Raven's Haven: Captain Marvel (1968) # 10-24, Untold Legend of Captain Marvel (1997) # 1-3

Tuesday, 13 September 2016

Captain Marvel (1968) # 10-24, Untold Legend of Captain Marvel (1997) # 1-3

(I originally read these comics in May 2015)

I must admit I'm glad to have finally got through these so I could move on to something else. Third rate stuff even by sixties Marvel standards. The first few issues close Arnold Drake's run as writer (from # 5-12) and while he's lauded for his work on DC's 'Doom Patrol,' I've never read anything he wrote for Marvel that was more than mediocre. It's clear this title was launched in a rush (mainly to secure the trademark) and with little prior thought. Captain Marvel's love interest, the drippy 'Medic Una,' is killed off after only a dozen or so issues after proving a total dead-end, story-wise. His nemesis Colonel Yon-Rogg, literally the only slightly memorable villain introduced here, is overused to the point of tedium. Luckily, he too is killed off before the end of this run. Things get trippy and mildly interesting when Gary Friedrich takes over for three issues and puts Mar-Vell in the service of some weird intergalactic entity called 'Zom,' but this story is subsequently wiped away as a conspiracy involving an attempted Kree power coup. Talk about a directionless mess.

Roy Thomas returns to the series and finally provides some kind of rudder when he teams CM up with everybody's sidekick Rick Jones (fresh from his turn in Captain America as a substitute Bucky), only one of whom can exist on earth at any one time, while the other languishes in the Negative Zone. These issues are dated (with much 'hip teen' slang from Rick), but at least they're readable, if noticeably earthbound.

The final three issues presented here comprise a limited series from 1997, which serves as an immediate prequel to the '68 series. It's crap.

Oh well. Jim Starlin takes over CM with issue # 25-34 and really gives the series a shot in the arm, so I'll come back to those soon.

Just as a coda, probably the most (or only) notable aspect of this early CM run is the introduction of Carol Danvers in a supporting role. She would of course go on to have a long shelf life as Ms. Marvel/Binary/Warbird, eventually assuming the 'Captain Marvel' mantle for herself.