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WEEK 13: SUPERHEROES RECONSIDERED

Image result for magnificent ms marvel"
For this week I read a bunch of “The Magnificent Ms. Marvel” series from Marvel. Overall, it was a pretty fun and quick read (I could only find 9 issues). Typically, I don’t go for this category, meaning I don’t really read or watch a lot of superhero comics/ films. I know that it is one of the biggest fandoms out there and with the current trends of DC and Marvel, I can’t see that fandom dying down anytime soon. I believe that it doesn’t really appeal to my taste because it feels very formulaic and repetitive in terms of story and character archetypes. I definitely appreciate the creativity of the designs and super powers, but after a while I find myself feeling kind of immune to the same situations and storylines. I did find Ms. Marvel to be interesting though, and I loved the specificity to the culture. Kamala could just say mom and dad, but calling them “abu and ammi” made her feel more genuine. I also enjoyed reading the little light-hearted moments, like the “flirting” between Kamala and Cheb Hura. I thought it was a nice change throughout the comic, that way it wasn’t too “heroic” or serious the whole time. That being said, however, I didn’t quite understand some of the time jumps in certain issues. It felt really sudden and it took me a few pages in to get what was going on. Especially with Bruno, it felt like we (the reader) hadn’t seen him in a few issues and then they kissed almost out of nowhere. To be fair, I haven’t read previous series of Ms. Marvel so there is a lot of her story that I am not aware of. But things like this feel more like a structural issue rather than missing contextual details in my opinion.

My favorite aspect of the comic was the art by far. Her design and the style of the comic were super appealing to me. The extreme foreshortening and straight edges mixed with curved lines made the characters stand out as I was reading, especially with Ms. Marvel whenever she stretched her limbs. A lot of the panels were nicely laid out to compliment the poses, having a wide variety in sizing so the reader wouldn’t get bored too quickly.
I guess I could say that though I had fun reading this series, I wouldn’t see myself following up with it or becoming a big fan. The artwork is probably the biggest reason why I would consider reading more in the future, not so much with the story. I still believe that Ms. Marvel is a pretty successful modern superhero comic.

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