I bought this series after loving what DeConnick did with Carol in "Avenging Spider-Man" #9-#10. I'm happy to say that I'm not disappointed here.
FIrst, a caveat: I had never been a huge fan of Captain Marvel until Bendis so brillaintly used her as the reader's surrogate during "Avengers Disassembled." Previously, I found that she lacked any clearly defined personality. At her worst, she was a constant victim, falling prey to the devious plans of a number of male villains. At her best, she was excessively aggressive, often advocating positions that contradicted positions that she had previously taken. Most of the time, at least in the way that she was presented in the various "Avengers" stories, she was indecisive, constantly questioning herself and her contribution to the team. Bendis, however, started the process of moving her past these characterizations, showing her as the heart and soul of the Avengers in that arc. She's the one who expresses outrage and pain over Wanda's actions and it's her emotions that keep us engaged in a story that could've quickly devolved into endless action-based splash pages. Unfortunately, Bendis didn't really do all that much after "Avengers Disassembled" and she's mostly just been there. Thankfully, with Kelly Sue DeConnick, Marvel has finally found the author who can just jettison the bad from those past incarnations, use the good, and add her own spin, creating a character who can go toe-to-toe with Spider-Man in terms of a compelling past and a committed heart.
Looking at the issue itself, DeConnick does a lot of interesting stuff here, with both form and substance. First, we immediately find Carol and Captain America in a fight with the Absorbing Man, who's decided to steal a moon rock from the Museum of Natural History in the hope of getting "moon powers." But, in addition to injecting the story with some action from the start, DeConnick uses both men involved in this fight to address some of the key themes of this new series. First, she uses Creel's casual sexism, and Carol's witty responses to it, to remind us that this series establishes Carol as Marvel's marquee female character. If I'm not mistaken, "Captain Marvel" is the only comic that Marvel publishes with a solo female lead and DeConnick shows us the burden that Carol shoulders (and the comments that she endures) as a result of being a standard bearer. But, she also uses Steve, and later Spidey, to show the support that her teammates have for her taking on this role. Cap playfully accepts Carol's orders after she notes that she left the Air Force as a colonel, meaning that she outranks him, and he's the one who persuades her to take the Captain Marvel name in the first place, saying that she's earned the mantle. I really liked the way that DeConnick handled Cap here, reminding us that he's "old-fashioned" but not having that translate as "sexist." He's pushing her to take the name as an admirer. In fact, DeConnick does a great job of showing the affection that everyone in Carol's life, superhero and not, has for her. This series is not going to be about a loner engaging in a mission, like the Punisher. It's going to be about a regular woman who can do extraordinary things and how she integrates those two seemingly opposite sides of herself.
But, DeConnick doesn't just use men to address Carol's gender and the role that it's going to play in this series. She also explores Carol's relationships with other women. In showing us her relationship with her friend suffering from cancer, we begin to see a side of Carol that you don't see in "Avengers," showing us the people who she knows in "real life." But, more importantly, we also meet, through a flashback, her role model, Helen Cobb, a pilot who held fifteen speed records and participated in the Mercury 13 program. It's really this relationship that shows us Carol's inspiration to step from the pack of Avengers and establish herself as a hero in her own right. In fact, by using both Cap and Helen, DeConnick reminds us of two of the more important aspects of Carol's story: her military experience and her pilot experience. As Wacker says in his note on the letters page, DeConnick gives you a sense that Carol has a "consuming need to fly higher and faster than those who came before." I think Wacker is absolutely right. With the support of Captain America and the inspiration of Helen Cobb, Carol decides that it's time to take up the mantle and become Captain Marvel, to fly higher and faster. DeConnick had to address the name change at some point, and I can't think of a way she could've done it better than the way that she does it here.
Perhaps most importantly, though, this issue is FUN. The fight with Creed is really stellar, full of quips and tensions and dynamism; it's not all gender issues and sociological insight and power structures. That energy is due in no small part to Dexter Soy. I have to say that I'm thrilled that Marvel gave Carol such a talented artist, proof that they really mean it this time with her. It is a gorgeous book, full of gorgeous people who don't all look the same. Soy's style evokes Leinil Francis Yu's work on "Avenging Spider-Man" #5, since both artists remember things like Cap and Spidey having different body types (something that I'm often surprised how many artists forget). But, maybe even most importantly, her costume is AWESOME. The retracting mask? Awesome. The fact that she's not half-naked? Even better.
All in all, it's a great start and I can't wait to see where DeConnick goes with Carol as she continues to get a feel for the character. This one is definitely staying in my pull list for a while.
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