ORIGINALLY POSTED ON TUMBLR 06/15/2014

RATING: 5/5

I’d like to preface this with the fact that until I picked up the Ms. Marvel comics I had never set foot in a comic book store. Though I grew up watching the X-Men movies, the most I knew about Marvel was that they were the ones who didn’t have Batman. That being said, I’ve always wanted to get into comic books but wasn’t sure where exactly to begin. There seem to be hundreds of issues for each set of heroes and their worlds all overlap with spin off series and bonus stories. It was enough to make my head spin! Cue the arrival of the new Ms. Marvel.

When I saw that Marvel would be releasing the Ms. Marvel series with a new character as Ms. Marvel, I realized that this would be my best bet at getting into the Marvel comic universe. I counted down the days until the comic’s release date and picked it up the day after it came out. I have never been so happy with my decision to start a new series.

Kamala Khan, like most sixteen year olds, is struggling to find her place in the world. Between her religious family and the popular kids at school, she’s unsure of who she is and how she should act. She struggles to figure out which world is better and doubts herself. Kamala’s love of super heroes and fanfiction make her so realistic and loveable to me. Even before she becomes one of them, she admires the heroes of the Marvel universe. She’s not the type of person you’d expect to end up a hero and that makes her that much more heroic to me as we watch her grow and change.

Through her gaining her powers and struggling to figure out how they work, Kamala grows not just as a hero but as a person. Her ideals about appearance begin to fade away as she accepts herself and embraces the fact that she can be a hero on her own without hiding behind the front of being the blonde, busty Ms. Marvel that she originally pretended to be.

I’m absolutely in love with this series and Kamala. I wasn’t expecting to become this much of a fan of a comic book but I find myself waiting impatiently for the next installment of Kamala’s story. It probably doesn’t hurt that each book seems to end on a cliffhanger that has me groaning in frustration when I realize I’ve reached the end of the book. Only four comics in shows so much development to Kamala’s character that I’m excited to see how she continues to change throughout the series. I feel like she has so much growing to do as not only Ms. Marvel but as herself. Throughout it all, I love that she has still remained true to herself; gaining powers hasn’t changed the fact that she is still a sixteen year old girl.

Overall, I have to say that this is one of my new favorite series and I’m looking forward to keeping up with it. I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for Kamala as she begins her adventures as Ms. Marvel!

Grab the first five bundled as one here (Link leads to BookDepository- shipping is free for many countries!)