Capt. MARVEL #44: Revenge of the BROOD, part 2, *spoilers* REVIEW

[PolarIceFire]

We start with those eXcellent, 4 preview pages...

SOMEWHERE IN SPACE.

NOTHING ABOUT THIS TRIP IS GOING RIGHT SO FAR.

THERE WAS A TIME WHEN I WOULD HAVE DELIGHTED IN BLOWING APART MY TWO GREATEST ENEMIES--THE BROOD AND ROGUE.

ALAS, I'VE GROWN AND CHANGED, AND NOW I NO LONGER RELISH IT. I DON'T EVEN WANT IT.

GROWTH SUCKS.

From Carol's innner monologue.

where the team's facing off against Brogue and everything goes sideways. Polaris & Wolverine ended up *outside* the ship, while an increasingly worried Gambit & Cap'n M were still inside, being further drained.

Carol tells Remy they're running out of options, and things are getting desperate. They attack, but it does little. CM reaches out to Psylocke with an idea, and through her mental linking they all agree on a plan. Gambit then becomes encased in a "magnetic skinsuit-y thing," via Lorna, obviously. Immediately thereafter, Carol power blasts Brogue right out of the ship, as they intend to...
KILL HER!! Which Kwannon does, by way of incineration, using the Thunderbird's jets.

Back on the main ship, all are eXtremely saddened by what they were forced to do. None more than Remy Lebeau, though, of course. Psylocke sends alert messages back home by both psychic & conventional means, but has reservations on how soon they'll be received, given that they're so far away. Kwannon then takes this opportunity to inform Carol about their recent history with the Brood, they're King Egg, and Broo's coming into power because of it, and how these events now, signal some serious problems since then. CM says the XM can bail if they want considering what just happened, but she's staying 'cause of Binary, who still needs rescuing. There's a moment of silence, then Gambit decides & declares they'll stay to help, 'cause that's what Rogue would want & that's what heroes do. The others are roused by his conviction & determination, but it's made official by Kwannon:

... NANA KOROBI, YA OKI? [To which Hazmat confirms]...
"FALL DOWN SEVEN TIMES, GET UP EIGHT."

It's a real nice, touching moment.

THEN, a ping, it's Binary & she's close. The location's a small planet, and they'll be able to narrow it the closer they get. Once they get there, Polaris wonders are we:

... TO JUST DROP DOWN THERE INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE $#%@ AND BLOW THEM TO SMITHEREENS?

to which Carol concurs, and the others answer with... a RESOUNDING YES!

Carol & Jess [Spider-Woman] have a quiet, intimate moment together, to eXpress their concerns to each other, both for Binary & other personal things [her child, CM's past eXperiences w/the Brood]. It's effectively moving & I fear... foreshadowing. They reach the drop zone, descend upon the swarm of Brood on the planet Ceia II's surface, wherein from *what it looked like*... Cap M almost singlehandedly just lays waste to 'em all by herself.

*Because* SUDDENLY, they're @ the scene of that variant cover by Segovia, dressed to kill at what seems is a... big Shi'ar party, AND...
ROGUE'S ALIVE!!
And Gambit goes to her without hesitation, naturally, while we learn Lorna, Kwannon, & Jessica all wish they had somebody that felt the same way about them. Those 3 just wanna drown their sorrows now, and head towards the bar to numb their feelings of loneliness. Meanwhile, Rogue & Remy, have some... *perceived* romantic time, away from the others. Everyone continues the celebratory reveling, as the narration continues nailing down how it's all seeming a li'l too good to be true, and sure enough...
that's because...
IT'S NOT!!
The last page reveals Carol captured & apparently incapacitated, same as all the others below her, save Rogue...

in what looks like some sorta underground, techno-organic, containment apparatus.

ENJOYED this a lot, the characters, the pacing, the... UNPREDICTABILITY, were...
*ALL* TOP-NOTCH!!!!
Magnetic eXoskeletons?!

[JB]

I thought this was fun and kept a nice flow with the first issue. Of the supporting cast, standout moments for Polaris and Psylocke for me. It was also nice to see Laura and Hazmat off to the side chatting at the gala (even if it was an illusion.)

[PolarIceFire]

I thought this was fun and kept a nice flow with the first issue. Of the supporting cast, standout moments for Polaris and Psylocke for me. It was also nice to see Laura and Hazmat off to the side chatting at the gala (even if it was an illusion.)

They were, and this was 1 of my favorite moments in all respects, creatively speaking.

There was just this quiet realness to it, that was heartfelt & endearing. And it was rendered to reflect it so nicely, I was immediately taken. We could call it...

Kwannon & Lorna
Sad, Beautiful
💜💚

With the simulation or whatever it is, my biggest wonder has been for how long, as in where & when in the story we've had so far?

[JB]

They were, and this was 1 of my favorite moments in all respects, creatively speaking.

There was just this quiet realness to it, that was heartfelt & endearing. And it was rendered to reflect it so nicely, I was immediately taken. We could call it...

Kwannon & Lorna
Sad, Beautiful
����

With the simulation or whatever it is, my biggest wonder has been for how long, as in where & when in the story we've had so far?

Aww I loved that moment and I love "Sad, Beautiful."

Regarding the simulation it seemed to me that it started shortly after they landed on Ceia II. That big blast Carol braced the others for? I feel like maybe it backfired and perhaps knocked some of them out and gave the Brood the opening to overwhelm them.

[NicoPony]

Perfect balance of action to small personal moments that didn’t feel shoehorned in or forced. The cute comment of “Correct.” from Laura while Spiderwoman and CM were chatting brought a little levity.

The art was great to good, they seemed to switch horses midstream. Which was somewhat unfortunate because with all these raven haired ladies, I really can’t tell who is who out of costume. That’s probably my only complaint.

I’m hoping the roasted Brogue wasn’t the real Rogue at all and she turns up soon. Someone’s gotta get the folks out of the simulations.

[Rzerox21xx]

I like how in the party Laura and Jennifer are sitting probably talking about good times in Avengers Academy or maybe bad times in Avengers Arena. Also is Kwannon not happy with Greycrow?

[jwatson]

This was fun and full of action but the cut from carol to the simulation killed all momentum and took me out of the story. I didn't get the Grey Crow thing and that was already after feeling like thompson was really writing betsy instead of kwannon and at the end was like "oh snap i have to have someone call her kwannon once". So yeah that whole transition just did not work for me despite knowing what the intent was after the last page. Some of my fave panels. Polaris was the highlight here for me.

captainmarvel.jpg
captainmarvel1.jpg
captainmarvel3.jpg

And i would have liked if the colorist maybe got to use a bit more of the skin tone pallet.

[AppleJ]

I figured I'd have fun with this, but I enjoyed it even more than I thought.

I really appreciated the difference in THIS Gambit when his wife was under serious duress versus the way he behaved in his last two books. He doesn't moon over Rogue or become incapacitated with grief - the art shows us his grief and suffering in his expression, but Gambit maintains his collected and pragmatic approach fitting of a well seasoned X-Man and experienced thief who is able to make the hard call despite the emotional difficulty.

I LOVED the way Laura supported him and seeing their friendship. God I missed that and it was so subtle and appropriate to them, especially how she just rested her hand on his shoulder.

Really dug the work-around for Laura's powers saving the day. No dice! It was also great seeing each team member getting their moments.

Polaris had a good strong showing and the little reference to her old crush/attraction to Remy was funny.

LOVED Kwannon's quote and how she was able to coordinate the team.

The little Carol-Jess moment was awesome. It's fascinating that Jess hates space when her work wife is the boss of space ... never knew that! And Laura's unintentional eavesdropping was a giggle.

The smash cut was so abrupt, it definitely took me by surprise but in a good way.

I am immediately suspicious of this Rogue ... yet I suspect it might really be her?

Can't wait for the next issue!

[mugiwara]

I sure hope Cap Marvel, Spider Woman and Hazmat were allowed to have a Cerebro back-up, before risking their lives to "save" someone who can just be resurrected.

[jwatson]

I sure hope Cap Marvel, Spider Woman and Hazmat were allowed to have a Cerebro back-up, before risking their lives to "save" someone who can just be resurrected.

I hope you actually read the story since everyone is actually sacraficing themselves to save Binary. lol

[Master of Sound]

So Rogue is set free, correct?

[PolarIceFire]

... Regarding the simulation it seemed to me that it started shortly after they landed on Ceia II. That big blast Carol braced the others for? I feel like maybe it backfired and perhaps knocked some of them out and gave the Brood the opening to overwhelm them.

My first thought at the switch from battle to party was a time jump, but then like you, I kinda came to the conclusion that something went wrong when they got to Ceie II & engaged the Brood. But then I thought about this...

the cover to the neXt issue, #45.

I've considered since that the cover is just that, or there being more than 1 Brogue maybe, but... IDK, their dispatching of her did seem a li'l too convenient in some ways, even when I was actually reading it & before I knew of the end.

Of note, in that final splash page that revealed the ruse, Psylocke was the only one who had some sort of mechanical helmet on her head. This suggests to me that she's probably responsible for their [psychic] dreamworld's party simulation. Which in turn, fed my questioning of eXactly how long the illusion's been in play.

[jwatson]

So Rogue is set free, correct?

In a sense. She was vaporized by the ship weapon. Then they all decided they will stay with Captain Marvel and help her save binary because it's what x-men do. i love all these books telling and showing what heros the xmen are.

[AppleJ]

My first thought at the switch from battle to party was a time jump, but then like you, I kinda came to the conclusion that something went wrong when they got to Ceie II & engaged the Brood. But then I thought about this...

the cover to the neXt issue, #45.

I've considered since that the cover is just that, or there being more than 1 Brogue maybe, but... IDK, their dispatching of her did seem a li'l too convenient in some ways, even when I was actually reading it & before I knew of the end.

Of note, in that final splash page that revealed the ruse, Psylocke was the only one who had some sort of mechanical helmet on her head. This suggests to me that she's probably responsible for their [psychic] dreamworld's party simulation. Which in turn, fed my questioning of eXactly how long the illusion's been in play.

Oooohhhhhhh ... TRUE. I had not considered the unreliable narrator situation could have gone MUCH further back. Hmmm, interesting.

[PolarIceFire]

... Then they all decided they will stay with Captain Marvel and help her save binary because it's what x-men do. i love all these books telling and showing what heros the xmen are.

I do, too. They've always been that way & in that sense, not all that different from the MU's other heroes. It's never been about the what, but the why, some mutants do what they do. Their reasons, their motivations, are just more *finely attuned*... to fighting the good fight.

Speaking of, the more I think about it all, the more Remy's portrayal resonates with me. He was good here, this was a Gambit I'm familiar with & recognized, that I became a fan of all those years ago.

Oooohhhhhhh ... TRUE. I had not considered the unreliable narrator situation could have gone MUCH further back. Hmmm, interesting.

IKR, and... the *draining* of their powers, I keep comin' back to that, it bothers me. I mean, I could be wrong, and am just overthinking it but... somethin' just didn't/doesn't seem right, even before they *supposedly*(?)... got to Ceia II.