Ms. Marvel - Vol.3 #16
Previously in Ms. Marvel #15
Confession: Between the wait for this issue and the many other titles I’d read in the meantime, I’d forgotten what was going on with Kamala. This was actually a good thing for some plot points (Oh, yeah! Someone else in Kamala’s family is Inhuman!) and not so good for others (What happened at New Attilan again?). I was anxious to dive in though, because the cover suggests Kamala’s world is - literally - crumbling down around her.
Kamala’s been hanging at the waterfront, drowning her sorrows in hot dogs, still heartbroken over Kamran’s betrayal. Her pity party of getting hot-dog wasted is interrupted as people begin screaming and running. Kamala is only able to ascertain there’s something in the sky over Manhattan, and whatever it is has people afraid and heading for Jersey.
Kamala springs into action - using her smarts, which made me fall in love with the character to begin with, and her powers to float/walk across the river. Hovering above the NYC skyscrapers Kamala finds a giant red planet. That can’t be good.
She suspects all hell has broken loose at home and she’s right. As she makes her way to Jersey City, Bruno and his brother are keeping would-be looters away from the Circle Q. Kamala instructs them, and everyone else, to make their way to the high school, which has been renovated to withstand any future robot attacks. Her plan is to go to New Attilan to see if Medusa has any idea what’s going on. Of course, before she can do that, she needs to check on her family.
There, she finds Kamran. Ugh. This guy is the worst. He has sedated her parents and kidnapped Aamir. Wherever her brother is being held, he’s about to be exposed to the mist. If Kamala won’t join him, maybe her brother will - assuming he also inherited the Inhuman gene. Kamran manages to turn everything around so that it’s Kamala’s fault - she fights the chaos instead of using it to her advantage as he did. While she was busy trying to save people, he was able to take her brother.
This guy.
When her parents awaken (under the assumption their sleepy-time tea was a tad too sleepy), Kamala tells them to go to the high school and races off. Thankfully, Bruno and company have things well under control at the school (with a bit of help from hipster-Viking, Loki). Kamala heads to the rooftop to catch her breath and formulate a plan. She’s surprised to find Captain Marvel there, ready to have her back.
Overall Thoughts & Questions:
- Kamala’s heartache feels a bit forced to me. If I remember correctly, she knew this guy for all of two days, right? Then again, she’s 16 and I blush remembering how everything felt like the end of the world when I was that age, and a slight from a boy you like does feel like it’s just that. Add that to literally saving the world and I guess I can give her a pass.
- Why did Kamala think Medusa would be at New Attilan? The last she’d heard, Legion and his goons had control.
- The look on her face when she sees Captain Marvel is ADORABLE. Her fangirl moments endear her to me so much.
- Sooo, this red planet business… Secret Wars? This is my first comic book reboot event so I’m not sure how this works. If the universes have collided and are no more, how is this all going on? What does this mean for whatever comes out the other side of Secret Wars? The next Secret Wars issue is in two weeks and I can’t wait to see what The Last Days of Ms. Marvel entails.
