Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Hero, Vol. 5

Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Hero

by Michele Fazekas (Writer), Tara Butters (Writer), Ruth Gage (Writer)

It's a bold new frontier for Carol Danvers, soaring to ever greater heights as the leader of the all-new Alpha Flight space program! Yup, Alpha Flight - including classic favorites Puck, Sasquatch and Aurora! As Earth's first line of defense, Carol and her team aim to protect the planet from extraterrestrial threats. But can Carol be both a soldier and a diplomat? Don't ask Tony Stark! Because these two old friends are about to face off as bitter enemies in an event that will change Captain Marvel's life forever! As Inhuman visions of the future kick off a second superhuman Civil War, Captain Marvel is at the forefront of the conflict - with Iron Man now her implacable enemy. But when tragedy hits close to home, how far will Carol go to protect what she believes in? COLLECTING: CAPTAIN MARVEL (2016) 1-10

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Science Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 2019

Reviews

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A pretty solid volume. Carol gets appointed as the new commander of this Alpha Flight Space station. Before everyone can get settled in, they have their first threat, a giant space ship floating threw space that seems to be alive even though the crew is all dead. But before they can finish dealing with that, another one shows up but with live soldiers and flight crew on board. Their mission? Destroy everything Kree, which of course would include Captain Marvel. I really enjoyed that first arc. The second half deals with Civil War II. This was pretty solid also seeing what else Carol was dealing with besides the confrontation with Iron Man. But, just like the main event, this one ends without Carol dealing with the fact that she murdered Iron Man, a founding Avenger in front of everyone, if I’m remembering the main story correctly. I mean people are cheering her on at the end of this which I found weird since she just killed one of the biggest heroes. Should have been a trial, a hearing, something. Did no one at Marvel, whether it was the writers or the editors, talk about this? Seems not.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as a standalone which wouldn't really work only I'd been reading other Captain Marvel stories and I saw the movie opening weekend so was able to fill in the gaps on my own.

I liked this story. This gave me my first glimpse at both Captain Marvel's and Carol Danver's personalities. Up until now, I couldn't really get a grasp on her, she seemed so ... nothing. There were attributes given to her - she's stubborn and headstrong, she's fierce and independent - but they were like window dressing, not like part of her character. In this story, I had a better feel for who she was and I enjoyed that.

Also, for some bizarre reason, considering I'm new to this hero and I didn't read vols. 1-4 in this set, having Captain Marvel be the boss of a space station made so much sense.

I might go back and read the rest of this series but...I dunno. I kind of like where I'm at now and don't want to mess that up. Maybe I'll just follow this going forward and call it good.

[Jasna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alpha Flight first half was a little hard for me to follow but overall alright. Same thoughts for different reasons for Civil War II half. Choice awful quotes from that second half:

Some powerful white dude: "I'm not what you'd call a feminist, but I've seen how fast people turn on powerful women the second they make a mistake."

A crowd of people cheering for Captain Marvel:
"Oh my god, it's her!"
"She is so hot."
"That's sexist. And also true."

Captain Marvel: "You mind if I break protocol for a hug? I could use one."
Puck (probably male, teammate): "Don't ask, don't tell."

----

It's just especially sad to see these sorts of unnecessarily annoying and backwards quotes from a (part-woman) writing team for a female superhero comic written between 2018 and 2019. Not to mention all the "guys" and "sir"s referring to women or s mixture of men and women.

Beyond that, I enjoyed the sort of Minority Report/precog/predictive justice dilemma in the Civil War II half. I hear many people don't like how Captain Marvel is characterized in Civil War II. This is the only part of Civil War II I have read, and "Earth's Mightiest Hero" is the only Captain Marvel series I've read, so take my opinion with a grain of salt: but I found her stance and behavior on the whole thing sympathetic and realistic. I don't know if I would've agreed with her, but I didn't find her characterization frustrating or disappointing.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dear Lord, do I ever hate everything to do with Civil War 2...

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This omnibus combines the trades Captain Marvel v1 Alpha Flight (#1-5) and v2 Captain Marvel: Civil War II (#6-10). My separate reviews below:

Captain Marvel v1 Alpha Flight (#1-5)

With Kelly Sue DeConnick off the job, I was worried I wouldn’t like it, but Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters have picked up the torch and are doing a great job. It’s still a lot of fun and full of action. But I don’t know if they quote captured her personality as well as Ms. DeConnick. (Or maybe they just gave all the good lines to Puck.) Nah, I take that back. I think they captured it pretty well.

But there was some great suspense! I can’t imagine having to wait for these books month-to-month.

And, yay! A cameo from my favorite marvel hero! (No, not Santa Claus.)

But the main take away that really scares me?

Words don’t matter.

I’m scared it’s true.

Captain Marvel v2 Civil War II (#6-10)

This started off really frustrating. You read the first issue in this TPB, and then Civil War II basically happens, with some massive stuff going down, then you get to issue #2 in the TPB, and, if you didn't realize that, you're like WTF just happened??

But I was really wondering about where Carol came down in Civil War II, and this book made me feel better about Carol’s options. An interesting conundrum.

[Shyue Chou Chuang · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are actually two stories in this collection. The first is about an approaching alien ship and how Captain Marvel and Alpha Flight dealt with it. It is the usual alien contact story with action-packed clashes, hostility and misunderstanding. It is slightly disjointed and somewhat clichéd.

The second story is basically one of leadership and negotiation, the travails of Captain Marvel in handling the moral quandary of predictive justice. Is it right to capture a villain, thus stopping an impending disaster when it hasn't happened? And so, the answer was to resort to profiling, putting surveillance on people with criminal records! Doh. The leadership and negotiation aspect has Captain Marvel answering to a council from various nations including a Canadian representative who is a thinly disguised Justin Trudeau. The story is alright but can be contrived and is episodic in a way.

Like many of superhero comics these days, there are references to other events that happened in other comics.

The artwork is highly stylised, personally, I don't quite like it, the people looked deformed.

[inhonoredglory · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection really stands out for the first five issues, "The Rise of the Alpha Flight" in which both the art by Kris Anka and the story by Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters excel. The witty conflict between Carol Danvers and Abigail Brand is an awesome example of a well-developed female duo of unique, empowering individuals. In fact, the entire plot of "Alpha Flight" feels like a refreshing step into grounded, fun, multicultural feminine awesomeness.



One thing I really appreciate about this set is Anka's artwork, which renders Captain Marvel as athletic and realistic, with a silhouette that is decidedly not pinup. It really spoiled me when I had to view other artists' renderings of Carol as a 10-heads-tall wisp with a bust that hadn't seen a sports bra since the patriarchy began.

[Shaun · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection basically combines the trade paperbacks Captain Marvel Vol. 1: Rise of Alpha Flight and Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Civil War II. I like the Rise of Alpha Flight issues a lot. Great art, great story, nice characters filling out the roster. Carol's Role at Alpha Flight is a great fit for her. It got me really excite for her future as a character. I'd give that part 4, maybe even 5 stars. Then we have the Civil War 2 section. Leave it to a Marvel "Event" to kill my interest in things. Civil War is basically designed so that no matter what you are going to come away not liking about 1/2 of your favorite heroes. Isn't it fun when the hero you end up not liking is the one whose comic you are reading at the moment?

[Meri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Granted that the CW2 event set the agenda mid-term... and also that the last two issues were better executed in all fronts (art, plot, writing)... but still I found this volume lacking, especially during the first issues.

It felt like a storyboard for a "meh" super hero movie, and I found it a bit shallow and predictable.

I'm sure the team was too pressured by the corporation to release asap and to fit the story to match the CW2 event, but it's a pity they couldn't end up with a better result.

[aCupcakeBlonde · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel like I may have missed something in the middle of this book. Like it didn't include everything in this compilation. Because a certain event came out of nowhere, was not talked about until after the fact and we never saw what happened although people discuss it. Besides that I liked this version of Captain Marvel and her Alpha Flight. The sidekicks were fun, the stories interesting and exciting. Overall a good installment.

[Nuno · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was enjoying the initial issues, then the tie-in stories started... That's kind of annoying for me because I'm not jumping from one title to the other, so I'm a bit lost when that happens. Anyway, it was enjoyable enough, the art is pretty good too.

[Corey · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 Stars.

This was not great. Slow story. Carol's personality was fine, I guess. Puck was the best thing about Alpha Flight. Civil War II tie-ins made sense, but were bland. Hopeful for Carol's future with Kelly Thompson.

[Edward Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid volume - I just wish Marvel would stop restarting the numbering once a year. It's getting beyond a joke!

[Lamar · Rating 5 out of 5]

These Captain Marvel stories are really good and some great artwork!

[Courtney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unfortunately didn’t land the ending for me after the first 4 books with a different writer. I liked the squad energy, but the bureaucracy elements felt heavy handed to me.

[Gary Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 12

[priya · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭑