Tag Archives: islam

controversy, from the Internet

UPDATE: Ms. Marvel and the Good Business of Democracy

Before U.S. Election Day 2016, Sacred and Sequential posted a critique of the coverage provided by The New York Daily News‘s Ethan Sacks of the forthcoming Ms. Marvel #13.

Good to his word, Mr. Sacks did provide several comments via private Direct Message on Twitter. And, in the spirit of open dialogue, I republish the majority of them here:

Continue reading UPDATE: Ms. Marvel and the Good Business of Democracy →

contributors, controversy, cultural, events, from the Internet

Ms. Marvel and the Good Business of Democracy

msmarvel_13_election_5Marvel Comics’ Ms. Marvel #13 not only displays a determined, patriotic Muslim-American superheroine on its cover, but it also dedicates much of its page content to the titular hero pushing a “get out the vote effort.” In a U.S. Presidential election that has featured intolerance widely and Islamophobia specifically, having the Jersey-born Pakistani character campaigning for democratic action feels heartening, coming, even as a does, from a mega-corporation-backed publisher like Marvel.

The comic hits retail stores on November 30th, three weeks after the election.

Ethan Sacks, writing for the New York Daily News, sounds befuddled about this timing:

The timing of “Ms. Marvel” # 13, however, is a little puzzling. By the time the issue hits stores on Nov. 30, the presidential race will (hopefully) have been long decided.

First, Sacks is either naive about the comic book industry or, worse, willfully ignorant: there are any number of reasons to have this issue come out after Tuesday, November 8th. Not the least of these reasons is the very point he embeds parenthetically in his comment, namely that we can only hope Nov. 8th concludes the ugly, vicious election season. Yet, many suspect/fear a even nastier fight than the Bush/Gore debacle of 2000 — and, in that scenario, the release of Ms. Marvel #13 will feel particularly wise, prescient, and rightfully scolding.

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controversy, from the Internet

Jordanian Activist Assassinated Before Cartoon Blasphemy Trial

Activists hold a picture of Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar on Wednesday at his funeral [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters]
Activists hold a picture of Jordanian writer Nahed Hattar on Wednesday at his funeral [Muhammad Hamed/Reuters]

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) has reported on a story that may otherwise have eluded American media: as Al-Jazeera and The Guardian both reported in late September, Jordanian left-wing writer and activist Nahed Hattar was assassinated while entering a courthouse to face blasphemy charges for a cartoon he posted on Facebook.

In the comic, God is depicted as taking orders from an ISIL agent cozily ensconced with two woman in Paradise. Hattar, part of Jordan’s 4% Christian minority, had intended the cartoon to criticize ISIL’s hypocrisy, but he subsequently deleted the offending piece and offered an apology in the face of Jordanian outrage.

[Full image available below.]

Continue reading Jordanian Activist Assassinated Before Cartoon Blasphemy Trial →

from the Internet

“I can’t give my superhero a Muslim name.”

What is the purpose, one might ask, of creating, for instance, Muslim superheroes, much less studying them? Last year, The Muslim Vibe produced an article that gives one such answer to that question: “Erasure of the Muslim Superhero: The Effect of Islamophobia on Muslim Children.”

The lesson need not be limited to Muslim children alone — any oppressed or vilified group will face the same backlash, particularly among its most impressionable and least powerful subgroup, children. But, at this moment in American and world politics, that effect falls particularly hard on Muslim children. Therefore, as the author Afrah Mansour relates, there is a duty “an educator to make the younger generation value themselves” alongside others.

http://themuslimvibe.com/muslim-lifestyle-matters/parents/erasure-of-the-muslim-superhero/

Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation comes out in Spring 2017 from the ILEX Foundation.

academic, from the Internet

MUSLIM SUPERHEROES Begins “In Earnest”

Mizan logoIn advance of the Spring 2017 release of Muslim Superheroes: Comics, Islam, and Representation, Mizan has been featuring a series of related articles on its Mizan Pop site. The first, dated this past summer, provides an overview of that category’s — “Muslim superheroes” — history.

The study of Muslim superheroes has only quite recently begun in earnest, with scholars like comics historian Fredrik Strömberg and French scholar Shirin Edwin publishing some of the first scholarly articles in this specific field in 2011. There has been a small but steady stream of work on the subject since. Regrettably, while some of this scholarship is of high quality, it has, to date, been scattered over multiple disciplines, and new work has only rarely been in dialogue with what has come before.

In theory, Muslim Superheroes, edited by A. David Lewis and Martin Lund, is intended to further that dialogue and provide stronger connective tissue between the disciplines on the topic. Their promotional Facebook page features links to some of that “steady stream on the subject” and a preview of the book jacket (featuring art by Qahera artist Deena Mohamed).

Muslim Superheroes