Captain Marvel #6 Review
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Guest Artist: Annapaola Martello
Colourist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Let's see: The Big Board for the War of the Realms assigns South America to Enchantress and the dead. It's formidable opposition, and the first line of heroes standing against her are Bucky and the Black Widow.
When Natasha gets a strange peek at a prophetic vision, she calls for backup in the form of Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel.
Setting strategy according to prophecy has worked out great for Carol in the past!
Sure enough, assembling a team based on Natasha's vision bites the heroes in their collective hinders before this issue is over, and it seems likely that the story will deliver further ironies as it develops.
Guest artist Annapaola Martello portrays the team with a lean, lively style. The visuals are nicely tuned to emotional (and comedic) nuances in the conversational scenes, but things get a little sketchy in action. Hopefully, subsequent issues will make more use of the Enchantress's zombie minions; the few undead Ms. Martello gets to draw here look great.
Tamra Bonvillain does a heroic job adding texture with her colours. Her shading on the characters is strong, and she invests noteworthy effort in giving the backgrounds some much-needed life. This issue has more than its fair share of panels that would read as blank without Ms. Bonvillain's diverse bag of depth-creating tricks.
I want to talk about the script's big twist without flat-out spoiling it. I think if I say that it's a thoroughly familiar twist that lots of comics authors - especially Kelly Thompson - have used before, I'll have said enough.
The familiarity of the twist is my only real complaint about the writing. It's a well-worn turn, but it's executed with scrupulous skill here and the issue is especially rich in enjoyable character interactions. The author's grasp on her characters is firm. She voices Carol, Natasha, and Stephen in a way that's consistently entertaining and illuminating.
It's also consistently hilarious. Some of the best sass in the business - which is exactly what I love about Ms. Thompson's writing.
Setting aside my distaste for the twist in theory, I will gladly admit it's handled well in practice. The plot and characters are tightly interconnected, giving this story a unique feel and safeguarding it from sliding into "just another [twist] adventure" territory. It's also paced very well, sweeping the readers and characters briskly along with just enough space between the plot beats to inject quality humour and insight.
In Captain Marvel #6, the creators rely on a somewhat threadbare premise to put the cherry on top of their tie-in sundae. The art is lean on detail but vivacious, and the script is scrupulously witty. If it relies on a "safe" plot twist, it also shows that such storytelling tools get used (and risk getting over-used) because they make it easy to build a thoroughly satisfying story. And that's certainly the result in this case.
Guest Artist: Annapaola Martello
Colourist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Let's see: The Big Board for the War of the Realms assigns South America to Enchantress and the dead. It's formidable opposition, and the first line of heroes standing against her are Bucky and the Black Widow.
When Natasha gets a strange peek at a prophetic vision, she calls for backup in the form of Doctor Strange and Captain Marvel.
Setting strategy according to prophecy has worked out great for Carol in the past!
Sure enough, assembling a team based on Natasha's vision bites the heroes in their collective hinders before this issue is over, and it seems likely that the story will deliver further ironies as it develops.
Guest artist Annapaola Martello portrays the team with a lean, lively style. The visuals are nicely tuned to emotional (and comedic) nuances in the conversational scenes, but things get a little sketchy in action. Hopefully, subsequent issues will make more use of the Enchantress's zombie minions; the few undead Ms. Martello gets to draw here look great.
Tamra Bonvillain does a heroic job adding texture with her colours. Her shading on the characters is strong, and she invests noteworthy effort in giving the backgrounds some much-needed life. This issue has more than its fair share of panels that would read as blank without Ms. Bonvillain's diverse bag of depth-creating tricks.
I want to talk about the script's big twist without flat-out spoiling it. I think if I say that it's a thoroughly familiar twist that lots of comics authors - especially Kelly Thompson - have used before, I'll have said enough.
The familiarity of the twist is my only real complaint about the writing. It's a well-worn turn, but it's executed with scrupulous skill here and the issue is especially rich in enjoyable character interactions. The author's grasp on her characters is firm. She voices Carol, Natasha, and Stephen in a way that's consistently entertaining and illuminating.
It's also consistently hilarious. Some of the best sass in the business - which is exactly what I love about Ms. Thompson's writing.
Setting aside my distaste for the twist in theory, I will gladly admit it's handled well in practice. The plot and characters are tightly interconnected, giving this story a unique feel and safeguarding it from sliding into "just another [twist] adventure" territory. It's also paced very well, sweeping the readers and characters briskly along with just enough space between the plot beats to inject quality humour and insight.
In Captain Marvel #6, the creators rely on a somewhat threadbare premise to put the cherry on top of their tie-in sundae. The art is lean on detail but vivacious, and the script is scrupulously witty. If it relies on a "safe" plot twist, it also shows that such storytelling tools get used (and risk getting over-used) because they make it easy to build a thoroughly satisfying story. And that's certainly the result in this case.
A Look Inside
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