Your Morning PSA: Comics for the Great Good from Miss Maiar

And now, a public service announcement.

There's this amazing comic out right now. It's called Captain Marvel, and it features hotshot pilot and Avenger Colonel Carol Danvers, who used to be Ms. Marvel and recently got a promotion! (Captain. Not Ms. Captain.) It's written by the magnificent Kelly Sue DeConnick and it's clever and inspiring and the art in the first several issues is beautiful and has an amazing fan community. It is about 50% responsible for getting me back into comics after more than a decade away, and I wish that it had been around when I was a kid buying comics the first time around, because I probably never would have stopped. I wish I knew people with little girls because I would buy fifteen copies and shove them into their hands. I would do this standing on a street corner, handing it to total strangers, if I didn't think it would get me arrested.

Look at that cover. HOW COOL IS THAT.

Here's where the public service part comes in: if you have ever felt the slightest inclination to read about a brave, sassy, brilliant lady superhero who gets to wear a uniform that actually covers her body, mentor adorable children, be best bros with Captain America, and be the titular Mightiest Hero of the planet Earth, you should buy this comic.

And not just buy it: pre-order. That means: subscribe. Put it on a pull list at your local comic book store. Get it digitally via Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited or comiXology. Even if you've never walked into one before and find comic shops intimidating and weird (which is totally valid and I understand), I promise, this book is worth it.

The pre-order part is important, because sales from pre-orders (subscriptions and pull lists) are how big publishers (in this case Marvel) decide whether or not to keep producing a book, which is, yes, pretty archaic! And changing, slowly, but it is, currently, the way comics work. And the pre-sales matter because, well, this comic doesn't do as well as some other big Marvel titles, because it is a comic about a woman written by a woman and not all about explosions (which are great! I am not hating on explosions) and manpain (which also has its merits!) and is apparently largely being bought by women and girls and not quite as popular with certain dude-types (still the key demographic of comics), because... reasons. Some of the reasons as stated are frankly stupid and make me ragey so I'm not going to quote them here.

This book is important, because it's been a big part of getting more girls and women into comics recently, which is something we need! And is about a lady superhero who is super because she is awesome, not because she's somebody's girlfriend or sidekick. Comics can be amazing. They're about the vastness of human potential and imagination and finding strength in yourself and helping others for the sake of helping others and standing against evil, whether that evil is a robotic alien army bent on the domination of the Earth or some disrespectful jerk on the playground.

But even with all that going for them, the genre is historically not especially inclusive or welcoming of the female-identifying among us, (*coughDCComicscough*) which is something slowly changing, and most effectively changed by spending our money on stuff that is about and for women.

So buy this comic! It's amazing! I promise!