This is the end of an era as it is Arnold Drake's final issue of Captain Marvel. Appropriately, Dick Ayers takes us back to the start as the opening splash page is a visual reference to Mar-Vell's pose on the cover of issue #1. We have a recap of Mar-Vell receiving his new powers; the first thing he does with his teleportation power is to visit Una on the asteroid where he left her body. He then monitors Yon-Rogg on the Helion, knowing he could appear at any moment and kill him. "But where would be the profit in that? Swift destruction is far too sweet a fate for you, Colonel!" Mar-Vell's dialogue has been extremely bloodthirsty since last issue; perhaps Una's death made him snap. Mar-Vell wants Yon-Rogg to suffer before he kills him. Our hero!
This decided, Mar-Vell decides to return to the hotel room where he was living as Walter Lawson - but as it requires mental concentration he slips up and instead appears in Cuba; on his second attempt, he reappears in the hotel and returns to his room. Which I guess is still rented to him, even though he's been off-Earth for more than three months. He seems to think that stealing a rocket from the Cape (last issue) "probably put the base out of business for a while! So his absence won't be significant!" He has obviously forgotten that Carol Danvers has been convinced 'Lawson' is a shifty character from the start. But checking a newspaper, Mar-Vell sees a rocket test is being conducted that very day and... look, why does Mar-Vell care about his Lawson identity? If his only motivation right now is to kill Yon-Rogg, then why is he picking up this fake identity which he only adopted so that he could help Yon-Rogg plan Earth's invasion?
At the Cape, General Bridges has given orders: shoot Captain Marvel on sight. Carol Danvers is naturally "disappointed" in this decision but is more concerned about Lawson's disappearance. General Bridges says something he should've said several issues ago: "You've got enough on the mysterious doctor to make your move! Do it!" Thus, Carol orders Captain Marvel be arrested when he appears. We turn now to the Black Widow in a top secret lab in the Caribbean... which is strange, as at this time she's an Avengers cast member who has never appeared in Captain Marvel previously. This makes her the series' second super hero guest star (after the Sub-Mariner). S.H.I.E.L.D. has sent the Black Widow to investigate something... it seems somebody has created a "bio-plastic" android, the red Man-Slayer.
We return to the Cape as 'Lawson' arrives, only to be arrested by the guards. However, then the Man-Slayer appears; like other robots in this series, Man-Slayer is a chatty Cathy: "I am a Man-Slayer! A being of bio-chemical and electronic perfection! Without emotion or feeble human motivations! I have but one function--to destroy men!" Needing to escape the guards, Mar-Vell uses his new power to create illusions and manifests a group of college peacenik protestors. When the guards turn their attention to the protestors (why aren't the guards already distracted by the attack of the Man-Slayer? why does Mar-Vell need two diversions?) 'Lawson' slips away to don his battle-suit. The Man-Slayer fights his way through the guards and heads towards the rocket so it can be destroyed.
Back in the Caribbean, the Black Widow draws a gun to threaten the unseen person manipulating the Man-Slayer, but more bio-plastic robots appear to menace her. "Stop where you are, my silly-putty pals--if you don't want me to puncture my initials through you!" Man, when Arnold Drake tries to channel Stan Lee it comes out like a word salad. The androids overwhelm the Black Widow while in the Cape, Captain Marvel battles Man-Slayer. Mar-Vell tries using his illusion powers on the robot but naturally they don't work on its robotic mind. The Man-Slayer thinks itself superior because of its "brute strength" but Captain Marvel channels his "searing, unending emotion of revenge!" Yeah, unending except for that he already passed up one attempt to confront Yon-Rogg. Just then, the Black Widow throws a micro-bomb which was concealed beneath her thumbnail; the bomb shuts off the Man-Slayer's energy transmitter, so the unseen manipulator uses a nerve gun to stun the Black Widow. The villain decides to use her as "live bait". For whom, you might well ask?
Anyway, the fight with Man-Slayer is over (off-panel) and Mar-Vell has resumed being 'Lawson' (off-panel) but realizes with everyone on the Cape against both of his identities it's time to move on; Mar-Vell teleports away in full sight of the Cape's guards. Is this the end of the Walter Lawson identity?
Thoughts: And so we bid Arnold Drake & Dick Ayers farewell; so far, Captain Marvel has gone through three writers. Arnold Drake spent the most time with the character and developed the first original villains for the series, but he mostly played with the characters and concepts which Stan Lee & Roy Thomas introduced - and his villains were not particularly memorable, with the Organization standing out as a terribly executed threat. In his final two issues, Drake seemed to be reinventing the book entirely - new powers, new status quo, killing off Una, getting away from the Cape. Maybe if he had been given more time he could have rewritten the concept into something which excited him. The sense I got from Drake's stories is that he wasn't terribly enthused by any of what he'd been handled; he was capable of better than what he gave to Captain Marvel. Dick Ayers did fine - it certainly didn't hurt to have Syd Shores on inks.
The use of the Black Widow in this story seems awfully random - Captain Marvel has mostly been left in its own corner of the Marvel Universe. Considering the original premise had a potential alien invader posing as a super hero, it would have been great to have him interact with Marvel heroes early on - someone he could be contrasted against. Even then, although the Black Widow is in this story, she and Captain Marvel share no scenes; she's mainly a device to defeat the villain.
I'm hoping that with Arnold Drake gone, the series might see some improvement - at the same time, I know the next few issues are primarily transitional. Well, bring it on...
Next: It's 1969; obviously if you need a new creative team on a Marvel title, you bring in Gary Friedrich & Frank Springer! Let's check out their first story with Captain Marvel #14.
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