If I could sum up the theme of Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #2, it would be dreams. In a metatextual sense, co-writer Iman Vellani has fulfilled every comic book fan’s dream: she not only gets to play Ms. Marvel in the MCU, but help shape the next chapter of her life in the comics. In a story sense, Kamala Khan is attempting to figure out the strange figures plaguing her dreams while fighting to keep the X-Men’s dream of acceptance alive – and finding out that both tasks are harder than she anticipated.
Those dreams serve as bookends for the issue, with Vellani and co-writer Sabir Pirzada unpacking the layers of the dreams throughout. With the help of her friend Bruno, Kamala starts to explore what the dreams mean and how they’re connected to her life. In interviews, Vellani mentioned how the idea for the series came to her in a dream – as well as her love for Neil Gaiman’s Sandman – and the seeds of that are shown throughout this issue. Through her inner monologue, Kamala laments the grip her nightmares have on her as well as her frustration with their ambiguous nature. “The worst thing about nightmares is that the chaos…the fear…it’s all designed by you,” she thinks as she comes face to face with nightmarish versions of her fellow Marvel heroes. Forget Orchis: Kamala may end up becoming her own worst enemy.
Once again, artists Carlos Gomez and Adam Gorham provide the break between reality and dreams. Gomez keeps pressing the limits of Kamala’s polymorph powers; her limbs stretch and embiggen, and she grows flat as paper to avoid some of Orchis’ drones. Gomez also brings in Iron Man and Emma Frost for a brief cameo (fans who haven’t heard about their upcoming nuptials may be lost, but once again touching upon the theme of dreams Vellani gets to write a character she’s been a major fan of) and he makes the Armored Avenger’s new stealth suit look like a thing of beauty. Gorham’s art continues to be extremely disturbing; he turns Kamala’s power against her, literally wrapping her up in her own limbs, and creates a mysterious character who can only be described as a fusion of Doctor Strange and the Silver Surfer. Yes that’s as weird as it sounds and yes it must be seen to be believed.
Once again, the book wouldn’t shine as brightly as it does without Erick Arciniega on colors. He plays Kamala’s bright yellow/blue/red costume off of the silver and black of Iron Man’s stealth suit, while also keeping the same color scheme in Kamala’s civilian clothing. For Gorham’s art, he gives the Silver Surfer/Doctor Strange hybrid’s skin a literal silver sheen – making him a shining beacon in the vast, cold black that is Kamala’s dream-space.
Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #2 is a mediation on dreams, both for the titular heroine as well as the creators. After the bombastic opening that was the first issue, it’s fine that the story has slowed down a bit. But now that we’ve hit the halfway point, I’m curious as to what these dreams entail – and what they might mean for Kamala’s future.
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