Travel may be good for the soul, but if you're journeying to one of the worlds that make up Marvel Comics' multiverse you're going to face some confusing (and likely lethal) challenges. Still, if you can navigate alternate realities where your heroic friends are suddenly criminals and your arch-nemesis is a person you'd never even consider, you can come back from your trip with answers about yourself... and maybe even an object of unimaginable power. In the current arc of Captain Marvel, the title character is hoping to return with both.

RELATED: The Reality Stone Surfaces As Captain Marvel Is Adrift In A Mirror Universe

In “Dark Origin,” writer Margaret Stohl and artist Michele Bandini have sent Carol Danvers to a parallel world where many of her friends are hardened criminals, and heer arch-rival is the dark mirror incarnation of the Guardians of the Galaxy's Peter Quill. The story, which reaches it's climax in February, promises to bring Carol answers to the book's long running mystery about an enigmatic Kree child named Bean, and to bring her face to face with the all powerful Infinity Stone that can manipulate reality.

CBR: In issue #125, you kicked off the story of the recovery of the Reality Stone by taking readers to, well, a new reality. It feels like this universe has a lot in common with Star Trek's Mirror Universe in that all the heroes we've seen so far are somewhat nefarious.

Margaret Stohl: The point of all sort of sci-fi moments is, the further you go from reality, the easier it is to look at reality in a certain way. Marvel is very good about this and it's always very intentional that you really are looking at the world outside your window. So, whether or not the reader overtly keys on it, if you're not looking at the world outside your window you're actually exploring character moments.

There are important things that Carol will learn about herself in this story, and it's kind of interesting because this is one of the funniest and most sort of out there arcs we've ever put Carol on. But It's actually sort of an important one. So it's been an interesting and really fun experience.

This journey involved whatever we wanted it to. There's a lot of humor, but ultimately you'll discover we are leading up to some big realizations and reveals.

With Carol trying to navigate this new reality, it feels like this is an arc that will require a lot of improvisation and her thinking through how she's going to accomplish something.

Yes, and the further she goes into this arc, the more “out there” it gets. When you change or sort of strip away everything Carol is used to it forces her to look at herself and see what's there and what's the same. That is an interesting theme that we will be rolling out and into an even bigger investigation of Carol's past that will kick off after this.

So, she's on the cusp of some pretty big understandings about herself. I just love that it's starting up with this really wacky set up. In this reality her nemesis is Lord Starkill, this reality's version of Peter Quill. She just can't believe he's who she's been given as a nemesis.

Starkill's crew is a carrot named Root, and Rockette is this raccoon-eyed bombshell. Gamora is pink, and Drax is scrawny. So everything has been thrown up in the air. In one sense it's all a joke, and in another it's a trigger. It's been kind of fun and weird to work with. One of my best friends is Guardians of the Galaxy writer Gerry Duggan. I see him a lot, so it was fun to sort of mess with his guys and torment him.

We have a fun team as well. My editors have just been sort of going for it all the time, which has been exciting.

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Let's talk a little more about Lord Starkill. How similar and how different is he to the Peter Quill of the Marvel Universe?

This is a reality where up is sort of down. So it's interesting to see what fans say about this particular group of characters since they are sort of dark and light. So everyone pushes a little darker in this, but at the same time you'll see some of the normal darkness go light.

So in terms of tone it sounds like there are some comedic and introspective moments in this arc, but at its core it's almost a sci-fi heist story.

Yes, Carol is this sort of rugged, All-American, military hero, but she's just a cut up a lot. Some writers don't let her express that side of her personality, but the one thing I try to be conscious of is letting her say things. I let her do that because she has that little bit of snarky edge.

I think that's part of why she was tight with Tony Stark. They both have a lot of mouth on them.

I also think that's a common trait of all my favorite comic characters. They're noble, but they're slightly not in control of themselves in that they connect to the universe by speaking their minds. It's probably because I don't really have a filter either. I think it's interesting to have noble and heroic instincts, but to still have a very human sense of humor. They have a human mouth that often leads them to screw up socially, or not know what to do in the moment.

I love Marvel's commitment to messy, flawed characters. It's not just the world outside your window. It's the human behind the powers. That's a thing I love best of all.

I think that's something readers really connect to. We may not have powers, but we've all felt the urge to punch a jerk, or not know the right thing to say.

It's really interesting because we love seeing victories and we love connecting to someone that powerful who can defend the world or have that degree of impact. But what we relate to are the flaws. And when I'm building a character I always start with the flaws. When I'm writing a book I look for the most flawed character. I try to find their biggest crack and then I push on it. So that's my instinct anyway. Because we can't connect with perfection . . . that's boring.

We don't feel that way. So we look for a way to hold on. Really the flaws are like a handle for the character. They all have their own mess and I love finding it.

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Two important characters in this Captain Marvel arc that we haven't touched on yet are the mysterious Mim and Doctor Eve. Will this arc reveal more about their motivations and agendas?

Yes, they are tied to a story about a Kree child that Carol found in our very first arc named, Bean. She's been an interesting foil for Carol who is originally from Boston and had a nickname of Bean in her family. So there's also a Carol story in talking about this Hala child.

It's a story we've touched on, gone away from, and come back to. There's an energy form of Bean out there in the universe that was sort of a sacrifice at the beginning of our first arc. Carol has gone looking for her, and Mim who is this bounty hunter and Doctor Eve who is a cloned scientist are tied into that. They're how Carol got to this universe. So this is a story line we have to resolve and are going to resolve. We've been headed there for a while.

They have some important information Carol needs to get. So they'll have an important role in how she gets the stone. They're mostly some unfinished business we needed to go back to.

Your collaboration with Michele Bandini continues on this arc. It looks like he's having a lot of fun coming up with the designs and tweaks for residents of this darker universe. How much input do you give him for things like character design?

Michele and I are super respectful of each other's different abilities. So, as I've gotten to know him I've almost given him less and less prescriptive scene layouts and storyboarding. Because he's so good. That's part of the fun, and it's like having a writer partner as well. When I worked on the Beautiful Creatures books with my old friend, Kami Garcia, I loved sending off my pages and seeing what she what do with them. I'd look for ways to crack her up and see how she changed everything.

When you're starting out in comics you want to marry your first artist. In your mind it's like, “This is how it will always be.” Then you start to see how exhausting it is to put out an issue every month and how many more hours the artist puts in to the story than you do. As the writer, you can just say something, but the artist has to build it down to every detail. Fundamentally that's universe building. It make you appreciate every issue you have with someone as gifted as Michele.

Finally, it looks like this arc will lead into a big year for Carol with her as the custodian of the Reality Stone. So is this current arc a period of introspection while the rest of 2018 is a year of action?

Yeah, there's a lot coming for Carol in 2018 and leading up to her film debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. So I can't say a lot right now. I can say though that I have been working on what's going to happen to Carol in this new year with the biggest creative brains at Marvel. It's honestly been kind of breathtaking to see the actual storytelling chops that they have in that building in New York. The Marvel creative and character summits are like graduate school storytelling.

Those are experiences that have changed me and the way I think. I will carry them forward for my entire life. The people you think may just be in a sort of leadership roles like Axel Alonso, Joe Quesada, and Sana Amanat have these amazing storytelling and characterization powers. What they can do when they sit down to tell a story is amazing. So that's been really humbling. When you're sitting in a room with Ta-Nahesi Coates and he's one of a number of smart guys in the room it's crazy. To be part of those rooms and summits has been a joy. It's like going to school.

I've also been incredibly grateful for the chance to spend time with Captain Marvel. There is no female comics writer in the world who doesn't get a ton of noise for being a female comics writer. I've got to say I'll take it all because part of how I got through 2016, 2017 and now 2018 is spending every day with a kickass woman hero. I don't know how I would have gotten through these difficult times without that opportunity.