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justmeandmybooks's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Racism, and Islamophobia
Moderate: Violence, Confinement, and Gun violence
Minor: Cursing, Misogyny, and Infertility
therainbowshelf's review
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Kamala tries to balance her own sense of self and the opinions of her racist, judgy peers as she navigates being a brown Muslim teen with new surprise super powers. Sometimes the bubble order is a little confusing, but otherwise I liked this first volume. Love the hilarious background details throughout.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Islamophobia, and Racism
Moderate: Alcohol and Kidnapping
skydragxn's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Islamophobia
nannahnannah's review against another edition
3.0
So I have to preface this by saying I don’t know anything about the original Ms. Marvel, and I don’t really like Marvel in general. But a Muslim superhero who’s the lead? Yeah, I’ll read that!
Representation:
The main protagonist is a south Asian Muslim woman
Her best friend is also a Muslim woman
Kamala Khan is an “ordinary girl” from Jersey, until she suddenly gets superpowers. Now the new Ms. Marvel, she has to deal with who she is as a person (and her conservative family) as she struggles with a new enemy.
If it sounds a bit vague, the story kind of is, too. How does she get superpowers? There’s a mist that gathers around the edge of a party. I don’t know why, there just is, and it’s not ever explained. Kamala hallucinates, asks for powers, and BAM! she’s got them! And then this enemy she makes, the Inventor? I know this is just the first volume, but I don’t feel any which way about him. We see his lackeys, who are just basically cringy one-liners of characters -- and we’re supposed to be … intimidated by them? They’re really just hipsters with spidery robots they call kitties. Maybe I feel this way because I don’t read comics often.
I think what let me down the most in Ms. Marvel though is Kamala herself … I didn’t want this whiney character who defends a white girl talking about hijabs as “Culture is sooooo interesting!” by saying, “But she’s so nice!”. I wanted her friend, Nakia, to be the heroine -- who basically personifies the strength of who we see on the comic’s cover.
Before reading, I remember seeing blog reviews about how this novel breaks Muslim stereotypes, with Kamala not wearing a burqa even though she’s Muslim, about how the authors wanted to write about a girl fitting in, instead of making the story all about a Muslim girl, etc. But I’ve seen conflicting reviews from Muslim readers: Kamala and her family are in fact stereotypes (see the overbearing conservative parents), and the fact that Kamala wants to fit in so badly with her white peers doesn’t speak to this generation, who have never wanted to be anything else but Muslim -- and speaks rather to the generation who have lived through 9/11 and faced its struggles → aka, the authors’ generation, instead.
I’m white, and not Muslim, so I can’t speak about that particular issue. I’m just stating both sides. However, I’m not really one for making a marginalized character … “palatable” to a widespread audience by being “just like everyone else”. Or trying to be just like everyone else (as stated in the headline of this Atlantic article). However, I’m very glad Kamala gets over the hatred she seems to have for her own race and religion (though unfortunately that character development happens in about just one page).
This comic does have the potential to become something really fun -- even if the dialogue had me cringing. The relationships between Kamala and her friends, and Kamala and her brother, have a lot of great potential as well. I hope they get the page time to be explored. Overall I’m a little disappointed at how unclear some things are, but again that just might be my inexperience with comics talking.
Representation:
The main protagonist is a south Asian Muslim woman
Her best friend is also a Muslim woman
Kamala Khan is an “ordinary girl” from Jersey, until she suddenly gets superpowers. Now the new Ms. Marvel, she has to deal with who she is as a person (and her conservative family) as she struggles with a new enemy.
If it sounds a bit vague, the story kind of is, too. How does she get superpowers? There’s a mist that gathers around the edge of a party. I don’t know why, there just is, and it’s not ever explained. Kamala hallucinates, asks for powers, and BAM! she’s got them! And then this enemy she makes, the Inventor? I know this is just the first volume, but I don’t feel any which way about him. We see his lackeys, who are just basically cringy one-liners of characters -- and we’re supposed to be … intimidated by them? They’re really just hipsters with spidery robots they call kitties. Maybe I feel this way because I don’t read comics often.
I think what let me down the most in Ms. Marvel though is Kamala herself … I didn’t want this whiney character who defends a white girl talking about hijabs as “Culture is sooooo interesting!” by saying, “But she’s so nice!”. I wanted her friend, Nakia, to be the heroine -- who basically personifies the strength of who we see on the comic’s cover.
Before reading, I remember seeing blog reviews about how this novel breaks Muslim stereotypes, with Kamala not wearing a burqa even though she’s Muslim, about how the authors wanted to write about a girl fitting in, instead of making the story all about a Muslim girl, etc. But I’ve seen conflicting reviews from Muslim readers: Kamala and her family are in fact stereotypes (see the overbearing conservative parents), and the fact that Kamala wants to fit in so badly with her white peers doesn’t speak to this generation, who have never wanted to be anything else but Muslim -- and speaks rather to the generation who have lived through 9/11 and faced its struggles → aka, the authors’ generation, instead.
I’m white, and not Muslim, so I can’t speak about that particular issue. I’m just stating both sides. However, I’m not really one for making a marginalized character … “palatable” to a widespread audience by being “just like everyone else”. Or trying to be just like everyone else (as stated in the headline of this Atlantic article). However, I’m very glad Kamala gets over the hatred she seems to have for her own race and religion (though unfortunately that character development happens in about just one page).
This comic does have the potential to become something really fun -- even if the dialogue had me cringing. The relationships between Kamala and her friends, and Kamala and her brother, have a lot of great potential as well. I hope they get the page time to be explored. Overall I’m a little disappointed at how unclear some things are, but again that just might be my inexperience with comics talking.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism
saucy_bookdragon's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Deserves the hype as one of the Marvel comics' more popular superheroes.
Ms. Marvel is both a breathe of fresh air and familiar in a good way. She jumps right off the page as a fun, relatable, and flawed character juggling learning to be a superhero and living a normal teenage life.
The art style is unique, having a more whimsical style than other superhero comics. This art style elevates the story as it works marvelously with Kamala's superpowers, her adventures, and her personality.
Now most people might know Ms. Marvel from her MCU series now, I think if you liked the series you'd also like her comics, but there are differences. The first two issues and the first episode of the show share the same plot despite the changes. But after that, they both go off in different directions. Kamala is also different in both. She's a bit more messy and snarky in the comics while in the show she's a little sweeter. They also have COMPLETELY different power sets. In the comics she's stretchy, a shapeshifter, and has a healing factor while in the show she creates light constructs and can also time travel and teleport for some reason.
Now I liked the show, but so far I think I prefer the comics, she's more relatable and the story is more whimsical. But I think the show did her costume better since in that it has a lot of meaning for her character, I also like that her origin story is more self contained in the show whereas in the comics it's related to outside events having to do with the Inhumans.
I really enjoyed this intro to Ms. Marvel and definitely plan on reading more of her series and checking out some of the other series featuring her!
Ms. Marvel is both a breathe of fresh air and familiar in a good way. She jumps right off the page as a fun, relatable, and flawed character juggling learning to be a superhero and living a normal teenage life.
The art style is unique, having a more whimsical style than other superhero comics. This art style elevates the story as it works marvelously with Kamala's superpowers, her adventures, and her personality.
Now most people might know Ms. Marvel from her MCU series now, I think if you liked the series you'd also like her comics, but there are differences. The first two issues and the first episode of the show share the same plot despite the changes. But after that, they both go off in different directions. Kamala is also different in both. She's a bit more messy and snarky in the comics while in the show she's a little sweeter. They also have COMPLETELY different power sets. In the comics she's stretchy, a shapeshifter, and has a healing factor while in the show she creates light constructs and can also time travel and teleport for some reason.
Now I liked the show, but so far I think I prefer the comics, she's more relatable and the story is more whimsical. But I think the show did her costume better since in that it has a lot of meaning for her character, I also like that her origin story is more self contained in the show whereas in the comics it's related to outside events having to do with the Inhumans.
I really enjoyed this intro to Ms. Marvel and definitely plan on reading more of her series and checking out some of the other series featuring her!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Islamophobia, Gun violence, Racism, and Religious bigotry
thereaderfriend's review
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Really enjoyed this! Here's a favorite quote: "Good is not a thing you are. It's a thing you do. I'll never be "ready". But I can be ready enough." - Kamala Khan
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror and Alcohol
Moderate: Confinement, Racism, and Violence
Minor: Gun violence, Cursing, and Infertility
cpalmerpatel's review against another edition
reflective
medium-paced
2.0
This made me all kinds of uncomfortable with the raging stereotypes. Looked up bio and sure enough, Gwendolyn Willow Wilson was raised atheist and converted during her university years. Not that I have anything against converting. But the book is about a Muslim teenager struggling to fit in while her parents are ultra-strict stereotypes. This doesn't seem to reflect the author's own experience. Perpetuating stereotypes shouldn't be celebrated as diversity/representation. It's the worst form of orientalism.
That being said, I give 2 stars for applauding a Muslim superhero and the story does smooth out whenever it's doing the superhero thing and not the teenager dealing with stereotypical strict parents stick.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism
itsmeyseniab's review
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
I was drawn to this comic series primarily due to the diversity of the characters (a Pakistani-American Captain Marvel? Sign me up!) and let me tell you, it didn't disappoint in that regard! I thought the artwork was beautiful as well, but I will say I wasn't intrigued by the storyline itself. I did really appreciate that a lot of important, relevant topics such as racism, sexism and appreciating your individuality were brought up outside of the "superhero" aspect though. I probably won't continue with future volumes but it was a fun read and I would recommend it (especially if you are a Marvel fan!)
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism and Sexism
Minor: Gun violence and Infertility
nyoom's review
adventurous
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol and Body horror
Moderate: Blood, Confinement, Panic attacks/disorders, Racism, Religious bigotry, and Violence
Minor: Cursing, Gun violence, Islamophobia, Medical content, Misogyny, and Sexual harassment
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