Ahead of New York Comic-Con this week, Marvel has announced through The New York Times this morning that writer Kelly Thompson, artist Carmen Carnero, and colorist Tamra Bonvillain are relaunching “Captain Marvel” this January. The series will bring Carol Danvers back to New York, having been in space running the Alpha Flight program since 2016. This will see her reconnect with people like Tony Stark (who she went toe-to-toe with in the 2016 event “Civil War II”), Spider-Man, and her best friend Spider-Woman. Thompson also said the book would feature romance for Carol and it “may be someone we all know and have seen before in Marvel Comics,” implying that maybe Carol would continue her ongoing relationship with James “Rhodey” Rhodes. Thompson also said the first arc would have some “unexpected female guest stars.”
Ahead of her debut on the big screen in March in the MCU movie of the same name starring Brie Larson, Thompson described how important it is to get Carol right in this very moment. “You really want her to be accessible to new and younger audiences who are going to see the movie, fall in love and want to seek out other Captain Marvel stories,” Thompson said. “But you really want to respect the fans who have loved the character for decades. I think there’s a razor’s edge there.”
Carol is a character who has been all over the map at Marvel. Created in 1967, Carol Danvers was a member of the US Air Force and came in contact with alien Kree Captain Marvel named Mar-Vell. Eventually, through her exposure to Mar-Vell, Carol manifested powers and became the first Ms. Marvel. Over the years she would take on various code names including Binary and Warbird. In 2012, Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy launched “Captain Marvel,” a series that saw Carol take on the Captain Marvel mantle and get a brand new costume designed by Jamie McKelvie. The series would be relaunched in 2014 with DeConnick and David Lopez on art. Following the events of “Secret Wars,” the series was relaunched again with Agent Carter showrunners Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas on writing duties and Kris Anka on art, which would lead into “Civil War II.” Margaret Stohl took over writing duties on the character following the event with “The Mighty Captain Marvel” series, illustrated by Ramon Rosanas, which led into the current “The Life of Captain Marvel” miniseries from Stohl, Carlos Pacheco, and Maurgerite Sauvage.
Thompson is a Marvel exclusive writer, working currently on “Jessica Jones,” “Mr. and Mrs. X,” “Uncanny X-Men,” and “West Coast Avengers.” She previously co-wrote Carol with DeConnick in 2015 on the “Secret Wars” tie-in “Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps,” and also on “A-Force” in 2016 after taking over the book from G. Willow Wilson. Carnero is perhaps best known for her work on the “DC Comics: Bombshells” books with Maurgerite Bennett, and has worked on other books like “Detective Comics,” and “Wonder Woman” during Rebirth, but most recently pencilled issues of “X-Men: Red.” Bonvillain is a regular colorist at Marvel.
Look for more info to be revealed later this week at New York Comic-Con. You can find the cover for #1 drawn by Amanda Conner below and the first issue in January 2019.
