Carol takes her friend Tracy Burke to the hangar where she stores a plane that once belonged to her mentor Helen Cobb. Carol accounts the kick-ass tale of how Helen acquired the plane, liberating it from a pig of a dignitary after using the plane to set an unverified record. Carol wants to replicate the same record in the same plane, hoping that it will prove Helen’s accomplishment, cementing her as the best pilot of her time… and Carol of hers.
Carol succeeds in matching Helen’s altitude, but when she tries to surpass that, she sends the plane into a nosedive. She wakes up, minus the plane in a strange jungle location. She is captured by Japanese troopers and taken to their base, where she questions, “Is this one of those islands that thinks it’s still World War II?” The base is suddenly attacked by a group of female American troops. They rescue Carol who realizes that this isn’t a place that “thinks” it’s World War II… it really is World War II.
The women are attacked by a “Prowler” a seemingly alien aircraft. Though she is worried about corrupting the time stream, she powers up as Captain Marvel and attacks the craft.
The character development at the beginning was nice. Once more we get some nice texture to Carol’s relationships with both Tracy Burke and Helen Cobb, which is very refreshing.
The second half, though, the time travel element felt a little drawn out and uninformative. It takes pages for Carol to be captured and escorted to the Japanese camp. Several more for her to be freed by Jerri Quimby and her team. These first two issues aren’t setting the tone I had hoped. Maybe next issue will ramp things up a little.
The art is a lot more to my liking this issue. The heavy blacks that burdened last issue are lightened up. Gone are the gratuitous butt shots. Maybe someone at Marvel said something to Dexter Soy? Even the mullet haircut is sleeker and more attractive than it was. The front isn’t “business in the front” it’s slicked back, making it come across a much more modern and stylish. It’s not the best haircut in comics, but it’s better.
My immediate reaction to this issue, unfortunately, is that I don’t think it’ll appeal to guys. It’s very heavy on female characters who are handled very well. Like I said, I love Carol’s interactions with her two mentors. But throwing in the all-girl military pack might be too much. Especially since they aren’t presented in a cheesecake manner. I could be wrong, and hope I am. But that was my gut reaction– this book isn’t guy-friendly.
It’s well-written, but a bit slowly paced and heavy on talk and a bit light on action. I want very much to like this series, but I’m still waiting to be wowed.
CAPTAIN MARVEL #2
Written by Kelly Sue DeConnick
Art by Dexter Soy
Cover by Ed McGuinness, Dexter Vines and Javier Rodriguez
