Captain Marvel's time as an astronomical avenger has pitted her against some of the worst the galaxy has to offer (lookin' at you J'Son). The Haffensye Consortium has been tracking Captain Marvel and Tic for weeks. Now, they've finally caught up to them both! Captain Marvel was barely able to survive the last time she squared-off against the Haffensye - think she'll be so lucky again?
Kelly Sue DeConnick’s work spans stage, comics, film and television. Ms. DeConnick first came to prominence as a comics writer, where she is best known for reinventing the Carol Danvers as “Captain Marvel” at Marvel and for the Black Label standard-setting Wonder Woman Historia: The Amazons at DC. Her independent comics Bitch Planet and Pretty Deadly (both from Image Comics) have ranked as New York Times best-sellers and been honored with Eisner Awards, British Fantasy Awards and Hugo nominations.
Ms. DeConnick’s screen work includes stints on Captain Marvel, a film that earned $1B for Disney worldwide, and 2023’s forthcoming The Marvels with Marvel Studios; in addition to having consulted on features for Skydance and ARRAY, and developed television for NBCUniversal, Legendary Entertainment and HBOMax. Her most recent stage work is the mythic spectacle AWAKENING, which opened at the Wynn Resort Las Vegas in November 2022.
Mission-driven, Ms. DeConnick is also a founding partner at Good Trouble Productions, where she has helped to produce non-fiction and educational comics including the “Hidden Voices” and “Recognized” series for NY Public Schools and Congressman John Lewis’ Run, in partnership with Abrams Comics.
In 2015, Ms. DeConnick founded the #VisibleWomen Project, whose mission is to help women and other marginalized genders find paid work in comics and its related industries. The project continues to this day and recently expanded in partnership with Dani Hedlund of Brink Literacy.
Ms. DeConnick lives in Portland, OR with her husband, writer Matt Fraction, and their two children.
Eh. Sadly, Captain Marvel get hijacked by the events that are happening in the Marvel universe, so the title fizzles out quite a bit in volume 3. Is it over? Looks that way. Basicaly, all the loose ends get tied up in Alis Volat Propriis, so I'm sort of assuming it's going to get a reboot, or whatever they're calling it, after Secret Wars.
I'm grateful that DeConnick tried to wrap it up for the fans, and I think she did her dead-level best, but there's only so much a writer can do when it comes to this BIG CROSSOVER EVENT stuff.
Unfortunately, looks like this one is going out with a lackluster whimper, rather than a big bang. *shrugs* Still, it's not a bad read, and I think if you're a fan of Carol Danvers it makes sense to see how it all ends.
The adventures of Captain Marvel in SPAAAAACCCEEE continue… At least for a while.
After returning to her ship Carol finds that it's been trashed and that her friend Tic and beloved cat flerken have been taken by pirates. Getting them back requires a dangerous journey across a wonky patch of space. Then there’s some crap about that Black Vortex crossover that I could care less about. And then we get the big finale with Carol returning to Earth, but her homecoming is bittersweet.
The first part of this with Carol chasing the pirates was pretty good and had kind of a Star Trek feel to it. (In fact, there’s an idea in there that makes me wonder if some of the creators on Star Trek: Discovery hadn’t read this and *ahem* borrowed it.) The crossover storyline issue is pure trash. It makes no sense if you hadn’t read the rest of it. Hell, I read some of the Black Vortex stuff, and I still don’t know or care what was going on here with it. Finally, Carol’s return home had some good emotional heft and provides a fitting ending to this particular run of the title. (Seriously, Marvel, do we have to change the volumes every 15 minutes?)
This might have been better had I been in on all those other comics that surrounded the main story. As it is, I just got a few snippets of grand battles in space, a cool turn for Carol even though she's running on personality autopilot, and the undercurrent that she'll always be a hero despite having to study her past in order to learn to give a shit about all her so-called friends.
What a fucking bummer.
I'm debating whether or not I'm going to try looking up all the issues surrounding the Builders and their beef with the Earth. I got a taste, and that's it. Did I care enough to want it? I don't know. Maybe I'll go ahead and read them at some later date, and maybe I'll stumble upon them by accident as I go through massive massive catalogues of the Marvel universe just trying to catch up.
The artwork was still wonky. Her hair shouldn't be so eighties gigantic and legs shouldn't turn into toothpicks. What the hell? Am I supposed to believe that "I" am supposed to be suffering from a post brain trauma?
Seriously.
Well, at least I got that little teaser about Ms. Marvel, which I've already read and enjoyed. Tho I do seem to recall that some of the artwork on that one was wonky as shit, too.
Word of advice to all the peeps making the decisions to fuck with these great female characters in the art... STOP IT. Just... god damn. Just stop fucking with them. Stick with a little realism instead of that post-cubist shit. I don't want huge T&A moneyshots, but I sure as hell don't want some abstractionist rendition of a meth head, either. Bring back the artist from the first volume, dickheads.
And so Kelly Sue DeConnick's run on Captain Marvel comes to an end... and I loved every minute of it. Damn, I am going to miss this book.
As for that final issue... well, I have tears running down my face as I type this. Part of that might be the sleepless night I've just spent looking after my sick baby (that's my cat to the uninitiated) but that final issue was certainly the straw that broke the camel's back. You're a sod, DeConnick; how dare you write something so bloody powerful?
The next creative team have some very big shoes to fill.
There's a Black Vortex tie in partway through the book. Skip it. It really only makes sense in context, and there's no point in reading it separately at all. The rest of the volume? Definitely worth reading. There's a short story that sort of rounds out Carol's outer space adventures, and it's fun, if not exactly memorable. Nothing really wrong with it, but not spectacular. The last issue, on the other hand, is quite lovely. On the surface, it's about Carol saying goodbye to her friend Tracy, and it works well on that level. But it's also a sort of goodbye from DeConnick to her readers and to the character of Captain Marvel. She's going entirely creator owned now, for many very good reasons. And it's a good thing for comics, but a little sad for those who love Carol.
In case you're curious, and too lazy to Google it, "Alis Volat Propriis" is Latin for "she flies with her own wings." I think that's lovely. It's a lovely phrase, and it's a lovely sentiment to end Kelly Sue DeConnick's run on Captain Marvel.
That said, man, I'm just not thrilled with the way this whole thing has turned out.
I read Higher, Further, Faster, More earlier this year, and absolutely fell in love with it, and with Carol Danvers. Everything that has come after that first issue has been a letdown for me. Too silly. Stories too unconnected. Maybe this is a series that's meant to be read more issue to issue, but reading it disjointedly months apart, and the trades have multiple story arcs smooshed together weirdly . . . it just isn't that satisfying. Why can't my girl get some love? (For an example of how I prefer to read comics, see the first three issues of Ms. Marvel.)
This volume in particular is all over the place. The ongoing storyline involving Tic is finally wrapped up here, but it's only the first two issues and feels like it was done with too quickly. The third issue is this Secret Wars thing and feels like it comes completely out of nowhere. (I have been actively avoiding everything to do with Secret Wars.) Also, it's just a weak issue of this comic. DeConnick's heart feels like it wasn't in it. The last issue was really quite lovely, and reminded me of why I'd fallen in love with the comic in the first place. It brings Carol full circle from Higher, Further, Faster, More (and the two previous Captain Marvel trades Kelly Sue did with different artists).
I don't know. Is it too much to ask for my girl to get a meaty story with consistent themes and arcs? You know, like the good old days?
I honestly don't know if I will be continuing to read Captain Marvel next year when Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas (Agent Carter <3 <3) take it over. I probably will. But I'm not super happy about David López not doing the art. I might have to throw a temper tantrum that nobody will care about or pay attention to.
I feel like Marvel got in the way constantly of this series, which just sort of sputters out after a great start. I still love Carol Danvers. I just wish they would treat her better.
There’s still some great banter in this book, and it’s a lot less silly than the previous volume felt. Unfortunately, the Black Vortex issue is pretty disconnected and random — I would’ve been interested to see more of Carol’s involvement in that storyline, and it is interesting to see her choosing not to go cosmic — but as it is, it feels clumsy, especially with all the exposition explaining what the Black Vortex even is.
The final issue is the most important, probably the most emotionally hard-hitting of this run. I love the people who support Carol in it — even if it took me a minute to realise that Steve was Steve — and the story is sweet (though I still don’t actually know much about Carol even knows Tracy). It’s a fitting return to Earth for Carol, in many ways.
I do wish Marvel wouldn’t run so many events, though. I’m not actually interested in the majority, definitely not as single issues, and it really disrupts ongoing stories with individual characters. The crossover events are going to stop being special if they keep happening all the time, and we’ve had so many lately, it seems.
All the stars to the final issue. That is what I had been expecting this entire run - heart, emotion, shining characters. Strange how Tracy and Teddy end up with massively more character in one issue than Carol herself did in the entire run.
These three volumes supposedly covered a year of time and all these adventures leading to Carol missing her home. What I got was: annoying sidekicks, a total of maybe 5 adventures that get wrapped up in a week or two, and a lot of punching in space. Who is Carol Danvers? I don't really know after this.
But damn if that final issue didn't hit me in the feels.
I have one more volume, Captain Marvel and the Corps, and that's it for me. I haven't been plugged into Marvel comics in eons, and honestly, there's so much crossover, I'm always hopelessly lost (like the Black Vortex, which was totally meaningless and out of place here). I'll probably end up stepping away from all things Captain Marvel unless there's something so compelling in the future that draws me back. Oh and the movies, because at least the movies I don't have to read 18 different storylines...wait...
Sidenote: I realized this whole time, I never spoke on the art! The cover art is really cool; no wonder I sucked these up back in the day. The inside art...eh, it's okay, neither bad nor good. It is hard to tell what's going on and there are these "jump cuts" that make zero sense - such as when Tic goes from being slave (AGAIN) to suddenly being captain of a slaver ship (???).
A lovely and emotional end to the story, though maybe a bit rushed. I'm going to miss this version of Carol Danvers for which we have DeConnick to thank, as this is her last run with the character. I guess we'll have another 'reboot' to look forward to? I don't know, but I can tell you that the Black Vortex crossover story was filler and made no sense out of context (skim read but might as well have skipped it).
This book is a prime example of what happens in the comic-book world when a character is spread to thin. This reboot of the Ms Marvel character showed a lot of potential when it was first released and Marvel seemed to want to back this story arc. They brought in a quality writer in Kelly Sue DeConnick who had the writing chops and the imagination to define this character in a sci-fi slanted story arc but someone decided to bounce this character around the Marvel universe and this book suffers because of it. The first three books are fine wrapping up her space adventure before she returns to Earth than the Black Vortex story-arc (Of which I know nothing) is crammed into the book totally ruin the continuity and adding nothing to the overall arc before her return to Earth for the best writing and artwork in the book. Also this book seems rushed as if the creative team was in finish-up mode and was trying to fit in as many ideas as possible causing confusion and weaker characters. The latter isn't a big problem though because in this book the Captain is mostly running solo and that affects the tone of the book. Gone is the humorous banter and pop-culture references and quirky characters that were a strength of previous volumes. Instead, the we are given a story that is more intense and action based but feels rushed and convoluted like a TV series that was wrapping up loose ends after being cancelled half-way through. Than the Black Vortex thing comes out of nowhere without conclusion and we are back on Earth for another story that kind-of-not-really relates to the space epic that never happened. Captain Marvel had the potential to rival the big DC Girls but the character was poorly handled and unfocused in the end. In the end this character was potential that went unrealized and this book is a prime example of that.
A fine epilogue, to a fine reading! 7" was awesome space madness and the #15's story was incredibly touching. The only bad thing in here was the Black Vortex tie-in, one of the most mediocre Marvel Space Crossovers. And this series was definetely cut short because of the Secret Wars mega crossover. But it was a FINE read!
This is the last volume of Captain Marvel before the Secret Wars reset, and her new adventures in Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps.
I find myself on the low end of enthusiasm for this set of issues unfortunately. Carol is still a badass, and I love her to death…but her story sort of stalled out in some areas and volume three was one of those. I think it had to do with the number of events they insisted on kicking off during it’s run, making it hard to do much of anything when your regularly scheduled issues are bumped back or taken over by an unrelated event issue that doesn’t do much to tie into her normal story. I mean do you really need Black Vortex, Axis, Original Sin, AND Secret Wars back to back? No…Some were cool others were a waste and managed to make stories like Carol’s suffer from missed issue that could have been used to have her square off with J’Son again (outside of Vortex) or punch something. At any rate, I’m glad she’s heading back to earth after this. I did enjoy her adventures traveling the cosmos though, despite the lag of sorts.
Oh…and that last issue will make you want to curl up and cry and the finale was one of the more beautiful moments in this series.
I can’t wait to see what happens with Carol after Secret Wars ends!
Finishing up my read of the 2014 Captain Marvel series - overall, I was really into this book. I don't think I'll ever read it again, but it was a fun entry into the world of Captain Marvel. Issue 14 in this book struck me as kind of pointless - like quick we need a one-issue filler story (to be continued...in a different book...ugh), but the last issue had me literally crying at my desk so I'm still giving it 4 stars.
I think I like Captain Marvel better as an idea than I like her specific adventures. I still miss her more earthbound exploits, but this continued to be an interesting exploration of her character.
1) Old Steve? 2) MORE LESBIANS?! 3) Are we missing something? It felt less like the third volume of a year in space and more like the run-around of a cool sidekick between when she appears in bigger and cooler series. :( Barely got to know Carol or any of her relationships. Not a great opportunity to shine, and I don't think that's Kelly's fault. Cool pick for a writer. Too bad she didn't get to do more.
Secret Wars(2015) yüzünden biten serilerden bir diğeri. İyi ki de bitmiş çünkü anlattığı bir şey yoktu. Carol'un uzaydaki mızmızlanmaları ve didişmeleri dışında bir şey sunmaya hiç çalışmadı. Uzayda yalnız kalınca uzay gemisinin yapay zekasıyla tartışan bir karakterden bahsediyorum burada.
DeConnick sözde süper kahraman serilerindeki kadın kahraman normlarını yıkan bir seri ortaya koyuyor ama bunu yaparken aslında karakteri öldürüyor. Kahve içmek, kedi sevmek, arkadaşlarıyla sarılmak gibi eylemler Carol'ı daha insan yaparken hiçbir zorluğu aşmamak, kimseyi kurtarmamak, kötülüğe son vermemek de onun kahramanlığından götürüyor. Bazı kararların kadın okurları çekmek adına verildiği ortada olsa da güzel bir hikaye sunmadıkça onlar da dayanamaz ki. DeConnick'in Captain Marvel serisi güzelce kurgulanmış, sürükleyici bir seri olmaktansa en fazla zaman öldürmeye yarayacak kısa kısa hikayelerden ötesini sunamıyor.
I liked this better the second time through. I read it alongside The Black Vortex and it made more sense, which made it more entertaining.
Kelly Sue Deconnick doesn’t write action sci fi superhero shit well. It’s just not her forte.
However, she does write characters very well. This is on full display with the final issue of this collection. I’m referring to the one with Tracy’s funeral. It’s a perfect issue. Kelly’s writing voice really sings when she’s walking Carol through her vulnerabilities. The emotional resonance was thick, and I found myself moved.
I’m not a big fan of Kelly Sue Deconnick’s Marvel stuff, but issues like this last one make me want to explore more of her non superhero stuff. I’d like to experience more of her doing the kind of writing she’s best at.
********first read********
This is such a let down.
Carol rescues Tic in a pretty underwhelming way.
Then she does some really boring shit as part of the mediocre Black Vortex arc.
Then Tracy dies. There are some poignant emotional beats to it, but it’s just not how this series should have ended.
This was very much a “hurry up and finish this title” situation. It was weak. I was bored. This is a very short book (4 issues) and it still managed to feel long and tedious.
The art was the same as the rest of the series (meh) and I didn’t feel much in the way of excitement. Totally a bummer. Anyway, feel free to skip this.
Volume 3 of Captain Marvel has to deal with two of them. There is a single issue from the Black Vortex, a crossover so painfully bad that I ended up dropping Guardians of the Galaxy and All New X-men from my pull list completely. And the issue presented here is clearly from the middle of the crossover, meaning you don't get to see the beginning or the end, making you wonder why it's here in the first place. The second crossover events that impacts this volume is Secret Wars, which set to start right after the final issue of this comic, the final issue of DeConnicks run. As a result, things need to be wrapped up quite quickly, and they end up feeling rather rushed. So while Alis Volat Propriis has a bunch of nice moments, it doesn't feel like a proper finale, for Carol or for DeConnick.
No complaints about the art though. David Lopez does a great job.
I think I would’ve enjoyed this more if I had been following the crossover stories. I ended up being a little confused/lost. So if you want to read this series, I highly recommend looking into reading order if you want to dive into this run of Marvel comics. I don’t think I can give it a fair review without context.
I will say that I love the space opera-esque setting of this series. I love the sass from Captain Marvel. I of course love the kitty cats. And the art is some of the best I’ve seen in my recent reads from Marvel. Overall, I really enjoyed this run I just want to kick myself for not investigating reading order beforehand.
Not as good as the two other volumes, it was still good but not as enjoyable! It was actually well done and very emotional, but still i liked vol1&2 better. But I still LOVE Carol so much ughhh<3
This arc starts off well with several probably imagined, but nonetheless cool, astronomical phenomena. One issue was in the Black Vortex crossover, but the final issue, even though it featured a tragedy, made the whole volume worth it.
Carol returns to Tic's ship only to find Tic missing. A splinter group of Haffensyte pirates have kidnapped Chewie to use as a weapon.
Upon returning home, Carol finds that he friend Tracy has died.
While this one wasn’t as strong as the other volumes in this series, but it was still an amazing end to this comics run. Kelly Sue DeConnick is a genius comic book writer, she portrays characters so well. I have really enjoyed every issue I’ve picked up in this series.
The first two issues here were great conclusions to the flerken/Tic storylines and the last was a moving end to Tracy’s story and Carol’s return to earth. The 14th issue here was awful and made no sense being included in this bind up. It is part of a weird marvel event that I didn’t read, so I have no context for that story and genuinely don’t care about anything that happened in that issue. But overall a good volume.
I read this a little over a week ago and I honestly can't remember much about it. It was just that forgettable.
This might have been more enjoyable to fans that read all the other interconnecting comics, but since I'm not one of them, I couldn't get the full picture. It didn't make much sense to me so I lost interest pretty quickly.
I get that they were trying to wrap her story up and tie all the loose ends, but the plots were super boring to me.
I thought this was such a great continuation of this Captain Marvel series. I love all of the stories and they keep getting better and better. I can not wait to continue reading the rest of the series.