It’s a long way from standard damsel-in-distress to the heroine of a comic series and upcoming movie. Carol Danvers’ story begins with Captain Marvel1 rescuing her in standard super-hero fashion, but then she becomes the hero(ine) of her story, becoming Captain Marvel herself.
She wasn’t exactly a shrinking violet at the start, since she was an Air Force officer when she first met the man who would change her life.
Just finished reading the new Spider-Woman (#5) and it is so much better. She looks like a person now, and has lost the trout pout the other artist gave her. The new artist, Javier Rodriguez, has given her and everyone else a slightly stylized but expressive look.
And the new costume works – it could go from street wear to combat gear without any gear-grinding. The look does seem to have been inspired by Bat-girl, but Jess left the Docs alone. Best of all, of course, Jessica finally has a story of her own. No Spidey-verses, no other spider-females around. Just her, and an interesting twist (SPOILER ALERT!).
Don’t get me wrong, I like Batman and all, but I don’t see why every DC comic has to be equally grim and dark. Surely each should have its own feel? (The same should be true for the movies, by the way. I remember describing Man of Steel to a friend as “Superman Batmanned”.)
So thank goodness for Barbara Gordon, whose Batgirl takes a completely different route. This isn’t to say that she doesn’t have difficulties, or face challenges. She just handles them differently.
The problem with the new Spider-Woman comic is evident right on the splash page. These usually have a capsule version of the character’s origin, so newcomers can get caught up with the story. Only one-third of this one is about our heroine; the rest is about the Inheritors and their war on all things Spidery. It turns out that Spider-Woman #1 is part of an “event” story in the Spider-verse, with a lot of Spider-characters, and since the last time I read a Spider-Woman comic was back in the 1970s, I was confused.
