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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 22, 2020 2:13:29 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #6"And Grotesk Shall Slay Thee!"Cover Date: June, 1977 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Grotesk Guest Stars: J. Jonah Jameson, Mary, Lynn Anderson, Frank Gianelli (1st Appearance of the last two), & various firefighters Official Plot:When the first issue of Woman Magazine turns out to be a financial success thanks in part to an article about Ms. Marvel, J. Jonah Jameson is both furious and happy about the outcome of its first issue. When he goes to tell off/congratulate Carol Danvers, she passes out from visions brought to her by her powers as Ms. Marvel. Later, Carol changes into Ms. Marvel and is drawn to a factory where the underground dweller known as Grotesk has come to the surface to claim a Cavorite crystal. Ms. Marvel tries to stop Grotesk. However, she is easily overpowered and is lost in the burning rubble of the factory. Grotesk appears from the wreckage to those spectating the battle to boast about the destruction of Ms. Marvel. This story is continued next issue.... Brodie's View:After the shit I gave Chris Claremont for last issue's reversion to previous plot devices, I will say that while Claremont uses some of the same plot devices in this issue, he actually turns the tables on the reader somewhat, giving us an ending we weren't expecting. However, I'll get back to that, as we start the issue at the Daily Bugle, as J. Jonah Jameson is pissed that while even though the first issue of WOMAN MAGAZINE is a huge seller, Carol defied his order to deliver a scathing take down of Ms. Marvel, she instead went the other way, declaring her to be the hero she is. The two get in a huge argument that Carol looks to be winning before she has one of her visions/fainting spells. A new potential supporting character/love interest(?), Frank Gianelli, busts in to see that Carol has fainted in Jonah's arms, and in a funny moment, thinks the publisher had knocked Carol cold in the midst of their fight....lol. Of course, that's not true, and while Jonah does spit out some typically sexist remarks about women fainting whenever they're losing arguments, he also does mumble something about billing him for whatever ends up being wrong with Carol, showing him to secretly be a big softy all along....just a sexist softy. We get a little bit of a first meeting between Carol and Frank, and then she Ms. Marvel's it into investigating the cause of her visions. This ends up being a factory that is on fire, but as she learns, the cause of the fire is intentional, set by long time villain, Grotesk (who fought the original X-Men in the past), the supposed survivor of a sub atomic world destroyed by our world's atomic testing. The fire is a distraction for Grotesk to steal a Cavorite crystal; a device that supposedly has enough power within it to allow Grotesk to DESTROY THE WORLD(!!!). Needless to say, the two fight, and while Ms. Marvel gets the early advantage, Grotesk ends up totally whooping her ass, even damaging her suit, which prevents her from flying. Hell, even the whole "flashback to a Carol Danvers memory" device is used, which allowed her to defeat The Doomsday Man. It doesn't work, though, and Grotesk ends up knocking Ms. Marvel unconscious, and leaving her for dead in the still burning factory. I have always liked the fact that Marvel allowed their heroes to sometimes totally get owned by their foes, and that's certainly what happened here. In the next issue, we'll see the fall out from this, which as I stated in the last review, will feature the involvement of AIM and their greatest creation.....M.O.D.O.K! GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 23, 2020 1:25:14 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #7"Nightmare!"Cover Date: July, 1977 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: AIM (MODOK, Agent 17 (1st Appearance of), & various other AIM members) Guest Stars: Imperial Kree Army (Kni-Kon (1st appearance of) and various Kree soldiers) & NASA (Salia Petrie & various workers)---all in flashback form only Official Plot:Continued from last issue... Following her defeat at the hands of Grotesk, Ms. Marvel plummets into a cavern, and is recovered by AIM who try to give one of their agents Ms. Marvel's powers, however when this doesn't work, they try to condition her mind to be loyal to AIM. With M.O.D.O.K.'s help, AIM tries to brainwash Ms. Marvel into servitude by trying to make her fall in love with M.O.D.O.K. However, Ms. Marvel manages to break free of her conditioning and breaks herself for free and fights her way to freedom. Escaping she finds that AIM's hideout is hidden beneath a department store. She changes back to Carol Danvers and makes her escape, planning to go back and get revenge on M.O.D.O.K. and stopping AIM's operation in the near future. Brodie's View:Yay, MODOK! And to boot, we get the best issue of this run so far, as this issue is nothing but fighting and backstory. We start out with Carol at the mercy of MODOK and AIM, after falling into a cavern after getting thumped by Grotesk last issue. MODOK uses a mind control device to try and brain wash Carol into being his personal slave, after trying to use her costume to make other female AIM agents into his own personal Captain Marvel, reasoning that most of her power came from her suit. However, as that proved to be false with Captain Britain, it proved to be equally false here. Regardless, MODOK tries to use a supposedly brainwashed Ms. Marvel to kill the agent that was trying to be her, but that ends up breaking what little control MODOK had over her completely, and she begins completely wrecking shit on MODOK and AIM. Throughout this, she starts to get flashbacks from both Carol and Ms. Marvel's perspective, which honestly reminded me of the beginning parts of the CAPTAIN MARVEL film. Pretty awesome that the screenwriter probably got that plot device from moments like this, so, seeing comic book stuff being played out on the big screen (or the reverse of that) is pretty damn cool. Eventually Carol manages to escape AIM's underground base, which happens to be under a legit department store (lol). Carol uses that cover (after transforming back into that form) to hide herself from being captured (and buying a few things on top of it), and takes note of the name of the store on the way out, as this fight is far from over. ( ) As I stated above, this was a pretty kick ass issue that had everything one could want from a book like this at this period of time. MODOK and AIM make some great villains, and we got the feeling (through his brainwashing scenarios) that MODOK wanted to put the make on poor Ms. Marvel. Eventually, he would get to make a female into a female version of him (INCREDIBLE HULK #290), but it wouldn't last very long...and it was kind of corny, so, it's probably good that things ended with the female hero kicking the shit out of giant head/little arms and legs instead. Very cool issue. I hope we get more of this. We will get another fight in the next issue, as while Ms. Marvel is gearing up for Round Two with MODOK and AIM, there's a bit of unfinished business with Grotesk to take care of. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 24, 2020 0:31:29 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #8"The Last Sunset...?"Cover Date: Aug, 1977 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: AIM (Agent Elliot--1st appearance & various agents) & Grotesk Guest Stars: Michael Barnett, Frank Gianelli, Tracy Burke (1st appearance of), S.H.I.E.L.D (Larry Rogers--1st appearance of) & various other agents) Official Plot:Continued from last issue... Reporting the AIM base under a department store to S.H.I.E.L.D. does not turn up any results, and AIM begins to plot against Carol Danvers. Meanwhile Carol goes to a local bar to interview Tracy Burke, a photojournalist. Their interview is interrupted when some crooks come to rob the bar, and Carol singlehandedly defeats them all without changing into Ms. Marvel. That Saturday, Carol and Michael Bennett go swimming at the beach when Carol is drawn to a research facility. Changing into Ms. Marvel once more, she finds Grotesk there attempting to utilize the Cavorite crystal on a warp generator. The two get into a lengthy battle in which Grotesk overpowers her and attempts to drown her. However, Ms. Marvel manages to get the upper hand and during their fight, Grotesk is thrown into the warp device, seemingly destroying him. Carol survives and changes back to her civilian guise, with the Cavorite crystal in hand when she is recovered by Michael Barnett. Brodie's View:One can tell that Chris Claremont has started to hit his stride with this book after a shaky first few issues. I'll write that off to having to take on a lot of what Gerry Conway set up in the first few issues, and in some ways, we're still dealing with that, as AIM continues to be a thorn in Ms. Marvel's side. We see examples of this at the beginning of the issue, as Carol, bringing back SHIELD agents with her to investigate the AIM base that sits below a New York department store. However, AIM's shields are too good for SHIELD to be able to detect their presence, and an AIM agent posing as the store owner is able to send both SHIELD and Carol packing, which doesn't leave her in too good of a mood. She ends up totally blowing off Frank Gianelli when he offers her a ride, which was kind of a mistake on her part, as she is followed to a dive bar by a couple of punks. At said dive bar, she (and we, as it is her first appearance) meet/s Tracy Burke, a photojournalist who had on fallen on hard times due to a drinking problem. Once she is convinced that Tracy's problems won't end up reoccurring at a later date, Carol hires her to come work at WOMAN MAGAZINE. It's then that she starts to get one of her visions, which is roughly interrupted by one of the punks; big mistake, as Carol kicks both punk's asses without even transforming into Ms. Marvel (although, she is certainly thinking and acting like Ms. Marvel, rather than Carol....boy, will I be glad when the personas finally fully merge). We then jump ahead, as Carol and her therapist/love interest, Michael Barnett, enjoy a nice talk/swim at the beach. This is cut short, however, when Carol spots a building that showed up in her vision that was cut short, and Carol leaves Michael to investigate. What she finds is the warrior that left her for dead a couple of issues ago, Grotesk, and the fight is once again on. See, Grotesk is using the crystal he stole in that issue to try and open up a portal to another dimension; one that will, through it's opening, end up destroying Carol's reality. Needless to say, Ms. Marvel isn't with that plan, so, they end up fighting through the building and onto the beach, where Grotesk seemingly drowns Ms. M. Thinking her dead, Grotesk tries to go back and complete his doomsday plan, but is attacked once again by Ms. Marvel, who ends up flinging Grotesk into the very portal he was going to use to destroy the world. With this enemy seemingly no more, Ms. Marvel transforms into Carol again (but now in possession of the crystal Grotesk used to create the very portal that he was thrown into), and she and Barnett continue their date. A pretty solid issue, with another nice fight between Ms. Marvel and Grotesk, who gave her everything she could want, battle wise. In the next issue, we get a MAJOR 1st appearance by a character we saw in the most recent issue of NEW MUTANTS, and I'll give you a hint and say it's no one from that group. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 25, 2020 2:18:38 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #9"Call Me...Death-Bird!"Cover Date: Sept, 1977 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Keith Pollard Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Deathbird (1st Appearance of), AIM (Agent Elliot & various members), Geoffrey Ballard, & M.O.D.O.K. Guest Stars: Paul, J. Jonah Jameson, Tracy Burke, Tabitha Townshend (1st Appearance of), Jean DeWolff, FDNY, NYPD, United States Air Force (Michael Rossi & Ferranti---these two are in flashback form only) Official Plot:Being drawn from a date when the urge to change into Ms. Marvel is upon her, Carol leaves so that the transformation can take place. Paroling the city for whatever danger she sensed, she is attacked by Deathbird, who has been hired by M.O.D.O.K. to kill her. After a brief battle across the city, where Deathbird puts innocent people at risk, Deathbird manages to escape. When Carol returns to her apartment, it's blown up by a bomb which destroys all her personal possessions, including pictures of her and Michael Rossi. Later, Carol works with the Woman Magazine staff to get the next issue of the magazine out, when J. Jonah Jameson arrives with their newest member of staff, Tabitha Townshend. After, Carol decides to check out the department store she knows is a front for AIM. When the AIM security recognizes her, they send men out who eventually capture her. However, when she is brought below, the base is attacked by M.O.D.O.K., Deathbird and his rogue faction of AIM. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View:In this issue, we get the first appearance of the character Sunspot was lusting after in the newest issue of NEW MUTANTS, Deathbird, the somewhat evil sister of the late Empress Lilandra of the Shi'ar empire. Of course, being that the Shi'ar had only recent been introduced in the page of UNCANNY X-MEN, we only get minor hints that Deathbird might be of alien origin here. In fact, it's revealed that she seems to have some sort of arrangement with MODOK, which means...yay! Mo MODOK! And we do get that at the very end of the issue, but I'll come back to that. I will, since I already mentioned the main X-MEN book, repeat what I said many a times about Chris Claremont packing more into a single issue, story wise, that most of today's writers will put in several. We start off with Ms. Marvel being attacked mid flight by the previously mentioned Deathbird, and both fighters give and take all the other has to offer. However, before Ms. Marvel is able to build any kind of momentum, she sees that her apartment complex is on fire, and tries to help those in danger, allowing Deathbird to escape. She does manage to save the few children trapped inside the burning building, but once that is over, and she has transformed back into Carol Danvers, she sees that most of her possessions have been destroyed in the fire. She also sees that the bombs were placed in her apartment, so, whoever had did this was targeting her specifically. We see that there is a secret, sinister organization behind this; one that doesn't seem to be linked to AIM or any enemy we've seen her fight since this run started, so, the reveal of who's behind this new plot against her should be interesting. One more note from the scene in her former apartment was the reveal of her past relationship with Michael Rossi, which we'll next see brought up in the pages of UNCANNY, but it will be Rogue with Carol's memories confronting Rossi, who will then go on to become a reoccurring character in that universe for a while. We then jump to the next day, as we see the chaos in the WOMAN MAGAZINE offices due to the lack of a set subject to do a story on in their latest issue. This is interrupted by J. Jonah Jameson (notice how we haven't seen Mary Jane Watson in this book for a while; I guess there was really no need to shamelessly throw Spidey cast members in this book at this point in the game), who introduces Carol to the newest member of her staff; a younger woman who is just there due to nepotism. However, like Tracy and the others, we'll probably see young Tabitha Townshend play a bigger role in the book in the issues to come. Carol then goes back to the department store that is the front for AIM's secret base, and snooping around, is captured by AIM. However, just as Carol is about to blow her cover and transform into Ms. Marvel, the wall explodes and MODOK (with Deathbird and rogue members of AIM) comes looking for revenge on the group that turned him into a giant head, little arms and legs having bastard. This was a pretty damn cool issue that had a lot of action at the beginning, and then a WHOLE lot of story and sub plots thrown throughout the rest of it. Once again, one can tell Chris Claremont is starting to hit that next gear in this book. Not those gears that he would hit in his main book (X-MEN), but to be fair, this book didn't last long enough for him to even try. Still, what we get is pretty solid, and I loved seeing Deathbird get introduced. In the next issue, it's an AIM war with Carol caught in the middle. MODOK! Deathbird! We're getting a steak meal with all the fixins' next time, folks. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 28, 2020 2:39:15 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #10"Cry Murder -- Cry Modok!"Cover Date: Oct, 1977 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Deathbird, AIM (Agent Elliot & various members), & M.O.D.O.K. Guest Stars: Tracy Burke, Gene, Lynn Anderson, & the NYPD Official Plot:Continued from last issue... Caught in the middle of a battle between rival yellow and blue factions of A.I.M., Carol Danvers changes into Ms. Marvel so that she can try to escape. While fighting to escape, she has to face not only both groups of AIM, but also M.O.D.O.K. and Death-Bird. After a lengthy battle against Death-Bird, Ms. Marvel learns from the dying leader of the yellow AIM group that M.O.D.O.K. intends to take control of the AIM space station, and intends to shoot himself into orbit via their South Bronx missile silo. Traveling there, Ms. Marvel is caught in yet another battle against Death-Bird, while M.O.D.O.K. manages to escape in a rocket. When Death-Bird is seemingly killed by the exhaust of the rocket launch, Ms. Marvel rushes to push the abort button on the launch, causing the missile to eject its escape pod in the city. Tracking it down and breaking it open, Ms. Marvel finds that somehow M.O.D.O.K. has escaped. Furious at this, she vows to capture him someday. Brodie's View:Holy Crap! For those bemoaning the lack of action in the last issue, as we did get a bunch of story stuff, this issue delivers that action in huge amounts. As we saw last issue, Carol was snooping around the department store that, up until this issue, AIM was using as a front for their secret hideout. She was captured by AIM agents, but before anything could happen, MODOK, Deathbird, and a rogue group of AIM agents suddenly busted through the wall and attacked. That's where we pick up in this issue, as Carol just manages to duck and dodge Deathbird's attacks long enough to transform into Ms. Marvel...and the fight is on, with the two characters showing each other no mercy in their struggle. We do get a little more information on Deathbird, provided by Deathbird herself, but still nothing saying that she's Shi'ar. We do get minor hints of it, though. However, MODOK isn't there to destroy Ms. Marvel (though, he does recognize Carol Danvers as being Ms. Marvel before she makes the transformation); he's there to steal the controls of a secret spacecraft/missile that AIM has been storing in the Bronx. He quickly steals it, and goes to make his escape just as the fight is starting to spill into the streets of NYC, completely blowing any kind of cover AIM had. AIM agents begin battling cops, and Carol trying to defend who she can allows MODOK and Deathbird to make their escape. However, Ms. Marvel gets the info of where the villains are heading, and she goes there, once again restarting the battle. However, while Ms. Marvel does end up cracking MODOK a few times, she is distracted by a now near insane Deathbird, and the two take their battle below the rocket that MODOK intends to use to fly up to Skylab and take it over. Being the villain he is, MODOK ignites the rocket, knowing full well it will take out both Ms. Marvel and Deathbird. However, Ms. Marvel winds up escaping the blast in time (don't worry though, Deathbird will return), and she quickly manages to down the rocket before it can reach it's destination. When she finds the crashed ship, she does not find MODOK inside, and the issue ends with her vowing eventual vengeance on our large head/tiny arms and legs having bad guy. Damn! Talk about a LOT of fighting that happens in this issue. Other than a one page sub plot with the staff of WOMAN'S MAGAZINE starting to get pissed over the fact that their boss is nowhere to be found, the rest of the issue is pretty much Ms. Marvel messing stuff up, and that is AOK with me. I like how Chris Claremont is writing her as a total bad ass so far, as she is been in some ROUGH battles over the last few issues. In the next issue, we'll see Ms. Marvel move on to a different kind of villain than what she's fought so far in this run' one of the magical persuasion. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 29, 2020 0:38:13 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #11"Day of the Dark Angel!"Cover Date: Nov, 1977 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Hecate (1st Appearance of), Elementals (Hellfire, Hydron, & Magnum) Guest Stars: Tracy Burke, Gene, Lynn Anderson, Esmeralda, The Asp (Richard Harper), Miles "Paul" Olddan, NASA (Salia Petrie, Freddie, & others), & Zephyr Official Plot:
After breaking up a gang of thieves, Ms. Marvel returns to her hotel room, where she changes back into Carol Danvers and returns to work at the Daily Bugle. There, after a few moments where she loses her temper, she learns that she is to go and report at Cape Canaveral to report on a space mission involving her old friend Salia Petrie. Meanwhile, not far from the Cape, Zephyr, Miles Olddan, and Richard Harper are all attacked by some elemental forces. While back at the Cape, Carol waits for the rocket launch when she has another premonition – this time she sees Salia's rocket exploding and her being trapped in space. However, before she can do anything, Carol is compelled to change into Ms. Marvel and go to the location where Zephyr, Olddan and Harper are located. There she finds three Olympian-style soldiers fashioned out of the very sand, and with some quick thinking manages to defeat them. However she is blasted from behind. Recovering, she finds that her foes are Hecate and the Elementals. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View:After the awesome craziness of the last couple of issues, we cool it down a bit with a story that's mostly story driven. We start out with Ms. Marvel stopping a group of would be thieves, only to realize that Carol Danvers is about to be late for work. She tries to go back to the hotel room that she's been staying in since her apartment was burned down, but she must wait for the maid to leave the room to sneak in and change back to Carol Danvers. Once at work, she is informed that she has a story she was assigned to report on at Cape Canaveral, as her friend, Salia Petrie, is about to go on a space mission to Sky Lab. However, she receives a vision that Salia's ship will be destroyed, and Salia die upon the return to Earth's atmosphere. She transforms into Ms. Marvel, and tries to investigate, but is instead attacked by Elemental forces that drive her to a deserted island, where she is again attacked by Elementals and hit with a massive blast that knocks her for a loop. It's then when she sees that the person that hit her with the blast, and is the master of the Elementals that attacked her (and a couple of other guys that I guess made appearances in one of Marvel's horror comics earlier in the decade) is a powerful witch named Hecate (who seems to be an early version of what will later become, in the pages of NEW MUTANTS and UNCANNY X-MEN, Selene, the Black Queen---not saying they're the same character, but Chris Claremont seems to have redone that character at a later time). This was a pretty good issue, that, while not living up to the height of the last few issues, kind of needed to be more story based to try and catch up on a lot of Carol Danvers' life and side characters before shuffling her off into the next storyline/threat by the end of the issue. It served its purpose for that, but I will say that it's not as fun of a read as the previous 3-4 issues. However, it will be interesting to see the cosmic based powers of Ms. Marvel going against the more magic based Hecate, as it seems that's the one area that Ms. M is kind of vulnerable to. In the next issue, we will continue with this storyline, as we'll see if Ms. Marvel can combat the mystical powers of Hecate and her Elemental warriors....and we'll reach the half way point of at least the original run of this book (we do get a couple of wrap up stories after, though). GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 30, 2020 2:10:53 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #12"The Warrior and the Witch-Queen!"Cover Date: Dec, 1977 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Elementals (Hellfire, Hydron, & Magnum) & a Kree Warhawk robot Guest Stars: Hecate, The Asp (Richard Harper), Miles "Paul" Olddan, NASA (Salia Petrie, Dr. Conforti, Morgan, & others), & Zephyr Official Plot:Continued from last issue... Ms. Marvel has just been attacked by Hecate and the Elementals. Believing that Hecate is their leader she attacks her, and after a brief battle, Ms. Marvel learns that Hecate is not her foe and that she is seeking to stop the Elementals from obtaining the Ruby Scarab. The Elementals themselves have captured Zephyr and are torturing her in order to force Oldann and Harper into giving up the Scarab. The ploy works and the Elementals attack Ms. Marvel and Hecate after they've obtained it, causing untold damage and effecting the nearby Cape Canaveral, creating the tragedy with Salia Petrie's space ship that Carol foresaw. However, Ms. Marvel and Hecate gain the upper hand in battle she prevents the disaster, and Hecate gets the better of the Elementals by turning into their one true fear: The Living Mummy. This distracts them enough for Ms. Marvel to grab for the scarab causing a huge energy feedback. With the Elementals defeated, Ms. Marvel has changed back to Carol Danvers, and with the Scarab in hand the enraged Carol blames Hecate for the death of her friend. Brodie's View:Okay, so I was wrong about Hecate, as it turns out quickly into this issue, she was manipulated into fighting Ms. Marvel by the three Elementals that attacked Carol near the end of last issue. Once this is established, it quickly becomes Ms. Marvel and Hecate against the Elementals, who are looking for a mystical macguffin called The Ruby Scarab. Of course, once the leader of the group, Hellfire, gets ahold of the Scarab, he turns against his brothers, making this an all out battle for the Scarab. Hecate, who is able to transform herself into illusionary creatures, transforms herself into The Living Mummy, who the Elementals apparently fear (I've never read The Living Mummy's stuff, other than Team Ups with Spider-Man or The Thing, so, I can't vouch for how much important the Elementals are where it relates to TLM's rogue's gallery goes....hell, they might BE his rogues gallery for all I know), which allows Ms. Marvel to get it. It's also important to note that while all of this is going on, Carol's friend, Salia Petrie, apparently dies when her mission into space goes horribly wrong (this was seen by Carol in a vision last issue), which causes Carol to fight for dominance over the Ms. Marvel form. However, Ms. Marvel fights her for as long as she can, as she sees defeating the Elementals being the top priority. Finally, once she gets the Scarab, she transforms into a SUPER pissed Carol Danvers, who blames Hecate for her friend's death. I'll admit this story had kind of a weak start, but it did definitely end stronger than it started, with, once again, a lot of action. It was cool seeing Ms. Marvel display her cosmic powers against magic based characters, as it shows that she can handle more than cosmic/typical threats. Hecate shared certain similarities with Selene, but I was, once again, wrong for assuming that Hecate was meant to be an early version of the future Black Queen of the Hellfire Club, as it turns out that the two couldn't be more opposite, other than the whole magic/illusionary thing. It will be kind of interesting to see how this cliffhanger gets resolved, as it seems that Carol Danvers will now battle Hecate. We will also see another new villain in the next issue, as we do get to see some certain long time plot points get resolved. We will also be entering the second half of the original run of this book, so, it should be interesting to see where things go from here to the end. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jan 31, 2020 0:55:12 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #13"Homecoming!"Cover Date: Jan, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Sapper & Golden Blade (1st Appearance of both) Guest Stars: (in Present) Dr. Mike Barnett, Marie Danvers, Joe Danvers, Andy, & Tom Boardman (1st Appearance of all but the first) (In Recap form) Hecate, Elementals (Hellfire, Hydron, & Magnum) Official Plot:Carol has come to visit her parents in Boston with her friend Michael Barnett after the events of last issue. Recounting the end of her battle with Hecate, we learn that because of her exposure to the Scarlet Scarab, her human and Kree selves have perfectly synched and Carol can now assume her Ms. Marvel guise whenever she pleases. After visiting with her mother, and after her father (a construction worker) has a near accident at one of his sites, Carol and Michael have a date aboard the USS Constitution. The festivities are spoiled when an alien robot named Sapper arrives with a robot warrior, prompting Carol to change into Ms. Marvel. Although Sapper tries to absorb her energy, she manages to defeat Sapper and his minion when his robot minion is damaged, forcing them to flee. Brodie's View:This issue kind of follows the pattern from a couple of issues ago (a lot of story with a threat at the end), however, I will say that a MAJOR, much needed change happens here that puts this, grade wise, over that issue. That is something that I've been begging for since the first issue, but finally happens here, and it involves the wrap up of the Hecate storyline that happens in flashback form. Remember that when we last Carol, she was near insane with rage over the battle with Hecate and the Elementals preventing her from saving her friend, who supposedly died when her mission into space went wrong. Blaming Hecate, she tries to crush the witch with a giant boulder, until Hecate makes Carol realize that while she's in her Carol Danvers form, she's acting and fighting like Ms. Marvel. Basically, it's revealed that Carol's interaction with the mystical Scarlet Scarab has merged her Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel personas (created when she was initially powered, and her mind tried to cover the trauma of that event by creating two different personas), which means we no longer have to deal with the whole duel personalities thing....YAY!!! That alone makes up for the fact that there really isn't a lot of action here, and even the threats we do get seem kind of unimportant in the over all scheme of things. Of course, I could be wrong about that, and perhaps Sapper and his giant energy absorbing robot partner (who remind me of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard member, Warstar) go on to major importance in this run, but somehow I doubt it. The rest of the issue delves more into Carol's personal life, as we are introduced to her parents; Marie and Joe Danvers (Marie being the typical loving mother, Joe being a tough guy construction worker), which gives a nice bit of background that I'm sure Chris Claremont will explore more as this run continues. We also get more bonding with Carol and her "friend" and therapist, Mike Barnett, as he's along for the ride both for her visit with her mother, as well as being on the USS Constitution with Carol before it is attacked by Sapper and Golden Blade. I'm assuming this will all lead somewhere, and I do have my suspicions where, but I'll keep quiet on that for now. Anyways, a few important things happen in this issue, which is why I'll rate it a bit higher than I probably normally would. In the next issue, we'll see Carol have a bit of father/daughter bonding time....and she'll almost meet her potential death, but not even realize it. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 1, 2020 1:29:32 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #14"Fear Stalks Floor 40"Cover Date: Feb, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Carmine Infantino Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Steeplejack & Dracula Guest Stars: Marie Danvers, Joe Danvers, Tracy Burke, Frank Gianelli, Geoffrey Ballard, & the Boston Police Department Official Plot:While going to visit her father at his construction site, Carol has to save his life from a fatal fall as Ms. Marvel. Quickly fleeing to change back into Carol and visit her father, the visit soon becomes ugly when Joseph Danvers' sexist ideals are aired, causing Carol to storm out. While back in New York at the Woman Magazine offices, Carol's office is burgled by a mysterious robber who assaults Frank Gianelli before fleeing. Back in Boston, Carol has a feeling she is being followed and flees as Ms. Marvel, unaware that she almost had a brush with Dracula. Flying, Ms. Marvel has a premonition of her father being threatened by a man claiming to be the villain known as the Steeplejack. Going to her father's rescue, Ms. Marvel saves his life and quickly defeats Steeplejack, who is revealed to be Maxwell Plumm, the former employer of the original Steeplejack. Afterwards, Ms. Marvel tries to get her father to thank her, but sees that his experiences being saved by Ms. Marvel twice in one night has not changed his attitude towards women. Her mother, seeing through Carol's disguise, tells her not to judge her father too harshly. Brodie's View:Carol and her father get some serious father daughter time, in the sense that Ms. Marvel must save her father a few times from what appears to be a former Luke Cage villain (known as Steeplejack) that has it out for him. Of course, there's more to that than what we see on the surface, and that comes out, as this Steeplejack turns out to be the man who owns the unsafe building that almost does Carol's dad in during the opening pages of this issue, Maxwell Plumm. Needless to say, Carol kicks his ass, but that's merely the reason for Ms. Marvel to get to do some superhero stuff, the rest of the conflict in this issue comes from Carol and her dad really not getting along, as her dad is a sexist on the level that even J. Jonah Jameson would shake his head at. He even balks at her saving his life, which is some serious sexist commitment. We also realize by the end of this issue that while Carol's dad has no idea of her secret identity, her mom figures it out right away, and lightweight cusses Ms. Marvel out at her unwillingness to at least meet in the middle with her father, sexist attitude and all. That way of thinking would be frowned on today, but then again, what Carol's dealing with in the 1970's is the same thing that exists today, and how fitting is it that Carol/Ms. Marvel has kind of become the main enemy of sexist male fanboys in the 2010's/2020's. The more things change.... Anyways, there are some interesting things to note about this issue. One of the major things is the guest artwork by Carmine Infantino that gives this issue a dark, moody feel that the previous issues haven't really had. That leads into our other major thing that happens, even though it's only meant to be a little fun cameo, and that is Carol/Ms. Marvel barely escaping being attacked by Dracula ( ), who was secretly stalking our hero while she is on her way to confront her father. It would have been interesting to see what would have happened, had the two actually fought. Speaking of Guest Stars, our next few issues will have quite a few of them, both on the hero and villain side of things. In the very next issue, we will get some friends and foes from the Namor side of the playground....and then, we get some Avengers. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 1, 2020 21:01:49 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #15"The Shark Is a Very Deadly Beast"Cover Date: March, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Tiger Shark Guest Stars: Michael Barnett, Wundarr, Namorita, Annie Christopher, Tracy Burke, Frank Gianelli, Tabitha Townshend, Jean DeWolff, Marie Severin, the NYPD, fishermen, & Arabella Jones (1st Appearance of) Official Plot:Returning to New York from her visit in Boston, Ms. Marvel has a brief date with Michael Barnett before returning to her job at Woman Magazine as Carol Danvers. There she finds that deadlines are impending, and also learns about the break in at her office and is present when Jean DeWolff interviews Frank Gianelli about the break-in. At the same time, Tiger Shark breaks out of his cell in Hydrobase, and begins his next plot of revenge against Namor. When Carol is looking at a new apartment, she is drawn outside when Wundarr bursts through a wall, and checks it out as Ms. Marvel. There after a brief struggle with the man-boy, she learns from Annie Christopher that Namorita has been targeted for kidnap by Tiger Shark. Ms. Marvel rushes to Namorita's rescued, and after a short battle with Tiger shark, he manages to escape with Namorita into the water. Unable to follow them at that time, Ms. Marvel vows to find some way to save Namorita from Tiger Shark. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View:After a few one shot stories, we get the first part of our next multi part story taking place here, as Namor villain Tiger Shark makes his return to action (after breaking out of his prison on Hydrobase). Wanting to get his revenge on Namor, Tiger Shark decides to kidnap the Sub Mariner's relative, Namorita, which takes place right by where Carol Danvers is being shown a new potential apartment. Of course, one Ms. Marvel transformation later, and the fight is on, which Tiger Shark being able to take what Ms. Marvel has to answer and then some. However, in the action of protecting herself and some children from a car tossed at her by Tiger Shark, she is forced to allow the villain to escape with Namorita. Obviously, this whole thing will continue, but I figured I'd get the conflict out of the way, because it really happens in the last third of the issue. The first two thirds, other than the bits with Tiger Shark escaping from Hydrobase/deciding to kidnap Namorita, dealt with a lot of story/character stuff that usually gets thrown on the backburner once the fighting starts. For one, we finally get a sustained section dedicated to the chaotic life of the WOMAN MAGAZINE crew (especially thanks to near worthless nepotistic hire, Tabitha Townshend, who the rest of the crew have to put up with because her dad is buddies with J. Jonah Jameson. It's right after this, however, that Jean DeWolff enters and talks with Frank Gianelli about his being attacked by a mysterious man that was ransacking Carol's office in the last issue. Apparently, this mysterious person has some potential connection with the people that burned down Carol's apartment several issues ago, and I'm sure we'll see the big reveal behind the group responsible for all of this, but not now, so, I won't go in too deep on it. We also get a bit with Ms. Marvel and her shrink/love interest, Michael Barnett, where they enjoy some pizza in a local bar/pizzeria. That is, until Barnett raises some questions about whose Kree memories Ms. Marvel might very well have mixed in with her Carol Danvers memories, which causes Ms. Marvel to break out mighty quickly. Obviously, we'll also, I'm hoping, get some answers to that mystery before this run ends as well. One final note about this issue is the inclusion of Wundarr in this story, as long time readers of these reviews will recognize from the MARVEL TWO IN ONE run I did a couple of years ago. Wundarr was the Superman-esque alien that was sent to Earth, but grew to be an adult while still never moving past being a child as far as his mental faculties go. In fact, this lack of adult awareness causes a brief fight between he and Carol, as Wundarr mistakenly blames Carol for Tiger Shark's attack on him. That all being said, we'll close things out for this issue, which was a pretty solid set up for some kick assness to come. Speaking of which, in the next issue, our Guest Star level bumps way up, as our Guest Stars will be none other than some of the Mighty Avengers. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 3, 2020 1:41:04 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #16"The Deep Deadly Silence!"Cover Date: April, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Tiger Shark, a Giant Squid, & Mystique (1st Appearance of; cameo) Guest Stars: Namorita, The Beast, The Scarlet Witch (In Present) Wundarr, Annie Christopher, & Arabella Jones (In Recap) Official Plot:Continued from last issue... Ms. Marvel has travelled to Avengers Mansion to seek their resources to find a way to go after Tiger Shark, who has just escaped into the ocean with Namorita as his hostage. This leads to a brief battle against the Beast and Scarlet Witch. After everything is explained, the two Avengers allow Ms. Marvel to use their lab to devise a way to allow her to breath underwater, a task at which she is able to succeed. Tracking down Tiger Shark to a sunken battleship, there she fights against Tiger Shark, who uses the sunken ship's missiles and a squid to try and stop her. However, in spite of these efforts, Ms. Marvel gets up close and battles Tiger Shark hand-to-hand. The battle ends with Ms. Marvel beating Tiger Shark and knocking him out. However, it's at the moment Ms. Marvel's ability to breath underwater wears off, and she also blacks out. When she comes to, Ms. Marvel finds that Namorita had summoned a rescue ship from Atlantis that came to their rescue, and took Tiger Shark into their custody. Brodie's View:See, told you we'd get a few Avengers in this issue, as Carol starts the issue getting attacked by The Beast. This is due to Ms. Marvel trying to ask for The Avengers help without realizing that perhaps busting through the front door of the mansion isn't the best idea. Eventually, the Scarlet Witch joins the fray, and the fight is quickly squashed, with Carol explaining the events of the last issue (well, omitting the Carol Danvers related parts of it), and the two heroes allow Carol to use their lab long enough to create something that will allow her to function underwater like an Atlantean. She then heads off to try and find where Tiger Shark took Namorita, not realizing that she's being watched by what appears to be a female someone that has it out for her, and even though this character doesn't make her first full appearance until next issue, I'll go ahead and spill the beans to say that this is Mystique making her first appearance. Of course, Mystique would go on to become a foe, and then later a kind of sort of ally/foe of the X-Men and other mutant teams, and a lot of that would happen when Chris Claremont was writing, so, it's cool to see yet another future X-character make her first appearance in a completely unrelated book. Anyways, we'll go more into Mystique in the next review, so, we'll move on to the main action of this story, as Carol goes underwater to try and find Tiger Shark and his hostage. Eventually she does, and the two fight, with Tiger Shark getting the early advantage due to the water being more of his natural element. During the scuffle, Carol is also attacked by a giant squid, (I wonder if this is the same giant squid that would nearly kill Cyclops in UNCANNY X-MEN #176) and although she manages to fight free of the squid, she is once again attacked by Tiger Shark. To make things worse, her Atlantean modification is starting to wear off, so, in a desperation move, she basically puts Tiger Shark in a sleeper hold, and knocks him off, but seems to drown right after. Lucky for her, though, Namorita managed to free herself during the battle, and she swims Ms. Marvel to safety, ending things off for this one. This was a pretty cool little two parter that took Carol to an area (and the threats that go along with it) we hadn't seen her have to deal with up to this point. In the next issue, we get the full first appearance of the character that would help orchestrate the downfall of Ms. Marvel (well, the fictional character....not Jim Shooter), and even here she will definitely try to take Carol out. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 5, 2020 2:24:59 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #17"Shadow of the Gun!"Cover Date: May, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Mystique (1st Appearance of; full) & Centurion Guest Stars: Arabella Jones, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Frank Gianelli, Lynn Anderson, Tracy Burke, & Sharon Cole (1st Appearance of) Official Plot:After having a premonition of battling to the death, Carol Danvers is more stressed out than usual, prompting her co-workers to try and come up with something to cheer her up. Meanwhile, Mystique and Geoffrey Ballard manage to get aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier when Mystique disguises herself as Nick Fury to gain access to the Centurion Project, a top secret weapon which they hope to use to further their own goals. After almost being found out by Valentina de Fontaine, they manage to escape. Meanwhile, Carol is "assaulted" by her co-workers who have initiated a snowball fight to try and cheer her up. After a brief romantic kiss with Frank Gianelli, Carol pushes him away because she is soaking wet and wants a change of clothes. So she changed into Ms. Marvel and flies home, but she is blasted out of the sky by an unseen assailant. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View:After wrapping up our two parter that dealt with Tiger Shark and Namorita, we move into yet another two part story, but this one features the character that makes her first full appearance here (after a three panel cameo last ish), and that's Mystique, who seems to have it majorly out for Ms. Marvel for some reason. She has it out for her enough to (along with her accomplice, Geoffrey Ballard (who will become known as Centurion, after the weaponry he takes from the S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier)) sneak aboard the previously mentioned SHIELD heli-carrier, and steal some weapons that will definitely harm/kill Carol. While all this is going on, we see that Carol is awakened by a seventh sense inspired nightmare that shows Ms. Marvel at the mercy of the weapons that hadn't, at least at that part of the story, even been stolen yet. She starts to bond with her Landlord, Arabella Jones, drawing that character more into her regular supporting cast. Speaking of her supporting cast, like all set up issues we've seen, we see quite a bit of the WOMAN MAGAZINE staff in this issue, as we see a stressed out Carol ordering them around at the office. Knowing that Carol is stressed out, Frank Gianelli and Tracy Burke set up a little snowball fight ambush, and we get a fun little scene with Carol enjoying herself in the midst of snowball battle, and also finally enjoying a kiss with Frank. We'll see if that heads anywhere before this run is done and over with. Eventually, we end where we began, with Ms. Marvel just about to be blasted to the point of her seventh sense vision. The main attack will occur next issue, but it was interesting to see the lead up to it. Although we see Mystique quite a bit in this issue, we never really see her true form (although, we do see her "Raven" form briefly, that she will use when working undercover with Val Cooper during the #170's-180's issues of UNCANNY X-MEN), with her instead transforming to look like Nick Fury (to sneak aboard the heli-carrier/access the top secret weapon department) and Nick's then lover, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. I'm sure we'll see Mystique's true form before this run is over, but for now, we'll all enjoy the mystery as if we were reading this for the first time back in 1978. Speaking of the next issue, we'll see the second half of this story, as Mystique and Centurion make their shot, and we get more Avengers Guest Appearances....Yay!!! GRADE: B+
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Post by Deleted on Feb 5, 2020 2:27:20 GMT -5
I'll probably read the whole thread when I've more power in me to read anything. Might get an inspiration to get back into reading at least some comics. o/
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 6, 2020 2:16:06 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #18"The St. Valentine's Day/Avengers Massacre!"Cover Date: June, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Mystique & Centurion Guest Stars: The Avengers (The Wasp, The Scarlet Witch, Wonder Man, The Vision, & Yellowjacket), The Kree (Phae-Dor, Bun-Dall, & the Supreme Intelligence), & Dinah Chapin (1st Appearance of) Official Plot:Continued from last issue... Attacked by Centurion, Ms. Marvel ends up in a battle across town. The fight itself attracts the attention of the Avengers, who come to try and stop the battle themselves. As the battle rages across the city, Mystique reports to her superiors about the progress of the attack, while on the planet Hala Phae-Dor and Bun-Dall are convinced that the Supreme Intelligence is still in stasis. However, they will soon learn how wrong they are. Back on Earth, the Avengers get into an argument over what to do about Centurion, unaware that the enemy is making one more attack on the group. Ms. Marvel steps in and tosses Wonder Man at Centurion breaking up the argument and causing the rest of the Avengers to focus on the task at hand. Fighting Centurion into a power plant, Ms. Marvel uses the dynamos to jolt Centurion's armor with electricity, and tosses away his now unstable hand blaster, which explodes in the sky. Afterwards, the Avengers arrive and Centurion is unmasked as George Bullard, which prompts the Avengers to question their own security. Brodie's View:The second half of this Mystique and Centurion vs. Ms. Marvel story turns into Centurion vs. Ms. Marvel and a nice chunk of Avengers, as the attack that Carol got a vision of at the beginning of last issue happens, but The Wasp and The Scarlet Witch (who just happened to be shopping at the time) quickly join the fray. The other Avengers named above show up shortly after, but Centurion is actually able to hold them off thanks to the computer within the armor, that gives him advanced warning (and weaknesses) of the various Avengers attacking. Only Wonder Man is able to withstand Centurion's disintegrator ray, but even he is shook from it, however, all of this allows a wounded Ms. Marvel the chance to slip away and change back into Carol Danvers. What she soon realizes is that Centurion can't detect her when she's out of the Ms. Marvel costume (as this seems to be the beginning of the end for her first costume), so, she switches to a new, generic costume long enough to set up a trap for Centurion. Centurion, so focused on taking out Ms. Marvel for Mystique, ends up falling right into Carol's trap, and is quickly taken out by Ms. M. First off, I want to say that the writers/editors of Marvel must have had some idea that Ms. Marvel was going to eventually be an Avenger, as we have been seeing members of the World's Mightiest Team quite a bit over the last few issues. It was awesome seeing Ms. Marvel fighting alongside a good chunk of the team here, as she definitely proved her stripes. Another interesting thing to note is that we finally get to see Mystique in her true form, even if it's just briefly. We see that she's already in her secret role within the United States government; a role that she would continue into a nice chunk of Claremont's X-MEN run. She also seems to be in the employ of some sort of "Lord," although, it's revealed that she's only serving this person because it suits her purpose. I'm not sure which "Lord" she's serving here, but I'm hoping that will be revealed before this run is over. Finally, and this feeds into our next issue sneak peek, we get a scene with two members of the Kree Empire discussing the Supreme Intelligence, who as of this issue is thought to be inactive. However, we get a moment that suggests that this is not the case, and will lead into the events of next issue, where Carol will be reunited with the character that inadvertently started it all.....and I'm not talking about the Intelligence, although, that could be argued to be true as well. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 7, 2020 1:20:20 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #19"Mirror, Mirror!"Cover Date: Aug, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Carmine Infantino Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Kree Empire (Supreme Intelligence & Ronan the Accuser) Guest Stars: (In Present) Captain MarVell, Mac Ronn, Doctor Minerva, Ethan Wilford, Lizzie Wilford, J. Jonah Jameson, Marla Jameson (In Flashback/Recap) Joseph Danvers, Sr,. Joseph Danvers, Jr,. Marie Danvers, Yon-Rogg, Steve Danvers, & Michael Rossi Official Plot:Ronan the Accuser arrives in Texas to eliminate a number of Kree that have fled to Earth to find new lives. He then travels to New York where he locates and attacks Carol Danvers. Changing into Ms. Marvel, she proves to be no match for the Kree soldier. When Captain Marvel arrives and is shocked to find that Carol is wearing a uniform similar to his, it gives Ronan the opportunity to knock both of them out and take them aboard his ship. There, under the supervision of the Supreme Intelligence, Ronan probes Carol's mind to learn of her past, and the events that led to her becoming Ms. Marvel. After the probe is done, both she and Mar-Vell break free and take down Ronan, then make their escape from the ship. Afterwords, the two reconcile and agree to be friends before parting company. Brodie's View:In addition to finally getting the reunion between Ms. Marvel and Captain MarVell, we get the last appearance of Carol's original Captain Marvel based outfit (the similarity is even mentioned by MarVell at one point), as she'll get her classic black outfit in the next issue However, barring all of that, the main story of this issue is the Kree finally coming for Ms. Marvel, as the Supreme Intelligence tries to capture her and make her into the loyal Kree Warrior that MarVell didn't end up being. The major part of this plan is bringing back Ronan the Accuser, who had lost the memory of who he was. Once his memory is back, he makes a beeline right for Carol, and attacks her in her WOMAN MAGAZINE office. The battle spills throughout the Daily Bugle building, and almost kills J. Jonah Jameson and his wife (Carol saves him and gets chewed out for her troubles). Finally, the fight is taken outside, but just as Ronan is about to take down Ms. Marvel, he is attacked by MarVell, which allows the previously mentioned reunion to take place....before the two are taken down by Ronan. MarVell awakens aboard Ronan's ship, and sees that the Supreme Intelligence has Carol at his mercy, and begins to try and burn away the part of her that is human. It's here that we get a pretty cool backstory for Carol, as we see her growing up; her fractured relationship with her father, which causes her to become the head strong, ambitious kick ass warrior we all know and love (well, unless one is a sexist like her dad). This causes the Supreme Intelligence's plan to fall apart, as he is unable to kill the human part of her, and once that happens, she and MarVell team up on Ronan and kick his blue skinned ass. The issue ends with them talking, sharing a kiss, and swearing to remain friends fore...well, until MarVell dies of cancer a few years later. ( ) This was a pretty great issue that takes care of the whole Captain/Ms. Marvel connection, and allows Carol to move on into the next chapter of her life/super hero career. This starts in the next issue, as not only will Ms. Marvel get a spiffy new outfit, but also a spiffy new artist (one Chris Claremont is quite familiar with), along with a brand new foe/s she hasn't faced before. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 8, 2020 2:12:54 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #20 "The All-New Ms. Marvel"Cover Date: Oct, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: The Lizard People (Aracht'yr, Khadar, & Haemon) (1st Appearance of all) Guest Stars: Frank Gianelli, Sharon Cole, Colonel Butler, & Sergeant Whitmore (1st Appearance of the last two) Official Plot:Having fashioned a new costume as Ms. Marvel, Carol Danvers is interrupted when Frank Gianelli arrives with some troubling news. He tells her of how Sharon Cole, one of Woman Magazine's reporters sent out to New Mexico, has gone missing and all that has been found was her tape recorder, with a message that suggests that something has captured her out in the desert. Going to investigate, she finds that the military is not interested in speaking to her, and so she has a police officer take her out to the site where Sharon disappeared. There, Carol finds a number of destroyed military vehicles along with Sharon's car. When the police officer disappears, Carol transforms into Ms. Marvel. This is in the neck of time, as she is quickly attacked by members of the Lizard People race, after a battle their leader Aracht'yr determines her to be unique among the humans they have encountered to date, and as the dawn rises he tells his soldier Haemon to knock her out. Haemon complies with an eye beam blast that is strong enough to render Ms. Marvel unconscious. The Lizard People then take her to their home, a secret civilization hidden in the mountains of the New Mexico desert. This story is continued next issue... Brodie's View:Awesome! In this issue, as I mentioned in the last review, Ms. Marvel gets the black costume she would have, other than her time as Binary, pretty much until this last decade. I can definitely see why it lasted that long, as it's a great costume, and my personal favorite that Carol ever wore. Say what you want about Dave Cockrum's art style, but the dude was always boffo at coming up with great costume designs for characters. Sadly, he only sticks around for this issue and the next, but he delivers some pretty solid art, in addition to the new costume. It is interesting that we go in a completely different direction, villain-wise, as after we get the bit at the beginning, where Carol is admiring her new costume, she is sent on a path towards New Mexico, where one of her WOMAN MAGAZINE employees have mysteriously vanished. After having a dispute from a sexist military general (who she punches in the face), she heads off to the location where Sharon Cole vanished, only to be ambushed by a group of intelligent lizard people that live within the Earth. She manages to hold her own against the lizard people, until one hits her with a psychic blast that knocks her unconscious. The issue ends with Carol being brought to the lizard people's lair, which is hidden in the mountains. Pretty cool, and I am kind of interested in seeing where this goes, but I will be honest and say that without the new costume, this issue would have gotten a "B" rather than the "B+" I'm going to give it. But that new costume is pretty awesome. I will also mention that there are only three more issues from the actual MS. MARVEL series after this issue, although, there will be three more reviews after those issues. It does definitely seem that Chris Claremont knew the series was on borrowed time at this point (probably due to Jim Shooter becoming the Editor in Chief of Marvel during this period, as Shooter did always seem to kind to have it out for Claremont, even though he was one of his best writers working at the time), so, he definitely is starting to set the stage for a major change in the status quo of the book. Step one of that was having Avengers guest star quite a bit, as she would eventually end up there for a time, and I have to imagine that move was being discussed before it happened. Step two was this new costume, and step three seems to be setting up the end of Carol being in charge of WOMAN MAGAZINE, as there seems to be a building confrontation between she and J. Jonah Jameson that has been hinted at over the last few issues. It will be interesting to see that happen before this run is said and done, but as for the next issue....Ms. Marvel vs. Lizard People: Round Two. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 10, 2020 2:19:21 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #21"The Devil in the Dark!"Cover Date: Dec, 1978 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Dave Cockrum Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: The Lizard People (Aracht'yr, Khadar, Haemon, M'Dhar, B'Ok, & The Guardian) (1st Appearance of the last three; The Guardian dies) Guest Stars: Sharon Cole, Colonel Butler, Sergeant Whitmore, & various other prisoners Official Plot:Continued from last issue... Ms. Marvel is dumped in the holding cell where all the prisoners of the Lizard People have been taken. There she finds the soldiers as well as Sharon Cole. Ms. Marvel promises them that she will try and free them. Escaping, Ms. Marvel battles her way through the various Lizard People until she reaches their leader Aracht'yr, who tells her that he cannot let them go, as human knowledge of the Lizard People will be the end of their society. Ms. Marvel decides to prove them otherwise, and attacks the city, and eventually kills their greatest warrior: The Guardian. Having shown the full extent of her power, she demands that the leader of the Lizard People lets them go or she will destroy their home. Aracht'yr concedes, and for that Ms. Marvel promises that they will keep the Lizard People's society a secret. After returning home, she finds a present from the Lizard People waiting in her apartment - a small lizard to remind her that she holds the future of the Lizard People in her hands. Brodie's View:We get the second part of our story involving Ms. Marvel vs. a race of lizard people living within the Earth, which actually does end stronger than it started. We start the issue with Carol waking up in a holding cell, and finding the other prisoners (including the lost woman that started all of this, or at least Carol's involvement in the story; Sharon Cole). However, she doesn't have long to converse with them, as she's brought in front of the high command of the lizards. Their leader, Aracht'yr, seems to come to some understanding with Carol, but the threat of human interference causes them to try and attack her again, and she brings down part of their city on herself. Thinking Ms. Marvel dead, Aracht'yr goes back to his family, but is confronted by Carol again. We find out that the lizard people were created by humans testing atomic bombs in the desert, which is why they have no love for human kind. However, where they started off as savage, they eventually became civilized, and merely want to be left alone by human kind. However, before Carol and Aracht'yr came come to some sort of deal, she's on the run again, and having to fight against a giant snake that guards the tunnels in between the lizard people's city and outside of the mountain. She is bitten and poisoned by the snake, but manages to bring a stalagmite down, which punctures through the giant snake's head, killing it. She then goes to Aracht'yr, and trades the lizard's human prisoners for her promise to protect the lizard people from human interference. We end things off with Carol in her apartment, wondering if she did the right thing. This was, as I said, a very fast paced ending that made up for the slow start to this story. I would say if I had any criticism of it, it would be that the end of the story comes very abruptly, as it seems like there could have been one more part to it that would have made it what Chris Claremont was going for with it. Still, it was fun, and gave Ms. Marvel a different sort of enemy to fight against. However, in the next issue, we'll be back on more familiar territory, as an enemy from the (recent) past returns to resume their fight with Ms. Marvel. I will give you a hint and say that it's another future X-Men enemy, although, not the most recent one. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 11, 2020 0:15:51 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #22"Second Chance!"Cover Date: Feb, 1979 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Mike Vosburg Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Deathbird & Mystique Guest Stars: Sharon Cole, Lynn Anderson, Frank Gianelli, Tracy Burke, Michael Barnett, Arabella Jones, & various others Official Plot:Carol Danvers is laid off from Woman Magazine by J. Jonah Jameson, due to their creative differences as to where the magazine is supposed to go. Leaving the Daily Bugle Building and changing into Ms. Marvel, she is attacked by Deathbird, who is in the area. Their fight is short, however, and Deathbird escapes. Returning to her apartment as Carol Danvers, Carol finds that her friends and colleagues have thrown a surprise party to try and boost her morale. She learns that Tracy was offered a position in Carol's former job. Carol also becomes the object of affections of three men: Frank Gianelli, Michael Barnett, and Sam Adams. When Michael feels emasculated around her, Carol takes offense and flees the situation as Ms. Marvel. She comes across Deathbird who has hired a group of thieves to rob a Stark Industries warehouse for material to build a ship to escape back home. During the battle a man and his daughter are threatened. However, Ms. Marvel manages to fight off Deathbird, who escapes after dropping rubble on Ms. Marvel. Furious that Deathbird escaped, it turns out not to be a total loss for Ms. Marvel when the father and his daughter thank her for saving their lives. Brodie's View:Okay, I was half wrong on there only being one future X-Villain in this issue, as we do get a cameo from Mystique during Carol's going away party from WOMAN MAGAZINE (I'll get back to that in a second); a cameo that doesn't bode well for a member of the supporting cast that has been around since near the beginning of this run, but we'll follow that whole thing up when it pops up a couple of reviews from now. Anyways, as I was eluding to in the last couple reviews, it was probably being made pretty clear to Chris Claremont and the other regulars on this book that it was running on borrowed time. Something I didn't even notice until the last review was that as of a few issues ago, this book was coming out on a Bi Monthly basis at this point of things. Usually, books that the publisher isn't sure of will start out being bi-monthly before becoming monthly, but when it goes in the opposite direction, that's usually not a good indicator of that book's future. Anyways, as I'm sure Chris Claremont knew this book would be done soon, he seems to be trying to tie up things where it relates to Carol's subplots and supporting characters. That brings us to the major side story going on in this one (as the main story, Ms. Marvel's conflict with Deathbird, is more just straight fighting with very little story attached), which is Carol being fired from her job as editor of WOMAN MAGAZINE by J. Jonah Jameson, who does actually cut her a nice severance check, especially by 1979 standards. Her former staff, however, do throw her a party, where we see quite a few supporting characters show up (and as I mentioned before, Mystique, who is in her Raven form). One of those is Mike Barnett, who is three sheets to the wind, which causes a pissed off Carol to leave the party. We do also find out, before I leave this topic entirely, that Tracy Burke (who has kind of been running things while Carol was off being Ms. Marvel anyways) would be taking over from Carol as Editor in Chief of WM, which Carol fully approves of. This brings us, though, to our main fight, which is a two part one (taking place at the beginning and end of the issue) between Ms. Marvel and Deathbird, who wants payback for their unresolved fight back in #10. The first half of the fight ends with Deathbird splitting the scene before Carol can gain any real momentum, but the second half of the fight actually messes quite a bit of stuff off, structure wise. This causes the fight to stop, as Ms. Marvel must save a father and her daughter from being crushed by a part of a bridge falling on them, and Deathbird, in a rare act of honor, actually stops the fight long enough for Ms. Marvel to save the innocents, before resuming the fight and seemingly beating Ms. Marvel. We also get a few more hints about Deathbird's origin, as it's stated that Deathbird has been trying to get "home," and has tried to have a ship built in order to do that. Of course, this doesn't happen, and when we next see Deathbird, she has some new allies that help her get back into the Shi'ar galaxy, which is where she was wanting to go back to (although, we never see the word Shi'ar mentioned in any of Deathbird's appearances in this book) in order to try to take her sister's (Lilandra's) throne. All in all, though, this was a cool issue that had some good action, as well as some resolving of plot threads. In the next review, which will be the last MS. MARVEL issue that was published in its original run, will be the tying up of another loose plot thread....this one from earlier in the book's run as well. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 12, 2020 2:51:41 GMT -5
Ms. Marvel #23"The Woman Who Fell to Earth"Cover Date: April, 1979 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Mike Vosburg Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: The Faceless One Guest Stars: NASA (Salia Petrie & Will Robinson), Vance Astro, & Sam Adams Official Plot:After a date with Sam Adams, Carol Danvers returns home to relax, when she is suddenly visited by Salia Petrie, whom she thought had died in space. However, after putting her to rest in her apartment, Carol is attacked by Salia who transports Carol to the Guardians of the Galaxy's space station which is under the control of the Faceless One who saved Salia in order to get to and take control of Ms. Marvel. Getting away from the Faceless One, Carol finds Vance Astro who helps her battle the Faceless One to try and free Salia. During the battle, Carol destroys the Faceless One's android body with freezing coolant, and the two manage to defeat the Faceless One. Afterwords, Vance uses his mental powers to free Salia from the Faceless One's control. After which Carol reveals her identity to the frightened Salia. Brodie's View:One more loose plot thread gets tied up in this, the last actual issue of the MS. MARVEL series. This one going back to issues #11 & 12, where it appeared Carol's old NASA friend, Salia Petrie, died in Earth's atmosphere after a space flight went horribly wrong. Ms. Marvel knew all of this was going to happen, but at that time was too busy fighting (and then fighting alongside) Hecate and the three Elementals that ended up turning on Hecate. For all of this time, Carol thought Salia had died like in her Seventh Sense vision, but near the beginning of this issue (right after Carol got back from a date with the newest love interest to join her now Ex Supporting Cast, Sam Adams; that's right, Carol almost had her a Sam Adams ) Salia shows up at her doorstep, but quickly passes out. While Carol tries to find out what could have happened from another NASA employee named....Will Robinson (lol), Salia has secretly been listening, and zaps Carol into unconsciousness. She awakens in the original Guardians of the Galaxy's space station base, or to put it more correctly, their environmental simulation room, which has been taken over by an entity named The Faceless One. It's revealed that it was The Faceless One that saved Salia from her certain death, and brainwashed her/gave her powers in order to make her his super powered slave. He was able to brainwash her by breaking her human spirit using the environmental room, which he tries to do to Carol. However, Carol is able to get away, and after transforming into Ms. Marvel, she comes across our Guest Star for this issue, Vance Astro, leader of the original GotG. After the typical case of misreading a hero for being a villain fight, the two get on the same page, and battle The Faceless One and Salia. Finally, they are able to take both out, and The Faceless One is revealed to have been a robot the entire time. Vance is then able to use his psychic ability to erase the damage that The Faceless One did to Salia's psyche, and Carol further helps the healing by removing her mask to reveal to Salia that Ms. Marvel is really her friend Carol, and all's well that ends well, right? Well, maybe for Salia, but not for Carol, as, like I said at the beginning of the review, this would be the last issue of MS. MARVEL to see publication...at least in the 1970's. That being said, it was a pretty solid issue with a lot of action, but the writing was on the wall for this book; made even worse by the fact that at this point, she had officially joined The Avengers, making this book, at least in Jim Shooter's eyes, kind of redundant. However, another issue of MS. MARVEL had been completed, and the other at least plotted out, but these wouldn't see the light of day until the early 1990's, which is where our next two reviews will take us, as they would see print in a anthology book. Speaking of the next review, which is the last completed issue of MS. MARVEL, we'll see Carol battle yet another future X-Villain (although, until he became one, he was kind of known as a Spidey villain for a time), but not one we've seen so far. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Feb 13, 2020 0:13:39 GMT -5
Marvel Super Heroes #10/Ms. Marvel #24 (Unreleased)"Sabretooth Stalks the Subway!"Cover Date: July, 1992 Writer: Chris Claremont Artist: Mike Vosburg Featured Character(s): Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) Villain/s: Sabretooth & Mystique Guest Stars: Iron Man, John Jellicoe, Nancy Jellicoe, Jasper Sitwell, the Canadian Ministry of Defense, the NYPD, & Michael Barnett (Dies in between this issue and the last) Official Plot:After a training session in Avengers Mansion supervised by Iron Man, Ms. Marvel departs Avengers Mansion. Meanwhile, Sabertooth is in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, and is being transferred to a secure facility. As Carol finishes showering, she tries to get a hold of Michael Barnett, unaware that he has been murdered. The next day when she is meeting with John and Nancy Jellicoe, their lunch is interrupted when a S.H.I.E.L.D. prisoner transport truck crashes into the diner. When she realizes that Sabertooth has escaped into the subway, she goes after him as Ms. Marvel. She gets into a battle with the savage killer, and is able to beat him into submission and turn him back over to S.H.I.E.L.D. Afterwords, Ms. Marvel gets a premonition of Mystique that means death. Brodie's View:So, being that MS. MARVEL #23 was the last actual issue of that comic, these last three issues will come from non MS. MARVEl titled titles, and I will be up front and say that the very last review for this run (which I will drop right after tomorrow's review) will be a repeat of one I've done before....and you can probably guess which one, as it is kind of the last Ms. Marvel story until we get into the 2000's (of course, I didn't mention anything about it being the last Carol Danvers story). That all being said, let's get to this story, which was finally printed more than a decade after MS. MARVEL was cancelled in the pages of an anthology comic called MARVEL SUPER HEROES. The next review will also be from that comic. Anyways, this is basically the #24 that would have been published in June of 1979, had the decision not been made to suddenly ax that book (a decision probably made easier by the fact that Ms. Marvel had joined The Avengers by that time. That's actually where this story starts, as Carol is being put through her paces by Iron Man in the Avengers' version of the X-Men's Danger Room. Carol works up a sweat (as none of the scenarios she has to face are programed specifically for her, so, Iron Man must use scenarios programmed for other current/past Avengers), but manages to beat the scenarios. The two then talk, and Iron Man/Tony Stark ends up getting sexist on her, which she rebuffs in true Ms. Marvel fashion before flying off. We then see our main villain of this story, (F'N) Sabretooth being transported by SHIELD after his last altercation with Iron Fist and the X-Men during the time Chris Claremont was writing the IRON FIST series. We pick up with Carol taking a shower, and then trying to call Michael Barnett (who we last saw making a drunken ass out of himself at Carol's going away party from WOMAN MAGAZINE). However, what we see, but she won't find out until after the events of this issue, is that Michael is dead, having been murdered by Mystique. Of course, a lot of that will come to a head in the next "issue," which I think was originally meant to be the end of the MS. MARVEL series, but we'll get to all of that in the next review. Anyways, Carol meets a couple of old friends, and the three discuss her future post WOMAN MAGAZINE plans when Sabretooth makes his escape from SHIELD custody, which ends up destroying part of the restaurant they were eating in. Once she is sure her friends are safe, Ms. Marvel takes off after Sabretooth, who is trying to escape in the New York subway. The two fight, with the odds being pretty even, until Carol is forced to stop the fight to stop a train that is due to crash into the two, as well as the wreckage they have caused during the fight. Once that is over, though, the fight is back on, with Carol finally wrapping herself around Sabretooth's back, and basically beating him into unconsciousness, which was pretty awesome. After the fight, she is suddenly hit with one of her Seventh Sense visions, which sets up the next "issue" big confrontation with Mystique. ( ) Man, it's too bad this book was cancelled, as it would have been cool to see Sabretooth added into Ms. Marvel's regular rogue's gallery....not that she ever had the time to really rack up a good one, and most of the better ones would end up becoming X-MEN villains. The fight they had was short, but it was pretty awesome for what it was. Anyways, this will set up the last actual MS. MARVEL story of that first era, and that will come in the next review, as we will see Ms. Marvel battle Mystique along with a bunch of other X/Future X-Villains....including a few that will actually go on to become X-Men. GRADE: B+ (BTW, this was the original cover for the #24 we never got )
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