Ms Marvel, Qahera, and superheroism in the Muslim diaspora

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis 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.