Book Review: The Life of Captain Marvel by M. Stohl et al.

The Life of Captain Marvel written by Margaret Stohl with art by Carlos Pacheco, Rafael Fonteriz, Marcio Menyz, and Marguerite Sauvage

Carol Danvers (a.k.a. Captain Marvel) has some anger issues and heads back home to small-town Maine to deal with it. She had an abusive father who is long since dead. Her mom and her brother still live in Harpswell Sound. Bringing up family ghosts only causes more problems for Carol, her mom, and her brother. Physical, psychological, and extra-terrestrial problems may be more than Carol is ready to deal with when it comes to her family.

The main story leads naturally into some backstory for Danvers. The writer adds a bit to her origin that is logical but also (for me) disappointing. Carol's angry/angsty characterization takes a lot of the fun out of her, almost as if she's someone very different from the Carol Danvers of all the other stories. Going in that direct is one way to tell a new story but I was not appreciative.

Not recommended.

Book Review: DC Comics: Bombshells Vol. 1 by M. Bennett et al.

DC Comics: Bombshells Volume 1: Enlisted written by Marguerite Bennett and art by Marguerite Sauvage and others

The DC universe is reimagined in a World War II setting. While all the men are off fighting World War II, the women have to rise to the occasion and take on typical male jobs. For Kate Kane, that means working her day job as a baseball player for the Gotham Knights and her night job as Batwoman, crime fighter. The first thing we see her do is stop the mugger before he kills Thomas Wayne, so Bruce Wayne becoming Batman is definitely out of the picture.

Meanwhile, step-sisters Kara and Kortni join the Night Witches, a Soviet all-female air force. The sisters have kept their superpowers secret until now. An accident during training forces them to reveal their superhuman abilities. At first, the Soviets think they are traitors but then use them as propaganda--the Supergirl and the Stargirl. They have an uneasy relationship with their Soviet commanders, eventually fleeing the USSR.

Also meanwhile, U.S. spy Steve Trevor crashes somewhere in the Mediterranean, discovering Themyscira, home of Wonder Woman. She pretty quickly decides to leave the island and join the war effort. She's helped by Mera, second daughter of the king of the sea, so she has no royal commitments to hold her back.

Everyone is recruited by Commander Amanda Waller, who plans to end the war by putting together a super-group--The Bombshells. Which is good, because the Nazis have the Joker's Daughter on their side. She is summoning supernatural zombie forces to the side of evil.

For all the creative reimaging going on, I found the book disappointing. The focus for Batwoman was on her lesbian relationship with the Gotham City detective who deals with her superhero persona regularly (which is certainly a conflict of interest, among other problems!). She's sent to be a spy in Europe though she does not have any real spy skills. The plot line with Supergirl and Stargirl does not make any sense at all. Wonder Woman's story follows the usual line with the interesting addition of Mera (who is Aquaman's bride in the regular continuity) as her pal. The only male characters to show up are Alexander Luthor, the Luthorcorp businessman trying to squeeze as much money as he can out of the war, and John Constantine, who gets turned into a talking rabbit and winds up as Zatanna's sidekick (which is pretty funny). She's stuck working for the Joker's Daughter but I imagine Zatanna will betray her or run away soon.

Overall, not recommended--I will not keep reading this series.