Ms. Marvel 3, Thor: God of Thunder 21

Ms. Marvel 3
GW Wilson (w) and Alphona (a) and Herring (c) and Caramagna (l)

Kamala has been grounded and, more to the point, has realized she has some sort of super powers. Being grounded is making it particularly hard to learn more about these powers just as refusing to talk to her friend Bruno since he ratted her out to her parents is making it harder for her to talk to anyone about it. She goes to the girl's locker room when she feels her hand starting to shrink and she begins to try to control her powers. She manages to grow large enough to bring part of the ceiling down and to even change her appearance to look like her mother before she's discovered and given detention for being in the locker room when she's not supposed to be. After detention, she goes to talk to Bruno at the Circle Q only to find a robber holding him up. Unbeknownst to Kamala, the robber is Bruno's brother Vick and Bruno finds the whole robbery ridiculous. Kamala changes her appearance to that of Captain Marvel and tries to stop the robbery, mostly succeeding until, amidst all the chaos, Vick shoots her in the gut.

Story
Things certainly are starting to move for Kamala as news reports from the previous night start to surface and the new Ms. Marvel has been sighted. We also get the introduction of Bruno's deadbeat brother and the idea that Bruno, a science whiz, is creating a sort of polymer that would stretch material to which it was bonded (more than a little happily convenient there). The story takes a very sudden turn as Kamala, attempting to use her powers intentionally to help people, is shot in the gut. Bit of an abrupt twist there. 4/5

Character
The way writer G. Willow Wilson is setting this new story is to create Kamala's world before really sending us out on adventures (though the last page of this issue would beg to differ). As a result, we're going to get a good sense of the personality of Kamala, Nakio, and Bruno before things can really advance and I think that's the best way to handle it, even if it means the plot has to move in slightly quicker brush strokes (Bruno, a high schooler, happens to be creating an unbelievable polymer that would make material stretch, Kamala is shot in the gut by Bruno's brother, etc.). Still, we're getting a pretty good sense of who Kamala is and of who her friends are, all of which will be most important as we move forward. 5/5

Writing
As I said, the focus on character, while overall working, does mean that Wilson has to make a couple of leaps here and there to keep the story interesting and fresh while she develops the world. The writing itself, the tone and the dialogue and all, are still strong but the plot is rushing maybe a little bit. 4/5

Art
Adrian Alphona's art is a departure from most of the other art styles out there. His style and his colors are much more faded and almost pastel-colored than most anything out there in comics, which gives everything almost a sort of surreal feel. I think that it works well with this book and it means that the reader's eye isn't necessarily drawn to the action or the surroundings, but to the expressive faces of the characters. Where Wilson's goal is to set up a strong focus on character rather than action to start, this approach feels like the best possible approach. 5/5

Miscellaneous
The book seems to be going well. I am stuck a little bit on some of the plot points (the gunshot seems very abrupt as does the "well geez, look at this fabric I'm making." Look, I get hung up on some things) and the book tends to kind of slow down and speed up at weird times but I think those sorts of kinks will largely work themselves out as the creative team grows more comfortable with one another and as Kamala becomes more and more established. Also, what a great Jamie McKelvie cover (McKelvie also designed Kamala's costume because, presumably, everyone saw Captain Marvel's new duds and went "hey, maybe we should let Jamie McKelvie design everything forever." It's the right call). Get ready for a line of those. Annie Wu also had a nice variant cover this week.

Total score: 4/5


Thor: God of Thunder 21
Aaron (w) and Ribic (a) and Svorcina (c) and Sabino (l)

The world saved from the INFINITY crisis and the Builders, Thor returns home to find that Roxxon has built floating factories (much like Dr. Robotnik) over Broxton, Oklahoma, home of the Asgardians (or very near to it). Thor, of course, is not happy. Roz Solomon tries to stop him from attacking, promising that they'll stop Dario Agger with the help of the law but Thor refuses to hear it and goes to the floating factories. Agger and his team quickly slap a lawsuit on Thor for his attacks and promise that he'll have to pay all sorts of money while they get to stay in the air, and Thor realizes there's nothing he can do that won't make the situation far worse, though it seems things are about to get far worse as Agger has hired Ulik the Troll to take down Thor.

Story
I really like the idea of putting Thor up against big business and up against capitalism because corporations are such major businesses these days. Like in Brubaker's CAPTAIN AMERICA with the origin of the Winter Soldier and everything, someone with this much power going up against a corporation that has the ability to make money is always going to be a compelling fight because it's not just something you can punch and it's not something that's easy to bring down or to find allies to fight. Of course, Thor is a little different than Captain America in that he doesn't wear the flag on his chest and he doesn't have to worry about a whole ton of retribution. You know, he's Thor. He could kill Roxxon from the ground up and people might be pissed but, you know, he's Thor. Still, let's suspend that disbelief because this story is interesting enough to carry. 4/5

Character
What baffles me about this arc so far is that, alongside the Roxxon trouble Thor is having, we're still getting a look into the future where King Thor is battling Galactus for the remains of Earth. Typically you're fairly invested when Galactus shows up because it very likely will mean the destruction of a planet or a fight for said planet. Here there's almost no attachment because everyone on Earth is already dead except that King Thor is sad about it. That doesn't feel enough like character development to me to keep it attached here so hopefully it will lead to a little more revelation-wise. Otherwise, Thor of the present is doing pretty well since he's trying to navigate the world of business, a world he can't possibly understand, nor be thrilled about. 3/5

Writing
Dario Agger continues to be complete comic book supervillain, an immoral jerk who no one but our hero can keep in check. Though that still makes for a compelling enough villain because he's willing to go to any length to defeat our hero, I tend to prefer a little more nuance. Still, the rest of the book is solid and even the scenes between Galactus and King Thor, though they get a little repetitive because there's only so much the two can bicker about at this point, stand pretty well on their own. 4/5

Art
Esad Ribic continues to be outstanding and Eisner nominated Ive Svorcina continues to make the book stand out with his painted colors, which I've been attributing to Ribic this whole time only to find that Svorcina is really carrying that tone. It all works really well with the tone of the writing and of the story and continues to really impress. 5/5

Miscellaneous
The book seems to be back on track after taking an arc off to deal with Malekith and troubles in the nine realms. Thor's love for Earth and his attachment to humanity shine through but it'll be interesting to see how that all feels after spending so much time with Agger.

Total score: 4/5