Unique does not mean alone.

Not a single title among these twelve that I would seriously consider reading. Not that I’m surprised, though. The Hugo nominations of the past decade plus have been so message heavy, preachy, of low value, or just plain not sci-fi/fantasy, that it’s not worth reading anything that wins. (Harlan Ellison warned us about this, lest we forget.)

Unless we’re talking Sad and Rabid Puppy suggestions. Those have been a breath of fresh air.””

I couldn’t imagine being so small minded to not even try to read this. But he’s a twerp and he will die sad and uninspired.

I read the volumes independently but linked to the Omnibus for ease.

Vol 1:No Normal

I don’t know much about Ms. Marvel, but having recently read two of the newer Captain Marvel series, I am more familiar than I had been been. So far, I really do like what’s happening with this series. I like a good origin story because it puts me right in line with the start of the story and so I don’t feel like I am catching up. In general, teenage heroes are more compelling than older adults. Also, I like the way that the character’s faith is handled, as a clear part of who she is, placed already in certain ways as an outsider, but not shoe-horning anything in. I feels just like organic part of the narrative. A hero who happens to also be Muslim.

If I am reading correctly I also really like how she becomes Ms. Marvel because she really likes Ms. Marvel. As in, she is given a set of powers that includes some kind of psychic channeling or a sort-of embodiment of desire, and since she lives in a world of the Avengers, she becomes one of them. I think this provides yet another organic sense of being for the character. I also like how completely uninspired her powers are, in the sense that she doesn’t know how to use them, and so instead of an innate sense of what she should do, she picks a clumsy and simplistic power. I am interested in how she will grow as a result.

I also appreciate that she doesn’t understand the world that her powers have thrust her into, and so we get to grow and understand it along side her. I have to guess there will be a mentor figure coming up soon.

Vol 2: Generation Why

Turns out  I am super smart and kind of dumb too. There’s a line, a line I think about as a teacher a lot, in this issue: “When the student is ready, the master will appear.” Turns out that master is Wolverine.

I am dumb because I was trying to figure out why the artist kept switching styles, and I was trying to read it as representative of the themes in the story. So I was like, oh, these first two issues really evoke the style from The Dark Knight Returns so it makes sense that this is about a master/apprentice relationship. Neat. Then, I just realized that they switched artists.

The story now has shape to it since we have a nemesis, who is definitely not a bird. And we have name to what Ms. Marvel is, and she has a giant dog.

I also think it’s really interesting that her faith or at least her interaction with her faith is a guiding principle in terms of setting up structures or morals and ethics for her new powers, while her interactions with Wolverine and the Inhumans parallel this new ethics by helping her with the practical side and the stakes.

Vol 3: Crushed

For once, I actually liked the one-off Valentine’s Day issue. I am starting to get a sense of how to read this as a series than a singular narrative broken down into chunks. I DO like Saga and Y and DMZ and all the other big runs, but those as the premiere tv shows with one continuous narrative and comics like these as more like longer series like Supernatural or iZombie helps me to better understand how to construct the meta-arcs in my head more so. I laughed out loud when the British Inhuman spoke in dialect that was colored like the Underground/Mind the Gap signs.

Also there’s a few henchmen when Kamala gets caught and they are clearly from different species and I always get sad when a singular member of a species is used in this way. Here’s why:

Vol 4: Last Days

Well, it’s the end of the world! But, it turns out that the capers of Ms. Marvel have drawn the attention of Captain Marvel, and there’s a great panel of Kamala Khan hugging Carol Danvers with an extra wrap around hug that’s really funny. In this one panel, you can see some of the importance that the book is suggesting is true about representation in culture, that finding someone or something to connect to, even if it’s not exactly the same thing, offers up possibilities of connections between the cultural product and the consumer. As unappealing as I have just put it, I think it’s a really heartfelt moment.

In addition, we have the dangers of young love, because sometimes the people you love turn out to be working for your arch enemy and you now have a new rival. But, in a way, there is a kind of theme about how when feelings turn from affection to disgust or some variation of this turn, it does feel like there’s an archnemesis made in the process.

Also, there’s a nice moment in this issue where Kamala’s parent must come to terms with their daughter’s new abilities and how even though it presents them with a necessary separation from her, it shows how much of the goodness they wanted her to convey to the world is illustrated in the life she is living. This is paired up with the realization that living a life of an avowed outsider keeps you on the fringes and limits your interactions with others. This is then paired up with her discussion with Zoe, who also feels like an outsider despite how much she is trying to with others. There’s a real point to be made here about how, regardless of how much you might want someone in your life, if their lifestyle and yours are incompatible in any ways, there’s going to be some limits to how much you can connect. And that’s ok. There are other people with whom these limits won’t be an issue.

Volume Five: Super Famous (This is the one that’s been nominated for the Hugo Award)

This episode is why it’s still great for heroes to be teenagers. Teenagers already feel pulled in every particular direction so adding in something like being a superhero that they could see themselves wanting and then seeing someone with superpowers also struggling is nice and validating. Also it allows the conflicts to be things like, oh no there’s lots of clones of me running around and I have to make it back to my brother’s wedding. Or oh no, there’s lots of clones of me and I still have to try to keep it all together so I can impress Iron Man, who I also want to hug.

I also like the way that this one dealt with a) celebrity and the potential pitfalls and hang up of that and b) outrage. I think that superhero have shied away from the specifics of outrage as a cottage industry so far because a) they don’t wish to be controversial and b) it’s hard to talk about it without alienating the functionaries of that industry. How do you discuss outrage as an embodiment of our society without either looking condescending or dismissive or complicit?

Vol 6: Civil War II

So this final volume is clearly still in the middle of the new set of stories because it leaves us off in India looking through a different lens of the characters and their journey. I think I am definitely interested in how Kamala Khan reacts to her new surroundings and in what ways it allows her some potential for growth.

This volume was mildly political, making reference to surveillance state issues regarding how superheroes operate, as well as how citizens are treated by the government. In addition, there’s some good attention drawn toward how her superhero lifestyle has ramifications in her person life in various ways.

Plus, it’s funny to name the shitty white girl Becky. It just is.