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.
She’s now in 1961 and finds herself meeting her hero, Helen Cobb, and now a member of the first NASA flying training program for women. But this stop on the time travel trip doesn’t last for very long and both she and Helen find themselves taken forward to a rather momentous event: the day Carol got her powers. It’s an explosive moment to say the least but… well… it’s better if you read it for yourself.
Although time travel can be a tough act to sell, especially for a first arc, DeConnick finds a way to make it work and she does it well. The art by Dexter Soy in the first four issues and by Emma Rios in the last two are critical parts of the book that help it flourish. I can truthfully say that I was floored by Soy’s art in the first issue because it was different from any other book out right and because it was good. Art like Soy’s and Rios’s is such a breath of fresh air especially in comparison to some of the other work out there. DeConnick’s writing plays no small part in the success of this arc and she has absolutely left me wanting to read more.
What really sealed the deal for me about this first arc was actually the final issue. While on the outside, the first arc might just seem like a time travel one, it’s really a story that reaffirms that Carol Danvers was meant to be the superhero Captain Marvel and that being a hero is part of who she is no matter what happens. She has a chance to go back to being a normal person but doesn’t take it because that’s not who she is. Just like Carol says at the end, she’s the best. She’s an Avenger and that club isn’t open to just anyone. She deserves it. This arc takes where Carol is now, ties it to her origins, and presents a story of who she is as a person and as a hero.
I give the first arc of Kelly Sue DeConnick’s Captain Marvel a 4/5 and highly encourage everyone to give it a try.
PS: If we’ve caught your interest and you’d like to start reading Captain Marvel, you’re in luck! Both Issues 7 and 9 will serve as excellent jumping on points. Issues 7 and 8 will be a short arc featuring TWO Captain Marvels as Carol will be teaming up with Monica Rambeau in New Orleans and Issue 9 will bring Carol back to New York.
