The New Ms. Marvel Rocks My Socks

If you haven’t yet gotten into G. Willow Wilson’s new Ms. Marvel series, stop what you’re doing and order it.

I first heard about this new Ms. Marvel storyline from a news article a few years ago that reported the new Ms. Marvel is a Muslim. This made me more curious, not only because I’m fascinated by the human response to hate and fear the unknown. I’m also curious because I honestly don’t happen to have any Muslim friends, and I wondered what the experience of a Muslim teen would be like in comparison to others.

I highly recommend starting from the beginning, at Volume 1. But look forward to Volume 6: Civil War II.

Civil War II

While some people come to the Ms. Marvel series because, well, she’s a superhero and they like superhero action, Civil War II provides even more. G. Willow Wilson has created another excellent narrative arc, this time about the ambiguous nature of human beings and how all good guys do bad things sometimes and how all bad guys are people too.

Some critics may say the handling of “pre-crime” is a bit formulaic and somewhat derivative of the excellent Minority Report movie (this is referenced in the comic actually) which actually came from the incredible paranoid mind of short story writer Phillip K. Dick. The critics aren’t exactly wrong, but this is a comic written about teenagers for a teen and young adult audience. Teens are likely not as familiar with the nuance of Phillip K. Dick or the dilemmas inherent in bad and good guys, so I give Wilson a bit of a pass.

Even better though was the excellent backstory of Kamala’s grandmother and mother, including how Naani came through the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, abandoning her home in Bombay for the unknown of Pakistan. This storyline was not only real and humanizing, but it will introduce western audiences to this chaotic period of human history, a story worth telling, one that reveals so much about human beings’ fear of the other.

I loved this graphic novel- it may be my favorite Ms. Marvel issue so far. It is worth a read for its ethical gray areas, amusing moments, excellent writing, and, of course, action. There’s less action than in previous issues, but it’s worth the balance in exploring the gray areas of bad and good. Also, it’s worth nothing that this is a darker installment, one that doesn’t end with a big pretty bow and the bad guy captured. Sort of like the real world, I guess. Maybe that’s why I like it so much.