Marvel Unveils “Divas”; Aretha Franklin Curiously Absent

This is potentially interesting. In July, Marvel will launch Marvel Divas, a limited series from GLAAD Media Award-winner Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Nightcrawler, The Sensational Spider-Man) and Tonci Zonjic (Daredevil, The Immortal Iron Fist). According to Marvel, an idea that started as ”Sex and the City in the Marvel Universe,” has evolved into a deeper look at what it means to be a female superhero in a male superhero-dominated world. The series features Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar and Photon. I’m familiar with Black Cat (from Kevin Smith’s traumatic take on the character) and Firestar (from the totally awesome 80s Spider-Man toon), but I know little or nothing about the other “divas.”

Aguirre-Sacasa says, “The idea behind the series was to have some sudsy fun and lift the curtain a bit and take a peep at some of our most fabulous super heroines. In the series, they’re an unlikely foursome of friends--Black Cat, Hell Cat, Firestar, and Photon--with TWO things in common: They’re all leading double-lives and they’re all having romantic trouble.”

That sounds...wacky. Like a bloodier version of Apartment 3-G. And I assume we can expect the gravity-defying breasts to feature prominently in the art and storyline. Any thoughts? 

I’m inherently opposed to anything that bills itself as Sex and the City-meets-anything.  I have such a vehement dislike of that show.  This could be kind of fun and diverting, or it could fail horribly.  It’s difficult to do camp well, especially in a genre that’s already teetering on the brink of it.  It helps that they’re focusing on four relatively lesser-known heroines.  It removes some of the expectations than if they were using, say, Storm and Invisible Woman.

I would like to request a moratorium on the word “diva”— there have to be a million better titles than this.  And, I’m sorry, but for a gay writer to pen a book called “Marvel Divas”???  I don’t know...at the risk of sounding like a wet blanket, it sounds utterly stereotypical.

Good point. But, honestly, we don’t know about Aguirre-Sacasa’s sexuality. He won a GLAAD Media Award for a play he wrote, but GLAAD usually gives those awards to straight people. So he could very well be a straight guy who was looking for another word for “babes.”

I really thought I read he was openly gay.  That’s what I get for trusting the internet.  I still maintain that, gay or straight, you can’t name a comic book after a VH1 special featuring Celene Dion.

Oooooh Firestar.  (in my best Jennifer Coolidge voice)

Yeah, I think “Marvel Divas” sounds kinda awful. On the other hand, I like all four of the characters, so I’m likely to give this a shot.

I’m going to make this prediction right now: with two characters that have “cat” in their names, we’re going to be treated to name-confusion jokes.

And… this is the pedantic geek in me, I fully admit… but it’s parsed as “Hellcat”. Either they randomly changed that after 33 years, or somebody wasn’t paying attention when they edited that press release.

Sounds kinda fun. 

Oh—and here’s a little something something for you guys. 

http://www.aguileratube.com/play.php?vid=298