Kelly Sue DeConnick to depart "Captain Marvel" post-"Secret Wars"

[TOTALITY]

General thoughts about the news and other comments from this thread:

In my opinion KSD's scripts and especially plots never really met the enthusiastically embraced potential obvious in the character's rebranding, McKelvie's [most..] iconic costume [..of the 2000's so far?] and the equally iconic early promo and cover art by McGuinness, McKelvie and later great interiors from Lopez. It didn't help that the early interiors from Soy and Andrade and even the excellent Emma Rios were so markedly different from the bold pop style that had caught everyone's imagination, but the writing never really did it for me either.

Maybe that's a problem with specificity to an extent.. the concept said "Wonder Woman caliber A-lister for a forward looking Marvel era" but that's such a simple abstract concept that no one chapter in a heavily serialized story could ever hope to encapsulate it. But what IS big and amorphous enough to encapsulate it is Fandom, and DeConnick did an amazing job for her part in cultivating the Carol Corps.

So, her legacy with this character is secure, and she's got a TV enterprise to run anyway, and at least two awesome continuing series in Bitch Planet and Pretty Deadly.

How does the movie affect what Marvel does with the character next? Probably not in as many ways as you might think, yet. We're still about 3 years (!) from the time frame generally reserved for a movie-centric push, so the most they really NEED to do until then is not squander the goodwill they've got. Going supernova A-list now isn't outside the realm of possibility, but could be a difficult thing to hope to maintain all the way up until the movie's release. I'm not sure what super A-list would look like.. Gail Simone? Warren Ellis? And yes, I do agree that Dan Slott is an A-list writer who could write a great Captain Marvel book, but here's the thing.

I'm 90% sure the more important criterion in choosing the next writer is maintaining the positive conceptual direction and goodwill of the fanbase, as opposed to wowing everyone with a big name. Any male writer isn't going to look great on paper following KSD, and there's nothing wrong with that, it's just how it is; having a woman behind the book and as defacto fandom figurehead has been a major part of Captain Marvel and it would be crazy to derail that (though it is kind of funny to imagine how much more scrutiny Dan Slott would get if he was the guy who killed Spider-Man/replaced him with Doc Ock, AND replaced the head of the Carol Corps with himself. Ha ha...)

So, taking all the into consideration, Kelly Thompson seems like a pretty good bet. There's no reason it can't be an up and comer like her rather than a big name as long as they can carry the baton and do good work - and how are we going to get more big names if the ones we already have get all the big assignments? If they did go for a big name I'd still expect it to be a female one, and after Gail Simone there aren't a lot of huge ones to choose from, though G. Willow Wilson is getting there and is already Marvel exclusive, with Marguerite Bennet and Noelle Stevenson having also recently done great work for Marvel.. (I have been wondering if Simone would take a big gig with All New Marvel, but I'd been kind of hoping for her on X-Men.)

[Sans Simian]

[RafDanvers]

As a long time fan of Carol Danvers, from Ms.Marvel, to Binary, Warbird and back to Ms.Marvel, i've never seen my hero so popular, taken so seriously as a proper hero. Thanks Marvel and Kelly Sue for such effort and dedication on making Captain Marvel (and yes, there's no better name and costume for her than this ) the company's biggest name. What a smart move. Thats' what she was born to be. We have a movie coming up. Thats so incredible to think of, because it used to be a distant dream. Wow! Thank you @marvel @kellysue for this. You will always be part of the Carol Corps! She DID put Captain Marvel back again,on the right spot. Now, its time to fly even higher and punch holes in the sky!

Here's to next chapter!! Cant wait for announcements and covers!

[lilyinblue]

If anything, KSD had a talent for inciting passion in her fanbase like nobody else. Her run meant a lot to me. Sorry to see her go.

[Cmbmool]

I have to admit, I'll miss Deconnick's work because she helped push Carol beyond the comics into the true Caotain Marvel that she is today. I hope she plays some role in the movie as a thanks to all of her hard work.

Now I wonder if Carol has a future post Secret Wars and if so, then who's going to write her ?

[RafDanvers]

sure she she a future and its gonna be soooooo bright! The next years are gonna be amazing. Building to the movie!

[Songbird/Diamondback]

She and her husband got TV show deals, so they were bound to leave.

[HUTHAIFA]

I need KSD to be on a x title next. I need her attitude and intelligence on a book that is about bucking society's branding of you and creating your own path.

[Hypestyle]

curious. has an in-depth reason been given for her departure? it seems that with a movie on the way, that could only potentially increase sales and good word of mouth.

[gurkle]

I honestly don't understand what the complaints about the in-book stuff are.

#17 just crystallized a problem that I was having before that, though I will have to go back and look again to see where it comes from. I know I reacted like that to issue #9 (the "gotta go punch a dinosaur") one, where I thought I was being hit over the head with a "she's awesome" stick on every page. But it could well be that I'm conflating the publicity with the comic in my mind.

[Wandacrystal22]

I like Kelly, but her run has been kinda boring. I dropped it when the relaunch came. Please Marvel get someone kickass to do Carol well. JIM STARLIN FTW.

[RafDanvers]

But she would have to fully commit. She has other books and tv series in the works. Maybe its the best for Carol and Kelly Sue, right now. Captain Marvel needs 100% focus on the next 3 years.

[MyriVerse]

Can't say I'm unhappy. Even though I'm a fan of the character it's been a struggle to get through since that whole brain tumour horror show. But I hope we see more of the Banshee Squad (as long as they're not calling themselves the Carol Corps). I liked them.

[RobinFan4880]

I will miss Kelly Sue! She was a great caretaker of the character and really helped to push Carol to preeminence. I wonder who will take over the title?

My bet is that it will need to be a woman and a solid writer. Probably G. Willow Wilson.

[MyriVerse]

You'd never see a male character with her experience, her work history, treated that way or wearing the legless/armless costumes all the time. And, Nick could totally rock a legless costume.

That's just fashion. You see women showing more skin 8 hours per day in every office in the western world than men.