Where we last left off, Red Dagger has now come into the fray as a few of Ms. Marvel’s supporting cast have taken up the costume to pick up the slack of defending Jersey City as Ms. Marvel herself is missing. All while an old enemy of hers returns and is up to his old tricks once again.
This current arc of Ms. Marvel deals with the fallout of an issue that came before this current arc. Kamala felt underappreciated that she was old news-not helped by Red Dagger coming to Jersey City himself. So despite saving a runaway train and Red Dagger saying Ms. Marvel saved the day as it was her plan to stop the train, the press ignored her in favor of him. As a result-feeling dejected, Kamala feels she should take a break. It’s basically classic superhero stuff especially for the Marvel universe. I mean, Peter Parker has gone through this before.
While the book starts off with Naftali and Alanna searching for her and a cliffhanger to those pages, the rest of the book concentrates on the, and this will be my nickname for them, the Ms. Marvelous Wannabe Group and Red Dagger now looking for Zoe as she and Harold disappeared and surprise, surprise via GPS on Zoe’s phone, they found her, as well as the villain of this arc as also surprise, surprise, it’s The Inventor. Sort of. It’s technically Gregory Knox, his creator but he’s taken up the mantle which, kind of does fit in with the Marvel Legacy thing in an odd way.
And dear lord, what comes next after the group shows up to rescue Zoe and Harold is the weird insanity I adore so much from this book. Aside from the usual bots the Inventor dishes out, we have a giant friggin’ turtle that ends up going on a rampage. It is glorious to behold. But characters come first though and the book still delivers. A touching scene where Zoe felt if she put on the costume to help others, it’d recapture the same magic but realizes it’s Ms. Marvel herself who can bring in the magic but that doesn’t stop Zoe from trying though. She still stands up the Inventor even when tied to a chair.
G. Willow Wilson‘s writing is still at its strongest especially with how the characters bounce off each other between Red Dagger, Zoe, Nakia, Mike and Gabe especially with how they try to take care of the situation as well as the ending. I’ll get to that in a bit. But yes, this arc so far is showing the book is staying strong with its supporting cast being the focus this time around and how they’re trying their best to defend Jersey City themselves. Think of it as if some people decided to impersonate the Powerpuff Girls to defend Townsville themselves. That’s the equivalent right there.
There’s also some nice touching moments between Nakia and Zoe especially when the latter sees that Nakia strongly cares for her and returns the favor along with a cute and funny moment of Zoe giving the peace sign underneath the rubble ton indicate she’s unharmed. How Zoe survived being stomped on by a giant turtle, I don’t know, it’s superhero books.
As for the ending, I don’t want to give it away because it is a very nice surprise especially to fans of this particular character but I will say, it’s not Bruno. I know fans want him back but it’s not him but I argue it’s somebody better anyway. And given the cover of issue 28, I greatly anticipate what comes next but it’s a nice carryover from one of the previous arcs.
Nico Leon‘s art is exceptionally well done. The art and colors especially gel well with Wilson’s writing from the facial expressions to the overall pacing. It all looks distinct from a lot of other superhero books and there’s just something very charming about how this was drawn overall. I can’t explain it, it just fits the book overall. It feels like excellent chemistry between author and artist.
If you’re a fan of Ms. Marvel already, this issue does not disappoint. The mystery of this current arc is well handled thus far and I’m eager to read what happens next. Check it out.
