Captain Marvel 1: In Pursuit of Flight

Comic Info

Captain Marvel (5) #2

Reprints Captain Marvel (5) #1-6 (September 2012-December 2012). Carol Danvers has made a big decision. After years as fighting as Ms. Marvel, she’s decided to adopt the name of Captain Marvel. When Carol inherits her idol Helen Cobb’s classic plane, Carol finds herself thrust into the past and engulfed in a battle in World War II. Carol discovers her journey might not be an accident and that Helen had plans for Carol that potentially could change the course of her life.

Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Captain Marvel Volume 1: In Pursuit of Flight is a Marvel Comics superhero collection. Featuring art by Dexter Soy, Emma Rios, and Richard Elson, the issues in the volume were also included in Captain Marvel: Earth’s Mightiest Hero—Volume 1 with Captain Marvel #1 also included in Guardians of the Galaxy: Guardians Disassembled, Heroes of Power: The Women of Marvel—All-New Marvel Treasury Edition, Marvel’s Captain Marvel Prelude, and Decades: Marvel in the ’10s—Legends and Legacy.

I really enjoyed the old Carol Danvers. I liked Ms. Marvel right up to the point that Marvel sent her off with a super-villain in the classic, bizarre, and just wrong Avengers (1) #200 (October 1980). Binary was fun, and Kurt Busiek’s return of the character also had its moments. I kind of fell off the character however. Carol Danvers has been through a lot over the years, and I don’t know how I feel about her most recent direction.

Captain Marvel (5) #6

The story has Carol deciding her future and proving herself as her own person. These are two things that I never felt Carol Danvers had to do. The character was always rather fleshed out and having her having to reinvent herself (again) seems unnecessary. Marvel’s plans for the character however were probably too big and the threat of a certain other “Captain Marvel” at DC probably also had them wanting to make sure that the Captain Marvel moniker was attached to someone.

I didn’t love the actual story. I think Carol works best as an extremely down to Earth character or a space-based character. The time travel story feels a bit random and time travel stories always give that wiggle room that it feels like they don’t have the weight of other stories (it is almost like magic stories). While it isn’t bad, I wish that the story had been a different direction to get to the same result.

Carol always raged. The character was pretty temperamental and was a short fuse. This made her fallible, but it also made her a bit unique. She wasn’t just there to be the “female member” of the team, and she was a real powerhouse. I did always think that the Ms. Marvel title was a bit degrading of the character, but I also don’t know if I like her just being another Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau was my favorite Captain Marvel). I thought Carol always was best when Carol was being Carol and not trying to be someone else. Captain Marvel 1: In Pursuit of Flight is followed by Captain Marvel 2: Down.