Review - Marvel Divas

Review - Marvel Divas
Written by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa
Art by Tonci Zonjic
Marvel Comics

Mini-series are very interesting to me. In some ways, I expect them to be really well done. There is no ongoing story or continuum to maintain. But I also expect some of the more creative elements of comic book writing and art in these stories since they are not the regular ongoing stories. So when Marvel Divas came out, I decided to pick it up. After all, its only 4 issues. And though not a hugely groundbreaking story, I think I do see where Marvel was going with this series.

Marvel Divas is the story of four of the lesser known female heroes from the Marvel universe, Hellcat, Ms. Marvel, Black Cat and Firestar. These four get together regularly for dinner and drinks and gossip about their boyfriends, shopping, other heroes and the like. It is very much like Sex in the City. But the end of the first issue is where the major drama is announced for the series. It turns out that Firestar has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The three other members of the group then throw their full support behind Firestar and her upcoming battle.

There are side stories with each of the characters. Ms. Marvel is having an on again/off again relationship with Brother Voodoo. Black Cat is trying to open up a detective agency without the help of her boyfriend. And Hellcat is being propositioned by her former boyfriend Son of Satan to help out with Firestars treatment. But with any favor from anyone from Hell, there are always conditions.

I found this story to be very interesting and different than most of the Marvel recent stories. There is absolutely no big tie in to the Marvel Universe altering stories like Dark Reign and War of Kings. And though they did do a very good story a long time ago on the Death of Captain Marvel (1982) where he gets cancer and all the Marvel uber-brains can not find a cure for him, there is no magical Marvel cure for Firestar either. Firestar must go through normal treatment like any normal person would. But I am glad to see that, unlike the Death of Captain Marvel story, this story is primarily of hope and survival. Cancer research and treatment has changed since 1982 and I believe the tone of the story reflects the advancement in medicine since then.

The artwork it interesting. It is not very "marvel" in its style. There is no dynamic poses or dramatic angles to heighten the action. With no real battles or fights, there isn't any reason to have the hugely kinetic pages other superhero comics have. Rather it is very subdued style. The figures are more angular and simple than the covers. The colors are muted and the backgrounds simple.

When this series gets collected into a trade paperback, libraries should consider picking this up. Though its getting better, there is still less girl oriented superhero comics available, and this one is different than the regular fare. With the plot focused on a character with cancer and the fact that it stands alone away from the ongoing stories from the Marvel Universe, I think that would make it a little more accessible to people picking this up without any real background knowledge.