Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant by Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada (2024) 120 pages

I've loved Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel's adventures since reading G. Willow Wilson's ten volume run of graphic novels. Kamala is a Pakistani-American teen in New Jersey navigating school, home, and superpowers. The Marvel TV show is pretty great too although it is not lifted directly from the stories on the page. Now the young star of the show, Iman Vellani, with one of the writers from the show, is given the chance to write the script for a new comic adventure. Kamala's family isn't present for much of this adventure, since she is going to New York City for a summer college program. Her best friend Bruno tags along, and their platonic relationship is one of the best, consistent things established from the beginning of the characters. The origin of Ms. Marvel's powers keeps revealing new layers. There is an element of mutant in her so she has now joined a group of X-Men. There is a new wave of anti-mutant prejudice across campuses led specifically through the science corporation that owns the university where Kamala is preparing herself for the next chapter of her life. Through her nightmares, with science and heroics reliably at hand, Kamala lives to fight another day.
 

Captain Marvel (2019-)

 Captain Marvel, Vols. 1-10 by Kelly Thompson with art by various artists (2019-2023) 1240 pages

All ten volumes are available on Hoopla. I appreciated the consistency of Thompson as the writer. Some of the artists' styles I liked more than others, but they all had great expressive moments. These are all fresh stories, not repeats of Marvel movie plots. We begin as Carol Danvers returns to Earth from outer space. She's been in a long-term relationship with James "Rhodey" Rhodes aka War Machine. Her best friend is Jessica Drew aka Spider-Woman. And she is mentoring a new young hero Jennifer Takeda aka Hazmat. Whenever this core group of hero friends is facing super threats or personal trauma the comics are very enjoyable. Other heroes from the Avengers, from the Guardians, and from the X-Men make guest appearances. I love whenever Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel shows up. Carol knows that her greatest weakness is facing magic users, but unfortunately I thought the volumes that involve magic (Vols. 2 & 6) are generally not as good. I liked the introduction of Lauri-Ell, the Kree half-sister of Carol. She becomes a great member of the core group. The energy being Binary, created by Captain Marvel also starts off with a lot of promise, but then is not developed as deeply as I wished. Overall, these are consistently good adventures.

Ms. Marvel, vol. 3: Crushed

Ms. Marvel, vol. 3: Crushed by G. Willow Wilson with art by Takeshi Miyazawa and Elmo Bondoc, 112 pages.

My love for Ms. Marvel is well known, so I'll keep this short. Kamala manages to survive a visit from Loki, everyone's favorite trickster god, but surviving her first crush is another matter. This one feels, unfortunately, a little too short - a quick search online told me that Marvel's big event likely curtailed a proper arc, which is a shame. One thing I really enjoyed was the issue of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that rounds out this trade. Of COURSE Kamala and Coulson would find common ground nerding out over villains and their tech while fighting blob monsters! While a little uneven, it's still a great continuation of the series, and I'm looking forward to the next volume.

Ms. Marvel, vol. 2: Generation Why

Ms. Marvel, vol. 2: Generation Why by G. Willow Wilson, art by Jacob Wyatt and Adrian Alphona, 136 pages

My love for the first volume of Ms. Marvel is known (see here), and it continues with volume 2 of this series. Kamala is still adjusting to her superpowers and being a hero, and she finds unexpected guidance from one of the best - Wolverine, who's in Jersey City looking for a mutant kid who disappeared on her way to the Jean Gray School. Kamala knows that it's the work of the Inventor, and after facing some truly terrifying genetically modified alligators living in the sewers (and fangirling super hard), she and Wolverine discover that the Inventor is using teens to power his mechanical inventions. And by "power," I mean literally plugging them into his machines and using them as batteries. Kamala is ready for action, but when it hits a little too close to home, she has to decide if being a hero is worth putting the ones she loves in danger. Wilson continues to make Kamala a lovable geek (the internet meme speak is a lovely and funny touch - more comics could use dogespeak, in my opinion), and Alphona's art still manages to pack a lot of detail and movement in, even when it's limited to a single panel. I love the addition of Lockjaw, Kamala's helper in Inhumanity and new giant, teleporting dog - he's so gloriously goofy! While I love DC and their emphasis on darker, grimmer stories, it's fun to switch up things every now and then and read something that's so infused with fun.