Captain Marvel #17

Comic books have always been about New York City. Whether Superman's Metropolis, Batman's Gotham or the actual city as portrayed by Marvel -- home to the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building, the Avenger's mansion abutting Central Park and Peter Parker's place of employment (J. Jonah Jameson's Daily Bugle) -- modern-day comic books, since the medium's inception in 1930s New York City, have acted as a introduction to and a primer for life in the cultural capital of the United States.

As a boy growing up during the 1970s, reading The Amazing Spider-Man and Daredevil: The Man Without Fear, it was clear to me that there was a center, a platform for all human action, and that was New York City. I knew I had to get there. (And I did get there, and lived there for five years at an appropriate time of life, my early to middle twenties.)

A fundamental aspect -- I'm tempted to say the fundamental aspect -- of situating superhero comic books in New York City is one of scale. It is all about the size of the buildings, the long canyons of commercial high-rise architecture, and the puniness of Homo sapiens in such an environment. To dramatize a situation where the hero can soar above all this, can swing freely among and tread effortlessly up and and down the skyscrapers, is the essence of super.

To see what I mean, check out the two Silver Age covers from the great John Romita, Sr. The first, with help from Frank Giacoia, is from Daredevil #16, May 1966; the second, a favorite of mine, is from Amazing Spider-Man #48, May 1967:

Captain Marvel #17, the concluding issue in the 7th volume of that title, with a publication date of January 2014, is amazing because it taps back into this essence of the superhero: it is set in New York City, and it pays homage to the grandeur of the metropolis' architecture -- it almost has a George Reeves Adventures of Superman quality.

The issues of volume 7 of Captain Marvel where writer Kelly Sue DeConnick works with standout artist Filipe Andrade are exceptional.

Andrade departs after #12 and the title clunks along in service of the Thanos Infinity Star Warsesque crossover event, but he returns to spectacular effect in #17.

As you can see from the scans of nine interior pages below, Andrade is one of the best. The cover page is by the incomparable Joe Quinones.

Captain Marvel #11

Below are four scanned pages from the beginning of Captain Marvel #11, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick with art by the incomparable Filipe Andrade. This series has been an unexpected pleasure. I've always enjoyed DeConnick's lively writing, and Andrade, who succeeded Dexter Soy, is one of the best. I say unexpected because I've never been a fan of Ms. Marvel, a character that always seemed like a gimmick turned into an anachronism -- the ghost of '70s feminism haunting the Marvel Universe. One thing you can say about Carol Danvers, she goes all the way back to first Captain Marvel story arc written by Stan Lee and Roy Thomas with art by the great Gene Colan. Then she was an Air Force bureaucrat in Florida hot on the heels of the Kree-born Mar-Vell impersonating a deceased Dr. Walter Lawson.