It's a Bird, It's a Plane...It's an Amercian Muslim Superheroine!

Kamala Khan is making news for just the right reasons!

Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American, is a fictional super heroine from New Jersey appearing in the Ms Marvel series of comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker, this comic has gathered quite an audience!  She is Marvel’s first Muslim character to headline her own comic book. She is a 16-year-young girl from New Jersey who can shift shapes, sizes, body-morph, and even has healing powers.

The first few pages of the comic are dedicated to showing the origin of our super heroine. The comic follows an origin story that shows Kamala’s parents, Indian Muslims living in then Bombay in 1947, migrating to the newly formed state of Pakistan.

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In an old interview with TOI, Sana Amanat tells them about how the character took shape and the journey. “Marvel Comics surprised me, when they accepted the idea within minutes of pitching it. And it was accepted as quintessential comic story rather than a PR exercise of having an American-Muslim superhero.”

The character also doesn’t have a sexy look like a stereotypical super heroine would have; she’s a Muslim teenager and therefore the costume is done tastefully.

With a huge and expanding fan base like Marvel’s, we are glad to know they are adding variety to their stories for the audience.

Burka Avenger: Fighting for justice for women( Picture Credit: youtube.com)

Another super heroine to look up to is the Burka Avenger; the first ever animated superhero series made in Pakistan. The protagonist of the show is Jiya, a schoolteacher whose alter ego is the super-heroine Burka Avenger. She fights for justice and equality of women and is a truly women empowering series.

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With an increase in the readership of comics, new and innovative ideas are coming forth for stories. The concept of having a super-hero or heroine is an escape from reality that everyone looks for once in a while. It is inspirational, and somewhat fulfilling. There is an increase in female comic characters that observes an increasing readership for the same, not just from females, but males also. Us women are setting ground everywhere now, aren’t we?

Feature Image Credit: Wikipedia