The Marvelous Kamala Khan

I admit, I was pretty apprehensive about the relaunch of Ms Marvel as a superhero with a Muslim-American teenage girl at its center.  Not because I have some great love for the Ms Marvel character (I never knew she existed).  More because I was (and still am, to an extent) annoyed that Marvel lauded Ms Marvel as one of the ways they were diversifying their superhero line-up, but the author of the series is a white woman.  I mean, come on - are there no South Asians out there who could write this story?  Sigh.

The author is G. Willow Wilson, of Alif the Unseen fame.  Wilson converted to Islam in college and has written several books with Muslims as the main characters.  At least Marvel chose an author who is familiar with the religion and culture that makes up so much of Ms Marvel's back story.  But still...

But enough about the author and more about the story!  I think this is actually the first superhero comic book I have ever read, which is probably just what Marvel wanted in creating this character.  I am not sure how these stories usually progress, but this compilation of the first several volumes in the series is more set-up than anything else.  We meet the main characters, Kamala Khan and her family and friends.  And we get a very quick introduction to a villain.  But we don't get much else.  This is very much a first chapter, not a whole story.

But it's a pretty great first chapter!  Kamala Khan is a very smart, kind, and funny teenager in Jersey City who loves video games and comics.  One foggy night, she's given super-powers that give her the ability to change the way she looks - she can change her face and grow bigger and smaller.  Kamala comes from a religious Muslim family and going out in hopes of saving the world every day and night is a little difficult.  She starts breaking her curfew, her parents become concerned, and Kamala struggles with keeping such a huge secret from her parents.  But she also seriously loves being a kick-ass hero.

There are so many things to love about Kamala, and most of them are the same things I've loved about Wilson's other female characters.  Wilson does a truly amazing job of writing strong and heroic women who are also religious.  Kamala is smart and dorky and nice.  Her parents are strict but they love her and want what's best for her.  It's just that her vision of what's best for herself is different than what her parents want for her.  There's one scene where she goes home after an exhausting and failed attempt to save a friend and grabs a bunch of food from the refrigerator to eat.  And all she can think is that she really wishes her mom knew her secret so that she could greet her at home with warm food and a big hug.

One thing I wish wasn't glanced over so much in the book was the way that Kamala can change her entire appearance.  The first few times she become Ms Marvel, she becomes a leggy blonde.  I assume that's who worked as Ms Marvel before, but it is telling on many levels.  Kamala has loved comics for her whole life, and never has she seen a superhero that looks like her.  So when she finds out that she has the power to become whomever she wants, she defaults to what she thinks a superhero looks like - a blond woman.  But as the story progresses and Kamala comes into her own, she ditches the face-shifting and keeps her own features.  The message is clear:  she owns it, and she's a superhero on her own terms.

It's a very powerful statement, and I am so looking forward to seeing how this character develops.