Ms. Marvel: Volume 1: No Normal

Kamala Khan has the usual problems teenagers have: overly protective parents, changing friends, and homework. Normal teenage problems. Plus, you know, the ability to transform into other people and embiggen herself at will. And the little issue with being mistaken for Captain Marvel while saving the life of her friend during a weird green smokey-fog. Kamala has to figure out what she's going to do with her powers and how she's going to protect herself and her friends and her family.
 

This is such a strong start for a reboot of Ms. Marvel. Kamala Khan kicks so much butt as Ms. Marvel. I want to give this to every nerdy girl who needs a hero. Wilson does a stupendous job of creating a diverse character who is unique, round, interesting, but also accessible to a non-diverse audience (I know, I know, that sounds really awful - but I can see my teen readers picking up a graphic novel with a Muslim character and putting it right back down. The superhero aspect helps to bridge the gap - it's about Kamala and being a PoC and a Muslim, but it's also about being a superhero. I'm hoping that once they see how awesome this is, it'll be a gateway book to other books with main characters PoC.). As someone who is really just starting to dip her toe into the ocean of superheroes, this was a good intro to Ms. Marvel. I didn't feel like I was missing a ton of backstory or I'd jumped into the middle of an arc. I learned just what I needed to know about Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel while reading volume one and I felt like Kamala is also learning right along with me. The artwork is superb. My usual comic art preference is bold clean lines and bright colors, but this worked for me. I felt like the art fit the subject well - Kamala was all over the place and long, lanky, and bendy, which feels a lot like adolescence anyway - who doesn't feel like they have hands the size of hams and pencil arms and legs? Overall two thumbs way way way up. This is definitely one for the books.