Sometimes, a comic book’s first arc can take you completely by surprise because of how just gosh darn good it is. I’ll admit that I had high expectations for the first issue of Captain Marvel and was thrilled when it exceeded them and the rest of the arc kept me entertained. Since July, writer Kelly Sue DeConnick and artists Dexter Soy and Emma Rios have delivered a solidly good book that looks like it will thankfully be around for awhile.
The first, and one of the most important things, that Captain Marvel did was give her a new costume and have her finally take on the mantel of ‘Captain Marvel’. Both of these were excellent upgrades, no matter what naysayers might tell you. As the editor points out in the letter page of the very first issue, her iconic black leotard with a yellow lightning bolt was not exactly a costume that most fathers want their daughters wearing for Halloween. The new costume is not only reasonable but it really helps define and emphasize her new codename which Captain America himself makes an excellent argument for in the first issue.
This very first arc is a time travel one, surprisingly enough. Shortly after taking the Captain Marvel mantel, Carol is left a plane by Helen Cobb, a friend and hero with many a flying record to her name. Carol decides to take the plane up and try and replicate one of Helen’s feats but finds herself sent back in time to 1943, right in the middle of a World War II fight off the coast of Peru.
It is there that she encounters one of the best parts of this arc, a group of Women’s Air Service Pilots called Banshee Squadron. Although they aren’t around for terribly long, they back up Carol in a crazy fight and each manage to hold their own. They are fantastic characters and I certainly wouldn’t be averse to seeing them receive a miniseries in the future. Carol fights back against the Japanese along side the Banshees until the plane reappears and she finds herself moved forward in time… just not all the way. Continue reading
