''Marvel Divas'' is a

limited series In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...

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published by

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...

. On April 9 2009, Marvel Editor-in-Chief

Joe Quesada Joseph Quesada (; born January 12, 1962'' Comics Buyer's Guide'' #1650; February 2009; page 107) is an American comic book artist, writer, editor, and television producer. He became known in the 1990s for his work on various Valiant Comics books, ...

revealed in his weekly blog with

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Comic Books that the series follows four female heroes, who, up until now, had nothing in common. 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. The creative team is Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Tonci Zonjic.

Background

Originally, Aguirre-Sacasa had envisioned it as a solo book featuring the

Invisible Woman The Invisible Woman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in ''Fantastic Four (comic book), The Fantastic Four'' #1 (November 1961). Susan St ...

. Further brainstorming had prompted him to pitch the miniseries as a ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy, romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO, based on Sex and the City (newspaper column), the newspaper column and 1996 book by Candace Bushnell. It premiered in th ...

'' homage for the

Marvel Universe The Marvel Universe is a fictional shared universe where the stories in most American comic book titles and other media published by Marvel Comics take place. Superhero teams such as the Avengers, the X-Men, the Fantastic Four, the Guardia ...

. He chose the four most unlikely characters and made them bond over their inabilities to find romance and the fact they were heroes. Aguirre-Sacasa describes the series as "a lot of hot fun". Most of the series would be viewed through the perspective of Hellcat.

Plot

The series' four main story lines connect to a larger story. Hellcat deals with her ex-husband,

Daimon Hellstrom Daimon Hellstrom, also known as the Son of Satan and Hellstorm, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Daimon made his live action debut in the television series ''Helstrom (TV series), Helstrom'', ...

's attempts to reenter her life. Photon, also dealing with an ex, helps

Brother Voodoo Dr. Jericho Drumm is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in '' Strange Tales'' #169 (September 1973) as Brother Voodoo. The character was created by Marvel publisher Stan Lee, write ...

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 In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...

appeared in the third issue of the miniseries.

Criticism

The cover of the first issue and the likening of the plot to ''

'' has had Marvel and Aguirre-Sacasa accused of

misogyny Misogyny () is hatred of, contempt for, or prejudice against Woman, women or girls. It is a form of sexism that can keep women at a lower social status than Man, men, thus maintaining the social roles of patriarchy. Misogyny has been wide ...

. 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'". 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."

Collected editions

The series has been collected into a trade paperback: *''Marvel Divas'' (104 pages, Marvel Comics, January 2010, )

Notes

References

* * {{Refend