ADVANCED REVIEW! Captain Carter #1 (Spoiler-Free!): Knew You Were Waiting

This book is a very pleasant surprise and a total one-eighty from what I thought that it was going to be, based on the extraordinary popular episode of the Disney+ original series What If?, this book picks up pretty much where the series left off. Author Jamie McKelvie brings Captain Peggy Carter back to life in this century, shows us her struggles to find her place in it, while having to deal with coping with the loss of almost everyone she’s ever known or loved. It sounds like a lot for just one issue, but McKelvie’s writing is able to spend some time on each and every one of those things, fit in some action, and end with a pretty great cliffhanger that will have you hooked and eager for the next issue, While this easily could’ve been a retelling of the Steve Rogers version of the story, McKelvie adds things to make it uniquely and exclusively Peggy Carter’s story and it really makes it that much more enjoyable. There’s a lot of meat on the bone in this issue, and it’s a great first helping in this opening issue of this series. 

Artist Marika Cresta is absolutely perfect for this comic! She brings a little bit of everything she’s ever done on other books here and executes the pages with absolute precision. From high-tech military facilities to quaint little English apartments, Cresta slays on every environment that she draws. Likewise, her characters are all excellent, her panels have a really exciting feel to them and her pages are laid out flawlessly. Cresta is what makes this book intense and in this issue, her artwork is addictive.