A Magnificent Relaunch: The Magnificent Ms. Marvel #1 Reviewed
by Josh Davison
[*Mild Spoilers Ahead!]
An alien on a far-off world tells the tale of Ms. Marvel, her exploits, and her legend to his child. In this framing, we witness Ms. Marvel fighting a rogue calling himself Deathbringer. Afterwards, Kamala goes home and discovers something bad has occurred at her parents’ home. That drama is interrupted when Bruno calls Kamala about an alien attack that takes a strange turn once Kamala seems to have claimed her victory.
Magnificent Ms. Marvel #1 kicks off with a writ-large assurance that Saladin Ahmed understands what makes Kamala Khan so appealing as a character. She’s charming, relatable, funny, and energetic. She faces the threats of this issue with the same vigor that has defined her character since the very beginning.
The new threats she faces are strange and don’t receive an explanation yet, and the framing device is yet to be elaborated upon as well. The disaster at home in the middle of the issue is more of an internal conflict than an external one…or so it seems.
Friends Nakia and Bruno both make appearances in this issue, which is good; Kamala has always had a great supporting cast of characters.
Minkyu Jung makes a hell of an impression with this issue too, giving the comic a lot of visual energy and texture. The creatures Kamala fights have a solid design, and the fight scenes look great. Juan Vlasco gives the book some excellent inkwork, and color artist Ian Herring keeps the palette bright, vivid, and balanced.
Magnificent Ms. Marvel #1 is a strong start for this relaunch of Kamala’s series. Saladin Ahmed had big shoes to fill with the absence of G. Willow Wilson, but this book comes swinging with high-energy storytelling and artwork. This one gets a recommendation for sure. Feel free to give it a read.
Magnificent Ms. Marvel #1 comes to us from writer Saladin Ahmed, artist Minkyu Jung, inker Juan Vlasco, color artist Ian Herring, letterer VC’s Joe Caramagna, cover artist Eduard Petrovitch, and variant cover artists Elsa Charretier with Matthew Wilson and Babs Tarr.
