Is ComicsGate Wrong? (Part 1) - NPC Marvel: An Era Without Heroes

does that break templar laws someone's saying yes put the sword down if they do come i'll need to know how to use this is this how you hold it if you want your opponent to win i fight so you don't have to [Music] i'm going to share something about myself i've really told anyone else when i was a literature angel i was part of an elite team of other angels assigned to the task of teaching a particular someone how to write the bible i taught them wrong as a joke and now i'm here so you might say i have a touch of experience when it comes to writing and editing it has long been the stance of comic skate that marvel's line of diversity superheroes is nothing less than a pile of worthless garbage especially when compared to characters and stories of the past and of course the anti-comics gate crowd easily dismisses these complaints by claiming comics gate is simply a movement fueled by hatred that comics gate actually isn't a consumer uprising but an uprising of angry white men who have become vexed that more women and minorities are now being handed leading roles not only as heroes and comics but writers as well but that leaves the outsider looking in asking which side is right is comics gate right in saying that this culture of political correctness is destroying superhero comics that marvel is hiring based on diversity over merit rather than diversity and merit or is anti-comics gate correct when they claim that these complaints are made by bigoted old white men and that superhero comics are better than ever before and that the real problem is that in a world overloaded by consumable content people just start buying comics like they used to well let's put comics gates assertions to the test were superhero comics better than compared to what we have now let's see and where better to begin than an origin story after all first impressions are important and when a superhero's debut issue is their origin story it represents a hero's concept in its purest form we're seeing character story and mythos all for the first time no fandom no obscure lore and no legacy to rely on in the end the character and writer are both forced to stand on their own with nothing to prop them up and where better to start there than miss marvel number one the origin story of kamala khan the very first muslim superhero now for the countless many of you who may have heard of or bought but never read this comic here's a quick rundown our story opens inside a convenience store where we're introduced to our sitcom trio kamala khan her geeky non-threatening guy friend who you can already go ahead and assume has a crush on her and the best friend usually this role is taken by someone fat and socially awkward so our perfectly average main character can seem more appealing by comparison but they shook up the formula a bit by making her best friend an ultra devout muslim so kamala can seem more moderate and relatable by comparison and keep this in mind because i'll be coming back to it later once introductions are made enter the two caricatures who will be serving as the closest thing to our antagonists for the evening jock and rich girl they have a little confrontation just to show us again how muslim kamala and her friend are or more specifically how non-muslim everyone else is a reoccurring theme as we'll come to see so after spending three pages establishing that kamala khan is a muslim living in a non-muslim country because one wasn't enough we finally get an entire page of superhero action that turns out to be kamala khan's fan fiction which tells us that she's a high school fan fiction writer with the mentality of a high school fan fiction writer a trait she apparently shares with a person who wrote this story so now that we're done with the dumb superhero garbage we can continue with our gut busting sitcoms show with another introduction this time to kamala khan's wacky sitcom family the stern mother the laid-back father and instead of going through the trouble of making a wacky next-door neighbor they just made the wacky next-door neighbor her brother but instead of being a comical idiot or a super nerd he's just comically muslim by the way did you know that kamala khan is muslim because she is and that's exactly why she gets into a fight with her parents kamala wants to go to a party but can't because there might be booze and boys there and kamala can't really interact with either because in case you forgot she's a muslim did i mention she was a muslim because she is in case you haven't caught on so kamala khan takes her leave from the table leaving us mired in suspense will kamala khan stay in her room and do homework or will she sneak out so after sneaking out kamala goes to the park where there is a party so crazy the speakers are making the same noises your aunt makes when she has one too many mojitos some guy has already blacked out and freddy krueger is chasing someone around with an axe that's my kind of party of course kamala immediately runs into jock and rich girl they offer her a drink without telling her there's alcohol in it poor kamala now she knows how the native americans feel incidentally these are my three favorite panels in the entire book is there politics in this not just a new superhero who's a socialist is captain america in this yup except he's a nazi is there a strong female superhero in this yeah it's captain marvel except instead of challenging super villains she challenges the heteronormative nature of gender roles and the very idea of gender itself by becoming the very first super powered female superhero to enter the marvel cinematic universe and brings to a broad audience the core ideas of feminism with the hopes of teaching little girls that narrow social dynamics that close-minded fathers have been teaching them is actually much broader than they might assume showing that in reality they are perfect and beautiful just the way they are and that diligence and hard work are just lies spread by the evil of the patriarchy good stuff so her non-threatening guy friend steps in they walk away kamala makes the mpc face guy friends crush on her gets confirmed and kamala runs off in a huff that's when what i can only assume is the endless amount of smug residing inside the marvel offices seeps into the comic and engulfs the city kamala complains about her muslim family being so muslim all the time and passes out from a smug overdose normally this results in a fan-bashing twitter tirade but instead of hallucinating nazis everywhere she sees her favorite superheroes they have a quick talk and they vanish but not without granting this random girl they literally met on the street some superpowers keep this moment in mind too and okay they might have spent an unusual amount of time on introductions without the slightest hint of a plot but kamala khan has her powers she's miss marvel now maybe we're finally going to get started get some superhero action in our superhero comic oh well that's embarrassing guess the writer was so excited to write they forgot to put in a story common mistake but surely the crusty old white men comics gate loved so much weren't any better after all comics gate is nothing but a gelatinous ocean of blubbery neckbeards and men children fueled by hatred bigotry and cheetos theirs is nothing but a romanticized memory of comics made manifest by an overdose of nostalgia they might claim that the old comics were better but that's only because these new heroes are written by minorities and women and they aren't welcome in the treehouse now this is where i'm supposed to break down the comic and look into its merits and flaws but my question here isn't whether this comic is good the question is whether the old comics were better than those produced by marvel's diversity line and ultimately is comics gate a movement of boorish bitter bigots or are they right and more importantly answer that question for those who might be new to comics who are completely absent of nostalgia and have never taken a peek at how comics were constructed when the objective was to entertain its audience and not lecture them those people who are on the outside looking in keeping that in mind it can be difficult to gauge the quality of something without a standard of comparison if all you've ever eaten is crap you can't really tell it's crap until you've eaten something better it might be easy to love the last jedi when you've never seen the empire strikes back so let's switch things around let's dig up an origin story from the past bring one of comics gates sacred cows into the light and make a side by side comparison let's see how an old superhero story compares to a new superhero story but which one while it might be tempting to compare kamala khan's miss marvel to the original miss marvel it's clear that khan's superhero identity doesn't take center stage instead it's her muslim identity that becomes the focus so what better way to compare marvel's most iconic muslim superhero than with marvel's most iconic christian superhero matt murdock aka daredevil daredevil number one sets the scene with 4 seedy looking gangsters playing cards in a cd rundown gym and discussing a seedy yet apparently dangerous man known as the fixer and at the mention of the name our hero arrives on the scene and then they fight and it is awesome after soundly defeating the four gangsters our hero announces his goal of trying to find the mysterious fixer and punctuates the entire scene by introducing himself as daredevil that's when we're thrown back in time to see the origins of matt murdock son of the boxer battling murdoch who prefers to discourage his son from fighting and pushes him instead to focus on school of course matt dreamed of joining some kind of athletic team boys will be boys you know but he stayed loyal to his dad's wishes he focuses on books and stays away from sports at least until he became a teenager and figured out he could do all sorts of naughty things while his dad was away like lifting barbells jumping rope and beating his bag however matt might be getting jacked and scoring trade a's in school but life isn't going so well for battling murdock he's a boxer who's past his prime getting paid peanuts to be a punching bag for younger men and because of his age even those opportunities are drying up but he's desperate to stay in the game until matt graduates from school so desperate that he throws his lot in with none other than the infamous fixer at the same time matt spots an old man about to be hit by a truck with an oddly specific title and jumps into action oh keep this in mind too matt does manage to save the old man but is badly injured as a result including the permanent loss of his vision to which matt quickly adapts to now that might be because the radioactive sludge being carried by the truck gave him superpowers all his senses were heightened in the accident so the loss of his sight didn't slow him down at all he maintained his grades workout routine and even got accepted into law school but again while matt was improving his life things took another downturn for battling murdoch when the fixer tells him to throw the next fight and battling murdock agrees though reluctantly that is until his son shows up battling murdoch then refuses to participate in the crime so matt could be proud of his dad and he does end up taking home the gold which results in his murder by one of the fixer's goons matt gets depressed but he moves on he graduates law school and opens a firm with his best friend foggy nelson they even get their own office complete with a beautiful blonde secretary you know the complete package but matt couldn't stop thinking about his dad's death and he vows to bring the criminal responsible to justice so wanting to keep the promise with his father never to fight matt puts together a costumed persona known as daredevil and so daredevil would fight so that matt murdock wouldn't have to which brings us back to the present just in time to see the arrival of the fixer another attends fight big shot which stretches all the way to the subway where the fixer is so afraid of daredevil that he dies of a heart attack and the henchmen who murdered battling murdoch in the first place gets tricked into confessing everything and our story ends with the bad guys defeated matt finally at peace and marvel asking for feedback from readers wow how things have changed now feedback is a hate crime i mentioned earlier that first impressions are important there are few things more important to a new comic book superhero than their first issue and there's nothing more important to that first issue than the very first page the first page of ms marvel starts us off with a sandwich and ends with kamala making absolutely sure the audience knows that her friend nakia is a super muslim while kamala herself is almost apathetic by the last panel we are introduced to kamala khan her two friends and most of the focus has been on telling us that she's a muslim no hint of crime no villain no plot now to me a first page should make the proper introductions but it should also jump-start the plot maybe that's too much to ask maybe my expectations are too high the writers are only human after all let's look back at daredevil if comics gate is just a movement of nostalgia drunk sexists and not one of consumers rallying against a drastic drop in quality when compared to the past then these old white men should fail to meet my expectations also so let's take a look daredevil's first page sets us in a gym a place you could say is central to matt murdock's entire life both literally and metaphorically and to be clear these are things which we learn by the end of the first issue we're then introduced to some gangsters who in turn introduce us to a man called the fixer who we'll later discover is the main villain and by the last panel we get to see daredevil make a fully costumed debut we get a setting significant to the story we get hints of criminal activity we get a name for our main villain we get to see daredevil enter the scene and we know that some kind of conflict exists between the fixer and daredevil setting up the plot all from the first page daredevil gave us atmosphere story and mystery that led us into a tale of human struggles at near shakespearean proportions miss marvel gave us sandwiches and islam which led us into a story about fan fiction and going to a party without permission i guess we're lucky it wasn't a school dance where kamala accidentally set up two dates there's no real conflict or at least the conflict that does exist is inappropriate for the genre the conflict in a good superhero story should be a battle between good and evil right and wrong a hero versus a villain batman versus the joker green lantern versus sinestro captain america versus the red skull just like sherlock holmes is nothing without a challenging mystery to solve superheroes are almost nothing without an interesting villain to fight daredevil gave us the fixer a criminal boss who shattered matt murdock's world by murdering his father giving him a very human drive to put on a mask miss marvel gave us nothing i know some might argue that jock and rich girl are the villains of the story but they aren't a villain's role in his superhero story is to set up the conflict like when the fixer murdered matt murdock's father pushing daredevil to bring him to justice when the red skull wanted to use alien tech to win world war ii for hydra captain america jumped into action to stop him sure the biggest confrontation of the issue took place at a party where a jock and rich girl were being jerks but they didn't pressure kamala into being there they didn't blackmail her into disobeying her parents and they didn't set up the party for some kind of malicious purpose that would later force kamala to take action against them had kamala decided not to go nothing would have happened at all a story's main villain should generally be the source of the problem the hero faces jock and rich girl aren't the source of the story's central conflict in fact the real source of kamala's conflict throughout the first issue is islam and that might work in some touchy-feely drama soyboys watch to prove they don't have toxic masculinity or masculinity of any kind but it doesn't work in a superhero comic superheroes need something to punch and you can't punch islam and that brings us to the second biggest flaw in the work i had asked you to remember that moment in miss marvel where they made kamala's best friend a hardcore muslim so kamala could seem ordinary by comparison the marvelous misadventures of muslim miss marvel was pushed as the first muslim superhero which could have worked had they not focused so much on that aspect they quite literally spent the entire front page telling us how muslim her life is instead of telling us a story daredevil has become one of the most iconic christian superheroes in history and not once does his first issue push any kind of christian agenda or even mention his religion instead the creators at marvel opted to make him popular by making him both relatable and perhaps just as important heroic see when you compare kamala khan and matt murdock you might notice some distinct differences in their characters at least in how they're first presented to us from what we see kamala khan lives in a nice middle class home with her own room own computer has time to geek out and write fan fiction and comes from a family who's wealthy enough to comfortably support a son who doesn't want to work she has two best friends one of which likes or likes her and would happily step up in her defense matt murdock grew up in a low rent apartment with a dead mom and a boxer dad who gets paid just enough to get by and even that income is constantly in peril matt spends nearly all of his time studying and working hard and until he met foggy nelson in law school had no friends see we're told that matt idolized his father and wanted nothing more than to be a boxer like his dad he wanted to try out for sports and play games with kids his age instead he spent his time studying matt would eventually rocket to the top of his class but his academic success came with the price social exclusion the other kids saw him as timid and anti-social in fact the name daredevil was actually an insult other kids would taunt him with because he was seen as a cowardly nerd matt murdock's world is one of exclusion adversity and loneliness kamala khan's world is one of acceptance inclusion and comfort the worst things she experienced were two people being minor jerks which would have never happened at all had she been more like matt murdock jock and rich girl were only able to play a prank on kamala because she decided to disobey her parents sneak out of the house and go to a party she was not supposed to attend in other words she put her own desires over the wants of her parents i mentioned that matt murdock really wanted to be a boxer but instead of getting into sports he kept his nose fixed in study he wasn't studying because of some enlightened sense of bettering himself he devoted his life to study because that's what his dad wanted him to do even when it meant sacrificing his own desires his own dreams even when it made him a social outcast he did everything in his power to keep the promise he made to his dad in other words he put his father's desires over his own even when it meant forsaking everything he wanted these major differences between matt and kamala really come into play when we look at the biggest flaw in miss marvel number one the super powers kamala khan disrespects her parents by sneaking out at night and going to a party where other kids her age are doing very legal things and she does this because her religion won't let her eat or drink certain things after suffering a minor prank she ends the night by yelling at the guy friend who just defended her and storms off then she's almost literally handed superpowers one might argue her behavior is semi-normal for a teenager and i might agree but normal behavior is not heroic behavior matt murdock too disobeyed his father when he entered his teen years sort of but instead of going out drinking or doing drugs he started working out and even then matt kept his promise not to fight and to keep up with his studies he was not handed superpowers instead when matt saw an old man about to be hit with a truck he jumped into action and saved his life though just like keeping his promises to his father this too came with a very real consequence matt ended up in the hospital with terrible injuries and of course permanent blindness finally after casting away his social life losing his eyesight and nearly losing his actual life for the sake of others matt developed super senses and that difference highlights not only a tragic flaw miss marvel number one but a tragic flaw harming sjw marvel as a whole matt murdock's story is a tale of selflessness in a world of selfishness but most of all it is a tale of sacrifice matt sacrificed his friends in sports for his father he put his own life in danger and sacrificed his eyesight to save a life he constantly places others ahead of himself he's diligent a hard worker loyal intelligent he's strong enough to take the slings and arrows of other kids to the audience matt murdock was a hero before he ever put on the mask to the audience he earned his powers heroism requires sacrifice whether it be facing down a massive alien invasion or rushing into a burning building to save the people trapped inside or even just giving up your day off so you can make a stranger feel better heroism means suffering so that someone else doesn't have to and that's what the story of kamala khan lacks her story is one of complaints fangirling selfishness and dishonesty kamala fails to display any heroic traits she makes no sacrifices and the choices she makes during her first story revolve around her own desires and for this she's rewarded with super powers and to make things worse she doesn't even get them through a heroic or noble act where matt murdock wound up in the hospital and losing his eyesight to save a stranger kamala khan is handed powers just like she's been handed everything else in life to any human audience kamala khan did absolutely nothing within the confines of the first issue to earn her powers she was just an ordinary girl who fate decided deserved superpowers for no clear reason like she won a raffle or something if that were insulting enough it's literally fate that hens kamala her powers they outright say it fate shows up and boom superpowers it's almost as if the writer got so caught up in writing a cliche teen drama about a muslim girl that she forgot to add on the superhero portion and stabled on this nonsense at the last minute i guess that's what happens when you hire a writer who's better known for dramas for teens and not thrilling action-packed superhero stories for men and boys i also guess that's why the first issue abruptly ends with kamala khan getting her powers and then standing there like an idiot this cover is false advertising if i were one to pick up a book called miss marvel number one i would be looking for a thrilling superhero story of good vs evil instead you get disney's sitcom garbage the first book ends with a sorry that superhero stuff will happen in the next issue maybe spoilers it doesn't if i were someone who picked this up looking for a new superhero story i'd feel cheated ultimately miss marvel number one was all right because the setup was decent at least for drama kamala khan starts off immature resentful and selfish she starts off as a normal kid but that's all she is it would be fine for stories centered around seeing a character grow and mature to overcome these childish flaws but a character in a superhero story should be somewhat noble or at least learn to be noble by the end they should stand as a shining light in a dark and dangerous world kamala khan isn't noble and she doesn't learn to be noble by the end she doesn't give the audience a single hint of a single positive quality that makes her singularly worthy of being anyone's role model matt murdock too was granted powers but it wasn't because he was christian it wasn't because of his skin color and it wasn't because of his status in society it was because matt murdock spent his whole life dedicated to others at the cost of his own dreams aspirations and ultimately his well-being and more than that he stands as a potential role model for anyone who may have also lost their eyesight he didn't let the loss destroy him after everything he went through he kept going matt graduated law school he opened his own firm and he brought his father's murderers to justice matt earned everything he received through hard work perseverance and noble selflessness and he earned it not only from the world around him but from the audience kamala khan earned nothing so yes marvel did succeed in giving us a muslim character but in their haste to push an agenda they forgot to give us a hero hmm

Channel: Literature Devil

Views: 219,249

Rating: 4.8421531 out of 5

Keywords: #ComicsGate, Anti-ComicsGate, SJW Marvel, Kamala Khan, Ms. Marvel, Ms. Marvel #1, Ms. Marvel 2014, DareDevil, Matt Murdock, DareDevil #1, Superhero Origin, G. Willow Wilson, Stan Lee, Old vs New, creative writing, Marvel comics

Id: 4JSyPIETzyo

Length: 24min 20sec (1460 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 27 2019