Marvel Comics elected to go with an interesting candidate to appeal for readers to get out and vote: the publisher’s popular Muslim-American superhero.
Ms. Marvel, whose secret identity is 16-year-old Kamala Khan, a Pakistani-American of Jersey City, battles a more insidious foe than Doctor Doom in the next issue of her comic -- voter apathy.
“By not voting you’re not sending a message, you’re just lumping yourself in with the millions of people who didn’t vote because they don’t know how or they don’t care,” Khan admonishes a disgruntled senior in a sequence from “Ms. Marvel” # 13.
Given his star-spangled costume, Captain America may have seemed the obvious non-partisan choice. But Ms. Marvel’s campaign may be interpreted as a rebuke of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s calls for a ban on Muslims entering the U.S.
Ms. Marvel, part of the company’s effort to add gender, racial and religious diversity to its four-color panels, us the brainchild of writer G. Willow Wilson, an Islamic convert herself, and Muslim editor Sana Amanat.
The Avengers alum has become a symbol of tolerance beyond comic books. An artist in San Francisco used her image to paste over anti-Islamic ads on city buses last year.
The timing of “Ms. Marvel” # 13, however, is a little puzzling. By the time the issue hits stores on Nov. 30, the presidential race will (hopefully) have been long decided.