Comic fans say APA superheroine another step in the right direction
Tags: Comics, Marvel

Comic fans say APA superheroine another step in the right direction

Between an African-American Captain America, a Pakistani-Muslim Ms. Marvel and a female Thor, the comic community has been rocked by recent announcements of a more diverse superhero world.

New to the list is Marvel’s Silk, an Asian-American female superhero who will have her own ongoing series in February 2015.

“More diversity in superheroes is better for everyone,” said Peter Casazza, owner of Big Planet Comics in College Park, Md. His store plans to carry the series after its release in February.

“It makes it easier for all kinds of people with all kinds of perspectives to enter the comic world,” he said.

Silk, or Cindy Moon, was introduced in the most recent “Amazing Spiderman” series as a classmate of Peter Parker’s who was bitten by the same radioactive spider that activated his superpowers. On Oct. 12 at the New York Comic Con, Comic publisher Marvel announced that Silk’s story would become a spin-off series.

James Alexander, who organizes a regular D.C. comic fan meet-up, said that he hopes Silk develops beyond the overdone “female version of a superhero that is bigger and better.”

“I still have some mixed feelings about Marvel’s diversity-oriented story lines,” he said. “Generally, I think they can be exciting, but let’s face it, sometimes these stories fall flat.”

Casazza said a comic’s quality depends more on the writer than on the character’s initial appearance.

“[Silk] kind of came out of nowhere, and it looks like it’s developing into an interesting story,” said Casazza.

Esther Kim, manager of Fantom Comics in D.C., said she was excited by Marvel’s recent steps toward highlighting women in the comic world, particularly with Silk as an Asian American.

“It looks like she’s going to be an amazing and complicated character in her own right, not just a badly represented knock-off of Spidey’s powers,” said Esther Kim. “She’s clearly got her own history and set of issues and a determination to stand on her own.”

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Illustration courtesy of Kristafer Anka.[/caption]

Silk is not the first Asian in the Marvel Universe. The Green Turtle, birthed in 1944, is considered comics’ first Asian-American hero, though editors disguised his Chinese-American heritage from post-World War II readers who held “yellow peril” fears. Since the late 80s, Singaporean superheroine Tyger Tiger and the X-Men’s Chinese Jubilee have made appearances in the Marvel Universe.

Silk’s first issue will be written by Robbie Thompson, known for his work with The CW Network’s popular show “Supernatural.” It will be illustrated by Stacey Lee, whose work, Casazza said, is “fresh and engaging,” with “a lot of energy and dynamic movement.”

Salwa Shan, a junior biology and education student at the University of Maryland who has been reading comics since she was a child, said she was hesitant to see how Marvel would portray Silk.

“One thing I noticed especially in comics is that women are always oversexualized,” she said. In Lee’s depiction, Shan said she still saw over-sexualization, “but it’s not as prevalent.”

Despite the steps toward diversity in comics, critics say that the stereotypical imagery associated with Asian culture and the particular objectification and over-sexualization of Asian-American women in comics continues.

Casazza said Marvel’s track record with diversity, in terms of artists, writers and characters, has been “terrible,” but social media has allowed publishers to see their true audience base without investing money.

“Almost every series has been about white men,” he said. “Now, with the Internet and social media opening up the comic world, finally there’s diversity of artists and creators that are reaching out to people with different perspectives.”

Kim said the popularity of the new Pakistani-Muslim Ms. Marvel, Fantom Comics’ top-selling book, let comic publishers “take a chance on characters and audiences they wouldn’t necessarily have tried to reach before.”

Shan said Marvel has realized it must move past its typical protagonist.

“It’s really important for the target audience, which I believe is very vast and very diverse, to feel a connection to the main character,” Shan said.

Featured illustration courtesy of Robert Negrete.