Written by: Kelly Thompson
Art by: Annapaola Martello
Colors by: Tamra Bonvillain
Letters by: VC’s Clayton Cowles
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: June 5, 2019

It’s time for Carol’s solo book to enter the War of the Realms and while a bunch of the tie-ins haven’t been on my must-read lists, this one is. I mean, it’s Captain Marvel and she is kick-ass, right?!? The answer to that is “yes” and here comes the review…

The issue opens up in Rio de Janeiro and it’s actually not Carol who is dancing on the sand, but Black Widow. Bucky is there with her and they are kicking and ‘sploding the Undead Army of Enchantress. Things come to a head when Natasha attacks Enchantress head on and sees a vision of how to defeat the “Most powerful Sorceress in the Ten Realms” (her words, not mine…but I tend to agree!) that has Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange by Black Widows side. The problem is, Enchantress saw it as well and Black Widow is off to gather her team before it’s too late.

I really liked this opening scene a lot mainly because Kelly Thompson gets us right into the frey and instead of some heavy War of the Realms recap, we are off and running. She writes it in a way that if you are reading the Event, you are good to go, but better yet if you were afraid that your pull list was being hijacked by the War of the Realms, you can just read this as a cool team-up against a cool villain. Cool!

We continue with Natasha getting Carol (with a nice hug that made me smile) and then both of them meeting up with Doctor Strange. Thompson gives the reader some nice snappy dialogue with a touch of humor and each character feels right. What doesn’t feel right is that Enchatress shows up and they are not in Rio like Nat’s vision foretold. This is where things get freaky in a Friday kind of way.

I don’t want to spoil too much here, but if you like a little body-switching shenanigans, then I think you will have a lot of fun here. I know that this sort of thing has become a bit common at Marvel lately, but I think I liked what we got here and the potential for what’s to come with it more than previous versions. Freaky Friday (or Vice Versa?) situations always tickle my fancy and Thompson steps it up a bit with a realization of the pain Doctor Strange has to deal with on the reg and some Harry Potter references.

This is the first part of the story so my biggest complaint is that we don’t get more here. We end on a cliffhanger with our heroes scratching their heads on what to do and how and about to die. A pretty good way to get people to come back next month!

Like I said way up above, this was one of those rare War of the Realms tie-ins that can also be read by fans who have no intention of jumping into the Event. Yea, it might help to understand the scope of things a tiny bit more, but Kelly Thompson has her regular readers in mind this whole time. Guest Artist, Annapaola Martello, does a fine job as well here.

Final Thoughts:

Kelly Thompson gives readers a War of the Realms tie-in that can be read by regular readers of the book regardless of whether they are invested in the Event or not. It’s the start of a fun Freaky Friday team-up that is already a lot of fun. Recommended.

9.0/10