Ms Marvel #38 review

I was a big supporter of the early issues of Brian Reed's Ms Marvel, but as her determination to be 'the best of the best' led her to become a bloodthirsty government lapdog, my interest waned. Finally, my loyalty to Carol Danvers checked out along with her humanity. And she died. Well, Marvel-died, as the series recap at the beginning of this issue makes clear (click on the extract if your super-vision is failing). Until Carol does the Phoenix tango, former Thunderbolt member Moonstone is filling in and to be honest I don't notice that much of a difference.

The costume is the monstrosity of old, yes, but it's still an angry blonde killing without compunction. The deaths come as the issue opens with the new Ms Marvel stopping a bank truck robbery and finding herself a popular lady. The rest of the book concerns her encounter with Norman Osborn's new in-house psychiatrist and it's well done, providing an insight into Karla Sofen's personality while throwing in a twist of two.

My problem is that an issue full of Moonstone is a strong brew. As a member of the Thunderbolts I found her triumphs and failures fascinating, but there she was just one of a number of villains at different stages of their journey to redemption (or not). Here it's all Karla, all anger. That is not a misleading cover. She's a slightly nastier version of a character who became so nasty that I dropped her book.

So while I appreciate that this is a pretty well-crafted comic from Reed and artist Rebekah Isaacs, I'll accept that it's not for me. Hopefully when the original Ms Marvel returns, she'll be a tad sweeter and we can be friends again. Oh, one more thing, would someone please retire this Marvel Comics cliche? Twice on one page?

Comments

  1. "The Hell?" has been driving me crazy for years. Bendis started it but now EVERYONE uses it. Ugh.

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  2. It's better than the "Hhh!'s" and "Nnn's" and stuff like that we're getting everywhere in Trinity these days. What's up with that?

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  3. To me Ms Marvel is Carol Danvers who has a huge history. I bought the 3 issues with the Phil Jimenez covers, but I'm not interested in reading about this Moonstone character I don't care about, so I'm dopping the title.

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  4. No better, huh? It looks like Carol is coming back very soon - hopefully with a personality transplant.

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