Jedi by Knight

Captain Marvel doesn’t really seem like the hand-holding type.  She’s sassy, not too patient, and when she gets upset, she just wants to hit something.

Yet somehow she was the one beside me, coaxing me as I took my first step into a larger world.  Because I finally read my first real superhero comic, and it was Kelly Sue Deconnick’s 2012 Captain Marvel series.

I know plenty about superheroes, because I’ve watched a lot of DC and Marvel animated series.  That’s actually how I first heard of Carol Danvers, the current Captain Marvel: I knew that somehow she was responsible for Rogue’s powers of flight and super-strength in the 90s X-men cartoon.

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed the rise of comic-book movies to the mainstream in recent years, but now I’m thinking that if I enjoy them so much, maybe I should actually, you know, read comic books?

I do read plenty of manga and “graphic novels,” so it’s not such a stretch for me to read comics.  I wanted to start with something current and modern that would help me dig deeper into the superhero world.  I also wanted to not have to shell out tons of money to read a bunch of issues.

Captain Marvel was a perfect intro; I’d heard lots of good stuff about it, and my library has the first 2 compilation volumes (up to issue #12).  In the first story arc, Danvers is shedding her Ms. Marvel mantle and re-inventing herself as Captain Marvel with a kick-ass new costume.  The story line is pretty crazy, but I really liked that it touches on the character’s “original” origin story with Mar-Vell and the explosion of the Kree weapon that gave Carol her powers.  It was a great way to clue new readers like me into the history of the character while still moving her story forward.

Carol is a really great character, and fun to read.  She reminds me so much of Starbuck from the new BSG; this cover is my favorite because she even looks a little like Starbuck:

The only real issue I had with this series was the jarring artist switch in issue #9.  I really, really like Filipe Daniel Moreno De Andrade’s style, but I did not think it fit as well with the writing, and it was such a change that it was distracting.  It probably wouldn’t have bothered me as much if I were just reading separate issues and not the compilation volume with no real breaks between the different story arcs.

I also enjoyed seeing appearances by other current Avengers–maybe I will branch off into reading some of those comics as well.  I’m also looking forward to trying the new Ms. Marvel, Kamala Kahn, about whom so much has been made.

Any other reading suggestions for a comic n00b?