This Week Marvel’s Animation Breakout Character What if…? the series arrives in comic form with the launch of the new Captain Carter mini-series! How does the character cope with a change of medium?
We have an opinion on Captain Carter #1, plus a quick look at other new Marvel releases, all in this week’s episode of The Marvel Rundown!
Captain Carter #1
Writer: Jamie McKelvie
Artist: Marika Cresta
Color artist: Eric Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Artist/Journal Design: Jamie McKelvie
Reviewed by Zoe Tunnell
It would be very easy to write Captain Carter off as a tie-in comic, designed purely to tie in with the MCU buzz What if…? episode featuring a shield-wielding Peggy Carter. Even beyond that, the premise of an out-of-time WWII woman finding herself awakened in the modern age is a story well followed by one of Captain America’s many origin stories. Fortunately, Jamie McKelvie, Marika Cresta and Eric Arciniega managed to sidestep both of those outcomes and deliver a distinct and satisfying debut for the new Captain of the Marvel Multiverse.
At Captain Carter’s its greatest strength is its star, eponymous captain, Peggy Carter. Chic but down to earth, Peggy is immediately likeable and a pleasure to follow as she adjusts to modern British society. Joyfully enjoying modern changes such as far more dining options and widespread access to information alongside annoyances like her upstairs DJ neighbor who constantly wakes her up, Peggy’s fish-out-of-water antics never stray into the bitter annoyance of a disconnected old woman, thank God. Additionally, her refusal to let anyone, especially a man, push her or consider her a relic gives her a tougher edge than most Steve Rogers uses in this position.
Nowhere is this more powerful than when Peggy comes up against the current hyper-right climate of British politics via Prime Minister Harry Williams. An attempt to put Captain Carter back in the spotlight as Britain’s first superhero quickly bleeds from seeming greedy excitement to a much more chilling desire to push Britain as a world power that can throw its weight behind . While not a major part of the issue, it is clearly a plot point that McKelvie plans to return to.
This scene, and the next with Peggy visiting her family’s burial ground, also house some of the issue’s best art showcases. Cresta’s greatest strength is in her emotionalism and figure work, with some of those later action scenes landing a little stiff in comparison. The conversation between Peggy and her master Lizzie Braddock (always nice to see Betsy) coupled with Peggy’s tearful farewell to her long deceased family are the absolute highlight and reinforce the visual identity of the book as a visual identity to which to pay attention.
Captain Carter isn’t the strongest beginning I’ve ever read and suffers from some clunky dialogue in addition to the aforementioned stiff action, but none of those issues stop the alternate universe story from being a pleasant reading. It may not set the world on fire, but Captain Carter hooked me up to read the rest of his 5 issue series. As far as monthly superhero comics go, that’s an achievement in itself and something worth a try.
Final Verdict: Browse
Quick recap!
- Devil’s Reign: Superior Four #3
- This whole series has been a little weird. Much of the book has been devoted to following the four Otto Octavius(?) as they bounce around the multiverse trying to prove their supremacy (with varying success); However, Zac ThompsonThe real purpose of seems to be how difficult it is for Otto to accept the fact that his ego is the biggest obstacle to his goals. The story works when it leans into that vulnerability and Otto’s desire to be a good man, but it struggles to execute that idea. There’s a fun mention of the cyclical nature of comics in this issue, though it kinda falls short because Doc Ock has been one of the worst examples of that in recent years. Hopefully we’ll find Ock “heroic but flawed” again at some point, because that’s when he felt most compelling, but whether that returns remains to be seen. Thompson has seeded a lot of different ideas for a potential sequel to this series, and while I’ll be thrilled if that happens, I think we’ll have a lot more in the next relaunch of amazing spider man. The art was really fun, with David Tinto and Matt Milla offering fun action and great designs. The worlds explored in this mini, especially the Mobile Sanctum of Earth-8968, look fantastic, so I hope to see this team again soon. —BC
- Star Wars: Han Solo and Chewbacca #1
- Before the events of A new hopeand before becoming a vital part of the Rebel Alliance, everyone’s favorite space smuggler, Han Solo, did many jobs for intergalactic gangster Jabba the Hutt, and it was the period of Han’s life that the writer Marc Guggenheim and artist David Messina to explore. Taking a heist job from Jabba, Han and Chewbacca, joined by Rodian bounty hunter Greedo, return to the one place in the galaxy Han doesn’t want to go: Corellia. As star wars it’s not just about space battles and laser swords it’s going to be some kind of family drama as Han plans to steal the ashes of Jabba’s dead enemy but yeah it’s star wars. And with that, this book is mostly for diehard fans who need to know it all. —GC3
- Marvel Women (2022) #1
- Now you know the gist of what to expect from Marvel Comics anthologies like the The Voices of Marvel line and Marvel Women, and this problem delivers once again. This range comes out all stops: Jordie Bellaire write another story (make sure and check Darkhold: Wasp #1 if you missed his previous script) with Zoe Thorogood on “feminist superhero icon” Jessica Jones, and stories from Charlie Jane Anders and Preeti Chhibber. Like last year Marvel Women matter, this one also has a series of cute one-page comics throughout the anthology, this time focusing on Black Cat’s past jobs. Plus, it has great additional material, including an introduction by Gaelle Simonean enlightening interview with the editor Bobbie Chase driven by Angelique Roche, and a fun feature that allows creators to share their favorite fictional heroes (Marvel and non-Marvel). And a special shout out to this line from “Real Witches” by Mirka Andolfo, Sumeyye Kesgin, Peer of Brittanyand Ariana Maher: “The Scarlet Witch is right.” Yes that is correct! —AJK
Next week there will be Carnage!
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