Marvel Rising

Marvel Rising (2018) #0-4

by G. Willow Wilson, Phillip Kennedy Johnson (Writer), Ryan North (Writer)

SQUIRREL GIRL meets MS. MARVEL - for the very first time! When Doreen Green (also known as the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl) volunteers as head counselor for an extracurricular computer programming class, little does she know that junior counselor Kamala Khan moonlights as crime fighting super hero Ms. Marvel! But this coding configuration is more than just ones and zeros when a mysterious new super villain shows her face! Will our heroes be able to save the day without blowing their secret identities? Join Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl (with some special guest appearances) as they learn what it truly takes to become the next generation of Marvel heroes!
Collects Marvel Rising #0, Marvel Rising: Alpha, Marvel Rising: Squirrel Girl/Ms. Marvel, Marvel Rising: Ms. Marvel/Squirrel Girl And Marvel Rising: Omega.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Marvel, Superheroes, Young Adult, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics

168 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2018

About the author

Hugo, World Fantasy and American Book Award-winning author of novels and comics, including THE BIRD KING, INVISIBLE KINGDOM, and ALIF THE UNSEEN. Co-creator of Ms Marvel. Honorary doctor of letters, Rutgers University. I accidentally started a dutch baby baking cult during quarantine. Not very active on here right now, but often found on Twitter.

Reviews

[Diz · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm a fan of Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel, so I was excited when this title was announced. Unfortunately, this wasn't very good. The creators change from issue to issue, so the writing and the art vary in quality depending on who is involved. It's just a bit jarring to have so many changes in one volume. Also, the villain that they are fighting isn't that interesting, and in the end it turns out that she is being manipulated by one of my least favorite Marvel villains, so that was a letdown for me. Finally, readers should be aware that not all of the characters that appear on the cover of this volume appear in the story. Captain Marvel, Quake, and shield guy (sorry, I don't know who he is) don't appear in this story at all. It's kind of weird that they would be on the cover.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who would have thought the first meeting of Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel would be so very, very bland? I guess that's what you get from one of these corporate comic books by committee with three writers and four artists. It's easy to pick out Ryan North's contributions, but his heavy lifting cannot bring this Frankenstein to life.

[Kyra Leseberg (Roots & Reads) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel team up (with special guests America Chavez and Inferno) to save an Inhuman struggling with her new powers.
This is definitely geared toward younger readers but it's still an entertaining story overall; probably more-so for me because I read it out loud with my five-year-old, who is obsessed with these particular super heroes!

[SzaraReadsComics · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a really enjoyable read. As it is with crossovers, not all characters were written perfectly in character all the time but the main heroes, Doreen and Kamala, were a great team-up to read about! I had lots of fun especially since the main plot was concerned with video games and I'm a gamer myself. Overall, it was pretty good for a crossover.

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN AND I WANT TO BE A PART OF THIS SUPER GANG PLEASE AND THANK YOU.

[Bogi Takács]

This crossover is for people like me who enjoy both Ms. Marvel (Kamala Khan) and Squirrel Girl. I liked it, but I thought it could have been better.

Really appreciated the G. Willow Wilson and Ryan North chapters, which are not at the beginning, so you might want to keep on reading even if you think the beginning is meh. The plot is the really overdone "people get stuck in a video game," but this time written (partially) by people who understand about video games and software development, so that added a fresh perspective.

Erica Henderson draws Squirrel Girl so differently from anyone else, and honestly I prefer her version, so this book was a bit frustrating in that sense. It's as if everyone else was afraid of drawing thighs. Squirrel Girl has muscles, people!!

I felt sad about the antagonist, I hope we'll see her again. (Also, yay for postmodern superpowers :D )

Overall, I think this book is worth a read if you like either of the main series, it is written for a bit younger age range, but I personally had no problem with that.
_____
Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library

[Veronica · Rating 4 out of 5]

CUTE CUTE CUTE. The girls in STEM team-up you've been waiting for! (Not enough Nancy tho.) Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl must work together, using their knowledge of computer science as well as their superpowers, to fight a villain who makes videogames come to life, while attempting to conceal their secret identities from each other (despite the fact that Kamala is taking a class on computer programming that Doreen is teaching). Koi Boi, Chipmunk Hunk, Brain Drain, America Chavez, and Inferno make cameos of various sizes but the focus remains on Squirrel Marvel throughout. (Side note to those who are, like me, enchanted by the sheer adorableness of the cover: unfortunately the cover artist is not the person who does the art for the interiors, but the various artists all do a great job anyway!)

[Coleccionista de finales tristes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Divertido

[Mar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nunca he leído algún cómic con la chica ardilla pero simplemente es genial, la manera en que se lleva con Kamala? Simplemente me encantó!

La historia fue divertida y diferente, me gustó la aparición de inferno y America Chávez.

[Hugo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong themes somewhat diluted by a VR conceit which robs the climax of vitality and believability, and the story only really comes alive when North and Wilson write their signature characters.

(Read as single issues.)

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cute, but the plot gets a little redundant. The characters are hilarious and some of my favorites pop up here. It’s a little misleading because everyone on the cover art is not in the story, though.

[McKinlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Would really like to see more from this crew!

[joanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not going to lie, I wasn't a fan of this. I read it solely because Ms. Marvel was on the cover, but I was sorely disappointed in the story. It was just kind of boring. Also, I was kind of bothered about what happened to Ember, and how she was taken advantage of. Definitely not a fan of that. Also, I found Squirrel Girl and America really annoying. Granted, I haven't read any of their solo comics, so maybe that's just how they are? 2 stars because one it's Ms. Marvel, and I love her, and two learning about the video game lingo was kind of cool. Overall, I won't be continuing with this series, and I have no interest in reading anything of these character's solo works... except Kamala's. Maybe I'm just beyond the target audience? Who knows.

[Becky B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doreen Green is a college computer science student volunteering to teach an after school computer class for high schoolers. (She's also secretly superhero Squirrel Girl.) Kamala's grades have been struggling (thanks to her secret life as Ms Marvel) so she's taking the class to boost her GPA. There's another girl in the class with Kamala named Ember. Ember was turned into an inhuman in an accident and she doesn't feel like anyone understands her except someone she met online. She has powers that can take items out of video games. Ember doesn't really understand how her powers work or how to control them, when she gets upset things just happen. Squirrel Girl and Ms Marvel keep having to make sudden appearances to take care of these objects that seem to be from video games, can they solve the mystery of where the things are coming from?

Yeah! A Squirrel Girl and Ms Marvel team up is so very fun. I love both of their comics, and have gotten several students hooked on them as well. I like that Ryan North and G. Willow Wilson were able to help write this so the voices of their characters remain true to who they are in their own story arcs. Doreen is a fantastic mentor, it'd be nice to see her influence and positive attitude rub off on Kamala who has been struggling with the load of superheroing. I also like the concept of things coming out of video games. Gamers will really get into the story, as the heroines have to think how to take down things as if in a video game. You gotta feel for Ember and I like the compassion with which Squirrel Girl and Ms Marvel approach her (once they figure out what is going on). Definitely recommended to anyone looking for superhero comics ok for middle grade (or even younger) readers, and those who like upbeat and fun superhero stories.

Notes on content: No language issues. No sexual content. Some perilous situations but mostly the things that are dispatched are fake things from video games.

[Literary Strawberry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5

This was fun. There were a couple art styles I wasn't huge on (most people drew Squirrel Girl way too slender, and one person made the conscious decision to give Ms. Marvel these huge boobs and I was like //excuse me can we not sexualize the high-schooler please and thank you//), but most of the writing was decent (though I feel like it probably didn't need to be as long as it did). I definitely enjoyed the parts written by Ryan North the most.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel team-up against a supervillain who can make items from video games appear.

This was written for a younger audience than I. I've loved Squirrel Girl and was so-so about the new rendition of Ms. Marvel, and together they should have worked magic. Instead it felt a bit too pandering - let's throw in some way cool stuff from video games and have our female superheroes support each other in femaleness yay! I probably would have liked it when I was twelve.

[Francine · Rating 2 out of 5]

It bothers me that 3/7 characters on the cover aren't even in the book - feels like false advertising!

I liked the first half of the book, but then it sorta shifts gears into different territory and I wasn't really on board with that. Also not a huge fan of the climactic boss fight.
I liked the superheroes, and I liked Ember even though her whole deal was pretty cliché. I don't know America (yet), but is her personality just "fiery South-American wants to punch people"?

[Christiana · Rating 3 out of 5]

So thrilled to see this team up, but it doesn't take the place the independent stories have in my heart. That being said, it was so fun this was game-ified and I have had the alternate cover of Ms. Marvel and Squirrel Girl playing video games together as my desktop wallpaper for about 9 months. No regrets.

[Christy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t wait for the show!

[Daniel Butcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Totally see what they are doing here. Super approachable story which should help kids get into the tv shows...or let kids who like the show approach comics.

Fairly well done story...3.5.

[Gladimore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eh

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I just really don't like Squirrel Girl. LOVE Ms. Marvel though.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Squirrel Girl has to be the most baffling superhero I've read, but she makes a good team with Ms. Marvel.

[Ariel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Video game motifs and a mostly female cast? I'm in.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t know nearly enough about video games to understand this.

[Nanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

ngl, i hear superpowers and think that's cool and all, but what happens if your power is literally just squirrels... :/ no disrespect, squirrel girl

[Madison Somerville · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was excited to read these comics. Unfortunately they didn't quite live up to the hype. I enjoyed how campy it was, but there were several times when I was bored.

[Charles Korb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Felix review: 3 stars, his favorite part is the opening action set piece

I really thought this would be a slam dunk for Felix, a YA comic starting several of his favorite characters, written by their most famous authors but he didn't vibe with it. Maybe he doesn't have enough exposure to video games yet?

As an adult, I liked the use of negging and subtle emotional abuse (you don't see that in superhero comics very much) and as a 70s X-Men fan I enjoyed the reveal of the real villain.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the individual issues of this trade paperback. A really fun series, Squirrel Girl and Ms. Marvel are a great team up. I'm a little surprised they haven't teamed up before now. The only complaint I had about the series was the individual issues had stupid names (they were all #1's) but in collected form that is hardly an issue.

[Jonna Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was such a lovely story. Light, funny, and all about a new budding friendship.

I've never read Squirrel Girl before but I am a HUGE fan of Ms. Marvel so wanted to see her on this new adventure and just fell in love with this dynamic duo. They are the perfect blend. Even when the story dipped slightly, the two of them made up for it and kept me wanting more.

This has intrigued me to find more out about Squirrel Girl!