Captain Marvel is back! After completely revitalising Carol Danvers as a character and creating the fanbase that launched a thousand tumblrs, Kelly Sue DeConnick is back and this time she’s bringing David Lopez in to put ol’ Cap Marvel on a new course for All-New Marvel NOW! Let’s check in, shall we?
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Illustrated by David Lopez
HIGHER, FURTHER, FASTER, MORE begins!
Hero! Pilot! Avenger! Captain Marvel, Earth’s Mightiest Hero with death-defying powers and an attitude to match, is back and launching headfirst into an all-new ongoing series! As Captain Marvel, a.k.a. Carol Danvers, comes to a crossroads with a new life and new romance, she makes a dramatic decision that will alter the course of her life and the entire Marvel Universe in the months to come. It’s time to go HIGHER, FURTHER, FASTER and more in the most super-powered comic around!
Something that has been an on-and-off topic of conversation ever since the New 52 (and probably before, but I only start listening then) is the necessity of the business of refreshing comics. Why do we need new #1s? Why do we need reboots? Etcetera, etcetera. For publishers, it’s an easy answer: because new #1s and reboots are easily marketable to readers looking to hop on the comic reading train. “Hey, that cool comic you saw your friend reading, but don’t where to start and are too shy to ask about? Start here and go forth, young reader.” It’s something that’s trickier to answer from a reader’s perspective however. Reboots and new #1s always run the risk of alienating existing readers by saying that the stories they loved and bought no longer matter in order to facilitate a new direction for the title.
But why, you might be asking, does this matter with “Captain Marvel” #1? Well, because it’s the exact opposite of that. In fact, it’s actually the perfect example of using a new #1 to it’s advantage entirely. Even as a fan of the previous of the previous volume of “Captain Marvel”, thinking it one of the better Marvel titles to be produced in recent years, I found it unfortunate that just as it hit it’s stride around the time of the ‘Enemy Within’ crossover, it was hit with tie-ins to “Infinity” and faltered towards the closer with #17 which really turned it around. With this new #1, DeConnick and Lopez show that with all the prep work in the previous volume establishing Carol’s new role and a wider supporting cast, they can begin work on a new, focused and ultimately more mature thoughtful journey for Carol.
The best thing this issue does is its opening. By opening six weeks ahead of itself, showing Carol as part of an intergalactic team we haven’t been introduced to yet and even ending the segment on a cliffhanger, DeConnick has not only shown the readers what to expect coming up, but also makes them want to know how that gets resolved. It’s a fairly standard opening, creating a framing narrative that people want to see resolved and keeps them invested in the book (hell, it was the entire reason True Detective took off), but DeConnick really makes it work. It’s also a great showcase for David Lopez’s work, who really pulls out all the stops to make this some of his best work to date. While the art style is a bit more conventional than we saw from, say, Dexter Soy of Flipie Andrade, it actually helps set the issue apart from what came before. It opens the book with a bit of action, a bit of intrigue into the new characters and setting and then allows the book to settle in on starting to show how the story gets to that point.
Another thing that makes this issue really stand out against the previous volume is how much more mature the story feels. While it hasn’t lost any of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s now signature witty dialogue or the all-ages, inclusive feel that made the previous volume so approachable, the look at Carol’s life and her restlessness and even her relationship troubles read with a maturity that makes the issue feel very engaging. The issue as a whole is still light and isn’t going to fall into grimdark territory any time soon, but scenes like Carol’s conversation that ends the issue or Kit’s observation on Carol’s restlessness show that DeConnick is taking the series in a direction that will really explore the character emotionally. While it’s not that big a departure from the previous volume seeing as DeConnick did dedicate a bulk of that run to exploring Carol having a brain lesion, it gives the issue a lot of weight which ultimately makes it incredibly engaging from a character standpoint. Carol now has a greater purpose and a greater drive that is sure to give the series a lot of momentum and bring readers along on a ride, if the opening scene is any indication.
Continued belowAs mentioned, this issue marks some of the best work I have ever seen from David Lopez. As much as DeConnick’s writing juggles both lighthearted superhero fun and mature character explorations, so too does Lopez tailor the feel of the page to the content. From fast-paced and meticulous action both off-world and above New York to heartwarming conversations between Carol and Kit to much more serious conversations between Carol and Rhodey, Lopez’s versatility as a storytelling completely lines up with DeConnick’s versatility as a writer and makes them the perfect match. Lopez can bounce from funny to serious to action-y as much as DeConnick can and if there’s anyone who could keep up with her writing on this series, it’s him. Lee Loughridge’s colour art, too, shows an incredible versatility in creating the tone of a page and managing the colours to fit the content of the page. It makes Lopez’s linework really pop during the action and it also gives the more serious moments that little bit more emotional weight. It’s hard not to compare that art here to that of Dexter Soy or Filipe Andrade, who both had incredibly unique styles that defined the issues they worked on, but with Lopez it feels like the writing and artwork are perfectly coordinated.
Ultimately, this issue was just what “Captain Marvel” needed. Instead of just becoming another story arc in the previous series, this feels like a new direction for the character not in terms of story and art, but in tone and content. DeConnick and Lopez really delivered on the necessity of having a new #1 and utilised it to it’s fullest. Not only is it completely accessible to new readers, but it’s expands on what came before and provides a new direction for established readers to follow without discarding the stories that made them fall in love with the character. Marrying that with DeConnick’s excellent writing that shows a focus on mature character exploration that mixes incredibly witty dialogue into the mix and Lopez’s incredibly versatile storytelling that can fit his style to the ever evolving emotional to of the issue and it becomes a rather amazing #1. If that aim was to go higher, further and faster than before, then DeConnick and Lopez have delivered.
Final Verdict: 8.8 – A solid story that really earns its place as a new #1. Buy for old fans and new.
