Marvel Divas

Marvel Divas
Cover of the first issue of the series featuring, clockwise from the left, Black Cat, Firestar, Photon, and Hellcat.
Artwork for the cover of Marvel Divas 1 (Sep 2009) 
Art by J. Scott Campbell
Publication information
PublisherMarvel Comics
ScheduleMonthly
FormatLimited series
Genre
Publication dateSeptember – December 2009
No. of issues4
Main character(s)Firestar
Black Cat
Hellcat
Photon
Creative team
Written byRoberto 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 DivasISBN 0-7851-3177-9

Marvel Divas is a limited series comic book published by Marvel Comics.[1] On April 9 2009, 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]

Background[edit]

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[edit]

The series' four main story lines connect to a larger story.[2]

Hellcat deals with her ex-husband, Daimon 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[edit]

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[edit]

The series has been collected into a trade paperback:

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g "MyCup o' Joe Tea, Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning". MySpace Comic Books. 2009-04-09. Archived from the original on 2009-04-13. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Richards, Dave (2009-06-09). "Aguirre-Sacasa Talks Marvel Divas". Comic Book Resources. Retrieved 2009-06-10.

References[edit]