Review of Captain Marvel – In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue DeConnick.
I have not been feeling so hot this last week and I have been super busy, which has led me to pick up comics again. I didn’t really read comics from I was around 13 till last year so it is kind of a new experience for me to read in this format. As a child I read a lot of Asterix, Tintin, ElfQuest
Valérian and a lot of other comics. It seems that a lot of them were French or from Belgium – apparently that is what gets translated into Danish. I loved comics as a kid. None of them were superhero comics though. So the superhero genre is something I have come to as an adult. I am sure that really change how I read and how I view the characters. They hold no nostalgia for me, but some of them has a lot of sense of wonder to me.
I have read a few different things over the last week Iron Man: Extremis, Hawkeye Vol. 1: My Life As A Weapon and the comic I have been most impressed with Captain Marvel, Vol. 1, In Pursuit of Flight. I have not read either of the three before. I read a little bit of Spiderman as a child (at a friend’s house) and I have of course watched a lot of superhero movies. But I am coming completely fresh to the story of Captain Marvel.
My review of Captain Marvel – In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue DeConnick
The story of Captain Marvel – In Pursuit of Flight is cool and I want to learn more about Carol and adventures after reading the first collection. There is a good plot to action balance with story, dialog and cool characters thrown in. I strongly recommend that you check it out.
My review from 2014 of Captain Marvel – In Pursuit of Flight by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Title: Captain Marvel Vol. 1: In Pursuit of Flight
Author: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artists: Dexter Soy & Emma Ríos
Series: Captain Marvel (2012)
Genre: Superhero, comic
The artwork
First of all I have to say that I am extremely impressed with the artwork. Dexter Soy’s art work uses very few outlines and very saturated colours. The panels are laid out very dynamically and there are often elements breaking the frame. I love the less stylised style without it falling into realism or grim dark blood and gore territory. Another thing I really appreciate is the lack of unnecessary text on the page. The text is minimalistic, nobody monologue or spell out what I as a reader can see from looking on the page.
The story is told primarily through the pictures supplemented by the words. Quite often it seems to be the other way around. I appreciate that Soy and DeConnick works with the medium instead of trying to write a novel with pictures. If I want to read a novel, I will pick on up, thank you very much.
Issue 4-6 is drawn by Emma Ríos in more traditional comics style. I find it less interesting, but it is by no means bad and it kind of fit the 1960s area where those issues are set..
Marvel’s costume
Another thing I love about the art is Carol Danvers, aka Miss Marvel, aka Captain Marvel. She has a new costume and new hair and I love it. She is still smoking hot and sexy, but her costume has stopped looking like a porn version of a swimsuit and is now something you could actually see a real person wearing. She has also gotten slightly more human proportions and I love her new cool hairstyle.
In the new comic Carol is very much a pilot as well as a superhero so it makes sense for her to wear something more like a pilot jump suit than a stripper outfit. The scarf is also put to good use so it isn’t just an accessory. Oh and she got an awesome helmet that unfolds when she is in battle.
The story
The other Avengers has a few cameo appearances in the first issue, mainly Captain America but the later issues are all about Carol. The story is a time travel story where Carol gets confronted with her own origin story and gets a chance to change it. There are also some really great WWII female warriors and alien technology.
Carol also gets to be a leader and a pilot in this story. She gets to hang out with a bunch of other powerful women which is just plain awesome. There are almost no males in this story arch in general. They seem to be mostly antagonists (other than the other Avengers of course) and there are no romantic sub-plots at all.
The story is also quite cool and I want to learn more about Carol and adventures after reading the first collection (I just got distracted by a mentioning of Ironman, I never realised that I could read an Ironman comic). There is a good plot to action balance with story, dialog and cool characters thrown in. I strongly recommend that you check it out.
The stats: Captain Marvel Vol. 1
Published: January 1st 2013 by Marvel
Length: 136 pages
Read: January 22 to 24, 2014
Author: Female, white, USA
The protagonists: Female, white, pilot, superhero, USA
This review was originally posted: January 27, 2014. Updated and edited July 1, 2023
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