It’s going to look a lot like a hundred dog whistles went off inside the Fox News studios when they catch wind that comic behemoth Marvel announced Wednesday they will re-launch their Ms. Marvel series featuring a teenaged Muslim-American in the role of the main character.
And, cue right-wing outrage in 3 ? 2 ? 1.
The new Ms. Marvel series, which will debut in February 2013, will feature a Pakistani teenager from New Jersey named Kamala Khan, which is a departure from her blond-haired, blue-eyed predecessor Air Force major, Carol Danvers who, through the magic of comic books, later became Captain Marvel.
According to Raw Story, the writer of the new series couldn’t have been better chosen, given that she is an American who converted to the Muslim faith, while the illustrator already has plans to showcase Kamala Khan wearing classic red tights, with the addition of a blue mini dress, seemingly to help the character stay in line with the teachings of the Muslim faith.
G. Willow Wilson, an American woman who converted to Islam, will be the lead writer on the project while the illustrations will be done by Adrian Alphona, who portrays Kamala as wearing a superhero’s classic red tights along with a blue mini-dress.
Series editor Sana Amanat told AFP that the inspiration for Kamala comes from ?a desire to explore the Muslim-American diaspora from an authentic perspective?.
?Islam is both an essential part of her identity and something she struggles mightily with,? Wilson said in an interview on the Marvel website.
?She wants to go to parties and stay out past 9pm and feel ?normal?. Yet at the same time, she feels the need to defend her family and their beliefs.?
And boy howdy will this character, and Marvel in general, ever have to defend themselves against the obvious and almost text-book attacks that will come from religious fundamentalists, the ring wing media, and tea party wackadoos.
You can almost hear Fox News assembling its minions now can’t you?
Sarah Palin taking to the airwaves with a patriotic fist in the air describing how this is an affront to a proud American history of strong American comic book freedom fighters.
Ted Cruz taking to the senate floor to warn the American people that President Obama has now successfully pushed his Muslim agenda into comic books.
Rush Limbaugh flipping on his microphone to let all of America know that they are being tricked into idolizing and sexualizing an enemy of the state who uses her tights and short skirt to entice young American boys into the Muslim religion.
Bill O’Reilly assembling his panel of experts to discuss the ridiculousness and absurdity of Marvel trying desperately to cater to the Muslim-American population just to make a quick buck and stir up controversy.
And of course Donald Trump, taking to his Twitter account to call the new character “ugly”, “un-American”, and inevitably offering a million dollars to any charity of Marvel’s choice for proof that?Kamala Khan is a US citizen, even though she is a comic book character.
It’s going to be the same players, with the same messages, using the same talking points ad nauseam, all trying to bully, push and intimidate Marvel into backing down and keeping the status quo right where it is: ?as white, as conservative and as right-wing as possible.
Because you see, for every transgender person who wins homecoming queen, for every Indian-American who wins Miss. America, for every openly gay politician elected to office, for every Republican crossing the floor to the Democratic party, and for every crime fighting super hero turned Muslim, the world becomes a more open, amazing and wonderful place.
It becomes exactly the kind of world that has no need for the divisiveness, the bitterness, the racism and homophobia that networks like Fox, organizations like the Tea Party, and politicians in the Republican Party use to line their pockets with every day. ?If they don’t fight tooth and nail against every single step towards equality, understanding and peace, it’s another dollar out of their pockets, and another vote lost at the polls.
What Marvel has planned for Kamala Khan?isn’t revolutionary or ahead of its time in the slightest, in fact it’s a tougher decision, because what Marvel is doing is exactly what is needed, exactly when it is needed, and that kind of perfect timing is very hard to come by.
Congrats Marvel, you’re about to fire up the “Fox rage machine”, and we couldn’t be any happier to see you doing it.
Go get ’em.
Edited by SS.
