CAPTAIN MARVEL (2016) #1 Spoilers: Desk Job

[CraigTheCylon]

I have been waiting a whole sodding hour to get this thread up so I better see some goshdarned enthusiasm!

Synopsis:
spoilers:

From the preview pages: We open with Captain Marvel musing about her attitude to life while she and the three core Alpha Flight combat personnel - Puck, Aurora and Sasquatch - form up to smash some errant meteors. When the rocks splinter, their flight paths become erratic, and soon a truly massive meteor looks set to turn Carol into a bug on its windshield. Cut back to the day before, with Carol arriving at the Triskelion for a less-than-reassuring pep talk from War Machine before transporting to the Alpha Flight space station via some kind of light-based space elevator. Up there she gets a formal welcome from some pilots, as well as Puck (who wants an autograph) and Abigail Brand (who does not). Brand wants to drag Carol into a meeting immediately, and cold-shoulders any questions from the captain. Also Rocket Raccoon is stealing some stuff, though Carol politely refuses to let him take a nuke. The meeting is a breathtakingly dull affair about waste disposal that Carol struggles to remain patient with, especially as the contractors - the Eridani - are reneging on their deal. A junior officer interrupts with news of the incoming meteors, and Carol happily abandons the meeting, leaving Brand to deal with it. Back to the present: Carol catches the rock coming for her but gets sandwiched between it and another. Sasquatch zaps the one at her back and she tosses the first away toward the sun. While the team cleans up afterward, Lt. Wendy Kawasaki (holdover character from previous Captain Marvel series) appears to offer some science: the asteroid they just broke was formerly 16 Sars, a registered part of the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, and there was no possibility of a natural collision knocking it toward Earth. Carol suspects it was a deliberate attack. The thought keeps Carol up all night and she sneaks off to the gym, finding Puck already there (he doesn't nap either). They chat, Carol mentioning that Brand hates her guts and is likely sore about not getting the top job, though Puck reveals Brand was offered that job and turned it down. Wendy calls again - going back over surveillance logs, she picked up the energy signature of an Eridani ship parked around 16 Sars moments before its 'collision'. Carol has the Eridani delegates on board put in the brig, much to their annoyance. The alarms go off before an interrogation can occur, however. An unknown vessel has been tracked on approach to the station, and it's not responding to hails. Carol and a full squadron go to intercept, and the mystery ship immediately opens fire on the captain. After a brief skirmish, its guns and engines are trashed, and with it idle, Carol tears open a door to have a look inside. What she finds are long-dead bodies...and her own star symbol embossed on the hull.

end of spoilers

Initial thoughts:
- This issue is packed. Can't stress that enough. There's just so much stuff happening, not just nuggets of characterization - though it certainly has a good number of those - but balanced with a conveyor-trail of important incidents. Honestly, some books take 4-to-5 issues to gather as much momentum as come from this 1.
- In case you were wondering, no, there's nothing here that demands special familiarity with the previous volumes of Captain Marvel or the life of Carol Danvers in general. There's a few callbacks to relations she developed in Kelly Sue DeConnick's run but no "hey, remember that thing that happened in #7 of volume 5" sort of business.
- It's practically unthinkable that this is Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas' first real comics work. They've handled it like pros. Character voices are on-point, page-to-page and panel-to-panel transitions are smooth as silk, there's a winning sense of humour but it doesn't overwhelm the pathos or stakes...couldn't really ask for much more.
- Credit also to Kris Anka and Matt Wilson. Anka's doing brilliant work with expressions, body language and layouts, and the spaceship assault late in the issue - brief though it is - has some excellently-visualized flying. He also seems to be striving to improve on the flaws of his previous works - sometimes I counted as many as five noses on a single page! (yeah, I know, that's mean but I couldn't resist) And Wilson's colours are high-contrast, clear and striking, with a really great distinction between the neutral blues and whites of space and the Alpha Flight base versus the reds and golds of everybody's uniforms.
- Sasquatch has a meditation garden. I just felt like that was worthy of note.
- Abs.
- Already said this on the twits, but if I had to pick a single favourite panel for the issue, it's this:
capmarvelsmile.jpg
That moment, that expression, the caption - it just speaks to Captain Marvel as a character so well. She's not just about facing danger, but embracing it. Perfect.


Getcha comments on.

[Knives]

Looks like it will be a lot of tension between Carol and Brand.

[wwise03]

I'm deciding on whether to make this my first foray into Captain Marvel...looking forward to hearing the consensus opinion on it, but it sounds promising based on what CraigtheCylon said

[lilyinblue]

The worst thing is that I can never get my comics until after work

8 hours to go!

[Anduinel]

It's Babylon 5 with superheroes. With Alpha Flight!

Yup, I'm in love. Gonna be counting the days until the next issue.

[XPac]

It's got the actual Alpha Flight. I guess no lawsuits from the Canadian government will be coming Carols way anytime soon. That's good to know.

[Akktim]

This was really good, definitely buying at least the first arc. I've only read the first issues of KSD's Cap Marvel runs and they never drew me in. This new one on the other hand immediately felt very Captain Marvel in all its action.

[RobinFan4880]

I really enjoyed this issue!

I love the idea of Alpha Flight being the new SWORD. It gives those characters new purpose and their name sounds so much cooler as the defense force of the Earth.

I find it weird that Brand is not the leader of Alpha Flight. She did a good job as head of SWORD. It will be interesting to see why she turned the job down.

Carol was awesome, as always. I think this new job suits her pretty well.

[RafDanvers]

i can say i absolutely loved looooved absolutely everything. Ankas done an AMAZING Carol. Fit, feminine and powerful. Its our old and good Carol with a perfect voice by Tara and Michele. WHAT AN ISSUE! Cant wait for issue 2. Hope this team sticks much longer!

[RobinFan4880]

i can say i absolutely loved looooved absolutely everything. Ankas done an AMAZING Carol. Fit, feminine and powerful.

Forgot to mention that I really like how Carol is drawn here. She is fit and clearly well toned but at the same time she isn't muscle-bound and masculine. It is a difficult balance and Ankas pulled it off superbly.

[ImprobableQuestion]

I can't get behind this book with Anka art - yet. But I'm glad to hear the writing and robustness of the plot is there. The best quality in a book for me is how long it makes those 20-30 pages feel.

How is Agent Brand in this, by the way? As basically the only character from Whedon's X-Men that got any traction I'm obligated to have some appreciation for her.

[RobinFan4880]

I can't get behind this book with Anka art - yet. But I'm glad to hear the writing and robustness of the plot is there. The best quality in a book for me is how long it makes those 20-30 pages feel.

How is Agent Brand in this, by the way? As basically the only character from Whedon's X-Men that got any traction I'm obligated to have some appreciation for her.

She's curt and to the point, as always. It felt like Brand to me.

[Galerion]

Damn I enjoyed this book way more than I imagined I would. Loving Ankas art here and how he makes Carol look really toned. Very good first issue overall

[ed2962]

I thought it was fun enuff, and it was neat to see James, but I hope Kit, Grace Valentine, etc make an appearance this volume

[Holt]

I'm happy they kept over Wendy from the last run.