Possibly the most anticipated comic of the week, Marvel Comics and its heroes mourn the death of Ms. Marvel in Fallen Friend. Crafted by some of the most important creators to ever write the character (G. Willow Wilson, Saladin Ahmed, and Mark Waid), this special issue offers three different stories around Ms. Marvel’s funeral.
This issue starts with chapter one, “Chapter 1: Kamala,” by Wilson and Takeshi Miyazawa. This story focuses on Ms. Marvel’s closest friends and how they’re dealing with the loss of Ms. Marvel. The story feels like a good way to honor Kamala by showing us how her friends are reeling, but there isn’t much to it either. We see characters enter the mosque, greet each other, and mourn. It’s nice to see the characters complete a khatm quran, and each story does well to capture the culture and practices of a Muslim funeral, but it’s a brief scene that could use a little more to it.
Miyazawa’s art in this story will take you back to the original Ms. Marvel days. The character acting is good, and the pace is sharp, although there isn’t much for them to do.
“Chapter 2: Champion” is by Waid with art by Humberto Ramos. Fans of the Champions will like what Waid does with the characters here. We see Viv interact emotionally as a robot, then activate her ability to feel emotion only to be racked with too much to deal with. Meanwhile, Amadeus Cho is a real jerk, and Waid explores his history of giving Ms. Marvel a lot of trouble as they combated over who was the leader.
Viv goes through a lot of emotions in her story.
Credit: Marvel
When emotions run high, Ramos makes you feel these characters’ genuine anger, resentment, and sorrow. It’s interesting to see the characters lose themselves in emotions. While it’s unfortunate Cho can’t keep things in control, it’s a reminder the Champions were a teen team who battled villains as much as their emotions. It’s also a reminder when we mourn, we sometimes act out and lose ourselves.
Last is “Chapter 3: Avengers” by Ahmed and Andrea Di Vito. This story prominently features Iron Man, Captain America, and Doctor Strange reeling from the loss of Ms. Marvel. Ahmed looks honestly at their reactions to this death, like Cap admitting he didn’t know Ms. Marvel well but knew she was a born hero. Meanwhile, seeing Doctor Strange contemplate bringing her back with magic is an interesting argument. Likening his abilities to being a plumber is an interesting angle on the character. The superhero aspect of death is touched upon a bit, at least.
Similar to the first story, it’s nice to see Kamala’s real culture represented. The characters recite the Al-Falaq or The Daybreak, the 113th chapter of the Qur’an.
Many will discuss Spider-Man’s inclusion in this final tale, especially since Ms. Marvel died in his series. Ever the awkward hero, Ahmed captures Peter’s childishness by being late but also for not knowing what to say to Kamala’s parents. It’s odd that Ahmed has Peter think about saying something that might make his parents think he dated Kamala, but that goes along with Peter’s awkwardness. I do wish there was more to Spider-Man attending the funeral, however. It seems like a missed opportunity since he is on his knees in tears on the cover.
Di Vito’s art in this portion of the story is clean and suits the dynamic and bold characters that appear.
Fallen Friend: The Death of Ms. Marvel #1 is a comic about mourning that thankfully highlights Kamala Khan’s culture but doesn’t do much more. Capturing three moments at her funeral, we get the pulse of key characters who Ms. Marvel touched, but little else. While it’s nice to get some sense of how characters are feeling from the death of Ms. Marvel, it’s far too little and maybe too late. With the character’s revival assured, we have a comic that shows important Muslim culture but little else.
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