{"id":11903,"date":"2015-08-16T15:00:19","date_gmt":"2015-08-16T19:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/?p=11903"},"modified":"2015-08-11T15:56:56","modified_gmt":"2015-08-11T19:56:56","slug":"northwest-ohios-kate-murphy-becomes-a-woman-of-marvel-on-a-once-in-a-lifetime-trip-to-marvel-comics-headquarters-in-new-york-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/northwest-ohios-kate-murphy-becomes-a-woman-of-marvel-on-a-once-in-a-lifetime-trip-to-marvel-comics-headquarters-in-new-york-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Northwest Ohio\u2019s Kate Murphy Becomes a Woman of Marvel on a Once in a Lifetime Trip to Marvel Comics Headquarters in New York City"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Kate<\/a>
Kate Murphy presented her science fair project, \u201cAnalyzing Female Gender Roles in Marvel Comics from the Silver Age (1960) to the present to Dr. Bethany Brookshire from the \u201cScience News\u201d at the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair in Pittsburgh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By: Amy Murphy<\/p>\n

Have you ever had a dream come true? Well, Kate Murphy sure had hers come true with a once in a lifetime invitation to visit Marvel Comics Headquarters (HQ) in New York City.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so excited that I was in shock for weeks! Then the editor said just come on down to New York for a tour. He thought I was from Hicksville, New York\u2026 just a few miles away NOT 10 hours away! The trip took a little more planning and many more emails to arrange, but it was worth it! It was awesome! It was so cool! And those are not phrases I use lightly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s dream became a reality from a very unlikely beginning\u2026 the Hicksville High School Science Fair. Most people will wonder what a small, rural high school science fair has to do with a trip to Marvel Comics Headquarters in New York City. Well, the answer is EVERYTHING!<\/p>\n

For her science fair project, Kate analyzed female gender roles in Marvel Comics from the Silver Age (1960) to the present. She read 788 Marvel Comic Books from 68 different titles and reviewed each of them on the following criteria: cover artwork, the Bechdel Test, story line, occupation, balance of power, female sexualization, violence against women, and total score on each issue.<\/p>\n

For all her hard work, Kate earned a perfect 40 superior rating at her high school, district, regional, and Ohio State Science Fairs and qualified for the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF). Among the awards she earned were The University of Toledo Psychology Award, the Top Behavioral Science Award, the Ohio Psychological Association Award, and the Turning Science Fiction into Science Fact Award.<\/p>\n

But dreams don\u2019t come true without a lot of hard work, dedication, caring individuals, and a little luck. \u201cWithout a lot of people pulling for me, I would never have been able to do this project\u2026let alone make it to the International Science Fair and Marvel HQ,\u201d explained Murphy. \u201cI have to thank Kathy Laney for coordinating our Hicksville High School Science Fair and supporting me through both science fair and national quiz bowl competition. A big shout out goes to Alex Koch for giving me visiting scholar status at the Bowling Green State University Popular Culture Library. And last but not least, Jim Short, coordinator of the Northwest Ohio Science & Engineering Fair, made the trip to the Intel ISEF Fair possible. Without him, I wouldn\u2019t have made it to Pittsburgh and gained national attention.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Murphy certainly gained media attention with interviews and articles running through Pittsburgh media outlets, international newspapers, and the most important article of all\u2014an interview with Dr. Bethany Brookshire from the \u201cScience News.\u201d Her on-line article, \u201cTeen Finds More Graphic Heroines Are \u2018Super\u2019\u201d caught the attention of Executive Editorial Director of Marvel Digital Media Group Ryan Penagos. He was so intrigued by the article and Murphy\u2019s project that he sent her a once in a lifetime invitation by email.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I first read it, I yelled out, \u2018Mom, oh my God, they want me in New York\u2019 without any context or explanation. When I could get my thoughts together and my Mom went, \u2018What?\u2019 I was able to get out, \u201cMarvel invited me to New York!\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Penagos originally thought Kate was from Hicksville, New York rather than Ohio, it took a little longer for her to reach New York City. Murphy hit the Big Apple in late July. But the hurdles to reach Marvel HQ weren\u2019t over yet. Murphy had to overcome the Lincoln Tunnel, Manhattan traffic jams, the absolute anonymity of Marvel\u2019s unmarked building, heavy security, monitored elevators that only went to specific floors, and then a very close, personal ID check. Marvel takes its security seriously!<\/p>\n

Kate was a little taken aback by all of the security measures. She just thought this was such an \u201cawesome\u201d invitation and tour that she didn\u2019t realize how big of a deal it was. \u201cDuring the tour, Ryan (Penagos) casually mentioned that he turns down thousands and thousands of invitations to tour Marvel HQ every year from both media outlets and fans. And in the next breath, he mentioned that the last three people to get this very same Marvel tour were Paul Rudd, Michael Douglas, and Michael Pena from the \u2018Ant Man Movie.\u2019 I hadn\u2019t realized how truly prestigious the tour was!\u201d<\/p>\n

At times during the tour, Murphy felt like she was even in a James Bond Movie. The most used and heard phrases were \u201cThis is top secret. No one has seen this. Promise not to tell anyone. For your eyes only!\u201d Even Executive Editorial Director Penagos giving her the tour stopped several times and said, \u201cScoot over, and let me see too. I haven\u2019t even seen this yet!\u201d Among those top secret reveals will be exciting adventures coming out in Ms. Marvel, Spiderman, and Nightcrawler in October.<\/p>\n

But the best was yet to come! Kate Murphy literally became a Woman of Marvel. She participated in the July 24th Women of Marvel Podcast and was interviewed by Judy Stephens, Marvel\u2019s official podcast producer. Murphy spoke on the Special Fan Girl Friday Podcast, sponsored by Barnes & Noble to promote women and science. Kate will forever be archived on the Women of Marvel web site with her full podcast with the likes of Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Paul Rudd (Ant Man).<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go on there (Marvel\u2019s website), my week is literally right after Paul Rudd\u2019s San Diego Comic Con interview. It\u2019s really hard to believe that I am right there\u2026 of the same caliber as Marvel heroes!\u201d shared Murphy. \u201cAnd they didn\u2019t just do a short, quick interview with me. The Women of Marvel podcast is about a half hour long, and they even promoted it on This Week in Marvel with Ryan Penagos. Fifteen minutes of me and Marvel comics going out to over three million people! It\u2019s incredibly hard to believe, but you can find me on the Marvel weekly podcast with Star Lord and Kitty Pryde.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy said, \u201cI thought this was just an incredibly awesome and exciting experience; but because I didn\u2019t know how few Marvel HQ tours are granted each year, I didn\u2019t realize how exciting ANY tour was to Marvel\u2019s editors and illustrators.\u201d They went all out for her. Kate met with and talked to the editors and illustrators of Magneto, Rocket Raccoon, Ms. Marvel, Ultimate Spiderman, and Giant-Sized Tiny Marvel to name just a few. Murphy heard over and over, \u201cYou read my comics, but you don\u2019t have this one or this one. Here. Here. Have this variant, this cover, this San Diego Comic Con alternate (Only 5,000 were ever printed). Try this story line. You\u2019ll like Electra.\u201d But probably the most excited was the editor of A-Babies vs. X-Babies, Charles Beacham, who has only been with Marvel for a year, \u201cYou read MY comic! You\u2019ve read all three so far? I have alternates. How many alternates would you like?\u201d Kate left Marvel HQ with a VERY LARGE stack of RARE comic books.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve talked about the tour, the podcasts, and the great people at Marvel; but I can\u2019t forget the Marvel HQ meeting rooms themselves,\u201d explained Murphy. \u201cEvery meeting room is named after a specific Marvel character\u2026 Iron Man, Hulk, Captain America, etc. These rooms are unbelievable! Each is designed and decorated around its Marvel character. Because of security, there were very few and limited photo opportunities; but I was able to get a picture of the life-sized sculpture of Tony Stark in the Iron Man Room and a picture of the Hulk mural in the podcast room. Even though, we were told not to touch anything. I was told that Chris Hemsworth picked up his life-size hammer in the Thor Room. No one was going to say \u2018NO\u2019 to Thor.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Amy Murphy Have you ever had a dream come true? Well, Kate Murphy sure had hers come true with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1338,7],"tags":[4162,3578,224,551,4155,4127,4158,456,4159,278,359,3575,583,4167,4166,1333,4154,4153,180,4156,225,4157,4165,4160,46,912,4161,4163,4164,1331,3801,223,3802,2622],"class_list":["post-11903","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-area-fairs","category-school","tag-age","tag-and","tag-bend","tag-city","tag-comics","tag-engineering","tag-exploring","tag-fair","tag-gender","tag-hicksville","tag-high","tag-highschool","tag-in","tag-international","tag-isef","tag-kate","tag-marvel","tag-murphy","tag-new","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-present","tag-roles","tag-school-2","tag-science","tag-silver","tag-silver-age","tag-silverage","tag-to","tag-wbn","tag-west","tag-westbendnews","tag-york"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2YQd9-35Z","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 19:16:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11903","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11903"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11903\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11903"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11903"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.westbendnews.net\/autonews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11903"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}