A Lady to Admire: Ms. Marvel #1

Name a female super-hero. Sure, it's easy for you and me, we're comic book nerds! But ask any member of the general public that question, and their answers will be pretty limited. They'll know Wonder Woman, because she had a TV show. They may know Batgirl, also because of her TV appearances. Maybe a few people could name Sue Storm, since Jessica Alba played her. Unfortunately, I'm willing to bet that is about all most people could come up with. For some reason, it isn't easy for the ladies to earn the respect and notoriety of their male counterparts in the hero biz.

Well, Carol Danvers is out to change all that in Ms. Marvel #1. In her new ongoing series, Carol has decided that it is time to take control of her heroic career. She wants to be the best there is at what she does, and what she does IS actually pretty nice. Ms. Danvers is dead-set on living up to her potential, so losers like Stilt-Man know exactly who she is while getting their villainous butts kicked. In short, Carol wants to be the kind of hero that kids will imitate on the playground.

Of course, just like in real life, it isn't easy to stay in the public eye. To help out with her public image, Carol goes to one of the biggest names in the Public Relations biz. (Didn't know that Captain America, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men all have a publicist? You HAVE heard of them, haven't you? See how PR works?) Lucky for us, the first PR move for Carol is to forget about the unfortunate code-names Binary and Warbird, and get back to her original Ms. Marvel. Who wants to be saved by somebody named Warbird? Ick.

This new series is written by Brian Reed with pencils by Roberto De La Torre. Reed's writing makes this first issue really shine. His style combines the fun of a Dan Slott comic with the witty dialogue of a Brian Bendis book. What more could anybody ask for in one book? How about great art? Ms. Marvel has that too! De La Torre's pencils perfectly convey action, humor, the joy of flight, and Ms. Marvel's pulchritudinous sexiness. (And, if you're into that sort of thing, check out Frank Cho's sweet cover art!) Plus, the surprise villains at the end of the issue are as terrifying as Carol is sexy.

So c'mon people, let's work together to promote equality of the sexes in comics! Help Ms. Marvel become the big name hero that she deserves to be! Fly down to Four Color Fantasies today and try out the guaranteed Book of the Week: Ms. Marvel #1.