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The Life of Captain Marvel (2018) #1-5
Captain Marvel: La vie de Captain Marvel
She's one of the mightiest heroes not just on Earth, but in the entire galaxy! Now learn exactly how Carol Danvers became the woman she is - the Avenger she is - in the definitive origin of Captain Marvel! When sudden, crippling anxiety attacks sideline Carol in the middle of a fight, she finds herself reliving memories of a life she thought was far behind her. You can't outrun where you're from - and sometimes, you have to go home again. But while the Captain takes a temporary leave from duty to unravel her past, trouble comes looking for her. A weapon has been unleashed. And Carol's sleepy coastal town is about to become the center of its world. But there are skeletons in Captain Marvel's closet - and what she discovers will change her entire life! Collects: The Life of Captain Marvel #1-5
110 pages, Hardcover
First published February 19, 2019
151 people are currently reading
1130 people want to read
About the author
Margaret Stohl
117 books6,032 followersMargaret Stohl is the #1 New York Times, PW, USA Today, LA Times and Internationally bestselling co-author or author of twelve books, including the BEAUTIFUL CREATURES NOVELS, the DANGEROUS CREATURES NOVELS, the ICONS NOVELS, MARVEL'S BLACK WIDOW NOVELS, ROYCE ROLLS & CATS VS ROBOTS THIS IS WAR (forthcoming!) She writes the MIGHTY CAPTAIN MARVEL comic for Marvel Comics (ongoing) and has contributed to countless videogames; currently, she is a Narrative Director at Bungie.
From the author:
Goodreads Peeps! Please note I no longer review the books on my shelf, "stars"-wise. I do list books I read, and they're all automatically marked as 5 stars. That's because a) I don't list books that I didn't like enough to finish and b) I didn't want to delete the ratings I had already given. If I particularly love a book and feel inclined to comment, you'll still see the comments here. Sadly, I have to ask: please don't reproduce these comments on book jackets, websites, or in any other medium for the marketing of books. They're only meant for fellow goodreaders. Thanks so much!
ABOUT ME:
Writing has gotten me in and out of trouble since I was 15 (back then, mostly just in trouble.) For 10 years, I designed &/or wrote for lots of video games, one of which was nominated for “Most Innovative Game Design,” but I lost to a rapping onion. If you know games you get why my two bad beagles are named Zelda and Kirby.
From the author:
Goodreads Peeps! Please note I no longer review the books on my shelf, "stars"-wise. I do list books I read, and they're all automatically marked as 5 stars. That's because a) I don't list books that I didn't like enough to finish and b) I didn't want to delete the ratings I had already given. If I particularly love a book and feel inclined to comment, you'll still see the comments here. Sadly, I have to ask: please don't reproduce these comments on book jackets, websites, or in any other medium for the marketing of books. They're only meant for fellow goodreaders. Thanks so much!
ABOUT ME:
Writing has gotten me in and out of trouble since I was 15 (back then, mostly just in trouble.) For 10 years, I designed &/or wrote for lots of video games, one of which was nominated for “Most Innovative Game Design,” but I lost to a rapping onion. If you know games you get why my two bad beagles are named Zelda and Kirby.
School: I spent more years in it than a person ever should, because let’s face it, reading books is so much better than having a job. I fell in love with American literature at Amherst and Yale, earned an MA in English from Stanford, and studied creative writing under the late great poet George MacBeth at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. I taught Intro to Film as a TA at Yale and Romantic Poetry as a TA at Stanford. Don’t tell the people at Yale but sometimes I taught the section before I’d seen the movie it was about...
I live in Santa Monica, CA, with my family, most of whom were enslaved into working with me in one form or another on my first YA book for Little, Brown. I’m not kidding; when my daughters wanted to go to school I said “Why are you so selfish? Get back in there and edit,” and by said I mean yelled and maybe threw things, it’s all a haze. Now the Beautiful series has wrapped, but you can see the movie on February 13, 2013 or read my new book ICONS on May 7th. Nothing gold can stay, Ponyboy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 294 reviews
June 20, 2023
Stohl's run nearly two year run is all about this volume - The Life of Captain Marvel: when looking into a childhood trauma takes Carol home where she finds secrets, lies and peril! A clever and well thought out expansion of the Carol Danvers' mythos well worth reading as one of the best Danvers' reads in years!!! The art is wonderful, as are the covers - a book that may open the window for better storytelling for this under utilised character. Solid 8 out of 12, Four Star read.
2019 read
2019 read
August 11, 2022
Good God, that was awful. The Marvel dumpster fire is at it again. Why would you retcon the origin of a character right as their movie is coming out? "Hey, all you first time readers who think Captain Marvel is cool now that you saw her badass self on the big screen. Let me show you how everything we just showed you in the movie is wrong."
This wasn't just a poor business decision, the writing is terrible. It's filled with this half-ass family drama that can't seem to stick to a single thread. First, your dad is an abusive father. Then, it's just that he was trying to protect you and couldn't handle the pressure. Plus, let's throw in a poorly thought out brain injury. It's all just so damn boring. And that new origin is just dumb. It takes away all the things Carol struggled for and pushed through to get what she wanted. "Eh, it all didn't really matter, because you secretly had superpowers, even though Kree don't have superpowers." The antagonist at the end feels really tacked on just so there can be some kind of superheroics in the book. This book is a real turkey. It makes me physically ill just thinking about it. I guarantee a year from now this new origin gets swept back under the rug like it never happened.
Get with the program Marvel. You just delivered a kick ass movie that's far better than any Captain Marvel comic you've ever produced. Put some actual good talent on Carol Danvers while she's in the spotlight. She's a great character just waiting for the right talent to write her into some good stories.
This wasn't just a poor business decision, the writing is terrible. It's filled with this half-ass family drama that can't seem to stick to a single thread. First, your dad is an abusive father. Then, it's just that he was trying to protect you and couldn't handle the pressure. Plus, let's throw in a poorly thought out brain injury. It's all just so damn boring. And that new origin is just dumb. It takes away all the things Carol struggled for and pushed through to get what she wanted. "Eh, it all didn't really matter, because you secretly had superpowers, even though Kree don't have superpowers." The antagonist at the end feels really tacked on just so there can be some kind of superheroics in the book. This book is a real turkey. It makes me physically ill just thinking about it. I guarantee a year from now this new origin gets swept back under the rug like it never happened.
Get with the program Marvel. You just delivered a kick ass movie that's far better than any Captain Marvel comic you've ever produced. Put some actual good talent on Carol Danvers while she's in the spotlight. She's a great character just waiting for the right talent to write her into some good stories.
May 21, 2019
"Just breathe, Carol. This is . . . too much. My family's tripping me out, Chewie." -- Carol "Captain Marvel" Danvers, speaking to her pet Flerken (or is she giving an opinion on the book's storyline?)
By the rating it's obvious that I didn't think this was a particularly great volume, especially when stuck in the shadow of her big-screen debut two months ago. (Maybe that's an unfair apples vs. oranges comparison, but still . . . the movie version hit mostly the right notes while this unrelated book is often tone deaf.) A perfect hero or heroine is boring, but the direction taken here - with the panic / anxiety attacks and then the belabored family-related issues - did not seem to be a good fit or believable for the character in providing the intended crack in her figurative armor. (Although there was a too- brief but comforting early scene where her Avengers teammates - in quick cameo appearances - are there for her.) It was a forgettable story with a handful of good action scenes.
By the rating it's obvious that I didn't think this was a particularly great volume, especially when stuck in the shadow of her big-screen debut two months ago. (Maybe that's an unfair apples vs. oranges comparison, but still . . . the movie version hit mostly the right notes while this unrelated book is often tone deaf.) A perfect hero or heroine is boring, but the direction taken here - with the panic / anxiety attacks and then the belabored family-related issues - did not seem to be a good fit or believable for the character in providing the intended crack in her figurative armor. (Although there was a too- brief but comforting early scene where her Avengers teammates - in quick cameo appearances - are there for her.) It was a forgettable story with a handful of good action scenes.
January 16, 2019
Marvel's bizarre character assassination of Carol Danvers continues with this absolutely abysmal retcon of her origin story. What was that shit and who needed this to exist?! I feel like I've watched a particularly terrible episode of a daytime soap opera. As if Carol's personal story needed any more artificially added trauma and melodrama, she now also has Crippling Anxiety Attacks® and a history of Childhood Abuse™️, something young adult writers seem to have a major hard-on for. I'm so tired of seeing these serious issues being almost fetishised in modern media and used so clumsily that it comes off as comical more than anything else. This is not what representation should look like! And don't even get me started on the whole villain thing in here, I felt actually getting dumber while reading this story. Y'know, I am by no means a fan of Kelly Thompson, but I can't imagine her run being any worse than this. And to think Marvel is putting out this crap right before the highly anticipated movie, this book has the potential to put thousands of people off reading comics ever again. Hey guys, want to read an actually good comic about Carol Danvers? Check out Kelly Sue DeConnick's run. Hey Marvel, want people to not hate your first female superhero to star in her own film? Stop publishing crap comics like this. Also, release a $75 omnibus of Kelly Sue's run already instead of reprinting those pointless Starlin comics about Mar-Vell that nobody will ever want to read.
March 11, 2019
I've read some bad 'Captain Marvel' comics, but 'The Life of Captain Marvel' is the first to be rated one star by me. Because it pissed me off that much.
These recent Marvel comics to feature Carol Danvers have been part of a cycle of disappointments and disasters, barely avoiding a black hole, and I feel I can't remain silent about it. After Margaret Stohl's disappointing 'The Mighty Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: Alien Nation' from two years previously, I thought I would not be hyped by a new Carol story again. But then I was willing to give Ms. Stohl another chance when I heard about 'The Life of Captain Marvel', which was meant to take Earth's mightiest hero back to her roots, and show her regain her lost confidence, strength and glorious passion and asskicking that had made her so popular with comic book readers to begin with.
And to its credit, it does start out quite promising. Carol Danvers, haunted by painful memories during a fight on Father's Day, flies back to the South, to the hometown of her childhood, where she is desperately trying to come to terms with the abuse inflicted on herself and her two brothers by her alcoholic father, now deceased and unable to answer her many questions on why he did what he did. Her mother, who also appears to be as much of a victim of unfortunate circumstances at the hands of Joseph Danvers, isn't giving Carol satisfactory answers. (Her brothers are older than her here, instead of younger, like in previous canon, but whatever.) She wants to understand her father, while simultaneously hating him for the suffering he caused her and the rest of her family. Now those issues will never be fully resolved.
A realistic exploration of family issues (and how there is no family that doesn't have them, or doesn't have things they don't want to talk about); a great opportunity for character development and rising from the ashes; rising from latent, long-term PTSD; reaching for the sky and doing better than the grounds you were born in; and a growing mother-and-daughter bond in light of childhood domestic abuse at the father's hands, now finally being discussed. It's brilliant stuff, if treated with the care and respect that it warrants, and it is just what Carol needs. It's a perfect opportunity for Marvel to finally rescue and redeem her character; to bring her back to her old lovable and charming self, only now she's more experienced, nuanced, and FREE internally as an adult woman, and as the greatest superhero on earth.
Then it all went to shit.
'The Life of Captain Marvel' isn't merely a bad comic. It may have ruined Captain Marvel herself for good. It ruins everything about her, and I am not exaggerating. Doesn't anyone at Marvel know what they're doing anymore? Do they care?
What destroys Carol Danvers and everything that makes her her is a major spoiler reveal, so be warned. Not that I would ever recommend that anyone read this, it's just that it's really, really, really bad. Like inmates running the asylum bad.
Okay, here it is. You ready?:
Another reason to hate this sodding comic is that Carol's brother, Stevie - who is also dead, we're not told how - is barely mentioned. It has no impact, no emotional weight to Carol's character whatsoever. Her mother doesn't even mention him. What wonderful people.
There's also a completely unnecessary love interest for Carol, Who-Gives-A-Fuck Jr., or something. He's been her creepy stalker since they were kids, and when their town gets attacked by aliens, he says to Carol, and this is a direct quote: "What's the use of this place being the "summer home to a super hero" if you're not gonna come when we're being--" before he is interrupted. What a catch. He's an entitled, passive-aggressive, insulting, dickhead Nice Guy who has no respect for Carol's personal space. The love story is beyond pointless. Carol and WGAF Jr. share nothing and have no chemistry.
But what pisses me off the most, aside from the terrible retcon, is that CAROL NEVER DOES ANYTHING HEROIC THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE COMIC! She doesn't grow, she doesn't become stronger mentally and emotionally, she fails at saving people all the time, and she's an uncertain, pathetic mess the whole time she's at her old home, which is where the plot is set. She achieves nothing; any success against adversity is done by someone else, for her. In fact, it is her fault that the Kree villain comes to earth in the first place, with her hitting that tracking device thing she found in her home.
Way to make your strong female protagonist useless, ineffectual and profoundly stupid in her own story! It's not like she's an important, established Marvel superhero with her own movie coming up or anything!
The story itself is boring, as well. There are hardly any stakes, the villain isn't memorable or interesting, or a threat worthy of Captain Marvel, who has saved the world multiple times on a massive scale. This is such a disservice.
Right, I'm done.
I am angry enough to boycott Marvel. Again. Maybe the company should bring Kelly Sue DeConnick back, as it seems that Margaret Stohl doesn't know what she's doing with Earth's mightiest hero. I miss the confident, sassy, smart, witty, compassionate, leading, and genuinely heroic Carol Danvers, who I admire to the stars and back. And that damn retcon is a mistake that needs to be undone. It is not canon in my eyes, it can't be.
It seems that ever since Civil War II, Captain Marvel has been broken beyond repair. No one seems to know what to do with her anymore.
'The Life of Captain Marvel' - the final insult.
Let the movie be good, please. I can't stand anymore disappointment.
Final Score: 1/5
EDIT: Tony Stark also mentions Midichlorians un-ironically. This comic is a garbage mine.
EDIT 2: I saw the film, and I'll let my blog post speak for itself:
''Captain Marvel' - it is awesome. It is about women taking back their own power and potential from warmongering men wanting to keep them in their place in a corrupt, violent, domineering system. It is about women supporting and inspiring women, and racism and colonialism. There are more than not one but two black characters AND NONE OF THEM DIE, and I dare anyone to name another movie where a superheroine flies around and fights in space, triumphant and cheerful, by herself as the main hero. She doesn't kill unnecessarily, and no matter how powerful she is, she knows she has nothing to prove to men. It is her heart that is most important. As well as brains, selflessness and piloting skills. Plus, THERE IS NO ROMANCE! IMAGINE, A STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST STORY WITH NO ROMANCE IN SIGHT! THAT IN OF ITSELF IS REVOLUTIONARY!
Bottom line, go see it.'
THANK YOU Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck! I can continue loving Captain Marvel again! Screw you, comic.
These recent Marvel comics to feature Carol Danvers have been part of a cycle of disappointments and disasters, barely avoiding a black hole, and I feel I can't remain silent about it. After Margaret Stohl's disappointing 'The Mighty Captain Marvel, Vol. 1: Alien Nation' from two years previously, I thought I would not be hyped by a new Carol story again. But then I was willing to give Ms. Stohl another chance when I heard about 'The Life of Captain Marvel', which was meant to take Earth's mightiest hero back to her roots, and show her regain her lost confidence, strength and glorious passion and asskicking that had made her so popular with comic book readers to begin with.
And to its credit, it does start out quite promising. Carol Danvers, haunted by painful memories during a fight on Father's Day, flies back to the South, to the hometown of her childhood, where she is desperately trying to come to terms with the abuse inflicted on herself and her two brothers by her alcoholic father, now deceased and unable to answer her many questions on why he did what he did. Her mother, who also appears to be as much of a victim of unfortunate circumstances at the hands of Joseph Danvers, isn't giving Carol satisfactory answers. (Her brothers are older than her here, instead of younger, like in previous canon, but whatever.) She wants to understand her father, while simultaneously hating him for the suffering he caused her and the rest of her family. Now those issues will never be fully resolved.
A realistic exploration of family issues (and how there is no family that doesn't have them, or doesn't have things they don't want to talk about); a great opportunity for character development and rising from the ashes; rising from latent, long-term PTSD; reaching for the sky and doing better than the grounds you were born in; and a growing mother-and-daughter bond in light of childhood domestic abuse at the father's hands, now finally being discussed. It's brilliant stuff, if treated with the care and respect that it warrants, and it is just what Carol needs. It's a perfect opportunity for Marvel to finally rescue and redeem her character; to bring her back to her old lovable and charming self, only now she's more experienced, nuanced, and FREE internally as an adult woman, and as the greatest superhero on earth.
Then it all went to shit.
'The Life of Captain Marvel' isn't merely a bad comic. It may have ruined Captain Marvel herself for good. It ruins everything about her, and I am not exaggerating. Doesn't anyone at Marvel know what they're doing anymore? Do they care?
What destroys Carol Danvers and everything that makes her her is a major spoiler reveal, so be warned. Not that I would ever recommend that anyone read this, it's just that it's really, really, really bad. Like inmates running the asylum bad.
Okay, here it is. You ready?:
Another reason to hate this sodding comic is that Carol's brother, Stevie - who is also dead, we're not told how - is barely mentioned. It has no impact, no emotional weight to Carol's character whatsoever. Her mother doesn't even mention him. What wonderful people.
There's also a completely unnecessary love interest for Carol, Who-Gives-A-Fuck Jr., or something. He's been her creepy stalker since they were kids, and when their town gets attacked by aliens, he says to Carol, and this is a direct quote: "What's the use of this place being the "summer home to a super hero" if you're not gonna come when we're being--" before he is interrupted. What a catch. He's an entitled, passive-aggressive, insulting, dickhead Nice Guy who has no respect for Carol's personal space. The love story is beyond pointless. Carol and WGAF Jr. share nothing and have no chemistry.
But what pisses me off the most, aside from the terrible retcon, is that CAROL NEVER DOES ANYTHING HEROIC THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE COMIC! She doesn't grow, she doesn't become stronger mentally and emotionally, she fails at saving people all the time, and she's an uncertain, pathetic mess the whole time she's at her old home, which is where the plot is set. She achieves nothing; any success against adversity is done by someone else, for her. In fact, it is her fault that the Kree villain comes to earth in the first place, with her hitting that tracking device thing she found in her home.
Way to make your strong female protagonist useless, ineffectual and profoundly stupid in her own story! It's not like she's an important, established Marvel superhero with her own movie coming up or anything!
The story itself is boring, as well. There are hardly any stakes, the villain isn't memorable or interesting, or a threat worthy of Captain Marvel, who has saved the world multiple times on a massive scale. This is such a disservice.
Right, I'm done.
I am angry enough to boycott Marvel. Again. Maybe the company should bring Kelly Sue DeConnick back, as it seems that Margaret Stohl doesn't know what she's doing with Earth's mightiest hero. I miss the confident, sassy, smart, witty, compassionate, leading, and genuinely heroic Carol Danvers, who I admire to the stars and back. And that damn retcon is a mistake that needs to be undone. It is not canon in my eyes, it can't be.
It seems that ever since Civil War II, Captain Marvel has been broken beyond repair. No one seems to know what to do with her anymore.
'The Life of Captain Marvel' - the final insult.
Let the movie be good, please. I can't stand anymore disappointment.
Final Score: 1/5
EDIT: Tony Stark also mentions Midichlorians un-ironically. This comic is a garbage mine.
EDIT 2: I saw the film, and I'll let my blog post speak for itself:
''Captain Marvel' - it is awesome. It is about women taking back their own power and potential from warmongering men wanting to keep them in their place in a corrupt, violent, domineering system. It is about women supporting and inspiring women, and racism and colonialism. There are more than not one but two black characters AND NONE OF THEM DIE, and I dare anyone to name another movie where a superheroine flies around and fights in space, triumphant and cheerful, by herself as the main hero. She doesn't kill unnecessarily, and no matter how powerful she is, she knows she has nothing to prove to men. It is her heart that is most important. As well as brains, selflessness and piloting skills. Plus, THERE IS NO ROMANCE! IMAGINE, A STRONG FEMALE PROTAGONIST STORY WITH NO ROMANCE IN SIGHT! THAT IN OF ITSELF IS REVOLUTIONARY!
Bottom line, go see it.'
THANK YOU Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck! I can continue loving Captain Marvel again! Screw you, comic.
March 5, 2019
3.5 stars
This is an interesting comic. As I write this, I'm reminded that I haven't read a Carol book I truly loved since Kelly Sue DeConnick. The series with Alpha Flight did absolutely nothing for me. I'm reluctant to try Thompson's because I'm not a fan of her writing in general. Carol's been written horribly during the Civil War II era and Hickman gave her 0 personality in his Avengers runs. Let's not talk about Aaron's Avengers book because, good god, that book is terrible.
So, all this to say that I'm a tad more forgiving of the issues I had with this series because Stohl is one of the only writers in recent history to give me a story about Carol's strength and the importance of her relationships with other people. This book really highlights the relationship between Carol and her mother and that's such a rarity in comics today. Hell, it's a rarity in the films that the mothers are actually present. It was refreshing.
This book retconned the origin of Carol's powers and I actually really liked that. It was a nice way to say Carol is powerful because she just is. She isn't powerful because her strength came from a man. This was a choice I support.
I wasn't a huge fan of the implication that her father was trying to protect her all along. I finished the book feeling a bit like that was an attempt to explain away that Joe was awful for that reason only. I'm sure that wasn't Stohl's intention but... it kind of read that way.
Anyway, I enjoyed this. It was a great way to showcase the softer side of the character without diminishing her strength. Stohl wrote the relationship between Tony and Carol beautifully. I pray they let her take over for Carol again. I also hope they give Stohl a shot at an Avengers book because this is the first book I've read in a long, long time that gets at the relationship between the two characters.
This is an interesting comic. As I write this, I'm reminded that I haven't read a Carol book I truly loved since Kelly Sue DeConnick. The series with Alpha Flight did absolutely nothing for me. I'm reluctant to try Thompson's because I'm not a fan of her writing in general. Carol's been written horribly during the Civil War II era and Hickman gave her 0 personality in his Avengers runs. Let's not talk about Aaron's Avengers book because, good god, that book is terrible.
So, all this to say that I'm a tad more forgiving of the issues I had with this series because Stohl is one of the only writers in recent history to give me a story about Carol's strength and the importance of her relationships with other people. This book really highlights the relationship between Carol and her mother and that's such a rarity in comics today. Hell, it's a rarity in the films that the mothers are actually present. It was refreshing.
This book retconned the origin of Carol's powers and I actually really liked that. It was a nice way to say Carol is powerful because she just is. She isn't powerful because her strength came from a man. This was a choice I support.
I wasn't a huge fan of the implication that her father was trying to protect her all along. I finished the book feeling a bit like that was an attempt to explain away that Joe was awful for that reason only. I'm sure that wasn't Stohl's intention but... it kind of read that way.
Anyway, I enjoyed this. It was a great way to showcase the softer side of the character without diminishing her strength. Stohl wrote the relationship between Tony and Carol beautifully. I pray they let her take over for Carol again. I also hope they give Stohl a shot at an Avengers book because this is the first book I've read in a long, long time that gets at the relationship between the two characters.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 13, 2019
This was my first intro into Capt Marvel. Not sure it was the best place. Interesting back story but was a little bored at places. The villain was overly cliched.
December 28, 2018
This is a garbage fire from start to finish.
It's so poorly written that it verges on incoherent. Much like Stohl's previous run on Captain Marvel, this book is painfully clunky, poorly-paced and heavy on the cringe. Every single character is bland and unlikeable.
I've seen this story praised for showing Carol's 'humanity' and 'vulnerability', and certainly I think that's what Stohl is aiming for. But the emotional moments are almost all unearned, characters flailing around and screaming and crying and behaving irrationally for no other reason than that the story demands drama.
A prime example is Carol's sudden onset of anxiety attacks, which are shoehorned into the story purely to (a) introduce a rather ugly and unnecessary retcon that turns her father from an emotionally distant parent who withheld his approval to a full-on abusive drunk, and (b) heighten the melodrama at key moments by, for instance, having Carol hyperventilate so hard she falls into a conveniently-placed lake and has to be saved from drowning.
As somebody who actually does have anxiety, I can't decide whether I'm offended or just amused. It's a clumsily tone-deaf portrayal of mental illness that uses panic attacks as a vehicle for drama, but it's so idiotically over-the-top that it's almost funny.
But the real crime is in what the book does to Carol's origin story.
It's understandable, in light of the upcoming movie, that Marvel wanted to reconfigure Carol's backstory and de-emphasise the role of Mar-Vell in her origin. Previous writers, particularly Kelly-Sue Deconnick, have handled this quite effectively by shifting the emphasis of that original story, making it about Carol's courage and willpower and need to fight back being made manifest by a piece of Kree technology. Willpower, drive and ambition are a big theme with Carol.
This story goes for a more hamfisted approach, moving Carol's origin away from Mar-Vell by shoehorning in a new legacy - one that spits on her personal drive. It turns her grit and perseverance into ~destiny~ and claims credit for all her ambitions. In trying to assert Carol as a hero in her own right, this story actually serves to stifle her independence and free will.
It's so poorly written that it verges on incoherent. Much like Stohl's previous run on Captain Marvel, this book is painfully clunky, poorly-paced and heavy on the cringe. Every single character is bland and unlikeable.
I've seen this story praised for showing Carol's 'humanity' and 'vulnerability', and certainly I think that's what Stohl is aiming for. But the emotional moments are almost all unearned, characters flailing around and screaming and crying and behaving irrationally for no other reason than that the story demands drama.
A prime example is Carol's sudden onset of anxiety attacks, which are shoehorned into the story purely to (a) introduce a rather ugly and unnecessary retcon that turns her father from an emotionally distant parent who withheld his approval to a full-on abusive drunk, and (b) heighten the melodrama at key moments by, for instance, having Carol hyperventilate so hard she falls into a conveniently-placed lake and has to be saved from drowning.
As somebody who actually does have anxiety, I can't decide whether I'm offended or just amused. It's a clumsily tone-deaf portrayal of mental illness that uses panic attacks as a vehicle for drama, but it's so idiotically over-the-top that it's almost funny.
But the real crime is in what the book does to Carol's origin story.
It's understandable, in light of the upcoming movie, that Marvel wanted to reconfigure Carol's backstory and de-emphasise the role of Mar-Vell in her origin. Previous writers, particularly Kelly-Sue Deconnick, have handled this quite effectively by shifting the emphasis of that original story, making it about Carol's courage and willpower and need to fight back being made manifest by a piece of Kree technology. Willpower, drive and ambition are a big theme with Carol.
This story goes for a more hamfisted approach, moving Carol's origin away from Mar-Vell by shoehorning in a new legacy - one that spits on her personal drive. It turns her grit and perseverance into ~destiny~ and claims credit for all her ambitions. In trying to assert Carol as a hero in her own right, this story actually serves to stifle her independence and free will.
January 24, 2019
A bad bad bad cliched riddled piece of unnecessary retcon
World: The art is okay, it’s nothing special but it is the best thing about the series and that’s saying a lot. The world buildilng, where do I even start. Yes there is a movie coming, yes Marvel is trying to distance Carol Danvers from Hal Jordan Green Lantern but wow this retcon of Carol’s origins is making things just so much worse. Carol has been a problem within Marvel for a while, her origins and her run as Ms. Marvel is iconic...like Hank Pym is iconic...that bad kind. Ever since Kelley Sue Deconnick has come in and made her kinda awesome again Marvel keeps trying to go back to her past and fixing things. We don’t need a change in the world we just need to step away from it and just let it go. This new world building retcon attempt is just terrible. It’s choked full of cliches and pieces of other character origins and stupid contrived melodrama to make your head spin. The world buliding sucks here cause it’s so half assed, it takes everything away from her and makes readers who know comic book compare her EVEN MORE to Hal. Where Hal overcame fear to become the Green Lantern, we have pretty much the opposite here, she’s undeserving of her renown and power because of the world buiding and the story here. Why is there a need to change Mum and her origin just to make her essentially MCU Star Lord, Aquaman and all the other mixed superheroes running around, what’s the problem with it being an accident like the Fantastic Four? There is absolutely no need to change that, what’s wrong with the Psych Magnatron? Stupidity.
Story: Wow is this ever bad writing. The story is choppy, scene cuts between places and action lead nowhere, the town stuff with donut boy and then sudden alien thing and then past thing, this is so poorly constructed. Then you look at the pieces and it makes you even more annoyed, the really cheesy wah wah daddy was bad melodrama added here is so bad and takes a lot of the strength out of Carol as a character (more below) and how the entire romance was handled that was bad. Add to that the stuff with brother and also father oh man this book is so stupid and needless and in the end if this is the origin retcon story we are getting I don’t understand the need for it. What part of this story makes Carol a more interesting character or makes her more original? This is Green Lantern mashed with Days of Our Lives mixed with Aquaman and all manner of comic book cliches? What happens to mum in the end is also absolutely pointless? What purpose does it serve? Can she not have a family member to talk to? Instead of Mum not liking Hal joining the Airforce we have Dad...wow so original. This is just a bad sad excuse of a retcon that does nothing good and makes it worse.
Characters: Wow that romance between Mum and Dad makes no sense, we have to at once think it’s the most beautiful romance star crossed story ever and also the worse domestic abuse story at the same time just so Stohl can make her terrible story work? Was there no editor at Marvel looking at this story? How was this approved for a hero that is about to get her own movie? How is this a good story? It makes no sense? Then there is the need to change the very nature of Carol and where she’s from and where her powers come from which is honestly pointless and serves no purpose. The half baked relationship with donut boy and the half assed relationship with the brother and the half assed relationship with Mum. What is this terrible book I’m reading with these terrible characters? Soap Opera’s have better characters.
This book is a travesty and I am so glad that Stohl is off this book and off this character, her run has been terrible and this last cherry on top of a retcon makes her run truly without a doubt the weakest in the modern era.
Onward to the next book!
World: The art is okay, it’s nothing special but it is the best thing about the series and that’s saying a lot. The world buildilng, where do I even start. Yes there is a movie coming, yes Marvel is trying to distance Carol Danvers from Hal Jordan Green Lantern but wow this retcon of Carol’s origins is making things just so much worse. Carol has been a problem within Marvel for a while, her origins and her run as Ms. Marvel is iconic...like Hank Pym is iconic...that bad kind. Ever since Kelley Sue Deconnick has come in and made her kinda awesome again Marvel keeps trying to go back to her past and fixing things. We don’t need a change in the world we just need to step away from it and just let it go. This new world building retcon attempt is just terrible. It’s choked full of cliches and pieces of other character origins and stupid contrived melodrama to make your head spin. The world buliding sucks here cause it’s so half assed, it takes everything away from her and makes readers who know comic book compare her EVEN MORE to Hal. Where Hal overcame fear to become the Green Lantern, we have pretty much the opposite here, she’s undeserving of her renown and power because of the world buiding and the story here. Why is there a need to change Mum and her origin just to make her essentially MCU Star Lord, Aquaman and all the other mixed superheroes running around, what’s the problem with it being an accident like the Fantastic Four? There is absolutely no need to change that, what’s wrong with the Psych Magnatron? Stupidity.
Story: Wow is this ever bad writing. The story is choppy, scene cuts between places and action lead nowhere, the town stuff with donut boy and then sudden alien thing and then past thing, this is so poorly constructed. Then you look at the pieces and it makes you even more annoyed, the really cheesy wah wah daddy was bad melodrama added here is so bad and takes a lot of the strength out of Carol as a character (more below) and how the entire romance was handled that was bad. Add to that the stuff with brother and also father oh man this book is so stupid and needless and in the end if this is the origin retcon story we are getting I don’t understand the need for it. What part of this story makes Carol a more interesting character or makes her more original? This is Green Lantern mashed with Days of Our Lives mixed with Aquaman and all manner of comic book cliches? What happens to mum in the end is also absolutely pointless? What purpose does it serve? Can she not have a family member to talk to? Instead of Mum not liking Hal joining the Airforce we have Dad...wow so original. This is just a bad sad excuse of a retcon that does nothing good and makes it worse.
Characters: Wow that romance between Mum and Dad makes no sense, we have to at once think it’s the most beautiful romance star crossed story ever and also the worse domestic abuse story at the same time just so Stohl can make her terrible story work? Was there no editor at Marvel looking at this story? How was this approved for a hero that is about to get her own movie? How is this a good story? It makes no sense? Then there is the need to change the very nature of Carol and where she’s from and where her powers come from which is honestly pointless and serves no purpose. The half baked relationship with donut boy and the half assed relationship with the brother and the half assed relationship with Mum. What is this terrible book I’m reading with these terrible characters? Soap Opera’s have better characters.
This book is a travesty and I am so glad that Stohl is off this book and off this character, her run has been terrible and this last cherry on top of a retcon makes her run truly without a doubt the weakest in the modern era.
Onward to the next book!
March 21, 2019
There's a definite challenge to retconning a character's back story, one that this book falls prey to. I'm not overly familiar with Captain Marvel's history, but what this story does to her origin seems to me to weaken the character. The story is also focused on relationship issues, with abuse, adultery, crippling injury and teen angst all coming into play, although to her credit Margaret Stohl does manage to subvert some of the tropes. But by recasting Carol Danvers' history in this manner, it feels like it undercuts what makes her a strong character, throwing her toward the hero's journey rather than letting her be someone who achieved so much on her own, rather than by dint of fate.
Carol goes home to New England to recover from some emotional issues, and instead uncovers a whole trove of family history that might have best been left buried. That makes up the bulk of the story, although there's an antagonist who is shoehorned in just so there's a little bit of super hero action. This really didn't work for me - Carol in crisis seems out of character and not much fun to read, and the focus on family secrets seems like the wrong scope for Captain Marvel. Maybe it was my expectations were wrong, but I was severely underwhelmed, in spite of some nice artwork. There are better Captain Marvel stories to read, and I'm guessing the retcon done here doesn't really stick, just from the other stories I've read, so that's no reason to pick it up either.
Carol goes home to New England to recover from some emotional issues, and instead uncovers a whole trove of family history that might have best been left buried. That makes up the bulk of the story, although there's an antagonist who is shoehorned in just so there's a little bit of super hero action. This really didn't work for me - Carol in crisis seems out of character and not much fun to read, and the focus on family secrets seems like the wrong scope for Captain Marvel. Maybe it was my expectations were wrong, but I was severely underwhelmed, in spite of some nice artwork. There are better Captain Marvel stories to read, and I'm guessing the retcon done here doesn't really stick, just from the other stories I've read, so that's no reason to pick it up either.
Read
June 20, 2020I know very little about Captain Marvel, but by the end of this book I don't know how to feel about Captain Marvel ...
PS: the artwork is lovely, though.
PS: the artwork is lovely, though.
March 7, 2019
Надихнувшись переглядом фільму, захотілося дізнатися більше про героїню.
Ці випуски рекомендовано до прочитання, якщо бажаєте познайомитися з історією Капітана Марвел у хронологічному порядку.
Тут ми дізнаємося про привидів минулого Керол та її справжню сутність, їі родину та друзів дитинства.
І, враховуючи, що про Капітана до цього я знала дуже мало, цей комікс привніс мені зрив мозку одним несподіваним фактом 🤯
Але без спойлерів. Без спойлерів 😅
Ці випуски рекомендовано до прочитання, якщо бажаєте познайомитися з історією Капітана Марвел у хронологічному порядку.
Тут ми дізнаємося про привидів минулого Керол та її справжню сутність, їі родину та друзів дитинства.
І, враховуючи, що про Капітана до цього я знала дуже мало, цей комікс привніс мені зрив мозку одним несподіваним фактом 🤯
Але без спойлерів. Без спойлерів 😅
March 22, 2019
Hoooo boy, what a goddamn shit show this was.
I'm on record as saying that poor Carol hasn't recovered from the loss of Kelly Sue DeConnick. Sure, there was that excellent first volume where she was chilling with Alpha Flight by the team behind AGENT CARTER...but that was about it. Ever since then her offerings have been piss poor...first CIVIL WAR II, now this?
This reads like fanfiction. BAD fanfiction. Like..."I'm deep and thoughtful and I want everyone to know how I feel about stuff" bad. Like..."I'm going to ret-con her entire origin story for a well meaning albeit completely nonsensical reason" bad.
So, yeah...here's your spoiler warning.
Carol is now half Kree...because apparently it was necessary to make Carol's Kree powers "her own." I'm guessing someone read the first issue of Kelly Sue's run and completely missed the entire point of it. Captain America said it himself...the name's been hers all along.
NOPE. Apparently it's not enough. Now we gotta go and ruin it and make things dumb. Carol's Mom was some badass warrior woman who gave up her entire career for a man and...wait...how is THAT not sexist? Seriously...how is it better to make Carol's powers her own as opposed to "hand me downs" from another hero and then go around and have it that her Mom decides to shack up with the first dude that gives her the Terra Firma? Furthermore...how the hell are we supposed to believe that this Kree warrior doesn't pound his deadbeat ass into the ground the first time he lays a hand on the kids??
It's just dumb. It's insulting. It belongs in the goddamn garbage.
I'm on record as saying that poor Carol hasn't recovered from the loss of Kelly Sue DeConnick. Sure, there was that excellent first volume where she was chilling with Alpha Flight by the team behind AGENT CARTER...but that was about it. Ever since then her offerings have been piss poor...first CIVIL WAR II, now this?
This reads like fanfiction. BAD fanfiction. Like..."I'm deep and thoughtful and I want everyone to know how I feel about stuff" bad. Like..."I'm going to ret-con her entire origin story for a well meaning albeit completely nonsensical reason" bad.
So, yeah...here's your spoiler warning.
Carol is now half Kree...because apparently it was necessary to make Carol's Kree powers "her own." I'm guessing someone read the first issue of Kelly Sue's run and completely missed the entire point of it. Captain America said it himself...the name's been hers all along.
NOPE. Apparently it's not enough. Now we gotta go and ruin it and make things dumb. Carol's Mom was some badass warrior woman who gave up her entire career for a man and...wait...how is THAT not sexist? Seriously...how is it better to make Carol's powers her own as opposed to "hand me downs" from another hero and then go around and have it that her Mom decides to shack up with the first dude that gives her the Terra Firma? Furthermore...how the hell are we supposed to believe that this Kree warrior doesn't pound his deadbeat ass into the ground the first time he lays a hand on the kids??
It's just dumb. It's insulting. It belongs in the goddamn garbage.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 7, 2019
I have a confession that I hope Gabe never reads:
Up until Miss Marvel (Kamala Khan) was released, I didn't know Miss Marvel and Captain Marvel were two different people. I thought the one just grew up to be the other and I only thought that after I found out Captain Marvel is a woman.
Obviously, I know nothing about Captain Marvel, or didn't before I read this. Now I know her backstory, mostly. I expect the upcoming movie will finish filling me in.
As a Marvel hero, Carol is ok, I guess. I didn't care much for the writing in this story. Carol comes across as having only male friends, no personality, and her spiritual discord (anger + the need to belong) felt flat and lifeless to me.
The art is super pretty, though. I enjoyed looking at the pictures.
Up until Miss Marvel (Kamala Khan) was released, I didn't know Miss Marvel and Captain Marvel were two different people. I thought the one just grew up to be the other and I only thought that after I found out Captain Marvel is a woman.
Obviously, I know nothing about Captain Marvel, or didn't before I read this. Now I know her backstory, mostly. I expect the upcoming movie will finish filling me in.
As a Marvel hero, Carol is ok, I guess. I didn't care much for the writing in this story. Carol comes across as having only male friends, no personality, and her spiritual discord (anger + the need to belong) felt flat and lifeless to me.
The art is super pretty, though. I enjoyed looking at the pictures.
April 24, 2019
I kinda liked it. I kinda didn't.
Muy buena historia de daddy issues y mommy issues en 120 páginas, sólo creo que hay partes que traicionan el origen de Carol. But anyways, eso me pasa por leer lo que se me ponga enfrente, luego me encuentro con cosas que no están tan chidas.
Muy buena historia de daddy issues y mommy issues en 120 páginas, sólo creo que hay partes que traicionan el origen de Carol. But anyways, eso me pasa por leer lo que se me ponga enfrente, luego me encuentro con cosas que no están tan chidas.
January 19, 2019
Another movie, another origin retcon. Is it necessary? Probably not. Was it entertaining? Yeah, I think so. Does it add anything to Carol's origin? ...Yes, but.
The Life Of Captain Marvel plays out in an unexpected way. After the events of her previous series, Carol retires to her hometown for some R&R, only to uncover some family secrets that turn her life upside down, especially when a Kree tracker arrives to hunt her down - or so she thinks. Each issue has a little flashback sequence by other artists, which gives this a very Valiant feel for me personally, and that might have been why I felt like this wasn't your typical Marvel comic.
The retcons and new information regarding Carol and her family aren't going to have major implications, I don't think. This isn't a 'Tony Stark was adopted and now his mum's a supporting character' type deal. It's more subtle than that, in that you can almost ignore it unless it's referenced elsewhere, which does make the whole thing a tad redundant, but it's going to make for an easy trade for comic shops and new readers to grab if they're interested in Carol after her solo movie, which I expect is the actual point here.
The artwork is mostly Carlos Pacheco who surprisingly manages to pencil all five issues bar the flashback sequences, while Marguerite Sauvage and Rafael Fonteriz handle those with more flighty and 'dreamlike' visuals. Pacheco's art is as always, although I've always wondered why he takes so long when he's kind of just pedestrian when compared to other artists that have been around as long as he has.
The Life Of Captain Marvel is fine. It's not the huge game-changer it wants to be, but it's not a bad book, and is entirely fit for purpose. Not really the praise it was probably looking for, but that's what it's getting.
The Life Of Captain Marvel plays out in an unexpected way. After the events of her previous series, Carol retires to her hometown for some R&R, only to uncover some family secrets that turn her life upside down, especially when a Kree tracker arrives to hunt her down - or so she thinks. Each issue has a little flashback sequence by other artists, which gives this a very Valiant feel for me personally, and that might have been why I felt like this wasn't your typical Marvel comic.
The retcons and new information regarding Carol and her family aren't going to have major implications, I don't think. This isn't a 'Tony Stark was adopted and now his mum's a supporting character' type deal. It's more subtle than that, in that you can almost ignore it unless it's referenced elsewhere, which does make the whole thing a tad redundant, but it's going to make for an easy trade for comic shops and new readers to grab if they're interested in Carol after her solo movie, which I expect is the actual point here.
The artwork is mostly Carlos Pacheco who surprisingly manages to pencil all five issues bar the flashback sequences, while Marguerite Sauvage and Rafael Fonteriz handle those with more flighty and 'dreamlike' visuals. Pacheco's art is as always, although I've always wondered why he takes so long when he's kind of just pedestrian when compared to other artists that have been around as long as he has.
The Life Of Captain Marvel is fine. It's not the huge game-changer it wants to be, but it's not a bad book, and is entirely fit for purpose. Not really the praise it was probably looking for, but that's what it's getting.
June 4, 2022
Pese a que el dibujo de Pacheco es buenísimo (como siempre) la historia, aunque correcta, no deja de resultarme un poco pretenciosa. Busca mostrar la "sonoridad" de manera un tanto forzada en la relación madre-hija con la historia.
Renovar la historia de los orígenes de la Capitana Marvel es un trabajo encomiable. Sin embargo, el resultado es un poco flojo: le falta épica, le falta credibilidad.
Por ejemplo, en la historia del padre. ¿Por qué el padre se vuelve alcohólico y violento, como se deja caer en varias viñetas? Las "explicaciones" se leen "cogidas de los pelos". Vamos, que no te las crees o, como mínimo, que deberían estar mejor o más extensamente explicadas.
Todo es un poco como el comienzo de la película Aquaman (faro incluido), no sé quién copia a quién, pero falta frescura, todo suena a ya visto.
Renovar la historia de los orígenes de la Capitana Marvel es un trabajo encomiable. Sin embargo, el resultado es un poco flojo: le falta épica, le falta credibilidad.
Por ejemplo, en la historia del padre. ¿Por qué el padre se vuelve alcohólico y violento, como se deja caer en varias viñetas? Las "explicaciones" se leen "cogidas de los pelos". Vamos, que no te las crees o, como mínimo, que deberían estar mejor o más extensamente explicadas.
Todo es un poco como el comienzo de la película Aquaman (faro incluido), no sé quién copia a quién, pero falta frescura, todo suena a ya visto.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 30, 2023
Aunque el argumento base no deja de ser el origen de Aquaman, Namor u otro superhéroe similar nacido del cruce entre dos culturas, me ha gustado mucho el tratamiento que Margaret Stohl hace de esa base. La potenciación de la componente costumbrista en la cual Carol Danvers regresa al mundo de su niñez para iluminar la relación de sus padres desde la madurez. Así, lo superheroico queda muy relegado a ser un acompañamiento, y el argumento avanza entre conversaciones de Carol con su madre y su hermano, sus recuerdos sesgados... con un dibujo fantástico de Carlos Pacheco y Marguerite Sauvage. Interese o no el personaje, un tebeo muy disfrutable.
January 14, 2020
okay, a lot of people are complaining about this retcon, but i have many reasons as to why i adore it.
1. in ms. marvel vol.1, carol struggles with her identity and taking on mar-vell's namesake. she's constantly pushing herself to the brink to try to prove to herself and everyone that she's worthy of the title. ESPECIALLY considering mar-vell is the reason she had her powers in the first place. also the literary subtext of her initially having black-out spells and not even realizing she IS ms. marvel kind of says enough - she's dissociated her super-persona from herself because she feels simple and not-incredible. also i find this dynamic even more fascinating because mar-vell was wonderful. him and carol had such strong bond and friendship so carol couldn't even resent him - it was even more heart-breaking because she didn't want to embarrass him by ruining his name on earth.
2. flash forward to her time as binary and finally carol has some semblance of self-confidence. which all came to a dramatic head in quasar, when she loses her binary abilities and is back to being carol. she has a total identity crisis, battles with alcoholism, and is kicked off the avengers. all, largely in part, because she once again lost her sense of self.
3. in ms. marvel by brian reed, carol struggles to lead her team and to reconcile her own morals with the jobs she has. she meets skrull mar-vell and confesses to him how much she looks up to him, and how nervous she STILL is to have his title.
4. captain marvel by deconnick - carol has to go back in time and fight for her own powers and abilities because her childhood hero makes the point: "ANYONE could've been ms. marvel. you just got LUCKY." now carol has some sick replies to this, and her defeat of helen is ultimately her showing that no; CAROL is captain marvel, no one else. but this STILL does not take away the fact that helen was right - carol circumstantially had her powers, and that would be something that always haunted her.
therefore you can tell carol is only really confident when she feels 100% in control of herself and her surroundings. knowing that she was captain marvel for no greater purpose other than convenience killed her.
that's why the life of captain marvel - particularly the line from mari-ell "not borrowed. not a gift. not an accident. [your powers] are not anyone's bur yours. they never have been" - is so important for her. carol danvers is finally in 100% control of who she is and her destiny is no one's but her own. even her NAME being car-ell (kree for champion) is simply beautiful because it further shows she was always meant to be who she is. carol can finally know peace in herself.
not to mention, i'm always a sucker for mom-daughter dynamics. mari-ell was not a good mom, but she was a trying mom. the whole story made me cry (and, admittedly, dm ms. stohl like 3 times with my heartbreak and adoration).
1. in ms. marvel vol.1, carol struggles with her identity and taking on mar-vell's namesake. she's constantly pushing herself to the brink to try to prove to herself and everyone that she's worthy of the title. ESPECIALLY considering mar-vell is the reason she had her powers in the first place. also the literary subtext of her initially having black-out spells and not even realizing she IS ms. marvel kind of says enough - she's dissociated her super-persona from herself because she feels simple and not-incredible. also i find this dynamic even more fascinating because mar-vell was wonderful. him and carol had such strong bond and friendship so carol couldn't even resent him - it was even more heart-breaking because she didn't want to embarrass him by ruining his name on earth.
2. flash forward to her time as binary and finally carol has some semblance of self-confidence. which all came to a dramatic head in quasar, when she loses her binary abilities and is back to being carol. she has a total identity crisis, battles with alcoholism, and is kicked off the avengers. all, largely in part, because she once again lost her sense of self.
3. in ms. marvel by brian reed, carol struggles to lead her team and to reconcile her own morals with the jobs she has. she meets skrull mar-vell and confesses to him how much she looks up to him, and how nervous she STILL is to have his title.
4. captain marvel by deconnick - carol has to go back in time and fight for her own powers and abilities because her childhood hero makes the point: "ANYONE could've been ms. marvel. you just got LUCKY." now carol has some sick replies to this, and her defeat of helen is ultimately her showing that no; CAROL is captain marvel, no one else. but this STILL does not take away the fact that helen was right - carol circumstantially had her powers, and that would be something that always haunted her.
therefore you can tell carol is only really confident when she feels 100% in control of herself and her surroundings. knowing that she was captain marvel for no greater purpose other than convenience killed her.
that's why the life of captain marvel - particularly the line from mari-ell "not borrowed. not a gift. not an accident. [your powers] are not anyone's bur yours. they never have been" - is so important for her. carol danvers is finally in 100% control of who she is and her destiny is no one's but her own. even her NAME being car-ell (kree for champion) is simply beautiful because it further shows she was always meant to be who she is. carol can finally know peace in herself.
not to mention, i'm always a sucker for mom-daughter dynamics. mari-ell was not a good mom, but she was a trying mom. the whole story made me cry (and, admittedly, dm ms. stohl like 3 times with my heartbreak and adoration).
May 17, 2019
So this is a book for people who never really read much Captain Marvel. Which actually works for me because only read few volumes here and there.
So Carol is doing her Avenger thing, kicking butt, when she starts to have panic attacks about her past. To face your fears might be the only solution. So she heads back to her little old town to visit friends and family. Try to face the reality of her abusive father and her upbringing. In doing so she finds out some insane secrets about her mother but also some terrible things happen to her family.
This was decent. It didn't blow me away but some of these 1 star reviews are silly. The art is solid with some really cool moments (the cover art is amazing) and the dialogue is actually pretty strong. Nothing sounds out of place, maybe a bit long in spots, but that's it. The plot itself is shaky but it works good enough to understand and has its moments.
Overall it's not mindblowing but it's solid enough. A 3 out of 5.
So Carol is doing her Avenger thing, kicking butt, when she starts to have panic attacks about her past. To face your fears might be the only solution. So she heads back to her little old town to visit friends and family. Try to face the reality of her abusive father and her upbringing. In doing so she finds out some insane secrets about her mother but also some terrible things happen to her family.
This was decent. It didn't blow me away but some of these 1 star reviews are silly. The art is solid with some really cool moments (the cover art is amazing) and the dialogue is actually pretty strong. Nothing sounds out of place, maybe a bit long in spots, but that's it. The plot itself is shaky but it works good enough to understand and has its moments.
Overall it's not mindblowing but it's solid enough. A 3 out of 5.
January 28, 2019
Okay so I don't know how to feel about this. Was it well written? Yes. Good art? Hell yes. But rewriting Carol's history just feels off to me. I don't know if I like it or not. I guess I'll read Kelly Thompson's new run and see how much that is impacted by this story
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2018
The secret origins of Captain Marvel's mum, revealed!
This volume is an excellent and revealing character study, I really enjoyed it.
This volume is an excellent and revealing character study, I really enjoyed it.
March 3, 2019
Eu havia lido algumas críticas negativas sobre esse quadrinho por aí, mas DÁ LICENÇA... Eu sou fã da Carol Danvers desde criancinha e defenderei sua honra com a minha vida... Hã, ok, não precisa exagerar, só defenderei sua honra, a vida deixa pra mim... Eu conheço bastante da trajetória da personagem para saber que Margareth Stohl orquestrou uma bela mudança na sua origem e cânone. E que fique bem claro que isso foi uma decisão da Marvel em função do filme que vem aí e não da escritora. Ela soube tecer uma trama instigantes que aproveitou de maneira eficiente os traços de Marguerite Sauvage e de Carlos Pacheco (que há tempos não tinha um trabalho de tanto fôlego) para retratarem respectivamente os flashbacks e o presente da história. Também foi acertada (pelo menos um acerto!) a decisão da Panini Brasil em trazer essa mini encadernada a tempo do filme, sem muito prejuízo para a cronologia vigente. Para mim, a história ficou muito empolgante, muito melhor que esperava, uma mistura de Brothers & Sisters, com Jericho e Exterminador do Futuro que apesar das alterações na história, as faz de maneira menos devastadora e estrondosa do que outras alterações em origem já fizeram. Se fosse um Bendis, iria esquecer todo o Legado de Carol Danvers e iria partir de onde suas memórias afetivas começavam, sem respeitar nenhuma cronologia. Portanto, A Vida da Capitã Marvel é um quadrinhos que é vanguardista e honra o cânone ao mesmo tempo. Muito bom!
December 27, 2018
Disappointing.
December 31, 2018
I'll admit I elected to read this (in digital floppy format) in advance of the movie, because I was of the mind that Marvel might use this mini-series to "clear the decks" for whatever they do with the character post movie release (DC does the same thing see the recent Aquaman mini reboot).
With minimal knowledge of attempts to make the character relevant the past couple of years, because let's be honest Marvel has an even worse track record, IMO, than DC is launching and continuing female led series, I was wondering what I would think of Carol Danvers after being away from her from a lot of years.
The mini-reset, and this book does reset Carol's origin and background, is successful. I expect many will not like it, but I'm not so much of a continuity cop as to object to a reset that I think makes Carol's origin more believable (all right I thought her original Ms. Marvel origin sucked).
Is the threat posed reasonable, umm maybe. What Stohl makes worthwhile is the work put into making the reader care about Carol Danvers, her past, and her future.
Or, at least this part of the story telling worked for me.
With minimal knowledge of attempts to make the character relevant the past couple of years, because let's be honest Marvel has an even worse track record, IMO, than DC is launching and continuing female led series, I was wondering what I would think of Carol Danvers after being away from her from a lot of years.
The mini-reset, and this book does reset Carol's origin and background, is successful. I expect many will not like it, but I'm not so much of a continuity cop as to object to a reset that I think makes Carol's origin more believable (all right I thought her original Ms. Marvel origin sucked).
Is the threat posed reasonable, umm maybe. What Stohl makes worthwhile is the work put into making the reader care about Carol Danvers, her past, and her future.
Or, at least this part of the story telling worked for me.
March 1, 2019
Esperaba mucho más de este álbum, aunque resulta interesante tener esta perspectiva de la historia del origen de la Capitana y el dibujo además es muy chulo. Sería un 3'5.
April 20, 2019
Basically, a revamp of Capt. Marvel's origin story.
August 6, 2019
Me lo compré tras el estreno de la película en España. Ha sido entretenido.
Realmente no sé cómo puntuar estas cosas.
Realmente no sé cómo puntuar estas cosas.
September 17, 2021
«Todos estamos hechos de estrellas... solo que no de las mismas estrellas.»
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