Comic Review: Ms. Marvel #31

Ms. Marvel #31

Marvel Comics

Writer: G. Willow Wilson

Artists: Elmo Bondoc, Gustavo Duarte, Nico Leon

It may say number thirty-one on the cover, but this is the fiftieth issue of Ms. Marvel starring Kamala Khan after the reboot post-Secret Wars. To celebrate this event past contributors to Kamala’s story return to tell an adventure about her first sleepover. The premise sounds like something from a tween sitcom, but a lot happens in this one night. There are three distractions from her party that play out like contained stories. These three distractions are tied together by Kamala’s sleepover where she has her three girlfriends (Zoe, Nakia, and Mike) over to talk about her recent love triangle with Red Dagger and longtime friend Bruno.

The first distraction features Kamala involved in an intergalactic dog and cat chase featuring Lockjaw of the Inhumans. Then Kamala has a fight with an upset pizza delivery girl. Last Kamala has her own Spider-Man Marvel team-up with Champions partner Miles Morales. All the adventures are tied together with Kamala’s attempts at a girl’s night with her friends.

Each adventure features an artist who previously worked on the series. The artwork for each story is very fitting and mostly cohesive except the first distraction featuring Lockjaw. Ian Herring provides colors throughout and tries to use a similar color scheme and style to synergize the different art styles.

The slumber party is about what I would expect from a group of teenage girls at a sleepover. They play games, eat delicious foods, and talk about problems. Regular artist Nico Leon provides art for the party sequence. Nico does a great job of expressing body language. His art helps express the drama that comes from this sequence as Kamala decides to come clean with her friends about everything.

The first distraction story featuring Lockjaw is what I felt was the weakest part of the issue. It is cute and great to see Lockjaw return, but it has the most drastic art change and a no consequence. The art has a more animated style that I will say is fitting for a story about animals. The story just involves Kamala following a dog that can teleport chasing a cat that also has the ability to teleport. There is some humor in the group jumping to different planets but nothing too memorable.

The second interruption story involves Kamala having a fight with the girl who is delivering the pizza for the party. The skunk haired girl emits a horrible odor since being trapped in the Inhuman Terrigen Cloud. Good for her for steering into it with the skunk hair. The smell caused people to not want to be around her anymore so she takes offense at Kamala having a party. A terrific fight breaks out where pizza is used as a projectile weapon. Eventually, Kamala talks the pizza girl down and lets her know that there are Inhumans that can help. It feels like an introduction to an interesting character I am sure we will see again.

The third interruption is the classic Marvel team-up. Spider-Man recruits the help of Ms. Marvel to stop Arnim Zola from threatening the New York water supply. The sequence plays out like an Ant-Man heist story. Miles wants Kamala to use her shrinking ability to get past security and hijinks ensue. Thanks to a mood stone that Miles finds during the break-in, Miles confesses to Kamala that he has a bit of a crush on her. The fact that Miles likes her has been hinted at before when the two appeared together in other titles like the Nova and Avengers series. This admission really brings that subtlety into the open.

The different stories do a good job of recapping the characters different aspects. Silly and fun in the first story. Kamala’s good heart where she is always trying to help others in the second story. A career as a superhero in her third. And dramatic friendship in the connecting story. The milestone issue does a great job of celebrating what came before in the past forty-nine issues. It would be a great introduction to what the character is about and I would highly recommend.