Captain Marvel #1 Review

Carol Danvers returns in her own comic and takes on a new mantle as Captain Marvel!

Captain Marvel #1

Captain America and Ms. Marvel (appearing in her new outfit) battle the Absorbing Man at the Museum of Natural History in New York City.  After she uses her sash to take down the villain, her appearance causes a stir which gets Cap to thinking.  He asks her to consider taking the moniker Captain Marvel.  She, at first, declines saying that it wouldn’t be right for her to do so.  Later, when thinking about her mentor while she flies through space, she decides that she will take the name.  The next morning, she is helping to take care of her friend who’s suffering from cancer, she learns that her mentor, Helen Cobb, has been killed in a fire.  Since Cobb had never been to space despite going through astronaut training, Carol takes her ashes to space.

I’ll get things rolling by saying that I’m a huge Carol Danvers fan.  She’s likely the most powerful of all of Marvel’s heroines (save for maybe She-Hulk).  She’s got a checkered past that draws a line between being rich and deep and unfortunate for a character that should probably be lifted to the status of Wonder Woman (wow, two Wonder Woman references this week so far…  I must have ol’ WW on the brain).  She’s been dismissed for her overtly sexy costumes.  She’s been interdimentially raped by a guy so she would eventually give birth to him in the real world (ask me about it later, kids).  She’s had her power, and most of her memories, stolen from Rogue in the famous X-Man’s first appearance.  She’s been an alcoholic.  All of these things seemed to place Carol on a back burner of sorts as if she had become someone no one knew how to write, or at least put her in a place where it made the character difficult to fit into place within the larger Marvel Universe.  All of these things were done by incredibly talented writers and artists too.

As the Civil War came to a close at Marvel, Carol sprung forth in a new series and a new role as leader of Tony Stark’s Avengers.  Things were looking up for her again.  Even though it’s been a while since she was the leader of that team, and her series ended well before its time (it only went 50 issues), she’s become more and more entwined in the Avengers corner of Marvel’s publishing lines.  So much so, in fact, I’m surprised she wasn’t invited to the Avengers’ big Hollywood outing.

Now shes’s back with a new series and a new name – Captain Marvel.  I’m really pleased about this.  I know the new costume raised a lot of fan furor because it was a drastic change, but it doesn’t bother me.  Frankly, I was just glad to see Carol was going to be star of her own series again.  If anything, this costume change should get us more accustomed to the changes that are coming with the Marvel NOW! initiative.  Whether she’s wearing a glorified bathing suit or a full bodied uniform, it’s still Carol Danvers, and I’m glad to see that this series picks up a lot of the same tone the previous series that Brian Reed did.  She’s still trying to find her place as this extremely powerful hero who is mostly unknown to the rest of the world.  Kelly Sue DeConnick does a great job with Carol as both the person and the hero.  It’s nicely written with a ton of heart and care.  The end of the issue was really just beautiful and will likely set a tone for this series for a long time.

As far as Dexter Soy’s art, I’m going to reserve judgment.  That’s not a bad thing, though.  Soy is a fantastic artist.  This stuff in this book reminds me so much of Earth X in quality and tone and that’s nothing to be ignored.  It’s just a very different look for a Marvel-616 series.  The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that this book’s art kind of plays to something lingering within Carol.  It’s like she’s constantly having to deal with turmoil and the art portrays that with a shroud of darkness.  It’s not bright and pretty.  It’s something else entirely.  Yes, there are some really stunning pages in the book and there are moments of a real softness to Carol, especially in the flashback scene, that is beautiful.  It might take time to adjust to this stylized look, but I have a feeling it won’t take long before I’m completely in love with it.

Overall, I applaud you, Kelly Sue DeConnick, for giving me a new series featuring one of my very favorite Marvel females and I cannot wait for issue #2!

Tags: Captain Marvel Kelly Sue DeConnick Ms. Marvel Slider