Karma (comics)
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Karma (Xi'an "Shan" Coy Manh), is a fictional superhero from Marvel Comics created by Chris Claremont and Frank Miller. She was the first of the New Mutants to see print, first appearing in Marvel Team-Up #100 (1980). Karma is a mutant endowed with the ability to seize control of another’s mind, though she has sometimes been depicted with other more extensive psionic abilities. The origin of the character relates to the Vietnam War, as she and her family were among the boat people fleeing the country shortly after the advent of Communism and in the wake of violence. Her Vietnamese origin contributes to two of her main traits—her Catholicism and her mastery of the French language, both of which stem from France’s strong and longstanding influence in Vietnam. Karma, in fact, speaks English with a French accent rather than a Vietnamese one.
One of the five founding members of the New Mutants, along with Cannonball, Mirage, Sunspot and Wolfsbane, Karma was several years older than the other original New Mutants, though still a teenager. Accordingly, she was more mature than the others, not only due to her age, but also from the responsibility of caring for her younger siblings, Leong and Nga, from an early age.
Contents |
[edit] Character Biography
[edit] Introduction
Shan’s origins are rooted in tragedy. Her father was a colonel in the South Vietnamese army, who was forced to bring his wife and four children on missions. When Shan’s brother, Tran Coy Manh, was attacked by a Viet Cong soldier, Shan’s power of mind possession emerged to protect him. Tran soon exhibited the identical power, and relished in using it cruelly. While Tran was rescued from the throes of war by their crimelord uncle, General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Shan escaped on a small, cramped, boat with hundreds of others, including her parents and her younger brother and sister, Leong and Nga. Shan’s father was killed by Thai pirates on the way to the United States; she and her mother were raped by the pirates and her mother died shortly thereafter.
Arriving in New York City, a program to help Vietnamese immigrants run by the Catholic priest Father Michael Bowen (Dagger’s uncle), helped Karma find work and an apartment. However, General Coy insisted she use her powers in his service, as Tran was already doing, and kidnapped Leong and Nga when she refused. "Possessing" Spider-Man, she attempted to use him to reclaim the children from a party her uncle was holding, before the Fantastic Four intervened and Tran (without realizing she was in control of Spider-Man) forced her out of Spider-Man's mind in possessing him long enough for the Thing to knock him out. With technical aid from Professor X, the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man tracked her down. After an initial misunderstanding, they agreed to help her reclaim the children, but Tran possessed the Fantastic Four and set them against Spider-Man. Finally, Shan lashed out, absorbing her brother completely and taking the name "Karma".
[edit] New Mutants
Reed Richards referred Karma to Professor X, and became his first recruit for his new team of mutant teenagers, the New Mutants. Karma had been working a full-time job to support herself and her siblings, and so agreed to work as Xavier’s secretary to help him run the school in return for a generous salary.
Karma was the New Mutants' first leader, but the team believed her dead after a fight with Viper and the Silver Samurai. Instead, another mutant telepath, Amahl Farouk, whose physical body was killed in a battle with Professor X on the astral plane, took Karma as a host body. Possessed by Farouk, she engaged in rampant criminal activity and ran a gladiatorial arena, where she came to the New Mutants’ attention when two of them (Sunspot and Magma) had been forced to participate in the high-stakes gladiatorial competition.
Eventually she was rescued by the other New Mutants, but a side-effect of the possession had left her grossly obese, as Farouk was a large eater in life, and continued his voracity when using Karma's body. During a trip to Asgard, a time-dilation effect due to a mishap in Magik's teleportation disc resulted in Karma spending several months surviving in desert wastes, where she contemplated suicide in her obese form. However, she happened upon a young child who she was intent on keeping alive and who, unbeknownst to her, had been manifested by the Norns as a twist of fate. By the time she met up with the other New Mutants again, she had lost all the additional weight (and in fact was more shapely than ever) and her hair had grown to waist-length.
Father Bowen, Karma’s confessor, cared for Leong and Nga during Karma’s absence, but she resumed caring for the youths upon her return to the New Mutants. During the Mutant Massacre, though, Karma feared for her siblings’ safety after witnessing many Morlock casualties at the hands of the Marauders. Leong and Nga had in fact gone missing and Karma’s apartment was mysteriously bombed. The Xavier School’s current headmaster, Magneto, was unable to locate the missing children, even with the resources of the Hellfire Club at his disposal. Believing she must be more proactive in finding the kidnapped children, Karma left the New Mutants.
[edit] Searching for Leong and Nga
Karma reluctantly accepted work for her uncle, General Nguyen Coy, in Madripoor in exchange for help in locating her siblings. In Madripoor, she officially opposed, but often covertly helped the X-Man Wolverine who she knew from her days at the X-Mansion. General Coy strung Karma along for several months with promises of finding the children, but she eventually left him for his lack of scruples.
Karma continued her search independently, and as it turned out, the children had been abducted by Shinobi Shaw and sold to Viper and Spiral, intent on sending the children through the “Body Shop”. With the aid of Cannonball and Beast, Karma finally located and freed Leong and Nga.
In the New Mutants: Truth or Death miniseries, Karma reunited with the original New Mutants for a minor adventure in which they met their past selves traveling to the present. Karma evidenced expanded telepathic powers in this appearance, which have not been seen since. Interestingly, Karma’s next appearance was a 180 degree turn. The straitlaced, devout, modest and humble girl who formerly went to confession weekly was no more. Instead, when she happened upon X-Force at the Colossal Man Festival (a thinly veiled homage to the Burning Man Festival), she appeared scantily clad with close-cropped pink hair, a devil-may-care attitude, and hinted at being a lesbian. This appearance was extremely controversial at the time. Some lauded the character change as progressive and a good way to add diversity to the Marvel line. On the flipside, many found the change unbelievable for the character and out of left field, and an example of writers and artists not paying attention to previous issues and continuity.
Later still, she moved to Chicago with Leong and Nga and took a job as a librarian for the University of Chicago while attending classes. There, she ran into Shadowcat and assisted her in her mission against the anti-mutant hate group, Purity.
[edit] Teacher at Xavier's
Months afterwards, Dani Moonstar, another ex-New Mutant, dropped by the University of Chicago while trying to recruit Prodigy to the renamed Xavier Institute. Then, she confirmed her lesbianism to Dani and confessed to an unreciprocated attraction to Kitty Pryde. Ultimately, Karma decided to return to Xavier's, where she served as the librarian and mentor to the students less than fifteen years of age (thus too young to be assigned to squads).
When Rahne Sinclair left the Xavier Institute, her position as advisor of the Paragons squad was left to Karma. Upon the death of Northstar, Karma also became the advisor to his squad, the Alpha Squadron. Magma eventually took over duties as the advisor of the Paragons, yet that still left Karma as the librarian, French teacher, and advisor to the Lower School and Alpha Squadron.
[edit] M-Day
Karma retained her powers after M-Day. The school's population was drastically reduced and the squad system was abolished. Currently, she continues to reside at the Xavier Institute for Higher Learning, though she is not part of an X-Men team nor the 198. As of Decimation, the whereabouts of her younger brother and sister, Leong and Nga, are unclear.
[edit] Sexual Orientation
During her time at college, it was strongly hinted that she was a lesbian and felt some romantic attraction toward Kitty Pryde. Writers, for fear of controversy, avoided saying anything definite, leaving Karma's sexuality up to interpretation. In her bio in the New X-Men: Acadamy X annual, however, it was confirmed that she is in fact a lesbian. In New X-Men issue #19, Karma and Doug Ramsey are cornered by Wallflower's father, Sean Garrison. He says, "I'll make you two love one another. Then kill each other! I know you're not wired that way, Miss Mahn. But Don't worry."
Karma is one of only a handful of openly gay heroes in Marvel comics.
[edit] Powers and abilities
Karma is a mutant with the ability to project a psionic energy surge that overwhelms the consciousness of another while placing her own mind in command, allowing her to alter their perceptions and memories, command entranced opponents to divulge information, or operate their bodies as if they were an extension of her own.
She is also able to generate a psionic deflector shield that disrupts incoming psi-signatures, protecting her from all manner of psychic assault (as seen in New Mutants: Truth or Death #2).
Karma is also a capable combatant with medieval weapons (particularly swords), due to the extended period of time she spent in Asgard. She is also familiar with first aid and firearms owing to her time in Vietnam.
[edit] Alternate Versions
[edit] Ultimate Karma
In the Ultimate Marvel continuity, Karma is seen as a much darker character, working as one of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Psi-Ops agents. She was called in by Nick Fury to find out whether or not the President was being mind-controlled by Charles Xavier, based on his recent pro-mutant stand. Upon the request of the President, she was added as the final member of the government sponsored New Mutants to observe the group. She was later instrumental in gaining evidence against a high ranking government official who was the head of the anti-mutant conspiracy, arresting both high-ranking officials involved in attacks on the 'New Mutants' on the Capitol steps. Whenever she uses her powers, her eyes glow a dark pink color.
[edit] Age of Apocalypse
In the Age of Apocalypse, Karma was Angel’s assistant, helping him manage his nightclub called Heaven, and keeping a neutral stance in the civil war between Apocalypse’s loyal followers, the mutants openly disagreeing with him, and the human population trying to survive. Part of Karma’s job was to use her mental powers to gather information from their guests, and also to make sure none would remember anything suspicious they might have witnessed. Eventually, Karma was kidnapped by Apocalypse’s troops to be interrogated on matters regarding the X-Men. Karma kept quiet as long as she could, but when the Shadow King was released on her, she gave away the desired information before dying of the torture. Learning of his assistant’s fate, Angel finally took a stance and went on a suicide run against Apocalypse’s fortress.
[edit] Days of Future Past
In the Days of Future Past continuity, Karma was part of Pete Wisdom’s resistance force in Great Britain in the year 2013. She only answered to her codename, and had apparently suffered terrible losses. Trying to cope with her situation, Karma displayed a dark sense of humor and had refined her powers to the point where she could perceive things through a person’s eyes without really possessing him or her.
[edit] Trivia
- In the New Mutants: Truth or Death miniseries, Karma expresses admiration for Cannonball, possibly attraction. In her next appearance, X-Force #75, she states he is definitely not her type.
