By Arpad Okay. What happens when you give teenagers access to supervillain technology in shop class? Trouble. They make things nobody (not even supervillains) would consider making. What about when a kid tries to fight crime? More trouble. Stopping a brawl to take a call on your cellphone, not a good idea. But with G. Willow Wilson at the helm, the trouble is shot through with fun. Call it hijinks, maybe call it shenanigans, but you certainly can’t call it folly. Kamala Khan is too great a hero to fail.
Kamala has beaten back Hydra, but her plate is still way too full. Her best friend ever has started dating a girl and — surprise — it’s complicated. Her job as an Avenger is feeling too big for her and her grades in school are suffering. Her whole family is changing with her brother’s wedding (to a Dune-obsessed girl he met at the masjid). Kamala has always been able to make it through in the past, but it finally seems like the myriad problems she faces are getting the best of her. The obvious solution to not having enough hands is to have her borderline mad scientist BFF make a bunch of clones of her in the school lab to help split up her workload. What could possibly go wrong?
“Army of One” is a Ms. Marvel story that happens to contain everything that made the world fall for Kamala Khan in the first place. Wilson finds natural ways for the story to rise above teenage drama. It speaks to the book’s authentic experience (while still being about boyfriends, parents and maintaining one’s GPA). I love her take on the Avengers: they are kind of jerks, too busy to be understanding, but still the doers of great things and worthy of Kamala’s adoration. She is still relentless. Kamala may not have the surest grip on things right now, but her devotion to always fighting for what’s right remains unshaken. And there’s still plenty of time for silly asides, Captain Marvel plushes, birds with pompadours, and amazing family portraits.
The new artist for this story arc, Nico Leon, is more than up to the task of Wilson’s varied scripts. Ms. Marvel needs an artist who has the full Masamune Shirow range, from chibi to dead serious. Leon delivers. Each page meets the emotion the scene needs, silly or severe or sanguine. Down to the panel, Ms. Marvel raises the bar on superhero comics.
Marvel Comics/$3.99
Written by G. Willow Wilson.
Art by Nico Leon.
Colors by Ian Herring.
Letters by Joe Caramagna.
9 out of 10
