Sooooo, EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! News dropped on Tuesday that Saladin Ahmed is adding Captain Peggy Carter to his run on Exiles, in issue #3.

So, reasons to get excited.

1. Saladin Ahmed.  Saladin has been tireless in his work pointing out the former, at least gender diversity of superheroes, focusing a lot on the “girl detective” comics of the past.  He has also been writing Black Bolt for Marvel, and it just an all around awesome guy.  I’ve followed him on Twitter for years, so you’ve undoubtedly seen me retweet his stuff and gush about him.

2. Captain Peggy Carter.  This is an alternate reality version of Peggy who took the serum and took up the shield after Steve Rogers was assassinated.  Really do I have to say any more than that?

3. Marvel is starting to do some smart things.  I know, you cannot believe I actually typed those words.  Stick with me.  They’re using the uniform created for Captain Carter in the Marvel Puzzle Quest games.  I can already hear the eye-rolling over “casual gamers.”  I would like to invite you to fuck all the offs.  Now back to my point.  This game is pretty damn popular, and finding a way to tie it in to the comics, may well be one of the smartest things Marvel’s done marketing-wise in ages.*

I don’t think I’ve ever had a subscription to a comic book.  I’ve had boxes at various comic shops.  But I’ve never done the subscription thing.  I grew up broke enough that committing to something that wasn’t a necessity wasn’t a thing you did.  But I’m probably going to subscribe to this one.  Because of reasons 1 and 2.

Hopefully this means Marvel Comics has decided to join those of us in the 21st century, and that they’re actually starting to claw their way out of the tar pits of near irrelevance.

It’s been interesting watching the difference between whichever body is handling the MCU and which is handling the comics, because Black Panther is as good an example of “getting it” as I’ve ever seen.  And while the comics arm has had and done some fantastic shit, they keep under-cutting themselves at every turn.

Here’s hoping that trend is long last at an end.

*Ok, it doesn’t make up for still being tied to the Diamond Distribution rankings, that’s just fucking stupid.  And it doesn’t make up for not paying attention to graphic novel and electronic sales.  But it’s a start.  A teensy baby-step into the 21st fucking century.

If you like what you read here, please check out my Patreon or consider donating at the Keep us Geeking link at the upper right.  Thank you!