“Are you going to Scarborough Fair?
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Remember me to one who lives there
He once was a true love of mine
Tell him to make me a cambric shirt
Parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
Without no seams nor needle work
Then he’ll be a true love of mine”
– Lyrics from Scraborough Fair
Sera is a character and person of color that appeared in several Marvel series (Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, 1602 Witch Hunter Angela, Angela: Queen of Hel). Sera was born in Heven, a civilization of angels which live in a citadel floating in space. This conception is not based on Christian conceits of Heaven. Here, angels have gender. The ratio of female to male births is 100 to 1. Women are warriors while men, known as Anchorites, are weak and protected. Men devote their time as scribes, clerics, and monks who pray for Heven’s dead, its deceased warriors, for while Heven’s angelic population is supra normal, they are neither immortal nor completely invulnerable. There is not an afterlife; all debts are paid while alive.
Into this world Sera was born an Anchorite or MAAB if you like. Sera performed the duties demanded of her at this stage all the while knowing that she was truly not an Anchorite until the time that Angela came to slay a monster and came to Angela’s aid using magic. After the battle was won, Angela took Sera away from her unhappy life in Heven as repayment for the aid. Writers Kieron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett told the story of Sera’s transition in all of one panel: she pushed aside flowing curtains to emerge from some structure to excitedly show Angela her magically transformed body.
Fighting beside Angela during her incursion into Hel, Sera displayed unwavering confidence and fearlessness in the face of considerable odds while acting as Angela’s biggest cheerleader. Sera’s sense of humor is evident throughout her appearances and is likely one of the ways in which she helps to ground Angela with her “celestial accountant with a stabby sword” persona. Anyone playing cards with her should be prepared to lose and lose big. Music is an important part of her life. She is also a musician who plays both lute and flute and gave a flute to Angela. Writers Kieron Gillen and Marguerite Bennett incorporated the centuries old ballad Scarborough Fair for its theme of accomplishing impossible acts to prove one’s love to another as a throughline in their stories by making it the first song Serah taught to Angela. “Nothing for nothing”. Her love for music may be seen as evidence of gender non conformity in light of the fact that music and song were relegated to the priestly Anchorites. She is also keenly aware of and unhappy with how the angelic majority of Heven treats the minority Anchorites.
Sera and Angela were last seen having an intimate commitment ceremony and deciding what their life together would be like.
Sera’s first appearance is in Angela: Asgard’s Assassin #1 (2015) and the writers reveal she is transgender in #3.
Please read Angela’s profile here.
Buy Angela: Asgard’s Assassin, 1602 Witchhunter Angela, and Angela: Queen of Hel from Amazon.
Created by Kieron Gillen, Marguerite Bennett, and Phil Jimenez. Art by Stephanie Hans. Art by Stephanie Hans from the cover of Angela: Queen of Hel #2.
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