What is the Maine Story - Review of The Life of Captain Marvel

  

Cover of the Life of Captain Marvel TPB by Marvel Comics

This book collects the following comics: The complete The Life of Captain Marvel mini-series issues #1-5

Score (out of 5 Capes)

Like the character herself, this story is an awkward blend of styles and themes - a powerful and poignant human-interest story on one page, an interstellar slugfest on the next.

My Review

The adult we grow into is heavily shaped and influenced by our childhood experiences. Key moments, friendships and crushes, relationships with important grown-ups, the atmosphere of our home life, these and more are the ingredients that get baked into our adult selves.

Why should our heroes be any different? Are they not human, like us? Do they not, as the cliché goes, put their pants on one leg at a time?

Um... about that...

The Life of Captain Marvel sets out to trace some of these early influences and childhood experiences that formed the Carol Danvers into the mighty Captain Marvel. Author Margaret Stohl takes a current-day visit by Carol to her childhood summer home and swirls into it dozens of flashbacks to those carefree summer days of her early life.

Her tense relationship with an abusive father. The distance that grows between her and her siblings. Her love but lack of respect for her mother. The old friend whose puppy-love crush in their early teens comes as a surprise to adult Carol.

Even the place becomes a character in our tableau. Most of the action unfolds in and around her family's vacation residence in Harpswell, Maine. The art team indulges themselves with beautiful seascapes and coastal sunsets, making this a joy to look at. With local colloquialisms and the occasional misspelling to evoke the stereotypical Maine accent (which is, granted, inconsistently applied and becomes grating at times), those who know Maine will find enough to recognize the place.

Stohl moves the narrative backward and forward in time, adding some back-story colour through frequent flashbacks. In a clever technique, the flashbacks are drawn by different artists, lending a visually distinct feel whenever the memories arise. 

Carlos Pacheco does the bulk of the drawing, giving us all the present-day panels. His parts are strongly drawn with vivid colours, fluid action and basic inking. Even through the emotionally challenging bits, his work is steady and engaging.

The trio of Marguerite Sauvage, Erica D'Urso & Marcio Menyz share the flashback sections. Their work contains more muted colours, faded inking and leaves us with the sense of the wispiness and vagueness of our memories.

Where the story starts to lose its power, sadly, is the present-day revelation and ensuing extended battle. Stohl set up a chance to connect the humanity of this powerful Captain Marvel hero to simpler, every-woman roots. Sibling rivalries, family secrets, past loves all point this way, to a common human experience.

When it veers suddenly into the big reveal - she is NOT 100% human! Her own mother has a secret past - the emotional punch of the setup gets usurped by the interstellar roots of Mom's secrets. Suddenly Maine gets forgotten and the flashback memories get turned on their heads. But rather than multiplying the impact of the story, it undercuts its power and poignancy.

As a retroactive continuity reboot, this story lays a foundation with some important new twists in Captain Marvel's origin story. But, despite where the story seemed headed in its first half, it ultimately works against humanizing our hero. Two and a half capes.

What I loved

Variant cover of issue #1 by Fiona Staples

Variant cover of issue #1 by Yasmine Putri

Marvel Comics treated this mini-series as a huge event, a significant ret-con moment of one of their increasingly popular heroes. That included the variant-cover treatment. Every issue received multiple variant covers, inviting established artists to give their own special twist on the character and story.

These ten, included as thumbnails in this collection, are truly delightful. The whimsy and playfulness of these covers add texture to the whole mini-series. Two of my personal favorites are included above: Fiona Staples's relaxed, seaside image that ties in so well with the sense of place in these stories; and Yasmine Putri's delightfully playful uniform-swap selfie moment with Ms. Marvel.

What I didn't love

A dramatic moment in Carol's relationship with her mother

The deep back-story of Carol Danvers, her childhood, her home life, her rivalry with brothers and hatred for her father - it all adds up to a powerfully humanizing story for this immensely powerful hero. It grounds her after years of space-bound adventures.

Alas, the story takes a turn, not only back into the interstellar mythology of the character but roots it even deeper by making her half-alien. The big reveal that her mother is a champion of the Kree empire is a powerfully dramatic moment. Unfortunately, it also undermines the effort to ground and humanize this hero. It's an eye-roll moment that rips the reader out of the tensions and tenderness of her struggles with coming home and propels us back into space.

Related Reviews

Captain Marvel (2014) volume 1 - Higher, Further, Faster, More

Captain Marvel (2014) volume 2 - Stay Fly

Captain Marvel (2019) volume 1 - Re-entry (coming soon)

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Margaret Stohl
Artists:  Carlos Pacheco (present day), Marguerite Sauvage, Erica D'Urso & Marcio Menyz (flashbacks)
Published By:  Marvel Comics
Published When:  Jan 15, 2019
Parental Rating: Teen+

Back Cover of the Life of Captain Marvel TPB by Marvel Comics

This Time with Attitude - Review of Captain Marvel (2014) volume 1 - Higher, Further, Faster, More

  

Front cover of Captain Marvel volume 1 Higher, Further, Faster, More

This book collects the following comics: Captain Marvel (2014) #1-6

Score (out of 5 Capes)

A solid series start that resets Captain Marvel as a galaxy-wide player, 3.5 capes out of 5.

My Review

In 2014, Marvel Comics released several new ongoing series starring a female hero, as I have outlined in several A-Force Presents reviews (see the Related Reviews section below). They all got a new start, including a much-celebrated new #1 issue. Some, like Thor and Ms. Marvel, introduced brand new characters. Others, like She-Hulk and this series, Captain Marvel, took familiar and established heroes in exciting new directions.

In the case of Carol Danvers / Captain Marvel, that new beginning was in the stars. This series took her and the "Earth's mightiest hero" title off into interstellar space for some new adventures on distant planets with intriguing aliens.

The series debut issue gave us the internal debate, as she wrestled with the decision of whether to stay on Earth or not. 

Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick set the space- bound tone right from page one, dropping us into the middle of a story before rewinding six weeks to explain how we got to that moment. 

It is a technique that can work well in a film but here if feels jarring and out of place. The lead teaser is not a strong enough element on its own to make us wonder what led to this moment, so pausing it for the next four issues means we forget about that initial moment until the exact panels appear many pages later - many months later for the comics readers of the day.

Before leaving Earth, Carol had to wrap up some of the relationships that would tie her to the planet. Most notably, her budding relationship with James Rhodes of Iron Man and War Machine fame. While not a goodbye, as she promised to be back, maybe in a year or so, the scene unspools with a feeling of finality. But with determination and an awareness of the costs, of what she had to give up, Carol set out.

The rest of the book is set in space as Captain Marvel must help a population of exiled refugees wrestle with the decision whether or not to leave the new homeland they had been graciously granted.

Through the different scenes in these pages - in space, briefly meeting the Guardians of the Galaxy, working with the refugees, staring down their oppressors - both the strengths and weaknesses of Captain Marvel are apparent.

On the downside, while she made the choice to go to space willingly, if with a heavy heart, she has more than one chip on her shoulder and could use some anger-management counselling. She also fell completely flat in her attempts to speak and act as a diplomat; her efforts to mediate peace and a future were laughable and brushed aside by the leaders.

Yet she shows a great ability to connect with and lead on a more personal basis. She surrounds herself with a diverse group, essentially building a team out of almost the scrap heap. Her dedication to them and to their cause stands out.

And her biggest strength is, well, her strength. Her courage and power do not make frequent appearances in this book, but when they do, they steal the show. Artist David Lopez excels at these moments, with beautifully framed and perfectly proportioned visuals that highlight her indomitable and fierce spirit. 

The rest of his work is fun and playful, if a touch over the top on occasion. Its impact also gets lost from time to time, blurred out by the muted and unexplained shifts in colour tones. Alien planets may have a different looking sky or architecture, but for such an effervescent hero in a vibrant uniform, the page-wide colour tones are an overall negative.

What I loved

One of the most powerful Avengers gets worked up

This series gives us a very grounded, down-to-Earth (or at least down-to-Torfa) Carol Danvers and Captain Marvel. We see her humanity, the range of her emotions, how she reacts to and plays with others.

But when the time comes to turn up the power, boy does this story nail it!

Her strength, courage and awesome power leap from the page, in this sequence most of all. The armada commander might have no fear of the "flying Earth girl" but neither does she show any concerns in the face of such outnumbered odds. Chapter five ends with this awesome two-page spread, setting up a thrilling sixth and final chapter.

What I didn't love

Many pages include odd colour tones,
while Captain Marvel has anger-management issues

Colour artist Lee Loughridge paints with a muted palette throughout this book and, along the way, makes some odd choices of tones. Alien skies have beautifully gentle gradations but, placed alongside the beiges of terrain and buildings as in this sample page, have an overall dulling effect.

It is such an odd choice, given the vibrant blues, reds and yellows that define the Captain's overall appearance.

Carol Danvers also has some anger-management issues. This is not a new revelation in this book, of course. In many ways, it is built into the character herself. But it crops up in unusual ways and at odd moments in these tales, as in this image. She has a precious clue to the disappearance of her friend and a potential insight into what is really going on, and she very nearly loses it in a fit of annoyance and uncontrolled anger. Tsk tsk.

Related Reviews

Captain Marvel (2014) volume 2 - Stay Fly

A-Force Presents volume 1

A-Force Presents volume 2

A-Force Presents volume 3

Quick Reference Details

Writers:   Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artists:  David Lopez
Published By:  Marvel Comics
Published When:  Oct 7, 2014
Parental Rating: Teen+

Back cover of Captain Marvel volume 1 Higher, Further, Faster, More

Sue So Strong! Review of Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime (2019)

 

Front cover of Marvel Comics TPB
Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime

 

This book collects the following comics: the complete series Invisible Woman (2019) #1-5

Score (out of 5 Capes)

For the incredible art and the strong, solo portrayal of Invisible Woman, I give this four out of five capes.

My Review

Over the long history of the Fantastic Four, Susan Storm Richards, the Invisible Woman, has played and been portrayed in many different roles. Dedicated Teammate Sue. Supportive Spouse Sue. Wise and Protective Mother Sue. Even, for a short time, Sexy Sue with high hip cuts and peekaboo chest hole in her surprisingly scant uniform.

This brilliant mini-series gave us Strong, Solo Sue.

While she occasionally plays on the name-recognition of her famous foursome, her teammates do not appear in this series, other than one or two almost-incidental panels. The kind of appearance that only the most thorough fandom databases would credit as an appearance at all. She is very much out on her own in these pages.

Freed from the constraints of the pre-defined roles she plays in her team, Sue shows us several new sides - there is more to this character than we knew!

Credit goes to author Mark Waid for putting together a solid espionage tale. It is a clever and yet very natural genre for a woman with powers of invisibility and force fields. What secrets could be learned, what missions could be completed when the spy has the ability to make themselves or other things invisible to normal human vision?

In classic Bond fashion, Sue must pursue her marks through dramatic high-speed chases - great, innovative use of her powers to make selective parts of a roof and wall transparent while tracking their fugitive! She must battle a double-crossing gangster in the depths of seedy Madripoor. She dresses to the nines in order to get some information while at a swank party. She must deal with old and new partners, always with incomplete information. And, looming over it all, is a megalomaniac master manipulator who ensures that all is not what it seems.

Waid keeps the action coming, driving the story at breakneck speed. Through all of the challenges, Sue the Invisible Woman is seldom at a loss for what to do - she can handle anything that comes her way and is clearly not dependent on her brilliant husband or fiery brother to handle her challenges for her. No, she is capable, confident and, no matter how messy things get, always gorgeous.

Waid's tale is not without its flaws; though infrequent, there are several moments that leave the reader confused. The flashback timelines do not always add up. Characters seem not quite right. Very minor issues that cause momentary confusion without adversely impacting the overall story.

The art also has a hiccup or two. Mostly, they are awkward layouts of a series of thin, horizontal panels in which the dialog sequence does not follow convention and causes momentary confusion. Some different layout choices could have avoided it. 

But that is the only nit I can find to pick with the visuals. They are, cover to cover, astonishing! The loving care, the attention to detail, the awareness and brilliant use of lighting, show some of the best work I have seen from Mattia de Iulis.

If art is painting with light, then this book is indeed a work of art.

Page after page glows. The use of shades and outlines in portraying Sue's powers in action are consistent and convey all the reader needs to know. I want to rip out several pages and turn them into posters in my room, they are that level of amazing.

Sue Storm Richards stands on her own, strong, fearless. Her intelligence and intellect are on full display. Her commitment to the righteous cause is unwavering, even when she needs to go rogue to do the right thing. And the confident and innovative uses of her powers breathes fresh air into this character with her long history as a cooperative team member. Go Invisible Woman!

What I loved

Invisible Woman in beautiful light,
standing strong on a force disc

So many pages of this book are breathtakingly beautiful, some - like this image from the first chapter - downright poster-worthy. Artist Mattia de Iulis handled all the art duties, from pencil to ink to colors, and used that end-to-end control to give us these gorgeous visuals.

Everything works with this image, just one of several perfect ones in this book. There is so much to love here, from the layout, with the strong, confident and heroic pose, to the touches of fabric in the classic uniform - no head-to-toe body-coating spandex, instead we see lines in the fabric, pulls and ripples and texture. 

And the feather in the cap of the art team is the perfect lighting, with the low sun, clouds and back-lit Sue. The play of light and shadow is absolutely amazing over and over in this collection. Amazing!

What I didn't love

Panel from issue #1, Sue watches her children in a park

While his panel shows more of the amazing light-play I mentioned above, with the dappled sunlight on her hair, this panel is also an example of several little niggly plot inconsistencies in this book. In this case, the story has just finished a flashback sequence to ten years earlier, when an engaged but not yet married Sue Storm handled a delicate spy mission. No way those children are under ten years of age. The timeline is not consistent.

I am surprised that a writer of Mark Waid's caliber would let such bumps slip through. They are not many, perhaps five over the course of the series, and only a couple with any immediate role in the unfolding plot. But each is jarring and distracting when they hit. The perfectionist in me is disappointed.

Related Reviews

Secret Invasion: Fantastic Four

One of the Fantastic Four Will Die!

Fantastic Four: Extended Family

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Mark Waid
Artists:  Mattia de Iulis
Published By:  Marvel Comics
Published When:  Jan 22, 2020
Parental Rating: Teen

Back cover of Marvel Comics TPB
Invisible Woman: Partners in Crime

Personal over Power - Review of Storm (2014) volume 2 - Bring the Thunder

  

Front cover of Marvel Comics' TPB
 Storm volume 2 - Bring the Thunder

This book collects the following comics: Storm (2014) issues #6-11

Score (out of 5 Capes)

When Storm interacts with others, be they students in her school or strangers on the street, she shines as a brilliantly relatable character, balancing power and compassion. These tales could benefit from more focus on this side and less on the standard-fare mutant stories, which come across as disjointed and wanting to be more gory.

My Review

We are reminded throughout the tales collected in this book that Storm is or has been a thief, a leader, a queen, a teacher and headmistress, even a goddess. So many ingredients, so much history, so many expectations. Writer Greg Pak seems to choose a different one of those descriptions as the centerpiece of each story. 

In the opening three-part story, Storm heads home from Las Vegas after a decidedly mixed encounter with old friend Yukio (see volume 1 for that story). But when her plane is hijacked by agents from Eaglestar International, a sketchy organization led by Davis Harmon, can she overcome some anti-mutant bigotry and save the plane and everyone on it, including a US senator? 

After great exertion, she does manage to carry the damaged plane across the continent, only to be framed and arrested for the very attack she fought off. It leads to confrontations, first with the lying senator then with the evil brain behind the whole affair.

It is an intense story, one with a few hints of Storm's power to relate to people but more focused on her awesome weather powers. More goddess than anything in this arc.

The thief side takes centre stage in the standalone #9. She must team with Gambit to try and retrieve a magical artifact before one of Gambit's biggest and most dangerous rivals does. Pak delivers a lighter tale, filled with sweet moments, clever nods to great heist and archaeological movies, and some self-reflection.

The final arc in this volume, which wrapped up the ongoing series at a very limited 11 issues, puts Storm's headmistress role at the fore. The return of Kenji, a mutant thought dead, is what drives this plot forward. Is he sweet? innocent? dangerous? Does he blame her for what he suffered before? Can she protect her school and her students? At what cost?

Storm really rocks the tight black leather and punk-rock hairdo. Lead artist Al Barrionuevo gives her a strong look throughout his chapters, with the shaved head and long, silver-white mohawk cut whipping in the constant breeze that follows her, her don't-mess-with-me vibe has a beautifully regal undertone.

Barrionuevo's pencil work through the first four and a half chapters of this trade paperback collection is one of the highlights of the series. His pages are filled with drama and emotion, power and dynamism. Storm's power of weather manipulation, with its potential to get lost amidst clouds and whirlwinds, gets solid treatment in his hands. 

When Victor Ibanez takes over for the final two issues, the shift in style is immediately noticeable; Storm appears softer, not as strong, and the horror-infused storyline of #10-11 could stand to be a couple notches darker to truly sell us on the action.

Overall, this series suffers from a main character whose limits of her power seem to change every issue or two, as does her personality and motivation. This immensely powerful mutant, with a long history of leadership with all its hard decisions, deserves better.

What I loved

Storm and Gambit play Indiana Jones in issue #9

Issue #9, a standalone story in which Storm teams with Gambit to find a magical artifact, is the most fun of the chapters in this book. The light, easy banter between the two old friends is spot-on and the plentiful nods to Indiana Jones movies, especially the first one, are delightful. 

While it does nothing to grow or stretch any of the characters, it is an appreciated reprieve, a fun break between the harsh brutality of the first arc and the horror-inspired gore of the final arc.

What I didn't love

Storm stops a tidal wave from
destroying a bridge in #8

Writer Greg Pak seems unable to decide just how powerful Storm can be. The elements of weather are at her command, but how local or vast, how short or long a duration, are those powers? The answer seems to change to suit his narrative needs.

At the climax of the first story arc, Storm must manipulate hundreds of cubic miles of atmosphere and stratosphere to focus the sun's rays and generate enough heat to instantly evaporate an entire tidal wave of water, mere seconds before it destroys this bridge. She handles this incredible feat without breaking a sweat.

Yet, a couple issues earlier, she struggled to keep a single airplane aloft for five hours. Sure, it is a heavy object, and she must exercise her powers over a longer time. But the wings of the plane are engineered to produce loft. She did not need to carry it; merely give it enough forward momentum for the physics to produce enough lift to assist her efforts. But the story is more dramatic if she collapses from sheer exhaustion over this effort.

Related Reviews

Astonishing X-Men volume 9 (2012), also by Greg Pak

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Greg Pak
Artists:  Al Barrionuevo (#6-10), Victor Ibanez (#10-11), Neil Edwards (#9-11)
Published By:  Marvel Comics
Published When:  July 21, 2015
Parental Rating: Teen+

Back cover of Marvel Comics' TPB
Storm volume 2 - Bring the Thunder

Galactus the Goofy - Review of A-Force Presents volume 4

Front cover of A-Force Presents volume 4 by Marvel Comics

This book collects the following comics: 

Black Widow (2014) #4

Captain Marvel (2014) #4

Ms. Marvel (2014) #4

She-Hulk (2014) #4

Thor (2014) #4

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2014) #4

Score (out of 5 Capes)

With solid entries from Ms. Marvel, Thor and Black Widow, a decent Captain Marvel flashback wrap-up, and uninspiring She-Hulk and Squirrel Girl entries, I give this collection three and a half capes.

My Review

This is the final volume of the cross-promotional A-Force Presents trade paperbacks that I will review. If its particular blend of story excerpts, shifts in tone, style and quality interests you and you must have more, good news! Marvel continued to publish a few more volumes.

Following the same pattern as the previous three, volume 4 collects issue #4 from each of six ongoing series launched by Marvel Comics in 2014 that starred a female hero. So locked into the pattern are they that the six chapters follow the same sequence in each volume.

Black Widow #4 is the first Widow story that is not self-contained. Molot, the hulking monk who imagines himself as the Hammer of God, eludes capture. His story is not done, and he will definitely return next issue to complete his quest of targeted assassinations.

Artist Phil Noto's visuals continue to be the most compelling element of these Widow stories. They are gorgeous! He lends them a soft feel overall but is able to drive home a hard edge to heighten the tension at key moments. Similar to the Batwoman series from DC Comics, the flash of brilliant red hair against her black, form-fitting battle gear is a jolt of visual electricity running throughout the pages.

Writer Nathan Edmondson dials the tension up and back down throughout the narrative and knows how to draw out the important revelations as he teases that there is more humanity behind the divine instructions Molot is carrying out.

Turning the last page on the painterly Black Widow story and landing in the bright, blocky, cartoony greens of She-Hulk is as much a jarring experience in volume 4 as in all of the others. Most of Javier Pulido's faces and postures are presented either head-on or in full profile, lending an amateurish feel to the pages. He does still convey the strength and passion of his characters, but a wider variety of perspective and angle would make this a more enjoyable read.

She-Hulk #4 sees her wrestling with what she should do for her client from #3 - the son and heir of Doctor Doom. Charles Soule gives us some charming soul-searching, with critical input from another Marvel hero and lawyer, Daredevil. She then sets out to take her case directly to Doctor Doom himself, ending in a delightfully destructive confrontation at Doom Castle in Latveria.

The transition to Captain Marvel #4 brings another visual shock to the system, as the heavy, blocky, green-saturated panels of She-Hulk give way to the muted sepias of Captain Marvel. The creative team of Kelly Sue DeConnick (writer) and David Lopez (artist) leans heavily on the subtle color work of Lee Loughridge. It makes for some beautiful pages, although it is not always clear what the shifts in color tone are intended to convey.

By the end of #4, Captain Marvel has brought us all the way back to the first pages of issue #1. Remember how those pages dropped us into the middle of a tale on a far-flung planet, before backing up the clock by 6 weeks to tell us how we got there? By the last page of this chapter, we have returned to the series start point. Getting there has shown that Captain Marvel overvalues her diplomatic skills. There is definitely more to this hero than sheer power, but her flop before the ruling council of the threatened population shows a need for more training and experience before her next diplomatic role with the lives of millions hanging in the balance.

The Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel character and series is the big revelation of the six series collected in these volumes. Writer G. Willow Wilson bakes together so many fascinating ingredients - a young teen girl and her usual social and academic angst; her geeky hobbies placing her decidedly not with the popular crowd; family tensions and risk of being grounded; a prominent place for both the immigrant experience in general and the Muslim experience in the United States in particular. 

All of these alone would make for an interesting tale in the hands of a writer of Wilson's skill. But she adds even more to the mix, with sudden and very strange powers, flirting with potential body-horror themes before gradually gaining more mastery. All these ingredients turn into a truly delightful dish, leading (in hindsight) to her entering the pantheon of Marvel heroes.

In this issue, she learns more about the possibilities and limitations of her powers; finally settles on a costume; sets out to rescue a friend trapped behind some creative tech. Adrian Alphona's visuals are delightful and quirky, showing the depth of emotion over anything and nothing in the teens, while giving us compelling body distortions and surprising perspectives.

Next, we turn to Thor #4, with the title "Thor vs Thor." It is an overworn cliche that Marvel superheroes have to fight each other. This time, however, the battle is not a misunderstanding but an effort to settle who rightly wields the hammer of Thor. Even with one arm, and surrounded by rampaging Frost Giants and an evil elf, the Odinson must first seek to reclaim the hammer from the hands of the mysterious woman.

The battle is short-lived. Not due to any defeat, but to his recognition that she has made the hammer do things that, in all his years, he has never seen it do. When he begins to refer to her as "Thor" and calls her "Goddess of Thunder", you know their reconciliation is complete.

With this fourth chapter, writer Jason Aaron salvaged what had started out as an overly melodramatic and ponderous series. Still loads of self-righteous machismo, but the conclusion to the opening story arc landed, and set up the rest of the series from a decent foundation. Russel Dauterman's action sequences continued to be a cluttered blur, but there is some raw creativity in these images that plays well with all the posturing of these characters.

The volume ends with #4 of The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl. The images and writing continue to be as juvenile as the preceding three chapters. Squirrel Girl and her sidekick rodent Tippy Toes, out in space, complete with fishbowl bubble helmets, talking Galactus out of eating the Earth by sourcing his calories from elsewhere, ideally a planet covered deep with nuts.

Ryan North writes not just the silliness of these adventures but throws in some cheeky running commentary in the fine print at the bottom of most pages. Could it be more clever or have more depth? Could the art dial back the feel of kids' Saturday cartoons? Sure, but you know what you are getting with Squirrel Girl, right?

What I loved

The Kamala Khan Ms. Marvel has so many rich elements in play and the creative team does a fantastic job of blending together the elements. By issue #4, we have come through the most awkward moments of this teenager's coming to terms with the changes in her body. Now that she has more understanding and control over the changes, the art becomes even more whimsical, and it is such a delight to see her in action.

Ms. Marvel crushes enemy robots with a giant fist - on purpose!

What I didn't love

Squirrel Girl vs Galactus. Given the light, laughs-first tone of her series, it is no surprise that Galactus is portrayed in a similar vein. Alas, it comes across as more frat boy than powerful, interstellar force.

The mighty Galactus laughs mockingly

Related Reviews

A-Force Presents volume 1

A-Force Presents volume 2

A-Force Presents volume 3

A-Force volume 0 - Warzones!

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Nathan Edmondson, Charles Soule, Kelly Sue DeConnick, G. Willow Wilson, Jason Aaron, Ryan North
Artists:  Phil Noto, Javier Pulido, David Lopez, Adrian Alphona, Russell Dauterman, Erica Henderson
Published By:  Marvel Comics
Published When:  Jan 1, 2016
Parental Rating: Teen+

Back cover of A-Force Presents volume 4 by Marvel Comics

Synchronized Starts of Six Strong Women - Reviewing Marvel's A-Force Presents volume 1

 

Cover of A-Force volume 1 TPB by Marvel Comics

This book collects the following comics: 

Black Widow (2014) #1

Captain Marvel (2014) #1

Ms. Marvel (2014) #1

She-Hulk (2014) #1

Thor (2014) #1

The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl (2014) #1

Score (out of 5 Capes)

Cross-title collections like this are always a swirl of styles and quality. This collection is stronger than the subsequent volumes because we get the start of all their stories.

3.5 out of 5 Capes

My Review

The year 2014 must have been a landmark in the long publishing history of Marvel Comics. It saw the debut of a stunning number of new ongoing series led by strong superhero women. This trade paperback book collects the #1 issues of six of the titles, those with closest association to the Avengers, while leaving out others like Storm, Elektra and Spider-Woman, whose titles also debuted around that time.

Some of the heroes here are familiar, with a well-established history and existing fan base. Black Widow was perhaps best-known among them, with her many years in the Avengers. She-Hulk also entered her series with a long history, although based on the debut issue, this series will take her in some unique new directions. Captain Marvel, another well-known hero, has been rapidly ascending the heights of Marvel fame.

Once past those three, the characters at the center of these books are newer, their creative teams unafraid of riffing on other famous names to give their books a running start. Thor, for example, is now the goddess of thunder, providing a woman's touch to one of the most famous of Marvel Comics heroes. And Ms. Marvel borrows a name but is an entirely new and boundary-pushing creation.

And finally, there is Squirrel Girl, because why not? 

Black Widow #1 is the lead story of the collection. Writer Nathan Edmondson set the tone for this new series right from the start, weaving many of the fan-favourite elements of Widow into this debut tale. Her fearlessness, combat skills, espionage abilities all shone through. Yet he also found room to give her a hint of a personal life, one that struggles with costs and pet care. Artist Phil Noto produced some beautiful images, a deft painterly touch whose soft tones blunt the hard edges of the character, yet draw out strikingly expressive faces, especially in frame-filling close-ups.

Since a critical role of a #1 debut issue is to set the tone and central themes of a series, I must tip my hat to writer Charles Soule and artist Javier Pulido for what they achieved with She-Hulk #1, the second story in this set. Would they focus on her strength? Power? Rage? Relationships? Their chosen direction became clear within the first 8 pages of this book: the series would revolve around her professional life and her relationships, including with other Avengers. 

When her law office bosses fired her, sure she smashed their very expensive boardroom table with one finger and a scowl, but she then set out to establish her own legal practice. How unfortunate, then, that her very first case brought her into a head-on collision with Tony Stark's lawyers and robots. How can a tall, green-skinned lawyer strike a work-life balance and bring in enough clients to stay afloat?

Pulido chose to render the book in a simplified and cartoonish style, reflective of the lighter narrative tone written by Soule. The end result is at times too smoothed out and simple; a little more visual complexity would not be out of place for this career-woman hero.

Kelly Sue DeConnick's script for Captain Marvel #1 set the stage for our hero to return to space for an extended time and, I am sure, many fantastic and alien adventures. From the very first panels, we are dropped into a team filled with people we don't know, in a place and situation that is unclear. So, after a few pages of that teaser, DeConnick backed us up six weeks, to what enticed the good Captain back into space in the first place. The reader must commit to a few more issues, though, as #1 fails to return to the original scenes. We are left with most of those six weeks still blank and must await #2 to see how the two parts ultimately connect. David Lopez produced straightforward art pages, the most creative of which was the origin one-pager done in the childish style of her friend Kit.

If the first three chapters of the collection focus on well-known heroes, the second half of the book turns to the newbies. First up: Ms. Marvel. Writer G. Willow Wilson introduced us to Kamala Khan, an ordinary teen Muslim growing up in New Jersey. Balancing school, friends, family and teenage emotions proved hard enough for any of us. But the one time Kamala defied her parents and snuck out to a party, she got hit by a mysterious fog that granted her shape-shifting and body manipulation powers. Oh man, is she ever gonna be grounded!

The fresh and clean art by Adrian Alphona is well suited to this body-horror setup. Until Kamala figures out how to control the new powers, she is prone to very inconvenient and embarrassing physical changes. A great metaphor for the teen angst around puberty, handled throughout with skill and grace by both Wilson and Alphona. Well done!

Russell Dauterman's art on the new Thor, by contrast, was not so clean nor so deftly handled. While he is unafraid to slant and break the boundaries of the panels, their contents are so filled with spikes and swirls of hair or ice or light that they lose clarity and become a visual mash. 

Writer Jason Aaron's story is likewise a mash. Thor, the god of thunder, has lost the ability to heft his magical hammer, leading to lots of moping on the moon and conflicts with his father, Odin. Shockingly, a mysterious woman lifts the hammer on the final page, which then magically clad her in appropriate goddess of thunder garb. This should be a shocking and exciting new twist on this long-standing warrior, but it gets lost in the mash of poorly formed Asgardian English. The attempt at balancing the pomposity of the gods with some wit and levity fell flat, producing a narrative that is a chore to read.

The sixth and final #1 collected here is the series debut of Squirrel Girl. Writer Ryan North presented her enrolling in college, in her secret identity, while avidly talking to squirrels, especially her best bud Tippy-Toes. Oh, and battling Kraven the Hunter. It is hard to tell if North is aiming to make this a children's book - the goofy plot and characters, paired with the extreme cartoonishness of Erica Henderson's visuals suggest that to be so. Yet more mature wit and wordplay appear throughout, including in the tiny secret text at the bottom of every page.

What I loved

Phil Noto's gorgeous visuals in Black Widow #1, such as this final panel with its soft-focus background of her face to draw attention to the little spider in the foreground. The whole chapter is just as beautiful!

Final panel of Black Widow #1 showing Phil Noto's stunning art

What I didn't love

The flat, cartoonish style Javier Pulido shows in She-Hulk #1. Too many frontal and profile views with unadorned expressions.

Javier Pulido's simplistic and cartoonish renderings of She-Hulk

Related Reviews

A-Force Presents volume 2

A-Force Presents volume 3

A-Force Presents volume 4

A-Force volume 0 - Warzones!

Quick Reference Details

Writers:  Nathan Edmondson, Charles Soule, Kelly Sue DeConnick, G. Willow Wilson, Jason Aaron, Ryan North
Artists:  Phil Noto, Javier Pulido, David Lopez, Adrian Alphona, Russell Dauterman, Erica Henderson
Published By:  Marvel Comics
Published When:  Jan 1, 2015
Parental Rating: Teen+

Back Cover of A-Force volume 1 TPB by Marvel Comics

Powerless Nightmare - a review of JLA: a Midsummer's Nightmare Deluxe Edition (2017)

 

Review:

Everyone on Earth has been trapped in a dream-state by a powerful villain. Heroes need to gradually realize that it is a dream world and extract themselves to combat and thwart the villain and set the world right again.

Having recently read and reviewed some of the Knight Terrors crossover series, I am struck by the similarities of plot outlines. This book, reprinting the 1996 Justice League reboot, presents a fascinating contrast.

On balance, this earlier iteration of the global threat in the dream-world is better at showing the diversity and complexity of humanity. Whereas Knight Terrors is all about darkness and the worst fears of our nightmares, this story has space for a wider range of experience and emotion. There is fear, of course, and a handful of nightmarish elements. But the dreams also bring pure joy to the Martian Manhunter, confusion to Wally West Flash, frustration to Kyle Rayner Green Lantern, and almost boredom to Clark Kent Superman.

The clever nightmare twist is that our heroes are just ordinary people in their dreams, while millions of other people are "sparking" and developing sudden super-powers. Who has not dreamt of having the power to fly, the strength to hoist cars into the air or to be too powerful to stop.

What this series lacks, compared to Knight Terrors, is a clear purpose behind the villainy. In Knight Terrors, the terrifying Insomnia seeks a magical stone that will give him even more power. Here, the enslaved Doctor Destiny and his manipulator, Know Man, lack a coherent goal. Know Man, as the brains of the operation, seems to have a desired outcome in mind, but seems unable to communicate it to the confused readers. He mutters some things about saving the world from the heroes, whom he critiques for failing to use their godlike powers to maximum effect. But it comes across as inane villain-babble, not solid character motivation.

The 2017 Deluxe Edition hardcover in my hands coincided with the 2017 release of the Zack Snyder Justice League film. A deluxe reprint needs special additions and inserts to raise it above the rest, and this most notably includes concise little profiles that outline the motivations of each of the founding seven JLA members.

Grant Morrison, a writer renowned for his own skills at rebooting characters like Animal Man, Doom Patrol and Green Lantern, was a smart choice to pen the preface. But his words badly overstated the mythic status of this series. Yes, it was pivotal in restoring the Justice League franchise to its pride of place - by the mid 1990s, it had been diluted and tarnished by the likes of Justice League Task Force or Extreme Justice, and this hard reboot reset it on its way to glory.

But his claim that this series was the tipping point away from the gritty realism and dark violence of the preceding decade of comics is a bit much. Did this restore the nobility and grandeur of the superhero genre? Its predecessor Kingdom Come would have a better claim to that honour, and in hindsight its impact falls short of the boast.

As a solid reboot and fun tale, filled with at least the art stylings of the mid 1990s - most notably in both men's and women's hair styles - this is worth a read. But it is far from perfect, slipping too easily into overwrought melodrama and simplistic formulas.

Description:

The most powerful super-team in comics history is reunited in JUSTICE LEAGUE: A MIDSUMMER’S NIGHTMARE, a prologue to Grant Morrison’s legendary JLA series.

Something is wrong. The world’s heroes—Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, the Flash, Aquaman and Martian Manhunter—are gone, and in their place, their alter egos live peaceful, happy lives. Meanwhile, millions of everyday people are “sparking,” transforming into super-powered beings whose unleashed abilities are wreaking havoc on law and order and causing panic across the globe.

In a world lost in a nightmare, Earth’s greatest champions must awaken to remember their true identities, reclaim their powers and discover that together they are, now and forever—

From acclaimed writer MARK WAID—the Eisner Award-winning author of seminal works including KINGDOM COME, SUPERMAN: BIRTHRIGHT and celebrated runs on Daredevil and The FLASH—comes this classic Justice League tale that serves as a precursor to one of the greatest comics runs of all time!

Collects: JUSTICE LEAGUE: A MIDSUMMER’S NIGHTMARE #1-3

Authors:  Mark Waid (Author), Fabian Nicieza
Artists:  Jeff Johnson (Artist), Darick Robertson
Published By:  DC Comics
Published When:  Oct. 31, 2017
Parental Rating: Teen
ISBN:  978-1401274320
Pages:  128 pages