Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit by Samira Ahmed Samira Ahmed

Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit
by Samira Ahmed, illustrated by Andres Genolet
Marvel

The greatest hero of the new generation returns in an all-new solo adventure! After an explosion of interdimensional proportions at her cousin’s lab, Kamala Khan suddenly has a doppelgänger to deal with! As Ms. Marvel, it’s her duty to help out the newcomer, but something doesn’t feel quite right. Kamala’s powers are on the fritz, and she suspects that this new hero-in-training isn’t trustworthy. And why has everything around her…turned into a Bollywood set?! New York Times best-selling author Samira Ahmed (Love, Hate, & Other Filters; Internment; Mad, Bad, & Dangerous to Know) brings all the flair of her young adult fiction to the always-surprising world of Ms. Marvel!

Summary and cover image via Edelweiss

Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed (Vol. 3)

Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed (Vol. 3)
Illustrated by Minkyu Jung, Joey Vazquez, Juan Vlasco, Ian Herring
Marvel

There’s a new hero in Jersey City! Introducing Fadi Fadlalah, a.k.a. Amulet! What secrets is this gentle giant hiding? Is he friend or foe? Why is he showing up now, just when Kamala has gotten her life back on track? And is this town big enough for both of them?! Then, while recovering from a traumatic ordeal, Ms. Marvel finds herself an unwilling martyr for a movement she hates. If she wants to reclaim her narrative, she’ll have to wake up first! The anti-teen-hero task force, C.R.A.D.L.E., is scouring Jersey City to apprehend its young protector – and that isn’t the only problem on Kamala’s plate. Several of her family members support the new law – and if they discover her secret identity, it’s game over for Ms. Marvel!

Cover image and summary via Edelweiss

Ms. Marvel: Game Over by G. Willow Wilson

Ms. Marvel: Game Over by G. Willow Wilson
Illustrated by: Mirka Andolfo, Takeshi Miyazawa, Francesco Gaston, Marco Failla
Marvel

A new chapter begins for Kamala Khan! But it’s lonely out there for Ms. Marvel when loved ones no longer have her back. It’s time for Kamala to find out exactly who she is on her own! But soon her home life, costumed life and online life will converge when a member of her World of Battlecraft guild reveals that he’s discovered her secret identity! He knows a disturbing number of details about her, but is he…human? Then, when an enemy from Ms. Marvel’s past begins targeting those closest to her, everything about Kamala will be called into question — not just as a super hero, but as a person! Nothing’s ever easy for the shape-shifting, size-swapping sensation — but how are things going for her best friend Bruno, who now attends school in Wakanda?
Cover and summary via Edelweiss

Ms. Marvel: Super Famous by G. Willow Wilson

Ms. Marvel: Super Famous by G. Willow Wilson
Illustrators: Takeshi Miyazawa, Adrian Alphona, Nico Leon, Mirka Andolfo
Marvel

Earth’s mightiest Inhuman! The world almost ended – but now it’s better than ever for Ms. Marvel! Her loved ones survived, she’s a symbol of hope for her neighborhood – and she’s an Avenger! Everything’s coming up Kamala Khan! But then why is Ms. Marvel the face of gentrification in Jersey City? Who’s that girl holding hands with Bruno? And how is just one Kamala supposed to juggle family life, school and superheroics? Things only get more complicated as the super hero community heads toward a second civil war – and Ms. Marvel is torn between her idol, Captain Marvel, and her Avengers mentor, Iron Man. As the escalating conflict strikes close to home, Kamala will have to grow up fast – and find her own way to be a hero!

Cover and summary via Edelweiss

This is Ms. Marvel by Marvel Press Book Group (World of Reading series)

This is Ms. Marvel by Marvel Press (World of Reading series)
Disney Books/Marvel Press Book Group

The This is line of World of Reading early readers is designed to offer reluctant readers books they will want to read by featuring the origin stories of characters they love.
Kamala Khan is just your average teenager living in Jersey City trying to balance high school and her family’s Muslim heritage. That is, until she discovers that she has super powers! As a huge fan of super heroes herself, Kamala takes on the name “Ms. Marvel,” previously used by her all-time favorite super hero, Captain Marvel.

Ms. Marvel, Kamala is able to shape shift, usually using this power to elongate her limbs or enlarge her fists… which she pairs with the declaration “embiggen!” Not only that, but she has the power to heal herself once she transforms back into her original self. More than anything, Ms. Marvel is an emblem of optimism and heart—a true beacon of hope in the face of adversity.
Discover how Kamala Khan finds out that she’s an Inhuman with super powers and becomes Ms. Marvel!

Summary via Edelweiss (cover image to be revealed as of 4/24/2021)

Ms Marvel: Stretched Thin by Nadia Shammas and Nabi H. Ali

Ms Marvel: Stretched Thin by Nadia Shammas and Nabi H. Ali
Scholastic/Graphic

Kamala Khan (a.k.a. Ms. Marvel) is stretched too thin-literally. She’s having a hard time balancing schoolwork with being a good friend, being there for her family, becoming the best fanfic writer this side of the Hudson River . . . and, you know, becoming a Super Hero. She’s tired and just barely keeping control, BUT she’s handling it. Totally.

But when a mysterious robot tries to infiltrate Avengers Tower, it’ll be up to Ms. Marvel to (again, literally) pull herself together, learn to ask for help, and fix the mess she’s made before anyone gets hurt!

Cover via ARC and summary via Goodreads

Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Outlawed (Magnificent Ms. Marvel #3) by Saladin Ahmed

Magnificent Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: OutlawedMagnificent Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Outlawed (Magnificent Ms. Marvel #3)
by Saladin Ahmed
Illustrated by Minkyu Jung and Joey Vazquez
Marvel

There’s a new hero in Jersey City! Introducing Fadi Fadlalah, a.k.a. Amulet! What secrets is this gentle giant hiding? Is he friend or foe? Why is he showing up now, just when Kamala has gotten her life back on track? And is this town big enough for both of them?! Then, while recovering from a traumatic ordeal, Ms. Marvel finds herself an unwilling martyr for a movement she hates. If she wants to reclaim her narrative, she’ll have to wake up first! The anti-teen-hero task force, C.R.A.D.L.E., is scouring Jersey City to apprehend its young protector – and that isn’t the only problem on Kamala’s plate. Several of her family members support the new law – and if they discover her secret identity, it’s game over for Ms. Marvel!

Cover image and summary via Goodreads

The Sinister Substitute (Marvel Avengers Assembly, #2) by Preeti Chhibber

The Sinister Substitute (Marvel Avengers Assembly, #2) by Preeti Chhibber
Illustrated by James Lancett
Scholastic

Kamala, Doreen, and Miles are back at Avengers Assembly for a new semester! When Captain Marvel announces she’s adding staff to the school, the students aren’t sure who could possibly join — but it looks like Cap went above and beyond, and the school is full of new teachers!

With all these new teachers, it’s hard to keep track of who’s teaching what, and what they’re supposed to be learning. And some of these teachers are really not acting like heroes at all, but more like… super-villains? All that new staff has created a lot of confusion that is ripe for exploiting! Someone is impersonating students and teachers, using lies and deception to break up the new generation of heroes. Can Doreen and her friends get to the bottom of this scandal? Or will this be the end of the Avengers Assembly?

Cover image and summary via Scholastic

Posted in Books, Reviews

Review: Orientation (Avengers Assembly, Volume #1)

Chhibber, Preeti. Orientation (Marvel: Avengers Assembly, Volume 1). Illus. by James Lancett. 2020. 176p. Scholastic, $13.99.  (9781338587258). Gr. 3-6.

Created by editors Sana Amanat and Stephen Wacker, writer G. Willow Wilson, and artists Adrian Alphona and Jamie McKelvie, Kamala was just an average Pakistani American kid from New Jersey when the Terrigan Mist activated her dormant inhuman cells and turned her into a polymorph, with the ability to lengthen her arms and legs and change size. Inspired by Captain Marvel, Kamala takes on the name Ms. Marvel and starts fighting crime…and destroys a lot of property. And it’s obvious, especially to some senior, more established super heroes that these younger ones need some serious training.

Kamala is ecstatic to be recruited into the Avengers Academy after school program by none other than her hero and fanfic favorite, Captain Marvel. At the academy she is put on a team with Miles Morales (Spiderman) and Squirrel Girl (Doreen Green), and they are taught superhero skills by Beast, liability and other legal responsibilities by She-Hulk. Kamala even takes special classes on controlling her size powers from Ant Man. The bond between the three young supers is lovely, especially when Miles and Doreen find out that Kamala is the author of their much beloved fanfic, and the conversations between the mentor superheroes, like Peter Parker and Miles, is adorable and a lovely revisit for fans of Into the Spider-verse. And though she keeps her identity secret from her family (at least in this iteration) readers will also meet Kamala’s parents and her brother, her friends, including Muslim friend Nakia, and the imam at Kamala’s masjid, Sheikh Abdullah. There are references to hadith, Qur’an and Islamic traditions in how Kamala receives advice and guides her actions as a super hero.

The ultimate test of their powers and ability to work together as a team will be the academic decathlon where student teams will compete and complete a set of challenges. Of course, there are some characters with ill intentions and it’s up to our team to stop them. Chhibber and Lancett’s narrative told in comic form, illustrated text messages, blog posts, newspaper clippings, journal entries, and more, make the reading experience differentiated, but in a way that is appealing

 to young readers and familiar for fans of comics and comic-like books. Kid or adult, if you are a Marvel fan (particularly if you are one who enjoys cute, slapstick tumblr blogs, memes, and fanfic of our heroes) you need to check out this fun read for all.

Stay tuned for volume 2 featuring Squirrel Girl as the main lead in April!

Part of this review was originally published in a 2020 post on the Hijabi Librarians Instagram account.