Captain Marvel #27: Raise up! Twist It ‘Round Yo’ Head, Spin it Like a Helicopter

After breaking up with Rhodey at the end of last issue, Carol holes up in her apartment for like a week, forcing Jessica Drew to break into her apartment (twice), forcing her to deal with interdimensional cat Falkors that spit acid from their butts, working non-stop on superhero stuff, and go speed dating with some of the best super heroines in the biz. Oh, and ending up at a bar that leads to an interesting turn of events.

Kelly Thompson continues to shine with this day in the life issue she likes to do after a big story, giving Carol and her supporting cast a moment to breathe, and decompress. In this issue we see perennial best friend, Jessica Drew do what she does best: puts a mirror up to Carol to show her that she’s doing that thing she does: wallows in self-pity, or drown out her problems by punching things. Not saying either of those things aren’t therapeutic, but whenever Carol does something, she does it all the way.
After finally getting her out of her apartment, the duo fight a flock of flying cat Falkors, Carol goes into Carol mode, where it’s non-stop fighting for over a week, giving herself no time to assess what she had just gone through emotionally.
Jess does as Jess does, and forces Carol out on the town with a few other friends, in a delightfully pedestrian round of speed dating, with a group of dullards brought on for comedic effect. More shenanigans with the cat acid butt Falkors, and a finale that will get people talking.
This issue also marked the (brief) return of Captain Marvel artistic icon, David Lopez, whose line work is just a beauty to be seen. From the big action moments, to the quiet, introspective character moments, it’s a beauty to behold. Triona Farrell’s colors are perfect here. Bright, vibrant, everything looks like it should.

Now for the negative: the relationship between Carol & Rhodey. It just never seemed real, Kelly just seemed to go through the motions when depicting it in the book. The characters never really had any chemistry in this volume of CM, so it was hard to feel anything at the end of it last issue. The emotional response this issue felt more real than the attraction to the characters did. Which is a shame, because the friendship that Carol and Jessica have in this series is absolutely amazing. The banter, the characterization, it all feels organic and real. Like something I’d do when interacting with my own friends, which just adds to the pleasure I get from reading this book.

Kelly has said there are plans to get them back together down the road, so maybe she has something up her sleeve that will impress me. I’ll hold off judgment until later, but I’m not really disliking Carol not being with Rhodey. Although the plot twist at the end was something I’m not sure I’m all for either, but again, I’ll wait to see how it plays out.