Hello friends and readers, it’s an all Outlawed special this week in the Marvel Files, as we check in to see if the teens are all right. Jude Jones will be giving us his deep thoughts on Miles Morales: Spider Man #19, Zoe Tunnell will be hitting the main event in Champions #1, and Matt Lazorwitz artfully covers the Magnificent Ms. Marvel #15!
Miles Morales: Spider-Man #19
Written by: Saladin Ahmed
Pencilled by: Carmen Carnero & Marcelo Ferreira
Inked by: Carmen Carnero & JP Mayer
Colored by: David Curiel
Lettered by: VC’s Cory Petit
First things first: Miles Morales has the best haircut in the Marvel Universe, bar-none. his lining is impeccable and his waves are deep enough to surf in. Kudos to his barber (and I guess his inker too).
The issue’s parallel stories showcase the deepening stakes to both Miles personally and to his hidden Spider-Man entity. On one hand we have a (maybe a bit too on the nose) image of kids in cages, after Miles’ classmates at Brooklyn Visions Academy were detained (illegally) for not cooperating with the C.R.A.D.L.E. cronies’ desire to out the nascent hero. On the other, we see Miles detained (yet again) by the Assessor, a mysterious, robotic-timbred villain who previously put Miles through his paces with a variety of increasingly sadistic physical tests.
The school kids’ predicament is clearly an homage to the (incredulous, racist, classist, pointless and evil) detention of migrant children along America’s southern border, even down to a congresswoman taking on the government liaison head-on. (Maybe she’s the 5th member of The Squad? Who knows.) A cameo assist from Capitan America reminds the adults that yes, children are citizens who deserve rights, even (and especially) when they fight back against an inhospitable government. Again, is it a bit too on the nose? Maybe, but the sentiment is definitely appreciated.
Meanwhile, Miles is again tied down by the Assessor: only this time, he’s joined by his uncle Aaron, also known as the (kinda sorta) villainous Prowler. It appears all of those “tests” run on Miles (or, rather, Miles was run through) were used to create Miles-clones at the behest of a villain known as Ultimatum. (Spider-Men and clones, what a concept.) And who is Ultimatum? None other than Miles Morales. But not *our* Miles Morales, but the *original* Miles Morales of the 616 universe…who traveled to the Ultimate Marvel Universe thanks to his BFF Wilson Fisk to find a love he once lost…who returned to the main Marvel Universe, with weapons from the Ultimate Universe’s heroes in tow. A lot, I know.
Ultimatum reveals himself and his plans to Miles (as all good villains do), but is ultimately (see what I did there) stopped by Prowler. As our Miles and Prowler escape, they’re confronted by an army of Green Goblin-ish ghouls. To be continued.
The stories don’t exactly feel equally yoked; the Miles/Assessor/Ultimatum story feels tight and impactful; the C.R.A.D.L.E. storyline feels much more like an add-on, both in stakes and in thematic necessity. That said, the issue is still illustrated beautifully (again, that haircut!), Miles’ voice (and that of his uncle and father) still feel impactful, and the story moves at a brisk but approachable pace. I really appreciated the horror aesthetic of Miles’ previous interaction with the Assessor, so I was maybe a little bummed we didn’t get to see him fight through the Assessor’s tests like Miles’ was in a Saw movie.
But, there’s always next time. And I can’t wait to see what else gets cooked up.
Champions #1
Written by: Eve L. Ewing
Art by: Simone Di Meo
Colored by: Federico Blee
Lettered by: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Marvel has been trying to get Champions to work for a while now, y’all. The original launch under Waid and Ramos, billed as an Avengers-level series, and the pair of launches from Jim Zub and company managed to attract some loyal fans but failed to make enough of an impact to establish the series as a fixture of the Marvel Universe. Judging from the first issue, the latest crack at the team of teen superheroes, from Eve L. Ewing and Simone Di Meo, might finally be what Marvel has been looking for and really carve out a niche of its own. All it took was giving it to someone who isn’t a middle-aged white guy! Who knew!
The biggest title in the Outlawed revamp of Marvel’s teen heroes, Champions has the bloated super-team finding itself on the wrong side of a new law outlawing teenage vigilantes. The massive roster from Zub’s stint on the title is cut down through the course of the issue, and the focus returns to its core members: Miles Morales, Ms. Marvel, and Nova. The pared-down scope of the title works wonders and allows Ewing to flex her greatest strength, and the core of what makes the debut work, making these teens actually sound like teens.
The years of 40-to-60-year-old white guys writing the comic equivalent of the “How do you do, fellow kids” meme is gone, giving way to an issue full of genuinely funny, heartfelt, and appropriately melodramatic character work. The strongest moment comes during one of Miles Morales’ spotlights, reframing the Champions’ struggles as an attempt to have agency and impact in a world that continually tells teenagers they’re the future but refuses to listen to anything they say. As unfortunate as the Covid-19 delays are for most of Marvel’s titles, they work to Champions’ favor here, as the constant scapegoating of Gen Z by authority figures in the past several months makes Miles’ grievances hit hard and ring true.
Equally surprising is Simone Di Meo’s artwork, paired with Fredrico Blee’s outstanding colors. Di Meo is currently blowing minds in Boom’s We Only Find Them When They’re Dead with Marvel’s other Ewing, a series that has cut his time on Champions to a handful of issues, definitively proves that his unique, manga-influenced style works just as well in the superhero arena. It looks unlike anything else Marvel is putting out, feeling more at home on a service like Webtoon than a superhero comic book. This unique vibe Di Meo and Blee’s art works just as much to give Champions a distinct, hyper-modern energy as Eve Ewing’s script and creates a package that teen hero books should be striving for.
If you’ve been burnt by Champions’ misfires in the past, or are looking to jump into the burgeoning teen hero corner of the Marvel Universe, Champions #1 is about as ideal of a starting point as you could hope for. Whether Outlawed will shape up as more than the Civil War Jr., it appeared to be upon announcement remains to be seen, but judging from the resounding success in Champions, the potential is there just waiting to be tapped. Here’s hoping Ewing and Di Meo (as well as incoming artist Bob Q) get a good long run with Marvel’s teen superheroes and keep the momentum going.
Magnficent Ms. Marvel #15
Written by: Saladin Ahmed
Pencilled by: Minkyu Jung
Inked by: Juan Vlasco
Colored by: Ian Herring
Lettered by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
When I reviewed the previous issue of Ms. Marvel, I talked about how the issue was fine, but a bit navel gaze-y after the set-up of the Outlawed event. This issue, on the other hand, moves at a much quicker clip and absolutely establishes the new status quo our hero, Kamala Khan, is now living in.
There’s quite a bit to unpack here, so we’ll start with the Kamala plot. Kamala is back at school and has to deal with everyone’s concern and about her own thoughts on “Kamala’s Law,” the new anti-young hero law. She has a heated moment with her friend Zoe, who seems a little more into the idea of the new law, and whole this isn’t addressed much, it feels like one of those Chekov’s gun conversations, but it might just be Saladin Ahmed addressing the fact that this isn’t an issue where there is an absolute right or wrong, and putting the other side in the mouth of a character we like helps that. I don’t think any reader is surprised that Kamala is having none of this, though, and the minute she is needed, she suits up. Just another example of how noble and heroic Kamala is.
The biggest character beat of the issue is a conversation between Kamala and her will they/won’t they love interest, Bruno. Ever since the two of them kissed at a moment of heightened tension for Kamala, they’ve been acting weird around each other, not sure what this means for their relationship. This issue, they sit down and have a well reasoned conversation about all of these feelings and where they stand. It’s a well written scene, and man I only wish I was half that mature back in high school.
But now that I’ve gotten the stuff with Kamala discussed, we have to discuss the issue’s antagonist: C.R.A.D.L.E. Man, Marvel loves it’s acronyms. The new anti-young hero organization has sent a top man after Ms. Marvel, who is viewed as one of the ringleaders of the Champions and this movement: Dum-Dum Dugan. Ahmed doesn’t drag in any of the incredibly complex continuity around Dugan (is he still an A.I. based on the original Dugan jumping from L.M.D. to L.M.D.?). He just presents Dugan as the guy doing the job he thinks is right. And this guy used to hunt Godzilla, so you know he’s tough.
What Ahmed is doing with C.R.A.D.L.E.is a tight rope walk. By putting Dugan, an established Nazi-punching hero, in charge, it gives the organization a little more acceptability. The previous volume of Ms. Marvel, during Civil War II, had government agents who were clearly fascist stand-ins, and so you never felt like you had to doubt Kamala’s rightness. Here, Kamala is clearly the hero and in the right, but Ahmed goes out of his way to make Dugan sympathetic. When one of his agents, thus far nameless but I will call Agent Hipster due to his full beard and man-bun, starts running algorithms to racially profile to find Ms. Marvel, Dugan shuts him down hard, and after Ms. Marvel escapes and Agent Hipster starts threatening to drag the people she rescued in for questioning, Dugan again puts a stop to it. Still, I’m curious if Agent Hipster will be given depth (and a name), or if he’s just a straw-man there to help show how much better Dugan is by contrast.
All of that said, this is a solid issue of Ms. Marvel, and a solid place to jump in if you’re curious to see what is going on in Outlawed, or if you’ve heard the recent Ms. Marvel TV announcements and want to know what the character is all about.
A proud New Orleanian living in the District of Columbia, Jude Jones is a professional thinker, amateur photographer, burgeoning runner and lover of Black culture, love and life. Magneto and Cyclops (and Killmonger) were right.
Find more of Jude’s writing here.
Zoe Tunnell is a 29-year old trans woman who has read comics for most of her adult life and can't stop now. Follow her on Twitter @Blankzilla.
Matt Lazorwitz read his first comic at the age of five. It was Who's Who in the DC Universe #2, featuring characters whose names begin with B, which explains so much about his Batman obsession. He writes about comics he loves, and co-hosts the creator interview podcast WMQ&A with Dan Grote.
