I’ll admit it: I’m not a huge fan of Marvel comics. The comics in general, not the company. I love the Marvel movies and try to keep up with all the latest news and storylines in them, but when it comes to comic stories, I’m more of a DC person. That is, until I started hearing everybody (and when I say everybody, I mean everybody – NPR, Nerdist, The Indoor Kids, etc.) rave about one particular character – Ms. Marvel.

I started reading this with a basic knowledge of the story from what I had heard from news sources, as I had no prior relationship with the previous Ms. Marvel/current Captain Marvel Carol Danvers. I understood that Danvers had since assumed the mantle of Captain Marvel, and there had been several characters to be Ms. Marvel since that period. Other than this though, I was clueless about other current Marvel storylines that may find their way into this book (including the crazy Iron Man & Cap cameo).

Currently Ms. Marvel’s mantle is held by Kamala Khan, a 16-year-old Pakistani-American girl growing up in New Jersey. She’s like most teenagers, trying to fit in with the groups at school, hanging out at the local Circle Q (something’s afoot as the Circle Q), and spending her free time writing Avengers fanfic (like we all do). She sees that the heroes she loves are not like her, a small, Muslim girl. They are tall, blonde, and wear big boots. Then one night during a fog she has a vision of Captain Marvel, and is given her powers, as well as her body. Kamala soon learns how to control her powers, including how to be a hero that looks like her, instead of somebody she is not.

Having finished the first volume, I am eager to dive into the remaining stories out there right now. Kalama’s story is perfect for anybody seeking a new comic story but is not familiar enough with the main Marvel line to jump in. This is also perfect for teenagers who do not enjoy reading, or the teacher trying to find the thing that will help those students enjoy reading again. Ms. Marvel shows that everybody has identity crisis, but you don’t have to be another person to survive. I feel that by showing Kamala’s struggles with being Muslim in a predominantly white neighborhood we get tales that are perfect for a new generation of comic readers, something that I had not previously seen in DC comic stories.