Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1: No Normal by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona Published by Marvel on October 30th 2014
Pages: 120
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Marvel Comics presents the new Ms. Marvel, the groundbreaking heroine that has become an international sensation!
Kamala Khan is an ordinary girl from Jersey City — until she's suddenly empowered with extraordinary gifts. But who truly is the new Ms. Marvel? Teenager? Muslim? Inhuman? Find out as she takes the Marvel Universe by storm! When Kamala discovers the dangers of her newfound powers, she unlocks a secret behind them, as well. Is Kamala ready to wield these immense new gifts? Or will the weight of the legacy before her be too much to bear? Kamala has no idea, either. But she's comin' for you, Jersey!
It's history in the making from acclaimed writer G. Willow Wilson (Air, Cairo) and beloved artist Adrian Alphona (RUNAWAYS)! Collecting MS. MARVEL (2014) #1-5 and material from ALL-NEW MARVEL NOW! POINT ONE #1.
When I started this blog, I really underestimated how much of a hit my non-romance/erotica reading would take. My comic reading was particularly hard hit, for some reason, and I found myself falling really behind. So I decided to do a regularly scheduled comic post. My goal is to do this weekly, which I think is doable. I’m going to focus on volumes, not individual issues, though that’s going to be more of a loose guideline than a rule. So – having said that, here we go.
I love Ms. Marvel, you guys. I love her so much. Now, I will preface this review by saying that I come to this comic from the perspective of a now middle(ish) aged white woman who was born and raised in the suburbs of the Midwest. I am in no way qualified to comment on the experience Kamala Khan is having growing up in Jersey City as a practicing Muslim with parents who immigrated here from Pakistan. So I am not going to discuss whether or not Kamala and her circle are stereotypes or not. People much better equipped than I am to know are already discussing that. I’m just going to talk about the comic as a whole.
And, as a whole, I love this comic. I love that we have a superhero that’s not a white dude. I love that she struggles with so many of the same things I remember struggling with as a teenager. She’s struggling to find her place in the world, in a large ‘who am I?’ sense, but also in a smaller sense, trying to figure out where she fits with her family and her peers. Things that we struggle with well beyond our teenage years. Her parents keep catching her sneaking out at night, and she keeps getting grounded. There’s a girl named Zoe at school who Kamala has to put up with, and ends up being the first person she saves in her Ms. Marvel guise. (Kamala’s self-called second best friend, Bruno, refers to Zoe as a ‘concern troll’. She says things like “Your new head scarf is really cute, but you aren’t being pressured to wear it by your family, are you? You’re not in danger of being honor-killed, right? I’m just really concerned about you.” We all know Zoe.) Kamala also deals with a few things I didn’t struggle with. Like super powers. She is suddenly imbued with these superpowers after getting caught up in a mysterious fog that envelops Jersey City while she’s on her way home one night after a party she sneaked off to. She ends up with the power to stretch her body into almost any size and shape, and she can take on other appearances. She first takes on an appearance she thought she would love, that of a tall, thin, blonde woman, with big… boots, but soon realizes she’d rather look like herself.
For me, that’s where the story really starts to take off. Once she has saved a few people, she comes across The Inventor, who is set up to be her first real villain. I don’t really know much about the Carol Danvers Ms. Marvel story, so I don’t know if that’s where he’s from, or if he’s totally new to this story line. So far, he’s not very scary, but we’ll see what happens in volume 2.
I really recommend this comic to anyone who likes comic books. The writing is so good, the art and the coloring really captured the mood of the story and brought it to a new level. There’s nothing in this first volume I would consider inappropriate for any age group, so even if you aren’t into comics, get this for your kids, or nieces & nephews, or cousins, or anyone you think might enjoy a great story.
About G. Willow Wilson
G. Willow Wilson began her writing career at the age of 17, when she freelanced as a music and DJ critic for Boston’s Weekly Dig magazine. Since then, she’s written the Eisner Award-nominated comic book series Air and Mystic: The Tenth Apprentice and the graphic novel Cairo. Her first novel, Alif the Unseen, was a New York Times Notable book and winner of the 2013 World Fantasy Award for Best Novel. She currently writes the bestselling monthly comic book series Ms. Marvel for Marvel Comics.
Willow spent her early and mid twenties living in Egypt and working as a journalist. Her articles about the Middle East and modern Islam have appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly and the Canada National Post. Her memoir about life in Egypt during the waning years of the Mubarak regime, The Butterfly Mosque, was named a Seattle Times Best Book of 2010.
