11 Essential Storylines To Read If You're Just Getting Into Comics

5. Ms. Marvel

ms marvel kamala khan cover
Marvel Comics

Ms. Marvel really is a special book, and indeed, an even more important one.

Written by G. Willow Wilson and initially pencilled by Adrian Alphona, Ms. Marvel focusses on Muslim-American teen Kamala Khan as she navigates the discovery of her newfound superpowers, which she discovered in the wake of the 'Inhumanity' storyline. Taking on the title of her favourite Marvel character, Carol Danvers (now Captain Marvel), Kamala sets out to fight crime and, one day, even join The Avengers.

She's a fan-favourite character, and Wilson's series in particular has received a whole raft of accolades from critics and audiences alike, with the first few TPBs of the series selling massively and subsequently cementing the character as a key icon of Marvel's burgeoning commitment to diversifying its universe. Not only that, Kamala has taken on a massive role in the public domain, as a symbol against prejudice no less.

Everything about the Wilson series just exudes quality, and the character's now iconic status serves as a testament to that fact. If you're looking to explore Marvel as it is today, there's no better place to start than Ms. Marvel.

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Content Producer/Presenter

WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well. In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.