The Magnificent Ms. Marvel Annual #1: Things Change

‘The Magnificent Ms. Marvel Annual #1’ gives readers a small break from Saladin Ahmed’s ambitious sci-fi story by bringing Kamala back to Earth and showing what type of hero the modern world needs.

There is a lot this book accomplishes both thematically and artistically, making effective use of the introduction for world building and historical callbacks, but also telling a succinct one-shot story. The tone is authentic and feels like a Ms. Marvel comic thanks to writer Visaggio’s unique charm she brings to her writing, and artist Lam’s character work brings the story to life. Their complementary styles helped to make this issue stand out in a crowded field of truly talented creatives who have worked on Ms. Marvel so far.

Annual issues like this can oftentimes fall between the cracks, but this creative team seems intent on telling a story that is worthwhile. The end result is a delightfully fun and heartfelt comic that is both enjoyable for current fans, and easily accessible for those looking to jump in, making effective use of the annual format.

It isn’t a perfect issue by any means, but it doesn’t have to be perfect to be enjoyable. There are instances of cringy dialogue, questionable background choices in multiple panels, inconsistent motives and a pet peeve grammar occurrence of the dreadfully redundant “but yet” coordinating conjunction, but I’m willing to look past these minor issues for the most part because of the sheer amount of heart this story brings. Exploring the dynamic between a modern hero like Kamala going up against the arguably outdated pursuit of the Super Skrull allowed the creative team to tell a story with a sense of relevance.

For what it is, the first annual in The Magnificent Ms. Marvel series manages to be an interesting albeit inconsequential reading experience. It’s an entertaining book that will most likely have little impact going forward, but it is still worthwhile for fans of Kamala Khan’s Ms. Marvel!