Trapped in a mirror universe of her own. Captain Marvel must find her friend Bean and get them back home.
CAPTAIN MARVEL #127
Writer: Margaret Stohl
Artist: Michele Bandini
Colorist: Erick Arciniega
Publisher: Marvel Comics
What You Need to Know: Chasing Mim and Dr. Eve, Captain Marvel finds herself trapped in a mirror universe of her own. In order to get back to her universe, she must find Mim and Dr. Eve and get her crew of thieves, Zeta Flight, to help her. First, she must recover the “loot” her crew was promised and make amends with that universe’s Natasha Romanov, the Widower. Captain Marvel has a plan, and now she just needs to make it work.
What You’ll Find Out: Its the night before Captain Marvel and her crew attempt to steal back what they were supposed to steal in the first place. Trying to rest as best she can, Carol is once again visited by Bean. The Kree girl Carol promised to find back when this arc started. Realizing that following Mim and Dr. Eve into the mirror universe was no accident as it is where Bean is trapped. Carol gathers her crew and meets with Natasha Romanov, the Widower one last time to go over the plan so she can get back to finding her friend.
Starkiller is set to rendezvous with his crew the Ravagers (this universe’s version of the Guardians of the Galaxy) while talking to his benefactor who hired him to steal the stone in the first place. When Peter Quill reaches his team they are already aware of Carol and Zeta Flight preparing to steal the stone from them. When Natasha and Carol attempt to infiltrate their space station, the Ravagers, (a carrot looking Groot, who says “I am root.” A female Rocket Racoon, a smaller in stature Drax, and a purple Gamora), are already waiting for them.
Captain Marvel, the Widower, and Zeta Flight have a small skirmish but in the end, the Ravagers take the win and imprison Carol and her team. Peter now has something else to sell his benefactor. The wanted criminal, Carol Danvers, and her friends. And it turns out, the person Starkiller is being hired by is none other, than Thanos!
What Just Happened?
Stohl actually ties a lot of threads together this issue. Which helps tremendously in finally understanding how everything fits into the story instead of how random things were to start with. When things started it was supposed to be about finding Bean but then things took a twist when Mim and Dr. Eve showed up. Which was ok until Bean wasn’t even an afterthought in the following issue. But now that all of the story threads are interweaving, the story has found its cohesion. This issue really helped in making the story itself more enjoyable. As a trade paperback, this will read a lot better.
Now to the bad part that really can hurt a comic book story in particular. Bandini and Arciniega are really good artists so I’m not sure where the ball was dropped on this. But how did the Ravagers win? One moment all hell breaks loose and the next Carol is laughing at the thought that Peter is her nemesis in that universe. And then Zeta Flight was just captured without a reason as to how. While every page is drawn and colored fine. Where was the part where you see the Ravagers get the upper hand? It makes no sense and kills a story that was finally getting some traction. And considering this is the visual part of the story. I’m guessing the artists dropped the ball here and just cut things short which seems really lazy.
Rating: 6/10. Final Thoughts: Captain Marvel is a great female hero and character. One of the best in this humble writers opinion. But when I great character is treated with a lazy approach it can hurt that character. And while the writing aspect of the story is finally coming together and I’m looking forward to what happens next. The artists need to up their game and start realizing they have an important character in their hands. They’re great artists, so I suppose I’m expecting more. Which as a fan can be unfair to the creators and I’ll admit that. But this wasn’t nitpicking. This was flat out disappointing to see a scene cut without a reason. Hopefully they art follows the writing next issue and things keep getting better.