Ms. Marvel #15 - I'm reading currents so infrequently now that i didn't realize that i missed reading this until i went to put Daredevil #15.1 away. In my defense, the cover shows Kamala still flirting with Kamran in a casual setting, and we're way past that at this point, with Kamran having already turned out to be an evil Inhuman (and, as Kamala notes in this issue, "not even a villain... just a bad guy's lackey"). This book continues to be good. I thought the metaphor in the beginning was a little... on the nose, though:

Kamala: ...and instead, you brought me here against my will. After I said no.
Kamran: ...you just needed a little... persuasion.
Kamala: That is incredibly gross. You are incredibly gross.
Kamran: That's not how you seemed to feel when you snuck out with me the other night.
Kamala: I never thought anything like this would happen. I thought -- I thought it meant something else when we were together -- something good --
Kamran: Who's gonna believe that? You got in my car of your own free will. As far as anybody knows, you chose to be here. You put yourself in this situation.
Kamala: [To herself] Is he right? Is this my fault? Is this what I deserve?

This is about Kamran tricking Kamala into meeting his evil boss, but the metaphor is obvious, and... i don't know. I am not, nor have i ever been, a young woman. Maybe this has more resonance with other people. But it seems too clunky to work, and takes you out of the story. This book has generally been great about depicting the challenges of growing up (from a Muslim female perspective, but also universally) without being so overt about it. Kamala later later realizes that she doesn't "feel ashamed anymore, or guilty" and that she's going to stop giving Kamran power over her and her identity. I mean, all the guy did was kidnap her and bring her to be recruited by the bad guy boss. Typical young super-hero stuff. I think the above would have been stronger as subtext and it would have made the story feel more natural. I almost worry that G. Willow Wilson is reacting to the positive reviews of the book and all the wonderful letters from fans that are published talking about how the book is so empowering to them, and instead of just continuing with what she's been doing she's now trying to tailor the story to match what people are saying. Which isn't necessary.

Anyway, this can all be glossed over and we still have a fun action story, with really nice art by Takeshi Miyazawa. And let me say for a third time that he's better for this book than Adrian Alphona; in addition to the nice quasi-manga style, Miyazawa is much better at depicting action sequences, which is important for this issue. Next issue begins the Secret Wars tie-ins and "The Last Days of Ms. Marvel" and i'm not sure if we're getting them, but this issue's ending actually feels like an end to the series with the connection between Kamala and Bruno.

Can I just say, that the cover tells me nothing about the character. Nothing. It could be a romance book for all I know. I'll probably wait for the TPB because you've said it is a good book.

Fnord, off-topic, any chance you could make an RSS feed for your "Added Today" chronology posts?

You should be able to grab any topic in the Forum as an RSS feed. Here is the one for Added Today:

http://www.supermegamonkey.net/chronocomic/phpBB3/feed.php?f=2&t=15

Awesome! Thank you!