Book Review: Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Superhero Vol. 2 by K. S. DeConnick et al.

Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Superhero Volume 2 written by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by Scott Hepburn, Pat Olliffe, Matteo Buffagni, Filipe Andrade, Barry Hitson, et al.

Captain Marvel's brain lesion gets worse and worse (see the start of this story here), forcing her either to adapt her style or to sacrifice herself in order to continue being a hero. As she faces lots of old foes, the enemy causing the problem is finally discovered, along with his nefarious plan to destroy Captain Marvel and New York City. The story plays out at a good pace and has a very satisfying conclusion.

But wait, there's more! Captain Marvel fights alongside the Avengers and a coalition of aliens (Kree, Skrull, etc.) to stop the Builders, an ancient alien race that seems intent on wiping out the Earth. Interestingly, the book covers the same action twice, once from Captain Marvel's point of view, then from Spider-Woman's point of view. The differences are enough to make it interesting though I was surprised to see the same stuff twice. Unfortunately, the war doesn't really finish in this book which I found frustrating.

The book also has a Captain Marvel/Spider-man adventure in Boston with a young woman who isn't all she seems. The woman passes herself off as a superhero but doesn't know her own name (Spider-man makes some unhelpful but comic suggestions). The story is fun and does wrap up.

Overall, recommended.

Book Review: Pretty Deadly Vol. 2 by K. S. DeConnick et al.

Pretty Deadly Volume 2: The Bear written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and art and covers by Emma Rios

After Volume 1, the story jumps ahead to World War I with an elderly African-American woman on her deathbed. All of her family and friends have come to visit except for one son, Cyrus, who is off in Europe fighting in the trenches. The old lady convinces Death's agent, a guy named Fox, to delay a month to give Cyrus a chance to make it home and say goodbye. Turns out Fox is an old flame for the old lady, so he not only agrees to the month delay but he actively campaigns to get Cyrus back home. The narrative shifts to the World War I battlefield. There, Ginny and Sissy (two of the main characters from Volume 1) are in pursuit of Cyrus. They also want to take out the Death agent who is causing so much carnage during World War I. Can a senseless war end with the banishment of Death's agent?

The story in this issue is simpler, more direct, and more artistic. With less plot to get through, the artist has more room to show the plot and themes of the book on big panels and splash pages. The big images also give an epic feel to the more intimate story of a son trying to get home to say goodbye to his momma.

I found the story enjoyable but not as good as the first volume, which was able to pack in more mythology. Also, the theme of Ginny being a sort of avenging angel (which I found the most interesting part of the story) is dropped. This book contains some fun supplemental materials about the creation and the art of the story.

Book Review: Pretty Deadly Vol. 1 by K. S. DeConnick et al.

Pretty Deadly Volume 1: The Shrike script by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art and cover by Emma Rios, colors by Jordie Bellaire, letters by Clayton Cowles

Kelly Sue DeConnick crafts a new myth set in the American Old West! A young girl in a vulture cloak and an old blind man wander from town to town as storytellers. Their main story is about the Mason Man and Beauty, who get married. Mason Man is jealous and locks Beauty in a tower. Death eventually comes to take Beauty but is enchanted with her and she has a child by him before she dies. Death raises the child as Ginny, a reaper of vengeance who may be called by anyone in need.

The girl and the blind man have a run-in with Johnny, who gives the girl something before they flee the town. Later, a woman comes after Johnny looking for a journal. He doesn't have it so she shoots him. The chase is on, though people are not necessarily who they appear to be (hint, the myth is truer than true, no surprise there).

The story takes its time setting up characters. The story slowly reveals of how everyone is related to everyone else and who has what roles in the Mason Man/Beauty story. As a mature Western it is a bit bloody in the violence and has some nudity and sex. Just because it is mythological in character does not mean it is meant for children! I found it engaging and am looking forward to more.

Book Review: Captain Marvel: Stay Fly by K. S. DeConnick et al.

Captain Marvel: Stay Fly written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art by Marcio Takara and David Lopez

Captain Marvel (a.k.a. Carol Danvers) continues here previous space adventures (see here) with Rocket Raccoon (who claims he's not a raccoon) and her cat Chewie. Rocket claims Chewie is not a cat but a Flerken. Flerken are extremely valuable alien cat-like creatures and lay eggs. Rocket's been shopping around and an alien space craft latches onto their ship in hopes of taking Chewie and the cargo hold full of eggs (turns out Chewie is a Flerken).

Once that situation is solved, an intergalactic pop-star shows up and asks Captain Marvel to help break an arranged marriage to a prince. Later, Carol returns to Earth to thwart an enemy whose trying to destroy everything Carol loves.

The stories are a mixed bag. All of them are fun but some are more engaging than others. The last story has some glaring inconsistencies in the narrative. I found it too distracting to enjoy the story. The art is good throughout the book.

Overall, a fairly average set of superhero adventures.

Book Review: Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More by K. S. DeKonnick et al.

Captain Marvel: Higher, Further, Faster, More written by Kelly Sue DeKonnick, art by David Lopez et al.

Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers) is selected by Tony Stark to represent the Avengers in outer space. She accepts the position, mostly to give her some perspective on life and a challenge. The first challenge she comes across is the plight of the Nowlanians. Their home planet was destroyed by the Builders. They were relocated to the planet Torfa. The Nowlanians have another problem--their new planet is a poison planet: the previous population died out from a plague. The Nowlanians are dying out right now, so there is a faction that wants relocation while another faction wants to find a cure. If that wasn't enough trouble, the Galactic Alliance (which is led by a very questionable character) wants to force them off the planet before they can figure out if they want to go. Plenty of fighting and intrigue follow from all these complications.

The story has a nice level of complication and Carol's go-get-'em attitude makes things move along at a great pace. She makes mistakes but she works to fix the situation as best she can. The Guardians of the Galaxy show up for a bit, which probably happened because their film was so popular (this story originally appeared in individual issues in 2014). Still, they aren't just shoe-horned in but actually contribute to moving the plot forward.

Fun and action-packed, this story is great summer reading with interesting characters dealing with personal and public problems.

Special Note: This book is not a follow-on from the last Captain Marvel book I read, so I am left in limbo about her brain lesion. Yikes!

Book Review: Captain Marvel Vol. 2: Down by K. S. DeConnick et al.

Captain Marvel Volume 2: Down written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Christopher Sebela, art by Dexter Soy and Filipe Andrade et al.

This volume has two stories. In the first Captain Marvel (aka Carol Danvers) is helping out a retired superhero friend named Monica investigate some missing boats in the Gulf of Mexico. Ships sailing out of New Orleans have been vanishing. Monica has found the spot where they sank but doesn't want to get in the water. So Carol puts on a scuba tank and finds more than just boats--planes dating back to World War II also populate this sunken graveyard. Like many a superhero story, this ends with a big battle between the two friends and a huge enemy. The best part of the story is the repartee between Carol and Monica, providing both humor and some character depth.

The second story finds Carol with a medical issue. Carol's been having headaches (which she has blamed on calls from Tony Stark!) and has felt her power weakening. Her doctor tells Carol she has a lesion in her brain. So she can't fly, which is a hard thing for an ex-pilot who now has the Superman-like power to fly. Things get even harder when an old, air-born bad gal shows up to fight Captain Marvel. Sadly, the story isn't finished in this issue.

The second story is much more interesting than the first. I like the idea that a superhero would have an everyday doctor. Oddly enough, the art is better in the first story. Happily, Carol doesn't don some skimpy swimsuit when scubaing down to the wreckage, she's in her regular superhero jump suit. The second story does not get visually exploitative, the art is just less polished than in the first.

Book Review: Captain Marvel Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue DeConnick et al.

Captain Marvel Volume 1: In Pursuit of Flight written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art by Dexter Soy and Emma Rios with others

Earth's Mightiest Hero, Ms. Marvel (real name Carol Danvers), got her superpowers from a Kree device that makes wishes come true. At the time, Carol was a pilot in the United States Air Force (with the rank of colonel) who wanted to be an astronaut and have the powers of the alien who was attempting to save her, Captain Mar-Vell. When the machine exploded, she was granted Mar-Vell's near invulnerability and super-strength, which among other things let her fly into outer space unharmed. She fought alongside Mar-Vell on Earth and in the cosmos. He eventually died and in this issue, Captain America convinces her to accept Captain Marvel's legacy by taking his name (she's already wearing a new costume more like his). She's reluctant until he dares her, which pushes her into the decision.

Another of Carol's heroes, legendary pilot Helen Cobb, dies and leaves her plane to Carol with a mysterious note. Carol tries to replicate one of Helen's many altitude records in the plane but doing so sends her back to World War II. She battles alongside the Banshee Squadron (an all-female group of US Airforce pilots) against some Japanese soldiers who have Kree ships. She makes another time hop to 1960s Texas where a young Helen Cobb and some female friends are trying to become astronauts but NASA is reluctant to train women. Captain Marvel has plenty of opportunities to change history, but will she?

Time travel stories are a bit of a pet peeve for me. Often, they are incoherent, sometimes blatantly so. The more consistent ones are better (like the first Terminator film), though the best are stories that don't focus on the time travel so much as another interesting story (like Back to the Future films throwing Marty in with various generations of his family). This book falls in the later category. Carol discovers bits of the Kree device which made her superpowered and assumes they were scattered through time when the device exploded. As she's trying to undo that damage she has the chance to undo the accident that gave her powers, but does she really want to do that? The time travel is just there to provide an interesting existential crisis for Carol along with some fun adventures and an interesting puzzle to solve.

Carol Danvers is an interesting character. She has a gung-ho attitude and is able both to work together with other heroes (super or regular) and to go it alone if the situation requires it. She'll take the time to think out a problem but is decisive under time constraints. Her main interest is helping others and she isn't afraid to sacrifice herself in doing so. She makes a great role model.

She's a great character and this is a fun story, so I recommend it heartily.