The Mighty Captain Marvel and pals are feeling the effects of the Secret Empire event even though they aren’t directly in the fray the way X-Men Blue or U.S.Avengers is. They are stuck in space, blocked from Earth by a massive shield, and faced with wave after wave of Chitauri invaders (ugly space bug guys). Last issue, the three cadets stepped up and disobeyed orders to restore communications with Earth. While chasing them down, Carol got knocked out. Now the Chitauri are here. Carol needs to wake up and get to punching things.
Wake-Up Call
Last issue, A’di hooked her drone Itz up to the station’s communications array in order to send a distress call down to Earth. It worked, but now the cadets are under fire from the invaders. They have to fight on their own without Carol. It doesn’t go great. To top it off, Alpha Flight thinks the cadets are part of the invasion force and they start firing on them as well. Glory gets hit in one of her cyborg legs and Dante hangs on for dear life.
The Chitauri are just about to finish them off, despite the efforts of the drone, Itz, who gets blown up real good. Luckily, Captain Marvel wakes up just in time. She punches them through the hull of the station and back to safety.
Back on the bridge, the crew tries desperately to reconnect to Earth, but with the destruction of the drone, that ship seems to have sailed. Carol congratulates the cadets on their initiative and invites Glory to take the drone’s remains down to the lab to try and “science” a way to reestablish a link.
Plan B
With the team running out of options, Carol decides to fire up some experimental ships Alpha Flight has developed while she and Hyperion go out as bait for the Chitauri forces. The new ships deploy a swarm of robotic mini-ships which fly in formation creating a net of lasers that contain the oncoming invasion. Captain Marvel and the hero Hyperion lure them into this trap.
It looks like their trick might not work, as Hyperion and Carol aren’t strong enough to destroy them all before they have a chance to escape and regroup. Just in time, The Guardians of the Galaxy return and block the Chitauri’s egress.
As the team mops up, Glory and Hopper discover the key to transmitting a message through the shield. When they try it, it is too much of a drain on the station’s power and they lose their feed. Also, more Chitauri are incoming, and they don’t have any more tricks up their sleeve.
…or do they?
A Fast Paced Issue
After last month with Carol’s woe-is-me mope fest, this issue moved along at quite a clip. The opening action scene had a frantic feel to it as Carol saved the cadets (and herself) in the nick of time. The pace didn’t diminish much as the team regrouped for battle. This had all the feel of a third act last-stand by the crew of Alpha Flight even though there is still one more issue to go in this arc.
The Alpha Flight plan to box the Chitauri in and wipe them out was an interesting solution and fun to watch, and having the Guardians and America arrive in time to finish them off was a nice touch.
That said, I’m a little puzzled that America came back with them. I didn’t notice that she left last issue, and had to go back and check. Both of them returned in the nick of time, but it doesn’t feel like they were gone very long at all, and they didn’t seem to recruit any help. The Guardians of the Galaxy Annual issue was a Secret Empire tie-in that detailed the Guardians’ failed attempt to recruit anyone to help them, so no surprises there. I’m not sure where America went, or why she came back at the same time, or where the heck Monica Rambeau went. We haven’t seen her since the beginning of last issue, and she’s one of the more powerful heroes up there.
Again, I have to ask, in a story called Band of Sisters, where are the sisters?
It’s still a pretty good issue despite my headscratching, and they set up the return of Quasar for the final issue. I’m hoping for an epic fight next month, with the band of sisters finally rallying together (and also the Guardians and Alpha Flight of course).
The art has grown on me since the tie-in began. Few could top what Kris Anka was doing with Captain Marvel’s last reboot, but Michele Bandini has come pretty close. I especially like the detail of Carol’s short hair growing out and falling in her face, which hints at how long Carol has been up in space. Where the art really shines though is in the action scenes. The colors really pop, and the panels all have a nice flow to them, which if not done well can really hurt an action scene.
All-in-all, Mighty Captain Marvel is weathering the storm thrown at it by Secret Empire, and I have high hopes for the series once the tie-in wraps up and we head into Marvel Legacy. Next month, Band of Sisters concludes, and we’ll be back here to tell you how it went.
Fanfinites Rating: 8/10 drone ships
The Mighty Captain Marvel # 7: Band of Sisters part 3 of 4
Writer: Margaret Stohl
Artist: Michele Bandini
Colorist: Erick Arciniega
Letterer: VC’s Joe Caramagna
Images Courtesy of Marvel Comics
