Although
I like volume 3 of Ms. Marvel, and it
really does have some neat stuff in it, it might be my least favorite so
far. However, a lot of it is simply
because it’s a little more disjointed than the first two. While volumes 1 and 2 both feel like ongoing
stories that are in turn continuations of each other, volume 3 has four issues
from Ms. Marvel (one of which is
connected to the other three only thematically) and an issue of SHIELD that features a guest spot by
Kamala. It’s not that I need the story
to follow a single path, and the SHIELD
detour is fairly fun, but I’ve gotten pretty wrapped up in the arc stuff
they’ve had going on and am eager for more of it. (Much of this may simply be my (still)
relative inexperience with serialized comic books.) A few spoilers.
Like I
said, we have three mostly-separate stories here between the five issues. The first is a fluffy tangent featuring Loki
in Jersey City, trying to help (Loki is good at the moment in the current
Marvel universe) but causing plenty of mischief anyway. The second has two main plots: Kamala’s first real (unexpected) crush and a
larger, more complex look at other Inhumans, with Kamala realizing that not all
of them have good intentions. Lastly,
the third is a one-off involving Coulson and Simmons working undercover to
thwart certain alien-related shenigans at Kamala’s school – Kamala, naturally
gets in on the action.
It’s
hard to talk about this volume as a single entity, so I’ll take the stories one
at a time. Loki in Jersey City is goofy
but fun. I love that he’s in his full
Asgardian regalia but everyone just thinks he’s a “hipster Viking” from Brooklyn. Since the theme of this volume is “love is in
the air,” we also have Kamala’s friend Bruno trying to ask her to the
Valentine’s Day dance (Loki’s help is not
especially helpful.) While the plot is a
bit rote, it provides some nice moments.
Upon being told that he’s been “friend-zoned,” Bruno lets loose the
glorious, “Friendship is not a zone,
you idiot! Friendship is something real
and good and anybody who doesn’t understand that needs a dictionary.” Although Bruno really wants to be “more than
friends” with Kamala, it’s good that he also recognizes the value of what he
already has. Oh, and Kamala’s reaction
to the flowery “secret admirer” note Loki dictates to Bruno – “Am I being
stalked? Should I give this thing to the
FBI?” – is too perfect. (Side note: I love that, since it’s just Kamala and Nakia
alone in that scene, Nakia isn’t wearing her hijab. There’s no stilted explanation, a la, “Boy, I
sure am glad I can take this off since there are no boys around”; it just is.)
The
second story is the most interesting to me.
I enjoy Kamala exploring her feelings for Kamran, the well-educated son
of her parents’ friends, who her parents are very “hint hint!” about but who Kamala
actually realizes she has a lot in common with, from video games to Bollywood
movies to gyros. What I really like,
though, is the other plot, Kamala coming face-to-face with Inhuman supremacists
who want to establish a new world order.
For Kamala, it’s so natural for her to want to use her powers to help
ordinary people, and the belief by some that having powers makes her “better”
than those ordinary people really appalls her.
This story challenges her as an Inhuman, a hero, and a person. I also love the parallels she draws between
Inhuman supremacists and terrorists like ISIS, the sick knowledge that a few
warped individuals from two of her
cultures are obsessed with hate and make others afraid of that entire culture.
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