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The 5 Stages of Resurrection

You’ve heard about the five stages of death?  Well, did you know that those stages also apply to the resurrection of one of your favorite comic book characters as well.  Using a recent Marvel character’s return, here’s how we apply those stages.

Denial—That started when Marvel first started hinting about The Return, that Civil War one shot with a familiar yellow star on the cover.  “No,” we all tried to say, “there’s no way that Joe Quesada would even dream about bringing back Captain Marvel and invalidate that classic graphic novel.”  We didn’t believe it, or more to the point, we didn’t want to believe it.

Anger—Did you really read that piece of crap that was The Return?  Boycotts were called for and I think that Paul Jenkins had to be put into some kind of protective custody.  It was a horrible and dreadful book and Jenkins and Quesada were to blame.  There was no reason for Captain Marvel to ever be brought back and The Return just cemented that fact.  I think there were even fans who wanted Quesada to be fired for that one.

Bargaining—Well, he’s back.  Now what?  Just don’t let promised miniseries suck.  Just don’t let Paul Jenkins anywhere near the book.

Depression—It’s not a good time to be a Captain in the Marvel universe.  Nothing ever works right for them so why bother.

Acceptance—The book will be by Brian Reed and Lee Weeks?  I guess I could check that out.  It’s going to feature a Secret Invasion prologue?  Well, I guess I have to get it then, don’t I? 

Those are the stages that lead up to this fourth issue of navel gazing and the deceit that appears to be the norm in the Tony Stark America nowadays.  Confronted with the idea that he may be a skrull, Mar-vell goes a bit crazy.  There are parts of his memory that are missing and he can see that it’s not impossible that he’s a skrull but he can’t even accept the idea that he is one of his race’s deadliest enemies.  So distraught is he at this that he even appears to join the church that worships him.  Since they seem to understand him as a deity, maybe they can help show him the true way.

The biggest problem with this book is that so far, it hasn’t lived up to the premise it set up in issue #1.  In that issue, a time-displaced Mar-vell
spent most of the issue moping around about his own future death.  At the end of that issue though, he decided to be the hero he is and face life like he wasn’t going to die and to be the hero he always was.  Since then?  Well, he’s spent a number of more issue moping around about this or that, wondering if he could still be the hero he once was.  There’s been little forward progression in the character of Mar-vell while writer Brian Reed advances corporate driven skrull plots using Mar-vell as merely a character device.  The first issue was designed to get him beyond the moping-around stage so why is that all that he’s still doing in this issue.

Lee Weeks continues to turn in some great artwork that would better fit this book if there were more action.  He does a good job with what he’s given but his artwork better suits an adventure-driven storyline.  The only problem I may have with the artwork is some of the inking.  Remember when Klaus Janson made everyone look like they were drawn by Frank Miller?  Well, Klaus steps in to lend a hand here and now he’s making everyone look like they were drawn by John Romita Jr.  The last few pages look like they could have been deleted scenes from World War Hulk.

Captain Marvel is a book that shouldn’t have been done but the first issue turned out better than anyone expected it would have.  Since then, it has coasted, buying time for a mega crossover series that is sure to change everything.  It seems that at every turn to return a great hero and warrior to prominence, Marvel has instead gone for the introspective navel-gazer while promising something more down the line.

Captain Marvel #4
“4: Alien Hatred”
Written by: Brian Reed
Penciled by: Lee Weeks
Inked by: Jesse Delperdang and Klaus Janson
Colored by: Avalon’s Matt Milla
Lettered by: Todd Klein

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