Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel #1: How We Impact Those Around Us

This review needs to be prefaced with the fact that many of the writers and editors at Comic-Watch do not agree with the way that Marvel has handled Ms. Marvel Kamala Khan’s, death, from the choice to do it in an Amazing Spider-Man issue, all the way to the borderline insensitive variant covers for this book. The following review is specifically oriented toward the content within Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel #1 and the stories the creators tell. These creators have done prior work with this character and delivered a different level of care that does not seem to be conducive to how other creators and editorial staff at Marvel have disrespected this character over the last couple of months.

This issue is split into three individual stories, highlighting the different people and parts of Kamala’s life that were affected by her untimely death. The setting for these stories is the mosque Kamala regularly attended, where all the characters she impacted have arrived to remember her. These stories revolve around the Muslim practice of that, where Kamala’s greater community of friends and family come together to do a complete reading of the Quran in her honor.

The first story, “Kamala,” is from Ms. Marvel creator G. Willow Wilson, artist Takeshi Miyazawa, colorist Ian Herring, and lettering from Ariana Maher. One significant aspect of this tale is the way that Wilson highlights the different practices within the Muslim religion that take place within the mosque. This section also highlights the fact that many other members of the community also died during the Amazing Spider-Man storyline, where Kamala died. This story is a testament to Wilson’s ability to ground superhero tales in reality. Wilson’s signature blend of community, religion, and character is fully displayed here. Regardless of how Marvel has handled this overall, Wilson’s love for her nature and the highlight of her more excellent supporting cast have a profound emotional impact that is made all the better by the art from Takeshi Miyazawa and Ian Herring.

Miyazawa and Herring do an excellent job selling this very grounded, single-setting story, highlighting the various emotions of Bruno, Nakia, and some other surprise guests. The color palette is subdued, highlighting this tale’s somber tone. The fact that this story takes place all in one setting means that the story relies on the arrival of new guests to push the plot forward. Each guest brings a new level of grief, with Kamala’s family representing denial and Wolverine and Captain Marvel representing acceptance, amongst the various others who show up. This plot is an excellent exploration of how people cope differently, with the art highlighting the characters fantastically.

The second story, “Champion,” is from writer Mark Waid, artist Humberto Ramos, inker Victor Olazaba, colorist Edgar Delgado, and letterer Ariana Maher. This story follows The Champions as they reminisce about their times with Kamala and what she meant to different team members. Unfortunately, this story is not as impactful as the first, with Waid putting too much attention into the strained relationship between Amadeus Cho and Viv Vision. The more significant subject of this specific story revolves around everyone grieving in their way, with Viv questioning why everyone is forgetting about any conflicts they had with Kamala and why they are only discussing the good. This leads to her turning on her emotions, resulting in Amadeus lashing out about how it’s unfair that Viv can turn off her emotions when grieving becomes too hard. This story seems to be more about how hard it is to get through a loss than about Kamala. While this is a good tale when put into a vacuum, it would have been nice to shift the focus back purely onto Kamala rather than using her death as a starting point for another discussion.

The art from Humberto Ramos, Victor Olazaba, and Edgar Delgado is a callback to the creative team from The Champions book. Still, it comes off a little cartoony in the specific story. Fans of The Champions will probably appreciate this creative team over the others. Still, the callbacks are not enough to give this story the emotional punch it should have, considering this team spent so much time around Kamala. The teammates of Ms. Marvel should be spending more time discussing the oddball adventures with her rather than discussing the psychology behind why people grieve the way they do.

The final story, “Avenger,” is from The Magnificent Ms. Marvel writer Saladin Ahmed, with art from Andrea Di Vito, colors from Edgar Delgado, and the letter Ariana Maher. This story is divided into a few different segments, with Ahmed focusing on Iron Man, Doctor Strange, Captain America, and Spider-Man’s personal opinions of Ms. Marvel. This story shifts the focus back to Ms. Marvel, with her being the subject of conversation throughout the story. Unfortunately, the shifting focus on multiple characters with such little page real estate makes this story read very unevenly, with the shifting perspectives sometimes feeling natural and other times sharp and drastic. That being said, the specific character moments are intense, and the references back to The Magnificent Ms. Marvel are a firm reminder of the love and care that Ahmed put into Ms. Marvel.

Andrea Di Vito’s pencils are fine here and serve this story well. This is the only part that features some super heroics, and Di Vito sells those moments in a fun manner. Di Vito’s pencils balance fun, classic fantastic hero stories and tense and sincere somber moments. Edgar Delgado’s colors here seem a bit too bright for the tone, with specific features, like Captain America’s hair, seeming to be over the top in their vibrancy. This pulls the focus away from the subject matter a little too much and distracts too much from the overall narrative.

Ariana Maher letters all these issues and does a great job transitioning between the three creative teams. This makes all of the stories read cohesively, regardless of if some are stronger than others. Maher also does a great job of making each of the different writer’s voices come across. These three tales represent the unique voices of their creators but also work together as one larger narrative thanks to Maher’s cohesion and focus on detail.