Fear Itself #7 - Something's missing

[stubbleupdate]

We've already seen the preview of The Mighty

But who doesn't get their own spot in the Fear Itself #7 recap page?


Yes, no solo spot for Background Character Ms. Marvel.



Please get her out of the New Avengers Katamari. She hasn't done anything in there for ages.

Comments

[shadowpsykie]

who is Hermod?

[stubbleupdate]

Odin's messenger

[shadowpsykie]

hmmm interesting

[schala_kid]

And sometimes when writers remember he's Thor's half-brother too.

[drmcninja]

Everybody loves to use Carol in their stories, but nobody actually uses Carol in their stories. Its like they want her, but they don't really want her. It isn't hard to find things for the flying super strong energy-absorbing alien super heroine to do, guys.

[bittercupojoe]

I can understand the issue, sort of. On its face, Ms. Marvel is a great asset to a team book. Strong female, ex-military, former SHIELD (IIRC), flying, super strong, energy absorber/projector. The problem is, she overlaps at least one and usually more people in just about every character trait listed. Just going across the group shot at the bottom:

Strong female: Black Widow, Spider-woman, Jessica Jones, Mockingbird, Maria Hill, Sharon Carter, Ms. Hand
ex-military/SHIELD: Black Widow, Spider-woman, Mockingbird, Maria Hill, Sharon Carter, Ms. Hand, Wolverine, Captain America
Flying: Spider Woman, Iron Man, Thor, Captain Marvel, Dr. Strange
Super strong: Spider Woman, Spider-man, Thing, Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Man, Hulk, Captain Marvel
Energy absorber/projector: Iron Man, Captain Marvel(?)

Heck, even if you went by personal history, you've got things like recovered alcoholic (Iron Man) that she matches up with. Now, that can allow for some good character moments, but those are rare. Instead, she fades into the background because 90% of the time, there is a more prominent character that can fill her role in the story. It's a shame, because she's a really good character when used well.

[salinea]

"strong female" shouldn't be a character trait, as in something salient. It should be baseline for all female characters.

[bittercupojoe]

I don't know that I necessarily agree with that. Having a weak character, male or female, can be interesting; the wallflower, for example, learning to be stronger. If all characters are "strong," it translates into a non-trait.

[salinea]

It's sort of depends what you mean by "strong" here. But when I hear "strong female characters" - besides the parody comics :p - I think a female character who has 3D characterisation and isn't a prop to set up someone else's story. Such a character doesn't need to be a tough, assertive woman, so a wall flower learning to be stronger character (or without going into storyline about betterment at all, a character who is soft-spoken, introverted and compassionate) would still be "strong" if well characterised, driving her own narrative, and being shown as competent.

[bittercupojoe]

Yeah, I meant the "tough, assertive" type. All main characters in a story should be fully fleshed out, if the writer is doing their job right.

[salinea]

'kay then. Carry on :)

[abriel]

That's one of the many reasons I have dropped Marvel for the most part. I hate how Carol and other good charactes like her have become wallpaper. In fact I flipped through this issue at my LCS and I saw VERY little of her in it at all even though she's supposed to be one of the Mighty.

[mrstatham]

You say that like you'd want an exceptionally bland take on Carol. Given Tony's the least interesting character in his own book and I've heard no-one saying anything really good about Fraction's handle on Thor, do we really want him writing her? It was bad enough with Reed writing her and being interested in everyone but her.

[abriel]

At this point I might prefer Fraction to Bendis, who doesn't do anything with her at all.

*sigh* I miss Frank Cho and La Torre...

[mrstatham]

Nah, Fraction's a total tease. It's like 'hey, hey you! Yeah you, the Ms Marvel fan. Check this!' And he shows you like, that one panel of her with the other Mighty, and then that's it and Fraction's pointing and laughing.

It's like DC going, 'hey kids, we got a new Cass Cain book coming out!' And then you get it and it's scripted by Beechen, drawn by Liefeld and actually stars Alfred dressed as Cass.

[abriel]

Who wouldn't want to buy a book featuring Alfred cross-dressing? :D

[stubbleupdate]

Cho only ever did covers for Ms. Marvel.

I do miss De La Torre though. His Doomsday Man story was the first Ms. Marvel that I bought.

[schmevil]

De La Torre was also good on Iron Man. Damn but I miss the post-CW pre-Skrull era.

[stubbleupdate]

The Initiative era really was My Time in comics.

The Order
The Initiative
The Mighty Avengers
Ms. Marvel

So many good Marvel books.

[schmevil]

I miss the days when I was reading Iron Man, Ms. Marvel, She-Hulk and Wonder Woman every month. ;_;

God of Speed

[capt_satellite]

So....Hermod provides Asgard with it's supply of Methamphetamines? Or was he just primarily worshiped by ancient Scandinavian tweakers?

Re: God of Speed

[valtyr]

I believe reindeer urine was the drug of choice.

[mrstatham]

For someone demanding respect for the character, you'd do good to get the gender-based aspect of her codename right, heh..

[stubbleupdate]

Being snarky is not a good way to point out somebody's mistake.

[crabby_lioness]

Carol needs to have something off the wall happen to her to distinguish her from the others.

Not bad, she's been through enough bad. Just different.

[schmevil]

Time for a space adventure, maybe.

[crimsondude.livejournal.com]

I support you support for Carol a million percent.

It'd be higher, but I couldn't give two shits about FI or any Bendis book.

[silverzeo]

Wouldn't it be akward if that was a Poser-SPider-Man that got the Asgard-Upgrade?

[eyz]

I'm personally not really enjoying these FEAR ITSELF-costumes. Temporary or not.

Blah! :/

[schmevil]

That is an incredibly blah action page. The poses of the non-fliers make NO SENSE.

[schmevil]

Can we just spin her off into a book with Spider-Woman and Jessica Jones?