shaman

With the recent beginning of Ta-Nehisi Coates and Brian Stelfreeze’s Black Panther, and the ongoing success of non-white characters like Kamala Khan, Miles Morales and Sam Wilson at Marvel, the publisher is eager to present itself as a strong supporter of diversity. In fact, Ms. Marvel editor Sana Amanat appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers in January and met with President Barack Obama at a White House event in March in her role as the company's director of content and character development. Ironically, at the same time, I was considering dropping all the publisher’s books from my pull list entirely over the publisher’s current line-wide problems in the representation of indigenous people.

The interdimensional forces of the Emperikul are looking to cleanse the Marvel Universe of all magic in the aptly titled "The Last Days of Magic," a storyline beginning in Doctor Strange #6, by Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo. In fact, the preview shows these creepy Stormtrooper-looking guys attacking not only Stephen Strange, but other characters including Magik, Shaman, and the Scarlet Witch.

DC's recent announcement of a new post-Convergence lineup of titles offered promising signs of diversification at the publisher, with Gene Luen Yang, securing a high profile assignment on Superman with John Romita, Jr., and fellow Asian-American creators Sonny Liew, Ming Doyle, and Annie Wu picking up new titles, plus several LGBT creators on titles, including Steve Orlando on Midnighter and James Tynion IV on Constantine; and black author David F. Walker taking over Cyborg. It was great to see so many non-cis-straight-white-male demographic groups represented, both in characters and creative teams. These announcements go some way towards correcting ongoing imbalances in the mainstream comic industry, but as ComicsAlliance editor Andrew Wheeler noted in his coverage; "this is the superhero comic version of diversity, where ‘any’ feels like a victory; any non-white creators, any women, any queer representation. Any is not enough.” Thinking about that statement, a question occurred to me; “Are there any indigenous characters or creators?”

Sabrina Scott draws her inspiration from American mysticism, Western astrology and modern Wicca, creating pieces that highlight the magical qualities of the natural world. But she adds to her clean and intricate lines deliberate imperfections: stormy and bleeding watercolors that emphasize the power and unpredictability of nature...