Ms. Marvel, Vol. 3: Operation Lightning Storm by Brian Reed

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This book collects Issues 11-17 of Miss Marvel.

It contains three stories: First off in Issues 11 and 12, Miss Marvel faces off against a villain she defeated back she was at the Avengers. Interesting story, particularly loved the villain Doomsday Ma throwing off on the Avengers for failing to keep track of him so that AIM was able to snag him.

Issues 13 and 14: The Deal: Carol agrees to lead the Mighty Avengers in exchange for Tony Stark (currently director of SHIELD in this book) giving her her own detachment of superheroes and SHIELD agents (not actually reporting to SHIELD) to prevent major crimes before they start. After taking out an AIM sight, she decides to use this to help Julia Carpenter, who in the previous volume, she captured and dragged off to secret prison with her daughter watching and described bringing her in as "her pleasure." Carol's efforts to help Julia are meant to soften that image a bit, but instead the characterization is so off that the story instead makes me wonder whether she's a fit mother as she has little concern for her daughter's welfare and commits a parental kidnapping from the grandparents with SHIELD help.

Issues 15-17: The book ends with a big AIM story and it's a blast. It involves an AIM Civil War, witha variety of factions that include MODOK and different alternatives to him. It contains the cheesiest scene in the book , but is still a ride.

I thought both the first and last stories were pretty good. Carol also showed herself to be relatable. Not only does she feel regret over what she did to Julia, she also begins to question the wisdom of the entire Superhero registration movement in light of AIM being able to carry ou tattacks due to Tony spending an inordinate amount of time enforcing them.

Teenage superhero Anya Corazon was likable and this book made me curious to read her solo stories.

On the other hand, most characters in this book are either unlikable or flat. Tony Stark and Maria Hill come off as particularly unlikable. In one scene, Carol references "debriefing Tony Stark" and Maria asks if that's "the only time you debriefed him?" What is she? In High school?

The story tries to add in romantic subplot, maybe a bit of a triangle. However, both Wonderman and the non-hero potential love interest are dull, so it's hard to get into them.

In the end, this isn't bad, but there's a lot bad about this book. Hoping Volume 4 gets better.



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