Doctor's Orders Are Made To Be Ignored, If Carol Can Remember Them

I mentioned this a little bit when I reviewed Captain Marvel #10 & 11 (ages ago now), but I like Carol's reactions to her situation a lot. They seem very real. I mentioned the part about how she feels dizzy after lifting a train and that worries her, when it seems perfectly natural to me. But Carol knows something isn't right with her, so everything she feels that doesn't seem normal feeds into that. It's like when you wake up with a headache, and then you sneeze, or suddenly feel hot, and you figure, "Oh great, I'm getting the flu". Maybe you aren't, maybe the hot flash is entirely unrelated, but in your mind, they must be connected, and it's terrible because every additional symptom makes whatever you think you've got seem even worse.

Beyond that, there's her stubbornness in ignoring her doctor's orders not to fly. It's kind of odd, because she actually has a confirmation of something being wrong with her, but she doesn't want to acknowledge it. It was harder for her to ignore when it was lurking in the shadows, when she didn't know exactly what it was. Now that she does, and she knows what she isn't supposed to do, she's unwilling to allow it to limit her.

The part that worked best - from Carol's specific characterization - was the silent panel after her doctor tells her that the lesion could kill her brain cells, and cost Carol her memories. It only lasts one panel, but the fact she gets up and deliberately turns he back to her doctor, her friend, and us in the next panel is significant. If there's anything that would bother her, losing her memories would be it. She's had them manipulated by Marcus (man that was a terrible storyline), outright stolen by Rogue, if she knew Tony Stark was Iron Man at one point, then he took that from her when he used his satellite to reestablish his secret identity by wiping people's memories. Her mind's been through a lot, is what I'm saying. It's natural that would get her attention, and also that she'd try to blow it off, but wouldn't be able to do it with a straight face. So she turns her back.