Ms. Marvel - A Great New Series
August 1, 2006
Female protagonist heroes generally stand out for me as favorites. I’m not sure if writers are trying to reach female audiences by spending a lot of time on character of female heroes, or if they just take a more tender approach to these powerful women. Any way you figure it, I can’t help but like almost every female hero Marvel has presented me with in the last few years. With this in mind, I was immediately intrigued by Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) when she had a cameo in New Avengers. Her positioning as a reluctant and somewhat unsuccessful hero left me wanting to know more about her.
I hurriedly picked up the Giant Sized Ms. Marvel one-shot which explained some good back story, and was the direct lead-in for her new series. Since then I’ve been following the new series and it has been wonderful.
I decided to look into where this character had come from, learning that this is Marvel’s second attempt at a series. The first series ran 23 issues in the late 1970s. The Giant-Size Ms Marvel features a few of the classic stories which highlighted a lot of overlap with classic Spider-Man characters including J Jonah Jameson and Mary Jane Watson. The writer at the end of her first series was X-Men legend Chris Claremont. Shockingly, Claremont had originally planned on using Ms Marvel instead of Jean Grey for what later became the classic Dark Phoenix series.
Enough of the classic series… The new series is written by Brian Reed, penciled by Roberto De La Torre, and colored by Chris Sottomayor. Ms. Marvel is back with cosmic-like powers. Her primary power is to absorb and manipulate all forms of energy, in addition to this she can fly, is resistant to injury and has superhuman strength. Yet, with all this power, Carol Danvers is still self conscious and personable. You just can’t help but like her.
One of my favorite things about the new series are the frequent guest appearances. So far we’ve seen: Jessica Jones, Captain America, Tony Stark/Iron Man, The Fantastic Four, and Doctor Strange. It would appear that they are setting up a bit of a romantic relationship between Carol and Doctor Strange. It’ll be fun to see how that plays out. They set Jessica Jones up as her best friend which has already played out as important as they are on differing sides of the Civil War.
I also appreciate that Ms. Marvel is drawn somewhat realistically (excluding covers). Certainly she is a very attractive woman with a great figure, but that’s true even of the actors and actresses we see… My point is that she is drawn with idealized dimensions, but at least she shouldn’t be overtly insulting or degrading to women.
She is about to become involved with Civil War in the next issue (#6). Carol is being recruited to startup and manage a super hero training camp. As an ex-Avenger, Tony Stark feels he can trust her to properly train the more amateur of heroes who are registering. Others involved in training include Wonder Man and Arachne, formerly Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter).
I’d love to see them consider this for production as a film. It seems like it would be an easy and appealing project. Especially if they could keep the feel of an entangled universe by throwing a couple cameos from some other successful Marvel properties.
I’ve even convinced Sara to start reading this series. I’m hoping this will be a series which can be as successful as Spider-Girl and hang around for 100+ issues.
Tags: arachne, Brian Reed, captain america, carol danvers. jessica jones, chris claremont, Chris Sottomayor, comic book, comic books, comics, doctor strange, fantastic four, heroine, iron man, Jean Grey, julia carpenter, marvel, ms marvel, Roberto De La Torre, spider-woman, super hero, tony stark, wonder man
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5 Responses to “Ms. Marvel - A Great New Series”
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Zach makes a lot of good points - as with most superheros that we know and love, the ones who have a few flaws, some personality and some challenges in their lives are the ones we relate to more. Carol’s insecurity, and the fact that she does make mistakes, and doesn’t always save everyone makes her seem more realistic. Most of the male superheros have challenges and some tough times, but they never fail to save the girl or small child in trouble. Ms. Marvel screws up regularly - she saves some and she loses some. I like that she isn’t perfect. Though I’m not a huge comic book fan (I prefer to hear about the stories from Zach) I have enjoyed reading this series and hope that it stays around for a while.
[…] Initiative one-shot, Brian Michael Bendis delivers a scene where Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) come into conflict. Spider-Woman is still unregistered and opposing the act. Ms. Marvel tries to […]
Wow, how do you guys do it???I am in love with you guys.My cusins bernny,erica,taylor,sammy all think im a sicoo.Well i wish i had your powers,Do you know how 2 get them.Well it would help alot if you e-mailed me at chocolatecarmel@aim.com.Plaese,please,please, please,please,please,please,please,please!!!!!!!1Just at least go on aim.Go to http://www.aim.com And you’ll be there faster than a jack rabbit on a skait board.look call me,wait,ummmm just try aim first.Well any way if so just get on aim..lol
I LOVE KITTY OH OF X_MEN
tell me ms marvels powers and electras powers