CAPTAIN MARVEL #24

By: Tony Whitt
Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Under the guidance of the Supreme Intelligence, Jenis goes into the Negative Zone with Una-Rogg to retrieve a special type of radiation that will reverse Rick Jones' premature aging. Now, we all know our Negative Zone denizens, and we know Peter David's writingthree guesses who he runs into? In the meantime, Rick is being...well, let's say "looked after" by a group of women on the Microverse planet Qarn, and he's suddenly thinking that a supply of Viagra would be useful right about now. And then, of course, Moondragon is staying at Marlo's. Yes, Moondragon.

I suppose it should come as no surprise that this month's CAPTAIN MARVEL is the only regular Marvel title lately that I've enjoyed. (Sure, there's ORIGIN, the MAX titles, and THOR: GODSTORM, but those hardly count as "regular," do they?) While other books like CAPTAIN AMERICA, IRON MAN, and FANTASTIC FOUR are taking themselves so deadly seriously, this one still has the nerve to let us laugh at (and with) it.

Granted, the book does push the envelope just a bit. Scenes in which Marlo is sitting at home watching THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY with, of all people, Moondragon, or in which Una-Rogg makes jokes about Ronan's...erm, attributes, while his soldiers make comments, are a bit over the top. But when the humor and the plot click together well, as they often do in this issue, David shows just how talented a writer he is, and how much in common he shares with another writer of a successful "regular" Marvel title, J. Michael Straczynski. With both of these writers, there's always a sense that these stories, no matter how wild or 'out there,' are being told first and foremost about normal people who just happen to have unusual powers. It's a formula that has served Marvel well in the past, and it's something that many other Marvel titles seem to have forgotten.

The artistic team of CrissCross, Rodriguez, and Perotta haven't forgotten what they're doing either. They render David's most comical moments with the same ease that they create vast panel-eating spaces in which the Negative Zone shines in all its glory. Sometimes, as with the splash page dead center of this issue, the two even coincide. Whether comical or not, the scenes in the Zone are amazingly well done, more than enough to bring me back for round two next issue with...well, you'll see.

Some time ago, I reviewed this book and worried about its direction, especially since that particular issue guest-starred Thor, had Jim Starlin doing the art, and was named "Who Let The Gods Out?" Now that I've read this issue, I blame it all on Thor. He's a god, he can take it.

CAPTAIN MARVEL

Grade: A-

Issue: No. 24

Author(s): Peter David, ChrisCross, Anibal Rodriguez, Perotta

Publisher: Marvel Comics

Price: $2.50