Carol Danvers has been through a lot lately with her most recent adventure taking her to the post-apocalyptic future seen in Captain Marvel: The End one-shot. Going into a possible future for the Marvel Universe impacted Carol in multiple ways when she finally returned to the present. One of the biggest is how seeing in that alternate future Marvel Universe that her boyfriend, James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, not only ended up with someone else but had a kid with said person shook her. It’s because of that she ended up breaking up with Rhodey when she got back to the present. How will Carol handle single life? Let’s find out with Captain Marvel #27.
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Artist: David Lopez
Colorist: Triona Farrell
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Synopsis: Ten days after she broke up with Rhodey, Carol Danvers is still in bed with Jessica Drew trying to get her to talk with no success. Over how her friend has been acting Jessica storms into Carol’s apartment as Spider-Woman to make sure she is alive. Spider-Woman convinces Carol that she has the perfect thing to get her mind of her break-up.
Over at Central Park, Captain Marvel and Spider-Woman battle some wizards who are riding cat-snake creatures. They eventually defeat the wizards and send them running. Captain Marvel thanks Spider-Woman for helping her feel better.
Over the course of the next week Captain Marvel fights various threats that arrive to Earth and defeats them all.
The next Friday night Jessica storms back into Carol’s apartment. Jessica convinces Carol to go out for a night out on the town. Monica Rambeau (Spectrum) and Jennifer Takeda (Hazmat) show up to join Jessica and Carol for the night out. Right behind them is Lauri-EU (an Accuser who also happens to be Carol Danvers’ half-sister) teleports in as she was also invited by Jessica. Lauri-EU changes into a dress and congratulates Jennifer on going two weeks without need for her containment helmet to control her powers.
At Narwhal Wine Bar, Carol is surprised the others have brought her to a speed dating event. Every guy that Carol meets leaves her even more disappointed and frustrated with the dating scene.
Suddenly the wizards from the previous week appear out of nowhere. Carol immediately changes into her Captain Marvel gear and makes quick work of the wizards by sending them back to their dimension.
Carol goes back to the wine bar and Jessica is the only there. Carol gets Jessica to promise to stop breaking into her apartment.
Later that night at a bar in Hell’s Kitchen, Carol drinks alone while reflecting on how while she has everything she can ask for but can’t seem to get control of her personal life. Stephen Strange appears and joins Carol at the bar. Stephen and Carol end up connecting over there different experiences while talking throughout the night until eventually they end up making out.
The next morning, at the Sanctum Sanctorum, Carol wakes up after spending the night with Stephen. They both agree that what happened was temporary madness. Carol and Stephen then start kissing again. End of issue.
The Good: When it comes to Kelly Thompson’s run on Captain Marvel something I’ve found is the best stories have come out of the one-shot adventures that are told. Telling a story all in one issue has created more focus to where Carol Danvers is after big storylines. That is once again the case with Captain Marvel #27 following up on everything Carol Danvers went through when visiting a possible future for the Marvel Universe.
Whether the execution of the decision of why Carol broke up with Rhodey was not as well told as it intended to come across Thompson quickly redeems the decision. We immediately see how this decision that Carol made herself was something that she can’t move on from. She did care for Rhodey a lot and was just at a point where she saw what was next for them together until her experience in the future. You get from the first few pages that it is a decision she hated making and one that does leave her in a state she can’t leave her apartment.
Which was a good set up to further explore the friendship between Carol and Jessica Drew. Thompson does such a good job having these two go back and forth with one another. As any best friend would do, Jessica knew that she let Carol sulk long enough that it was time she actually did something. Breaking into Carol’s apartment was a nice running gag to have going in Captain Marvel #27. The joke did not overstay its welcome, worked for the kind of friendship Carol and Jessica have, and was quickly addressed how annoying it was before the conclusion of Captain Marvel #27. Handling this part of the story in this way was smart as it all help tell the story of Jessica trying to help Carol find her groove again.
Bringing in Monica Rambeau, Jennifer Takeda, and Lauri-EU to help Carol get out of her apartment was a nice touch. Like Jessica, these are three people that can help break Carol out of just living the rest of her life locked up in her apartment. It’s a good use of the supporting cast that is around Captain Marvel and a good chance to see them all interacting with one another outside of their superhero lives. There was also enough done in the scenes with all these characters that showed how they are all friends.
The speed dating scene also worked well to be that final push for Carol to not just go back to her normal routine of being in her apartment all day and night. Even if unsuccessful it got her to actually start getting back in the game. Which was the end goal for what Jessica wanted from her friend since just staying busy being Captain Marvel wasn’t going to be enough to get Carol over her break-up with Rhodey.
The choice of Stephen Strange being Carol’s new love interest was a surprising one. Even though they are in the Avengers together we don’t see them often interact with one another, especially since Dr. Strange is more of a part-time Avenger. Bringing up how Carol and Strange did have a the experience of swapping powers during War of Realms was a good way to use continuity to break the ice between them. It allowed the chemistry between Carol and Strange to be more natural. Now it’ll be interesting to see if this relationship will be more of a rebound relationship or something long-term for both Avengers.
David Lopez returning to work on Captain Marvel was a pleasant surprise. Lopez has always done a good job with his work on this series in the past and he steps back in without missing a beat. His work showing how Captain Marvel spends an entire week fighting bad guys worked well to show how time passed. Some of the non-superhero stuff didn’t work as well but overall it was solid and got over the fun tone Thompson was going for with Captain Marvel #27.
The Bad: Nothing.
Overall: Captain Marvel #27 does a good job giving weight to the big personal decision Carol Danvers made in her life in the previous issue. How Jessica Drew and others help Carol through this decision worked well to put over their relationship. The person that Carol ends up with at the end of Captain Marvel #27 could lead to some interesting stories down the line if it turns out to be a long-term thing. We’ll have to wait and see on that.
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