Captain Carter #5 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN CARTER No. 5, October 2022

Drawing this mini-series to a succinct conclusion, this twenty page periodical’s plot arguably plays out more like something from a “Mission Impossible” motion picture than a comic book, thanks largely to its cast’s attempt to break Peggy Carter out of the supposedly impregnable S.T.R.I.K.E. Containment Facility. In fact, considering Jamie McKelvie neatly utilises almost every trope from that American action spy franchise, ranging from computer hacking, phoney fire alarms, disguises and high-tech gadgetry, some within this comic’s audience were probably half-expecting the former IMF point man Ethan Hunt to make a guest-star appearance.

Thankfully however, none of these resemblances ruin a well-told story, which not only quite merrily motors through its narrative at a steadfast pace. But also enjoyably provides all this title’s numerous characters with something fairly significant to do. Such penmanship really helps imbue this book’s ‘super-team’ with a genuine sense of cooperation and family, even down to Division Chief Lance Hunter, who once convinced of the Prime Minister’s vampirism, becomes a pivot part of Lizzie Braddock’s plan to infiltrate a facility specifically “designed to hold super-powered prisoners.”

Furthermore, many bibliophiles will probably appreciate this publication’s central formidably-strong protagonist using her brains as opposed to her brawn to outwit her centuries-old opponent. Setting aside the debate as to whether the undead Harry Williams would be able to be captured by a modern-day digital camera, the notion of a man elected to high government through the power of the press being subsequently exposed as a blood-drinking monster by the self-same media is rather ingenious, and definitely adds an element of poetic justice to John Falsworth’s fiery downfall.

Illustrator Marika Cresta should also be given some considerable praise for helping make Issue Five of “Captain Carter” a memorable finale for “the recipient of the Super Soldier Serum.” There’s an incredible amount of dialogue and action to cram into this comic’s interior, and alongside color artist Matt Milla, the Ringo Award-Nominee does an excellent job in holding the attention with her prodigious pencilling. Indeed, one of the highlights of this book is debatably the shockingly sudden demise of Lady Jacqueline Falsworth, courtesy of a stake through the chest by Harley Davis.

Writer: Jamie McKelvie, Artist: Marika Cresta, and Color Artist: Matt Milla

Captain Carter #4 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN CARTER No. 4, September 2022

Initially grabbing its audience by the scruff of the neck with a no-nonsense punch-up between Peggy Carter, an armourless Iron Man and a veritable vanload of super-powered goons, Jamie McKelvie’s script for Issue Four of “Captain Carter” certainly gets off to a sense-shattering start. But whilst this fistfight genuinely projects an air of potential deadliness for the titular character and her conveniently tech-savvy fighting companion, the rest of the twenty-page periodical’s plot is probably a bit disappointingly pedestrian; “I’ll go with you, Tony. I can’t just sit here being useless.”

Indeed, it’s arguably not until this comic’s cliff-hanger of a conclusion that any reader’s pulse will start pounding again, and then it’s only because the lead protagonist is acting so naively that anyone can see she’s about to be captured by the mini-series’ central villain so are screaming at the “decades-old spy” to stop her solo assassination mission before it’s too late. This situation is doubly infuriating because it comes straight after an extremely well-written sequence where Peggy suddenly pieces together all the clues which the author has previously dropped that the Prime Minister is actually the vampire Lord John Falsworth.

Perhaps this publication’s biggest problem though is just how increasingly insufferable and holier than thou Harley Davis appears throughout the story. Not happy simply having the disagreeable young woman completely tear apart the British Intelligence Service’s most top-secret data files concerning the head of government’s fraudulent background using just a home computer, McKelvie also has her taking Lizzie Braddock to task for not having grown up poor and then suggests despite all the secret agent’s evident hard work, that she only got her position within S.T.R.I.K.E. solely because her father “was the Director General of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s British Division.” In fact, the Brixton-based music streamer even gets the telekinetic to apologise to her for having had a privileged upbringing.

Equally as inconsistent as this book’s penmanship is sadly Marika Cresta’s layouts. The Ringo Award-nominee does a terrific job pencilling Captain Carter’s epic battle against a heavily muscled blood-drinking thrall. Yet seemingly struggles to add anything to the subsequent dialogue-driven scenes, even when one of them ends with a friend of Stark’s killing himself by stepping off the top of a high-rise building.

The regular cover art of "CAPTAIN CARTER" #4 by Jamie McKelvie

Captain Carter #3 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN CARTER No. 3, July 2022

Supposedly needing to use the guest appearance of Iron Man as a solicitation selling-point, Jamie McKelvie’s storyline for Issue Three of “Captain Carter” also regrettably seems to rely upon a few too many contrivances in order to schedule its series of sense-shattering set-pieces. In fact, for those bookworms who dislike supposed top-tier secret operatives dropping their S.T.R.I.K.E. insignia-carrying handguns at the scene of a botched assassination, and billionaire industrialists just happening to travel over four thousand miles across the planet’s surface on the off chance of bumping into someone their grandfather worked with decades earlier, the American author’s twenty-page plot is arguably going to prove rather problematic to wade through.

Foremost of these manufactured moments must be the sudden ability of Peggy’s neighbour, Harley Davis, to easily hack into the British Government’s highest top secret computer system with a simple bootable zip drive and the wireless technology of a Bluetooth phone. The Brixton-based friend appears incredibly knowledgeable about accessing encrypted data records, weapon deployment archives and voicemails, to the point where she conveniently discovers within minutes that the British Prime Minister himself has verbally ordered the treacherous hit on the "woman out of time" and her comrade-in-arms, Lizzie Braddock.

Admittedly, all these happy happenstances certainly provide the Pennsylvanian-born writer’s narrative with some nail-biting pace as the titular character tackles a foreboding band of battle-hardened government agents and the infamous London traffic, in a desperate bid to detain some mysterious blonde-haired woman. But it is debatably hard to maintain a person’s willing suspension of disbelief when so many coincidences occur one after the other, even to the point where Chief Hunter luckily decides to suddenly eat his food outside as “it’s a lovely day” to provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for his personal workstation to be hacked.

Heroically pencilling all these implausibilities is Marika Cresta, who does a sterling job in providing plenty of jaw-breaking “Thwck” and “Krunk” to the super-powered cast’s battering blows. The Ringo Awards-nominee does an especially fine job of illustrating Captain Carter’s intense punch-up in Briefing Room 3, where the tightly confined fighting space is impressively depicted through a series of thin, page-wide panels showing Peggy being slowly outnumbered; “I’ll pop my head in to make my excuses, then leave. Have to get that zip drive out of Hunter’s computer before he gets back from lunch.”

The regular cover art of "CAPTAIN CARTER" #3 by Jamie McKelvie

Captain Carter #2 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN CARTER No. 2, June 2022

Despite initially presenting this twenty-page periodical’s audience with an all-too brief battle between Project Rebirth’s successful candidate and some heavily-armed Hydra goons “at an Eastpark shopping centre in London”, Jamie McKelvie’s narrative for Issue Two of “Captain Carter” is arguably much more of a dialogue-driven, political commentary on British modern-day policymaking than a tale about “the sudden resurgence” of Baron Strucker’s terrorist organisation. Indeed, even this comic’s central plot thread concerning Georges Batroc supposedly smuggling weaponry into Lincolnshire is quickly turned into a heated argument over the asylum claims of immigrants illegally entering the Empire, the Windrush scandal, and the virtues of believing what you read in the newspapers as opposed to what the government states.

Of course, the Pennsylvanian-born writer’s notion of a nation’s ruling administration being controlling, manipulative and an abuser of its authority over the people is nothing new within the world of fiction. But on this occasion the accusations stem from Peggy’s decidedly antagonistic neighbour Harley, who has seemingly undergone a complete personality change since this mini-series’ first instalment in which she was somewhat absentminded, and been transformed into an aggressively confident agitator who egotistically knows precisely the correct history books the super-heroine should read so Captain Carter can “do this job right.”

Disappointingly, this somewhat lengthy scene subsequently leads into a massive confrontation between the titular character and Britain’s current Prime Minister, Mister Williams. This book’s audience have already been made highly suspicious of the leader’s motivations earlier on in the publication’s storyline, so it certainly comes as no surprise that the costumed crime-fighter has a strong distrust of her nation’s elected head. However, the fact her angry accusations are based purely upon a few tomes she’s supposedly seen by three activists appears rather unconvincing and far-fetched, especially when Peggy is supposedly meant to be a great spy, who would surely corroborate any such theories first..?

Perhaps therefore this book’s saving grace is the artwork of Marika Cresta, who does a prodigious job pencilling the increasing political tension upon the faces of those figures involved in this comic’s aforementioned conversations. In addition, the Ringo Awards nominee is excellent at illustrating the sheer chaotic mayhem which occurs when S.T.R.I.K.E. ambushes Batroc’s operation, with bullets, shields and punches flying everywhere.

The regular cover art of "CAPTAIN CARTER" #2 by Jamie McKelvie

Captain Carter #1 - Marvel Comics

CAPTAIN CARTER No. 1, May 2022

Starting his storyline off after this comic’s titular character has already been revived from her near-eighty year sleep in the frozen Artic Ocean, Jamie McKelvie’s chance to create his own version of the onscreen World War II hero certainly seems to try to plunge its audience straight into some action-packed shenanigans. But whilst the bemused Howling Commando’s brief disagreement with a Russian military representative who claims to have “legitimate” ownership of her certainly must have caused a smile with some of this book’s bibliophiles, the rest of the author’s narrative regrettably lacks any real action until this twenty-page periodical’s final quarter.

Instead, the “prolific comics creator” pens a fairly straightforward set-up which quite neatly establishes the “woman out of time” with both a somewhat zany sidekick, in the shape of neighbour Harley, and an invitation from the Prime Minister to work alongside the newly-formed Special Tactical Reserve for International Key Emergencies – S.T.R.I.K.E. These scenes are obviously necessary so as to provide Carter with a “footing in a modern world that’s gotten a lot more complicated”. However, they also mean that the reader must first negotiate an awful lot of somewhat sedentary, word-heavy dialogue and discussion before “the recipient of the Super Soldier Serum” finally wields her famous circular shield; “Coming for me is one thing. Hurting innocent people to get to me -- That’s quite another.”

Interestingly though, in addition to this attack upon a red London bus by Hydra, the scenario also raises a question as to whether Harry Williams can be entirely trusted as the head of the British government. McKelvie does a splendid job in making it clear the Prime Minister is not best pleased with Peggy when she spurns a photo opportunity with him so as to consider his proposal concerning S.T.R.I.K.E., and this doubt as to the politician’s moral compass grows when it becomes clear that the somewhat suspicious ambush is precisely the motivation needed for the hero to accept his offer.

Likewise, there is plenty to enjoy with Marika Cresta’s artwork, most notably the aforementioned terrorist raid, with the “rising star” making Captain Carter’s fury at the harm to innocents abundantly clear in both her facial expression and body posture. Indeed, it’s clear why during a pre-publication interview for the New York City-based publisher that Jamie stated he couldn’t wait “for people to see Marika's pages - there's so much life and energy to Peggy and the rest of the cast, and the action scenes are stunning."

Writer: Jamie McKelvie, Artist: Marika Cresta, and Color Artist: Erick Arciniega