Review: Captain Marvel #12

After months of teasing and images being leaked on Twitter and other social media platforms, the wait is over.Â Captain Marvel has gone Dark.Â With all that power at her disposable she has a new quest; to kill the Avengers! The Last Avenger story line begins here!

Things start off pretty normal, Thor is moaning about some such on Avengers Mountain when he comes under attack from, in his words, a harridan.Â Imagine his surprise when said attacker is unmasked to revel the face of his avenging colleague Carol Danvers!Â From there its punch, blast, punch again, hammer swing, blast, loss of said “damn hammer” that spans more acreage than an NFL team on world tour, before a quite shocking cliffhanger concludes this issue!

Kelly Thompson is becoming somewhat synonymous with this character.Â Granted, this series may not have reached the dizzy heights of her previous run, but at least with Thompson you get a writer who genuinely “gets” and understands Carol.Â With so much time spent with the character there is the question of how many times can you have a book where Carol loses her powers (a part of the last two arcs) and is saved by her friends (did I mention the last two arcs?).Â Here, we get to see Carol kick loose in a way that we haven’t seen in quite a long time, which to be fair she would have to do to take on Thor.Â Through it all, there are no hints or teases to the motivations other than “you have to trust me” monologue which hints that Carol is trying to save the team by killing them!Â Circular logic, at this stage, to be sure.

I have been a fan Lee Garbett’s from his work way back on the Stephanie Brown Batgirl book prior to Flashpoint, as a British artist who exemplifies the idea of superhero comic art.Â Each panel has a level of pacing, even the quieter Thor ones at the start of the issue.Â Figures are drawn in dynamic poses that elicit the idea of movement in the panels, through the pages and on this occasion, around the world.Â Thor is bulky and muscular; Carol is lithe and athletic.Â The fight is about contrasts, be it the contrast of sizes, man versus woman or even the contrast of fighting for a cause, for Carol, and fighting in anger and confusion in Thor’s case. Colors are provided by the fantastic Tamra Bonvillain whose scheme here feels less detailed which allows Garbett’s pencil work to shine.Â VC’s Clayton Cowles demonstrates yet another great font, proving you do not need to recreate the lettering wheel (see House of X etc.) to get the message across to the reader.Â Finally, a big shout out to cover artist Mark Brooks for the gloriously evil looking Captain Marvel on the main cover.Â With a cover this good, why would you go look for a variant?

Given that Carol runs the risk of being seen as over powered, those involved have kind of tried to ground her with a family of friends, in much the same way that Superman is grounded by Lois, Jimmy and the rest of the Daily Planet.Â With Carol, apart from Jessica Drew, the lines of friendship seem less distinct.Â This issue then, sees a total 180 degree turnabout; instead of hiding her power for the sake of friendship, Carol is at her powerful best.Â Granted, this turn of events may be short lived in the grand scheme of things, but that doesn’t that this isn’t going to be a helluva ride!

Writing – 5 Stars
Art – 5 Stars
Colors – 5 Stars
Cover (Mark Brooks) – 5 Stars

Overall – 5 Stars

Written by; Kelly Thompson
Art by; Lee Gerbett
Colors by; Tamra Bonvillain
Letters by; VC’s Clayton Cowles
Published by; Marvel Worldwide

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