Sketching Comedy Presents:  Ms. Marvel

On today’s show we discuss Ms. Marvel! You may recognize her  as the name of several fictional superheroes appearing in comic books published by Marvel Comics. But did you know that former President Obama is a huge fan?

This week we took to Facebook Live and created a fun show for our viewers and listeners.  Our own, sketch comedians Imran and Phil are back live on the drawing boards.. so tune in to this special Sketching Comedy.660x757.png" alt="Ms Marvel" width="262" height="301">

Forget ‘Captain Marvel,’ What We Really Need Is A Ms. Marvel Movie – Movie Pilot Reports:

It’s fair to say that the success of #WonderWoman has paved the way for other female superheroes to make their way to the big screen. With so many of their female characters being used by Sony and Fox ─ #Disney owned Marvel studios are pretty far behind in making badass female superhero films. However, the studio is planning to release their highly anticipated Captain Marvel film starring Brie Larson in 2019.

More female superhero films are, of course, always welcome, but one has to wonder if Captain Marvel really is what Marvel should begin its foray into superheroine films with, especially since Marvel owns such popular and critically acclaimed properties such as 2014’s Ms. Marvel series.

A Kamala Khan-centered movie will give Marvel two of the most successful trends of this summer: female superheroes and YA heroes. The success of Wonder Woman and #SpiderManHomecoming has proven that both topics can work wonders, and Ms. Marvel easily provides the best of both worlds. A Ms. Marvel movie in the same universe as our teenage Peter Parker would allow for some fun moments, especially since the duo has proved so popular in the comics. Additionally, introducing Ms. Marvel to the world will make explaining the #Inhumans (and the Terrigenesis process) easier, and could pave the way for further exploration of Inhuman characters.

A Captain Marvel film, aside from putting more women in the forefront, really has no purpose. Carol Danvers is a beautiful, blonde superhero who’s inherently perfect and whose biggest problem in life is her quest for identity as a female Avenger. While all that is great, it still stands to reason that Ms. Marvel — who has always felt (and been) different — would be a much better role model for children.

Ms. Marvel’s role in TV or films has been teased by veteran comicbook writer and ex-CCO of Marvel Entertainment Joe Quesada. By forgoing Ms. Marvel in favor of character with more sex appeal (and less personality), Marvel’s really missed an opportunity to showcase a vibrant, three-dimensional character unlike anything else on the screen. Still, until then, we can keep our fingers crossed that this brazen superhero somehow cameos in the upcoming Captain Marvel film.

Ms. Marvel On Wiki

Creating Ms. Marvel

Khan is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic book. However, Noelene Clark of the Los Angeles Times noted that Khan is not the first Muslim character in comic books, which include Simon Baz, Dust and M.

The conception of Kamala Khan came about during a conversation between Marvel editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker. Sana said, “I was telling [Stephen} some crazy anecdote about my childhood, growing up as a Muslim-American and he found it hilarious.

Sana stated that Khan’s costume was influenced by the Shalwar Kameez. They wanted the costume to represent her cultural identity, but did not want her to wear a hijab. Sana also stated that they wanted the character to look “less like a sex siren” to appeal to a more vocal female readership.

Marvel knew that they wanted a young Muslim girl, but stated that she could be from any place of origin and have any background. Wilson initially considered making her an Arab girl from Dearborn, Michigan but ultimately chose to create a Desi “Desi” is a loose term for the people, cultures, and products of the Indian subcontinent or South Asia girl from Jersey City.Jersey City, which sits across the Hudson River from Manhattan, has been referred to as New York City’s “Sixth borough”. It therefore forms an important part of Khan’s identity and the narrative journey of her character since most of Marvel Comics’ stories are set in Manhattan. Wilson explains, “A huge aspect of Ms. Marvel is being a ‘second string hero’ in the ‘second string city’ and having to struggle out of the pathos and emotion that can give a person.

The series not only explores Khan’s conflicts with super-villains but also explores conflicts with Khan’s home and religious duties. Wilson, a convert to Islam, said “This is not evangelism. It was really important for me to portray Kamala as someone who is struggling with her faith. [adding] Her brother is extremely conservative, her mom is paranoid that she’s going to touch a boy and get pregnant, and her father wants her to concentrate on her studies and become a doctor.”

Kamala made her first appearance in Captain Marvel #14 (August 2013) before going on to star in the solo series Ms. Marvel, which debuted in February 2014.

As much as Islam is a part of Kamala’s identity, this book isn’t preaching about religion or the Islamic faith in particular. It’s about what happens when you struggle with the labels imposed on you, and how that forms your sense of self. It’s a struggle we’ve all faced in one form or another, and isn’t just particular to Kamala because she’s Muslim. Her religion is just one aspect of the many ways she defines herself.

Who is Kamala Khan?

So we now know that within the Marvel Universe, Khan is a teenage Pakistani American from New Jersey with shape shifting abilities.  She then discovers that she has Inhuman genes in the aftermath of the “Inhumanity” story line. (In humans coming to ABC in November of 2018)

Unlike the previous incarnations of the character, Khan is a teenager who is fun-loving, witty and obsessed with nerdy things such as Tween Mutant Samurai Turtles (a play on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles). She’s also more relatable given that she’s passionate about social media, writes fan fiction, plays video games and follows superheroes (she’s a proper superhero fan-girl but loves Captain Marvel). She’s also unique as she’s the first Ms. Marvel to obtain her power through Terri-genesis (the Marvel Inhuman power transfer process), and consequently becomes a poly-morph, obtaining the power to lengthen her arms and legs and change shape.

In the series’ first story arc, Khan faces off against Mr. Edison / the Inventor, an amalgam of man and bird. Wilson created the Inventor to be Khan’s first arch rival in order to mirror Khan’s own complexity. During the story line, Khan also teams-up with the X-Man Wolverine against the Inventor. Because Wolverine is dealing with the loss of his healing factor during this time, Khan is placed in the position of having to shoulder much of the responsibilities, as Wilson felt this was a role reversal that would subvert reader expectations that Wolverine would take the lead in such a team-up.

What is Kamala up to today?

Since her debut, Kamala’s managed to work with the likes of #SpiderMan, #Wolverine, the #Avengers and has even joined the superhero team-up group the Champions.

In 2015 Won the Joe Shuster Award for Outstanding Artist, and the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

In 2016 it won an award at the international Comics Festival, the Eisner Award for best Writer (G. Willow Wilson) and the Dragon Award for Best Comic Book

• In January 2015, images of Khan began appearing over anti-Islamic advertisements on San Francisco city buses. The advertisements, purchased by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, equated Islam with Nazism. In response, street artists covered the ads with images of Khan alongside messages like “”Calling all Bigotry Busters,” “Stamp out Racism,” “Free speech isn’t a license to spread hate,” “Islamophobia hurts us all,” and “Racist.” About the response, Wilson tweeted, “Some amazing person has been painting over the anti-Muslim bus ads in SF with Ms. Marvel graffiti… To me, the graffiti is part of the back-and-forth of the free speech conversation. Call and response. Argument, counterargument.”

• In March 2016, Sana Amanat introduced President Barack Obama at a reception for Women’s History Month in the White House. In his opening remarks Obama replied, “Ms. Marvel may be your comic book creation, but I think for a lot of young boys and girls, Sana’s a real superhero.”

• In October 2016, Khan appeared on the cover of The Village Voice in an illustration that pays homage to J. Howard Miller’s “We Can Do It!” poster. The cover is accompanied by an article by Mallika Rao titled “The Super Hero For Our Times: Ms. Marvel Will Save You Now” that profiles Wilson, with a focus on the increasing diversity of comic book characters, creators, and fans.

5 Fun Facts – About Ms Marvel I bet you didn’t know!

Fact 1 – The series was expected to flop. “A series like this was, by the superhero industry math of the time, was doomed to fail. It was the trifecta of death: New characters don’t sell. Female characters don’t sell. Minority characters don’t sell.”

Fact 2 – She is one of the youngest characters to join the Avengers What makes Ms. Marvel different from a lot of these heroes is that she is one of the youngest characters to officially join an Avengers team. A few of the Young Avengers, such as Wiccan or Stature, were a bit younger than Kamala,but, as much as we love them, the Young Avengers weren’t a sanctioned team.

Fact 3 – She helped found The Champions! The new team is founded by the three ex-Avengers, Ms. Marvel, Nova, and Spider-Man. After getting fed up with the Avengers lack of concern for ordinary people, Ms. Marvel abandons Earth’s Mightiest Heroes and creates the Champions; a team of young heroes dedicated to righting the wrongs of their predecessors.

Fact 4 –She made an appearance on “Avengers Assemble” Kamala first made a cameo in the Avengers Assemble episode “Inhuman Condition” where the Avengers are brought to Attilan to help rescue the royal family. Ms. Marvel later appeared, with a larger role, in the “The Kids Are Alright” where she helped the Avengers battle a rogue Ultron robot.

Fact 5 – She may be getting her own TV Show  We’ve already mentioned Ms. Marvel’s appearances on Avengers Assemble, but there is a chance she might be getting her own TV show fairly soon. The rumors are that Oscar-winner John Ridley will helm the series. It should be noted that these are strictly rumors at this point and the Ridley link comes from Reddit. We know that Ridley is working on a series for Marvel, but it could just as easily be Cloak and Dagger.

Follow and Subscribe to  Sketching Comedy at:

Sketching Comedy on iTunes

Sketching Comedy on Stitcher

Sketching Comedy on Facebook

@Sketchingcomedy on Twitter

Sketching Comedy at Blazing Caribou Studios

Facebook| Twitter| Email| Blazing Caribou Studios

660x660.jpg" alt="Ms Marvel" width="200" height="200">Rood-660x660.jpg" alt="Swamp thing" width="200" height="200">660x659.jpg" alt="Swamp thing" width="200" height="200">