1. A couple of years ago, when Kelly Sue Deconnick relaunched Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel, I remember being interested until I saw the art, which I thought was too dark, too stiff, and too greasy looking. At the time, I wrote that it seemed like Marvel was trying to get the book canceled. Clearly, this was not the case, and they eventually handed art duties to a rotating cast that included current Deconnick collaborator Emma Rios. By the time that happened, though, I had lost interest, and moved on to other things. In the interim, though, I've started following Deconnick on tumblr, and, as down as I can be on fandom most of the time, she and the cadre that has come to be known as the Carol Corps make up a group of people who clearly care about each other deeply, just as much, if not more, as they care about Captain Marvel. Although I don't think that fellowship is necessarily for me, that a writer would be so generous to her fans makes me want to go out and support that writer, even if she was writing a book with terrible art. Luckily, that's not the case; artist David Lopez and colorist Lee Loughridge have the task well in hand.
2. I think this is the third volume of this particular series since Ed Brubaker first launched it after the Siege story line in 2010. I have distinct memories of sitting at a Corner Bakery in Union Station in Washington DC on a Wednesday lunch break-- Fantom Planet, an excellent little comic book store, is tucked in there, too-- and reading an issue where Captain America puts on Nova's helmet. That was a fun book, but Brubaker's perceived trouble with team books sunk it from the start, I think, and it never really got going. Those stories were followed by an excellent series of issues written by Warren Ellis-- the one illustrated by Jamie McKelvie and an extraordinarily clever and complex time travel one feature Black Widow and drawn by Alex Maleev are particular favorites, but all six are excellent. After that, Rick Remender picked it up, and I kind of lost track (noticing a theme here?). I know it was relaunched after AvX, and it's now relaunching again, in what we used to call A BOLD NEW DIRECTION, written by Ales Kot and drawn by Michael Walsh, who I had never heard of but apparently did some Archer and Armstrong covers recently. Kot, who's currently also writing the very well received spy book Zero, is one of a number of hot new writers Marvel has been hiring of late, and he seems like a good fit here. Looking at the preview, I do wonder if Kot and Walsh are trying a little too hard (perhaps with editorial direction) at aping Hawkeye; several of the characters here are in common, and Walsh seems to do a passable David Aja impression. Taking a peak at this unlettered preview, that feeling only gets stronger. For whatever reason, though, Hawkeye's schedule is all screwed up (I've given up trying to read it in single issue, and am currently contemplating buying the hardcovers), and, if all Secret Avengers amounts to is Fraction and Aja lite, there are worse things in the world. Still, I think Kot may be able to find his voice in the pastiche; this will be an interesting one to follow.
