Customer Reviews

Captain Marvel: First Contact

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you think of a comic book you may think of Superman or Batman, maybe even the X-Men. This story is about a superhero (if you can call him that) who most people have not heard of. That dosent matter at all. This is one of the best comic book stories I've ever read (and I've read quite a few, Watchmen and Sandman series) The art is amazing and tells the story brilliantly. The writing is even better!

For an idea of how the story is, imagine that suddenly you became God, you could see how everything is in the entire universe and then you could see how everything effects everything else, then you could see how those things turned out, but you still had the same mind. Would you go crazy?

Read this book and you will see! Truly an excellent story!

When Peter David began writing this story, the word was out that there would be a competition on what character is going to stay for the long haul. You see Captain Marvel's sales were sliding down near the pit of cancellation when Marvel in all its wisdom decided to test the readers' love and loyalty to the character. There would be three Captain Marvel books, having completely differenct charcaters in them with different premises. That would continue for some months and the better series written by the author would continue. The book by Peter David was the one that showcased the original series and characters. That of Captain Marvel, the son of Mar-Vell, and also that of Rick Jones, sidekick supreme.

What you get is a whacky ride that is uninspired fromthe beginning to the end. It would seem that David was out to explain a certain philosophy he had in his head about what would happen to a person when they get the powers and knowledge of a god. Basically, you'd go crazy and that's why we mere mortals are only that, humans. The first series that David spat out was excellent. You had equal time that covered both Captain Marvel or Genis and that of Rick Jones. Now Jones is made to be that helpless little background buzz after a night of binge drinking on Friday night.

The art is Outstanding. Chriscross is amazing with his pencils and knows that he has got to save this book from the annihilation of the plot that it was leaning towards. The book had such high potential and was very much grounded. Now it was all about this certain philosophy that David lives where he seems to be lashing out at the powers that be in Marvel. First he was booted out of the HULK after an unforgettable run. Now, I think Captain Marvel is out the door and Peter David just has nothing to lose. In the end, I think he does get the last laugh!

Here's what this book is about: a superhero named Captain Marvel is granted an ability called "cosmic awareness", and goes insane.

At least, that's what most people would tell you. In my opinion, Captain Marvel does very logical things with his gift, things I would do in his place. But I'm getting off the subject........... suffice to say, this is a really well-written story, with solid, consistent, appropriate art and an awe-inspiring balance between the somewhat sarcastic view of the bystander (the guy sharing Captain Marv's head) and moments and scenes that have genuine emotional impact with the reader. Good stuff!!!!! Read it, comics fan!

When I first read the first chapter in this book I felt that the series had potential. It had an interesting story, pretty good characterization, excellent art and a bit of humor. I figured that I would have enjoyed the following chapters just as much, if not more.

I was wrong. I was DREADFULLY wrong.

In the second chapter of this book, Captain Marvel decides to "enlighten" one of the greatest and most multi-dimensional characters to appear in any form of literature: Frank Castle, the Punisher.

The Punisher had been bogged down for years with bad series that offered nothing more than disgusting mischaracterization. For example, the Punisher used ridiculous weapons such as "laser blasters," had a partner called "Microchip," spoke in incessant drivel such as "I must protect the innocent," and entered logs into a "War Journal." All of this changed for the better when Garth Ennis, author of Preacher, -- which is a highly praised series in all of the entertainment industry -- took control of the character in 2000 and turned him from (for lack of better words) lame and stupid to one of the all-time greats in comic book history, which culminated in the best miniseries of 2003: "Born." One would figure that any author who would use the Punisher would pay respect to Ennis' hard work by actually READING what he had written; after all, it wasn't easy turning someone into gold when they were widely considered nothing more than a laughable excuse of a character.

But thus, sadly, is not the case for Peter David. In the second chapter in this Captain Marvel series, David obviously ignored every contribution Ennis made to Frank Castle because everything that made the character stupid -- such as the aforementioned examples in the above paragraph -- were more than present in this pathetic excuse for writing. Shame on Peter David for ignoring the greatness that is Garth Ennis. I wouldn't complain so much if it was not for the fact that Punisher is now considered Garth's character and David did not pay Mr. Ennis and his character the proper respect they deserve.

If I hate this blatant disregard of writing talent, why did I give this book a two-star rating? Well, the answer is simple: The art is very appealing. However, despite the fact that the artist's work is excellent, it is overshadowed by the crap that David whips out with his "writing." (...)