Ms. Marvel Team-Up

Marvel Team-Up (2019) #1-6

by Eve L. Ewing

Kamala Khan’s back – and she’s putting the 'Ms.' into Marvel Team-Up! Able to control the size and density of her body at will, Ms. Marvel puts her powers to good use as one of the Marvel Universe’s brightest and best new heroes. But it’s not just her limbs that are expanding – with a new live-action series coming soon to Disney+, Kamala’s fanbase is set to embiggen like never before! Find out just how incredible a hero she is in this essential collection as she teams up with Spider-Man, Captain Marvel and more in a series of mind-bending, magnificent adventures! Reprinting MARVEL TEAM-UP #1-6 AND S.H.I.E.L.D. #2

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Superheroes, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Fantasy

Paperback

First published November 19, 2019

About the author

Dr. Eve Louise Ewing is a writer and a sociologist of education from Chicago. Ewing is a prolific writer across multiple genres. Her 2018 book Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism & School Closings on Chicago's South Side explores the relationship between the closing of public schools and the structural history of race and racism in Chicago's Bronzeville community.

Ewing's first collection of poetry, essays, and visual art, Electric Arches, was published by Haymarket Books in 2017. Her second collection, 1919, tells the story of the race riot that rocked Chicago in the summer of that year. Her first book for elementary readers, Maya and the Robot, is forthcoming in 2020 from Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

Her work has been published in many venues, including The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Washington Post, The New Republic, Poetry Magazine, and the anthology American Journal: Fifty Poems for Our Time, curated by Tracy K. Smith, Poet Laureate of the United States. With Nate Marshall, she co-wrote the play No Blue Memories: The Life of Gwendolyn Brooks, produced by Manual Cinema and commissioned by the Poetry Foundation. She also currently writes the Champions series for Marvel Comics and previously wrote the acclaimed Ironheart series, as well as other projects.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was torn between a 2 and a 3 star rating for this one but let’s call it 2.5 stars rounded up because I’m nice.

The first half of this book was a Spider-Man/Ms. Marvel team-up story in which Spidey felt out-of-character for the most part. He also seemed remarkably cool about the whole switching bodies thing considering his recent body-swap with Dr. Octopus had such a devastating effect on his life.

The second half of the book was a Ms. Marvel/Captain Marvel team-up that was just OK. We’ve seen the two ladies fall out and make-up before, so it all felt like a bit of a retread. The artist really seemed to struggle with Ms. Marvel’s new costume, which didn’t help.

Overall, I’m not surprised this new Marvel Team-Up book struggled to get off the ground, which is a shame.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

This graphic novel collects two stories: a team-up with Spiderman that's pretty good, and a team-up with Captain Marvel that isn't. I don't mind any of these characters, but the writing for the Captain Marvel story just doesn't make much sense.

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

I 100% loved the first half of this book. The art, the story, everything was firing on all cylinders as Peter Parker and Kamala Khan switch minds and team up to reverse it. Funny and heartfelt.

The 2nd story, with Kamala Khan and Captain Marvel was also fun but the art was way off. Like Kamala was red in some shots. Not sure of it was a misprint issue or not.

[Bogi Takács]

I was frustrated when I picked this up at the library and saw that the entire creative team was changed after issue 3 (Marvel does that a lot...), but when I actually read the volume, I realized that it in fact included two separate three-issue series. So that's all good.

Poet Eve L. Ewing is one of my must read authors (I also recommend her nonfiction!) and the first story, written by her, was a lot of fun. I felt it strained slightly against the Marvel constraints. But this was a body-swap story with cis characters - Kamala Khan and Peter Parker - that did mention genderfeels, so that's awesome :) I was amused that Kamala seemed to have no genderfeels related to the body swap whatsoever, but Peter Parker was like.... hmmmmmmmmmm. Another 20 years and a complete change of Marvel leadership, and we'll see transfeminine Peter Parker in the canon, mark my words. I also liked that the dual perspectives were shown *as* dual perspectives, flipping the book around.

I found the second story rather unengaging, mostly just a bit of tying up loose ends in continuity. The antagonist was quite baffling too. But I thought the book was worth picking up for the first story.
____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library

[Fafa's Book Corner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book 1 for #StartOnYourShelfathon.

[Guilherme Smee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esta nova encarnação do título Marvel Team-Up vem para comemorar os oitenta anos da Marvel. Por anos, o título Marvel Team-Up funcionou como uma ponte entre o Homem-Aranha e os demais heróis da Casa das Ideias. Nesta última e comemorativa encarnação a heroína escolhida para encabeçar o título é ninguém mais ninguém menos que Kamala Khan, nossa querida Miss Marvel. Assim, temos dois arcos de histórias em que primeiro ela se defronta com o Homem-Aranha e no segundo deles, com a Capitã Marvel. O destaque da primeira história que traz um enredo de troca de corpos entre o Aranha e Kamala são os belos desenhos de Joey Vazquez, que em muitos momentos lembram o videogame Marvel vs. Capcom. Já no arco em que Kamala encontra Carol Danvers, o destaque vai para o uso da mitologia kree por Clint McElroy, que faz uma bela homenagem, junto ao brasileiro Ig Guara, ao antigo Capitão Marvel que se escondia sob a identidade do piloto de testes Walter Lawson. Ms. Marvel: Grandes Encontros traz heróis diferentes mas aventuras dinâmicas e divertidas que podem agradar tanto a novos quanto a velhos leitores da Casa das Ideias.

[Trike · Rating 2 out of 5]

So disappointed in this. All these great ingredients that just don’t taste good together.

Eve L. Ewing, who wrote Ironheart: Meant to Fly, which was a full-on, unreserved 5-star read. Ms. Marvel, one my favorites of the new batch of heroes to come from Marvel. And the legacy of Marvel Team-Up, one of my all-time favorite books as a kid. (Marvel Team-Up (1972-1985) #68 is easily in my top five favorite single issues ever.) Yet this falls flat.

The forced humor and misplaced, unfunny jokes. Spider-Man behaving out of character. Capt. Marvel being altogether uncool. Trying to channel The Big Lebowski when resurrecting yet another character who’s been dead for decades. The tired Freaky Friday body-swap plot, which has been so well mined that you really need to dig to find something new and amusing to say. (The only recent decent version of this was when Spider-Man and Wolverine swapped bodies in Ultimate Spider-Man, and that had to be a good 15 years ago.) Another issue of Team-Up back in the day had Carol (still as Ms. Marvel) teaming up with Spidey to fight the Super-Skrull, and she was an absolute hardcase badass. There’s plenty of room for her to be lighthearted and fun, but this attempt just didn’t work for me.

[Connie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I own this book.

I picked this book up in the airport a couple of months ago but never gave it a read. I have a vague knowledge of who Ms Marvel is but I've never read any stories that have featured her as a main character so I was eager to pick this one up. I enjoyed meeting Kamala and her family, how she is a teenager balancing school and her identity as a superhero. I also don't know a lot about Captain Marvel in the comics, so it was nice seeing Carol and seeing her work with Kamala to overcome her internalised bias and shame about being part Kree. I'm also a sucker for any stories that feature Peter Parker, especially young adult struggling Peter. He's so funny (and kinda relatable). This book was definitely fun, it felt geared towards people new to the character and to the comic world in general which was nice. I liked the story and the art.

[Kimberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eve Ewing's and Joey Vasquez's work in the first half of this collection is the best part of this.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

Apparently more folks loved the Spiderman team-up more than Captain Marvel. I’m the opposite, because body-swap storylines have to be amazing to really have me invested; too frequently, they come off as lazy. Either way, the stakes were lower in these team-ups than they should have been. Some of the postmodern jokes inserted about fanfiction and writing quality were delightful lampshades.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

more like 2.5 stars...great art, but the stories were cheesy and not that interesting.

[em · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want her to team up with everyone. i want more.

[Alex Sarll]

In the first story, Kamala and Peter Parker swap bodies, which on the face of it is a brilliant idea - in many ways her story is a reprise of his teen years, except that she's not white or male, so there's enough difference but also enough similarity to produce interesting tensions. Alas, even beyond the standard problem with superhero ageing, it doesn't seem to have decided how old Spidey is meant to be, so he's talking about how "adulting is hard" but also complaining that his knees hurt, and that vagueness defuses the gradient on which the premise rests. Still, his first attempt to embiggen is brilliant.

The second half of the book is a genial, inessential Kamala/Carol story. We've seen enough of these two together that it can only bring anything new by diving into Captain Marvel's recent origin retcon, which unfortunately was terrible.

[Zelly B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit, I bought this for the first story with Kamala and Peter teaming up. Carol in the second story was an added bonus.

That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the Ms Marvel/Spidey team-up (I will never ever get tired of Spider-Man mentoring teenage heroes) but the second story was kind of a confusing, underwhelming plot. The differences between the two stories were pretty evident, all the way down to the artwork. Enjoyed the Spidey/Ms Marvel art, did not enjoy the Ms Marvel/Cap Marvel art.

Oh well. I got what I came for, at the very least!

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the Peter Parker story line.
As always, Ms. Marvel is full of humor, heart, and well-written life lessons that apply to anyone at any age.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Peter and Kamala story was priceless.

[Bentley Berdugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,7

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

its odd i think marvel team up is best when its done in one the spider-man story realy drags because its three parts but the arts good
the captain marvel team up aslo drags in the third issue and the art doesnt help so maybe marvel team up really needs to be a series of one shots

[Chris Lemmerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvel Team-Up’s back…sort of. In this short six issue revival, Ms. Marvel teams up with Spider-Man and Captain Marvel to battle bodyswaps and the Kree Empire, to varying degrees of success.

The lead story, by Eve Ewing, and Joey Vasquez on art, is great stuff. A bodyswap between two similar characters shouldn’t work, but Kamala and Peter’s personalities shine through even when they’re in each other’s bodies, and the fact that Kamala is basically teen-Peter is played very well. Both of the characters learn from each other, and the final showdown with the Jackal feels almost inconsequential compared to the influence that the two of them have on each other. Vasquez’s art is great too, cartoony without losing definition or detail, and the first issue flipbook style works surprisingly well.

The second story is a different beast unfortunately. Written by Clint McElroy (yes, that one), with art by Ig Guara, it spends far too much time throwing out weird references to previous stories and having Kamala and Carol argue to really get anywhere. I love continuity, probably more than most comic fans, but this is how to do it wrong – the story is driven entirely by obscure references to stories from yesteryear, and doesn’t do anything to make itself compelling in its own right. Kamala feels like a caricature of herself unfortunately, and she and Carol have had more than one falling out story recently, so another on the pile feels redundant. Guara’s art’s not great either, feeling very blocky compared to his usual fare.

One great story, one mediocre one, and they flatten out to a middle of the road collection. It’s a shame the book didn’t get to last longer, because Marvel Team-Up is usually a good time, but I guess it just didn’t get off the ground this time around.

[Sem · Rating 3 out of 5]

Brought down by the second arc in the volume, one that underwhelms despite being a product of the McElroy clan. It can't quite decide whether it wants to be contemplative or action-packed or funny and it just ends up weighing itself down.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Spider-Man/Ms. Marvel body-swap story is slight and a bit nonchalant considering his most recent body-swap incident (already one of the hoariest of comic book plots--I criticized Stan Lee for doing one in The Mighty Thor (1970) ( Marvel Masterworks: The Mighty Thor, Vol. 9 ) less than a year after doing one in Captain America (a six-parter ending in 1970) ( Marvel Masterworks: Captain America, Vol. 4 ). The worst thing that happens to the characters is that Kamala gets accused of plagiarizing Peter Parker, which I knew from Spider-Geddon and is repeated here, that Peter got his Ph.D. taken away for plagiarising Otto Octavius while Otto was in his body.

The Captain Marvel story is a bit better. Ewing has Peter in Kamala's body criticizing some extremely blunt Islamophobia and calling them out like the adult in the room that he is. In the flip-book (which was probably the most creative thing about this, Peter longs to be a teenager again, so this is basically a Freaky Friday knockoff. This is a very kid-friendly story, and apart from an implied reference to menstrual cramps, this is less exploring of that than the body-swap episode of Rescue Rangers in which Gadget sharply scolded Dale for placing hands on hips while he was in her body "Keep the hands off of the body." Kamala being a teenager certainly makes anything further quite unsavory. Peter is still a young man, but he makes complaints abut his knees hurting when he bends to look under the sink, even if he's still only supposed to be about 26. Probably the best part is when Kamala learns to swing around as Spider-Man, and Peter takes joy in her joy at the disocvery of his powers first-hand, knowing that she is a big fan of his.

McElroy's Captain Marvel story hinges much more on racism in bringing back Walter Lawson from Marvel Masterworks: Captain Marvel, vol. 1 , which we're told happened ten years ago despite being 1968 in publication time (not a criticism, just a clarifying comment). Lawson was the man Mar-Vell impersonated in the early issues before he got pulled into the Negative Zone and switched places with Rick Jones. Kamala accidentally outing Carol as half-Kree is a major plot point in the story. Lawson wants to eliminate all Kree because Yon-Rogg left him for dead. Kamala, who was horrified in Secret Warriors, vol. 1: Secret Empire that Daisy Johnson might have killed the X-Men even though the X-Men have taken to hating all Inhumans after a recent conflict, brings up the horrifying thought of wiping out ordinary Kree citizens who might only be crossing guards. Lawson speaks in very 1960s "cool" language that he was really too old to be using in the original stories, and he looks even older and more worn-out here despite only a decade having passed. His wink is pretty disconcerting at the end, and the fact that it's brought up in dialogue makes me wonder if he still has genocidal intent, although it seems unlikely that he can actually achieve it given what happens during this story.

Chronologically speaking, this seems to be taking place at the same time as Ms. Marvel by Saladin Ahmed. Kamala has her old costume in the first story, and her new costume in the second, which also has a direct reference to Muneeba (Kamala's mother) no longer knowing that Kamala is Ms. Marvel (Kamala revealed this to her in Ms. Marvel, vol. 4: Last Days , which Muneeba acknowledged that she had long suspected, but in The Magnificent Ms. Marvel #5, aliens wiped it from her mind, which has resulted in family turmoil for Kamala's sneaking out at night, which, when she knew, Muneeba considered forgiveable because she did it to help others. At the beginning, Bruno Carelli looks normal, but when he appears late in the Captain Marvel story, he has his Wakandan cybernetic arm. The Spider-Man story is definitely self-contained given what occurs in it, while the Captain Marvel story may be woven around other events in her main series given several lapses in time.

This is a fairly nonessential Ms. Marvel book, but not without its merits. Carol ultimately forgives Kamala for being terrible at keeping secrets (kind of a recurring theme for her, given that a bunch of her friends were able to cover for her without being asked while she was visiting extended family in Karachi ( Ms. Marvel, Vol. 9: Teenage Wasteland ). I do wonder how much longer they can milk her as a naive character without making her look stupid. She's supposed to be a smart kid, but her naivete is really on the extreme in this volume, especially when she is in Spider-Man's body. Even aging as slowly as characters typically do in ongoing franchises, she can't keep having experiences and not learning from them and continue to come across as an intelligent character.

[Chris Browning · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn’t going to review this, but honestly the three part Ms Marvel/ Spidey team up was so joyous and gloriously ridiculous I couldn’t help it. When people say comics aren’t as good as they used to be, stuff like this makes me realise how absurd a statement that is - it nails Spidey, makes me care for Ms Marvel (a hero I knew about but had never read any of) and completely engaged me. The other stories are fine, but the parallel of these two heroes, their inherent geekiness and their double lives was done so deftly and beautifully that I already want to read more

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific

also clever. I have a gripe about a complicated device that works its best -after exploding- (entropy is not a thing, I guess) but really this is a very good collection, currently at a discount too.

Just reread (2024 Dec) with enjoyment…

[Emma Gear · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two short 3 issue stories in one 6 issue trade! A lot of people are torn between picking which of the two of these stories they like more but honestly I'm a big fan of both. And probably not just because I'm a big fan of Kamala Khan, the character doing the team-ups!

The first story is a very predictable affair where Peter Parker is missing his youth while Kamala Khan is wishing she was older and more adult. With that setup plus the obvious revelation that this is going to be a body swap story you could probably predict a lot of what's going to happen, but both of them having superpowers makes this more enjoyable than one would expect. The two of them having to fight crime and solve this problem in each other's bodies makes for some entertaining and at times surprisingly heartfelt moments. And naturally you could also easily imply that they both learn to appreciate what they've got in their own lives as well. It's cute and it's fun and I personally loved it.

The second one follows Kamala Khan and Carol Danvers teaming up when there's a sudden theft of a lot of Kree technology being held in warehouses. The two investigate and find a crazy old man who's kind of completely insane and intent on taking revenge on the Kree for ruining his life. I thought Carol Danvers was kind of flat in this story but the old man, Walter Lawson, completely elevates this story. He's just the kind of crazy old man you love to see get into scenarios way over his head and when he inadvertently summons a squad of Kree assassins to come after him both Kamala and Carol have to team up to help him out.

It's far from the deepest thing in the world, but it's one I'd recommend to fans of Kamala Khan easily.

[Joana · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was between a low 4 stars or high 3 stars, I'm not sure, but I decided to rate up either way... And my problem with the comic was definitely a me problem, and it's about me constantly forgetting I don't really enjoy Captain Marvel... I get so excited by her because she looks so cool, but her stories (at least the very few I've read) are centered around space and aliens, and that's not as appealing to me... so this is very much about me not connecting with this character and not a particular thing

It also includes a team up with Spiderman, which I hadn't know, but I ended up really enjoying, which was surprising since I normally avoid him, but turns out I enjoy adult Peter Parker a lot more than his teenage persona, and while it was still very much a scifi story, it was more character focused which I really enjoy!!!

So although this was not the comic for me, I really believe many other people will enjoy it!!!

[Kori Watson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I accidentally deleted my review but I’ll hit the main points again.
Spider-Man Crossover was fine.
They seemed a bit out of character especially with how fast they violated mask boundaries
I hate “most characters forget the story” endings with a passion so that kinda ruined it for me.
The stuff that can’t be covered up by just not remember like the dr and the job interview will bug me but I don’t like the story enough to care that much.

Captain marvel story was a bit better
Love the new Ms Marvel costume but it’s drawn weird in this.
Brought in relevant lore old and new and did enough with it for this type of story.

I don’t know how to feel about the message being applied to the 616 Kree as I feel like the strayed a little to close to comparing it to a human situation and the Kree have way to much baggage for that to feel fully appropriate to me.

I made more points but I no longer remember what they were.

[Jen Groves · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a huge Kamala fan and devoted lover of all things McElroy, when I heard that Clint had written a Ms Marvel comic (that also included CAROL!) I knew I had to have it.

What I didn't expect was how thoroughly enjoyable the first mini-arc was with Peter Parker. Chock-full of Spidey quips and Kamala silliness, it was a blast from start to finish that brought me immense joy.

The second arc was, as others have noted, a little tainted but less-than-stellar art. Is it better than anything I could do? Absolutely! But it just felt off and made the story feel weird and a little clunky. I also felt like Carol's character was a little inconsistent, but that may be due to poor artistic portrayal of her emotions.

The best part of the whole thing was by far the little nod to The Adventure Zone: Balance with Kamala and Bruno at the arcade. I literally squealed with glee. I see you, Daddy McElroy. 💜

Overall, 4.5 stars out of 5 and a great addition to your collection if you're a Kamala fan.

[Silas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This defied my expectations for a team up book in that each issue wasn't an individual team up. Instead, there were two stories across the volume, featuring a team up with Spider-Man in Kamala's old costume, and a team up with Captain Marvel in her new costume. That featured flashbacks from the recent storyline that revealed (or retconned) Captain Marvel's heritage, and it played that against Kamala's Pakistani heritage, and it was reasonably well done. The Spider-Man story was kind of fun, but ultimately didn't change much of anything. The art for Kamala's supporting cast was a bit inconsistent. It was better in the Spider-Man story, and really off in the Captain Marvel one. On the whole, the stories were interesting, with some art issues, and the one not really having effects causing some issues that detracted just a bit.

[Sam Whale · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was just a lot of fun. I really enjoyed the first story which saw Ms Marvel team up with Spidy for the second time (the first being in Dan Slotts 2014 run). I enjoyed the characters rapport with one another a lot and how it felt like their relationship built off of their last encounter in a way that we still accessible to new readers.

The second story was decent too, I’ve always liked Carol Danvers though I’ve not read her in much since she became Captain Marvel. Again her dynamic with Kamala was good fun though I didn’t find the story as engaging and it felt a tad more continuity heavy than the first story.

I always like it when Marvel bring back classic series like marvel team-up and I would have liked a second volume (and 3rd and 4th etc.). But I’m happy to report this is a fun read for what it is and I enjoyed it a fair bit.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had a lot of fun with this graphic novel, particularly the first story with Spider-Man. It was a pretty basic mind-swap tale... but who doesn't love that fun old stand-by? Putting two of my favorite Marvel characters in the spotlight for such a story just made it even more fun. There were a moment or two I even laughed out loud. The other story was a pretty solid action/adventure, that had some nice themes about separating the good parts of your culture's history from the not-so-good parts. I'm not as much of a Captain Marvel fan, but seeing her and Kamala work together always has nice mentor/mentee moments. Between those and the "downright-fun" of the Spider-Man team-up, you kind of can't go wrong with this book.