Review: Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Hero

General Information
Title: Captain Marvel: Earth's Mightiest Hero Vol. 3
Author: Kelly Sue DeConnick
Artists: David López, Marcio Takara,
Laura Braga
Publisher: Marvel
ISBN: 9781302902681 (Paperback)
Year: 2014
My rating: ★★★★½☆

 

About: Author Kelly Sue DeConnick's second Captain Marvel series follows Avenger Carol Danvers and her cat Chewie into the depths of space. There she makes both new friends and enemies as she finds herself drawn into an intergalactical war. She also has a run in with the Guardians of the Galaxy. Some issues take place on Earth too, and one is a tie in with the All New X-Men series The Black Vortex.

 
Before I read this, I also read Volume 1 of the same series which came out in 2012, so I wasn't a complete newbie to Carol. I skipped Volume 2 because my library didn't have it (and it also seemed the most skippable). However, I had no difficulties with this volume and I would also recommend it to new readers of the character. Find my goodreads review of Vol 1 here!

All in all this was a highly enjoyable volume! It had good writing, lots of action and I was a big fan of the art! The main storyline focuses on Carol Danvers and her own adventures in outer space after Tony Stark was looking for an Avenger who would keep watch "up there". During her time there she makes many new acquaintances, some friends, but also enemies, and also has a short run in with the Guardians of the Galaxy. This volume also features Tony Stark/Iron Man, Rhodey/War Machine and Spider-Woman. Especially adorable was Carol's number one fan Kit (can I adopt her, please?); and an important role goes to Chewie the "cat" who has a secret of her own (that you know about if you've seen the Captain Marvel movie) ;)

I absolutely love Carol Danvers! I first got to know her in the movie which I thought was good, but not outstanding, but when I started to read some of her comics I felt like I really got to know her, and I love that. She's badass, funny and refreshing. She's also sarcastic, doesn't say no to a fist fight or to blasting her enemies out of the sky and you probably don't want to get on her bad side. I thought DeConnick wrote her very well and I had great fun reading about her arguments with the Guardians - especially Rocket - and her "conversations" with her talking spaceship.
"Sarcasm detected."

 

 

The art was (mostly) amazing. The colors are very vivid and we have lots of super pretty pictures of outer space and creative stuff like cool spaceships and weird looking alien races. During one or two stories, the art was slightly different (see picture on the left) and I wasn't as much a fan of that as I was of the rest. But it definitely wasn't bad, it just wasn't exactly my style.

The plot was mostly very fast paced and interesting. Well, I'm a big fan of outer space and I enjoy reading about intergalactic politics, but if that's not really your thing you might feel a bit lost with this volume. There were however two or three stories in this volume that I wasn't the biggest fan of: the one where Carol meets mutant rockstar Lila Cheney, and the X-Men tie in The Black Vortex. I didn't get why these were in there since they have nothing to do with the main storyline, and especially the X-Men issue made very little sense without having full context.

I on the other hand loved the final issue that brings Carol back to Earth after her year in the depths of space. It was also quite emotional and I thought it was the perfect ending for this volume because it shows that even though Carol may belong in space, she never forgets her roots and the people on Earth she cares about, and this makes her character accessable and human.

All in all this collection was a great mix of fun, action and intergalactic politics. It had me laughing out loud at some points and I'm so happy I got to know Carol's character better because honestly, the movie only scratched the surface of who she is. If some stories weren't in there, I maybe would've even rated this volume 5 stars. It's still a clear recommendation for Captain Marvel fans and for those who'd like to become fans of her!