Kamala’s growing up right.
Creative Staff:
Story: G. Willow Wilson
Art: Adrian Alphona
What They Say:
The darling of the Marvel Universe gets ready for the ultimate showdown! On patrol full-time, Ms. Marvel needs to find The Inventor before he does Jersey City some real damage! But how much longer can Ms. Marvel’s life take over Kamala Khan’s?
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This installment of Ms. Marvel is an important one as it brings to a close the arc involving the Inventor. While I’ve seen my fair share of unusual villains in the Marvel Universe over the years, the Inventor is one that just kind of makes me roll my eyes a bit and cringe, even if it is the kind of standard low level stuff you’d get for a character just starting out in her career. What’s hampered this arc is that it went on as long as it did, combined with the delays in the book as well, which really had the whole thing feeling a lot more drawn out than it should be. So as we get to this issue and Kamala and the Inventor face off against each other for the last time, it’s with a bit of relief knowing that we’ll be going in some other directions for awhile, hopefully away from Jersey City for a bit and introducing Kamala to the world at large a little more.
Before we get there though, she has quite the hurdle to face. The Inventor has shown off what he’s done in building his grid powered by street kids and the lost as he believes it serves as great energy to power things while also dealing with the problem of overpopulation. As is the case with many villains, they don’t see themselves as doing wrong, but rather doing right through their own skewed vision of the world. Of course, he also does his little speech and Kamala is able to prod him the right way, but we also see that she can be prodded as well as he’s close to figuring out who she is under the flimsy mask and even got closer than he expected as during the last attack on the school, he grabbed a few there that includes her best friend Nakia. That sets her off pretty well and gives her the extra push she needs to fight back and take him down.
Which, in turn, leads to the extended fight sequence. It’s pretty well played out here though as Alphona has some very engaging visuals, particularly when she shrinks herself to go inside the giant robot and take control of it there through simple comic book logic. It’s not all easy though as there are complications when fighting against the Inventor, but part of what we’re getting here is that Kamala is thinking smarter about being a hero; first by going small and taking over but also alerting her friend to alert the police about where she is so there’s a team effort to it. That, combined with the other kids she stormed the place with, turns it into a decent little perfect storm to take down the Inventor, who pretty much does himself in too. While that is kind of awkward, and a little grisly off page, I rather liked what we got from the cop that’s been a regular in the book explaining to her a bit of how it all works and that she really has to be careful. After all of this, Kamala is closer to being a part of the larger world.
In Summary:
While I enjoyed Ms. Marvel in its early issues, the series felt like it faltered as it moved into the next batch, first with its Wolverine appearance and then as much time as it’s spent with the Inventor arc. Thankfully, that has come to a close and I’m going into the next few issues with a sense of hope that it can find some better and more engaging stories to tell as I continue to like the character of Kamala, but it really feels like we need to do something more with her. This installment serves as a proper bit of closure for the arc and the opening chapter in Kamala’s life, but we got the obligatory nod towards something larger that can come back to bit her later on, which is expected. After all, who invents the Inventor?
Grade: B-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Marvel Comics via ComiXology
Release Date: February 4th, 2015
MSRP: $2.99
