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lydamorehouseBy chance, Mason and I missed the publication of the new Ao no Exorcist/Blue Exorcist by ONE DAY. So, I wrote up my review of it, which you can read on MangaKast, here: http://mangakast.wordpress.com/2014/09/11/ao-no-exorcist-60-review/
Yesterday, at our usual women of Wyrdsmiths' gathering, Naomi loaned me the first eight issues of the new Ms. Marvel, which I powered through today while at the laundromat while washing some of our rag rugs. The hero of Ms. Marvel is a teenage girl living in New Jersey named Kamala Khan who happens to be Muslim. She is the American-born daughter of a fairly recent Pakastani immigrant family. One day a weird green fog takes over her town and she appears to develop superpowers and the ability to look like Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.
The things I like: this is a comic book about a woman, written by a woman. This is also a comic book about Muslims by someone who has AT LEAST spent some time living in a Muslim country, specifically Egypt. So, while I can't say whether or not this is a fair portrayal of All the Things, there are some moments that give me hope that this is an honest try...
There is a wonderful scene, specifically, where Kamala is sent to talk to her mosques' main mullah/priest. She's fairly convinced he's going to be very strict and not understand and basically tell her "stay away from boys and Satan." He surprises her (and possibly the reader) by giving good advice. He says if he hasn't taught her to stay away from boys and Satan he pretty much sucks in his job anyway and telling her again isn't going to do the trick. Then he says if you're going to do a thing, do it with integrity, do the best you can. In a manga, he would be saying 'gambatte": do your best! Because he means it the same way, try hard, but also HAVE HONOR. He then goes on to say, if you won't let me be your teacher in this, you need to find one. And literally Wolverine falls out of the sky to be that guy.
The other fun thing about this character is that she's a real teenager, living TODAY. She writes Avengers fan fic.
Yes, things are that self-referrential now. Look, I've been telling you, when Marvel decided to place their heroes in real neighborhoods in the Real World, they MEANT IT. That means, if it makes sense for a teenager to have seen the Marvel Movies (or, as it happens, live in the world they occupy) then it means they'd do the things people really do, like write fan fic.
This, however, is why I love Marvel.
This is especially awesome when there's an honest-to-canon scene in which Wolverine is confronted by the fact that the fic she wrote starring him came in second to one featuring Scott Summers/Cyclops and Emma Frost/White Witch (a crack ship if ever there was one)...
Things I'm not sure of:
The introduction of the Inhumans and, specifically, Medusa sending Lockjaw into the title. As I attempted to explain to my friend Josey, this feels like the kind of thing that could either work or completely back-fire. Yes, comic books can do cheese better than, say, Marvel Movies, but is an alien telepathic/teleporting dog one step over the line or will it be fucking amazing. A tough call.
But, that's a wait-and-see game.
Even with that caveat, I would have to agree with a lot of the hype. I'm liking this. I'm hoping the title continues a long time.
Yesterday, at our usual women of Wyrdsmiths' gathering, Naomi loaned me the first eight issues of the new Ms. Marvel, which I powered through today while at the laundromat while washing some of our rag rugs. The hero of Ms. Marvel is a teenage girl living in New Jersey named Kamala Khan who happens to be Muslim. She is the American-born daughter of a fairly recent Pakastani immigrant family. One day a weird green fog takes over her town and she appears to develop superpowers and the ability to look like Carol Danvers, aka Captain Marvel.
The things I like: this is a comic book about a woman, written by a woman. This is also a comic book about Muslims by someone who has AT LEAST spent some time living in a Muslim country, specifically Egypt. So, while I can't say whether or not this is a fair portrayal of All the Things, there are some moments that give me hope that this is an honest try...
There is a wonderful scene, specifically, where Kamala is sent to talk to her mosques' main mullah/priest. She's fairly convinced he's going to be very strict and not understand and basically tell her "stay away from boys and Satan." He surprises her (and possibly the reader) by giving good advice. He says if he hasn't taught her to stay away from boys and Satan he pretty much sucks in his job anyway and telling her again isn't going to do the trick. Then he says if you're going to do a thing, do it with integrity, do the best you can. In a manga, he would be saying 'gambatte": do your best! Because he means it the same way, try hard, but also HAVE HONOR. He then goes on to say, if you won't let me be your teacher in this, you need to find one. And literally Wolverine falls out of the sky to be that guy.
The other fun thing about this character is that she's a real teenager, living TODAY. She writes Avengers fan fic.
Yes, things are that self-referrential now. Look, I've been telling you, when Marvel decided to place their heroes in real neighborhoods in the Real World, they MEANT IT. That means, if it makes sense for a teenager to have seen the Marvel Movies (or, as it happens, live in the world they occupy) then it means they'd do the things people really do, like write fan fic.
This, however, is why I love Marvel.
This is especially awesome when there's an honest-to-canon scene in which Wolverine is confronted by the fact that the fic she wrote starring him came in second to one featuring Scott Summers/Cyclops and Emma Frost/White Witch (a crack ship if ever there was one)...
Things I'm not sure of:
The introduction of the Inhumans and, specifically, Medusa sending Lockjaw into the title. As I attempted to explain to my friend Josey, this feels like the kind of thing that could either work or completely back-fire. Yes, comic books can do cheese better than, say, Marvel Movies, but is an alien telepathic/teleporting dog one step over the line or will it be fucking amazing. A tough call.
But, that's a wait-and-see game.
Even with that caveat, I would have to agree with a lot of the hype. I'm liking this. I'm hoping the title continues a long time.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-12 10:22 pm (UTC)I was not familiar with Lockjaw before this week's issue, but I am super weak to giant puppies who like hugs. So I'm 100% on board with this recent development.
no subject
Date: 2014-09-13 02:44 pm (UTC)