This is a
great volume, an engaging plot with interesting themes, high emotional stakes,
and good character moments. I’m pretty
much continually impressed with the storytelling in Ms. Marvel, and this is an excellent one. I know we’re still waiting for Captain Marvel next year, but how long
before we can get Kamala in the MCU? (A
few spoilers.)
Hydra
wobbles, but it doesn’t fall down.
Kamala beat back Chuck Worthy in a previous volume, but he’s reared his
head again, this time galvanizing some of the more prejudicial elements of
Jersey City to round up Inhumans; Kamala looks out for her people and confronts
past mistakes as the Inhumans try to find sanctuary. Later, Kamala is surprised by the appearance
of a certain crime-fighting ally she met on her recent trip to Pakistan.
The whole
anti-Inhuman rhetoric is very familiar – the uniform baseball caps of the “Make
Jersey City Great Again” crowd might be yellow instead of red, but they’re
still quite on the nose. However, I
really like how the volume goes about it.
This is the best sort of “comic-book identity as stand-in for oppressed
minority” storyline, because it tells it alongside
real-world prejudice, not in place of it.
When Amir is detained as a suspected unregistered Inhuman, it has an
extra ring of familiarity to it because he’s a young Muslim man, and since he’s
also an immigrant, being an Inhuman puts him at risk for deportation. I like that, that we see how being Inhuman
creates additional barriers for those who are already marginalized, as well as
brings those who are used to having privilege (such as those who are
straight/white/cis) prejudice they haven’t experienced before.
This is
an especially good volume for Amir, and he embodies this theme wonderfully
well. In particular, he has an amazing
monologue in the second issue, two full pages of him talking about being
profiled as a Muslim, the image of terrorists vs. the reality, and the issues
that create a breeding ground for terrorism.
One of the best things I’ve seen in a comic that’s had a lot of great
stuff in it.
The plot
in the final two issues, with Kamala encountering Red Dagger again, isn’t as
good as the first story, but I still like it.
It explores some neat ideas about how Kamala feels about being a public
her0, and I like that the problem she and Red Dagger are facing isn’t some sort
of evil plot. Instead, it’s a random,
almost mundane quirk of circumstance that nonetheless poses a major threat, as
well as being something Kamala can’t punch her way out of.
Warnings
Comic
book violence and strong thematic elements.
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