Review: Ms. Marvel Vol. 4: Last Days
Quick Summary
Pros: The storyline started in the previous volume is wrapped up nicely. There are a ton of moments in this book that wrap up plot points from throughout the series. The book as a whole is incredibly real and heartfelt.
Cons: Most of this book is focused on Ms. Marvel preparing for the end of the universe, which feels a little cheap considering the status quo after this book does not change.
Overall: This volume of Ms. Marvel is not focused on endless superhero antics and huge fights. Instead, it is able Ms. Marvel saving her brother and coming to the realization that the world she knows may be ending. This leads to her finally connecting with and telling her family and friends exactly how she feels about them. It is an emotional book that does a wonderful job in concluding everything this series has done so far.
Story
Ms. Marvel Vol. 4: Last Days is the last volume of Ms. Marvel before the Marvel Universe was rebooted in Secret Wars. Taking full advantage of this, writer G. Willow Wilson crafts a story about resolution and relationships that crystalizes the heartwarming nature of the entire series. It is a story less about superheroes beating up bad guys and more a story about a girl trying to make things right with her friends and family. Don’t go into reading this expecting off-the-walls action and adventure, instead, prepare for a character driven story that will melt your heart as it is told.
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This volume starts out right where the last one left off, Ms. Marvel has just beat her former crush but now her brother has been kidnapped. She goes out to save him, teaming up with her hero, Captain Marvel, along the way. Meanwhile, the events of Secret Wars cause the destruction of reality as we know it.
The main plotline here mostly revolves around the team up between Ms. Marvel and Captain Marvel. This may be the best team up of the series so far, as it allows both characters to develop and learn from each other. Their personalities also work well together and complement each other to make the story better. Plus, seeing Kamala meet Carol was magnificent and something we’ve been waiting for since this series started.
Along the way, there are plenty of character driven moments that provide the real fuel for reading the book. Kamala learns how much her brother loves her, she and Zoe have a heartfelt moment, her mother reveals that she knows Kamala is Ms. Marvel, and Bruno tells her that he loves her. All of this make for a book packed to the gills with resolution, as most every character based plot point is wrapped up. However, they are also all done well and none of them feel as if they are just thrown in for cheap emotion.
In particular, I was really impressed by the stories surrounding Kamala’s mother and brother. Seeing Kamala’s mother hug her and tell her that she already knows she is Ms. Marvel legitimately gave me chills. It was heartfelt and real in a way that Wilson is great at writing. Her brother receiving powers is also great as he completely rejects the powers and proves that he is perfectly happy with the life he is living. It is a statement about life that is not depicted often, yet is done very well here.
One of the only real negatives with this story is that it is somewhat undercut by the fact that the series continues after this. The whole story is about Ms. Marvel facing the end of everything and saying goodbye, yet nothing ends up changing. Her adventures continue on immediately and everything remains mostly the same. It is still a great story in that it shows how Kamala would handle the end, but that fact that the end doesn’t come makes it feel like a fake out and cheapens it slightly.
There is also the very minor problem of geeky/young buzz words being awkwardly used, something we mentioned in our review of Ms. Marvel Vol. 2: Generation Why (found here). Loki’s mystical guards saying that they are going to pwn intruders was the worst example of this.
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Art
The series’ original artist, Adrian Alphona, returns to do the issues. This is a great decision overall because it allows the book to have the same feel it did when it started, thus bookending the series as a whole. It is also a great decision because Alphona’s artwork just looks nice in general. His work is detailed and his splash pages of character moments work perfectly in a book that focuses on them. Fans won’t be disappointed by the way this book looks.
Continuity
Ms. Marvel Vol. 4: Last Days continues the story from Ms. Marvel Vol. 3: Crushed (Review).
The story here will continue in Ms. Marvel Vol. 5: Super Famous.
This volume also references stories from other comic books, all of which are detailed below:
- Most of the story in this book revolves around the end of the Marvel Universe in Secret Wars.
Collection Notes
Every issue in found in this collection can also be found in:
- Ms. Marvel Vol. 2 (Hardcover), which collects:
- Ms. Marvel Omnibus Vol. 1, which collects: