Ms. Marvel #1 Review

rs_634x949-131106091425-634.Marvel-Comics-Ms-Cover.jl.110613

Kamala Khan finally made her official debut in Ms. Marvel #1 on 5th February, 2014. If you have been following the announcement made in November, you’ll probably be familiar with the controversy sparked by the new character. After reading the issue I am happy to say that the Marvel NOW! Has done an amazing job!

Yes, Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American and Muslim. But you know what? The way she’s portrayed in the comics is something a lot of readers can relate to. She’s a sixteen-year-old teenager who is a fan of The Avengers and is just trying to ‘fit in’. She’s different from the other teenagers around her because of her religion and culture, but aren’t all famous comic book characters similar? We have Spider-Man who was different growing up, and we have the whole X-Men universe reflecting the same thing. Kamala Khan falls perfectly into the category. She’s rebellious, ambitious, quirky, and trying to find out who she is. I instantly related to Kamala and I know others will, too.  Maybe because of her thoughts regarding her faith or maybe how she fangirls about The Avengers. I mean, she writes fan-fiction! What more can you ask for?

The writer, G. Willow Wilson, a Muslim herself, presents everything in a sensitive manner. She makes the reader understand why Kamala thinks the way she does, even about her faith, and everything comes across as quite natural for such a teenager. I found nothing wrong with Kamala’s portrayal and I hope it keeps getting better in the coming issues. We also get a sense of her family. Her brother seems to be overly religious and I have a feeling we will see him go towards the extremist side of things as the story progresses. Her parents aren’t as devout as her brother but I don’t think they will be accepting of their daughter fighting crime anytime soon.

Coming to Kamala’s powers, they are quite different from the previous Ms. Marvels we have seen. The young girl can change her size at will (though it hasn’t been shown yet) which is a far cry from the energy blasts and flight powers we have seen from other women who took on the superhero name. Kamala got her powers from the Terrigen Mist in this issue and there’s a fun sequence where she hallucinates Captain America, Ms. Marvel, and Iron Man appearing in front of her. The three iconic Avengers talking in Urdu (National language of Pakistan) was hilarious.

1620664_230210460496096_1687182731_nNo super villain was introduced but we got to know about Zoe and some jocks from her school who are insensitive to Kamala’s lifestyle and one of them even tries to trick her into drinking alcohol. However, Kamala has some good friends, namely Nakia, and Bruno, who seems to have affections for her. So, at least something is working in her life.

I am excited to read the next issue. The whole team did an amazing job introducing a new female character who is different but still very much rateable to a lot of people out there.

Have you read Ms. Marvel yet? What did you think? Please share in the comments!

Author: Farid-ul-Haq

Farid has a Double Masters in Psychology and Biotechnology as well as an M.Phil in Molecular Genetics. He is the author of numerous books including Missing in Somerville, and The Game Master of Somerville. He gives us insight into comics, books, TV shows, anime/manga, video games, and movies.


Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.

Copyright © The Geekiary

Do not copy our content in whole to other websites. If you are reading this anywhere besides TheGeekiary.com, it has been stolen.
Read our policies before commenting. Be kind to each other.

4 thoughts on “Ms. Marvel #1 Review

  1. This makes me want to start reading comic books. It’s very exciting. I hope it does well and sends the message that superheroes don’t have to largely fit into the “cis het white guy” mold. I’m proud of Marvel for branching out and being more inclusive. It’s great to hear they did well because a lot of eyes are on them about this.

    -Admin Angel

    1. Really liking Marvel NOW! initiative with branching out and giving us new titles that are different and quite female-centric…Marvel has really promoted Kamala and making her different and giving the character her own solo comic really shows how determined they are…Miles Morales (Black Hispanic descent Spider-man) came in 2011 with a huge controversy even if he was from the Ultimate Marvel Universe…so seeing Kamala being part of the ‘main’ Marvel Universe makes me look forward to more diverse characters…will be keeping an eye on how things work out for this series

Comments are closed.