Marvel Comics has had its fair share of story arc ideas to cross one-shots, miniseries, and more, including Ms. Marvel: Fists of Justice. Now in trade paperback, the story carries over three different Ms. Marvel team-up titles, but in actuality is a three-issue story arc. It’s a clever idea as each title pairs Ms. Marvel with different characters. First, she’s teaming up with Wolverine, then Moon Knight, and in the final issue, Venom, with the characters facing the same mysterious villain in each. Can Ms. Marvel stop the threat, let alone survive the likes of these usually very violent heroes?
Written by Jody Houser, this three-issue arc feels important as it ties into ongoing character events and reveals a plot involving a major X-Men villain popping up in X-Force these days. Kicking things off, Ms. Marvel & Wolverine is a fun ride. X-Men fans will delight in knowing the X-Men treehouse plays a prominent role in this issue. The story is simple enough, opening with Ms. Marvel visiting the treehouse and noticing a nanobot that definitely shouldn’t be there.
Before she sees the nanobot, she notices Wolverine, and Houser reminds us he was one of the first team-ups she ever had. Casual fans will appreciate that and appreciate other flashback montaging that helps catch them up to speed.
The title of this one-shot features Wolverine, but it has a lot of key X-Men pop up. The preview shows Rogue and Jean Grey, but more pop up too. If you’re a fan of the Krakoa era of X-Men, you should pick this book up. Adding to that is some solid character work that could lead to future encounters with Ms. Marvel and the X-Men.
Ze Carlos’s art is super clean and pleasing, capturing each X-Men character and their costumes well. Ms. Marvel’s age looks accurate too, which isn’t an easy thing to pull off. Even harder to pull off is Ms. Marvel’s embiggening powers, which have a good balance of weird and cool.
Next up is Ms. Marvel & Moon Knight #1 opening with an innocent woman being attacked by what sounds and looks like rats. Moon Knight swoops in, but weird rats are not something he can easily pinpoint a culprit on, given weird stuff happens to him regularly. Enter Ms. Marvel, who has a lead on nanobot technology being used to terrorize the people of New York.
Houser does a great job making it make sense that Moon Knight would even consider working with Ms. Marvel, let alone patrol with her. Soon they’re working together and helping one another. Yes, Ms. Marvel is fully aware of Moon Knight’s violent nature, but she at least admits it’s not her way to do things.
Team up time!
Credit: Marvel
Ms. Marvel comes off as quite smart and deductive, and we also get plenty in the way of her embiggening powers. Ibraim Roberson draws a great Ms. Marvel, especially her growing powers, with good details in her hair and the city around her. The details throughout are expertly done with perspective and make the action feel dynamic no matter the angle. The details on Moon Knight’s mask are also well done, reminiscent of Gary Frank’s rendition of the character.
Closing things out is Ms. Marvel & Venom, featuring the Symbiote Venom without Eddie inside. Venom is in the process of fighting the nanobots when the story starts allowing for an easy entry for Ms. Marvel to team up with the character. The two end up doing a lot of the work to find out where the nanobots are from and who is behind it all. It culminates into a mega-team-up with Wolverine and Moon Knight showing up. The entire collection closes out with a nice sentiment from Ms. Marvel via captions that feel like a fitting end to a wild team-up adventure.
Dave Wachter draws this final issue, and Venom steals the show. He’s got a sleeker, more ’90s-style head playing up the various looks of Venom, like many teeth, no teeth, and unhappy smirks. There’s a particularly good fight scene that’s choreographed well, involving teamwork from Wolverine, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and Venom that’s done well too.
Ms. Marvel: Fists of Justice is a charming and successful action comic pairing Ms. Marvel with some of the most violent heroes at Marvel. It accomplishes its goal of telling one three-issue story while delivering action throughout. Plus, Houser writes a great Ms. Marvel and sticks a lot of continuity and modern elements from the Moon Knight, X-Men, and Venom series. That’s a win-win for Marvel fans who are keeping tabs on continuity.
Join the AIPT Patreon
Want to take our relationship to the next level? Become a patron today to gain access to exclusive perks, such as:
- ❌ Remove all ads on the website
- 💬 Join our Discord community, where we chat about the latest news and releases from everything we cover on AIPT
- 📗 Access to our monthly book club
- 📦 Get a physical trade paperback shipped to you every month
- 💥 And more!
You must be logged in to post a comment.