Captain Marvel #25 // Review
Captain Marvel #25 is written by Kelly Thompson, drawn by Lee Garbett with flashback pages drawn by Belén Ortega, colored by Antonio Fabela, and lettered by VC's Clayton Cowles. Captain Marvel #25 continues Carol's futuristic adventure, trapped and separated from her teammates by the villainous Ove and his mother, Enchantress.
Ove separated Captain Marvel from her allies with the intention of draining her powers, chained up, Brigid struggles to summon Mjolnir, Emma Frost imprisoned, and Luke Cage is still under Enchantress's control. The odds may not seem to be in their favor, but Dani Rhodes is free, and with one team member free, the rest are soon to follow.
Much of Captain Marvel #25's story focuses yet again on Ove's backstory. Once again, going over Ove's backstory was a risk; it's been explained before in this arc, so a retread would need a very good reason. And Thompson gives a good reason: this time, it's from the perspective of his mother, Enchantress. The tale Enchantress tells is of her doomed relationship with Namor, a relationship devoid of love between the two but filled with plenty of love for Ove. Reading it, one can't help but feel a little bit of sympathy for Enchantress, and even, just a very small amount, for Ove. Thompson makes Enchantress sound so sympathetic, like a mother that just cares so much for her son even though he's become a monster. But how much of that is genuine, and how much of it is Enchantress trying to manipulate Captain Marvel?
There's a distinct difference between Garbett's scenes occurring in the present and Ortega's flashback scenes. Enchantress's costume looks slightly different, but many elements remain present, such as her green headdress, her corset-like top, and the strange green rings on her pants—it's truly personal preference. Still, her flashback outfit just feels like it fits her character better. The colors between the present and flashback panels are different as well. In the flashback scenes, Fabela's colors feel much brighter, more saturated at first, fading as Ove and Enchantress flee Atlantis. Their once bright future has begun to dull.
And the way that Garbett and Ortega draw Enchantress, her body language, is different and reflects where she is in her life. In the present, more or less under the control of Ove, she seems diminished, defeated, as though she has no choice but to go along with what Ove wants. But in her flashbacks, she stands tall and proud, every bit on even footing with Namor. These details really add to the narrative.
There are a few pages during the flashback where the dialogue is hard to follow due to the textboxes' placement. Yes, the giant centered image of Enchantress is beautiful, and she looks powerful, but this forces the text boxes to be on either side of her, and they don't flow as well as they could. This isn't something that greatly affects the reading experience, but I did have to re-read the dialogue on several pages after realizing I had read the boxes out of order.
Captain Marvel #25 isn't the most action-packed issue of the arc thus far, but the narrative is more than enough to keep readers invested. With Ove's supposedly true backstory revealed- Enchantress isn't exactly trustworthy- he becomes an even more fascinating villain than he appeared when he originally told his story. And with the ending of Captain Marvel #25, it appears that Captain Marvel #26 is going to be a battle of epic proportions where Captain Marvel can really let loose.
