Ms. Marvel, Vol. 7: Damage Per Second (2017)

While I thought the last volume knocked it out of the park on Kamala’s story, this one is just all right.  It’s fun and has some interesting ideas, but it lacks the same punch as Ms. Marvel’s Civil War II.  And naturally, not every volume of a comic is going to be as hard-hitting, because stories need to rise and fall.  After all, if you always rise, that’s how to wind up with things like Doctor Who season finales that constantly have to outdo the last one, raising the stakes the truly-ludicrous levels.  In light of that, I’ll take a “just all right” arc every now and then.

There are a few things going on here.  The main story follows Kamala’s online gaming life, in which an intelligent Doc.X virus begins spilling over into her real life, one who knows her secrets and has the power to take over living minds.  It doesn’t fill the whole volume, though.  It’s bookended by short side trips:  the first involves Ms. Marvel rallying her neighborhood to get out the vote, and the second catches up with Bruno after the events of Civil War II.

I like each of these stories, but they’re not written with an especially light hand.  The election issue in particular very plainly comes across as a well-intentioned public service announcement, with Ms. Marvel knocking on doors to educate people about registering to vote and culminating in her marching down the street waving a flag and being followed by a crowd of eager newly-informed voters.  Its “written as the 2016 election bore down” vibe is clear, and while it gets the job done, it’s not exactly a story.

I enjoy the Doc.X story more.  As the longest, it’s obviously the most fleshed-out of the three and includes some neat aspects.  I like Kamala dealing with the challenge of a villain she can’t punch, and the nature of the virus gets at the ugliest sides of the Internet, as its chief weapons are harassment and doxxing.  Still, there are places where the writing is more than a bit on-the-nose, and the resolution is a little pat, considering what the Doc.X virus puts Kamala through.

The Bruno story is good, too.  Even though Kamala is obviously the hugest draw for me in this comic, it’s interesting to get a different focus briefly.  I don’t want to go into too much detail, since I don’t want to spoil his plot from Civil War II, but we get some different characters and a different locale, as well as some pretty decent ruminations on the long-lasting fallout from the last volume.

I continue to enjoy the gradual broadening of this comic’s world.  The side characters just keep getting more interesting, and I like watching Kamala’s family expand.  From Nakia to Mike to Zoe to Tyesha, we’ve got some really nice, varied characters fleshing out this world – it’s great to get to know them.