Comic Review 216 // Super Hero Adventures: Captain Marvel by Sholly Finch

I'm continuing my trend of library comic book reads that my children have picked.

Title: Marvel Super Hero Adventures: Captain Marvel

Author: Sholly Finch

Blurb: Carol Danvers is one of the most powerful super heroes on Earth. She's led Alpha Flight and the Avengers, and prevented more alien invasions than you can count. But she's about to hit big trouble - and even the mightiest heroes need help sometimes! These action-packed, exciting stories explore Captain Marvel teaming up with fan-favorite characters like Spider-Man and more!

COLLECTING: MARVEL SUPER HERO ADVENTURES: CAPTAIN MARVEL 1-4

 

Format: 112 pages, Paperback BUY via Amazon or support your local Library!

Review

So Captain Marvel is a character I know very little about so I was hoping to learn something with this title. Unfortunately it is instead a bunch of random short stories with the Marvel characters all drawn in the same cartoony style as the cover.

Ultimately the stories are short, fun and cute. Perfect for little ones or young readers. There is nothing new here, but it does avoid all the series themes of the graphic novels aimed at an older reader. Mainly filled with light hearted action I would say this is more comical/humorous than action packed.

But it does have some faults. Firstly Captain Marvel is missing from a lot of the stories, what gives? It's named after her. Shame to have her as the title character and not actually 100% focus on her. Maybe there isn't enough stories for her? Then the stories are painfully predictable, my five year old could see the plot ending coming, it needed some surprise ending for sure. We follow up this with the jokes, there is a lot of inside references that new fans wouldn't get or kids in general might not understand. Also some of the jokes seemed very dated like the newspaper style comics, I personally haven't bought a newspaper is so long, my kids didn't get the reference at all. And finally the lack of imagination when it came to the stories. Being predictable is one thing but I am starting to feel like I have read the same stories multiple times not, just with the characters or villains swapped out for a different one. This maybe just me as I've read a lot of comics of late.

Final thoughts for this title. Its a solid okay. Fun, but not special. A little misleading with the title, felt a little bit like a filler comic. But at the end of the day it is meant to entertain the kids, and I can confirm it did just that.

Cheers for reading.

Comic Review 215 // Avengers: The Avengers Initiative

Continuing my new series, it seems, of reading and reviewing my kid's comics. I've been struggling lately will multiple colds/flu/who knows what. It's been rough, and I have struggled to read for myself for about a month. Luckily the kids don't care (ha), and I am still reading some stories. Here is this week's offering.

Title: Marvel's The Avengers: The Avengers Initiative

Author: Fred Van Lente

Art: Ron Lim

Blurb: The perfect introduction to Marvel's The Avengers movie! All your favorite characters from the film packed into one digest! Meet the incredible cast of the Avengers Initiative: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye! The perfect introduction to Marvel's The Avengers movie! All your favorite characters from the film packed into one digest! Meet the incredible cast of the Avengers Initiative: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Black Widow and Hawkeye! Collecting MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS: THE AVENGERS INITIATIVE, CAPTAIN AMERICA & THOR!: AVENGERS.

Format: 88 pages, Paperback (Buy via Kindle on Amazon)

Review

This was a hard one. The stories within the pages of this book are all set with the MCU but were seemingly written before most of the movies, as it is no longer canon. Luckily the kids have not seen the movies and most likely wouldn't care anyways, so for the curious collectors out there, maybe treat yourself or go buy something else.

The collection definitely has its faults. Somehow, we go from good artwork to pretty crap, which is so weird to see collected in this manner? Why Marvel you have so much money do your comics some justice. The book is three stories long, consisting of the title piece, which is a way to a quick intro to the characters (which we already know) and comes across as pure filler. Then a Captain America tale, followed by a Thor tale. Both of these were fine, but ultimately this is so middle of the road that it is dull. But this is also me as an adult reviewing it.

On the other hand, my sprogs enjoyed the adventures and pointing out the superheroes, so for their enjoyment, I would give it a 3 out of 5. As an adult, this is a 2 out of 5. I have warned you!