Ms. Marvel Vol. 1: No Normal
Writer: G. Willow Wilson
Artist: Adrian Alphona
Marvel succeeds in appealing to new demographics through the new Ms. Marvel, who is a Muslim teenager named Kamala Khan!
Ranking: 5 stars
If there’s one problem that plagues all forms of entertainment media, it is the lack of appealing to multiple demographics. Whether it is novels, movies, TV shows, or video games, the majorities of them are often marketed solely towards the average White male American, and often disregard women and individuals from other ethnic groups. This in turn, leads to criticisms of sexism and racism within the entertainment industry, with stories either lacking elements that would appeal towards different demographics, or portray them negatively out of spite or ignorance. Comic books, unfortunately, are no stranger to this problem to, as since the 1930’s, comics have been primarily aimed to appeal to adolescent white males, and often over-sexualize women and use stereotypes of other ethnicities as a result. These trends still exist today, especially in DC Comics, as since the NEW 52 relaunch, only two prominent female creators have been involved in their titles, DC openly ignored and insulted people outside their desired demographic when polling their audience, and the first issues of books like REDHOOD AND THE OUTLAWS and CATWOMAN were criticized for their sexist portrayals of female characters. While DC has been steadfastly attempting to condense their audience towards white adolescent males, Marvel on the other hand seems to be attempting to appeal to a more broad range of readers. This not new for Marvel, as they have been a very inclusive company since the 1960’s, as Stan Lee created Spider-Man in an era when teenage superheroes were only thought to be limited to sidekicks like Robin, Daredevil was meant to appeal to blind readers, and the X-Men books have always advocated against racism and prejudice. While they haven’t always been successful at it, Marvel at least acknowledges that not just white males read their comics, and are willing to try to appeal to women and other ethnicities. I bring all of this up as in recent years, Marvel has created several new characters and books to aim towards different demographics, with ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN now staring Miles Morales, who is of African American and Latino descent, an X-MEN book focusing solely on its female members, the supporting cast of SCARLET SPIDER including a Mexican immigrant and gay married couple, and now perhaps the most ambitious of all, the introduction a new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Khan, who is a Muslim teenager!
For those who are unaware, the superhero name “Ms. Marvel” originated as the alias of Carol Danvers, who was a former member of the United States Air Force who was granted superhuman strength, energy projection, and flight after having Kree DNA bonded to her genetic structure. Since gaining her powers, Danvers has been a long-time supporting member of the Avengers, had her powers temporarily stolen by Rogue of the X-Men, and has now taken on the mantel of the new Captain Marvel (not the DC version just to avoid confusion). Because of Carol Danvers’ status as the new Captain Marvel, Marvel announced in November of 2013 that they would be creating a new character to fill in the role of Ms. Marvel. This new character, Kamala Khan, received widespread media attention almost immediately, as Kamala was not only Muslim teenager, but would be the first Muslim character to be the main character of her own comic series, despite the presence of previously established Muslim characters like Simon Baz, Dust, and M. I think a great deal of the book’s success can be contributed to it’s author, G. Willow Wilson, who is herself a Muslim-American, and stated that she wanted to “explore the Muslim-American diaspora from an authentic perspective. Because of this, MS. MARVEL not establishes a character who is a fleshed out human being without her religion being her only defining character trait, but also creates an extremely well-written and enjoyable story about a young woman struggling to find her place in a society that is not accustomed to her ways of life!
The story opens in Jersey City, New Jersey, where Kamala Khan and her friend Nakia are hanging out in a convenience store owned by their friend Bruno. Kamala is a 16-year-old Pakistani-American who belongs to a devout Muslim family. Having been born and raised in America however, Kamala is a very outgoing teenager who is highly skilled at video games, maintains a blog following the exploits of the Avengers, looks up to Captain Marvel as a role model, and yearns become more involved in interacting socially with her peers. Because of this, Kamala struggles to fully embrace her religion’s customs as she feels that they could potentially isolate her from her friends and social life. This becomes evident when she is offered an invitation to a party alongside the waterfront, but is forbidden to go by her parents who are afraid she’ll be tempted by alcohol and boys. Wanting to fit in with her friends though, Kamala sneaks out to attend the party, but is tricked into consuming alcohol by the other kids, despite it being against her religion’s doctrine. Feeling ashamed of herself, Kamala attempts to head back to her family’s apartment, but soon encounters a strange mist clouding the city streets. The fog is actually the Terrigan Mist released during the INHUMANITY crossover, and as a result, awakens the dormant inhuman cells within Kamala’s genetic makeup. Once Kamala emerges from the mist, she is astonished to discover that she has taken on the appearance of her idol Carol Danvers, and has gained the ability to enlarge or shrink parts of her body, as well as shape-shift. After saving one of the party attendees from drowning in the Hudson River, Kamala unintentionally gains newfound fame as the new Ms. Marvel, making her already complicated life even more extraordinary. Desiring to learn more about her powers and place in life, while also maintaining a healthy relationship with her family, will Kamala Khan allow the stress and awkwardness of it all consume her life, or will she discover and utilize her full potential as the new Ms. Marvel?
In my eyes, MS. MARVEL is one of those comics that not only opens up readers to an accurate portrayal of a culture that is unfamiliar to them, but does so through providing them fleshed out and human characters. While on it’s own MS. MARVEL VOL. 1: NO HUMAN is an extremely well-written comic, it’s ability to connect the readers to characters with customs and traditions different to their own is what truly makes MS. MARVEL a masterpiece for the ages! To be able to accomplish such a feat is incredibly difficult for even the most talented writer to accomplish as whenever writers create characters with foreign backgrounds, many of them fall victim into making their culture the only aspect of the character’s personality. This is often either a result of the writer’s ignorance towards cultures that they lack knowledge in, or is done out of simple bigotry and intolerance (Frank Miller’s HOLY TERROR anyone?). When I was reading MS. MARVEL, at no point at all did I feel that the character’s Islamic heritage rob them of any of their other personality traits. The characters all came across as human beings to me as their dialogue felt realistic, they conveyed emotions that I would expect to see from others in real life, and they had individual interests and passions. It actually reminded me a lot of Brian Michael Bendis’ work on ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN (which is my second favorite comic of all-time and Bendis is my favorite comic author) as he wrote Spidey and his friends as if they were actual high school teenagers who would say and do the things that real-life high schooler’s would do. It was as if Bendis knew exactly how teenagers behaved and thought, and poured that knowledge into every single one of his characters. I got that same impression from MS. MARVEL here, which I believe can be traced back to the author of the comic, G. Willow Wilson, being a Muslim herself. Because of this, Wilson is able to create an incredibly realistic portrayal of how Muslim-American teenagers would act and behave, which I feel helps to make the characters more fleshed out and believable, showing that there is more to Muslims than their religion, and that they too have passions and interests that make them individually unique. It makes me happy to see such a positive portrayal of Muslim characters, especially in an era where Muslims have been discriminated and stereotyped by our society, and I hope that the characters of MS. MARVEL will potentially open the eyes of readers blinded by intolerance and ignorance (it also impresses me that this came out only 4 years after HOLY TERROR, which was a highly racist comic that equated all Muslims as terrorists, and is quite easily the single worst comic I’ve ever read in my entire life; it’s almost as if MS. MARVEL was G. Willow Wilson’s way of giving Frank Miller the bird for making that piece of crap!).
Speaking of the characters and their positive, realistic portrayal of Muslim-Americans, I should elaborate on the titular character, Kamala Khan. While the rest of the cast is definitely fleshed out and humanized, it is Kamala herself who holds the entire foundation of the book’s premise together. Kamala Khan is a prime example of how to create a teenage character that audiences can easily find believable and relate to. Although Kamala could have easily fallen victim to having her religion being her only defining character trait, Wilson fleshes out Kamala into an actual human being with her own desires and interests. We see that Kamala maintains a blog that follows the adventures of the Avengers, that she is somewhat of a nerd in possessing an interest in comics and video games, and wants to expose herself to more aspects of American pop culture (this also aids in providing a feminist angle to appeal to women readers along with Muslims). Kamala also conveys the struggles of being a Muslim-American in a very realistic manner, as she feels that her religion’s customs and traditions separate her from other people her age. Because of Islam’s modest and devout lifestyle, Kamala feels like she lacks the freedom to be her own individual person, which increases her desire to discover her purpose and role in life. Her acquirement of superpowers serves as the element that allows her to forge her own path in life while still attempting to keep true to her customs and traditions. Kamala’s dilemma is incredibly well handled in my eyes, and is one that I know that occurs in real life. Teenagers who are of different religious or cultural backgrounds often find difficulty in fitting in with their peers, and are socially isolated as a result. G. Willow Wilson takes this real dilemma and uses it to drive Kamala’s development as a character, not only exposing the human elements behind one’s culture, but also providing readers in similar circumstances a character that they can find relatable and endearing. Not since Peter Parker from ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN have I come across a teenage character with such fleshed-out human qualities and dilemmas as those of Kamala Khan. She is a character designed to appeal to diverse demographics done 100% correct in my opinion!
MS. MARVEL VOL. 1: NO NORMAL is quite easily one of the most well-written and innovative comics that I have recently encountered. The characters all feel human and believable, possessing qualities that avoid them from coming across as stereotypical, and Kamala Khan is a three-dimensional and fleshed-out protagonist who not only serves as a positive portrayal of Muslim-Americans, but is has interests and problems that individuals of different backgrounds struggling with circumstances can relate to. It’s books like these that allow me to maintain faith that our society is becoming more aware and accepting of people different genders, cultures, religions, or ethnicities, which is easily conveyed through increasing attempts to make fictional media more inclusive and accessible to them. While DC Comics has failed to acknowledge the diversity among their readers, the debut Kamala Khan is evidence that Marvel is not only trying to appeal to women and other ethnicities, but are putting in all of their effort in doing so!
“Diversity in the world is a basic characteristic of human society, and also the key condition for a lively and dynamic world as we see today.”
— Jinato Hu
