Advance Review: Captain Marvel Annual #1

If I am honest, I kind of hate the annuals. Whilst they’re an opportunity for newer writers and artist to get their feet wet, there is a sense of fill-in. Throw in the higher than normal price point and you can start to see why I begrudge them. It’s not like the Atlantic Attacks or Evolutionary War years!

This annual sees Carol pull prison duty, in K’rasky prion no less. Don’t worry though, Carol has a plan, a plan that could be hampered or helped by the Starjammers who have racked up enough citations to warrant incarceration. As is normally the case with Carol, chaos breeds chaos. But is it chaos with a cause?

Pulling a decent job of providing a “pseudo-Thompson” style, writer Torunn Gronbekk delivers a fun story. Where you may read Starjammers, think of them as the Guardians of the Galaxy from the first movie and you get a sense of the vibe that Gronbekk is looking to achieve. I found the difference in tone between Carol’s dialogue and her inner monologue interesting, given how we are used to seeing Carol being super confident most of the time. There is a downside, with a deus ex machina making a second appearance in as many months; another example of Marvel’s editorial serendipity gone awry, perhaps?

Carlos Gómez, who has been spending some time on Amazing Spider-Man, provides the art. Now, I have has a rant or two about house style, which seems more of a thing with Marvel than DC. Here is no different, to let’s take that aspect as given. Gómez does a great job on the body proportions of Carol, keeping her consistent throughout the book. Gómez also does well with the very crowded prison scenes, keeping things in order; a sense of peace in the oncoming storm that is Carol’s default status! I imagine that colorist love working on a “space” book. I mean, look at the various environs, aliens and battles that Dijjo Lima gets to have fun with; whichshows on every page. VC’s Clayton Cowles’ completes the group with his usual high standard of font and placement.

Whilst I don’t think that my opinions on annuals, from both the Big Two, are going to change, I have to say that this book pleasantly surpassed my expectations.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Torunn Gorbekk
Art by; Carlos Gómez
Colors by; Dijjo Lima
Letters by; VC’s Clayton Cowles
Published by; Marvel Worldwide Inc.

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network