A new superhero debuts!

Everyone is used to the X-Men addressing issues of alienation and rejection, of feeling like a freak and not fitting in. But there are more ways to not fit in than to be crawling up the walls or calling the weather. 

Nowadays, perhaps one of the most common problems facing teens and their parents is the dilemma of the first-generation American immigrant. As the parents do their best to raise their children in the culture that they themselves grew up in, the kids are torn in a different direction by their peers. Marvel takes this on, with remarkable results, in Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal.

In most ways, Kamala Khan is just a normal teenager growing up in Jersey City. She bickers with her protective parents and older brother, she sneaks out her window to go to parties, and she writes Avengers fanfic. She struggles with blending her Muslim religion with the secular culture of America, and has friends who support her whatever she chooses. She has a pretty decent life, and she knows it.

But while she's out at that illicit party (with BOYS), she's exposed to the Terrigen Mist, and everything changes. Now, she has powers she can't control, a new responsibility to protect those around her, and no idea how to go about it.

And she's grounded.

Ms. Marvel Volume 1 shows us perhaps the most relatable superhero in comics today. G. Willow Wilson brings a fresh perspective to comics, and her empathy shows. Kamala is neither a caricature of a rebellious Muslim girl, nor a perfect daughter. She is a human being, with all the flaws that brings, and the reader loves her all the more for it. Bringing to light social issues without beating the reader over the head with them, and showcasing the most human characters I've read recently in any medium, Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal is a comic with broad appeal.

Highs: Watching Kamala make her costume (with puffy paint!) is absolutely excellent.

Lows: The villains are fairly one-dimensional so far, but there will be plenty of room for them to develop later.

Verdict: This is a comic that no one, even those who aren't as familiar with superheroes in general, should miss.

Further Reading: Alif the Unseen, The Complete Persepolis, Lockjaw and the Pet Avengers

Manga Monday: Checking in again with Amir and Karluk

Life in a village, in a land of nomads, makes Amir's new family a valuable target in A Bride's Story Volume 6.

Note: A Bride's Story Volume 6 is part of an ongoing series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, and Volume 5 here. Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Exposing the ugly side of society's vanity

Strangers make all sorts of assumptions from a person's appearance. A woman with styled hair and a powersuit looks more like an attorney than the woman with a sidebraid and a sundress. Similarly, no one takes the man with shaggy hair and three days' beard as seriously as the clean-cut man next to him.

It's even more prominent when weight is added to the equation. Being overweight has connotations of laziness, a lack of willpower, a lack of self-respect. And it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. As the opinions of people become internalized, it becomes more and more true.

This is the trap in which Noko finds herself in Moyoco Anno's In Clothes Called Fat. 

Noko is living a life that seems exaggerated to others, but rings true to anyone in her position. Working in an office staffed by pretty women in their 20s who still live at home and have their whole paycheck to spend on pretty clothes and going out, Noko is the outcast of the office. Called 'pig' by her superiors, mocked for her underclothes by her coworkers, all she has for comfort is food. And her boyfriend Saito.

But when one of the girls at work crosses the line, and Noko discovers Saito at Mayumi's apartment, all bets are off. And when Noko comes into a large amount of money unexpectedly, the obvious use for it is to lose the weight that has made her more and more of a target for this torture.

Then again, when the only thing a person has control of is their food, everything else slowly spins out of control. As Noko turns to dangerous means to attain the physique she wants, and Mayumi continues her campaign to destroy her, will she lose more than just the fat?

The art of In Clothes Called Fat tells as much of the story as the text. Even in her early fantasies, being thin is always equated with having pretty clothes and perfect hair. The thinner Noko gets, the more tired and haggard her face gets. Rather than becoming more pretty, she uses more and more makeup to hide the circles under her eyes.

Moyoco Anno has written an insightful tale of the ptifalls of society's shallow view of people, as well as the insecurities of those of all walks of life. Whether a top trader, or a beautiful secretary, or a lost soul, there are no pretty people in this book.

Highs: Anno shows a remarkable understanding of the insecurities - and their roots - of a wide swath of society.

Lows: There really isn't anyone to root for in this book; every last person is a broken, irredeemable mess.

Verdict: With no 'good guys' and few happy moments, In Clothes Called Fat leaves the reader with a bleak, if honest, look at society's failings.

Further Reading: Solanin

Manga Monday: When Abnormals fight, experience matters

The Survey Corps continues its campaign in the woods in Attack on Titan Volume 7.

Note: Attack on Titan Volume 7 is part of an ongoing series. Check out the review for Volume 1 here, and Volume 6 here.  Otherwise, read on!

Manga Monday: Chi's friends look an awful lot like her

Chi learns more about both of her families, and the Yamadas learn another hard lesson about having a kitten family member, in Chi's Sweet Home Volume 11.

Note: Chi's Sweet Home Volume 11 is part of a series. Check out the review of Volume 1 here, or the review of  Volume 10 here. Otherwise, read on!

Two more stories from a voice thought lost

Whenever an author passes away, I'm reminded of the Library of Dream, from Sandman. There, all the world's books that were never written, except in dreams, live. This hit me especially hard with the death of Brian Jacques, author of the Redwall series. In that moment, all the possible adventures of the mice of Redwall were subtly shifted to Dream's library. The same may happen all too soon, to another grandmaster of fantasy, Terry Pratchett.

Ever so often, though, readers are granted a reprieve and a tale or two appear. In Unexpected Stories by Octavia E. Butler, we get two stories that have never been printed anywhere before. 

'A Necessary Being' is in the point of view of the leaders of two tribes. Tahneh, the Rohkohn Hao, is the daughter of the previous leader. Before him their tribe didn't have a Hao, a born leader with a pure-blue coloring. He was kidnapped from another tribe and crippled to ensure he couldn't flee. He was able to rise above the bitterness and hatred of those who had damaged him so and become a good leader for his new Tribe, but watching him and his broken legs showed Tahneh the true cruelty of that tradition.

Tahneh has failed to give birth to a successor Hao, and now it's become her burden to order the capture of a foreign Hao to take over after her. Will she lose heart and betray her own tribe, or will she be able to do to the Tehkohn Hao what was done to her own father?

'Childfinder' takes place in a possible future of our own civilization. Psionic ability has appeared in humanity, and the optimists marveled at the possibilities of uniting the world.

Barbara is living the reality of this new world. Hiding in a suburb-turned-slumlord-housing, she is trying to pass on the control of the psionic ability to children who would never have the opportunity for training otherwise. Very few people can see the potential for psionics in children, and it withers from disuse so quickly that most never learn to use it. Children that the organization hadn't already gotten a hold of and tainted. Children like her.

The organization that she escaped from has no one else with this talent. Eve is sent to retrieve her, to find more children for their own use. But Barbara has other plans.

These stories are from earlier in Butler's writing career, and it shows. These two stories show the potential that Butler has as an author, along with the rough edges that any new author has. Her ideas are as huge as in her later novels, but seem incomplete somehow. There are just a few more unanswered questions than she might have left later on, but they are still light-years ahead of the average short story. 

Unexpected Stories gives Butler's fans one last glimpse into tales rescued from Dream's library.

Highs: The footnote at the end of 'Childfinder' is one of the most chilling bits of writing I've read in a long time.

Lows: The slow discovery of the caste system in 'A Necessary Being' might be frustrating to readers unaccustomed to the style.

Verdict: These two tales raise hopes that more spectacular stories might be hiding somewhere in Butler's papers, just waiting to be revealed.

Further Reading: Kindred, Dawn, Kabu Kabu, The Speed of Dark

Where do our warriors go, when the war is finally over?

The alien invaders have won. By using the serotonin paths in the brain, they are able to read our thoughts and kept one step ahead of our best military personnel. There seemed to be no way to win, as the 'human population' counter slowly ticked towards zero.

Where traditional arms have failed, a genius geneticist steps in. By radically changing the structure of both the brain and the body, she is able to create the perfect warrior for the fight against the Luyten. Fifteen feet tall. Tripedal for added speed and strength. Genius-level IQs, trained from birth on military strategy, and completely without empathy for the enemy, or each other.

They are Defenders.

Within a matter of months, the Luyten threat is neutralized. Humanity's Doomsday Clock finally stops ticking down, and there is some hope on the horizon. But now that the outside threat is gone, there's a new problem to deal with.

The problem is the Defenders. Humanity has burdened itself with a race of sociopaths who are bigger, stronger and faster than humans. Now that the war is over, they don't have anything to do.

And idle hands are the Devil's playground.

Told from many points of view - from a 'traitor' who helps a Luyten survive in the rubble of a city, to one of the scientists working in the labs that created the Defenders - this is a story of an ongoing apocalypse. Just as one threat to humanity is defeated, another emerges. Humanity will have to make alliances it never thought possible and betray its own creation in order to survive.

Will McIntosh shows his deep understanding of the human psyche, both the thoughts of the individual and those of the masses. Any book with telepathic main characters would be a challenge, but with the fractured minds of the Defenders added to the mix, the book becomes a minefield. McIntosh masterfully creates both a race that is interdependent on the emotions of its group, and a race who has no concept of these feelings at all. The contrast throughout is fascinating and addictive.

Defenders is a can't-miss for fans of near-future science fiction as well as the growing fan bas base of post-apocalyptic tales.

Highs: The way that each Defender is eerily similar, yet has separate personalities, is striking.

Lows: There were mistakes made by the world governments, over and over, that made me want to scream at the book.

Verdict: A masterful piece of science fiction that should have wide appeal.

Further Reading: A Hymn Before Battle, Fortune's Pawn, Pluto: Urasawa x Tezuka Volume 1, Robopocalypse