This is Captain Marvel: The Omen. It is the first volume of Alyssa Wong’s run on Captain Marvel. The Prime Illustrator is Jan Bazaldua. The Other Illustrator is Ruairí Coleman. The Prime Colorist is Bryan Valenza. The Other Colorist is Carlos Lopez. It is Lettered by Ariana Maher. The cover used above is Illustrated by Stephen Segovia. Trigger Warning: This book contains elements that one may find disturbing such as amputations, choking, falling from a great height, possessions, and references to the occult. This volume follows Carol Danvers, AKA Captain Marvel, as she gets herself into a terrible web of despair. After a brief encounter with a new villain, named The Omen, she is caught in a portal and sent to The Negative Zone, with no way of escape. Enter Yuna Yang, a common thief of supernatural artifacts. On one of her missions, she also encounters The Omen, as she fights and defeats Genis-Vell (another Captain Marvel). In the struggle, these Nega-Bands get stuck to Yuna’s wrists, and when she concentrates hard enough, her and Carol Danvers can swap places. How will the uncommon duo face this new foe, especially as she takes control of Genis-Vell?
This was a decent introduction to a new run. One of my main problems with Captain Marvel is that her repertoire is just filled with so many mediocre runs, with little great ones. We have the Kelly Sue DeConnick run and, more recently, the Kelly Thompson run, with that being pretty much it. So far, I do not know where to put Alyssa Wong’s run yet, which makes sense, it is only the first volume. But still, I don’t know how to make heads or tails of this volume. I enjoyed the first book from Alyssa Wong, Spirit World, and their characterization of Carol is decent. But, for this first volume, nothing much happens. The first issue of this volume sets all the pieces in motion, and then they start to do things without much being accomplished. Captain Marvel, and her partner Yuna Yang, find Doctor Strange, which explains the villains, which was fun. And, other than that, nothing much else gets done. Most of this volume is just setup. Which is fine, but the payoff better be something spectacular. Other than that, there isn’t much else to say. So, yeah, I will be massively disappointed if all this build-up leads to absolutely nothing of importance.
Spoiler Alert: One thing that did interest me in this volume would be the antagonist, named The Omen. Honestly, what I like most about her is the design. She looks like a harpy but is covered in this black and purple armor. It looks sick and gets better when she gets an upgrade later on. For her actual motivation, we haven’t gotten much so far. The only thing we do has is she is a pawn to some greater power, known as The Undone. A godlike entity that has been around since time itself. We got introduced to this entity late into the volume, so we don’t know much about them. But, again, their design is cool. The only other thing there really is to mention is the possessed Genis-Vell. This is the teaser that interests me the most. For most of this volume, Genis-Vell acts like a puppet which just takes orders. But, near the end of this first volume, he does show some agency. The Omen is clearly still manipulating him, but he does show jealousy over being the forgotten Captain Marvel. Ironic en0ugh, I didn’t even know he existed until this volume, so his jealousy is warranted. Other than that, I do hope these antagonists get some further development later on. Because there is definitely potential here.
The art for this book is fine, I guess. I am unfamiliar with Jan Bazaldua’s art style, but it is pretty decent. I really enjoy the aura that Bazaldua gives Carol. Every single power and achievement Captain Marvel gives off this sense of vibrancy. It looks absolutely brilliant. I also love the new design for Captain Marvel (even though I believe it was done by Jen Bartel). But I don’t know, the art feels like it is missing something. Like something to differentiate it from the rest. It is a strange feeling. I like the art, but it really needed something to push it to that amazing quality. But, overall, the art is still wonderful.
Overall, this volume is fine, but nothing special. I feel like this is the sad fate for a lot of Marvel characters. They are stuck with these runs that are just okay, just because Marvel doesn’t know what to do with them. Which is a shame, because Captain Marvel can be such an amazing character, and many writers have proved that. But this run just feels like another okay run, that doesn’t do anything that interesting with the character. Hopefully, it proves me wrong, and I will wait for that moment. But, for now, it is just okay.