Captain Marvel #3 // Review
It’s common knowledge that you don’t want to make a Hulk angry, but you should never make Captain Marvel angry either. An angry Captain Marvel will do whatever it takes to make sure her friends are safe and justice is served. Unfortunately for Nuclear Man and his army of metal men he’s about to learn this lesson first hand. In Captain Marvel #3 Kelly Thompson continues to increase the stakes for Carol and friends, while Carmen Carnero and Tamra Bonvillain lend their talents to the art and colors respectively, and VC’s Clayton Cowles handles the lettering.
Roosevelt Island has been turned into a post-apocalyptic wasteland by Nuclear Man who wants to create a brand new empire run by men. He’s managed to remove the superpowers from most of the heroes who may oppose him but he didn’t count on the resilience of Carol, Jess, Echo, and all of the women they’ve inspired to fight back. Superpowered or not these women will fight for what’s right.
This isn’t an action intensive issue. Thompson’s focuses on the logistics and planning behind the inevitable battle between the army behind Carol and the army behind Nuclear Man. Because of this, it feels a bit dialogue heavy throughout the middle in order to set up the big reveal at the end of the story. Not every issue can be Carol punching her way through things, but a little more of that mixed in would’ve been great.
Carnero has fully adapted Carol’s look to the dystopian future vibe. Giving her deconstructed armor, multiple leather belts, face paint, and a side shave with the Hala Star cut into it. It’s a brand new look for the Captain and it’s every bit as cool as she deserves. To round out the art, Bonvillain’s colors change to fit the mood of the scenes and help certain characters stand out, while Cowles is given plenty of opportunities to express action through lettering.
Revealing backstory and explaining what’s going on on Roosevelt Island was necessary, but adding more action would’ve helped move this story along. The strong contributions from the art team were able to make up for what felt lacking, and this wasn’t a bad issue, but compared to the previous two it felt the most drawn out.
