G. Willow Wilson wrote a free ‘Ms. Marvel’ story that wrestles with the pandemic

G. Willow Wilson, who wrote Ms. Marvel from 2014 to 2019 and co-created Kamala Khan, wrote a new story for Marvel starring the iconic character.

The story, which was released on Marvel’s website Wednesday and is free to read, was designed to be a “celebration of essential workers everywhere” starring Jersey City’s big superhero. Unlike the Ms. Marvel comics, it’s a prose story, which was by design; according to Wilson, she was first asked to write the short story when the comics publishing was at a standstill.

“So here it is, a story about the small things that take us by surprise: Kamala goes on a grocery run for an elderly neighbor, and as usual...nothing goes quite as planned,” Wilson wrote.

Wilson wrote the story, titled “Late Spring,” and it’s accompanied with art by Nico Leon, colors by Ian Herring, and letters by VC’s Joe Sabino.

As Willow hinted, “Late Spring” is largely a Kamala story that deals with the very real obstacles that occur during a pandemic. Although coronavirus and COVID-19 aren’t used, Marvel’s version of Jersey City (and the rest of the world) is dealing with those realities. Kamala is telelearning (and recorded a looped video so she could avoid some of those classes), she wears a mask and takes hand sanitizer with her when she leaves her house, and her city practices social distancing at the grocery store. (Her guess that Tony Stark is quarantining on a yacht somewhere is also very apt.)

Ms. Marvel was always great at blending the smaller slices of life with Marvel’s superhero staples, and as Kamala discovers, even going to the grocery store to help out an elderly neighbor doesn’t come without its own set of complications. And even someone who can embiggen herself to defeat villains and stop several grocery bags from falling to the ground can still feel wholly unprepared for the pandemic.

You can read the full story on Marvel’s website or download it here.