[Classic Fantastic is our series of features on the classics of the format—please check out our other picks for the most important titles, in terms of appeal, innovation, and storytelling, that every library should own.]
What’s it about?
Ms. Marvel is a window into the life of a Pakistani Muslim immigrant family. After a terrigen mist endowed Kamala Khan with superpowers, she became the new Ms. Marvel—a Ms. Marvel whose superhero outfit is a repurposed burkini. Kamala weaves between the worlds of the religious and the secular the same way she weaves between the world of the teen and the world of the superhero: she’s sometimes confident, sometimes uneasy, and never in one place for too long.
Within Kamala’s nuclear family and friend circle, we’re provided a variety of characters who express their faith in a variety of ways. Abu and Ammi, Kamala’s parents, are somewhat secular but strict. They disapprove of drugs, dogs, and dates. On the other hand, Kamala’s brother Aamir rebels through his piety by dressing in traditional dress with a kufi (skullcap). Kamala’s feelings about her faith are complex and contradictory. She’s quick to snark at Sheikh Abdullah’s lecture from the women’s section of the masjid, but she also remembers his wisdom at crucial moments.
Kamala expresses a similar ambivalence about being a supehero. The work takes takes her away from friends, sleep, and her beloved World of Battlecraft videogame, and she’s not thrilled about being treated like a kid sister in the Avengers. On the other hand, she gets to save the world.
What is clear, though, is that there are similarities between religious contemplation and serving as a superhero. Both require humans to think of the world beyond themselves, assess their courses of action, and work on behalf of the greater good.
Kamala’s “greater good” is Jersey City, New Jersey. Jersey City is drawn true to real life, with views of the Freedom Tower poking out from across the Hudson River. Jersey City is home to lots of working-class immigrants representing different waves of immigration. Kamala’s best friend, techie sidekick, and quasi love interest Bruno is white, but he also identifies as an Italian immigrant. Kamala’s and Bruno’s relationship faces its expected turns over the series, including a moment where Bruno reveals his love for Kamala and Kamala, despite being boy-obsessed, tells Bruno she’s not about relationships right now.
Notable Notes
Even though Kamala and Bruno aren’t in love (or not really, or let’s not talk about it), their verbal sparring and references to nerd and gamer culture are delightful. There are references to RPGs, memes that have probably overstayed their welcome (doge, anyone?), and bitcoin, among others. These small moments don’t come across as gimmicky in the slightest, though I see how they easily could tire the reader—instead, they show an attention to craft.
What’s also notable in the Ms. Marvel volumes is the use of setting, color, and space. I have a hard time reading some superhero comics because I feel the action is too crowded on the page. In the interest of making superhero comics “exciting,” some artists lay in lots of scenes with BOOMS and THWACKS and character close-ups from torso up. Ms. Marvel goes the opposite direction. Instead of crisp colors, colorist Ian Herring gave the series a faded palette, and instead of lots of close-ups, we get scenescapes of a long-legged Kamala Khan making her way across Jersey City.
The two artists who drew most of the series, Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa, have slightly different interpretations of Ms. Marvel. Alphona’s Ms. Marvel is leggy and gangly, and her poofy hair floats around her head defiantly. Alphona’s lines are sketchy and he attends to details around Jersey City like iron trellises and trash cans. Miyazawa’s Ms. Marvel, on the other hand, is sleeker with bolder lines and bigger gestures. The style feels more sci-fi than PATH train. All artists who have taken a hand to Ms. Marvel are keen on drawing her grimaces, pouts, and frustrations of daily life and superhero duty.
Significance
Ms. Marvel gives readers an opportunity to cheer for a heroine who looks like them and practices their faith. It takes the attention away from superhero duties as a white male act and shows how a woman of color can be a public servant who gets the bad guys, too. It’s not the only comic that portrays a non-white or non-male main character, but it does so with tremendous heart and openness. Wilson has developed a heroine who is so likeable and relatable to teens, because so many of her concerns are teen concerns and so much of her life is teen life. What teen on the planet hasn’t had to negotiate parent expectations, identity, and getting to class on time?
Appeal
Ms. Marvel appeals to new graphic novel readers as well as graphic novel fans who are trying out a new genre. The intent in this series seems to be to find as wide a readership as possible. The plot lines are simple and somewhat modular: the core characters stay somewhat stable and there are new villains and characters in every volume who are introduced. If there are some story lines that carry over from previous volumes, they are contextualized and explained clearly.
I also see Ms. Marvel as a bridge between Japanese comics and American comics. There are times that Kamala’s actions and depictions seem more out of an anime comedy—for example, at times her eyes bug a little bit when she meets somebody famous, and when she gets defensive with a friend, her eyes become pin-like and small. Kamala can be endearing even when she’s at her most annoying.
Why should you own this?
The Ms. Marvel series introduced comic book readers to Kamala Khan, a teen in Jersey City who is just trying to balance school, friends, overbearing parents, and World of Battlecraft. Superheroes have never had this much teen angst before. It’s about time Ms. Marvel became a must-read for every teenager on this planet and on any other alternate universe planets, too.
Ms. Marvel Written by G. Willow Wilson Art by Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, and others Volume 1: No Normal ISBN: 9780785190219 Volume 2: Generation Why ISBN: 9780785190226 Volume 3: Crushed ISBN: 9780785192275 Volume 4: Last Days ISBN: 9780785197362 Volume 5: Super Famous ISBN: 9780785196112 Volume 6: Civil War II ISBN: 9780785196129 Volume 7: Damage Per Second ISBN: 9781302903053 Marvel, 2017 Publisher Age Rating: T+
Once again, the Ms. Marvel series introduces characters and plots that are relevant to contemporary teens. Kamala Khan isn’t just getting to know the Marvel universe, she’s figuring out the moral universe, too
Depending on how well you know Kamala, you may recall that she’s a pretty devoted gamer. Her vice of choice is online multiplayer games, where she is known not as Kamala Khan or Ms. Marvel, but as SlothBaby. I guess every alter ego needs an alter ego? Within the game, her guild friend, LeetSkillz, starts acting strangely and threatens Kamala by mentioning her address. If her online friends get wind of her true identity it could be bad news.
Meanwhile, photos have been going around of Clara, a classmate at school. Clara is humiliated and embarrassed about photos that were intended to be shared only with her boyfriend, who claims he kept them private. Ms. Marvel and her friends Mike, Zoe, and Nakia step in to support Clara and befriend her.
It turns out these events are related. Player LeetSkillz unintentionally downloaded Doc.X, a virus designed to spread quickly and take on the traits of its users. Doc.X has the power to control not only technology, but minds, too. Though Kamala can resist it’s control of minds, the virus has an unusual blackmail offer for Kamala: spread the virus into a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility or else the virus will release the love letters that Zoe wrote to Nakia but never sent. Ms. Marvel briefly considers making good on Doc.X’s order before she stops herself: “If I cave in to a bad guy, am I still one of the good guys?” Kamala’s guild meets up in real life and she hatches a multi-phase plan to defeat Doc.X once and for all.
It’s fun to watch Ms. Marvel’s fighting style develop over time from mostly physical force to a blend of strategic thinking, physical force, peer leadership, and a dash of techie know-how. This volume artistically celebrates Kamala’s special brand of dorky superhero in all sorts of ways, from the bags of chips that are by her side when she’s gaming to a physically unflattering depiction of her with her spidery elongated legs or sitting with her guild at a LAN party at the Circle Q. (“Are you nerds seriously having LAN party in a convenience store? Man, this is some peak Jersey right here…”) I always appreciate how the Ms. Marvel volumes buck the old-school trend of female superheroes with idealized and hyper-sexualized physical traits. Ms. Marvel is about kicking ass, not having one.
However, I felt that Doc.X as a villain and the volume itself presented some questions and issues that weren’t explored further or resolved. This seemed particularly rife for potential in a volume about secrets, surveillance, and how we use the internet, because we know Kamala’s weak for Bruno and we know she doesn’t always display the finest judgment when it comes to teen life. I would have liked to have seen Kamala’s personal life enter this volume more, particularly because she says “We all have secret identities. Secret identities, but no secrets, and it sucks.”
This is a terrific volume for those who are already fans, but I would encourage newer readers to start earlier in the series.
Ms. Marvel, vol. 7: Damage Per Second Written by G. Willow Wilson Art by Mirka Andolfo and Takeshi Miyazawa ISBN: 9781302903053 Marvel, 2017 Publisher Age Rating: T+
I’m pretty sure I know Kamala Khan. She’s that student who raises her hand to say something brilliantly wrong. She lets her enthusiasm override reason and common sense. She’s loyal to friends, but she acts before she listens.
Kamala Khan’s superhero self, Ms. Marvel, faces some of the same issues as Kamala Khan the Pakistani-American living in Jersey City. In one panel we see Ms. Marvel leaping from one building to another with the newly rebuilt One World Trade Center in the far distance. In the real world, some (most notably Donald Trump) accused Muslims in Jersey City—families exactly like Kamala’s—of celebrating the destruction of the original World Trade Center on 9/11. In the fictionalized world, this volume’s villains have a similar obsession with order and keeping the peace.
In nearly all of the volumes in the Ms. Marvel series, there are distinct and direct parallels to contemporary issues, and the muted tones and high realism of the artwork is meant to remind us that superhero life and real life aren’t so far apart. If Ms. Marvel were more…dare I say…heroic, these comics could come across as overly preachy and moralizing, as if Ms. Marvel were the Smokey the Bear of racism and classism. Instead, readers are invited to see Ms. Marvel work her way through issues, too. When Captain Marvel introduces Ms. Marvel to Becky St. Clair and her cadre of predictive crime fighters, Ms. Marvel is in awe of the ability to stop a crime before it has the ability to harm others. Tyesha, Kamala’s friend, tries to warn her that such a system could cause new problems, not resolve the problems that already exist. While Ms. Marvel’s evolution from stopping crime to stopping unnecessary oppression is swift and predictable, it is still satisfying to watch.
Characters who have made larger appearances in other volumes make a small showing here, and readers learn more about Kamala’s family life in Pakistan, setting the stage for future international adventures.
The Ms. Marvel series continues to be a refreshing delight for teen readers who are looking for a superhero who is as worried about fighting crime as she is getting a college scholarship.
Ms. Marvel, vol. 6: Civil War II by G. Willow Wilson Art by Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa ISBN: 9780785196129 Marvel, 2016 Publisher Age Rating: (12+)
Seventeen years ago, in the waning days of the Great War, Arron Day watched his father, soldier of fortune Mad Dog Day, walk back into Cairo, humbled by defeat at the hands of the Cobra, a Bedouin warlord fighting to evict the British from his people’s land. The Cobra spared the lives of those he defeated, leaving them to their shame as he disappeared back into the desert. Now a mercenary himself, code-named Blackjack, Arron has renown, success, wealth, and a new home in the wealthiest part of New York City despite the efforts of those who don’t believe an African-American man should share their neighborhood. But the past comes calling when Blackjack receives word from Cairo that the Cobra has returned, and Silas Lincoln, his late father’s partner, has been grievously wounded attempting to capture the man. Day immediately plans his return to the land of his childhood, determined to bring the Cobra down. Aided by Maryam, Silas’s new partner and an enigmatic martial artist with a mysterious past, Blackjack plots his revenge, unsure who to trust in this new-old city of alliances and betrayals.
In Blackjack, Alex Simmons has created a new, old-school hero—human, flawed, driven, and layered. Simmons’ story, like his protagonist, is multi-faceted; Second Bite of the Cobra is a wild adventure, but it’s also a story of family and loyalty and of finding yourself in a world that tries to label you according to its narrow views. Set in 1930s Egypt, in the tense period between the world wars, Blackjack captures the spirit of those tumultuous times, as men fought for the soul of countries and continents and to advance their own self-interests. Though the focus is on the adventure, Blackjack touches on serious social issues, including racial prejudice, colonialism, and cultural and resource exploitation, with an authenticity that gives the story depth. Joe Bennett’s art helps to set the scene, capturing the striking locations and giving each character a distinctive face and personality, and contributing to Blackjack’s old-school appeal.
Blackjack brilliantly harkens back to the early days of adventure comics, a fast-paced and violent quest for vengeance set in an exotic locale and peopled with inscrutable characters. Arron Day is a compelling hero, a man who survives and thrives by the quickness of his mind and the strength of his arms. At a time when readers are seeking more diversity in comics, Blackjack offers a story with a strong African-American protagonist and a diverse supporting cast. Maryam is a strong female supporting character whose origins seem to be Bedouin or Egyptian, and Blackjack’s recruited team includes a Frenchman, a Native American, and a white man who goes by Red, short, he claims, for Redneck.
This Dover edition reprints the Blackjack series originally published by Dark Angel Productions in 1996, and the volume includes a new foreword by Joe Illidge and an afterward by David Colley. Dover doesn’t provide an age rating for Blackjack, but it is likely appropriate for most teen collections. While there is plenty of fighting, including numerous deaths by guns and swords, the violence is generally not over-the-top, though it is frequently on-screen. Some readers, however, may be disturbed by instances of violence against children in addition to the body count. The Cobra is presented as a Muslim, with numerous references to Allah, while references are also made to Bedouin cultural practices and beliefs, including the honor killing of women who have been victims of sexual violence that may be concern to some readers.
Blackjack is a new look at an old genre, a remembrance of a time when heroes didn’t wear capes or armor, but instead were human, flawed, and still capable of dazzling through their exotic adventures. Readers tired of the superhero saturation of many mainstream comics may find that Blackjack offers a strong hero with a different kind of appeal.
Blackjack: Second Bite of the Cobra by Alex Simmons Art by Joe Bennett ISBN: 9780486798523 Dover, 2015
Ms. Marvel is a window into the life of a Pakistani Muslim immigrant family. After a terrigen mist endowed Kamala Khan with superpowers, she became the new Ms. Marvel—a Ms. Marvel whose superhero outfit is a repurposed burkini. Kamala weaves between the worlds of the religious and the secular the same way she weaves between the world of the teen and the world of the superhero: she’s sometimes confident, sometimes uneasy, and never in one place for too long.
Once again, the Ms. Marvel series introduces characters and plots that are relevant to contemporary teens. Kamala Khan isn’t just getting to know the Marvel universe, she’s figuring out the moral universe, too
I’m pretty sure I know Kamala Khan. She’s that student who raises her hand to say something brilliantly wrong. She lets her enthusiasm override reason and common sense. She’s loyal to friends, but she acts before she listens.
Seventeen years ago, in the waning days of the Great War, Arron Day watched his father, soldier of fortune Mad Dog Day, walk back into Cairo, humbled by defeat at the hands of the Cobra, a Bedouin warlord fighting to evict the British from his people’s land. The Cobra spared the lives of those he defeated, leaving them to their shame as he disappeared back into the desert. Now a mercenary himself, code-named Blackjack, Arron has renown, success, wealth, and a new home in the wealthiest part of New York City despite the efforts of those who don’t believe an African-American man should share their neighborhood. But the past comes calling when Blackjack receives word from Cairo that the Cobra has returned, and Silas Lincoln, his late father’s partner, has been grievously wounded attempting to capture the man. Day immediately plans his return to the land of his childhood, determined to bring the Cobra down. Aided by Maryam, Silas’s new partner and an enigmatic martial artist with a mysterious past, Blackjack plots his revenge, unsure who to trust in this new-old city of alliances and betrayals.
