The Last Days are pretty bleak.
Creative Staff:
Story: G. Willow Wilson
Art: Adrian Alphona
What They Say:
The team-up to end all team-ups has finally arrived! Carol “Captain Marvel” Danvers, and Kamala “Ms. Marvel” Khan face the end of the world head on in this epic issue!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With the opportunity to wind things down as the series gets ready for its post-Secret Wars incarnation, Ms. Marvel gets a chance at the big leagues here with a Last Days installment. The series is one that I’ve struggled with at times overall and while there are moments that make me want to drop it, it ends up veering back into what makes it good. Namely focusing on the human side of Kamala and less on the weird stuff, because the weird stuff here just hasn’t worked. While we’ve had a few guest appearances and crossovers with other books, a necessity considering Kamala’s origins and relations, genetically speaking, for the most part it’s been building towards one particular meeting. Namely, Captain Marvel. Unfortunately, it happens here at the end of everything, though you hope some form of it survives into the new world.
With Kamala doing all she can to try and ease things in Jersey City and helping people to get to central locations so they can help each other, she also has to struggle with the problem of her brother, Aamir. Since he got kidnapped by Kamran with the intent to expose him to the same mist that could either kill him or give him powers, she has plenty of reason to be freaking out. And that’s without that other Earth that’s about to come crashing through as an incursion. What helps though to make this the most awesome day ever is the fact that Captain Marvel has just landed on the rooftop next to her. Since she’s been using Carol’s original masked name for awhile, we knew this encounter would come and Kamala is utterly and completely adorable about it, both at first and as it progresses since she really is a curious teenager with a not fully formed filter in how to talk to other adults.
A good chunk of the book is just the two of them going off and looking for where Aamir may be, trying to find where Kamran took her previously. That makes for some fun as they deal with some of the chaos in the streets and we see some minor mentoring going on from Carol about how to deal with such situations. Carol’s usually a character I like but she really comes across stiff here, which is understandable considering the circumstances. But the personality and the shades of gray suit doesn’t help to make her engaging, nor do you really feel her taking to Kamala at all, which is unfortunate. It’s there in the words, but it doesn’t feel like it comes across in the book fully. All things do lead towards Aamir of course, though we get a little sidetracking with Kaboom, which has its nice moments courtesy of Carol.
In Summary:
Ms. Marvel has a solid entry here overall though it doesn’t come across quite as well as one might have hoped. Kamala is spot on throughout all of this as she has an utter blast with her idol here, even amid the end of times, and the way she pulls herself together and realizes that she’s become very comfortable with who she is – while still struggling with pieces of that – is well done. Kamala once again is the highlight of her own book, which is how it should be. Sadly, the Captain Marvel appearance doesn’t feel like it works for the most part, or more that it’s working from a one-sided kind of approach. She’s certainly not wanting to be idolized and she does say all the right things, but it’s so stiff and distanced in my reading of it that it doesn’t bring out Carol’s personality at all, which is unfortunate. Perhaps in the next life…
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: August 5th, 2015
MSRP: $2.99
