Ms. Marvel: Mutant Menace #1: Hated and Feared

Many comic fans were unsure of Marvel’s decision to make Ms. Marvel a mutant, myself included. The shift felt like an easy ploy to get the mutants into the MCU, while disregarding the character’s comic history. However, any reluctance I had has been blown out of the water by Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada. Following the events of the Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant miniseries, Ms. Marvel Mutant Menace #1 (written by Iman Vellani and Sabir Pirzada with art by Scott Godlewski and colors by Erick Arciniega) is an exciting new series that explores the mutant metaphor in the modern X-Men world.

This new series opens with Ms. Marvel, having just come out as a mutant and member of the X-Men, fighting off an anti-mutant bigot. In these opening panels, we see how Jersey City is grappling with its hometown hero being a mutant. These pages felt like reading Chris Claremont’s run on the X-Men and demonstrated how much Vellani and Pirzada understand the mutant metaphor and X-Men comics. It’s interesting and refreshing to see how both Kamala and her community are coming to terms with her being a mutant. This contrasts with the last couple of years of X-Men comics as stories focused more on establishing the mutant identities within Krakoa, and less on exploring a character’s mutant identity on Earth. Even though I love the Krakoa era of X-Men, Ms. Marvel being a mutant may be a clever way to transition the X-Men away from Krakoa and bring them to the MCU.

Throughout the issue, Ms. Marvel struggles with finding her place in Jersey City and on the X-Men team. On the team, she is treated like a child, and in school, she is treated like a traitor. The relationships Kamala has built with the characters around her feel authentic and sensible. Vellani and Pirzada show off their writing chops and love for these characters by illustrating these relationships and the importance they hold for Kamala. Furthermore, while most X-Men don’t have a secret identity in modern comics, it is refreshing to see the struggles Kamala faces with concealing hers.  What is even more refreshing is learning that her Muslim community in Jersey City has chosen to stand with Ms. Marvel, despite her being an X-Men. Tying in Kamala’s Muslim identity in these comics in such a beautiful way is incredibly important for Muslim representation (something we don’t see often in superhero comics) and for expanding on mutantkind being a metaphor for minorities. Vellani and Pirzada are creating impressive storytelling works of art by staying genuine to who these characters are.

This issue also introduces the new Mutant Watch, an app that allows citizens to record the locations of mutants they see. This new app leads to Ms. Marvel stopping a new mutant The Planter (the name being workshopped) from robbing a jewelry store. This is the one part of the comic I felt a little uneasy about. Ms. Marvel stops this mutant from robbing a jewelry store, with the intent of also saving him from the likely Orchis capture coming his way. However, it’s painted as if his jewelry robbing is a major issue as if there isn’t the bigger problem of Orchis wanting to kill mutants. That being said, the Planter’s mutant ability to take on the properties of any plant he’s ever touched is an awesome power and I hope we get to see more of him in the future.

Instead of an Orchis capture, Ms. Marvel and the Planter are interrupted by the Hordeculture, a group of old ladies with some serious green thumbs. I really enjoyed seeing the Hordeculture again with their funny quips and Golden Girls-type jokes. They felt like an appropriate villain for this issue which reinforced the idea that Ms. Marvel has been tasked with mundane threats due to her age. These panels also have spectacular visuals with vibrant colors. Scott Godlewski and Erick Arciniega have done a stellar job of capturing the heart of the comic with their art. The issue overall is incredibly gorgeous. With the sudden shift at the end of the comic, I am excited to see how Ms. Marvel’s story progresses and how she continues to explore her identity as a mutant.