Standing Alongside Her Heroes

Over the past week, I read the first 11 issues of the new Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, and Jacob Wyatt.  As Carol Danvers became the new Captain Marvel, it was decided that someone new would take up her old mantle.  The heroine is Kamala Kahn of Jersey City. NJ.  Kamala comes from Pakistani culture that brings more diversity to the upper echelon of Marvel superheroes.  In the past there have been some Muslim superheroes in the Marvel books like the X-Men's Sooraya Quadir and Monet St. Croix, but I can't recall any of them getting the level of exposure a solo book brings.  I think that the superhero publishers considering codenames more as mantles is a great way to exhibit a wider range of heroes without erasing characters from continuity.  I think it puts more importance on what the character brings to the name.  Sam Wilson's the new Captain America now that Steve Rogers is less able.  X-23 is now the new Wolverine since the Logan from her timeline has passed away.  D.C. Comics has had many of such examples.

This is in some ways a spoiler, so.... SPOILERS.


I went into this story, vaguely familiar with the Inhumans.  What I knew about them, I knew through Quicksilver's checkered past.  I knew Crystal, Luna, Medusa, Black Bolt, and Lockjaw.  I also read about what happened when the Terrigen Mist affected depowered mutants.

Kamala's a teenaged fangirl.  Even though in her reality, the superheroes are real, tangible people, her
fandom isn't that popular among family and peers.  We get a great view of her personal life.  We get to see how she relates to her friends, brother, parents, and the sheikh from her mosque.  Many of the characters have pros and cons, giving the  characters more depth.  The parents can be strict while

well-meaning, some of the kids from school can be offensive in their actions while not exactly as
cruel as some other imaginable bullies.  One of my favorite supporting characters may be the sheikh.  He gets annoyed when Kamala challenges some of the conservative aspects of their customs, but the twist comes in how understanding and wise he is when helping Kamala to be the best person she can be without having to fill the role of someone else.  I haven't read yet that he's knows about Kamala's double life, but its possible.  The way that he stands in as a wise adult mentor reminds me of Iroh from Avatar: the Last Airbender.  You don't quite know how much he knows on the subject, but once he and Kamala have a close heart to heart, we see that there are some adults outside the superhero community that she can confide with and feel understood by.

The origin of her powers had me asking a few questions at first, but by the end of issue #11, questions were answered.  I had never seen such mass exposure to the Terrigen mist, and I hope that later on, the "Terrigen bomb" that was mentioned will be explained.  When it exposed everyone at a party Kamala was attending, I didn't know if it was like the Bang Gas released in the pilot for the Static Shock TV show.  In Static Shock, anyone on the scene when the gas was released got affected, and in cases like Gear, secondhand gas exposure could trigger abilities.  I was wondering why if this mist reached a large amount of people, Kamala seemed to be the only one affected.  We later hear from Medusa and her Inhuman royal court that somewhere in Kamala's genealogy, there were people whose genetics mixed with that of an alien species called the Kree.  It's that trace of Kree that got triggered by the mists that revealed her (and members of her family) to be Inhuman.  Kamala's superhero role model, (Carol Danvers) also received her powers as a result of Kree genetic intervention, though not through the same process as the Inhumans.  An Inhuman physician who examined Kamala gave us a better understanding of her abilities, but since each Inhuman's abilities differ in nature, one can only guess what will develop.

All of this said, I welcome Kamala's new place in comics.  A recurring concept in this arc was the importance of the younger generations and how they can change the world they'll inherit.  Kamila isn't just inheriting her share of the world, but the legacy of Marvel Universe superheroes.