Captain Marvel #15 // Review
Captain Marvel faces her hardest fight yet as she faces off with Jen Walters, aka She-Hulk. Not only is she incredibly strong, but she’s one of Captain Marvel’s closest friends. Writer Kelly Thompson teams up with artist Lee Garbett, color artist Tamra Bonvillain, and letterer VC’s Clayton Cowles in the latest installment of the Last Avenger arc.
Even though she isn’t really trying to kill Jen, Carol feels incredibly guilty about lying to her friend and attacking her. She’s doing so to try and save countless lives, but that doesn’t change the fact that she’s going to have to do some serious damage repair for their friendship going forward. If she can survive the next phase of Vox’s plans, that is.
Thompson has done a great job of humanizing Captain Marvel during her time writing the character, and this issue is no exception. Knowing why Captain Marvel is attacking her friends, it’s tough to see her go head to head with She-Hulk, and Thompson really makes the reader feel for her. Even though she knows what she has to do, Carol remains conflicted and unsure of herself.
Garbett’s art complements the emotional vulnerability the characters are experiencing in this issue. When She-Hulk takes off Captain Marvel’s helmet and realizes who has been attacking her, you can see it in her facial expression how shocked and heartbroken she is. It’s a brief but meaningful pause in the action before Carol takes down a close friend. And Bonvillain does a beautiful job setting the tone with color.
Captain Marvel is learning the hard way that Vox is more powerful than she expected, as plans to use her as the last Avenger to complete their mission. Despite all her efforts to save her friends, it still may not be enough in the end.
