written by Margaret Stohl
penciled by Carlos Pacheco
inked by Rafael Fonteriz
colored by Marcio Menyz and Federico Blee
flashback sequences illustrated by Marguerite Sauvage
Following the release of the Captain Marvel trailer a couple of months ago, I was unable to get a copy of The Life of Captain Marvel #4, and so, irritatingly, I missed a significant chunk of the story, which may or may not have affected how I appreciated this final issue of what has been billed to be Carol Danvers' definitive, if retrofitted, origin story.
Issue #3 ended with the bombshell that Carol's mother Marie Danvers, previously believed to be an ordinary earth woman, was a Kree warrior, and issue #5 begins with a flashback to the time Carol worked with the late Mar-Vell, her predecessor in the mantle of Captain Marvel, and then segues to a drawn-out fight between Carol and her newly-revealed warrior mother on the one hand, and the Kree warrior known only as the Kleaner on the other, with the fate of Joe Danvers Jr., Carol's brother, and the whole town, basically hanging in the balance. Mayhem ensues, and as the fight ends, Carol's life is forever changed for the new knowledge she has gained.
As retconned origins go, this wasn't bad, though really, it pales next to some of the best examples of this somewhat dubious form of storytelling, with my favorite still being how they retconned Bucky from being a Robin knock-off to one of the most interesting characters in the Marvel printed universe. I regret having missed issue #4 of this series as it contains the meat and potatoes, the secret origin of Marie Danvers, aka Kree Captain Mari-Ell, but this issue should be judged on its own merits, and if I'm honest, it's a somewhat disappointing ending to a series that showed genuine promise at one point. Sure, it's got a fair share of action, but not only does it end on a sour note, it ends on a distinctly anti-climactic note with Carol going into "Binary" mode and never even getting the opportunity to really cut loose on her enemy.
As has often been the case with this miniseries, the saving grace is the art, with Carlos Pacheco and his collaborators Rafael Fonteriz, Marcio Menyz and Federico Blee as well as Marguerite Sauvage delivering when Stohl's script doesn't.
Based on what I've read about the last issue, I really missed out, but really, overall, this series has had more downs than ups, and that's kind of sad considering that this miniseries is most likely the means by which a lot of new readers are going to get acquainted with Carol Danvers. Maybe they could have gotten G. Willow Wilson, whose done a bang-up job scripting Ms. Marvel for the last five years, to do the writing instead.
6.5/10
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