Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps

By Kelly Sue DeConnick, Kelly Thompson and David Lopez

Captain Marvel is a character that has seen a huge boost in promotion and sales for Marvel. There is a new movie coming out in the near future, but aside from that, Carol Danvers is a strong and interesting female character. It makes sense that she would get a push from Marvel. Carol has had her own title for a while, but now she has her own Secret Wars title, Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps. If you didn’t know she arrived before, she definitely has now.

We have two writers for this issue, Kelly Sue DeConnick who is the regular series writer, and Kelly Thompson. We are introduced to the Carol Corps, and although DeConnick and Thompson don’t give us a ton of background on them this issue, they are all likable; this is something that will likely be explored more as the mini goes on. One of the things that works well for this issue is that the writers allow the characters to use their brains and think. Members of the corps begin to wonder if everything they’ve heard from Doom is the truth. This is blasphemy of course, but they question the unquestionable. DeConnick and Kelly use this issue to prove that female characters can be just as fun and interesting as the guys. They have a training exercise that, if successful, allows them to veto Carol’s terrible music choices in the barracks. DeConnick and Kelly make this a fun book to read, and even if it wasn’t a Secret Wars tie-in, would still be enjoyable.

The pencils this issue is handled by David Lopez with colors by Lee Loughridge. His work feels like it’s very old school, which fits well with the storytelling. The colors by Loughridge are light, it’s almost like a comic strip from the Sunday paper. While Lopez does some good things in this issue, there are definitely some panels that lack some serious detail. When Kit first arrives in her new uniform, her face is very badly drawn. The further things are away, the harder it is for detail, that is a fact, but some characters go without faces at all, which is a bit annoying. Having said that, Lopez does a good job in his close up action sequences. Carol Saving a man from a recently blown up ship is the highlight panel here. She looks like a true hero as she flies out of the water with the surviving member in her arms.

Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps is a title that may take you by surprise. The writing team of Kelly Sue DeConnick and Kelly Thompson do a nice job of setting the tone for the rest of the series. We also get a glimpse of characters who start to doubt Lord Doom. The art by David Lopez is fine and a compliment to the tone of the story. There were a few rough spots but overall he did well with the issue.