outside the lines comics!

ms marvel!

Name: Kamala Khan
Current alias: Ms Marvel
Powers: Shapeshifting and healing abilities

Fun facts:

• Before her powers are activated, Kamala is a huge comic book fan!
• She's one of the youngest superheroes to join the Avengers
• She has a giant dog called Lockjaw, who has teleportation powers!

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Ms Marvel Omnibus

Author: G. Willow Wilson
Artists: Adrian Alphona and Takeshi Miyazawa
Published by: Marvel Studios

Review: The Ms Marvel Omnibus takes us on the origin story and adventures of Kamala Khan, a 15 year old Pakistani-American girl who lives in New Jersey. Kamala sneaks out of home one night to go to a party. She ends up having a terrible time and goes for a walk near the lake to get away from everyone. Mist rises from the lake but this is no ordinary weather phenomenon - this is Terrigen Mist, an alien method of activating powers in people who have Inhuman DNA. Kamala Khan finds herself with shapeshifting abilities that take some time to get used to - she shrinks so small that she almost gets stepped on, grows so large that she breaks her school bathroom, and shapeshifts into the image of her mother at one point!

Amongst all of these newfound and tricky-to-control powers, Kamala is also dealing with being a slightly weird teenager that's trying to navigate the world as a young Muslim as well as trying to navigate her lovingly overbearing Pakistani immigrant parents. There's a whole world of identity issues going on here, but Kamala's kind nature and her excitable sense of humour make it a fascinating read rather than a preachy one. When it comes down to it, Kamala is a person with a strong sense of what's good, and her powers help her to elevate that, even if they do cause her some superhero-related adventures along the way.

Recommended for: There's wisdom in this book for absolutely everyone. Teenagers can identify with Kamala, and adults can read it wishing they had her level of insight when they were figuring out the whole business of 'growing up'.