Captain Marvel #16

By Kelly Sue DeConnick, Jen Van Meter, Joe Quinones, Patrick Olliffe, Andy Troy, Drew Geraci, & Tom Nguyen.

The second Infinity tie in for the Captain Marvel series finds Carol and her comrades aboard the Builders’ ship as captives. The action lines up perfectly with Infinity and this book is almost the perfect bridge between the last issue of the event and the issue that came out this week. Kelly Sue DeConnick gives a wonderful perspective to Carol, as she plots to release her team of Avengers from their captors by using her Binary powers, which had returned to her during the Battle of the Corridor. 

While Carol’s memory has been wiped, her emotional connections toward her team aren’t explicitly spelled out like they were in the last issue of Captain Marvel. This book really feels like the issues DeConnick gave to us before the events of The Enemy Within. There is a strong focus on the action and driving force of the book, with Carol’s direct narration overriding it, leading the reader along for the ride. The action is quick paced, and keeps up with the pace set by Jonathan Hickman in the main event. Carol really gets back to herself when she’s pummeling the crap out of Alephs and saving her teammates from death and destruction. This issue doesn’t really lend much to the direction DeConnick wants to go after Carol has lost her memories, but since this is a tie-in, it’s understandable that she would focus more on the action of the event.

Once again, this book is met with a new artist, Patrick Olliffe. This issue looked fantastic. Olliffe has a knack for recreating Carol’s Binary days in a blaze of glory. The panels are exciting and engaging, and fit really well with the action going on. Olliffe really focuses on the details on the page, making it seem that the fire engulfing Captain Marvel is alive and showing the concern Carol has for her team when she announces they are going to attempt a suicide mission when they’re freed. The colors also work really well with the issue, especially in the battle sequences. When Spider-Woman and Captain Marvel team up to take down an Aleph, the entire panel pops off the page and really grabs your attention.

Since this is the last tie-in that Captain Marvel will be seeing, I am looking forward to seeing what DeConnick has in store for the stand alone series, and exploring the character that Carol can become. Also, let’s hope that we start to see some more consistent art throughout this series, hopefully from Mr. Olliffe again.