Carol braves the cold to try and figure out what is happening with her powers, but things get complicated fast. Is it good?
The Mighty Captain Marvel #3 (Marvel Comics)
Carol wakes up encased in ice after causing an avalanche trying to find Tony Stark’s virology lab in the Arctic. She does manage to break free, only to be greeted by Tony…in AI form. He introduces her to the lab’s lonely virologist, who identifies that there is something strange happening in DNA across aliens and humans alike. After picking up a DNA sample from before Carol’s Kree transformation, they figure out that while Carol’s DNA does not have the mutations, Bean does and her cells make Carol’s go haywire. And worse, just as they solve that mystery, another one reappears: the alien shapeshifter!
Is It Good?
While the creative team tackles a lot of plot in this month’s issue, the book still suffers from the same problems as the first issues. The plot points come in and out without much connection between them and no transitions between the various scenes. The dialogue is overwritten and while I usually love Carol’s terrible sense of humor, the six lame ones in a row during the ice guardian fight were a little hard to take. (Also the ice guardian is a total ripoff from Frozen – cross Disney synergy?)
The art continues to be fine, if stiff and lacking in oomph. The colorists get some nice moments in, specifically with the ice sequences, and this truly lovely splash page:
I’m struggling so hard with this book. Carol is one of my favorite characters, and I’m sure this book is a push to keep her in storylines before her major motion picture debut. But even the large hype that Marvel has put behind this book, with special variant covers done by big name artists and bringing on a supposed YA star writer, the finished product is underwhelming. And I so want better for her. Civil War II boxed in her story, so this was always going to be a challenging book to write. And handing it to a novice comics writer and not well-known artist is not the way you show confidence in what should be a tentpole character.
I live in hope, dear reader. Not for this book, which I will see through the 4th issue of 4, but if I was a new reader to Captain Marvel, this series would not be convincing me that Carol is worth spending my dollars on.
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