Captain Marvel #20 Review

by Charles Martin on August 19, 2020

Captain Marvel #20 Review
Writer: Kelly Thompson
Penciller: Cory Smith
Inker: Adriano Di Benedetto
Colourist: Tamra Bonvillain
Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Publisher: Marvel Comics

Some great comics break boundaries and take risks. But not all great comics have to do that. Captain Marvel #20 is the kind of comic that clearly defines its goals and then pursues them with straightforward storytelling.

Thanks to the creative team assembled for this little jaunt, there is nothing wrong with a little straightforward storytelling.

Carol and her new Carol Corps -- Hazmat, Spider-Woman, and War Machine -- take off to find the real culprit for the recent Kree/Skrull massacre. That means leaving Lauri-Ell in New York again, with an "of course things are going to happen" admonishment to stay out of trouble.

The big blue bruiser finds herself some trouble, but only after the lead team spends the balance of the issue solving their mystery. It's a satisfying and action-packed solution, though somewhat convenient. 

The creators once again do a terrific job of making Lauri endearing. Artist Cory Smith deserves some special kudos for fully evoking the extreme muscularity the script calls for. Lauri-Ell gets complimented on her guns, and Mr. Smith makes them look highly compliment-able. It's a noteworthy achievement for superheroes who regularly hang out with She-Hulk -- even by their high standards, Lauri-Ell counts as especially swole.

Colourist Tamra Bonvillain does an outstanding job with both Lauri's New York scenes and the more exotic action happening out in space. The whole Corps wears green, but Ms. Bonvillain turns that into an asset by modulating the colours very nicely. Rhodey's green-black-and-white armour looks particularly impressive.

As I said above, this is a pretty straightforward script. Carol and her crew identify the sore thumb sticking out of the massacre -- Walter Lawson -- and sure enough, he's the responsible party. So they go clobber him. 

Kelly Thompson knows how to make such clobbering fun. The script makes room for plenty of impressive artistic action, but it's also jam-packed with great dialogue. (And, of course, sass.) The fighting is enlivened with terrific one-liners, and there's still plenty of room for fish-out-of-water humour with Lauri-Ell.

Captain Marvel #20 takes it a little easy on the plot front, pushing the story forward with simple development of what's come before. Thanks to outstanding art and charming dialogue, this issue is in no danger of disappointing. It continues to spin gold out of the title's connection to the Empyre event -- essentially a best-case scenario for a tie-in.

Our Score:

8/10

A Look Inside

Comments

Charles Martin's picture
I admit, maybe I review too many issues of Captain Marvel. But then the creators pull something like bringing back XX. XXXXXXX, and I'm all too eager to come back for more.