Redheaded Reviews: Captain Marvel Vol 2: Falling Star by Kelly Armstrong (Writer)l Annapaola Martello (Artist) Carmen Carnero (Artist), Tamara Bonvillain (Colorist), VC's Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

In the previous comic, Carol has had a rough year with her brother suffering a life-threatening injury that caused her to step down from Avengers and the Space Defense Program Alpha Flight to take care of him. Then Kree assassins killed her mother who had been hiding as a Kree warrior this whole time. Her brother recovered and Carol had decided it is time to get back out there. Carol is friends with Jess, Spider-Woman and they take down a giant monster that Tony Stark takes away with a group of Iron Men. The two agree to meet up later after Carol has a meeting with Tony where he "lays down the law" with her and insists that she does an interview with Ripley Ryan for Ms. Magazine for public perception since she's been in space all this time and no one could see what heroic deeds she was doing. Carol gives in on the interview. But Tony also wants her to play mentor to Jennifer Takeda, aka Hazmat, who needed a new suit and came to Tony for one. She leaks nuclear chemicals. She goes for a touristy walk. Carol meets up with Rhodey and has dinner with him. They catch up and wonder what if? Then the woman from the magazine shows up to do the interview and Carol is trying to reschedule it when she gets blasted by Nuclear Man. Rhodey calls in backup which at first seems ridiculous, but then Nuclear Man rebounds and grabs Ripley and takes her through a portal in the street. Carol follows them through. When she arrives on the other side, there are Jess and Jennifer and other women. She punches Nuclear Man clean to the other side of the island. The Avenger men try to get through the portal but it knocks them back. While time is moving fast on the island it is moving slowly back on the other side of the portal. Some of the women don't have their powers for some reason, like Hazmat and Spider-Woman is missing some of her powers. Echo has been running things down there and they have one man rescued from the group of men who are loved ones of the women. Som, the man, provides intel on what goes on back at the base and how to defeat them. But Carol doesn't completely trust Som. She thinks he's hiding something and she's right. Jen, She-Hulk breaks through the barrier but her powers don't work. Still, she's a welcome sight. She defeats Nuclear Man and rescues the women.

The first segment of this comic is very lighthearted and fun. Black Widow is in the jungles of Rio de Janeiro fighting the Enchantress and her undead army alongside the Winter Soldier when she gets really close to her and sees a vision of Dr. Strange and Captain Marvel bringing her down in Rio. The thing is she sees it too. Nonetheless, Black Widow goes off to find the two of them. Dr. Strange is definitely interested in this development, but he says that she will be hard to find;

Actually, she wasn't all that hard to find at all. She just showed up and put a wammy on Dr. Strange and Captain Marvel and put each in the other's body. Stephen spends hours trying to teach Carol the proper way to hold her hands to cast a spell to no avail. They argue and bicker and Nat has to put up with the two of them without killing them; Then when an undead shows up Carol casts a Patronus spell on it which Stephen quickly points out is Harry Potter not real magic. Then Stephen tells her to just say the words Shield of Seraphim and not worry about the hands and it works! Now Stephen has to figure out how to make Carol's blasters work out of her hands, which he does. So Stephen teaches Carol various spells to use on the Enchantress. And they and various friends go to battle against her. Stephen, Carol, and Nat have some tricks hidden up their sleeves.

The rest of the book deals with Carol's six days and how a life can implode in such a short time. Day One there's these weird alien ships she's fighting over New York City, She gets a bloody nose and her powers aren't at full force. A strange new superhero appears to help her out. Captain Marvel falls from the sky and Jess, Spider-Woman rushes to catch her. Carol goes to see who's inside the ship and its a Kree. So she rescues him.

Now it's in the news that she's half Kree on her mother's side and people have plenty to say about that. She loses her position in the Air Force. Her friends support her. And when she goes out as Captain Marvel the new superhero Star helps her out too. The Kree scientist and pain in the ass Kree supremest Minerva show up at her house wanting to work with her now that she's half-Kree. So she agrees. But she puts a tracer on Minerva and Carol and Rhodey follow the signal into the sewers and find another monster like she and Spider-Woman fought a while back that Tony is working on. Tony finds her and insists on running tests where he finds an object in her chest. When Carol and Jess go to visit her Maine house they see an example of that tech at the house and its Kree.

Carol knows that Minerva is behind this but when she goes to get her she finds her chained to the sewer walls with the words "You're not as smart as you think" painted there. She takes down Minerva and takes her to Tony for answers. If Minerva isn't the one behind everything then who is? And how will Carol get her life back and her powers back?

This comic kicked some serious ass. First, there was the delightful one at the beginning that was a stand-alone that I thoroughly enjoyed. Then there was the rest of the comic that detailed Carol's descent into hell where she's contemplating drinking again and her slow rise as she puts the pieces together. You'll never figure it out. It will be such a great surprise. Armstrong is such an amazing writer. She has really outdone herself here. If I could give it more I would, but instead, I give it five out of five stars.

Quotes

Little Girl: At school they said you were an alien. Izzat true?

Captain Marvel: Yet it is. My mother was something called Kree.

Little Girl: But …What ‘bout your dad?

Captain Marvel: He was human.

Little Girl: So you’re both then!

Captain Marvel: Yes. Yes. I am. People can be lots of things at the same time, I think.

Little Girl: You should tell people that.

Captain Marvel: Maybe I will.

-Captain Marvel Vol 2: Falling Star