The Good
After a brief trip back to Earth to save Santa Claus (yes, really) Carol Danvers is back aboard her ship, but unfortunately everyone is missing. Even the onboard computer has been shut down and the doors are all sealed. As Danvers fights to escape her current, catastrphic predicament, she also has to figure out what, exactly happened for things to get to this state. Kelly-Sue Deconnick keeps this one small, cast-wise, which isn’t a bad thing. This is a solo title after all, and Carol’s got enough banter with her AI pilot is good enough to sustain some great banter, particularly with whether or not the good captain tells halfway decent jokes or not. The pace of this issue has a very 0 to 60 quality, almost immediately roaring to life from the first few pages, but the book never becomes breathless nor does that frantic pace overstay its welcome. It feels like Deconnick is throwing Carol RIGHT back into the deep end from the word go, and it works well due to the strong characterization of both Carol and even the brief appearances of her many new friends. It’s interesting having a book that’s so solitary in its focus that doesn’t feel lonely.
David Lopez is on linework, and he still manages to amaze with an output that doesn’t take a hit in the quality department. This is a very bottled issue with most of it taking place aboard Carol’s relatively small ship, but the visuals are never boring. Whether it be the light cycling or a titanic, two-page spread of some kind of deep-space creature, there’s a grandiosity to go along with the smaller, more intimate moments mostly aboard the ship. The contributions of Lee Loughridge to the feel of this issue can’t be understated either as his colors are the perfect mix of boldness and understatement. There are one or two moments in this issue where it really feels like the artists almost let the art speak for itself.
The Bad
The logic of Carol’s attackers is somewhat elusive. They knew she’d be back and want to try to kill her along with her ship, but they sealed all the entrances. Unless they knew she’d be teleporting, there’d have been no way for her to get into the ship when she returned (in addition to alerting her to immediate peril).
It’s a little tricky to follow just what happens in this issue from one end to the next starting right around the middle. This isn’t a failing of the art or panel control, more just some vagueness that often comes along with science fiction, but in this case it’s just a LITTLE too opaque.
The Verdict
While the choice to return to the stars this soon might not be the best one, this issue at the very least is great, simple fun. The previous problem of the book becoming directionless and drifting through space has, at least for the time being, been solved with a concrete storyline and direction for Captain Marvel to go in, and with an issue this strong, it’s hard to be TOO upset. This issue, and this book overall, manages the tricky balancing act of being extremely fun while keeping a great sense of dramatic tension and emotional investment.