Captain Marvel #34 We Are Strong, No One Can Tell Us We’re Wrong

We’re halfway through this volume of Captain Marvel’s biggest epic to date, and I was a tad disappointed. Kelly’s run has been very good so far, even great at times, so the fact that I was disappointed with it just shows how high my standards are for this book. I was engaged with this issue, it just lacked some sort of resonance with me. I mean, it’s Carol & Marv’s reunion (since AvX—see so many years ago), but I got nothing. Even Carol’s reaction felt fake, and hollow, which is a very big disappointment because Kelly’s strongest asset has been her ability to give Carol convincing emotional reactions. 

Picking right up from last issue, Carol’s still stuck in the power dampening coffin floating in Kree space, and Kelly is kicking it off with a new ability for Carol to do. While I’m not exactly thrilled by this upgrade, it did raise quite a few questions. Will Binary get an actual body and become her own character? Will this feat become something we’ll see more of? Honestly I could do without it really, unless there are plans for her to lose her Binary powers. If this is where she’s going with this, it could be a pretty big power downgrade for Carol, and considering there aren’t many powerful female characters in Carol’s class, it’d be a pretty big slap in the face. I’m not saying that this is what’s going to happen, I’m just spouting off random thoughts that’s running through my head trying to figure out where Kelly’s going with this. 

Sergio Davila is back as the artist on this issue, and got to say this was his best looking issue to date. Carol looks like Carol should be, powerful, commanding, and his Phyla is probably one of my favorite takes on the character that I can think of. It’s energetic, and the Vox controlled characters all look great. Mar-Vell was a little less impressive, but nothing to the point that I was disappointed with it. 

There were a few disappointments with this issue, but they were rather minor, and hasn’t distracted me with the one character that I’m most excited to see This team give us is Genis-Vell. Peter David’s Genis series might be one of the pinnacle of Marvel Comics from the early 00’s, and with the promise of Genis’s return, I’m almost giddy with anticipation. As highly revered as Marv was, PAD’s take really struck it home with me. All of these prospects have me very excited, and I can’t wait to see how Kelly handles his resurrection.