Ms. Marvel: An Introduction!
By Lil’ Yoda,
Who is Ms. Marvel? Perhaps you’ve seen her creep up in your new Avengers series, or seen many young girls cosplaying her at conventions. Either way she has been a popular character since she made her debut Ms. Marvel #1. (Yes, I know she technically first appeared in Captain Marvel #17, but this was the first issue where we actually get to know her.) So who exactly is she? Kamala Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, is your average sixteen-year-old girl from Jersey City. (Not to be mistaken for Carol Danvers, also known as Captain Marvel, soon to have her own movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.) A Muslim, Pakistani-American trying hard to balance her cultural values with the urge to try and fit in. Beyond that, Kamala is a hardcore superhero fangirl. She has an extremely deep admiration for Captain Marvel in particular. On thing very unique and awesome about this series is that the writer, G. Willow Wilson, is a Muslim herself. It isn’t pandering, it’s a unique understanding by an incredibly talented writer. With the assistance of artist Adrian Alphona, known for his work on Runaways, we get an awesome unique story that resonates with all audiences.
So Kamala is perfectly normal; until a Terrigenesis mist fell over Jersey City. It transformed her into an Inhuman (products of ancient Kree experimentation), with metamorphic powers. After a brief jaunt as a Captain Marvel look-alike, she realizes that she is more comfortable as herself. Though she still decides to keep the name of Ms. Marvel in honor of her hero. In this series, Kamala slowly figures out the ins and outs of being a superhero, with some help from big names such as Captain Marvel and Wolverine. Kamala must figure out her own unique powers which include, shrinking growing elasticity and even accelerated healing. She faces off against fellow Inhumans and even gets her own nemesis in the form of a villain named the ‘Inventor’. Meanwhile she still has to juggle the day to day struggles of being a teenage girl who doesn’t quite fit in.
Post Secret Wars, we pick up where the last series left off. Given this, most of the crew is still the same for Ms. Marvel, but features the new artistic talents of Nico Leon. Now, Kamala Khan is officially a card carrying member of the Avengers. While Kamala is excited to be a member of the team, it seems to only be adding to her growing stress. With not enough time for school, family and superheroing, she finds herself trying to figure out how to juggle it all. With fun, if not slightly campy, new storylines such as using 3D copies of herself to be everywhere at once, it’s sure to be a great run. Be sure to pick up Ms. Marvel #6 on April 27th!
