Captain Marvel #1

Jul 2012
Kelly Sue DeConnick, Dexter Soy

Story Name:

(No title given)


Synopsis

Captain Marvel #1 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

The story opens mid-battle as Ms. Marvel and Captain America are stopping Absorbing Man from stealing a moon rock from a museum. Carol defeats the villain by wrapping her sash around his head and cutting off his oxygen until he collapses. News reporters arrive and fail to recognize Ms. Marvel in her new costume. Later, Cap tries to talk her once again into assuming the name Captain Marvel. She is reluctant about taking a dead hero’s name, even when Cap points out that Captain Marvel wasn’t Mar-Vell’s name but his legacy, one that she has truly honored. She ponders the matter while sparring with Spider-Man and on her way home. She recalls her mentor Helen Cobb, a veteran pilot who held many flight records. As she soars through the atmosphere to the very edge of space, she imagines that Helen would tell her to strive for every opportunity, and as she drops back to the Earth she decides to take on the name of Captain Marvel.

As Carol Danvers she goes to care for her old friend, reporter Tracy Burke, who is battling cancer. There Tracy shows her a newspaper story on the death of Helen Cobb in a fire. Carol recalls her brother Stevie introducing her to Helen while she was in training with the Air Force. After hearing some tales of Helen’s exploits Carol shyly asked Helen to fly with her—and Helen rose to the implied challenge.

Carol attends Helen’s funeral in costume and as she recalls her mentors’ advice to rise to fulfill her purpose, she soars into space as the new Captain Marvel.


 

Review / Commentaries


Captain Marvel #1 Review by (July 21, 2012)
Review: New writer Kelly Sue DeConnick has the latest assignment to make the character her own person, building on the fierce dedication to her mission she always exhibited and supplying her with a new legacy to fulfill. She doesn’t get a lot of shading here; her bad-@$$ (Marvel’s term) qualities are not on display but the forthcoming issues promise a lot of that in a military adventure. Her initial issue takes a chance with the character by focusing, not on action sequences (they are gotten out of the way in the first few pages) but on her self-awareness and musing on her legacy; this audacious decision may baffle readers used to the standard comic book fare (what, no big reveal of a villain on the last page?) but it suits the series—and it helps that the issue is somewhat self-contained, rather than part one of six. As for the other characters, Captain America is nicely delineated though I don’t recall the Absorbing Man being such a grade-A moron. The art however is quite disappointing: Dexter Soy is making his Marvel debut with this title but his painted art style proves to be too dark and murky for such an optimistic series as this one; he would probably be better served by being assigned to a grimmer series perhaps a Nick Fury title or Winter Soldier.

Comments: Carol Danvers was introduced along with the original Marvel version of Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) in MARVEL SUPERHEROES #13 (March 1968) and continued in his regular title. She became Ms Marvel starting in her own self-titled series in 1977. Over the years various writers have tried to portray her as other than a generic female hero, leading to changing her name to Binary and Warbird and putting her in some strange story arcs including some involving alcoholism and rape. Tracy Burke first appeared in issues #8-22 of the original Ms. Marvel series, with rare guest appearances in later years. The flashback to Carol’s first meeting with Helen Cobb makes a reference to the recent death of entertainer Dean Martin, which occurred on December 25, 1995. Helen was also tested for the Mercury 13 program which started in 1960; one of the real-life trainees was named Jerrie Cobb.


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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Dexter Soy
Dexter Soy
Dexter Soy
Ed McGuinness (Cover Penciler)
Dexter Vines (Cover Inker)
Javier Rodríguez (Cover Colorist)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Absorbing Man
Absorbing Man

(Crusher Creel)
Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Captain Marvel
Captain Marvel

(Carol Danvers)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)