By Eric Drumm
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MS. MARVEL #22
interior art by
Aaron Lopresti |
Ms. Marvel should be feeling pretty good about herself. She just saved the world from the Brood, serves as leader of the Mighty
Avengers and has her very own
S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force. However, now that she's stranded on Monster Island with no powers, her insecurity just might kill her!
The Brood, those pesky alien buggers that have been kicking around the Marvel Universe for years, hatched a nefarious plot to destroy the Earth. Lucky for us, Ms. Marvel was there to stop them, but she still lacks the confidence and prideful swagger of an all out super hero. Geez Louise, what will it take to get this lady to think of herself as a winner?
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MS. MARVEL #22
interior art by
Aaron Lopresti |
"Carol is perpetually rough on herself, isn't she?" quizzes series writer Brian Reed. "But she's also done more than save a lot of people-- she effectively killed
Puppet Master. Let him blow himself up when she knew she could stop him. And she did it because she knew she'd walk away from the bomb blast just fine. I don't think she's very happy about that."
Ms. Marvel's insecurities bleed over into her personal life as well. Mighty Avengers teammate Wonder Man has the hots for Carol, but she has been giving him the cold shoulder. Typically, Avenger-on-Avengers relationships get a bit complicated—we're looking at you, Pyms—so it's fair that Carol might be a little reluctant, but at the same time she won't step up to the plate and let her teammate know this. While
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MS. MARVEL #22
interior art by
Aaron Lopresti |
Wondy leaves emo messages on her machine, Carol has her eyes on other options.
"Carol's clearly got feelings for Simon, but she's also interested in [civilian] William Wagner," reminds Reed. "One loves her as Ms. Marvel, the other loves her as Carol Danvers. Both of those things are very appealing to her, and we're going to see more complications from all of this coming up in the next few issues."
While the boys drool, Carol has her hands full. Transported to Monster Island with Cru, an alien shapeshifter she battled months ago, Ms. Marvel finds herself depowered with razor toothed Brood
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MS. MARVEL #22
interior art by
Aaron Lopresti |
closing in around her. Wonder Man is spear heading the rescue attempt with her Lightning
Storm subordinates, but S.H.I.E.L.D. director Tony Stark aka
Iron Man is nowhere to be found. Can they find her in time?
"The Lightning Storm team knows roughly where to go," says Reed. "Of course knowing you have to go to Monster Island, and figuring out WHERE on Monster Island are two different questions. Especially when the joint is overrun with Brood! As for Iron Man, the guy's in more places at once than
Wolverine these days. Give him a break."
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MS. MARVEL #22
interior art by
Aaron Lopresti |
Even if Ms. Marvel still had her devastating
Kree based powers, the Brood would be a match for the blond bombshell. They have been causing problems for X-folk for a long while, as well as terrorizing the cosmos at every turn. Reed explains that they are a global threat:
"Well, last time Carol bumped into them, the Brood were about to blow up the Earth. And had Carol just stayed home that night, the Brood's plan would have worked. So I'd say that's pretty scary."
Ms. Marvel's only hope is the aide of Cru, also depowered and
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MS. MARVEL #22
interior art by
Aaron Lopresti |
scared. Carol had gained new powers as a result of her encounters with the alien, namely accelerated regeneration that healed her from fatal injuries, but those abilities are gone along with her normal ones. Is she in for the fight of her life?
"You have no idea," asserts Reed. "Carol doesn't power back up for a couple issues. And she's surrounded by Brood thousands of miles from home. Things get very, very ugly in the coming days."
Get yourself an industrial size can of bug spray and pick up MS. MARVEL #22 by Reed and artist Aaron Lopresti on sale December 12th.
