Captain Marvel: Dark Past Review

I’ve never been a huge Captain Marvel fan, and when this book was initially announced I was quick to dismiss it as another nostalgia mini thanks to the Dark Past subtitle and the old suit on the cover, but with Lucas Werneck on interior art I decided to give it a go, knowing I’d at least get to see the most beautiful Carol Danvers I’d ever seen. From the first issue, Paul Jenkins and Werneck’s Captain Marvel: Dark Past was a really pleasant surprise, telling a refreshingly personal and grounded story for Carol that managed to put a fresh spin on some familiar ground for the character and tell a great story diving into her history, both real and “forgotten”.

Captain Marvel: Dark Past follows Carol Danvers as she begins to remember an old investigation from her journalist days that she’d seemingly forgotten when Rogue stole her memories all those years ago. As she begins to investigate the mysterious “DNVR” organisation alongside allies like Iron Man and Spider-Woman, she uncovers a conspiracy involving her family going back decades, and villains new and old stand in the way of her uncovering the whole truth.

While the trope of secret family histories is one that I’ve become a little sick of, Paul Jenkins is smart enough to move it far enough away from another secret sibling (which Carol gained one of quite recently anyways), and further up the family tree to avoid hitting too familiar ground and instead focusing on Carol’s less-explored paternal side of the family. DNVR, the secret organisation that side of her family has been tied to for decades is your general all-purpose bunch of bigots, anti-immigration, anti-mutant, anti-alien, which is effective for making them hateable but it does feel a little more focus on them could’ve helped, with the crux of the story focusing on them hating Carol for her half-alien heritage. 

The main antagonist is “Desecrator”, seemingly a lead operator for DNVR and a relative of Carol. He’s got a pretty neat design, but the story does struggle a little between deciding if he’s to be hated or pitied, flipping between the two in a way that undercuts either. The fights between Carol and Desecrator also lead to some rough dialogue as Jenkins seems to try and get relevant and instead has some terrible lines about Tinder and how video games are bad. Thankfully, it’s something that only comes out in a handful of moments. The DNVR organisation isn’t the only aspect of Carol’s paternal relationship explored though, and while her father is dead, she revisits a handful of memories with her pretty shitty dad from her initial investigation. This relationship provides a much more compelling resolution than the Desecrator fight.

Another familiar trope to Carol’s stories is the presence of Rogue here, which I really enjoy how Jenkins handles. With Carol trying to recover old memories it would be easy to retread old ground with a big fight, but the relationship is handled with the level of nuance it deserves after all these years. Rogue and Carol’s relationship is tense, aware of the many issues between them, and how it’s easier for Rogue to move on instead of Carol, but treats it with understanding instead of blame. These are two people who really should never be friends, but are forever tied together and Jenkins manages to make all that history present in their relationship in a short scene in a way that honours both characters.  

One of my favourite things in Captain Marvel: Dark Past is how it addresses one of my biggest issues in modern superhero comics: the death of the non-super supporting cast. I don’t only mean literal death, I mean the lack of Superheroes having friends and family they can lean on outside of the world of superheroes as the decades have either killed those characters or had them become heroes or villains themselves. It removes a core human element from these stories. While Captain Marvel: Dark Past has plenty of superhero friends for Carol in it, the key difference is how she meets them. We open the first issue on Carol and Tony Stark hanging out, getting coffee and attending an AA meeting, but it’s all out of costume, regular clothes and in regular situations. 

Later, we see Carol and Jessica Drew hanging out in her apartment, with the issue taking beats not just being fully plot focused but letting them talk about their personal lives too, effective both as a first issue recap of what’s going on in characters lives, but also providing that human element that’s often missing. That’s not to say she isn’t also teaming up with Iron Man and Spider-Woman too, but they feel like extensions of Carol Danvers friendships, not just Captain Marvels. In later issues Jenkins also brings back Frank Gianelli, an old friend of Carol’s from way back in the Ms. Marvel days when she had a proper secret identity and job (another aspect I find often missing from modern superhero comics, the double life). It’s a refreshing return that leaves Carol feeling more human and real, which really strengthens the themes of the book.

As I mentioned before, the real draw of this book was Lucas Werneck and he did not disappoint. Aside from consistently drawing the most beautiful people you’ve ever seen, Werneck’s real strength is the expressiveness of his characters, able to portray subtle facial expressions really clearly. A lot of expressive artists can fall into “same face” issues at times but Werneck is really great at making his faces distinct, especially noticeable in a few brief scenes of Carol’s mother and past versions of her, both of which have a clear resemblance while being noticeably recognisable as not present Carol. 

His action sequences are fantastic too, there’s a real force behind punches and he’s not afraid to get a little inconsistent with anatomy at times to drive that home. There were a few really stellar panelling sequences too, one in particular that impressed me was when Carol falls through a broken mirror effect and we see her reflection warped when viewing from different angles and the panels shaped like jagged glass themselves. He’s impressed me for a while but this book really cements Werneck as a big talent at Marvel, and with such a unique style I hope he continues to work on books like this that can give him a consistent spotlight. Of course I can’t speak on the artwork without touching on the great colors from Rod Fernandes, whose work is stunning and vibrant, while able to shift into darker moods when needed, a real talent and Werneck’s work has never looked better than alongside him.

There is no trope in modern comics writing I’m more of a sucker for than flashbacks being drawn and written in the style of an older comic, which Jenkins and Werneck do wonderfully as we explore fragments of Carol’s missing past. The narration shifts to something more verbose and dramatic, overexplaining everything in the way classic comics often did. Werneck shifts his style slightly too for the flashbacks in a way I struggle to fully describe, it’s an odd blend of his usual line work with a little less detail and more cartoonish faces that really sells both an older era and the increased dramatic style. Rod Fernandes is of course the real star of these flashbacks, whose colors take on a slight sepia tone to indicate that’s it’s in the past and clearly separate it, and also does a little pointillism with the flatter colours to really sell the classic feel of it. The jagged linework on the panelling is another really effective device to separate the past from the present and really sells the memories as being half-forgotten fragments coming to the surface.

Captain Marvel: Dark Past isn’t quite an anniversary special, but it would be a great one, revisiting many aspects of Carol’s past and setting an exciting course for her future. With stunning art from Lucas Werneck, Carol and her supporting cast has never looked better in this must read for Carol fans new and old that would even go a long way to winning over her haters (at least the normal ones).