Kamala Khan’s Rising Influence: The Ms. Marvel TV Show vs. the Comics by Dr. Margaret Robbins

We are thrilled to welcome Dr. Margaret Robbins back to YA Wednesday this week!  Robbins is a Humanities Educator at The Mount Vernon School.  She is also a National Writing Project Fellow, avid reader and scholar of diverse comics and YA literature, and creative writer.

Margaret's reflection below is especially valuable because it weds world history, current popular television, and YA graphic novels.  

Kamala Khan’s Rising Influence: The Ms. Marvel TV Show vs. the Comics by Dr. Margaret Robbins

In early June, I watched the debut Ms. Marvel TV show on Disney Plus with my five-year-old nephew, who followed it surprisingly well. He asked me questions, but he could appreciate the characters and the imagination. The subsequent episodes might be too scary and serious for him, but I’m glad he watched the first episode with me. He’s Jewish, so I want him to understand the importance of representation, along with imagination.

As some readers know, I am passionate about the new Ms. Marvel comics featuring Kamala Khan, a teenage Pakistani-American girl from Jersey City. I’ve taught them, particularly the first Ms. Marvel: No Normal volume, and I’ve also written about them in academic articles and journals. I met G. Willow Wilson at the ICFA Conference in March 2019 and heard her speak. So at first, I had conflicting feelings about the fact that the TV show is so different from the comics. However, I’ve grown to enjoy the show, even though I see it as a separate entity from the books. The pace of the television show is much faster than that of the comics, which I think makes sense for the transition to television. A couple of friends and students who have read the comics have said they liked the story, but that the pace was slow, so I imagine that one reason behind the faster pace is to have wider audience appeal.

Some incidents in the tv show happen a lot more quickly and in more depth than in the comics. For instance, in Volume 1 of Ms. Marvel No Normal, Kamala attends a cousin’s Mehndi, or engagement party. In the television series, much of one episode is devoted to her brother Amir’s wedding, whereas the comic only mentions that Amir got married. Through the episode, though, the audience is able to learn about Pakistani cultural wedding traditions, which I found interesting. 
The character of Red Dagger is introduced much earlier in the series, and Kamala makes a voyage to Karachi, Pakistan, much earlier in the story. We also learn much of Kamala’s family’s history involving the partition of India and Pakistan in the late 1940s earlier and in more depth than in the comics. Overall, the television series introduces us to more action and conflict and also more of Pakistani culture sooner than the comics, which I think invites more audience engagement and also more education about Middle Eastern history and culture. 
Interestingly enough, Kamala’s close friend Nakia and her mother Muneeba both have more character development in the television show, and Kamala’s male best friend Bruno has less. I’ve written about Bruno and Kamala’s relationship because it’s fascinating to me not only because of their strong bond based on mutual interests and values, but also because of their racial and cultural differences. However, I know from the audience notes featured on the back of the comics that the romantic turn of their relationship got mixed reactions from readers, so that could be part of why it has been de-emphasized up to this point. Kamala has other potential love interests on the show, but so far, her relationship with Bruno has been purely platonic, even though Bruno seems to have unreciprocated feelings for Kamala. 

​Overall, I’m appreciating the Ms. Marvel TV show for its action and audience appeal, even though it diverts from the comics. I hope Kamala’s friendships with both Bruno and Nakia get more developed because I think both are important. However, I do appreciate the show exploring Nakia’s leadership and activism roles in more depth and early on, as her character gets less attention in the comics.  Also, I love how the opening conflict with Zoe involves a popular culture convention instead of a more conventional high school party. It shows how important CONS have become to modern day pop culture. I’m enjoying the TV show and think it’s culturally important and relevant because of the representation of a middle easter Muslim teenage girl, along with the empowered female characters.

In terms of classroom study, I think there’s potential to compare and contrast the comics and the TV show in terms of storytelling techniques and the building of conflict, characterization, and visual media. I also think learning more about the1947 partition would be relevant, especially for a world history curriculum. Studying the show from a critical media literacy perspective and examining power dynamics between the characters would also be beneficial, particularly since the comics and the television show both show scenes involving prejudice against Muslim and middle eastern people, along with the struggles Bruno faces based on social class. In both K12 and college classrooms, Kamala Khan is worth studying as a pop culture icon, as she is appearing more and more in other Marvel comics. I believe her influence will be long lasting because of her prominent role as a young middle eastern female Muslim character. As young children watch the show and engage with the comics, hopefully they will be reminded why representation matters.