With female characters struggling in the marketplace, you have to give Marvel credit for not giving up on them.  Despite ‘Captain Marvel”s cancellation, the character, the long-time Avenger Carol Danvers, will be getting a new series which will take her into outer space.  In addition, Black Widow, She-Hulk and Elektra will be getting new books.  (This could be a reaction to the last wave of female solo books centered on lesser known characters Sif and Red She-Hulk which both ended fairly quickly.)

And now we have another Marvel female debuting in her own series, except this is a brand new character… well… kind of.

For those who have been missing “Ms. Marvel”, ever since Carol graduated to the role of Captain Marvel, someone is reviving that name.  Meet Kamala Khan the new Ms. Marvel!

This teenage character from New Jersey will discover she has shape-shifting powers and as a massive Carol Danvers super fan, will take up her former code name Ms. Marvel and take her place among the pantheon of Marvel heroes.  (She will apparently be joining a team with Namor, The Hulk, The Silver Surfer, Sunspot, Cannonball and others.  I assume this will be another faction of Avengers.)

Kamala is a Pakistani-American and a Muslim, making her fairly unique in the world of comics.  (Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think she’s only the fourth Muslim hero behind Dust, Night Runner and Simon Baz.)  She was created during a conversation between editor Sana Amanat (herself a Muslim) and fellow editor Steve Wacker.  “I do expect some negativity,” Amanat said, “not only from people who are anti-Muslim, but people who are Muslim and might want the character portrayed in a particular light.”

The book will be written by G. Willow Wilson who converted to Islam and who states that the book will be “about the universal experience of all American teenagers, feeling kind of isolated and finding what they are.”

Wilson points out that people are too quick to point out what makes people different as points of alienation, rather than uniqueness.  “Captain Marvel represents an ideal that Kamala pines for,” she said “She’s strong, beautiful, and doesn’t have any of the baggage of being Pakistani and ‘different’… It’s also sort of like when I was a little girl and wanted to be Tiffani Amber Thiessen [from ‘Saved by the Bell’].”

Artist Adrian Alphona, who illustrated the earliest issues of ‘The Runaways’ will be handling art chores on this book.

I so desperately hope that everyone can keep their panties out of a bunch.  It’s not as if Marvel killed off Carol Danvers.  In fact, they promoted her to the role of Captain Marvel.  Why not let a new younger character take on the name, despite her ethic background or religion.  It’s one world… that is always endangered of getting eaten or blown up.  Let’s take whatever heroes we can get.

Source Newsarama