Marvel Divas
Marvel Divas is a limited series comic book published by Marvel Comics.[1] On April 9, Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada revealed in his weekly blog with MySpace Comic Books that the series follows four female heroes, who, up until now, had nothing in common.[1] The group featured Firestar (Angelica Jones), Black Cat (Felicia Hardy), Hellcat (Patsy Walker) and Photon (Monica Rambeau), four single women who bond over their inabilities to find a solid romance.[1] The creative team is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic.[1]
| Marvel Divas | |
|---|---|
 Artwork for the cover of Marvel Divas 1 (Sep 2009)Art by J. Scott Campbell. | |
| Publication information | |
| Publisher | Marvel Comics |
| Schedule | Monthly |
| Format | Limited series |
| Genre | |
| Publication date | September – December 2009 |
| No. of issues | 4 |
| Main character(s) | Firestar Black Cat Hellcat Photon |
| Creative team | |
| Written by | Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa |
| Artist(s) | Tonci Zonjic |
| Letterer(s) | Cory Petit |
| Colorist(s) | June Chung |
| Editor(s) | Joe Quesada Alejandro Arbona Jennifer Grünwald Warren Simons |
| Collected editions | |
| Marvel Divas | ISBN 0-7851-3177-9 |
Background
Originally, Aguirre-Sacasa had envisioned it as a solo book featuring the Invisible Woman.[2] Further brainstorming had prompted him to pitch the miniseries as a Sex and the City homage for the Marvel Universe.[1] He chose the four most unlikely characters and made them bond over their inabilities to find romance and the fact they were heroes.[1] Aguirre-Sacasa describes the series as "a lot of hot fun".[1] Most of the series would be viewed through the perspective of Hellcat.[2]
Plot
The series' four main story lines connect to a larger story.[2]
Hellcat deals with her ex-husband, Damien Hellstrom's attempts to reenter her life. Photon, also dealing with an ex, helps Brother Voodoo retrieve a powerful artifact. The Black Cat considers a return to the life of crime. Firestar, a graduate student studying art history, deals with her radiation powers giving her breast cancer. Justice appeared in the third issue of the miniseries.
Criticism
The cover of the first issue and the likening of the plot to Sex and the City has had Marvel and Aguirre-Sacasa accused of misogyny.[2] Aguirre-Sacasa's response was "In terms of those specific accusations, it's something I'm pretty sensitive to, and I think my record holds that I've never written a misogynistic story, including 'Divas'".[2] His response to the cover was "It's sexy, it's fun, it catches the eye, it gets people talking. [...] To me, the book stands and falls on its content, which is either your cup of tea or not, but I promise you it's not misogynistic."[2]
Collected editions
The series has been collected into a trade paperback:
- Marvel Divas (104 pages, Marvel Comics, January 2010, ISBN 0-7851-3177-9)
Notes
- "MyCup o'
JoeTea, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning". MySpace Comic Books. 2009-04-09. Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-04-11. - Richards, Dave (2009-06-09). "Aguirre-Sacasa Talks Marvel Divas". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2009-06-10.
References
- Marvel Divas at the Grand Comics Database
- Marvel Divas at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)