Captain Marvel Vol 2: Stay Fly by Kelly Sue DeConnick

Captain Marvel Vol 2: Stay Fly written by Kelly Sue DeConnick and illustrated by Marcio Takara, David López and others is the sequel to Higher, Further, Faster, More and contains issues #7-11. It picks up right where the previous volume left off with Carol and friends in space. I kind of think the blurb is a bit spoilery, but the fun is in the reading, not necessarily in the not knowing what to expect, right?

Captain Marvel’s space adventure with her pet cat, Chewie, continues! But when they have an unexpected alien visitor, Carol learns that Rocket Raccoon was right: There’s more to Chewie than meets the eye! Chewie is a Flerkin…and a mom to hundreds! Is this the end for Carol and her pet? Then, Carol has her hands full with a special guest-star from the X-Universe: rock and roll maven Lila Cheney! And Christmas comes to the Carol Corps as we celebrate 100 issues and nearly 50 years of Carol Danvers’ high-flying adventures!

But after tracking Captain Marvel and Tic for weeks, the Haffensye Consortium has finally caught up to them both! Carol was barely able to survive the last time she squared off against the Haffensye — will the astronomical Avenger be so lucky again?

Where the previous volume was all one story arc, this volume is contains three. There's a two-issue arc featuring Rocket Raccoon's shenanigans and a large number of cats — 118 to be precise — as the cover fairly accurately depicts, then there's a one-shot on a planet where everyone speaks in rhyme which is a bit weird, and finally another two-issue arc involving Carol's old enemies (about whom read anything else) and a Christmas special. The last arc in particular involves some characters I'm not familiar with and, as I said in my last review, I'm hoping reading the Carol as Captain Marvel origin story set of volumes will clear that up (c'mon mail, you can do it).

So obviously I liked the first story arc best because of all the cats, obviously. I'm still not a fan of the raccoon, but he was less annoying in this issue and had a better dynamic with Chewie, Carol's pet cat, after some initial terribleness. And there's a swarm of kittens so I really don't see what's not to like. Also tentacles and pocket dimensions, thrown in for good measure.

The middle issue is just weird. Carol and Tic follow Lila Cheney (who is a character in other Marvel comics, I think?) to a planet where everyone has to speak in rhyme. It was a super weird issue and reading it just before bed made my thoughts try to rhyme which was also a bit weird. The final arc was more fun, taking us back to what Carol's friends on Earth were up to via a letter she gets. We get to see Spider-Woman dealing with a plague of super-rats, which was entertaining and made me want to read Spider-Woman. The letter leads Carol to pay Earth a quick visit and the 100th issue (I assume that's 100 issues of Carol Danvers) was a Christmas issue with a kind of weird deus ex machina resolution.

I enjoyed this volume and will definitely be picking up more of Carol Danvers as Captain Marvel. I'm still waiting for the first of the earlier series to reach me, and I'm looking forward to Volume 3, whenever that comes out.

4.5 / 5 stars

First published: April 2015, Marvel
Series: Captain Marvel (2014) #7-11, (Volume 2 of ongoing)
Format read: Paper!
Source: All Star Comics in Melbourne