Bruno returns to his lab to try to understand exactly what makes Kamala tick, but his experiments lead to a little bit of a control issue.
MS MARVEL #32
Authors: G Willow Wilson
Artists: Nico Leon
Colors: Ian Herring
Letters: Joe Caramagna
Publisher: Marvel Comics
What You Need to Know:
By day, Kamala Khan is a normal high school student at Coles Academic High School. By night, she is the powerful Inhuman defender, Ms. Marvel! With her shapeshifting ability and a strong sense of justice, she defends her hometown of Jersey City from threats big and small. After a rough year dealing with virus-based villains, tough moral decisions relating to her mentor, Captain Marvel, and losing her best friend to a Wakandan exchange program, Ms. Marvel takes a break from the superhero game.
After her brief hiatus from her superhero role, Kamala is hitting the streets again to save her hometown. While out on Patrol, Kamala runs into Red Dagger, another superhero she had previously met on a journey to Pakistan. He tells Ms. Marvel how much he missed her and proceeds to kiss her, but the moment is quickly interrupted by the return of Bruno, her former best friend.
After a lot of confusion and tough decisions, Burno decides to stay and try to be friends with Kamala (maybe even more), and Red Dagger decides to return to Karachi. Leaving Ms. Marvel in a much better place than she has been in the past few months, things are finally starting to return to normal.
What You’ll Find Out:
The new story opens on Bruno returning to the lab at school with fresh eyes but seeing that not much has changed. Kamala arrives and he explains to her that he thinks they should try to figure out how her powers work. A series of experiments leads to no answers, but Bruno suggests using a device he invented that measures electromagnetic outputs across surfaces. After sticking it to Kamala’s skin, she runs, suddenly feeling like she is about to lose control.
After making it to the roof just in time as she embiggens to be 30 feet tall, Kamala begins to freak out and then shrinks down to about an inch. Removing Bruno’s device from her skin, she returns to normal size, and Bruno apologizes for the device, embracing Kamala and promising to order her a pizza.
Later, while at the pizzeria, Kamala tells Bruno she does want to continue the experiments, as she’d rather do this with him and some random S.H.I.E.L.D. agent or scientist. While they are enjoying their lunch, The Shocker attacks Jersey City, seeing the lack of superheroes as an opportunity to succeed. Kamala changes and instantly recognizes the Spider-Man villain, but while trying to defend her city, she loses control of her powers again and shrinks down unintentionally. Shocker declares himself the victor as Bruno tries to find something he can use to help Kamala defeat Shocker. Bruno runs to Kamala’s aid just as Shocker is getting ready to finish her off.
What Just Happened?
The beginning of the newest arc after Ms. Marvel’s landmark 50th issue brings Kamala back to her roots. Her friends returned, her powers unknown and hard to control, and goofy villains fighting for her attention. The promise of finding out what really makes Kamala’s powers work is the most intriguing this about this arc, as it would seem that Bruno is close to a breakthrough in figuring it out.
While the specifics are fleshed out, it’s fun to see Kamala return to a state of chaos as she navigates her second life. Now that she has effectively merged the two with her confession in her fiftieth issue, it will be interesting to see how Kamala thrives and understands her double life without the constant threat of being unmasked to her friends and family. Leaving herself open transfers the support system Kamala had as a student to her second life as a vigilante, bringing us closer to an understanding of her Inhuman powers.
While the issue happens fast, it sets up some interesting questions that Wilson will surely answer throughout the arc. Why does Kamala always get hungry when using her powers in excess? How does she have the ability to shapeshift her size? How exactly do her powers work as a whole? Bruno’s new knowledge after visiting Wakanda will surely help Kamala understand herself better.
Rating: 7.0/10
Final Thoughts: An interesting beginning to an arc which promises to put Kamala’s powers and how they work to the forefront. While not entirely interesting in itself, the issue promises to move forward Kamala’s understanding of herself while bringing the character back to her roots for which she was so popular.
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