I will admit, I was reluctant to pick up this book. I'm a huge Carol Danvers fan, but after Civil War Duex, Ultimates, and now Ultimates Squared, I thought I was done. But when one of your favorite Marvel heroines headlines her own comic again, well, you gotta see what she is up to.

And what she is up to is watching a fictionalized version of her life being played out as a Hollywood film. The UN and US DoD needs Carol to put on a friendly face after the very public "killing" of Tony Stark, and what better way to do that than a big budget movie with a very buxom actress and cheesy dialog. Fortunately for Carol, the POTUS calls and there seems to be a problem at one of Earth's alien refugee camps. Seems that aliens have been flocking to Earth before the Chitauri overrun their worlds. It appears that a group of US Army Rangers attacked a camp. Carol flies off immediately.

Of course the attack was staged by some sort of shape shifting bounty hunter who is packing a small Kree child into an escape pod. Carol stops the abduction and brings the small Kree child to Alpha Flights base of operations high above the earth. The Kree child, who seldom speaks despite having a universal translator, acts much like a human child would. Carol tries to befriend her, giving her the name "Bean." 

Carol now has a delicate balancing act to preform. An alien invasion is coming, but she doesn't want Earth walled off from those aliens seeking asylum. All her allies understand this, but also understand that Earths safety is paramount. Carol doesn't get the help she needs.

However, we see that "Bean" was a false flag operation by the shape shifting "bounty hunter." This little stunt was merely meant to keep Captain Marvel busy or otherwise occupied for the real task task at hand... what that is, we don't know yet because this is where the comic ends.

Well, dammit, I kinda liked this book.

The story crafted by Margaret Stohl does what Gene Roddenberry made a carrier of: putting a modern day problem in a sci-fi setting. This kind of story telling has always worked on me and this one was no exception. The current refugee crisis in Europe was in my mind the entire time I read this comic. The problem is, Carol's response seems out of character. During CW II she was the proactive defender, striking before a problem arose despite the civil liberties infractions that her actions caused. The ends justified the means. Now she seems to be on the other side off the equation. There is going to have to be some cognitive jumps in Danver's thinking in future comics to remedy this.

The art by Ramon Rosanas was a welcome change of pace from Ultimates Squared. There is a consistency in his pencil strokes; something that is lacking in other Marvel books of late. It is detailed, but has less of a stylistic flare as well. The result is very good just stopping short of great.

So, while I liked this book, and I plan on buying the next few to see where the story goes. I can't totally recommend this book if you already have a full slate of comics. Maybe pick it up when it hits trade paper and save yourself some money and room in your longbox.

Rating: 7/10 Boob Window References