Ms. Marvel #47

Too little, too late Marvel. If Mike McKone had been the artist on this series earlier on, I think that probably would have helped out sales. Having McKone show up now for a Spider-Man team-up story is a nice bonus, but all it did was make me wish for what might have been. The new art looks especially enticing after the horrible manga-ish art from the past few months. Speaking of the recent issues, I really enjoyed how writer Brian Reed summarized the last year (or so it seems); Ms. Marvel died and then got better. That story was too confusing and was ultimately pointless. While this issue is pretty boring, at least I can understand it and I actually like Ms. Marvel in it. It is an interesting choice to have the date with Spidey go so badly, but it makes sense. Ms. Marvel is something of a workaholic and Spidey only knows her in costume, so they probably wouldn't have a lot in common. Wonder Man seems like a better and better match, too bad he's in jail.

The actual action in this is pretty unimportant; an unnamed villain robs a bank and two lone HAMMER agents try to take in Ms. Marvel. Neither has any chance to succeed, but that makes sense for such powerful heroes.

I would read a Mike McKone Ms. Marvel book. She looks fantastic, Spidey looks spot on, and the nameless jet-packing villain has a neat enough design that I wouldn't mind seeing him again. Rob Disalvo's portion of the issue is a lot less consistent, with faces looking odd and Ms. Marvel catching on fire to change in costume. Derec Donovan finishes out the issue. He's a pro. I always dig his cartoony style. So yeah, McKone and Donovan would have been pretty nice to see handle this book regularly.

Average