Well it was a thing. It wasn't a great thing, but it was a thing. I'm still confused as to why Riri made all the bad decisions she did, including the deal she made with Borat at the end. Really? Sascha Baron Cohen? I can see why it has been sat on a shelf for three years and released the way it was.
As for the comics, she's never been popular. They kept trying, and her current run is kind of interesting, but like Captain Marvel, she has never resonated with the comic buying public. Ms. Marvel is being pushed massively at the moment, but the Giant Size releases are more a "Hey, remember this massively popular storyline? Let's race through it in a few pages" than anything actually memorable.