Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Three stars probably isn't fair. The writing and story were just as great as the first volume, and if I could rate this on those things alone this would be a five-star review.
But the art change! Andrade's art could almost be beautiful(bit too many T&A poses to not get eye-rolled), except it doesn't fit with Captain Marvel at all. Seeing Carol drawn as a porcelain doll with a visible rib cage is so incredibly distracting. The writing is good, but not good enough to keep you from noticing those spaghetti knees.
But the art change! Andrade's art could almost be beautiful(bit too many T&A poses to not get eye-rolled), except it doesn't fit with Captain Marvel at all. Seeing Carol drawn as a porcelain doll with a visible rib cage is so incredibly distracting. The writing is good, but not good enough to keep you from noticing those spaghetti knees.
I liked this one better than Volume 1 because I didn't feel so much like I was missing ALL the backstory, but there was still a lot going on and I'm pretty sure I followed very little of it. On the plus side, giant robots! Dinosaurs! Adorable cosplaying child!
It would have been a four, but the interior artwork for issues 9-12 made me want to rip my eyeballs out.
Good enough storyline though I wish it weren't so episodic. I wish Dexter Soy was kept on...Felipe Andrade's work just did NOT do it for me. Wide-set buggy eyes, limbs that shrivel into nothing. ??
Could I have the plot-line from 9-12 (the headache/no-flying plot) drawn by Dexter Soy? Because I love the plot (which means I need to go round up vol 3) but I really, really am not jazzed by the art for those issues. It's totally a taste and preference thing, but I really don't like the weird, elongated, flat-face/no-nose style.
Much as Matt Fraction did with Hawkeye, DeConnick does here with Captain Marvel--finds moments when our superhero isn't superheroing and uses those to show us who they really are. This volume opens underwater--not the place one expects to find Captain Marvel--as she helps fellow superhero-turned-owner of a family boat business, Monica Rambeau, salvage mysteriously downed ships from the gulf off Louisiana. One of Rambeau's previous monikers was Captain Marvel, and their banter about Carol Danvers use of the name without asking permission is wonderful: "It's like...you want to date my ex? Doesn't matter how long we've been broken up. He's still my ex. You call." From there the conversation shifts to Rambeau's use of a Google Alert to monitor uses of her code name, and it's all wonderful.
But yeah, there are also fights with giant robots and dinosaurs and a hellavicious, winged Shi'ar that are delightful thanks to the pencils of Dexter Soy and Filipe Andrade.
But yeah, there are also fights with giant robots and dinosaurs and a hellavicious, winged Shi'ar that are delightful thanks to the pencils of Dexter Soy and Filipe Andrade.
I loved the first story arc, although I had no idea who Monica Rambeau was before reading it. The stretch of story from #9 through #12 was pretty good but the art was so distracting and irritated me probably to the point of irrationality -- flowing just-so curly locks on a character who has short hair everywhere else, weird anime-ish distorted-body poses that belong on the Escher Girls tumblr, melting or super-pointy faces -- that I couldn't get into it as much as I would have otherwise. The fact that I finished the volume instead of tossing it directly into my library bag a few pages into #9 says a lot about DeConnick's writing; I'm a fan.
I like Captain Marvel a lot as a character and I enjoyed the arcs in Down more than In Pursuit of Flight -- and I'm overlooking my issues with the art in both volumes in hopes of making it a fairer fight -- but I still prefer the run that starts in 2014, which is Volume VIII of Captain Marvel, if I'm decoding this correctly.
(three-and-a-half stars)
I like Captain Marvel a lot as a character and I enjoyed the arcs in Down more than In Pursuit of Flight -- and I'm overlooking my issues with the art in both volumes in hopes of making it a fairer fight -- but I still prefer the run that starts in 2014, which is Volume VIII of Captain Marvel, if I'm decoding this correctly.
(three-and-a-half stars)
I really really liked it. Again, I'd rate it 4,5 if I could. Why not go for the five stars? I think it's pretty amazing already, but still has room to grow.
In the second volume of DeConnick's initial Captain Marvel run, Carol teams up with another previous Captain Marvel, Monica Rambeau, to uncover a deep sea threat near Louisiana. Once that's dealt with however, she has her own problems to deal with, one that may cause her to lose not only her mantle but everything she considers near and dear.
This volume felt like it had a little more room to set up Carol's relationships with her close friends and her superhero colleagues but it still wasn't as much fun nor did it really give Carol as much room to be Carol as Higher etc did. I was amused though at the interactions between Carol, her assistant and Cap with the motorcycle that he lent her. As a stubborn, strong-willed individual myself, it felt like exactly how I would've responded and I appreciated that.
Down continues setting up the Captain Marvel mythos as Carol struggles with new challenges, particularly ones that she can't just punch her way through. It showed more of her personality than In Pursuit of Flight but I think I got spoiled by the Carol I got to see in Higher etc. Also, Filipe Andrade is the literal worst. I'm not sure what alien he thought Carol became but dear God those panels were awful. Here's hoping this is his last appearance with Captain Marvel. Or in comics in general really.
Full series review here