I checked my digital comic backlog last night and found that I'd read the latest Iron Man series up through issue six. Caught up and read 7-11. Issue seven, from several months back...introduced Riri Williams and every issue after has a little section focusing on her exploits. So this is not a brand new thing and the character was introduced already. Weird that all of a sudden people have taken notice just now, with that Time article.
Looking at the various gender-swapped/new versions of existing Marvel characters:
-Wolverine: I like X-23, but this current book isn't really that great. One thing I was hoping for was having Laura have to deal with various characters from Logan's rogues' gallery, but none of that has happened. Instead this comic introduced MORE female Wolverine clones and now one of them is her little sidekick. I dunno...I know there's Old Man Logan for the grittier, more violent Wolverine, but this book is almost too...light-hearted? In a way.
-Ms. Marvel: Dropped the first series after the first issue...seemed like it was directed at a younger audience. I'm not big on Inhumans, although this character really has nothing to do with them. She caught on and I like her in the Avengers books, so I'm going to try her new series.
-Spider-Wimmenz: Spider-Gwen is a fun book. It's all self-contained and takes place in an alternate universe, so they can do whatever they want. She's had some crossovers with Silk and Spider-Woman, who are her buddies now. Spider-Woman has been a fun read, too, although she's not a new character so that doesn't count here. Haven't read too much Silk apart from some crossover stories. There are too many Spider characters right now and she feels kind of lost in the shuffle.
-Nova: Read all of the first series but haven't caught up yet on the new one. The character is OK, but they've spent entirely too much time on him looking for his father/his father returning and being an imposter-Nova-thing/looking for his father again. It has spilled over into the Avengers now.
-Thor: Dropped this. Was never that big into Thor to begin with and I lost interest in this book pretty quickly after they revealed her identity.
-Spider-Man: Miles Morales is a fun character and I'm glad they brought him into the main MU. I think he needs his own super-hero name though.
-The Totally Awesome Hulk: So the story here is that Amadeus Cho, in an effort to save The Hulk from blowing up due to absorbing too much radiation, found a way to take the Hulk literally out of Bruce Banner and put him into himself. Cho has more control over the Hulk and retains his personality, but has discovered that he has blackouts where he can't remember anything and the Hulk is off doing whatever. There was also a recent storyline that focused on Banner and how he's doing great without the Hulk inside him. I'm sure that this will all lead to Banner becoming the Hulk again at some point. I don't really care for Cho as the Hulk, but it's a decent book I guess.
-Sam Wilson Captain America: Sorry, Sam, but I really don't care all that much. Not into the character and not into the new Falcon that they introduced, either. My favorite version of this character is the movie version and I wish they'd model him more like that portrayal instead. Steve Rogers is already back as Cap and all the attention is on him with the whole Hydra-Red Skull brainwashing thing anyway.
