Captain Marvel Relaunch Good?

[AmiMizuno]

Is the series any Good?

[just another user]

I'm not reading it so I couldn't tell you, but I think there are several threads about it

[sifighter]

It's actually a pretty great series overall, it's generally a lot of fun and Carol is a pretty cool character. Plus all the Sci-fi action/adventuring in this series is pretty amazing.

[Mark]

It's got some good points, outer space adventure, some good humor, it's got some bad points (costume, though that is in dispute). I think you should try it. I hated Carol after cw and the start of this reboot had a storyline and art that I didn't like, once I heard she was in space I was hoping she'd run into the ravenous bugblater beast of traal, but one of the columnist here asked me to give it another chance and I do like it. It's not the Carol I knew and it's not my favorite or anything but it's a good book and it's worth a look.

[Wellman]

Its a good series, not the greatest book but very good and fun, worth picking up.

[Pat Thomas]

If you liked the other series, you should like this one. They put a real artist on the book. I don't think many people had a problem with the writing of the previous volume,
but it was hard to look at.

[Ascended]

The pro's:

Dialogue. Kelly Sue Deconnick writes some of the best, most natural dialogue in comics. She's given Carol a sharp personality and a unique voice (without making her a totally new person), and the same can be said of her supporting cast, which in the previous volume was varied and eccentric and lots of fun. The newest volume hasnt been around long enough to cement its supporting cast but it looks to be delivering on this point just as well as the previous run did.

The over arching plot/s are solid. The first volume was about taking Carol's life and her past and, not quite ret-conning it, but making her own it. The opening arc for example, was about going back to Carol's origin and making her an active player in it, instead of a victim who only survived because Mar-Vell saved her. Now, whether this worked in each story or issue is up for debate but generally I think it made Carol a stronger character and provided a sharper focus tonally on who she is, where she came from and what she's doing. The current volume is looking to the future and what/where Carol's role and niche within the Marvel U should be. It's put her in space, serving as an Avenger liaison to refugees and victims of the Builder War. We're only five issues into things so its hard to tell how it will play out in the end, but so far everyone seems to like the idea of Captain Marvel; Cosmic Avenger.

Now the bad.

KSD is not, by any stretch, the best action writer out there. She's knocked out some solid battle scenes, but the violence end of things is clearly her weak point. Fights are generally grounded in a solid framework of cause and effect, motivation and reaction, but the fights themselves can be a little lackluster. She's sort of the anti-Micheal Bay.

The art is also a weak point for the book, especially the first volume. The first volume went through several artists very quickly, and few of them were what we'd call traditional or classic comic book artists. The reviews for each artist are extremely mixed so who knows how you'd find each of them. The current volume has a consistent art team, and many people seem to like what is being done, but for my money it looks like every other comic on the stands and lacks a distinctive visual feel. But this is highly subjective and Im in the minority on this one.

Now, the debatable.

The costume. Lots of traditionalist fans miss the old black swimsuit look with the high heels, and each artist seems to draw her hair in the current costume differently. KSD has complained about it herself. Me, I love the new costume; its powerful, timeless, honors Mar-Vell without being a slave to the past and embraces Carol's own military history, seems more fitting for her personality, and is something I'd be comfortable with my daughter wearing on Halloween. But its new and different and I do miss the extra layer of "sexy" she used to have when drawn in the black costume.

The current volume also begins some time after the end of the previous run, and there are a few things that have happened to Carol in the interim that we've not seen much of. Not to spoil things but at the end of volume 1 she suffered a major setback and we've yet to really see her deal with the fallout of that. With Carol currently in space there are a lot of supporting cast members and subplots that have been left hanging with no resolution. These are all things we'll get to see eventually (I assume) but depending on how much time and patience you have, it might grate on you.

Personally, Captain Marvel is one of my favorite books. The humor is pitch-perfect and reminds me of some of the Marvel films' best moments. Carol is a great character who might have never been as great as she is right now. There's no moaning and complaining about how hard the hero life is, there's just Carol totally crushing life like a boss. There are Star Wars references all over the place. Whether you have the good sense to agree? Who knows?

[Fokken]

Ascended pretty much nailed it.

In light of the aforementioned action deficiencies, I'd like to commend Deconnick and Andrade's combined efforts for this fun sequence:

[The Sword is Drawn]

Ascended pretty much nailed it.

In light of the aforementioned action deficiencies, I'd like to commend Deconnick and Sebela's combined efforts for this fun sequence:

I was going to say. The issues under that artist (and for shame I do not recall their name) were particularly strong. It was the jarring between such radically different art styles which made the first volume suffer, though. The lack of consistency.

I bought all but the last few issues of the first volume in singles (I was undergoing chemotherapy at the time and certain parts of the story caused me a little discomfort). I intended to Trade Wait when it got relaunched. I've been lax there.

I have to say that I really love the costume, though. The Captain Marvel update is a vast improvement. The fewer 'swimsuit costumes' appearing in Marvel comics, the better. They even got Psylocke away from that.

[Fokken]

I mis-cited earlier.
The artist is Felipe Andrade. I too felt his portion of KSD's run is the strongest, visually.

[Mr MajestiK]

Ascended pretty much nailed it.

In light of the aforementioned action deficiencies, I'd like to commend Deconnick and Andrade's combined efforts for this fun sequence:

I concur.

[Ascended]

I mis-cited earlier.
The artist is Felipe Andrade. I too felt his portion of KSD's run is the strongest, visually.

Andrade was my favorite artist, I really liked the quasi-retro 1970's Euro vibe, and he got Carol's hair right. I never understood the complaints about him, his style was different from anything else you'd see in American comics but as has been pointed out his storytelling ability was way above what everyone else was doing.

[Fokken]

Andrade was my favorite artist, I really liked the quasi-retro 1970's Euro vibe, and he got Carol's hair right. I never understood the complaints about him, his style was different from anything else you'd see in American comics but as has been pointed out his storytelling ability was way above what everyone else was doing.

omg yes.
The Hair.
THAT. HAIR!

I need me my looooong golden tresses!

[Taral-DLOS]

I really enjoyed the previous run, but this run is meh. Not bad by any stretch, but it isn't reeling me in (which is strange, since I love Cosmic stuff).

I've preordered up to issue 6, and I'm dropping it after that. If it ends up being good, I might wait for it to price-drop digitally, or trade-wait.

[Mark]

I don't think retconing her origin made her a stronger character anymore than retconing Wonder Woman's origin made her a stronger character. Origin retcons only serve the writer in my opinion. I do think that someday they should do a What-If based on what would have happened to Carol if she hadn't gotten stuck under the machine and become Ms. Marvel.

The pro's:

Dialogue. Kelly Sue Deconnick writes some of the best, most natural dialogue in comics. She's given Carol a sharp personality and a unique voice (without making her a totally new person), and the same can be said of her supporting cast, which in the previous volume was varied and eccentric and lots of fun. The newest volume hasnt been around long enough to cement its supporting cast but it looks to be delivering on this point just as well as the previous run did.

The over arching plot/s are solid. The first volume was about taking Carol's life and her past and, not quite ret-conning it, but making her own it. The opening arc for example, was about going back to Carol's origin and making her an active player in it, instead of a victim who only survived because Mar-Vell saved her. Now, whether this worked in each story or issue is up for debate but generally I think it made Carol a stronger character and provided a sharper focus tonally on who she is, where she came from and what she's doing. The current volume is looking to the future and what/where Carol's role and niche within the Marvel U should be. It's put her in space, serving as an Avenger liaison to refugees and victims of the Builder War. We're only five issues into things so its hard to tell how it will play out in the end, but so far everyone seems to like the idea of Captain Marvel; Cosmic Avenger.

Now the bad.

KSD is not, by any stretch, the best action writer out there. She's knocked out some solid battle scenes, but the violence end of things is clearly her weak point. Fights are generally grounded in a solid framework of cause and effect, motivation and reaction, but the fights themselves can be a little lackluster. She's sort of the anti-Micheal Bay.

The art is also a weak point for the book, especially the first volume. The first volume went through several artists very quickly, and few of them were what we'd call traditional or classic comic book artists. The reviews for each artist are extremely mixed so who knows how you'd find each of them. The current volume has a consistent art team, and many people seem to like what is being done, but for my money it looks like every other comic on the stands and lacks a distinctive visual feel. But this is highly subjective and Im in the minority on this one.

Now, the debatable.

The costume. Lots of traditionalist fans miss the old black swimsuit look with the high heels, and each artist seems to draw her hair in the current costume differently. KSD has complained about it herself. Me, I love the new costume; its powerful, timeless, honors Mar-Vell without being a slave to the past and embraces Carol's own military history, seems more fitting for her personality, and is something I'd be comfortable with my daughter wearing on Halloween. But its new and different and I do miss the extra layer of "sexy" she used to have when drawn in the black costume.

The current volume also begins some time after the end of the previous run, and there are a few things that have happened to Carol in the interim that we've not seen much of. Not to spoil things but at the end of volume 1 she suffered a major setback and we've yet to really see her deal with the fallout of that. With Carol currently in space there are a lot of supporting cast members and subplots that have been left hanging with no resolution. These are all things we'll get to see eventually (I assume) but depending on how much time and patience you have, it might grate on you.

Personally, Captain Marvel is one of my favorite books. The humor is pitch-perfect and reminds me of some of the Marvel films' best moments. Carol is a great character who might have never been as great as she is right now. There's no moaning and complaining about how hard the hero life is, there's just Carol totally crushing life like a boss. There are Star Wars references all over the place. Whether you have the good sense to agree? Who knows?