Review: MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL #9

Carol Danvers has a lot on her mind, now that she’s back on Earth.

Looking for a job, an apartment and a direction in life, she’s reached that stage that the cynical among us might call typical New Yorker. Danvers is suffering from post Secret Empire Distress. She blames herself for sacrificing Alpha Flight station in order to get the shield down; for not breaking the un-breakable shield around the Earth in time; and for the death of Black Widow. (Why? I’m not sure. She had nothing to do with the fight that lead to her death, that would have been Nazi Captain America and Spider-Man). She really couldn’t have done anything differently, but she feels the weight of the blame nonetheless.

And there’s nothing that her buddies, Jessica Drew and Jessica Jones can really do to help her. Not with introspective nights staring at the stars from the head of the statue of Liberty. Bowling for criminals doesn’t help, nor does a swipe right on Super-Tinder.

Carol has really lost herself in the aftermath of this crisis in a way she didn’t after Civil War II. Much like Civil War, Carol, in this issue, seems to be acting against her character, because Margaret Stohl (Generations: Captain Marvel & Captain Mar-Vell) needs a reason to springboard her into the next arc of adventures. Which is fine, but Carol is a long time super-hero and before that she was an Air Force Major and a spy. She has long ago learned to make the difficult decisions and accept the consequences. While I don’t blame her for mourning the loss of Black Widow, I don’t get why she thinks that death is her fault.

I guess this issue is supposed to be the straw that breaks the camel’s back, but there are better ways that continue to affirm the character that would have her decide to leave Earth and head out into space again.

While, Stohl’s story didn’t do much for me, I enjoyed Ro Stein (Captain America: Steve Rogers, Champions) and Ted Brandt (Unstoppable Wasp, Bitch Planet) work together in this issue. They manage to bring a little balance to the story with their art. Although in places, they have a tendency to stretch out faces, they managed to sell the jokes without undercutting the deeper emotions that ran through the story. I was going to give this book a worse rating, but their work saved it.

I can only hope that, Carol Danvers starts to act like herself once she gets back in space. I really want to see where Captain Marvel is going. I just hope the trip is worth this price of admission.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Writer: Margaret Stohl
Penciller: Ro Stein
Inks: Ted Brandt
Colors: Erick Arciniega

Oh, by the way, with the next issue Marvel’s new numbering system kicks in so we go from Captain Marvel #9 to #125?!?!? (Comics.)

Author Profile

Andy Hall

Sent from the future by our Robot Ape overlords to preserve the timeline. Reading and writing about comics until the revolution comes. All hail the Orangutan Android Solar King!