One of the best comic stories of the late 1990s was Avengers Forever, which led to Rick Jones and Genis-Vell bonding together as the Captain Marvel of that time. Spinning out of that maxi-series was a Captain Marvel solo book by Peter David that dealt with the fun and fallout from those characters. Luckily last year, there was a lot of Captain Marvel excitement that led to the return of Genis-Vell, and this mini-series announcement. With this Dysfunctional Duo being mostly dead for the better part of the decade, now is the time for them to show their heroics by being the focus of this series by Peter David and Juanan Ramirez.
I will tell you one thing about reading this adventure: make sure you know what time you’re in, either now or past. As this starts, the series already has a time jump. It threw me a little, but I could grok it and get back in line with the story. I came to this series with nostalgia and got utterly blindsided by the amount of change Rick Jones and Genis-Vell have been through these many years. Thankfully, Peter David’s writing did help to give me a sense of staying on board to enjoy these characters from the past.
Juanan Ramirez on the pencils also helps to keep things interesting with his visuals, and colorist Fedreico Blee helps to elevate to a cosmic vibe. While the art team does a great job in space, their adventures on Earth make the art seem rushed, but luckily the story isn’t set on Earth for too long. While that change in setting is significant for the art department, it adds to the confusion as locations are changed quite a bit. It feels like Peter David is getting back on the bike again, but by issue #3, the story is stable and heading toward a conclusion.
Peter David does create an interesting situation for Rick Jones and Genis-Vell to interact. I like that there is a reason for the two heroes to bond; considering their deaths and returns, it was better than just being stuck together as their need is very story worthy. Peter David does a great job playing the heroes’ connections to the other cast of characters by way of Marlo Chandler, skrull Jazinda, and Phyla-Vell. Using Marlo’s connection to Death was a great way to explain the heroes’ situation in the story while also being a bit meta with the way characters die and return in comics.
I am glad to have read this story as a trade paperback instead of waiting monthly for the issues to arrive. I’m sure with the real-time passage, this would’ve been a challenging story to keep track of, but as a collected edition, it was easy to flip back if I needed a refresh. The trade paperback is excellent as it is priced less than the original issues’ cost. Sadly, there is not much in the way of extras, just a page sharing callbacks to Marvel stories from the first three issues of this mini-series. I hope this doesn’t mean the end of Rick Jones and Genis-Vell, and I would like to see more adventures with them, by Peter David or not. Maybe as we get closer to the Captain Marvel movie sequel, there will be more chances.
Peter David returns to space to reunite Rick Jones and Genis-Vell. After the two characters’ deaths, it’s time for them to find a purpose and live. Juanan Ramirez helps to bring this adventure to cosmic proportions, so get ready to clang some nega bands together and save the day!
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