Brian Reed often comes off as diet Bendis: slightly blunted flavor with less risk of any long-term impact; but that’s not exactly a bad thing. There are times when you don’t need a sugar rush and fall, when you don’t want the expectations that come with knowing you’ll have to pay for those calories so they better have meant something. Sometimes you just want to quench a quick thirst and move on. Unlike when I read Bendis, I’m not looking for Reed to boggle my mind with his dialogue, layouts, or plots. Instead, I just want a few minutes of super hero action before I turn to riskier, and possibly more rewarding and/or infuriating comics. In this context, Ms. Marvel #41 is just fine. The plot centers around your usual Marvel nonsensical wonderfulness: The Avengers, Ms Marvel, Deadshot, and AIM are all fighting over Modoc clone-babies that are, of course, helping to bring Carol Danvers back to life. (best line: “Spider-Man! Get the babies where they need to go!” Has there ever been any sentiment harder to argue with? Anyone want babies where they don’t need to go?) The funny bits are pretty funny. The actiony bits are pretty actiony. Witty banter is thrown out with every punch; a thrilling fight accompanies every plot point. It never strives for a five, but it hits four fairly solidly. It’s fine, classic, safe Marvel, and that’s fine—that’ll go down easy enough and be forgotten easy enough until the next time the need for the effervescent simple arises again and I need to reach for something cool and calorie free.