Great for Kamala, not so great for Carol.

I will admit I was prepared to dislike this. I read a couple of reviews that gave the plot away, and it made me angry and nervous (more on this below). I shouldn’t have *really* worried. As she did with that whole Secret Wars mess, G. Willow Wilson manages to write an event tie-in story (in this case, Civil War II) but still keep it readable for people like myself who aren’t planning on reading the rest of it, and to simultaneously keep the story focused tightly on Kamala. This still felt like Kamala’s story, a personal struggle as opposed to one full of empty action and violence. She also makes some devastating story choices that lend the events weight and lets us know this whole THING is going to have consequences.

Also, even in the midst of heartbreaking events (seriously, ow, my poor baby Kamala) this made me LAUGH. Out loud in public. Several times. I just love Wilson’s style, and the attitude and heart she brings towards this character and her world. She takes the Civil War storyline and makes it personal for the volume, and for Kamala.

The first issue starts out very lighthearted, with Kamala and her friends at a science fair trying to win scholarships, and their competition is Miles Morales and his friends. Kamala knows his secret identity, but he doesn’t know hers. This issue definitely got the most laughs (and I fucking love Skyshark. SKYSHARK).

Wilson sort of eases you into the heroes fighting heroes concept with this science fair battle, after which the real shit starts. Nobody apparently saw Minority Report in the Marvel universe, because a new Inhuman named Ulysses who supposedly predicts future crimes is now being championed by Captain Marvel as a way to prevent crimes from even happening. At first Kamala is all for this, but when she actually goes to start enforcing Ulysses’ predictions, it quickly becomes apparent that things aren’t as black and white as her hero, Carol Danvers, led her to believe. What follows is a series of events that culminate in SPOILERS Kamala completely losing faith and severing her bond with Carol, and a severely injured Bruno dissolving their life-long friendship END SPOILERS. It was all very compelling, even as I was upset to an almost ridiculous degree by what was going on.

In fact, my only real problem with this volume is something that was forced on the story by outside circumstances, and that is the behavior/character assassination of Carol Danvers. I love Carol Danvers. Love her. And this does not feel like something she would do to me. This is not the Carol I love. I know I stopped reading her books after DeConnick left, so I might have missed something, but I just can’t with this whole storyline. It doesn’t feel earned. It feels wrong. It feels like they wanted to create a new Civil War II and needed someone besides Cap to fight with Tony, and here comes Carol. Also SPOILER, they fridged War Machine?????? The hell?

I have no doubt that Kamala and Ms. Marvel will weather this storm. It continues to be an excellent series. I hope Wilson never leaves. The same can’t be said of my love for Captain Marvel. I’m sadly feeling my decision not to continue reading her comics anymore was justified. I hope the movie version hands the comics their asses.