I'm not sure if this was intentional, but the first appearance of the "new" Captain Marvel, Carol Danvers, feels mighty familiar.
Perhaps it's the lovely, cartoony-yet-realistic art by Terry and Rachel Dodson. Maybe it's the way that Spider-Man and Marvel bounce off of each other. Maybe it's the crazy villains and the subcontracted assault mechs.
Or maybe it's just Carol herself that reminds me of Amanda Conner's Power Girl. Full of personality, I can't help but smile as I'm interested in the character for the first time in a long while - she didn't need a skimpy costume or gratuitous butt-shots to do it, either.
And I think that's what I like most about this book: Captain Marvel is established as having a unique personality that suits her quite well. She's spunky without being annoying, and isn't afraid to poke fun at Peter Parker's apprehensions with leaving the ground in an airplane. She's direct and confrontational, and not afraid to use her power to punish a dude who makes a slight against blondes.
In other words, she's about ten million times better than other female characters who might have just sat in the background and let Spider-Man have all the fun.
And that's what I want out of this comic.
Avenging Spider-Man #9
Marvel Comics
$3.99
The Verdict: Four high marks out of five go to this comic for making me enjoy a character who'd long since fallen into my "don't care" pile. Not a mindblowing comic by any means, but there's a solidness here that can't be understated: looking forward to the second part of this issue for sure.
