New Ms. Marvel announced! And it’s not Carol Danvers

Last month, Marvel teased readers as part of their Marvel Now! campaign, showing just the word Ms. against a black background. Fans speculated that this might indicate the launch of a new Ms. Marvel comic. Carol Danvers, a superpowered pilot and sometimes-member of The Avengers was the previous owner of this title, but in recent years adopted the more formal Captain Marvel moniker.

On November 5, 2013 we finally learned more information on this new character, as first announced by the New York Times.

The new Ms. Marvel is a young teenage girl who happens to be a shapeshifter – and Muslim. Her alter ego, Kamala Khan will deal with the struggles of keeping her identity secret from her family and friends, and living up to her standards of her idol, Carol Danvers. Kamala joins the ranks of Marvel’s diverse stable of characters as the first American-born Muslim character.

Previous notable Muslim Marvel superheroes include Dust, a member of the X-Men family of comics, who was introduced in 2002. Dust, unlike the new Ms. Marvel, wears a burqa at all times.  M, a member of the long-running “X-factor” and “Generation X” series is a Bosnian-born superheroine who was introduced in 1994, and officially confirmed as Muslim in 2011.

“Ms. Marvel” will be drawn by Adrian Alphona, a Toronto-based illustrator previously best known for his work on Marvels “Runaways” series. It will be written by US writer G. Willow Wilson. The comic will be available in your local comic book store in February 2014.