Sunday, March 24, 2019

Space-Born Super Hero Part 2: Marvel Super-Heroes #12

We now begin my feature Space-Born Super Hero in earnest with Marvel Super-Heroes #12, the first appearance of Captain Marvel!

I should begin by talking about the series Marvel Super-Heroes. For the previous 11 issues, it had been titled Fantasy Masterpieces and reprinted various giant monster/sci-fi stories and Golden Age super hero tales. Beginning here, the new look for the series was to lead with a brand-new super hero tale (note the "All New! Never Seen Before!" on the cover) with the reprinted stories in the back.

Although Captain Marvel would quickly graduate from the pages of Marvel Super-Heroes to his own series, the other rotating stars weren't so lucky - features like Medusa and Phantom Eagle (issues #15 & 16) led to naught; although Ka-Zar and Doctor Doom (issues #19 & 20) would obtain their own books, it would be with different creative teams and plotlines than those seen in Marvel Super-Heroes, making them something of a false start; there was, of course, the Guardians of the Galaxy in issue #18, although they wouldn't make a second appearance until Steve Gerber intervened many years later. The real diamond in the rough is the Doctor Doom story in issue #20, which became a very well-regarded story in the villain's characterization.

Anyway, on with our tale, "The Coming of Captain Marvel!" Which is also the only place in the story where the lead character is called "Captain Marvel", which is something of a problem. The story is by Stan Lee & Gene Colan (inks by Frank Giacoia). We open aboard a Kree spaceship en route to Earth. Aboard we meet three of the officers: blue-clad Colonel Yon-Rogg, purple-clad Medic Una and green-clad Captain Mar-Vell, our hero. Yon-Rogg orders Una to administer the 'breathing potion' to Mar-Vell, who will be the lone member of their landing party. This concerns Una as it's against "all standard practice." Mar-Vell whispers to Una that Yon-Rogg is trying to split the two of them apart because he wants Una for himself. They probably shouldn't whisper about this roughly five feet from where Yon-Rogg is standing, but whatevs. Una surmises that Yon-Rogg hopes Mar-Vell will be killed in action. He's like King David to Mar-Vell's Uriah, if you will.

Yon-Rogg tells the duo "There will be no whispering in my presence!" So yes, he's not a moron. Mar-Vell takes Una's breathing potion, which will permit him to breathe Earth's atmosphere for 60 minutes without his helmet. The spaceship adopts "the aura of negativism" to avoid detection (this is the same technology Ronan the Accuser used in his first appearance) and lowers closer to the ground. Yon-Rogg orders Mar-Vell to exit the craft; Mar-Vell notes "space regulations" permit a 30-second farewell, so he hugs Una and shakes her hand farewell. "May the Supreme Intelligence ever watch over you, my captain!" Una states woodenly. "Your love will be enough to sustain me!" Mar-Vell answers. Mar-Vell exits the craft using his "air-jet belt" which allows him to fly (unfortunately it means when he flies it looks like he has exhaust fumes coming out of his butt). Mar-Vell observes "the pull of gravity is far stronger in the Kree Galaxy than it is on Earth--my freedom of movement--and sheer physical power--will be many times greater than any ordinary Earthling here on this light gravity world! But, that's only true so long as I continue to wear my protective helmet and battle suit! For, if it should be be necessary to disguise myself with the simulated Earth clothes I've packed in my carry-all cylinder--my strength will decrease in exact proportion to the time I am exposed to this alien atmosphere!" Are you following all of this? He has a breathing potion, a battle suit and 'sheer physical power' but he can only breathe Earth's air unaided for 60 minutes and he gets weaker without his battle suit. Stan has spent barely any time explaining what Mar-Vell is capable of, but damn, he loves piling on what Mar-Vell's weaknesses are, doesn't he?

Exposition continues as Mar-Vell notes how Earth people recently defeated Sentry#459 & Ronan the Accuser, thus referencing the Fantastic Four stories which introduced the Kree. Finally, we get to know a little about the purpose of Mar-Vell's visit to Earth: "It is my duty to succeed where Ronan failed! I must make the Earthlings realize that no race may--" and then he's cut off. We'll have to get back to this. Mar-Vell comes upon a missile base where a test launch is being conducted. Mar-Vell's presence creates radiation which throws the missile's guidance off-course. Man, if he's that radioactive it's little wonder he died of cancer! Instead of using his air-jet belt, Mar-Vell takes a variety of Hulk-style leaps to try and get away. Naturally, that's not quick enough and the military deploys a squad to investigate.

Mar-Vell whips out his gun, the Universal Beam Blaster, which emits a black light beam to blind the pursuing soldiers. Mar-Vell is amazed that humans are "unfamiliar with the galaxy's most common all-purpose weapon!" Uh, which galaxy would that be, Mar-Vell? You said you hailed from the "Kree galaxy." Anyway, with our action scene over, Mar-Vell finally thinks to turn on his air-jet belt and streaks away. Switching into the civilian clothes he brought, Mar-Vell flags down a truck and gets a ride to a hotel where he checks in on the register by "Americanizing" his name to "Marvel". "It was simple!" Mar-vell boasts, having just written down a derivation of his actual name while on an undercover assignment. Methinks Mar-Vell is more suited to combat than subterfuge. Just as Mar-Vell is getting settled in, Yon-Rogg activates the wrist monitor on Mar-Vell's left wrist. It seems only Yon-Rogg can remove this device and when it's active Mar-Vell is totally paralyzed. That seems like a terrible way to communicate with a field agent, as it could inadvertently cause the soldier's death. Then again, we've already established Yon-Rogg wants Mar-Vell to die.

However, the transmission isn't from Yon-Rogg, it's from "the Imperial Minister of the Supreme Intelligence." Although unnamed here, this guy will eventually get the name Zarek. One wonders if Stan Lee had expected to see the Supreme Intelligence itself in that panel and had to write around it when Colan drew simply some alien guy rather than the big green spaghetti-head which Kirby had earlier established. Anyway, Zarek tells Mar-Vell that the Sentry and Ronan both failed in their missions but Mar-Vell must succeed. So all he says are things we've already established that Mar-Vell knows and we the audience know. What a hoser. That very important message imparted, Mar-Vell regains control of his body with just enough time to get his helmet on before his 60 mintues are up. Mar-Vell muses that he is "Alone--unknown, and unsuspected, I hold the fate of a planet within my hands!" And there the story ends.

Thoughts: Not a very good start. To be most fair to Stan Lee & Gene Colan, they only had 15 pages with which to tell this story. Then again, since the 1950s these two had been telling stories for Marvel Comics which at times could fit an entire character arc within 4-5 pages. This story is much too fragmentary.

On the one hand, Stan takes advantage of the existing stories with the Kree and could rely on a little reader familiarity with those concepts. But all it really amounts to is that the Sentry and Ronan got into fights on Earth and lost - now Mar-Vell has a very vague mandate on Earth. To what, pick ineffectual fights with super heroes? What is the premise of this series? I mean, I know because I'm reading this book as a retrospective, but based on Mar-Vell's first appearance, what is this series about?

We only meet Mar-Vell, Yon-Rogg and Una (although Zarek will eventually get a name and motivation). Everyone is quite simple: Mar-Vell is a duty-driven warrior; Yon-Rogg seems to be his shady superior; Una is a dewey-eyed damsel. But what are they up to? What do the Kree want with Earth? What is Mar-Vell's mission supposed to accomplish? Is this basically a super-villain strip?

What makes this frustrating is that Stan Lee doesn't stick around to finish establishing the book's premise. Gene Colan carries on, but as of the next issue, Roy Thomas takes over. And what's more, once Stan is gone, he stays gone. For most of the Marvel heroes he helped launch, Stan would take occasional breathers (usually because he prioritized scripting whatever Kirby & Ditko were drawing) but would later return to the series (as he did during the initial run of Thor, for instance). But Stan not only never writes another issue of Captain Marvel, he never writes the character again.

There are basically two reasons why this Captain Marvel exists: first, because it was a good super hero name which was then up for grabs by anyone and it made sense for Marvel Comics to control the name; second, because there was interest in a cartoon series called Captain Marvel. Basically, all Marvel Comics really wanted was the name - everything else was secondary. Unfortunately, in this story you can see an early example of Stan Lee's "make-a-buck" persona - the kind of work he would hack out to pay the bills and satisfy his overlords but had little passion for. Similarly, years later he would help introduce the character She-Hulk by writing her first appearance (so Marvel Comics could control the 'She-Hulk' trademark), then left the character behind. Much like Mar-Vell, She-Hulk would face an uphill battle to win over comics fandom and faced a massive amount of resentment for existing primarily due to commercial concerns.

This book has way too much exposition without really getting into the storytelling engine. You really need the next issue just to grasp what this series is going to be about. Mar-Vell's powers and abilities are barely introduced and his vulnerabilities are far too numerous and require too much explanation. Worse, the story keeps repeating these points, such as the constant reminders that Mar-Vell can only breathe for 60 minutes.

Stan Lee had a gift for bringing creative zest into comic books at a time when it was thought no one took them very seriously. Unfortunately, when he wasn't invested in the characters the work always suffered. Boy, imagine what 15 pages by Kirby would have looked like! There would have been so much action, so much space spent explaining how Mar-Vell's powers work and probably a few great action scenes; you just know Stan would have brought his A-game to one of Kirby's tales. Colan on the other hand - he didn't excel at drawing spaceship interiors with weird futuristic technology - it all becomes abstract, dull spaces. Colan could do great super hero strips, but this isn't the best places for his considerable talents.

Does it get any better from here? We'll find out...

Next: Roy Thomas arrives in Marvel Super-Heroes #13!

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