A new, smaller-sized format reprinting of Ms. Marvel comics is out this week, featuring a smattering of newer ones. For the completist, Ms. Marvel: Generations offers stories printed from 2018 through 2019. Original creator G. Willow Wilson supplies tales, along with Eve L. Ewing and Clint McElroy. Most importantly, the entire collection captures Ms. Marvel’s personality and the all-ages vibe the series is going for.
This trade paperback is 232 pages long, collecting Ms. Marvel (2015) #36-38, Generations: Ms. Marvel and Ms. Marvel (2017) #1, and Marvel Team-Up (2019) #1-6. As you can see, it mainly collects tales outside of her solo series.
The collection opens with classic Ms. Marvel tales capturing the larger cast of characters and the general vibe of Ms. Marvel in the earlier days. Ms. Marvel #38 features a story by Wilson and co-scripting by Wilson, Devin Grayson, Eve L. Ewing, Jim Zub, and Saladin Ahmed. It’s a fun tale as we see more of Ms. Marvel’s friends and their gaming. They get zapped into a gaming universe with classic Mario-like and fantasy realms explored. It’s a fun adventure. Again, it reminds us of the characters around Kamala and how important they are.
Wilson and Paolo Villanelli deliver the Generations tale, which had Marvel publishing team-ups with younger versions of legacy characters at the time. In this case, Ms. Marvel gets zapped into the past when Carol Danvers was just starting her life as a hero. This tale works particularly well since it leans into the older days of Marvel with a flashback feel thanks to the color by Ian Herring drenching everything in yellow.
Cool effect.
Credit: Marvel Comics
Marvel Team Up was a series celebrating Marvel’s 80-year anniversary and opens with a Spider-Man/Ms. Marvel story before closing with a Captain Marvel/Ms. Marvel story. In general this is a great collection for readers young and old. The opening story with Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel is a classic body-swap story that plays up the awkward situation both characters are in. The first issue gives each character their own focus on different halves of the book. The beauty of this is how it shows similarities between Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man, but also how they’re different.
There’s some nice character writing that fleshes out their typical day while also showing what they’re like in battle. The cliffhanger only promises this combination will enhance tenfold next issue, and I can’t wait to read more of it. Eve L. Ewing and Joey Vazquez infuse this story with positivity and fun thanks to their takes on the characters.
Vazquez utilizes a few clever layout designs to convey the day in the lives of Kamala with Peter inside her body and Peter with Kamala inside his body. On the top of a double-page layout is Peter’s day, and on the bottom is Kamala, with the panels separated by Spidey and Ms. Marvel logos. It’s a nice way of showing their days in tandem and highlighting how they are different. The characters across the issue look sharp and highly detailed too. There’s another effect, as if a tube TV was out of sync when the characters swap bodies, that’s quite effective. Many creative ideas went into this story, making it an endearing treat.
The follow-up is a story by Clint McElroy and Ig Guara. This is a fun story for Marvel history buffs. It plays into recent Captain Marvel events with her mother and key moments involving Mar-Vell. This story does well to capture the mentor angle as Captain Marvel tries to help Kamala Khan only to put her in danger. There are some Kree entanglements that longtime fans will love too. It’s quite clear McElroy has a rich knowledge of the Marvel universe, and it pays off big time in this story. There’s certainly a lot of explaining in this story, but I found the reveals and twists worked well enough to keep your interest up.
While Ms. Marvel: Generations doesn’t have one central narrative, it certainly has a lot of heart. From the melodrama of Ms. Marvel’s high school days to the team-ups that close out this collection, I’d wager there’s something here for young and old fans alike.
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