Captain Marvel #46: Brood, Brood, Brood! Brood is the Word!

We are OFFICIALLY at the halfway mark of the Captain Marvel & friends Revenge of the Brood storyline, that ties into the latest arc of the X-Men flagship book, Lord of the Brood, and the stakes have just gotten higher. For those who are just joining us, Rogue sent Carol a desperate call for help, but there was a lot of interference, so she, Rhodey, Spider-Woman, and Hazmat make their way to the X-Men’s treehouse in search of help to figure out how to save Rogue from this unknown threat. So Carol and her crew pick up Polaris, Gambit, Kwannon, and the younger Wolver-23 (for old lady Laura check out Garry Duggan & Stefano Caselli’s X-Men: Lord of the Brood storyline on stands now!) as they go on this possible suicide mission to save Rogue. 

Out in space no one can hear you scream, but that won’t stop this motley crew! Especially when they find out the Brood are at the center of this drama, things just got a lot more personal for our heroes. It wouldn’t be a comic without that extra punch in the arm, and that just happens to be Binary, the sentient being that was created by Vox Supreme from Carol’s powers, and possibly more, Mar-Vell’s DNA, and remnants of the Phoenix energy from AvX are also a captive of the Brood. For those not in the know, after Rogue absorbed Carol’s powers, her memories, her literal essence, that made her her, was a captive of the Brood, who after torturous experimentation on her and her genetic structure, unlocked Carol’s Binary powers, and the rest is history. 

Whew. That was a lot, and we knew it would be. The Brood has deep ties to both Carol and the X-Men, and this deep connection to both of these groups just adds a dramatic theme that plays well with the type of story that’s being told here. Not only between the Brood and Carol, but also between Carol and Rogue. Rogue committed an act that could be essentially seen as murder will always leave this rift between the two women. No matter what Rogue did since that moment, there will always be this tension between the two that will never really go away. So I’m hoping that’s not what’s going on here, because it just doesn’t work between the two. Begrudgingly allied, but never real allies. I understand that Rogue is one of Kelly’s favorite characters, but hopefully she understands the relationship between the two women. 

Beyond that, the rest of the characters here are used really well. Like the moment between Carol and Kwannon, who saw a possible future that would involve her possible child (it’s about time someone besides the Summers/Greys clan to have alternate future kids!) and it’s something that I’d like to see the two bond over. Getting Kwannon out there, building relationships with characters who aren’t specifically X related would be an added bonus, and give us better representation for Asian women in the greater Marvel universe. The character work Kelly’s doing here is top notch, and I really hope to see her working with the X-office in the months to come after we get the Fall of X later this year. 

Now onto the art. Up until this issue, the Brood storyline has been illustrated by Captain Marvel alum Sergio Davila, but with today’s issue we get Javier Pina. Javier Pina was a great choice for this arc, because he has a history with the X-Men and Captain Marvel. Pina was the artist who alternated arcs with Pepe Larraz on the current X-Men book, and he was the artist on the Star miniseries that starred Ridley Ryan, the supervillain that received her powers by bonding to the Reality Stone, and Pina really showed us what he’s capable of. One thing that threw me off was different Pina’s art here than his run on X-Men. It’s so different enough that I had to double check to make sure they were the same artists. Where his line work on his X-Men and Star comics were much more defined, his work here almost has an effervescent and cloudy texture, as if this is all a dream. Could all this be happening in Carol’s mind? Is this due to the colorists being different, or was it a conscious effort? It’s just leaving me with more questions, and I love it.