Ms. Marvel #8 and 9, by G. Willow Wilson (writer), Adrian Alphona (art), Ian Herring (color art), Joe Caramagna (lettering) - I like these McKelvie covers fine, but I'm curious what Alphona would come up with given the chance.Medusa sent Lockjaw to keep an eye on Kamala, and Kamala somehow convinces her family to let her keep the huge dog with a tuning fork on his head, though he's supposed to stay outside. Yeah, that doesn't work with a teleporting dog. On the other hand, a teleporting dog is quite useful when you're trying to find a mad inventor based on the social media of a recently found teen, and it leads to a abandoned power plant. Abandoned, save for a giant robot, powered somehow by that guy Vick Kamala had to fight to rescue Bruno's brother. Oddly, Vick is not happy to be rescued, but Kamala gets him to a hospital and is only a little late for class. Then a giant robot attacks the school, because the last giant robot snuck a tracking bug on her. And for some reason, Kamala can't change her appearance, which makes fighting a robot in her school with no costume kind of dicey.
But Lockjaw's a good doggie, so he creates a distraction, Kamala beats the robot, passes out, and is brought to New Attilan, and learns that she's not a mutant, she's Inhuman, which is maybe not a lot better for making her feel less isolated. Medusa would like Kamala to stay, but the Inventor is still out there, so after dealing with her parents, she's off to check out the first lair she found. She beats a third giant robot, but finds out all these kids are helping the Inventor by choice, not by coercion. Which is gonna present a problem for Kamala to sort out.
I did not realize that a dog would be considered impure, and not allowed inside a house in the Muslim faith. I no pork is a no-go as far as eating them, but not even having a dog in the house? Learn something new every day.
For a while there, She-Hulk was smashing at least one robot every issue. Then Soule and Pulido stopped that. So now Wilson and Alphona have picked up the ball and run with it. Three giant robots in two issues, not too shabby.
That panel of Kamala giving Lockjaw a big hug when she first meets him was adorable. It's the huge grin Alphona gives him, combined with the little sign around his neck proclaiming 'I like hugs' that really makes it work. And it's a nice snapshot of Kamala. All these other people see Lockjaw and run for their lives, Kamala sees him and gets really excited and happy. I like Wilson showing us how Kamala is trying to track down the Inventor, and the limitations she has. She might be able to find a likely location from a the missing girl's social information, but getting there was going to be a problem. Even with Lockjaw's help, she still runs afoul of her first period teacher.
Wilson's doing a good job of capturing that Peter Parker-style conflict between the civilian and costumed sides of Kamala's life, but updated and fit to a different character's circumstances. Kamala doesn't have to worry about helping to pay bills, or make web fluid, and she has both her parents. But she still feels like in outsider, in ways different from Peter. And having two healthy, protective parents, presents its own challenges. Plus now she knows Medusa's got an eye on her, and it's likely she wants Kamala to eventually move to New Attilan. And setting aside what her parents would say to that, there's the question of whether Kamala wants any part of it. I'll be interested to see if she weighs the pros and cons of it over the next few issues, since she really hasn't had time yet to let the implications sink in. I'm also curious to see when she tells her parents the truth, and how Wilson handles that. Objections from Kamala's mother are almost a certainty, but we'll see.
As much as I enjoy Alphona's artwork, and I do, he did draw Kamala going for the two-fist smash with the fingers interlocked. I've been told that's actually a good way to break your fingers, so it's really not a smart way to hit people. To be fair, practically every artist I can think of draws people using that, and at least Kamala has the excuse she's a rookie crimefighter, and doesn't have any experience fighting in general. The nifty ways she uses her powers in a fight are still very cool. Making her head swell for a headbutt, or when she sprang into the first giant robot, but rather than leaping, she pushed off the ground with one leg, and stretched it out, so she could put more force behind the tackle. It's a smart move.
I enjoy this book so much.
1 comment:
It's a lovely book. And Lockjaw is too adorable.
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