Giving a new look at a conflicting character.
Creative Staff:
Writer: Margaret Stohl
Art: Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Marguerite Sauvage
Colors: Marcio Menyz
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
What They Say:
THE DEFINITIVE ORIGIN OF CAPTAIN MARVEL! Carol Danvers was just a girl from the Boston suburbs who loved science and the Red Sox until a chance encounter with a Kree hero gave her incredible super-powers. Now, she’s a leader in the Avengers and the commander of Alpha Flight. But what if there were more to the story? When crippling anxiety attacks put her on the sidelines in the middle of a fight, Carol finds herself reliving memories of a life she thought was far behind her. You can’t outrun where you’re from — and sometimes, you HAVE to go home again. But there are skeletons in Captain Marvel’s closet — and what she discovers will change her entire world. Written by best-selling author Margaret Stohl and drawn by fan-favorite comics veteran Carlos Pacheco, this is the true origin of Captain Marvel.
Content: (warning, spoilers)
You’d think by now that origin stories for certain characters weren’t needed. Everyone knows how characters like Iron Man, Hulk, and Wonder Woman started out, but sometimes, a fresh look is sorely needed. This brings us to this book here. After Civil War II, Captain Marvel had been dragged through the mud as an authoritarian figure whose desire to stop crimes before they occurred got friends killed and justified these actions nonetheless. After all that’s happened since then, it’s understandable that Carol Danvers would have some pent up anger, and, thanks to some flashbacks we get to see why it’s made worse during a battle, and it also gives us our theme for the issue. Tony Stark has a talk with her (they seem on pretty good terms now) and we find that it’s Father’s Day. Carol never had a good relationship with her father, and things just keep reminding her about him, so on Tony’s advice, she goes to confront all these bad feelings at the source: a suburb in New England.
Carol hasn’t visited or seen her family in years, and her father, we learn, was a big reason for that. We learn through flashbacks and plain dialogue what kind of person her Dad was and why she has such resentment for him. Her brother does not share her view of their father and suggests that she had a reason for coming back since she stayed away so long. Visiting his grave leads to a “long overdue” conversation with her deceased father, and her brother went off driving with a bottle. This doesn’t end very well and Joe is seriously in trouble, by this point this aren’t going too well, and Carol makes some discoveries that really change things!
In Summary:
The main theme of the issue, as stated earlier was Carol’s relationship with her father. He was not only a drunk, but he was abusive as well. Through flashbacks and present-day dialogue with her family we get a pretty clear picture of the kind of man he was, and the note Carol finds really doesn’t help things. She came home to her family to sort out her issues, but it seems that she only made things harder for herself in doing so. By the end, even her Mom thinks she should leave, the look on her face suggesting that she doesn’t really want Carol there now. Carol definitely has family issues and that’s definitely going to be a recurring theme in this series. She does find an odd tech device among her dad’s things, but we don’t know what it really is yet. The big thing this book accomplished was actually making Captain Marvel likable to me again. None of the traits shoved on her in that last event comic are present, and we get a real look at Carol both as herself and as a little girl. This is the most in-depth I have seen Marvel go with her, and it really works! You need to read this book, even if you aren’t a fan of her. It might just make you one! The dialogue feels real and the art is pretty to look at, so it’s got that going for it too. This is a book I honestly think people should seek out and give a chance to, it may just surprise you.
Grade: A
Age Rating: T+
Released By: Marvel Comics
Release Date: July 18, 2018
MSRP: $4.99
