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This year’s Oscar Best Actress winner for her remarkable performance in Room may be on the verge of headlining Marvel Studios first female-led big screen effort. According to a report in Variety, Brie Larson is in early negotiations to play the role of Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel in the studio’s solo launch of the […]

Reviewing Bendis' and Marquez's latest foray into the Marvel limelight.

Fried Pie Comics, a line dedicated to producing special variant covers for comic books, has been making a splash since it debuted in October 2015.  They’ve produced collectible versions of huge titles titles including Dark Knight III #1 and Rick and Morty #14.  Now, they’re hosting their first convention. Fried Pie Con will take place in Kennesaw, […]

Earlier this week the hit video game Lego Marvel’s Avengers added a new Captain Marvel pack as part of Marvel’s “Women of Power” initiative for March. Fans got Carol in all her glory but you know…blockier. Like all the Lego versions of the characters we love she’s adorable and dangerous. What we didn’t know was […]

Last week, it happened.  Marvel finally ended the event that kicked off their line-wide All-New All-Different relaunch when they released Secret Wars #9. We had an in-depth review on the comic, but will be continuing our Marvel review series under a familiar moniker; The Marvel Rundown. We took out those annoying adjectives, but will continue to […]

March is Women’s History Month, and in 2016 Marvel plans on celebrating the tradition by releasing a series of variant covers featuring some of the company’s most prolific female heroes.  These covers feature art by a variety of progressive and unique talents such as Tula Lotay, Annie Wu, Jamie McKelvie, and Emanuela Lupacchino. As Comics […]

Surprise! On the first day of NYCC, Marvel Studios has announced a few changes related to their Phase 3 slate of films. First things first, the biggest news: there’s an Ant-Man sequel coming. Set for July 6, 2018, Ant-Man and The Wasp will feature the adventures of Scott Lang and Hope Van Dyne (Paul Rudd […]

Cosplay is a thing. Variant covers are a thing. And now cosplay variant covers are most definitely a thing. Marvel will have 20 cover adorned by photos of cosplayers depicting the titular characters.

Kelly Sue DeConnick announced she was leaving Captain Marvel only a few days ago, but Marvel is tapping talent new to comics for the upcoming series, Marvel’s Agent Carter showrunners Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas. Artist extraordinaire Kris Anka is providing pencils for the series. This new creative team brings a few more women to mainstream comics — an important new step in diversity for Marvel that will hopefully see the rest of the industry follow suit. Recently, DeConnick brought Captain Marvel into space attempting to serve as a warrior between the outside forces of Earth and the Marvel Universe. Fast Company broke the news and explained that S.W.O.R.D. is no longer in business, giving Captain Marvel an important role in the new Marvel Universe in solving threats to Earth before they touch down to the atmosphere.

The rest of the creative team also explained the new changes in Captain Marvel’s design: “She’s military,” says Fazekas. “She’s not going to have this huge mane of hair. It needs to be practical.” With Captain Marvel’s hairstyle becoming so eclectic over the past year or so within so many different titles — streamlining the concept with a shorter cut is a stroke of brilliance. Anka’s new designs seem to be reflecting the choice.

Finally, Tara Butters chimed in with a quote that should further acclimate fans to the new direction of the title: “We love the fact that she wanted to be a test pilot, someone who tests boundaries,” says Butters. “I feel that’s brought into her superhero character, where she’s pushing herself. Sometimes she takes risks that she shouldn’t take.” Captain Marvel #1 launches this Fall taking place in the eight months after Secret Wars in the All-New, All-Different Marvel Universe.

Matt Fraction, Kelly Sue Deconnick, Christian Ward, Bill Sienkiewicz, and Chip Zdarsky discuss upcoming comics

by Harper W. Harris

One of the most fun and unique experiences at HeroesCon today was the Milkfed Criminal Masterminds panel, which featured Matt Fraction, Kelly Sue Deconnick, and co. discussing all their various projects while keeping the audience consistently laughing. After speaking briefly on the Charleston shooting and holding a moment of silence, they began by explaining what exactly Milkfed Criminal Masterminds is, essentially a company to house all the comic projects that the dynamic couple work on.

Then came the updates on all the books:

Deconnick will be leaving Captain Marvel after Secret Wars, drawing sighs of disappointment from the many Carol Corps members in the audience. She realized after the movie was announced that she would have to “dig in for three more years or drop the mic,” but that Carol has taught her to “brave the next step.”

The next arc of Pretty Deadly will begin in October, in time for NYCC. It moves forward in time a bit and brings in the energy of WWI and the Harlem Hellfighters. Alice and Jenny will return in this arc.

Issue #15 of Satellite Sam will be out in a few weeks and will conclude the New York arc. New trade omnibus of all 15 issues will debut at Rose City Comic Con. In a year or two, Fraction and Chaykin will return for a second volume which will take place in LA and will focus on a cowboy show.

Robert Wilson IV came by as Deconnick discussed Bitch Planet. The book has fallen behind due to how difficult it was to write issue #4, but they discussed that they would rather have books “done right than right now.”

Casanova is getting back on schedule, and issue #3 will be 32 pages. This story will be far longer than 7 issues.

Christian Ward joined the group to talk about ODY-C, which is moving into a story that mirrors Moby Dick in many ways. Ward mentioned that when he gets the scripts, he “spends an hour on Wikipedia and some really weird Google searches.”

Bill Sienkiewicz took to the stage and after much expression of mutual admiration, Deconnick announced that the the two of them will be working on a book in the near future together. The working title of the book is Parisian White.

Sex Criminals #11 will be out soon. There will be lots of of extra pornographic variant covers in pink polybags by Bryan Lee O’Malley, Katie Cook, the Hernandez Bros. and more! Additionally, there will be 1000 blank covers with sketches by Fraction and Zdarsky, after hundreds had to be destroyed because they used licensed property stickers on them (“What were you thinking?!” –Kelly Sue Deconnick).

In addition to all the updates and behind-the-scenes info, the group gave out lots of swag to audience members that could answer trivia questions. Among the most interesting were the game show style “Who Said It: Ultron, Kanye, or Tallulah” and “Whose Penis am I Describing: Matt or Chip’s”. They are all also excited about working on upcoming TV shows, most of which they could not talk about at this point.

Kelly Sue and Matt (and let’s not forget Chip) know how to work a crowd, and their growing band of creators continues to be something to watch out for. All in all, it was a great way to close out Saturday at HeroesCon, one of the few cons to offer the open weirdness of this kind of panel but with some serious star power!

As one female-fronted superhero film begins to get its building blocks into place, another one hits a big snag.

In the first of two reports from THR, Marvel Studios is negotiating with screenwriters Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Meg LeFauve (Inside Out) to pair up for their 2018 release Captain Marvel.

Perlman became a hot name in Hollywood after the massive success of Guardians, and holds the distinction of being Marvel’s first female screenwriter. LeFauve’s Inside Out is also being held as the next great hope in reviving the somewhat sagging critical response that Pixar films have received in the past few years.

Apparently, they had two different takes on Carol Danvers big debut, but Kevin Feige was so taken with them both that he thought they should team up on the final script. No director has been attached as of yet, but Marvel has been making a concerted effort to find a female filmmaker.

Perlman is repped by CAA and Management 360, LeFauve by Verve. Captain Marvel is scheduled to be released on July 6, 2018.

Sadly, it isn’t all good news this evening, as it was just announced that Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones) has left Wonder Woman over “creative differences”.

MacLaren’s involvement was easily one of the more exciting developments of the Warner Bros/DC film slate. The film is still scheduled to be released in 2017, so there’s still time to get another filmmaker in place, but it’s hard to not be reminded of the Patti Jenkins situation with Thor: The Dark World and the poor results that eventually produced with Alan Taylor at the helm.

Hopefully Warner Bros will be able to course correct. Some have suggested that perhaps MacLaren should jump ship and helm Captain Marvel, but the truth of the matter is, a filmmaker looking for creative freedom probably should avoid big tentpole superhero films altogether.

Happy SDCC Hotelpocalypse everyone! Here’s hoping all your dreams come true in 48 hours. The rest of you are far smarter to not put yourself through the sleepless nights and stress.

Here’s today’s big Entertainment headlines:

POSSIBLE SPOILERS IN THE FIRST ITEM

– Latino Review dropped a Captain Marvel rumor today, here’s the gist of it. They hear that Marvel has already cast the role of Carol Danvers and are keeping it tightly under wraps. We’ll be getting our first glimpse of her in Age of Ultron they report, as has been reported for a few months now over at Badass Digest.

They also state that Marvel already has the story for her debut film already sketched out and they’re attempting to recruit an established talent to script it. Captain Marvel scribe Kelly Sue DeConnick was apparently in the running, but there’s no word yet on what decisions Marvel has made other than Jim Starlin is apparently on board as a consultant.

END SPOILERS

– X-Files fans take heart, your favorite duo is returning to the small screen as David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson have signed on-board for a six part X-Files mini-series that will air on FOX on a not yet revealed date. Series creator Chris Carter is back on board as well, and here’s what he had to say per The Hollywood Reporter:

I think of it as a 13-year commercial break. The good news is the world has only gotten that much stranger, a perfect time to tell these six stories.

The last time The X-Files returned, I remember seeing a bunch of really disappointed theater-goers. Here’s hoping this second reunion goes off a bit better.

– AMC’s Preacher now has a Cassidy to team up with Tulip and Arseface, and it’s Misfits actor Joseph Gilgun. Here’s how Deadline colorfully describes the Irish vampire for the series:

Jesse’s sidekick Cassidy is described as the most wild-ass, bestest “bro” you’d ever want to meet. He may be 100 years dead but no one’s more boisterously alive than Proinsias Cassidy. An incorrigible mischief-maker, Cassidy’s up for anything — joyriding, bungee-jumping, bank robbing, peyote dropping. He’s also a relentless conversationalist with opinions on everything from religion to politics to pop culture to theories on why people are better able to tolerate the odor of their own flatulence.

We’re still waiting to find out who is going to play Jesse Custer, but that announcement is likely imminent.

Happy Monday everyone! Hannah and I took today off from our regular gigs, but I didn’t want a few of the more interesting headlines to pass us by…so, let’s take a look at what’s causing a buzz in the entertainment side of things.

– According to TVInsider, Jamie Alexander is returning to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. reprising her role as Lady Sif from the Thor films and her guest appearance in the first season of the ABC series. Alexander will guest star in the second episode of the midseason, where Lady Sif will be struck by amnesia after a massive battle with a yet to be revealed villain. Though executive producer Jeffrey Bell states that the memories that she hangs onto will prove very important in the on-going Inhuman-based subplots of the series.

– Over the weekend, OK! Magazine (via SpoilerTV) reported a rumor that Angelina Jolie (Unbroken, In the Land of Blood and Honey) was offered $20 million dollars by Marvel Studios to direct their upcoming Captain Marvel feature. This rumor caused a bit of a stir online, but let’s face facts, Marvel has yet to offer any director that kind of payday and it’s hard to imagine they’d start doing that now ($20 million dollars was Christopher Nolan‘s take for Interstellar for example). Most sources I’ve spoken with in trying to follow up on this report state that the rumor is fiction. The one thing it gets right is that Marvel is likely looking to hire a female filmmaker for the property, and that is a very exciting prospect.

– Another unsourced story (from Cinelinx) floated around yesterday that NBC/Universal, in the wake of not renewing Constantine for a second season, would be moving it to SyFy and renaming the series Hellblazer. It’s a great idea, yet I wouldn’t get my hopes up. Sadly, barring a sudden surprise renewal announcement, the upcoming finale is likely the last you’ll seen of John and company.

– Production on X-Men: Apocalypse continues, and Bryan Singer, ever the busy tweeter/Instagrammer, has posted a photo of interest:

I know. Old door. But there’ll be something new behind it. #XmenApocalypse

A photo posted by Bryan Singer (@bryanjaysinger) on Feb 9, 2015 at 9:59am PST

It sounds like the Danger Room is returning if I were to hazard a guess.

Cover for Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha #1

Hitting stores next month is Marvel’s latest cross-over between the X-Men and the Guardians of the Galaxy: “The Black Vortex”, just 12 months after 2014’s “Trial of Jean Grey” which brought together these two Brian Bendis written teams for the first time.  For this event, Bendis is following the lead of Sam Humphries, writer of The Legendary Star-Lord, who is the “showrunner” for this event which sees the two teams cross paths thanks to a powerful artifact (the entitled Black Vortex). This event, which begins in an Alpha issue written by Humphries, then spreads to titles like All New X-Men, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Legendary Star-Lord, Nova, Captain Marvel, Cyclops and other series. Both creators joined the comics press today on a call to discuss the upcoming event, how it impacts each team going forward, and to elaborate on just how central the new-found relationship between Peter Quill and Kitty Pryde is within the pages of the event.

Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: Black Vortex Alpha #1 Interior Art by Ed McGuinness

Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: Black Vortex Alpha #1 Variant, Art by Alexander Lozano

“The Black Vortex” was born out of the regular Marvel retreats that occur among its key writers and editors, says Humphries: “This grew bigger and more exciting as we shared it with our colleagues at retreats and in Editorial…It became clear that this was an event-caliber story.” The writer stated that it was his hope to challenge the Guardians, the current “it” property at Marvel, on a level on which they hadn’t yet been. The Black Vortex, as an object, has been appearing in Humphries’ run on The Legendary Star-Lord, but expressed that this escalation called for a number of great writers to work on the concept and that scribes like Bendis, Kelly Sue DeConnick, and Gerry Duggan all stated their desire to be involved in the project, and that they each had their own unique take on the concept for their given titles. Humphries also mentioned that there are big Captain Marvel and Nova moments in the story, the latter hitting a rather funny note for the character.

Bendis also made mention of the artistic talent involved, from Ed McGuinness (who is the artist on Black Vortex Alpha #1) to All-New X-Men artist Andrea Sorrentino, who is freshly joining Marvel after an incredible stint on Green Arrow. Bendis says the cosmic landscape is what really drew them in: “The artists are given the freedom within the story to express themselves. This gave us an opportunity to give quite a handful of artists who were itching for their chance to let go cosmically their chance.”

And speaking specifically about Sorrentino, Bendis shared:

You just write your ass off and then you just let him do what he’s going to do because it’s almost indescribable what he does. You just get out of his way and let it happen…it’s so exciting when the pages come in. Every artist in the group is like that. When you go into an event – even when it’s an artist you’ve worked with – there’s something about how an artist will take the opportunity to draw bigger. After an intimate storyline, they feel when they’re drawing an event.

On the subject on Sorrentino, Bendis also stated that he and the artist already have their next project lined up and compared working with the artist to his acclaimed runs with Alex Maleev, David Mack and Bill Sienkiewicz.

All New X-Men #38 Interior Art by Andrea Sorrentino

The concept behind The Black Vortex itself is that when characters come into contact with it, they become cosmically empowered, in much the same way that Jean Grey became empowered by the Phoenix Force, and Norrin Radd obtained the Power Cosmic. With certain characters obtaining this power, they also were given new designs by McGuinness, speaking on that topic, Humphries said:

I’m convinced that Ed McGuinness found the Black Vortex when he was a teenager, and that’s why he’s such an amazing artist…He didn’t just come back with new costumes. He came back with new character twists and new powers…what he delivered was so compelling and intriguing that I ended up rewriting part of the outline to give it more focus…you want to get more in their mindset and see what kind of havoc they’re going to wreak on the cosmic landscape.

Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: Black Vortex Alpha #1 Interior Art by Ed McGuinness

The impetus of the story, according to Humphries, is that Peter Quill’s father (Mr. Knife aka J’Son of Spartax), has been amassing a number of cosmic forces, and seeing himself as an “empire builder”. As a consequence of that, Quill, and his new love interest Kitty Pryde, are drawn into the power of the mysterious title object and call upon the X-Men for help. On this note Bendis said:

I don’t know if it’s the Claremont influence…but the X-Men every so often have to take an adventure that goes beyond their typical scope. But for a return trip, I didn’t want to do a “Trial of Jean Grey” sequel. I wanted to do something new if we were going to go back out there

Bendis stated that he wanted to be part of a story that had a big impact on the characters and both he and Humphries assured that not all the players in this event would land back in the place they started. Bendis particularly singled out one X-Man:

Hank McCoy is one of these characters that struggles with being the smartest man in the room, and this is a perfect example of a character that will altered because of his experience with the Black Vortex, this is something that will change the character dramatically.

Bendis also added that McCoy would obtain knowledge of a cosmic and universal nature.

According to the writers, “The Black Vortex” also leads right into Secret Wars, indicating that perhaps even bigger changes are on the horizon for Marvel’s heroes.

At this point, press questions were asked, the first among them being how the relationship between Kitty Pryde and Peter Quill affected the story given the positive reaction from fans, to which Bendis responded:

It doesn’t alter what we do with it. We have to tell the stories that the characters dictate to us, but when there’s a response like this it makes me happy…when you write relationship stuff, you’re revealing things about yourself in there…and when you put your ass out there a little bit, you want people to respond favorably to it and not go ‘Eww!’ That inspires us to go forward, but I don’t think we’d stop if we weren’t getting this response.

On whether the younger “All-New X-Men” will have a different reaction to the Black Vortex than their older counterparts, Bendis replied:

Jean Grey damn well knows what happens to her when she grows up. She knows EVERYTHING. But others are on a path – like Beast – of desperately looking for knowledge and power. And just because this power is offered, it doesn’t mean every character will have a horrible price to pay. Some will get a power up. So the X-Men are coming at it young and raw…there are also other characters, like Angel, who has his own experience with a dark power.

Guardians of the Galaxy 24 Interior Art by Valerio Schiti

The heavy Jim Starlin influence of McGuinness’ redesigns was brought up, to which Humphries responded that the artist was great fit for the task from the get-go and that McGuinness “knows the history of the cosmic stuff, and while that wasn’t something they specifically through at him (the Starlin-like look)…you could see the electricity jumping off those designs”.

Bendis also drew a very strong connection between both teams when asked about the challenges of bringing the two teams together:

There’s a connection of spirit there. They’re oddballs. Even the Guardians are the oddballs of the universe…these characters see themselves as outsiders looking in and unique. Sometimes it’s great to be unique, and sometimes it’s f***ing depressing to be unique.

He also admitted that getting the X-Men into space and on the same playground as the Guardians was the toughest task by far.

Finally the topic of possible mainstream response to their work was broached, particularly given the success of the Guardians of the Galaxy film this past year. Humphries said that he’s encountered readers who came to his work via the film, as well as the Rocket Raccoon and Guardians title, and that they liked “what they saw in the movie and they were ecstatic to find more that they could read without having to wait for the sequel.”

And Bendis was quick to mention that fans realize that the only place you’ll currently see the Guardians and X-Men cross-over is in the comics, and that adds an exciting element to what “The Black Vortex” offers, particularly for new readers and that it’s “exciting and an honor to be delivering that to readers who want it”.

Guardians of the Galaxy & X-Men: The Black Vortex Alpha #1 releases on February 4th.

The below designs are all created by Ed McGuinness

Cosmically Enhanced Drax Design

Cosmically Enhanced Ronan Design

Cosmically Enhanced Beast Design

Cosmically Enhanced Gamora Design

Cosmically Enhanced Drax Design Close-Up

Cosmically Enhanced Nova Design

WHOA — Marvel really did announce a Captain Marvel movie for 2018, and Black Panther for 2017, with Chadwick Boseman (42) joining Robert Downey Jr and Chris Evans on stage.

Today’s Marvel presser was roundly liveblogged, and it was apparently a tumultuous event at the Disney owned El Capitan theater. The entire Stage 3 line-up was announced and it goes like this:

Captain America: Civil War for May 6, 2016 — huh what could THAT refer to. Spinning out of Avengers 2 no doubt. Captain America was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby.

Doctor Strange November 4, 2016. Directed by Scott Derrickson. No official Cumberbatch confirmation. Doctor Strange was created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko.

Guardians 2 moved up to May 5, 2017. The Guardians of the Galaxy created by various people, including Jack Kirby, Bill Mantlo, Steve Englehart and Jim Starlin.

A third Thor movie: Thor Ragnarok July 28th, 2017. Thor was created by Jack Kirby and Stan Lee.

Black Panther starring Chadwick Boseman on November 5, 2017. Black Panther was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Avengers: Infinity War in TWO PARTS, just like Harry Potter for 2018 and 2019, while Chris Evans is still in shape.  The Avengers created mostly by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Captain Marvel for July 6th, 2018. Carol Danvers was created by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan; in her role as Captain Marvel she was developed by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Dexter Soy.

And as predicted, the Inhumans for November 2018 The inhumans were created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby because there is like, nothing they did not create.

Also released, this sweet concept art for the Black Panther:

If you’re keeping score at home….well, this is a BIG chart. Collating. As several folks pointed out, DC revealed thei rmovie slate at an investors conference and mostly to keep investors happy following the failed Rupert Murdoch takeover and shaky stock earnings. Marvel held a popular event where fans were present and involved.  A lot of people don’t want to get into the WB vs Disney thing, but I can assure you, it is real.

Also, aren’t you glad that Marvel settled with the estate of Jack Kirby so that his legacy with these characters can be fully explored going forward? Yes you are.

If I was creating a new super-hero team, or relaunching an old super-hero comic book, the person I’d first think of to design/re-design my character’s costumes would be the great British artist Jamie McKelvie! He’s the one behind the excellent new costume designs of Captain Marvel, AKA Carol Danvers, and the wildly popular new version of Ms. Marvel, AKA Kamala Khan. You can see the design sheets posted above. McKelvie has been steadily producing some of the best conceived cover designs/art for many of Marvel Comics’ recent titles, including Ms. Marvel, Nightcrawler, and the recent(much too short-lived) Young Avengers re-launch.

Jamie McKelvie, and his frequent collaborator, Kieron Gillen, have recently launched a new, creator-owned series for Image Comics called The Wicked + The Devine. Their unique new-Mod take on super powered folks is a fresh addition to the usual, over-saturated fare.

You can see more art and follow Jamie McKelvie on his Twitter page here.

For more comics related art, you can follow me on my website comicstavern.com - Andy Yates

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The relaunch of Captain Marvel, with Carol Danvers in the title role, started off very shakily. The first six-issues told a time-travel story which eventually teased together parts of the character’s origin in a way which wasn’t particularly as entertaining or dynamic as was hoped. Writer Kelly Sue DeConnick had previously proven herself to have a great voice and sense of humour in her work – but the first arc of this book didn’t give her much chance to do that. It felt like a side-story, blocking us from getting to the real adventures.

Which is why I’m delighted that ever since issue #6, the book has picked up massively. Taking the character back to present-day gives her a chance to be far more contemporary, and build up a far stronger individual voice. She can be funnier, because there’s more for her to react to, and she can build up a lasting supporting cast. Issue #11, out this week, shows just what the book should’ve been from the start. It’s immediately likeable, with instinctive art and a freeform story which segues between multiple interesting sub-plots.

The best of these storylines is one which sees Captain Marvel grounded. If she uses her power of flight, then she’ll start to build up permanant brain damage – which gives a twist which the character has needed for a long time. There’s nothing inherently interesting about a character who can fly, who also works as a pilot. If they crash the plane, it doesn’t matter, because they can always step out the cockpit and FLOAT AWAY. But giving her this twist means the character suddenly lives a much more high-stakes lifestyle. There’s a more immediate tension now we know she’s not safe at all times.

There’s a line in the issue – which is scripted by Christopher Sebala – in which somebody asks Cap “what’s it like to not be good at something for once?” That line captures the issue, and gives readers further motivation to root for the hero. Her frustration at not being able to get in the air also leads to many of the funniest moments of the issue. It feels like the book has now got a real grip on the voice of the lead character, giving her a lightness of tone that makes her more relatable and entertaining than before (she has previously had a tendency to be a little boring).

Filipe Andrade’s artwork – boosted, as everything is, by Jordie Bellaire’s colour, is a brilliant fit for the book. He’s quirky and left of centre without sacrificing storytelling ability. There’s a much more sudden sense of motion in the pages, but I also really like his refusal to cop out for easy spectacle. The sequencing in the pages works fantastically because he doesn’t use gigantic splashes and overwrought hero poses in each panel. In fact, he keeps the action sequences very tight, with smaller panels which keep an eye on the lead.

There’s a sequence where Captain Marvel blasts a group of guards with her energy, but Andrade doesn’t decide to have this take up half the page. Instead, he sets it in a small page-width panel at the top of, and sets the action at a distance from the reader. Whilst we still get to see Captain Marvel wipe out a group of goons, Andrade’s decision to keep the move locked within a single panel emphasises how normal and unexpected a day this is for the lead character. Even during sequences where Cap is on a flying motorbike and racing round like a lunatic, Andrade refuses to make this into a spectacle – you could replace the bike with a transit van and the pages would still work. It’s a small touch, and perhaps not something Andrade is consciously doing, but it adds to the relatability of the main character.

The narrative as a whole is very well constructed, too. Some of the supporting characters could come across as bringing a little too whimsy to proceedings – Cap makes friends with a young girl who is slightly too bluntly inspired by living next door to a superhero – but this is alrgely averted. The subplots are handled directly, by having Danvers walk between them – again, there’s an emphasis on how she’s having to live a very normalised life, and when put in a normalised setting her power and personality come through far more strongly. It’s all handled very nicely indeed.

Captain Marvel is rapidly rising in quality, emphasising the normalcy of the character’s life whilst also pushing the idea of her as inspirational and good fun. DeConnick’s voice comes through more strongly, and the whole thing feels a lot more natural and warm. Assisted by an excellent creative team, including Sebala, whose dialogue is witty and light, she’s set up a new dynamic which will hopefully stick with the character for a long time to come.

Steve Morris writes, tweets, and comics. Follow his epic journey!

By Steve Morris

Via that very best of methods: the Dustin Weaver giganti-cover. The covers for issues 1-3 of Jonathan Hickman’s Avengers relaunch have been revealed by Marvel today, establishing that more X-Men have moved over to Cap’s Crew. While there are no surprises about which members of the Avengers movie cast made it into the series (all of them), the cover does still hold a few surprises. So! Who’re The Avengers?

Captain America, Black Widow, Hawkeye, Iron Man, Hulk and Thor are all members of the Avengers – unsurprisingly – and they’re joined be fellow non-surprises Spider-Man and Wolverine. But also in amongst the shiny heroes are Sunspot and Cannonball from the New Mutants, as well as Captain Marvel, Spider-Woman and Falcon. This represents perhaps the first time that two minority characters males have been on the main Avengers at the same time, I believe, although that still feels a bit of a low ratio for what’s meant to be a world-spanning team. No sign of Redwing yet either, which is a worry.

There’s also some whizzy technology in the background, suggesting that Hickman will be basing the team in Nick Fury’s helicarrier. The most intriguing part, however, looks to be the mystery character on the far left, silhouetted by the explosion Steve Rogers is manfully walking away from. For my money, this looks like it’s meant to be Shang Chi, but.. well, it could be anybody really. Anybody else got a better guess in mind?

Hickman, artist Jerome Opena and colourist Dean White will start the series off in December. There are still several more characters yet to be revealed as team-members, so don’t lose hope yet, Jarvis fans!

By Steve Morris

Carol Danvers has never fully clicked as a solo hero, which is strange because in most ways she seems designed to be the star in the spotlight. A blonde-haired, plane-flying, all-American girl, she’s got a simple powerset which makes her visually interesting and still realistic enough to be relatable. Her most recent solo series lasted an impressive 50 issues, but ranged in quality, and struggled to provide much in the way of memorable or defining characteristics. That’s the reason why Kelly Sue DeConnick’s new, revamped take on the character decides to find two big hooks and stick to them. Unfortunately, this approach doesn’t work, and Carol’s personality sinks almost immediately. The book follows.

It’s a shame, because there are things to like about the issue. Dexter Soy’s art is very similar to Crayton Crain in style and use of page breakdowns, but adds a lot more light and clarity to the story. His use of colour and shade are excellent here, and gives the book a unique tone and style which isn’t seen anywhere else in the Marvel universe. DeConnick gives him a range of different things to play around with too, including a short fight scene, some space flight, and a heroic pose or two. He does seem to have a little too much interest in drawing Captain Marvel’s arse, but I suppose that won’t hurt the readership too much.

The problem is that DeConnick’s two hooks for Carol Danvers aren’t particularly compelling. For all Marvel’s talk about how this is a book featuring a strong female hero, Carol doesn’t get much of a showcase here. Most of the dialogue is concerned with emphasising that she is a woman, and she lives in a man’s world, and men are men, and women are women, and that’s different, and we can never change the status quo. The story is so obsessed with defining Carol as “not a man” that is doesn’t do much to define her as a woman. She’s held down by gender, with a particularly weak internal narrative and no promising plots to steer her into. DeConnick wants her lead to be impressive for being a strong woman, but doesn’t do anything but bog her down in leaden ideas about feminism and gender roles.

I can provide an example. The very first fight Captain Marvel gets into is against Crusher Creel, the Absorbing Man. Who JUST WILL NOT STOP with misogynistic jokes. He’s a constant torrent of abuse, and puts Carol Danvers on a constant offensive. Unlike her old friend Peter Parker, Danvers is immediately on the reactive, rather than the proactive. And hey, how come Crusher Creel is a misogynistic character now? Of all the villains who might be demeaning towards women, why did they choose the one who dates Titania? It’s an early example of the defensive attitudes towards Captain Marvel which tank her personality almost immediately in the issue. She can’t come across as her own person, because she’s busy being the ideal for everyone else to judge themselves by.

The second hook is that Carol is a space pilot, which is an EXCELLENT hook. It works for Green Lantern (and sort of for Batwoman), and ties a wave of patriotism into the character which gives her a boost above any of Marvel’s other female heroes. She is military, and sh