Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3: Into The Mind

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3 picks up with Orchis infecting the mind of Kamala. Throughout the issue, Kamala goes through her mind to figure out why she’s been repeatedly plagued by the same nightmare, all while haunted by a mysterious virus. Meanwhile, Bruno has to fight against Orchis’s virus by creating his virus to infect their systems. The best way to describe this issue is quintessential, fun, Ms. Marvel. This series has been an excellent follow-up to her previous series, and Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3 is no exception.

It has been evident since the first issue that Sabir Pirzada and Iman Vellani truly understand this character and the world around her. In Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3, more of Kamala’s regular supporting cast arrive via a vision in her mind, a segment that cements this team’s care for authentically developing the mutant aspects of this character. This issue acts as more of a mental breakdown of how Kamala is processing her newfound mutant heritage, where it is revealed that Kamala is worried that fully embracing this identity will erase her history and only define her as that from now on. This creates a lot of relatability around this science fiction subject, allowing the reader to fully embrace Kamala as a character who goes through human problems. Kamala’s insecurities are mirrored by her identity as a Muslim living in America, another subject that this team thankfully has not shied away from.

The art team of Carlos Gomez, Adam Gorham, and Erick Arciniega continue to do an excellent job drawing the different parts of Kamala’s experiences in and out of her dream world. This shifting style keeps every segment engaging and allows the whole experience of being in a crazy dream world to be fully expressed in ways that do not need to look like the real world. Arciniega does a fantastic job maintaining consistency with the colors between both segments.

Joe Caramagna rounds out the creative team on letters, creating a fun aesthetic within the dream world. Dr. Surfer’s dialogue looks like a mix of what would typically be the lettering for Doctor Strange and The Silver Surfer. This also makes his wacky dialogue look as ridiculous as what he is saying. Overall, the lettering adds to the overall aesthetic of the book enormously.