Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3 Review

Written by: Iman Vellani, Sabir Perzada
Art by: Carlos Gómez, Adam Gorham
Colors by: Erick Arciniega
Letters by: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Cover art by: Sara Pichelli, Matthew Wilson
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: October 25, 2023

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3 takes a surreal trip through her dreaming mind when the Orchis bug tries to use Kamala’s brain as a psychic bomb for the rest of the mutants.

Is Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3 Good?

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3 has a few interesting ideas that get tripped up in the execution. If you like Ms. Marvel as a character, this issue is more of the same. But if you insist on a plot that makes complete sense, you may come away frustrated.

When last we left Kamal Khan, aka Ms. Marvel, an Orchis nano-drone attached itself to Kamala’s head. The drone is designed to induce directed dreams and mental suggestions while she sleeps. Now, Kamala flies through the spaces of her subconscious with her fanfic avatar, Dr. Surfer, to find out why she has these recurring dreams and how to deal with the pressure of being a student, an Inhuman, and now a mutant. Secretly, Orchis’s drone programs a psychic bomb in Kamala’s mind that will spread to and kill any telepathic mutant she comes in contact with.

“Wait a minute. How could the nano-drone create Dr. Surfer when Kamala was having those recurring dreams before the start of issue #1?” you might wonder. I don’t know, and there are several such inconsistencies in this comic. How is Orchis unable to track Ms. Marvel despite her having a drone attached to her head that she somehow doesn’t notice? How does an Orchis drone with facial recognition software not realize Kamala’s face doesn’t match anyone on record because she’s wearing a hat, sunglasses, and a PPP mask? How is Orchis so generally inept at finding one teenager who puts almost no effort into remaining inconspicuous? The more you dig, the less this series makes sense.

What’s great about Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3? For all its flaws and faults, Kamala is still a likable character. Is being likable compelling enough to keep reading Ms. Marvel comics? Not really, but it’s a start.

What’s not so great about Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3? The plot is a convoluted mess. As noted above, plot holes abound. You trip over contrivances and inconsistencies on nearly every page. However, a certain character reveal during Kamala’s dream almost ensures the whole point of this mini-series is to awaken Kamala’s mutant power to align with the Disney+ series, so the plot is almost irrelevant.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Bits and Pieces

Ms. Marvel: The New Mutant #3 keeps the focus on Kamala as a wholesome, sweet, likable character, but the Orchis plot and execution combine for a plot-holed riddled mess. Once a certain new character appears on the page, that appearance all but confirms there’s no point to this mini other than to give Kamala her Disney+ powers.