Week 12

For week 12, I read the new Ms. Marvel comics.

First off, I'd wanting to read these comics for a while. I'd heard great things about them and the fact that they made Ms. Marvel a Muslim teenage girl is more than just cool, its important to cultural diversity.  I am a strong believer that acceptance of others is greatly influenced by media as well as our own morals, and having such a character as the main character and depicted in a position of justice and power is incredible. Also the fact the comic is written by a woman practicing Islam herself is incredibly inspiring considering how closed the comic book industry tends to be towards women-- let alone women of color. Just the creation of such a comic makes history.

On top of just the creation of the comic, the narrative is actually really fun and interesting. I enjoyed them so much I went and searched for other issues to read, and it was interesting to find out that Kamala (the main protagonist) actually told her parents about her powers unlike most super heros. (In fact, I can only think of one other super hero that has done the same-- One version of Blue Beetle) But it makes sense! As a teenager with strict parents its much easier if your parent were to know about your powers then it ever would be to explain everything as it happens with excuses.

I also found the symbolism and imagery of the classic heros in the first issue being shown like Islamic gods and speaking in what I would guess is arabic is really interesting and cool as well. Just overall a really striking image that stays with the reader in a very good way.