writer: Kelly Sue DeConnick / artist: David Lopez
After the brief detour of Carol’s adventures that revealed that Rocket was actually right about her cat being a Flerken, Captain Marvel #9 seems to begin another story line with some strange and cool turns. Carol and Tic (and the Flerken) are visited quite unexpectedly by Lila Cheney (mutant, rock superstar) teleporting onto the ship (as she is wan to do). Lila’s teleporting ability is a smart way to instantly insert Carol into another storyline as she finds herself in the middle of Lila being betrothed to a Prince whose marriage has large political repercussions for his civilization. The headline for this issue (and rightfully so) is going to be the fact that this culture of new folks rhymes when they talk, and thus forcing Carol to struggle through the rigors of poetic language as well. It’s comical and fun and charming as the rhyme becomes constant but not distracting. Carol slowly transitions to the speech comfortably while trying to work to solve EVERYONE’S problem.
Which is Carol’s greatest strength and fault (by design) is that she tries to help everyone, even when those courses of action work directly against each other. The issue of relieving Lila from her obligation and simultaneously enabling the (very handsome) Prince the freedom that a marriage would bring him are the twin boulders that Carol attempts to lift, but she still needs help from Tic to make everyone happy.
And welcome back David Lopez on the pencils! In addition to how well he conveys interactions and facial expressions of the supporting casts, he still produces the most balanced characterization of Carol herself. A special shoutout to Lee Loughridge as well, because the tone and sharpness of this book is derived largely from how color is used in both the foreground and background.
Captain Marvel is starting a new arc that includes teleportation, a wedding, a fight to the death (sorta) and a cliffhanger that might take Carol back to Earth. I mean, what else do you need? Oh yeah, rhyming. You absolutely needed the rhyming.
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