[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxljTK0T4gk]

Ms. Marvel #1 (Vol. 3)

Author: G. Willow Wilson
Artists: Adrian Alphona and Ian Herring
Release Date: February 2014
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Source: Bought and Owned
Genre(s): Superheroes, Graphic Novel

Rating: ★★★★★
Review Spoilers: Moderate
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I think I knew that I was going to love Kamala Khan the second they announced plans for her to take over the Ms. Marvel title from Carol Danvers. Marvel was taking a big step in bringing a Pakistani American superhero to the forefront and I was so totally on board with that. A female, Muslim character in an pretty much white male dominated superhero line up? Headed up by some super dedicated, awesome talent, too? I almost couldn’t believe it. And then I actually got to meet when Ms. Marvel #1 finally came out and I swear.

I fell in love with Kamala Khan after the very first panel.

In the interview I linked up above Kamala’s story is compared to Peter Parker because she’s just an ordianry girl who comes into powers, has to learn to control them, and decide what to do with them. Plus she’s got the whole aliteration name thing going for her, too. But for me Kamala is far more relatable than Peter. She’s a nerd from the new age who has grown up with the Internet. She writes Avengers crossover fanfiction, fangirls over Carol Danvers, and fanatically checks Tumblr. She’s a fangirl. It’s glorious. If there is ever a hero I can relate to out there it’s Kamala.

Really, I just love the idea of seeing what a normal person is like in the Marvel world. I think it’s why I liked the Frontline mini-series so much. You had normal reporters embedded in some of the most abnormal events in super powered history. Kamala is just a girl whose lived in Jersey City her whole life – so close to the action and yet so far removed. Is it surprising she became a hero fangirl?

The book deals with so many things I feel like you just don’t see in other series. It’s all just so real. The way Kamala is caught between her Pakistani and American heritage, the way her mother sort of scoffs at her fangirling, how she has to deal with ignorant classmates…

They made a very good choice in not bringing Kamala’s powers to the forefront until the very last moments of the comic. The reader gets to bond with her first. We get to meet her friends, meet Bruno – who wants to be more than just a friend, meet her family.  Kamala’s first adversary isn’t some super powered bad guy but a blonde chick from school who turns out to be kind of a bitch. Her first ‘challenge’ is a going to her first high school party and realizing that being like the normal kids might not be quite what it’s meant to be. We jump right into the cultural divides from the get go and the book makes it clear that it’s not going to shy away from anything that might come up in following the story of a Muslim super hero.

Of course, then at the end the Terrigen Mists roll in and Kamala gets her powers…

Basically, ext issue is going to be so awesome.

Final Thoughts: 
Kamala Khan is my hero. Straight up. I will support this comic from here to eternity. I am so excited to see how she develops as hero in her own right. She’s going to be great. I just hope she doesn’t give up her fanfiction!