Captain Marvel #9 Review and *SPOILERS* - Marvel Monday

I Think I’m Paranoid

Written By: Ruth Fletcher Gage, Christos Gage
Art By: Thony Silas, Matt Wilson
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: September 28, 2016
Publisher: Marvel

*Non Spoilers and Score At The Bottom*

If there was only one book that we could say has been dramatically hurt by Civil War II it is without a doubt this book. I remember when the first issue of this series came out. One of my friends is a huge Captain Marvel fan and he was really excited to read this book. After the first few issues, he and several others were loving this book and it was doing fairly well. Unfortunately, ever since Civil War II started, we’ve seen a dramatic decline in this book’s sales and critic reception. People are not enjoying Carol Danvers’ role in Civil War II or in this book and I don’t blame them. I’ve only been collecting the Civil War II tie-ins with this book and it has been unenjoyable. Frankly I don’t see any end in sight so let’s take a deep breath and jump in once again to this book’s latest issue.

Our issue begins with Captain Marvel in the Alpha Flight Space Station clearly going over various files. She is clearly dealing with some issues as she hangs her head and thinks about a couple more heroes who have joined Tony Stark against her. She doesn’t get long to dwell on these thoughts though as she is quickly called away to Canada. While there, Captain Marvel and Alpha Flight fight Kolomaq, a giant sasquatch-like monster that was awakened. If Kolomaq is able to run free for too long, he will become unstoppable. However, thanks to some quick thinking by the team, the monster is buried in the snow once again and the man who awakened him was arrested. Turns out this man meant no actual harm and was misguided but they bring him in anyway.

The team then goes to the Triskelion where two board members meet them. They question why this event wasn’t stopped sooner. Ulysses had named the man who awoke Kolomaq but they did nothing because it would have been against the law to hold him. No evidence could be found against him as he only had past struggles with mental health. Aurora, a member of Alpha Flight, sympathizes with the man as she has struggled with mental disorders for much of her life. Carol Danvers confirms that despite the fact that it seemed last second, they had the man under surveillance and it was considered to be the best course of action anyway. The board members then ask to speak with her alone.

The three discuss the operation and address public opinion. Counties are willing to share the information that they’ve gathered with Alpha Flight because things are going well for this new program. If things start going south, counties will begin to pull their support. This is why it is so important for Carol Danvers to succeed, despite all the pressure she is under. In response to this, Carol agrees to their proposal to keep an extra eye on people with criminal records and give priority to their information when presenting things to Ulysses. However, Carol also tells them that the only reason this whole thing is working at all is because of her and if they ask her to do something she can’t live with, she won’t hesitate to leave.

We cut to Carol and Alpha Flight who have rounded up a few mutants who have broken the law when suddenly they are attacked. They look up to find Magneto who is not too thrilled about the surveillance drones that have been keeping an eye on him. He compares Carol’s actions to that of fascists and accuses Aurora of being a traitor for siding against her people. However, despite the initial attack, Magneto says that he did not come her to fight but rather to send a message. If he finds that he is being monitored again, he will not hesitate to see it as an act of war. Carol questions how he was even able to find the drones as they are cloaked even from him before he leaves.

Carol then gets a tech expert to take a look at their equipment. Someone must have found a way to get into their system and find out who they are monitoring. Turns out that her suspicions are well founded as they find a signal transmitting to a former Stark satellite. However, they also find that the signal would have to be put in manually by someone on board the space station. Carol decides to bring Ulysses aboard in hopes of finding out who the mole is. Ulysses is given a small tour before his powers suddenly flare up and he has a vision. He breaks out of his trance to tell Carol that his vision showed Carol and Aurora fighting each other. Alpha Flight then joins them and Carol excuses Ulysses.

Carol then talks to Alpha Flight and shares the information about the mole and the vision that Ulysses had. Due to his vision, she clearly suspects Aurora of wrong doing which is obviously met with a lot of anger. They have a pretty heated argument about the whole thing and Aurora claims that she has not betrayed Captain Marvel. Carol then brings up the separate personality that Aurora has inside of her. This is where Aurora flips and says that she’s quitting. The rest of Alpha Flight agree that Carol went too far with that comment. However, Carol tells Aurora that she cannot allow her to leave the station until they have cleared her. This is where the argument ends and is instead replaced with a full out brawl. Aurora attacks Captain Marvel and the rest of Alpha Flight decide to stand with her. Captain Marvel decides to fight back telling them that they are all under arrest when we cut away. There is a mysterious figure looking at a screen as he reveals that he has been setting up this fight between Captain Marvel and Alpha Flight for quite a long time. This is where the issue ends.

I know that this series still has some loyal fans and supporters that love this book and they will be mad at me for my dislike of this series thus far, however if there is anyone that they should be mad at, it is Marvel. This new crossover event has really done its toll on both Iron Man and Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel has suddenly become a character that many are angry with and frustrated with her actions. This book only showcases some of them and the rest of the time has the audience stuck in random meetings with board members to hash out the specifics of their predictive justice program. Is that what you people want? I’ll give this issue one thing, there is far more action in this issue than there has been before and that’s probably one of the best parts of this book. I’m a big fan of the art in this issue and the fight scene are beautiful. However, when we are not fighting, we are having our main character going in to a paranoid state as she discovers that she has a mole. Then, Ulysses has a vision and she immediately assumes that it’s about the mole. Division has grown on this team and some may think that it’s due to the mystery man at the end, but frankly it’s because of Captain Marvel herself. This book is nice to look at but it’s boring at best and frustrating at its worse.

Bits and Pieces

Fans of Captain Marvel will continue to be depressed by what Marvel has chosen to do with the character. In addition, we get more meetings with board members as if that’s not what we’ve been doing for every issue since this crossover started. At this point, I completely understand why so many people are jumping ship on this book. I look forward to when this crossover ends and I no longer have to read this book.

3.5/10