A review by kamaria
Captain Marvel: First Contact by Peter David, ChrisCross, James W. Fry III, Ron Lim
4.0
In 2000, Peter David wrote two different Captain Marvel runs. Both were cancelled after a couple of years. This TPB collects the first six issues of one of them, the one that spanned 35 issues. The rest was never collected as TPB, but you can find up to issue №25 on Marvel Unlimited, so that's what I read.
It is confusing, but I promise it is worth it.
Let's get out the bad first: I'm not a fan of the art. It's static and exaggerated, too cartoonish for my taste, but I can see how it works with the story.
To the point now. This run is about Genis Vell as Captain Marvel while he is bonded to Rick Jones. As an ongoing story, it has many of Marvel's usual plot twists and inconsequential end-of-the-world showdowns, with appearances from Supremor, the Roggs, Ronan, Drax and many other Marvel cosmics. I never felt that Rick or Marvel were in real danger, so there was only minimal tension. But it was an enjoyable run. It has plenty of humour, most of it hit or miss, and it has good emotional development. Rick Jones undergoes many changes and they reflect on his personality and his relationship with Marlo and Genis. Genis gains humanity and Marlo, agency. All of them learn from each other. And then there's Lorraine, and I was so sad for her cyclical fate.
This run also stands out from others in early 2000s in that it is really meta, makes jabs at the comic industry and tackles the treatment of women on the page as sex objects (very briefly though!) and criticises patriarchal social mores through the Kree. It is amazingly feminist for Marvel at the time, but be warned: huge chunks of it are still terribly offensive and sexist. It's a continuous contradiction.
I'm sad that the remaining ten issues are not available online, and I really want to read Peter David's other take on Captain Marvel.
ETA [29.12.18]: They have finally uploaded the remaining 10 issues to Marvel Unlimited. This is one of my favourite character arcs from Marvel. Peter David continued writing a very witty and meta comic with characters that are both silly and deep. I can't wait to read more of his stories. However, the best issue of the whole run doesn't have a single word (Quiet Miracles) and it's a Christmas story as classic as It's a Wonderful Life. Bonus: the run ends with a lesbian couple! Something I wasn't expecting from Marvel at that time in history.
It is confusing, but I promise it is worth it.
Let's get out the bad first: I'm not a fan of the art. It's static and exaggerated, too cartoonish for my taste, but I can see how it works with the story.
To the point now. This run is about Genis Vell as Captain Marvel while he is bonded to Rick Jones. As an ongoing story, it has many of Marvel's usual plot twists and inconsequential end-of-the-world showdowns, with appearances from Supremor, the Roggs, Ronan, Drax and many other Marvel cosmics. I never felt that Rick or Marvel were in real danger, so there was only minimal tension. But it was an enjoyable run. It has plenty of humour, most of it hit or miss, and it has good emotional development. Rick Jones undergoes many changes and they reflect on his personality and his relationship with Marlo and Genis. Genis gains humanity and Marlo, agency. All of them learn from each other. And then there's Lorraine, and I was so sad for her cyclical fate.
This run also stands out from others in early 2000s in that it is really meta, makes jabs at the comic industry and tackles the treatment of women on the page as sex objects (very briefly though!) and criticises patriarchal social mores through the Kree. It is amazingly feminist for Marvel at the time, but be warned: huge chunks of it are still terribly offensive and sexist. It's a continuous contradiction.
I'm sad that the remaining ten issues are not available online, and I really want to read Peter David's other take on Captain Marvel.
ETA [29.12.18]: They have finally uploaded the remaining 10 issues to Marvel Unlimited. This is one of my favourite character arcs from Marvel. Peter David continued writing a very witty and meta comic with characters that are both silly and deep. I can't wait to read more of his stories. However, the best issue of the whole run doesn't have a single word (Quiet Miracles) and it's a Christmas story as classic as It's a Wonderful Life. Bonus: the run ends with a lesbian couple! Something I wasn't expecting from Marvel at that time in history.