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Eid Mubarak! A Look at Muslims in Comics (Panels.net)

(The following article by Ardo Omer first appeared at Panels.net on 7/17/2015. It is presented here with her permission.)

Eid Mubarak, readers! For most Muslims, today marks the end of Ramadan – an Islamic month – which is roughly 30 days of fasting, and Muslims are expected to not consume food or drink from sunrise to sunset. Eid al-Fitr is a celebration of the end of Ramadan, and marks the start of a new Islamic month: Shawwal. I thought it would be great to celebrate alongside some fellow Muslims in comics to mark the occassion on Panels. I hope you all join in on the festivities, and if you happen to see a Muslim today, greet them with Eid Mubarak. Now onwards!

Qahera: The Superhero

Qahera

Qahera is a webcomic about a Muslim female superhero who fights misogyny, and Islamophobia. She’s created by a Muslim Egyptian woman, and it’s a great read.

Shahara Hasan from Bodies (Vertigo)

Shahara Hasan

Shahara Hasan is a character in a limited Vertigo series called Bodies by Si Spenser, Meghan Hetrick, Dean Ormston, Tula Lotay, and Phil Winslade. She’s a Detective Sergeant who’s one of four detectives across four time periods trying to solve a murder. She tries to balance her faith, her duty, being a Muslim, and identifying as British which sounds like an interesting read. It’s a comic I definitely want to check out.

Continue reading Eid Mubarak! A Look at Muslims in Comics (Panels.net) →

academic, articles and essays, cultural

Boston Professor Uses X-Men Character Costume to Illuminate Islamophobia after Marathon Bombing

Kecia AliIn the wake of the Boston Marathon Bombing and capture of suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Boston University Associate Professor Kecia Ali was invited as a guest blogger for NPR affiliate WBUR’s Cognoscenti where she recounted not only running a 5-kilometer fundraiser with a “Heroes and Villains” theme but also having to convince a fellow runner that her costume as Dust of the X-Men was actually heroic.

Dust, of course, brings the veil front and center. She may be a rare positive representation of a Muslim woman in comic books, but her character is affected by Orientalism and sexism. Does she break down stereotypes, or does she reinforce them?

Ali pointed to an earlier writing by blogger Broken Mystic on the character of Dust and the complexities her portrayals present:

So overall, can we appreciate a character like Dust? I think we can; however, there is a lot of room for improvement. […H]er character is incomplete and her character suffers from stereotypes that are due to misunderstandings about Islamic beliefs and practices.

What with the recent headlines generated by DC Comics’ introduction of Simon Baz as a new Green Lantern, are Marvel Comics readers likely to be reintroduced to Dust anytime soon?