BooksOfTheMoon

Volume 3 of G. Willow Wilson’s Ms Marvel sees the young Kamala Khan have to deal with a force more terrifying than supervillains: feelings. The opening story doesn’t really do an awful lot for me, as it brings Loki, trickster of the gods down to visit for Valentine’s Day. Apparently Loki is now working for the good guys but a hilarious misunderstanding leads to a punch-up with everyone’s favourite puncher. It was okay, but I didn’t think it was the strongest of Kamala’s stories.

Fortunately, the one that follows it makes up for it. In this one, Kamala falls for Kamran, the son of some of her parents’ friends. And falls hard. Unfortunately, things don’t go well, and Kamala has to learn how to cope the hard way. There’s also a surprisingly touching scene between Kamala’s older brother Aamir and her best friend Bruno which touched a few chords with me. This story leaves a lot lying open, some of which, I assume, will be covered in future volumes.

The final story is a crossover with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with Jemma Simmons and Phil Coulson making an appearance. It’s fairly lightweight, and the likenesses of the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to the TV show aren’t great but it’s a fun way to end the collection, with a message about family thrown in for good measure.

Generation Why continues the story of Kamala Khan from where No Normal left off. The Inventor is still loose and Kamala needs to find and stop him before more young people go missing. On the way, she meets Wolverine (and somewhat fails to not squee all over him) who she impresses enough that he contacts the Inhumans, the part-alien group of which it turns out that she is a member.

The main thread of the story here is one of being disassociated from society, of barriers between the generations, and ways to overcome them and continue to work for the good of society. These are great themes and it’s good to see a relatable character coming out and telling young people that they’re not worthless or parasitical upon society. That’s something that needs to be said, when the opposite is often heard from mainstream media.

Kamala is a fun character and her world is interesting and growing as she grows and develops as a character. She’s realising that superhero-ing alongside just being a teenager (not to mention an immigrant teenager) is difficult. I look forward to more of it.