Enchanting Alliances in Captain Marvel #29

Through lies of omission, Carol convinces Amora, The Enchantress, to teach her magic. Little does Amora know, Carol is on a mission to destroy Amora’s future son in Captain Marvel #29 written by Kelly Thompson, drawn by Jacopo Camagni, colored by Espen Grundetjern, and lettered by Clayton Cowles.

Cat Purcell: After a bit of a break, we’re picking back up where we left Carol off, searching for a magic user to train her as a magician to take down Ove. Everyone turned her down, urged by Dr. Strange except for one: Ove’s own mother. I have felt like we’re stuck in a bit of a loop here with these recent arcs and although I’m still not pleased with the storylines, I am glad this issue seemed to break us out of a bit of a rut.

Christina Eddleman: I love a good hero villain team-up. It’s not unlike our Janet/bad-Janet dynamic that I very much enjoy. Amora is my favorite chaotic neutral lady of the Marvel universe, and I was excited to get more of her.

That’s Amora

Cat: Not one to mince words, Captain Marvel starts her request for help to Amora with an insult. Carol gets her to come around by telling her she should teach her magic simply because Dr. Strange doesn’t want her to. What did you think of this approach, Christi?

Christi: Carol seems to know her audience, or at least, think she does. Amora doesn’t play by the rules, so it was definitely worth a shot. If every other magic user on the planet was turning her down, she could’ve gone to another planet, but this is infinitely more interesting.

Cat: They definitely seem like women cut from the same cloth, despite their differences. I think that’s why this works for me. It seemed to be reflected in Amora’s point that training Carol underwater shouldn’t be too different from her experience in space. I love a good space/deep ocean comparison. Some of my favorite Star Trek episodes do that. Enchantress isn’t one of my favorites, but her line “Does Strange wish to keep you from magic simply because you are tiresome?” made me chuckle. I can relate.

Christi: Carol, as she seems to be aware, is the one that is arguably operating on the side of more morally grey than Amora at this point. Enlisting the help of the mother of the person you want to destroy is lower than low, even if Ove’s a pretty bad dude. It definitely is in line with the behavior of a character so tied to the U.S. Military. Saving potentially billions of lives is worth however dirty you get your hands, right?

Cat: For sure, this rubbed me the wrong way. I think the only way I could not feel unwell about it were if Carol had been honest with Amora. As we already know, future Amora chooses to side with her son, even though he killed his father in front of her to achieve his goals. But we don’t even know if this Enchantress who hasn’t lived in a dystopian world would make that same choice. What’s worse, is she was deprived of the choice to begin with. I can only hope this unethical path Carol is on leads to some serious consequences for her, but I can’t see that happening based on previous storylines and it’s frustrating to watch.

Raiders of the Lost Heart (of the Serpent)

Christi: So either Amora knows something is fishy about Carol’s story, or she’s genuinely keen to help because she takes Carol to some ruins at the bottom of the sea. Apparently learning Atlantean magic required the use of the Heart of the Serpent, a glowing red pearl guarded by two massive sea snake monsters! This must be how everyone does it, of course, and not a plot to take advantage of Carol, right Cat?

Cat: Absolutely couldn’t be! Especially not when Amora informs Carol that she can’t cross the barrier as a magician. Carol glides right through the force field and Flotsam and Jetsam spring into action against her to protect the pearl. I get that Ms Sparklefists is kind of Captain Marvels thing, but I am a tad bored of the “just punch through the monster” signature move at this point.

Christi: Punching is kind of all she’s got, unfortunately. At least Camagni and Grundetjern really make it pretty. Grundetjern’s colors here are the thing that makes this sequence work for me. It’s a punch, but big and full of gorgeous firepower.

Cat: I completely agree. Grundetjern’s use of red and gold against blue is striking and I continue to enjoy the way Camagni captures facial expressions with such balance. Particularly, as Carol monologues herself through wondering if this isn’t just a set up by Amora, but also by Dr. Strange as well. She’s left trapped in the ruin with the stolen red pearl on the other side and exhausted of power trying to get through. What’s your take on how she ended up here, Christi? Especially, as she has yet to have learned any actual magic.

Christi: I’m not sure how this pearl was going to give Carol the ability to do magic. I’m really hoping there’s more to this than a “the power you needed was inside you all along” moral because just when Carol seems out of luck, she’s able to ride an underground magma stream to freedom. This was a creative maneuver that wasn’t just punching! I was so proud of everyone except Thompson who confused lava and magma. Underground molten rock is magma, molten rock that breaks the surface is lava. Get it together. (Am I a nerd? Yes.)

Cat: And this is why I love you! Carol taking the magma train out of the dome was great and a fun surprise!

YA At Heart

A sea monster bathes Captain Marvel in a beam of energy.

Cat: So last year I picked up Storykiller by Thompson. It’s a very YA romp about a girl who has the ability to literally end the manifestations of story characters’ lives and the memories of them in the human world. It ticks all of the boxes of love triangles, plucky, punk girls, randomly missing or unconcerned parents, and fairytales. It struck me today reading the scene where Strange pops in on a brokenhearted Rhodey, that these recent runs have all been very . . . YA. Which gave me some … Thoughts. But I’m curious to hear your own opinion on this first!

Christi: I so very much appreciate this connection as it’s one I hadn’t made. As a middle school teacher, I love YA content. I greatly enjoyed Ryan North’s The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl and Jeremy Whitley’s Unstoppable Wasp both starring young superheroines filled with quirkiness and fun. The clear demographic there is young adults. It’s not that I don’t enjoy YA content, but Captain Marvel is clearly on the older end of the spectrum of super heroes. Like, maybe 30 (a girl can hope). Her best friend, Jessica Drew, is a mom. As much as I want comics to be accessible to children, I’d love to see a book that could maintain the appeal to us moms too, Cat.

Cat: If this is Marvel’s attempt to attract younger women and older teenagers, this context makes sense to me and I can forgive all of the issues I had with it. But I do so desperately want a hero I can relate to in comics who has her own title. Because if this was a woman my age, I would think she was a mess and stay clear of her. And these mistakes she keeps making (that she seems to be aware of as terrible mistakes) would make sense if a 20 something were making them. But I keep expecting her actions to have consequences. Sure, Rhodey is no longer with her, but again the idea that he and Dr. Strange have to save her was infuriating. I certainly hope she sees some consequences and gets to rescue herself in the next issue.

Christi: The ex and the one-night-stand rebound teaming up is comical. I never watched Sex in the City, but it feels like a Sex in the City thing to happen. There’s mischief afoot, and while I don’t know if Carol needs rescuing, I do trust Thompson to wrap up a plot neatly.

Cat: I’m very skeptical that all of these loose ends can be tied up in one more issue. Thompson had pulled it off before and impressed me. I hope to see it again. I am VERY excited to see if she manages to be a magic user and a powered half Kree/ Human. That would open up some interesting avenues to explore.

Christi: Cat, I’m calling my shot now. The power she needed was inside her all along. Roll credits.

Cat: That would be the MOST YA thing ever!

Marvelous Musings

I want that tea kettle and cup set and I don’t even like tea. -Cat
I want Amora’s face bubble so badly – Christi
I’m coming around on this Captain Marvel magic user costume a tiny bit. The cape was cool underwater! (We agree on this!)
We want Lauri-Ell! No, seriously. I want her back!