Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel #2 Review

Written by: Peter David
Art by: Juanan Ramírez
Colors by: Federico Blee
Letters by: VC’s Ariana Maher
Cover art by: Mike McKone, Antonio Fabela
Cover price: $3.99
Release date: August 24, 2022

Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel #2 gets the band(s) back together (*heh*) as Genis-Vell is recruited by a Skrull to help save Death, who just so happens to look like Rick Jones’s wife. It’s complicated.

Is It Good?

Ehh… Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel #2 is fine. Peter David improves on the first issue by thinning out the world-hopping, time-hopping, and memory-hopping shenanigans to focus on the lead character and his predicament in the present. In short, the plot is cleaner and easier to follow, but the theme has yet to clearly present itself, so the events in this issue feel haphazard.

When last we left Genis-Vell, his powers were out of control without the negabands, so he sent a mental message to Rick Jones to find and retrieve them just as Thanos arrives for a personal chat. Now, we find out “Thanos” has come to recruit Genis-Vell to save Death, who is in or has taken the form of Marlo and is a captive of Ren-Varr, Vox Supreme’s head scientist. Just reading that sentence will make your head spin, but fortunately, David lays out the facts with more finesse.

Still, there’s a lot going on to track in this issue, so without the benefit of a clear theme (the point of the story), Genis-Vell’s out-of-the-blue mission feels random. The first issue implied the goal for Genis-Vell was to stabilize his powers and unlock his memories. It’s a journey of restoration, and yet, we’re suddenly off on a side quest that doesn’t have anything to do with Vell’s goals and comes out of nowhere.

The art is very good. Ramírez and Blee complement each other’s styles well. The linework is clean, the colors are vibrant, and the action is energetic.

About The Reviewer: Gabriel Hernandez is the Publisher & EIC of ComicalOpinions.com, a comics review site dedicated to indie, small, and mid-sized publishers.

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Final Thoughts:

Genis-Vell: Captain Marvel #2 suddenly takes a left turn in the lead character’s quest to get his memories back for a mission to save Death from the Kree. The dialog, pacing, and plotting are all very good, but the new mission comes out of nowhere and seems like a random distraction.