The Four Color Media Monitor: The Marvel comic that does a disservice to Britain

Here are some pictures from the short-lived Captain Britain and MI-13 series from about 6 years ago, where the UK writer Paul Cornell introduced one of the most forced ideas for a co-star member to cast, that being Faiza Hussein, a woman of Pakistani background who's a Muslim, complete with burka, and got a superpower during Secret Invasion (one of the ickiest I've ever heard of, BTW):

As seen in this panel, the ghost of Merlin (?) puts a thought in her head encouraging her to pull the Excalibur out of the stone, which she succeeds in doing. Apparently, this was Cornell's way of saying that an Islamist is worthy of being the representative of Britain's best interests. But after the terrorist attack on July 7, 2005 and even now, after the violent murder of Drummer Lee Rigby in Woolwich, that Marvel would publish something like that was as disrespectful of every decent UK resident as it was of American victims of terrorism. Come to think of it, they're even being disrespectful to the character by portraying her the way they are.

The story as seen in the book had some peculiarities along these lines too:

In one picture, Faiza rolls up her sleeves during a cricket game, and in another, she rides with Black Knight Dane Whitman on horseback. If memory serves, she even took Dane or Capt. Britain himself to meet her parents, which is unrealistic since in real life, for a Muslim woman to have anything perceived as an affair with an "infidel" (non-Muslim), could easily result in violent reactions from the father (as in the case of an actress in the Harry Potter films), and there've been many Muslim women who fell victim to honor murders committed by relatives who refuse to recognize a woman's right to free choice. Similarly, even rolling up her sleeves could be considered haram (taboo) among hardcore Islamisogynists.

To make matters worse, even after the horrific bloodbath in Woolwich, the New Statesman fawned over this poorly thought out propaganda and said that it "shows the true face of Britain"! Correction: it represents the kind of PC nonsense the leftists of Britain have been busily shoving down the public's throats for years. They say at the end:

...the story of a Muslim woman of Pakistani heritage becoming the living embodiment of all that is British may not be a story which "matters" in the comic's world, but it's certainly one which matters in ours.

After all the terrible things the most rabid advocates of the Religion of Peace have done to this world? I don't think so. The stories were so biased in her favor based on her religion - right down to the recent one set in an alternate reality tied with Age of Ultron where Brian Braddock dubs her Captain Britain - that it's not too hard to see Cornell was forcing this upon the audience based upon what religion she adheres to, not that she's British-Pakistani per se.

Cornell may have defended this dishonest, superficial portrayal of Islam by saying she doesn't have to represent the Muslim world at all times. But unfortunately, if she's going to do things like wear a burka and even remotely adhere to a violent religion, then she is. Cornell even called her Britain's Kitty Pryde. Which would be fine if she wasn't an adherent to Islam. If that's how he's going to portray her, then I'm not sure he really liked his own creation.

I wish I could say it was good that a character written as an adherent to the Religion of Peace didn't actually become Captain Britain. But the Age of Ultron-connected story so obviously represents a wish by the writer for what he thinks is logical, and as a result, that too is galling in the extreme. What a pity Cornell didn't have much respect for his own creation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have made her a Muslim in the first place.

Labels: crossoverloading, Europe and Asia, islam and jihad, marvel comics, moonbat writers, msm propaganda, politics, violence

First requirement of being the living embodiment of Britain is being British.

She isn't.

Handing out our passports to aliens like we're handing out candy no more makes someone a nationality, let alone loyal, than some stupid comicbook pushing this leftist propaganda.

In the King Arthur stories, there are two great enemies: heathen Saxons... and heathen Saracens (islamics).

'Nuff said.

Posted by Unknown | 5:07 PM

Indeed, FT. And Avi, you're dead-on about how if Dane went to meet Faiza's parents, it wouldn't exactly bode well, as the father probably regard her as an infidel whore. And, as always, I'm glad you address such logic issues. See, that's what happens, Marvel, when you attempt to inject "reality" into your funny books. Don't be surprised if "reality" bites back in ways you didn't expect.

As per the "Shows the true face of Britain," to take to a different tangent or what FT said, now that London is minority-majority for the first time, be interesting to see how the British comic writers will address the subject, if at all.

And sadly, I'm sure we'll be seeing more of this in UK or US comics in the years ahead. Welcome to Eurabia.

Posted by Killer Moth | 5:52 PM

I seem to recall that Dane Whitman went back in time and fought in the Crusades. On Europe's side, that is. We've had retrogaying, now we get retroecumenizing.

Posted by uatu | 8:46 PM

Comics used to acknowledge that real-world enemies such as the Soviets, Chi-Coms and others existed, but today they seem to think that only white Americans are villains and that Muslims in particular are "misunderstood" or some such nonsense.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:59 AM

YAY ILSAMOPHOBIA GREAT WORK PIGEONHOLING THE 1.5 BILLION MUSLIMS INTO A STEREOTYPE :D

Posted by Anonymous | 8:42 PM

I AGREE CARL I TOO MISS THE GOOD OLD DAYS WHEN RACISM WAS MORE WIDELY ACCEPTED

Posted by Anonymous | 8:45 PM

YAY PEOPLE THAT TAKE MSNBC SERIOUSLY. :D :/ XOXOXO

Posted by uatu | 9:33 PM

Ah yes, an anonymous a-hole who writes in all-caps because he thinks it's "proving" something. And of course, that's not at all what I meant. I'm not racist. Far from it. I just don't like today's PC attitudes toward everything.

If you don't like it was written here, moonbat, then don't read it.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:51 PM

And no one is pigeonholing all Muslims into a stereotype, idiot.

Posted by Anonymous | 9:53 PM

And LOL at Uatu's comment!

Posted by Anonymous | 9:59 PM

LOL

Posted by Anonymous | 4:56 AM

And Islamaphobia is a myth, a fiction concocted to derail legitimate criticism of radical Islam, and it's far from a "stereotype." The anonymous, all-caps writing doofus is just another moonbat who conflates opposition to radical Islam as "racism."

Posted by Anonymous | 1:46 PM

Time for the sequel!

http://www.theouthousers.com/index.php/news/124778-marvel-announces-new-ms-marvel-series-starring-muslim-american-teenager.html

What could go wrong?

Posted by Killer Moth | 6:03 PM

I have all the novels of this I can't stand it the best thing I have done with these comics was sell them.

James

http://onlineb2badvice.co.uk/

Posted by Unknown | 7:33 AM

Why people care so much about Brian, I mean sure he has a hot wife and one of the better powersets for a superhero, but man does he mope and whine a lot! Not to mention Exiles works much better than Captain Britain Corps.

As for Faiza (she's past my cut-off point for Marvel canon so I don't give a hoot either way), but any rebuttals against this insertion from Wikipedia?

Faiza Hussain, originally written in early scripts as "Faisa", is named after the former England cricket Captain Nasser Hussain[4] and although she is a British Muslim character, creator Paul Cornell has stated he does not want Faiza to be a pillar for the entire British Muslim community:
“ I think superheroes are too prone to being standard bearers for whole communities ”

—Paul Cornell[6]

He also did not want her to say anything religious until in a situation where an everyday religious person would and steered her away from the normal clichés associated with Muslim characters.

Posted by Drag | 10:48 PM

So you guys are saying Islamaphobia never existed before 9/11?

Posted by Anonymous | 1:50 PM

"So you guys are saying Islamaphobia never existed before 9/11?"

"Islamophobia" doesn't exist. It's another made-up word like "transphobia" (which literally means fear of traveling) and "homophobia."

Posted by Carl | 2:11 PM