Review by Ian Keogh

If you’ve been following Sam Maggs and Sweeney Boo on this Captain Marvel series, you’ve already read a team-up with Spider-Woman, and this opens with Carol Danvers in the company of Nadia Van Dyne, teenage genius and part time shrinking superhero Wasp. Carol’s teaching her to drive in Tony Stark’s extremely expensive favourite car. Can anyone see the disaster coming?

As these are stories aimed at younger readers, that’s no great problem, but if you want to be picky about Maggs’ stories, there’s no real explanation for what Captain Marvel does. “Alien science magic” is the best you get, and it covers pretty well everything from instant costume changes through flying to slowing a car down. There is an explanation provided as to why Carol can’t use her powers when shrunken to insect size, though.

That should be balanced against a generally cheerful plot involving threat and danger, but not too much. A.I.M., or Advanced Idea Mechanics, are a group of science nerds intent in taking over the world, and it’s their fault Captain Marvel shrinks down to the Wasp’s miniature size, but neither of them is able to grow back to standard human form. Because the Wasp is used to the situation, Carol plays the role of complaining companion suffering indignities.

Boo’s cartooning brings that out perfectly, along with the scale of two shrunken people interacting with a normal sized world. The story constantly prods at the imagination, and Boo also ensures a world of wonder as seen from insect size.

A.I.M. Small is consistently joyful fun, and as with the previous Cosmic Cat-tastrophe the greatest problem with is that it’s so short, almost as slim as a regular stapled comic. Follow-up Ghost in the Machine has a more traditional page count for a graphic novel, but anyone interested is better advised to head for all three combined in pocket format as Game On.