I'm not sure why these facts were such an issue. Obviously some detractors took the "America's going to Hell for having an Islamic superhero" route. Some critics went the way of using how militant extremist Muslims treat women as second or third class citizens as reason for why this book should not be published. Those voices also wondered if writer/ creator G. Willow Wilson would sing the praises of Islam or criticize the religion for its controversies. Lastly, there was those who saw Marvel making one of its title superheroine a Muslim as some sort of affront.
First of all, I didn't have problems with the character. As long as Marvel didn't try to sell Ms. Marvel as this great anti-American and anti-justice character that kids should look up to, I had no qualms with the initial reports of the new character.
Obviously, the wounds of 9/11 and the war on terror continues to run deep. It also didn't help that just as Ms. Marvel was seeing print, ISIS pretty much took 14 years worth of work in the region and turned it on its ear in less than a year's time. Now, with beheadings and lone wolf attacks in the Big Apple, Oklahoma, and Sydney, there's going to be a collective balk anytime Islam hits the mainstream.
So, when Ms. Marvel finally arrived at my library, I knew that as a comic book collector and historian as well as an American, I had a responsibility to experience first hand Ms. Marvel to see what it really was about.
Kamala was born in America, but her family is from the Middle East. Her father is a hard working refugee who understands that his daughter is changing socially and physically, mom is a traditional Islamic mother who tends house and wants her kids to not be too corrupted by the West. Kamala's brother is perhaps the most stereotypical. He dresses in native garb and refuses to work for the "White Devil." But so far, he seems a decent guy and as his dad sees him, he's more lazy than faithful to his religion.
Kamala gets her powers as a result of the events of the Infinity storyline, when the Inhuman Maximus unleashed the biologically changing terrigen mists. Kamala gains the ability to take other appearances and change shape and size. Initially, Kamala just wants to be a normal kid again but when her best friend's wayward brother is kidnapped, she decides to become the hero of her little New Jersey community.
This opening volume was very good. I was quite impressed by the writing. My only critique of it would be that when the characters speak in their native tongue, there's rarely a translation of what's being said. I feel like some sort of secret being passed along that I am being left out of when this occurs in books. Plus, with a controversial series such as this, it may not of been the brightest of ideas to not note what's being said by the Islamic characters in this story.
Okay, I have one more problem with this book. The main bad guys are kinda goofy. They're teen punks with spider robots of some sort. OOOoohhh, scary! Plus, there is mention of a character called The Inventor. If it's who I think it is, then where did this idiot get the ability and funds to make a bunch of sophisticated and expensive looking droids?
Now, let's talk about the art. I thought it looked very similar to that of the fantastic Brian K. Vaughn series Runaways. Well, I was right! Series artist Adrian Alphona is the penciller for Ms. Marvel. Since Kamala is a teen as well, maybe we'll see a Ms. Marvel/ Runaways crossover soon?
Ms. Marvel was a page turner. I destroyed this book in less than 24-hours. It was that good. I'm very interested to see what happens next and as I mentioned earlier, I see some really cool possible team-ups for this dynamic character in the future.
This book was worth the hype, worth the wait and Worth Consuming.
Rating: 9 out of 10 stars.
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