Ms Marvel, Qahera, and superheroism in the Muslim diaspora

ABSTRACT

This article examines how Marvel Comics’ Ms Marvel, in her newest iteration as a Pakistani Muslim young woman, challenges the conventions of race and American citizenship in the post-9/11 United States. I place Ms Marvel in conversation with the webcomic Qahera the Superhero, which was created by an Egyptian artist, in order to demonstrate the ways in which both texts have an ability to reach readers on a global scale and powerfully reimagine visual representations of Muslim women and female superheroes. My investigation includes an analysis of the comics and the epitexts that surround these works, such as author and editor interviews and various forms of public response in order to demonstrate how these media engage with a specific racial, ethnic, and (inter)national community in a meaningful way; one which complicates the definition of ‘fans,’ ‘comic book readers,’ and ‘heroes.’ When juxtaposed Ms Marvel and Qahera emerge as artifacts of visual, digital culture whose significance is particularly salient when read in our current political era, as a means of uncovering and combating racism, xenophobia, and Islamophobia.

KEYWORDS:

• Comics
• digital culture
• Muslim diaspora
• superheroes
• neo-imperialism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. There are several bloggers and online writers who have written on the varied fan reactions, including Corrina Lawson or ‘GeekMom’ at Wired. But in truth, to get the best understanding of how the fans felt, it is even more useful to read the comments posted at the end of the articles, such as this one by Taylor Ramsey (2013), which also gives a helpful overview of the changes in DC’s reboot of their comic book canon, which they dubbed the ‘New 52:’ http://the-artifice.com/current-state-of-the-comic-book-industry-dc-and-the-new-52/.

2. The recent (Barnett 2015) article in The Guardian entitled ‘Comics capture digital readers-and grab more print fans’ provides a helpful overview of the rise in digital comics readership, as well as noting the current growing popularity of comics in both print and digital formats. The author notes that digital sales make up more than 10% of overall comic sales, which is a 30% increase since 2013. (https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jul/03/comics-capture-digital-readers-and-grab-more-print-fans).

3. The editor of Ms Marvel, Sana Amanat is, like Kamala, a Pakistani-American Muslim and, as I will discuss later in this article, explicitly considered questions of her own identity when crafting the character of Ms Marvel. In addition, Ms Marvel is written by G. Willow Wilson who, although a white American woman, converted to Islam in college and spent several years living and writing in Cairo. Her religious practice allows her to be sensitive, thoughtful, and reflective about her representation of a Muslim superhero.

4. This style is primarily due to the fact that it is strictly forbidden to recreate the actual image of the prophet Muhammad in art and iconography.

5. ‘Externally, [they] look very American. This can be observed in their speech, in their accent especially, which makes it difficult on occasion for their own parents to understand them… They also display a desire for independence and intimacy; this last is often expressed by locking themselves into their bedrooms, which leads to surprise, even dismay in their parents, who see this as a most unusual way to behave from a “South Asian point of view”’ (Mohamed-Arif 91).

6. For more on readership practice as validation and participation, see this author's previous article “Diasporic (dis)identification: The participatory fandom of Ms. Marvel” in the October 2016 issue of South Asian Popular Culture.

7. For more on the depiction of Muslim masculinity in Ms Marvel, see Shenila S. Khoja-Moolji and Alyssa D. Niccolini’s recent article in Girlhood Studies (2015): ‘Comics as Public Pedagogy: Reading Muslim Masculinities through Muslim Femininities in Ms Marvel.’ Although I don’t think their article considers the visual tropes and signifiers of the comics genre to the fullest extent, they do thoughtfully cover this issue of the empowerment of Muslim women at the expense of Muslim men.

8. The term ‘American Century’ was coined by Henry Luce in an essay of the same name published in 1941, calling for an end to isolationism and for the United States to extend its influence and power across the globe. There is disagreement about whether the American century is still ongoing or whether it ended: either with the beginning of the 21st century or with the election of President Donald Trump.

9. As Edwards further elaborates, ‘In this way, that which might have an American origin ceases to be American; rather, its national origin is left behind as a trace, and as a fragment it is propelled into the world. The energy that draws these American cultural products into global circulation comes from their uptake by new publics – their consumption – rather than their production.’ (12–13).

10. Ivey concludes that ‘By doing so, Mohamed is de-emphasizing FEMEN’s visual political weapon (their nudity) while emphasizing the strength of her own traditional garment (her hijab)’ (Ivey 386). While I agree that de-emphasizing the bare breasts of the FEMEN protesters is a shrewd critical and visual choice, I hesitate to claim that it makes the hijab the more ‘correct’ or superior sartorial option. Mohamed’s other comics do not adhere to this binary and, what is more, Ivey seems to conflate Qahera’s clothing with that of the author’s in a problematic way.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Winona Landis

Winona Landis received her PhD in English with a certificate in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Miami University (Ohio). Her work has also been published in South Asian Popular Culture and the anthology Food, Feminisms, Rhetorics (Southern Illinois UP, 2017). She has two book chapters on Asian and Asian American Graphic Narratives currently in progress. Her dissertation, entitled ‘Illustrating Empire: Race, Gender, and Visuality in Contemporary Asian American Literary Culture’ analyzes graphic narratives and the use of visuality in transnational Asian American media and literature. She currently teaches English and Digital Media at Holy Cross High School in Covington, Kentucky.