by G. Willow Wilson, Nico Leon and Ian Herring
Collects Ms Marvel #25-30
main series: volumes four | five | nine | ten
magnificent ms marvel: volume one | two
In one of Stan Lee’s most famous Spider-Man stories, (and arc for the regrettable second Spider-Man film), “Spider-Man No More!”, Peter Parker gives up the life of Spidey to just be normal ol’ Peter. Even though crime happens as usual, Peter finds that he’s actually happy in his school, personal and dating life – but he eventually finds out that being Spider-Man isn’t a choice. It’s part of who he is.
If Kamala Khan is this generation’s Spider-Man – and in many respects she fits the bill – this volume was “Ms Marvel, No More!” Except it let me down in the ways I’d hoped this generation’s version would be – even a huge miss with a very expected love triangle. More on that in a second.
But let’s start with the most endearing first half of the book. Kamala Khan is missing, and so is Ms Marvel. In the midst of worrying about their friend, Kamala’s group of buddies have taken to the streets in their own Ms Marvel getups, trying to do what they can to put a stop to crime; along the way, they bite off more than they can chew, uncovering a plot by The Inventor.
This was a lovely way to turn the spotlight towards Kamala’s friends, particularly Nakia, Mike, Zoe, and Gabe, and it was fun to see their own personal spins on Ms. Marvel’s costume. It also shines a light on the concept from Nolan’s Batman films, that becoming an idea is much more powerful than being one person. In this case, Ms Marvel has become an idea in Jersey City, and she’s inspired others to take up the mantle as well. (It’s also reminiscent of the youth in our country making their voices heard in politics.)
What’s ironic, and very strange, is that her friends don’t realize that Kamala and Ms Marvel are the same. It surprised me when both Ms Marvel and Kamala disappeared and returned at the same time, and none of her friends connected the very obvious dots. Granted, while the storyline was amusing (aside from the Inventor, more on him in a second), Kamala is certainly missed throughout. She is absolutely the glue that holds everyone together, and, aside from maybe Mike, her crew’s personalities aren’t strong or compelling enough to hold a story on their own.
Naftali is also a nice addition to Kamala’s friend group. He’s an Orthodox Jew and the two have bonded over their shared dietary restrictions. While Naftali looks pretty stereotypically Jewish (large schnozz alert), I really appreciate how Wilson shows how minorities can form friendships over commonalities rather than fighting over their differences. (Especially when those commonalities involve not being able to eat bacon.) Plus, Wilson’s done her homework – when Naftali asks his uncle about Kamala, his uncle assumes she’s Sephardi, a term for Jews originating from the Middle East and Africa. And Naftali may look very Jewish, but he has a great personality that transcends the nebbishy, awkward personality stereotype – it’s his perseverance that allows him to finally find Kamala.
SPOILERS. When we leave Kamala at the end of volume 8 (which I reviewed as an issue here), she’s unsure that Jersey City – so presumably, like Peter dumping Spider-Man’s costume, Kamala must focus on herself for a while before returning as Ms Marvel. Not so. Instead, Kamala has completely disappeared from her school and her friends, and cut them off! Naftali finally finds her…reenrolled at a private school out of the city. WHAT? Granted, Kamala might be making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be – as teenagers do – but everyone’s love of Red Dagger seemed to cause Kamala to question being Ms. Marvel, not being Kamala Khan. So why also leave her school? Kamala tells Naftali she wants to “blend in” and be less pressured, but would she do or be either of those at private prep school in Jersey? Also, why disappear and not tell her friends? And we didn’t see anything she learned or ways she grew by making this choice. I would have much rather seen Kamala at prep school figuring herself out – or realizing she made the wrong choice – than the idiocy that is the Inventor.
Ugh, the Inventor. I didn’t like him the first round and I don’t like him now. He has zero backstory and is a straight up mad scientist villain. He’s gone from using kids to using the elderly, and it was a very cheap way to lecture the reader about how old people aren’t valued in our society. Then Zoe becomes the mouthpiece of what’s right, and then there are spider bots and robotic lizards (which are related to using the elderly as batteries how?) and it all just becomes confusing and stupid. Yes, it’s true – we don’t value the elderly (Being Mortal by Atul Gawande is a must read), but this was all the latter of show-don’t-tell. (And this has been done before in this series, like the voting issue.) The only good that came out of it was a surprise superhero return, who could really have been a mentor to Ms Marvel over the last couple of weeks. Seen doing an impressive squat move that looks impossible to pull off in real life below.
So, Ms Marvel and Kamala Khan both come back. The last few issues launch straight into two pillars of high school romance stories: a love triangle, and drama at a school dance. And if we had the return of one villain in the first arc, bringing back another one of Ms Marvel’s rogues just felt tired.
If you read the back cover you know that Bruno returns from Wakanda in this issue – causing problems for both Kamala and Mike. But for Kamala, who has been flirting with the Red Dagger as Ms. Marvel, we finally see a love triangle emerge. While for some a love triangle is just frustrating and cliché, it could have been an interesting and more layered dilemma for Kamala, especially because Kareem (Red Dagger’s alter ego) is also Pakistani. We’ve seen from previous issues that Kamala’s family feels strongly that she should marry within her group (not unlike many minorities, as a Jewish woman I can attest), so this kind of conflict would have been so interesting for Kamala.
How’s this for a love triangle: Kamala must choose between pursuing a relationship with Kareem, someone new, of whom her family would approve, and maybe she likes a bit too, but she’s not sure – does she like Kareem because of who he is or because he fits into the box she’s expected to date in? ….or does she choose to be with Bruno, whom she’s been friends with since childhood, and whom she already probably loves, but would certainly be dating out – potentially ostracizing her from her family and community – as well as risking losing her friendship with him for a second time if it doesn’t work out.
(To heighten it further, Kamala’s family literally just went through another out-marriage, but her brother married another non-white Muslim; and she shares her identity as Ms Marvel very differently with Kareem than with Bruno.)
SEE THAT? It’s a stereotype turned on its head, that says something valuable and interesting about being a minority, just like Kamala herself. And I know Wilson is up to the task as a writer. I’m so, so disappointed this wasn’t fleshed out more.
It’s telling that of the whole love triangle story, the high point was Kamala’s honest conversation with her imam. It reminded me a bit of Father Brah in Crazy Ex Girlfriend – it’s great to show clergy as caring people who are not closed off to the world, or who place tradition above everything. Her imam doesn’t tell Kamala that she’s terrible for liking a boy outside her ethnicity. He advises her to follow her feelings.
But instead of giving Kamala time to figure things out, and maybe learn something new about herself and what kind of relationship she wants, in the context of all the pressures that come with being a minority, the whole thing collapses before it could even get started. Bruno came back too fast, and by the way, it’s not clear that he wants to date Kamala either; he left things open with Mike.
(SPOILERS) On that note, I don’t at all understand Red Dagger’s choice to just up and leave when he was the one who showed interest in Kamala in the first place. Instead it feels like he is conveniently exiting back to Karachi, clearly written out so Kamala and Bruno can work things out (with Mike to provide the drama, of course).
Nico Leon’s artistic talent is a good fit for Ms. Marvel, with a slightly more anime style than the last artist, Diego Olortegui, but not nearly as much as Takeshi Miyazawa. (Leon and Olortegui are my favorite artists for Ms Marvel.) Her characters are expressive, simple without looking too cartoonish. I would have loved to see her be more creative with Ms. Marvel’s embiggening powers though, especially since we only see them for a couple of pages. At the same time though, a really lovely full page of Kamala’s first kiss:
When it comes to the art, I’m really surprised by Schiti’s cover, because he completely changes what Kamala Khan’s face looks like. Seriously. Look at every other panel of Kamala in this post and go back to the cover. He’s changed a few things. And it’s annoying that it got to the cover.
I was really hoping this would be a different kind of “Ms Marvel No More” story. I was hoping to see some growth from Kamala and a couple of surprises along the way. Instead her crisis never fully resolved, and the ensuing love triangle was quickly resolved and tied up with a bow. There were some nice moments – Kamala talking with her imam, a long-awaited birth, Bruno’s Wakandan friend doing “field research” on Americans, and a potential love interest for Zoe. But that doesn’t ease my lingering doubts moving forward with what used to be my favorite superhero title.
Reading Art 