Ms Marvel is one of those characters who writers of a certain age seem to identify with strongly.  Presumably that's because they became fans between 1977 and 1979, the period in which her 23-issue solo title came out.  Ever since then, Carol Danvers has settled into the role of a much-loved C-lister.

And to be honest, that isn't such a bad result for a character who was created as a distaff knock-off of Captain Marvel.  In a way, she's actually quite fortunate that Captain Marvel has disappeared off the radar (largely thanks to his death in 1982).  Thanks to a drastic costume change and the absence of her template character, Ms Marvel can now be approached as a character in her own right rather than just a spin-off.

Even so... it's Ms Marvel, a perennial C-lister, and the question is what she has to offer to readers who don't share a nostalgia for her very short-lived solo title.  The cover certainly seems unclear as to what this book is about, opting for a generic shot of the character; a rather misleading blurb claiming that the title comes "From the pages of The New Avengers", on the strength of her one guest appearance; and an American flag, always a popular choice for an all-purpose symbol that could stand for anything.

Writer Brian Reed, however, has found a reasonably solid angle on the character.  Where a lot of writers would simply try and persuade us that Carol is a top-drawer character, Reed goes for the more interesting route and builds his story around the fact that she isn't.  In her eyes, she should be, but she's deeply conscious of the fact that she's way down the pecking order, and Stilt-Man doesn't even recognise her when she beats him up.  So Ms Marvel's big objective for this series is to turn things around and become the A-list hero she wants to be.

I like this idea.  It takes the character's biggest problem - the fact that she's seen as a minor hero - and turns it into a positive virtue.  In a way it would work better in the DC Universe, where the public is rather more receptive to heroes, but that's a minor problem.  The idea of Ms Marvel hiring a publicist to turn her career around, and reprimanding herself for calling in the Avengers rather than trying to fight the bad guys on her own, is solid.  It runs the risk of making her into an unsympathetic careerist, of course, but Reed manages to sidestep that and present her crusade for respect as something to root for.

It's actually a slightly retro comic - let's face it, she's fighting Stilt-Man on the opening pages - but that works for this story.  Ms Marvel doesn't want to be a new-style, grim-and-gritty hero.  She wants to be an old-school, proper superhero, and that's the sort of title she's got.

As for the art... well, I've never liked that bloody costume, which is an invitation to bring out the worst in artists.  Roberto de la Torre is actually much better than many, since he really does seem to be primarily interested in drawing her as a character.  There are some eye-rolling moments which, to be fair, are largely the result of Torre simply trying to draw that costume at all.  The other female characters (and Carol, when she's out of costume) look fine, which is refreshing.  I realise that nobody even has these discussions about the equally physically unlikely depiction of male heroes, but then not many artists draw Captain America shoving his arse into the camera, do they?  If nothing else, at least this book steers clear of that kind of thing.

Overall, surprisingly entertaining.  I'm not quite sure it'll succeed in the goal of repositioning Ms Marvel as a major character, but it's an unexpectedly enjoyable trad superhero book.

Rating: A-

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