Brandon Borzelli's Geek Goggle Reviews
Ms. Marvel #1
Marvel Comics
Wilson, Miyazawa, Alphona & Herring
"Ms Marvel" starts off with a thirty-page, five-dollar comic book. The comic is a slow read for a first issue and definitely struggles to continue where the previous series left off without alienating new or seasoned readers. The comic doesn't have a ton of action and doesn't focus much on the main character but rather on one of her supporting characters. I enjoyed the artwork but there wasn't much for the art to showcase. This was an okay start to the series but I think it caters to the readers from the previous run too much and ignores that this is a "first" issue.
Kamala is a charming character. She's smart, has youthful spunk and is unpredictable and very enthusiastic. We don't really see that at all in this comic. We get little tidbits of fire and we get some of her snappy dialogue but we really don't get to know the character. Instead, the book focuses on her reactions to her friend Bruno.
Kamala finds her friend walking and kissing another girl. Jealousy takes over and before you know it we are getting the origin of the couple. Not Kamala and Bruno, but Bruno and his girlfriend, Mike. While this might seem like a good idea; to build the supporting cast. This is too much focus for a first issue on characters that are not the main one.
There is a decent plot that gets hatched in this comic but it struggles to get any kind of real traction. The comic tries to bridge the gap between this series and previous one but, like a lot of the new Marvel titles, struggles to make any real sense of it. You just sort of have to write off the gap as something happened to the super-heroes and it isn't important what that was.
The artwork is good but there isn't much here to go off of. Kamala gets to react to some things she sees. Bruno and his girl get to make puppy dog eyes at each other. Some other characters get to show some anger towards things happening in their neighborhood. However, the book isn't really doing anything to make items more dramatic than they seem to be. I'm not even sure they can be more dramatic. The artwork does what it can to match up the emotions to the script.
"Ms Marvel" is back with a thirty-page, five-dollar comic book. Readers from the previous series will feel right at home as the vibe of the book continues on. However, newer readers will not get what this book is truly about because the book spends most of the time building up the relationship of two of Ms Marvel's supporting cast and leaves the main character in the background. The comic book is a decent read but doesn't do anything to elevate it to the must-read status that the previous run held for so long. The charm is there, the intelligence is there, but the focus of the comic is not. Hopefully the next issue will get back to showcasing Kamala and what makes her such an interesting and powerfully constructed character.
3 out of 5 Geek Goggles
