Ms. Marvel #13, which focuses on Kamala Khan, is currently available to read as it was officially released on March 11th. This is a drastic change made by Marvel Comics to shed spotlight on more ethnic superheroes and heroines, where Kamala Khan is the newest incarnation of Ms. Marvel.
If you didn’t know, Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American living in New Jersey.
She is struggling to balance her life living with a traditional Muslim family and her new duties as Ms. Marvel. There is no rest for Kamala as she must deal with one superhuman threat after another, where she kept Loki from disrupting her school’s dance social in the previous issue.
Her struggles make Skye’s struggles look insignificant.
If you didn’t know, Skye is one of the main characters in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. She was revealed to have Inhuman DNA, which was recently activated. Skye developed the ability to create earthquakes, which reveals that she is the MCU’s incarnation of former S.H.I.E.L.D Agent Daisy Johnson.
Medusa, Black Bolt’s wife, is obviously concerned for Kamala’s well-being.
What did I think about the story behind Ms. Marvel #13?
I enjoyed the story a lot because Kamala Khan is the personification of what Americans of multiple nationalities and ethnic groups go through. The second, third, and fourth generations of Ethnic-Americans struggle between their two or more heritages.
Kamala struggles being a second-generation Pakistani-American.
She is juggling her new duties as Ms. Marvel and the traditions of a conservative Muslim family, which is a difficult feat on its own. I am neither Arab nor Muslim, but I can understand because I am a second-generation Asian-American of mostly Vietnamese and partly Chinese descent.
I can understand the pressure of living with socially conservative family members.
The premise of the third incarnation of the Ms. Marvel comic series is Kamala Kahn’s origin story, which is not different from Silk and Spider-Gwen. They share the commonality of getting used to the superhero schtick.
I personally think Kamala Khan and Cindy Moon, the titular Silk, should have a future team-up.
Those two have plenty in common because Cindy was brought up in a socially conservative family, too, which was revealed in Silk #1.
Spider-Gwen, which takes place in an alternate universe, shares commonalities with Ms. Marvel. Gwen Stacy, the titular Spider-Gwen, was bitten by the radioactive spider that was originally meant for Peter Parker.
Gwen has her fair share of villains to fight starting with Vulture, Kingpin, and Matthew Murdock. Yes, this version of Matthew Murdock is bad. It is unlikely that this version of Murdock will take up the mantle of Daredevil.
This series reminds me of Static Shock, a DC Comics cartoon series, where it focuses on the aftermath of a chemical explosion that produced “bang babies.” Vergil Hawkins, the titular Static, is a one of those “bang babies.”
Static protects the street of Dakota from malignant bang babies like Ebon, Hot-Streak, Shiv, Talon, and many others.
Kamala’s predicament parallels Static’s predicament, but she is dealing with malignant Inhumans wishing to wreak havoc in Jersey City or rule it. Dealing with Kaboom, one of the malignant Inhumans, is one of those examples.
The malignant Inhumans act as your typical “villains of the week,” but imply that Kamala will cross paths with a powerful malignant Inhuman in the near future.
I found interest in the concept of Kamala training with the Inhumans during her spare time, which shows that Medusa is truly clueless about the situation. Medusa means well in wanting Kamala to live at the Inhumans’ base, but is naïve about what it is like being an Arab-American girl in a conservative Muslim household.
There is the subtle disconnect between the current and new generations of Inhumans.
Kamala’s personal life gets interesting because it slowly merges her her superhero life upon meeting Kamran, her distant cousin, for the first time in several years. She hates the possibility of being in an arranged marriage with him because of past memories.
But she is shocked that Kamran has grown to be attractive.
Kamala learns that she shouldn’t judge a book by its cover when she learns that Kamran shares the same interests with her like playing World of Battlecraft. It becomes a routine shopping trip, with big brother Aamir in tow, through downtown Jersey City.
The trip comes to a halt when Kaboom, who reminds me of DC Comics’ Livewire, appears and start wreaking havoc in the shopping area.
It becomes shocking when Kamran deduces that Kamala is Ms. Marvel, but surprising when he reveals that he is also an Inhuman. Kamala and Kamran have more than one thing in common with each other.
What did I think of the characters?
I like Kamala a lot.
She is not your typical Muslim-American girl. I laughed when she made references to Manhattan, where many of the superheroes and supervillains hang out in. My first favorite line was when she told Kaboom to take that “supervillain crap” back to Manhattan.
I also loved it when Kamala said that Jersey City is a “villain free” zome and that she is the “neighborhood watch.” This is her way of telling the villains to stay the f—k out of Jersey City.
Kamala separates herself from Carol Danvers and Karla Sofen in many ways, which allows her to grow into a strong individual. I assumed that Kamala developed cosmic powers when she took up the Ms. Marvel mantle, but was surprised that it wasn’t the case. The fact that Kamala’s powers involve shapeshifting and elasticity surprised me.
Rhetorically asking, is Ms. Marvel an appropriate name for Kamala Khan?
Kamran also has my attention even though he debuted in this episode. I wonder how this secret will affect his acceptance into MIT. The revelation of Kamran’s secret about also being an Inhuman leads me to believe that Kamala will get f—ked over in a romantic capacity.
I think Kamala and Kamran will be dating a lot, but I think he will be influenced by the supervillains.
We live in a post-9/11 world and Anti-Muslim sentiment continues growing by the day. Al-Qaeda, Taliban, Boko Haram, and the ISIS only causes the negative sentiment to grow. When I think that, I will not be surprised if Kamran becomes a supervillain in the future.
Overall?
Ms. Marvel #13 was enjoyable to read.
I think Kamala can only go so far training under Medusa. In the future, Kamala should seek tutelage from Mr. Fantastic because he is the original “plastic man.” Mr. Fantastic would be capable of bringing out the full potential of Kamala’s shapeshifting abilities.
I think she needs to have a face-to-face with Sooraya Qadir aka Dust from the X-Men, too. Qadir is a Sunni Muslim girl from Afghanistan, which is next to Pakistan. That is something Marvel Comics should consider in the future.
It would be interesting if Kamala and Sooraya formed some sort of friendship. I am going to assume that Kamala was raised a Sunni Muslim, too, which is the largest Muslim group in the world.
I also hope for a potential team-up with Silk because she is also getting used to being a superheroine, too.
I recommend buying a copy of Ms. Marvel #13, which I am glad to have purchased a digital subscription to.
