Random Happenstance

"Unused footage from Ms. Marvel's PSA" (Just not the Public Service Announcement you'd think)

I saw this solicited Ms. Marvel cover over at Comic Book Resources, and wrote this pretty quickly. It's mostly a monolog, but here goes, and click the pages to enlarge:





It's still pretty early on, and the book doesn't come out until July, but so far opinion seems split. (Some like it and some do not.) What do I think of the cover? Well, the buttons don't quite have the feel of the propaganda slogans that I figure they were trying for; but I readily admit, even a classic like "Loose Lips Sink Ships" probably wouldn't work anymore. I don't think even "Snitches get Stitches" would get the point across; today, a memorable chant or motto would probably have to have at least a couple swears.

Oh, the art...well, it's nicely done and pretty hot, sure; but even for Greg Horn, it's a little too cheesecakey. And maybe a bit out of character, since Carol seems a hair overly primped and made up, and if she was going to do a propaganda poster or something, wouldn't she do it in costume? I think the helmet and rifle would be enough to tie in Ms. Marvel=soldier, and the buttons could still be put on her costume.

Also, while I freely confess my knowledge of guns is limited, is the handgrip on the M-16 not normal? Hell, maybe that's not an M-16, but even more than the rest of the piece, that wonky piece gives the feel of the "Chicks Who Love Guns" scene from Jackie Brown. And the solicit also mentions, "she must find the warrior within" which, I kinda thought she was already doing.

I like Ms. Marvel as a character, even though I don't read her book. (I can't read every damn thing.) But Horn's covers always make her look polished and shiny and impossibly hot; and I would've figured she'd be a bit earthier. Like she'd be pretty, but not the type to wear a lot of makeup or fuss about her looks in situations that didn't merit it--that's the Wasp's job!

I don't think Ms. Marvel is necessarily a perfect paragon of womanhood, like, say, Wonder Woman, who's magical and godlike and looks immaculate even after being fighting thirty-seven super-villains in the rain after a really late night. But, MM does have some degree of invulnerability, right? If she still has hair, and it hasn't been burned off or something, then it would follow it shares to at least some extent that invulnerability...and still stays bouncy and manageable!

So, hypothetically: in a typical superhero fight, Wonder Woman is thrown through a wall. She gets up, dusts herself off, and gets back into the fight with grace and determination and still looking like a million bucks. Same situation: Power Girl gets up, pissed and ready to fight and probably enjoying herself more than WW. Adam Warren's Empowered: her costume tears, leaving her powerless, and she's tied up and mocked for several pages, but in a much more funny manner than it sounds. And Miss Marvel? She gets up, taking a moment to mentally kick herself for getting thrown through a wall, looks at the situation tactically, asks herself what she's doing wrong, and gets back in there, noticeably dirtier than before. Actually, the building might fall on Carol, too, just for good measure.

There was the temptation to try and do a strip based on Dr. Doom's smack talk to Carol, but that has been pretty well covered.