Captain Marvel #3 – Review

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick (Writer), David Lopez (Artist), Lee Loughridge (Color Artist), VC’s Joe Caramagna (Letterer)

The Story: 
Captain Marvel makes herself helpful to no one.

The Review: One of the things I look for in a good sci-fi setting is a sense that I’m truly on an alien world. So now that Captain Marvel is arguably a sci-fi book nowadays, it’s good that DeConnick, Lopez, and Loughridge let me see that in a big way in this issue. They put Captain Marvel in a truly alien environment, which includes some complicated political and socio-cultural aspects along with some fun visuals.

Lopez gives us some alien ruins for a setting, but more interestingly he gives us some very playful designs in animal-like humanoids, my favorite being Eleanides with her lizard-like frills that she opens at a dramatic moment, casting a shadow on Carol’s face. What’s quite disappointing, however, is the design for Tic, who seems to be posed to be a key recurring character in this story arc. I don’t find her bland, generalized features interesting at all; she’s always in completely nondescript and de-personalized clothing; and her ugly topknot of something resembling hair is downright off-putting.

Thankfully, the expressiveness of the art makes up that last criticism. All the characters are given a range of emotion and key poses, and the colors help emphasize a sense of place and tone.

Tic is further problematic by her role of being a plot device, one that leads Captain Marvel from one clichéd situation into another. My critique for the previous issue was that I felt there was not enough emotional resonance in the storyline, and in some ways that hasn’t improved, as Tic is firmly cemented here as a “frightened child” (and is called “child” or “girl” several times), including a scene where she basically cries in fit of petulance. Yet more distance between the reader and Tic, unfortunately. In other ways, things are improving. Thanks to Captain Marvel and Eleanides’ conversation, I actually care about Eleanides and her troubles, as she’s cool, in charge, compassionate, yet strong and defiant.

Fables #77 – Review

By Bill Willingham (Writer), Mark Buckingham (Penciller), Andrew Pepoy (Inker), and Lee Loughbridge (Colors)

The Story: Two new characters, mercenaries Freddy and Mouse, scrounge through the ruins of the defeated empire looking for loot, and come across a big, heavily chained casket that may contain more than treasure. Boy Blue is still suffering from the magical arrow he was shot with during the war. Sinbad relates to Rose the last heroic moments of Prince Charming. The second generation fables try to determine if they can or will have any place in the newly liberated homelands. And Bigby Wolf sends Mowgli and his wolf brothers up the beanstalk to explore the situation in the Jungle Book world.

What’s Good: Willingham is clearly in this book for the long haul. He gives every single character time to express themselves, to breath, to become real. And the quiet moments, like the ones in this issue, give them weight when things become sticky later on. And, of course, Buckingham’s art is consistently wonderful, unrolling in Fable’s patented horizontal scroll, like the Bayaux tapestry.

What’s Not So Good: “Freddy and Mouse” are obviously Fritz Lieber’s classic heroes Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. I don’t think much of Willingham expanding from fables and children’s stories into the realm of adult fantasy, especially as these two are still under copyright and can’t be addressed by their proper names.

Conclusion: As a single issue, there’s practically nothing to this book. But Willingham clearly has plans for the future of the Fable universe. Think of the collapse of the Empire as analogous to the tearing down of Saddam’s statue; chaotic elements hidden by fascistic suppression are beginning to stir. Regular readers will know that Willingham has proven that these interlude issues are an integral part of the larger epic. And of course it’s always nice to see Bigby Wolf with his wife and children, as if Wolverine finally decided to stop working so hard at being a bad-ass and just allow himself to settle down.

Grade: B

– Andrew C. Murphy