengers as those reading her own story are. She writes fanfiction and ships different heroes and is generally just a geeky teen girl. Like Spiderman she is a character who feels as if they don’t quite fit in and are passionate about their interests….And like Spiderman when a situation grants her superheroes she takes on the responsibility of saving those that need help.
Marvel comics right now is undergoing a renaissance for representation. On the woman front there are countless women led comics such as the new series for Kamala, A-Force (an all-woman superhero team), Squirrel Girl, Hellcat, Silk, Spiderwoman, All New Wolverine and Moon Girl & Demon dinosaur. On the race side of things characters who are POC like Moon Girl, Ms. Marvel, Silk, Sam Wilson’s Captain America and the new protégé of the Hulk are making racial representation much richer. How does a Captain America like Sam who is black deal with republicans and with the impartial front his role is believed to involve? How does he make the role of captain America is? This is something characters like Kamala contend with too. With shape shifting abilities Kamala finds herself literally turning into her idol Carol Danvers and with her taking of the Ms. Marvel name she has to find a way to make the name hers instead.
Ms Marvel is a comic which has led to many new people picking up visual works like it .New fans are discovering how great these comics can be and young kids who had only had white superheroes to look up before now can imagine themselves as Ms. marvel or captain America. Ms. Marvel is a comic on the forefront of a comic revolution. Reading it is an act of revolution. Read it today and you won’t be disappointed.
