As if her heritage couldn’t get more complicated already.
Creative Staff:
Story: G. Willow Wilson
Art: Adrian Alphona
What They Say:
As Kamala discovers more about her past, the Inventor threatens her future. Why is Lockjaw really with Kamala? The fan-favorite series continues as Kamala proves why she’s the best (and most adorable) new super hero there is!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The arrival of Lockjaw in the previous issue pretty much met all my hopes and expectations as it added the right kind of fun to the situation and gave her a bit of a sidekick of sorts. It also provided the first real in when it comes to the Inhumans storyline, which I’ve been enjoying in its own book so far this year. Kamala’s definitely getting a lot of help from Lockjaw, and not really thinking about it too hard when you get down to it, as he’s helped her discover a bit of what’s going on with the Inventor and the situation that he’s created to achieve his own goals. Lockjaw’s also a whole lot of fun to play with in general and there’s a kind of goofy camaraderie between the two that is utterly adorable and completely in tune with her personality.
With the attack on Kamala at the school in the last issue, which has the giant robot powered by a runaway inside, we know now that the Inventor has figured out well enough how to track her down and that makes things a lot more problematic. Even worse is that Kamala’s powers don’t seem quite stable in a way as she’s unable to transform her looks, which is a real necessity since she doesn’t have a costume handy and she doesn’t want to be discovered doing what she can do at the school. She does have a rather amusing outfit when you get down to it, with a Captain America shirt and just jeans and a sweatshirt, so you can see how that kind of galvanizes her into action. There’s a lot of chaos and destruction throughout this, and an uncertainty on Kamala’s part as she fights, which keeps it interesting to watch. While she’s able to deal with the robot, it certainly takes a toll on her as well.
Luckily, with Lockjaw being the one watching out for her for Medusa, he’s able to call in Medusa for help, which ends up having her and Bruno whisked away to New Attilan. Thankfully, Bruno gets a little time to try and cope with all of this here, giving him the potential to expand his role a bit. But mostly, what we get here is an expansion of understanding for Kamala when she wakes up after being healed a bit to fill her in on what she really is, he true history genetically speaking in being an Inhuman. She kind of takes it all in, but in a sense you get the idea that she’s viewing it as just another label to work through in trying to find out who she really is. There’s a lot to like in how Medusa handles all of this in general with her, though she and the doc are a little more strong-armed in getting her to stay than they should. But it fits in with their understanding of the world, not of Kamala’s.
Kamala’s proving herself to be someone that’s undeterred in going after what she wants and that’s further reflected in this book as she continues her hunt for the Inventor, even after Medusa suggests they can send more experienced people after him to deal with him. With Lockjaw in tow, the pair make a good team as they find one of the places where people are being used as they are, and that has some fun action and a bit more of an exposure to the limits to her powers. What it really does though is to once again twist perceptions a bit as the people she’s trying to save seem to be there by choice, which makes it all more complicated for her because that’s outside of her area of understanding.
In Summary:
While it’s taken a bit since the appearance of the Terrigen mist back in the first issue, we finally get the real and form acknowledgment of Kamala as an Inhuman. It was pretty much a given so there’s no real surprises there, but getting it out there and getting her in touch with them, helping her to understand she has another heritage to explore and a place she can go, is definitely welcome. You do expect her to pretty much keep to Jersey City of course and what she’s doing there, but I’m glad to have her tied a little more openly to the Inhumans at this point and hope that it’s something that can be explored more in relation to her own human heritage and the struggle she has with who she is. The complications of existing are pretty much what the book is about to a good degree and this issue helps to further muddy the waters for her.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: October 15th, 2014
MSRP: $2.99