Ms. Marvel #8

Look, I wasn't looking forward to drowning in all these tie-ins but they have been mostly good so far. Events often derail the momentum of a series but as far as Ms. Marvel goes, G. Willow Wilson has excelled at maintaing quality through the whole series. I think Last Days is the high point of the pre-Secret Wars Ms. Marvel run and this issue starts the Civil War II tie-in in great fashion too.

Carol Danvers asks Kamala to join a task-force that deals with preventing crimes based on the visions of Inhuman MacGuffin Ulysses, however seeing the consequences she starts to doubt whether this is the right course of action. G. Willow Wilson is great at addressing political concerns through character dialogue without making it feel like A Very Special Episode. Last month there was a really touching bit about higher education and this week Tyesha, Kamala's sister-in-law, speaks about profiling. One of the reasons this book resonates with so many people is that it explores its themes through testimonies, and more often than not they hit close to home.

The issue starts with a prelude that follows Kamala's grandparents as they leave Bombay for Karachi in the midst of Indo-Pakistani War. And the book ties it all back to the present through the bangles that are part of Ms. Marvel's costume. There's a lot of emphasis placed on creating characters who “just happen to be” gay or black or Muslim or... but Wilson has never shied away from acknowledging Kamala's identity. On top of that, Adrian Alphona's art is great on the prelude, as per usual. It felt good to have him draw this title again, even for 1 issue and change.

Another point that I think that doesn't get brought up enough when talking about this series is how good the supporting cast is. In less than 30 issues, Wilson's already built a dozen or so characters who matter to us around Kamala. So, even tertiary characters get a semblance of an arc spread out through several issues and you can see their relationship with Kamala change. Here, having to arrest one of her classmates might make her reconsider her views towards using the visions of Inhuman Minority Report to impart justice. And it works! This is why rating floppies in isolation is hard sometimes, the cliffhanger on this issue made me recall one moment on Ms. Marvel #7. Both work well on their own but together they make you really feel for these characters.

Ms. Marvel offers a unique take on the conflict at the crux of Marvel's latest event as G. Willow Wilson keeps delivering one of the best books in the big 2. I definitely recommend picking this up regardless of your feelings about Civil War II.