Captain Marvel Annual #1 delivers a fantastic one-shot adventure that focuses on adventure while also delivering a fair amount of heart. It should prove more than enough to hold over Carol Danvers's fans till the next regular issue of her series drops in May. Read Full Review

I don't think I'm the only one with a tendency to down-rate one-shots. And the angle of critique here would be that the plot is a pretty by-the-numbers "prison break heist" story.

But dammit, this is a *great* prison break heist story. It's full of inventive details, it has terrific structure and pace, and the art is consistently gorgeous. It has a nice, meaty cameo for the Starjammers, too.

The character voices are uniformly excellent. This Carol matches the lead in the current volume, but being on a mission makes her sound a little more driven, in a positive way.

In fact, this is a perfect counterpoint to the current volume, addressing some of the faults in that otherwise formidable run. This is Space Carol, of whom we've seen very little lately. And it's Active Carol -- much more fun than Reactive Carol, which we get in too many of her comics across multiple runs.

Plus, it performs the impossible task of dredging up a dangling plot thread from the woeful "Mighty Captain Marvel" era and spinning it into gold.

(And I'm pleasantly surprised that this comic hasn't attracted a flood of arbitrary red dot scores. It engages in social commentary (on for-profit prisons) in a way I was sure would rile up the Grognards.) more