I find that I’ve grown very abruptly quite fond of the art in this series, after being uncertain about it in the first issue. Besides that, I like Carol as much as ever, and that’s enough to keep my interest.

This story picks up from the backupish portion of the previous issue, with Carol chasing the legacy of one of her aviation heroes. And then crazy stuff ensues for no apparent reason. I had my issues with the way DeConnick maneuvered Carol and Spidey into adventure’s path in her recent two-part AVENGING SPIDER-MAN story, but this issue makes that plot contrivance seem elegant by comparison. Of course, part of that’s because it’s supposed to be a bit of a mystery, even if it is one that is set up to look like poor plotting. I hope that DeConnick has a clever explanation that we will discover later in this story. I really do.

I won’t go into too many details about where Carol finds herself, but aside from the deus ex machina that gets her there, I really like the setup of this story and the supporting characters lined up for it; as much as I find to criticize about DeConnick’s plotting abilities, she is very good at character, and at the end of the day that’ll win me over even in the face of a so-so plot.

I like this book enough to fear for its fate in the face of Marvel NOW!, or even just Marvel’s propensity to cancel less popular books to make room for yet another Avengers or X-Men tie-in, which puts it in good company, I suppose.