Carol's Last Dance: A Farewell to Ms. Marvel

On the last week of February, on the year 2010, the fiftieth and last issue of the current Ms. Marvel series was released. Until last week, it was the currently longest female-fronted ongoing series from Marvel (I believe only Spider-Girl had a longer run in the past). It is not surprising that the Ms. Marvel series was canceled, as it wasn't exactly setting the chart sales on fire, but it does carry a certain poignancy because of something Aaron Kimel, a regular commenter and reader here at The Weekly Crisis, pointed out:

Mere coincidence that Marvel's longest-running female solo book died before Women of Marvel month began or intentional decision to avoid the apparent mixed message of ending the series DURING Women of Marvel month?

Now, this isn't a completely serious statement, as Aaron pointed out later in the comment section, but it does raise a good point. It is a rather strange mixed signal that Marvel is sending: on one hand, we have them promoting not only March as Women's Month, but the whole year is going to involve a celebration of their female characters, and on the other hand we have them canceling a long running ongoing series that stars a female character. Despite being a huge fan of the Ms. Marvel series in it's first couple of years, I'm actually not very upset that the book is coming to an end. Hit the jump to see exactly why.

There's two fundamental things you need to know about the Ms. Marvel series.

First of all, it was completely written from start to finish, by Brian Reed. That's fifty issues, plus three one-shots, all written by the same person. How many other series can boast such a claim? If we stick to current and modern examples, you can certainly mention Ed Brubaker on Captain America, Brian Bendis on Daredevil and Ultimate Spider-Man, Peter David on X-Factor, Geoff Johns on Green Lantern, maybe Grant Morrison on Batman (it don't think it's been fifty issues, but close enough), and probably not much else outside of long running creator owned titles. Notice anything on that list? Most of those writers are the "superstar" creators, the kind that can carry a book under their name alone.

Brian Reed is not that kind of writer. I do not mean this as an insult towards him, I actually like him quite a lot as a writer (otherwise I wouldn't be writing this, right?) but he is just not in the same level as those others I just listed in the "household name" category. And yet he stayed in the the title for a long time and he wrote an immense body of work, almost four years and a half of material, surrounding a single character, all in the same series that never was quite a commercial hit. In other words, it was a labor of love, and it shows: there's a palpable feel of affection and respect for the character of Carol Danvers that comes through in the series, one that manifests by exploring the world of Ms. Marvel through various lenses and different situations. We see Carol as a fighter, a solider, a lover, a leader, and even a mother figure, among others.

Which brings me to the second thing you need to know about the Ms. Marvel series: it was always about Carol's personal journey into becoming the best she could be.

To understand how this came to be, we must go back to the events from House of M. When the Scarlet Witch altered reality, Ms. Marvel was transformed into the Captain Marvel of that world: a beacon of hope, a symbol of tolerance, and a protector of the world. When reality went back to normal, Carol Danvers was left with the knowledge that she could be the best superhero in the world. This is her main motivation through the majority of the series, and we see her struggling with this newfound sense of unlimited potential and responsibility, she tries her hardest and doubtlessly makes mistakes along the way, she questions her actions and she rationalizes what she must do next in order to become the best superhero in the world.

In the end, it all boils down to one realization (image courtesy of Anika from Fantastic Fangirls, in her own  article about Ms. Marvel)

But here's the crazy thing, I did not stay with the Ms. Marvel series all the way to end (although I should have), I dropped it some time ago. I guess that's part of the reason why I am not upset that the series is canceled, seeing as I was not reading it anymore, but there's a more important reason: I think it should have ended earlier, this realization should have come sooner. I thought that the perfect moment for Carol to learn this was at the end of the Secret Invasion arc. During Secret Invasion, Ms. Marvel traveled all the way from the Savage Land to Manhattan, the epicenter of the invasion, all by herself. There, she battled a bona fide battalion of super skrulls, all by herself. She used a combination of her intelligence and her powers to not only turn the tide of the battle, but to protect hundreds of civilians.

It should be worth noting that during the majority of the series, Carol had a pretty well rounded support cast: Spider-Woman was her best friend, who she could relax and be herself around, Wonder Man, who supported her and provided emotional back-up (not to mention a love interest), Araña as her trainee, and even the members of Operation Lighting Storm as her underlings. This changed in the final stages of Secret Invasion: she was truly by herself, with no one to trust or to help her, in the bleakest situation possible, against a horde of enemies that wanted nothing but to utterly destroy all the she swore to protect. She fought back with all her might, with all her resources, and with all her heart. In the end, she persevered, she passed the test with flying colors, she truly became the greatest she could be.

It would have been a logical and well timed event to end the series, on a high note, and with lots of open possibilities. The series, however, went on for longer. It had interesting ideas, but this was basically the sophomore slump that many TV shows go through on their second season. It did not capture me in the same way as it had earlier, I lost interest and eventually dropped the title when they announced that Moonstone would be taking over the title. And now, about a year and a half later, the series is canceled.

With all that being said, I am glad that Ms. Marvel finished, still under the pen of Brian Reed, and achieved what it had originally meant to do. Fifty is a nice, respectable, and big round number, not to mention that it's twice as long as what the first Ms. Marvel series was. Brian Reed's run did not reinvent the wheel, but it made it roll nice and smoothly all the way down to the finish line, leaving behind a legacy that hopefully will be fondly remembered by its fans, as in important if not perfect run. Somewhere down the line, someone is going to look at it as their inspiration for the next Ms. Marvel series, and that's a happy thought for me.

So farewell for now, Ms. Marvel, but I am sure we will see you soon.

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