Comic series provide inspiration and entertainment but in the past few years, comic writers have chosen to further diversify the characteristics of their superheroes by pooling in dynamic individuals from other racial, religious and cultural backgrounds. Black Lightening, The Falcon, Shang-Chi, Storm, Green Lantern, Spawn, Luke Cage are only some of the famous comic heroes who are, in American vernacular, people of color. A similar development took place recently when G. Willow Wilson of Marvel Comics introduced a new character: Kamala Khan, a Pakistani American Muslim super heroine from New Jersey. Described as a young woman hailing from “an extremely conservative family”, Kamala is depicted as a youth who successfully navigates through the issues of her identity.
The brain behind creating Kamala is Marvel editor Sana Amanat, who believes that the need for a Muslim super heroine was imperative given the dearth of Muslim representation in mainstream comics. Out of approximately 1.6 million Muslims, there are only a few Muslim superheroes in comics. To address this dearth in cartoons, a Kuwaiti entrepreneur launched a superhero book called The 99 which is a series of superheroes who embody the 99 qualities of Allah. Similarly, the Burka Avenger, is about a burka-clad Muslim woman who teaches children by day and tackles anti-education extremists by night. Slowly and steadily, the void of Muslim superheroes in comic series for children and teenagers as well as comic fan adults is being filled with interesting figures.
While several opine that Kamala’s description falls into stereotyping Pakistani Muslim women, the assertion is not outlandish, but Sana Amanat insists that these descriptors will be corrected once the series officially begins. If anything, Kamala Khan is a character that a number of young Muslim women can relate to and in whose courage and wit they will find assurance.