The Life of Captain Marvel #2

Marvel; $3.99

In the debut issue of The Life of Captain Marvel, readers get to see important moments from Carol Danvers’ childhood as she dealt with a panic attack in the present. After returning home to Maine, she had a fight with her brother and he crashed his car, resulting in a brain injury. Carol found love letters her father had written to another woman along with a device that sent a signal to deep space.

Issue 2 deals with the aftermath of previous events. Carol is trying to process shock and grief over her father’s betrayal, wrestles with the decision to tell her mother, and guilt over her brother’s injury. Meanwhile, the signal in space has pulled an alien creature to Earth who is causing destruction on her way to the signal’s origin.

The Life of Captain Marvel, by Margaret Stohl, is more personal than the usual superhero fare. Captain Marvel is one of the most powerful superheroes in Marvel, yet she’s still a human being, which is the focus of this series. It’s the emotional side of someone who saves the world, which Stohl presents through the situation’s complicated facets.

The art was provided by the team of Carlos Pacheco (pencils), Rafael Fonteriz (inks), Marcio Menyz (colors), and Marguerite Sauvage (flashbacks). It’s very good art with clean lines, lots of detail, clear focus, and realistic, but also fun, color choices. Having a separate artist on the flashbacks puts distance between the time periods, but it’s not so different that it’s jarring to the reader.

–Amanda Sheriff