Ms. Marvel #11-13, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Adrian Alphona (art, #11), Elmo Bondoc (art, #12), Takeshi Miyazawa (art, #13), Ian Herring (color art), Irma Kniivila (color art, #13), Joe Caramagna (lettering) - I don't know why Kamala's eating a cupcake, but does one really need a reason to eat cupcakes?So we start with the end of Kamala's battle with the Inventor. Kamala takes control of his giant robot by shrinking and going inside it. The Inventor's attempt to stymie that by hitting her with an EMP (conking out her powers, causing her to grow back to normal size), really just gets her tangled up in a bunch of wires, which get pulled out with her when Lockjaw (freed by all the other teens) leaps to her aid. She called Bruno, so he sent the cops, and the Inventor falls to his apparent death, while his creator is arrested (and not happy about it). At any rate, the day is saved! Just in time for the Valentine's Day School Dance, which Bruno would like to ask Kamala to, but can't work up the nerve. Enter Morally Ambiguous Loki, there to make sure none of the Inventor's acolytes are likely to finish his work on gravitational singularities.
In practice, Loki helps Bruno compose an anonymous letter to Kamala, which at least intrigues her enough to attend the dance, and then Loki spikes the punch with truth serum. He and Kamala fight a bit, then he gets doused with the spiked punch, so he actually comes out and admits why he's there, and Kamala points out, if he's worried about threats to or from the high school, why not just ward it with a spell? So he does, and then he leaves, and Kamala seems pretty clear that she thinks of Bruno as a friend, and that will surely not cause problems in upcoming stories. Because old family friends have come to visit, and they've brought their son Kamran, and he happens to be a brilliant young man who has earned early entry to MIT to study microbiology (which makes Kamala's mom happy), but he also likes all the things Kamala likes, from online RPGs, to gyros, to Bollywood movies, and he's handsome. Oh, and he's also an Inhuman.
The guy has to be a telepath. He mentions his love of World of Battlecraft at the exact moment Kamala comes down the stairs, and he either keeps finishing her sentences, or starting a sentence which just so happens to be about something she loves. And with the Kilowatt Inhuman girl who showed up, and all the talk about other factions that don't follow Medusa, there is no way this is going to end well for Kamala. Maybe I'm wrong, but come on, this is superhero comics we're talking about. When something looks too good to be true for our hero, it probably is. But we'll see how it goes.
But it'll be interesting, especially in contrast to Kamala's comment the issue before that no one has ever been in love with her before. So if Kamran expresses those feelings, how is she going to handle that? Especially with the mixed signals I'm getting about her parents. Kamala seems convinced her mother would heartily disapprove of her being involved with a boy in any capacity, yet her mother seems keenly intent on setting her up with Kamran, with how quick she was to mention what a go-getter he is.
In issue 11, I like Vick's 'Real life is overrated. More laser guns!' remark, and the extremely grumpy look Alphona gives Kamala in response. I tend to agree with Vick, laser guns are awesome, but I see Kamala's point about the need to stay engaged with what's going on in the world around us. Speaking of Alphona, I like the page of Kamala shrunk down and moving among the gears of the giant robot. I don't quite understand why there are giant rodents (are they capybaras?) with lollipops asleep among the gears, but I guess the Inventor doesn't possess an orderly mind. Birds are pretty messy., which you know if you've ever seen them around feeders. Just scatter stuff everywhere.
Miyazawa's art is excellent, of course, though I think he made Kamala a little less gangly than she usually is. But the body language is excellent. The way she starts fidgeting with her hair, and kind of standing awkwardly when she first sees Kamran. All the exaggerated reactions on the page when her brother steps between them. The big jump away when she first realizes he caught them about to hold hands, the lip-jutted out scowl in the second panel, and the exasperated facepalm when he starts lecturing her. I feel like Miyazawa gave her an almost Charles Schulz mouth in that one. The wiggly lines for a mouth and the thick black lines for the teeth, it feels like a very Charlie Brown expression. Which is appropriate for a "the universe is tormenting me" moment like Kamala is having.
2 comments:
This is such a fun book. She is believable, and cute, and acts like a real teenager, which is refreshing. She also doens't have size DDD boobs, which is also refreshing.
It is really great, and Kamala's going to get to be on some Avengers team soon (might as well, almost everyone else in the Marvel Universe is these days).
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