About Heroes

Author: Brian Reed
Penciler: Roberto De La Torre
Inker: Jimmy Palmiotti
Covers: Frank Cho and Michael Turner

There are certain things in the realm of comics I never thought I would see again. Bucky and Jason Todd walking around again spring to mind. The return of a monthly Ms. Marvel and Spider-woman book are other things I never thought I would see again. I was a big fan of the original Ms. Marvel book (yes I know she was just a gimmick); A female version of the Captain Marvel character. Hell, the best thing Marvel ever did was kill Captain Marvel and revamp Carol Danver's popularity. This will be a hard book to sell; I mean with that cover they are really pushing the fact that she made a guest appearance in a New Avengers issue. If that is their selling point, they might have lost the battle already. But reading this issue I think has proven me wrong.

Let's do a little recap, in case you might not know about the character. Ms. Marvel joined the Avengers right after her solo series folded, but several months later was sidelined due to a surprise pregnancy(oohh no we ain't goin' into that one). In Avengers Annual #10, she was ambushed by Rogue (a then member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants). Rogue drained every power that Carol had and her emotional connections. So Danvers left the Avenger, only to join the X-men in a fight against the Brood. In a Phoenix-like manner she gained cosmic powers and she became known as Binary and spent several years in space with the Starjammers. Eventually Danvers' link to the white hole (the source of her Binary powers) was broken, and as a result, she lost her cosmic-level powers. However, she retained a level of superhuman strength, flight, resistance to injury and enhanced senses. These powers were similar to her powers she once possessed, as well as the power to manipulate and absorb energy. She returned to earth and rejoined the Avengers and changed her name to Warbird. Fast forward House of M and her latest appearance in New Avengers and she is now back to her Ms. Marvel codename.

I didn't think I would enjoy this issue, but to my surprise I am happy to admit I was wrong. Reed has found a pretty reasonable angle on this character. For the first half of this book Danvers and Jessica Drew (Spider-woman) are eating lunch and talking about their days, with some nice flashbacks. This is the way that Reed introduces new readers to her history. The second half of the book is all a self narration giving us insight to her character. She realizes that she is a C-list character; hell Stilt-man doesn't even recognize her. Her biggest problem is that she sees her self as a minor character. So she decides to do something about it and hires a publicist to turn her career around. This is just the beginning the story and it already reminds me of early She-Hulk issues and that is a damn good thing. There is also a funny moment between Ms. Marvel and Captain America. Everything is written witty and smart, well with the exception of the end, which throws the book off.

Those covers are the selling point? They really don't tell you what the book is about at all. I mean, yes Frank Cho can draw a nice curvy woman and Michael Turner does a good job of that too (with no feet in the picture!!!!). But they really remind me of covers from Image's first year, hell Rob Liefeld has drawn more things packed into covers (granted someone else probably drew them before he did). The interior artwork is fine, but that's all I can say about it. Yeah, it gets the job done, but nothing really special here. Torre does a good job at giving us nice action packed panels, but when characters are just sitting around and talking they look bland. Overall not a bad book and I'm sure Torre is just trying to find his style for the book. B