Last time I looked at the first appearance of Captain Marvel in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 (1967). We pick it up now with Marvel Super-Heroes #13, continuing the character's introduction under the auspices of Roy Thomas and Gene Colan (with inks by Paul Reinman) in the story "Where Stalks the Sentry!"
We open in Mar-Vell's hotel room, where he's working on his ray gun weapon (introduced last issue as the Universal Beam Weapon), refitting it from a handheld gun into a wrist-mounted weapon and renamed the Uni-Beam, which is much simpler. Already Roy the Boy is trying to figure out how to make this character run more smoothly. Strangely, Mar-Vell does this important work with his helmet off, which means he must be using up his 60-minute breathing potion. With the Uni-Beam on his right wrist and the Wrist Monitor on his left, Mar-vell now has something clamped on each wrist. Switching into his civilian clothes, Mar-Vell leaves his hotel, attracting the attention of the hotel clerk. It seems Mar-Vell hasn't paid him yet and he signed his name as 'C. Marvel' in the register. I remarked how dumb that was last time out and it's going to continue to bring trouble to Mar-Vell.
Mar-Vell is running out of breathing potion (probably because he foolishly walks around with his helmet off in places where humans can't see him) so he heads to a nearby remote location to await the arrival of a new batch of potion. While he waits, he tests out the Uni-Beam (thus finally giving the audience a chance to see what exactly his weapon can do). In addition to the blacklight ray we saw last time, Mar-Vell can fire destructive energy bolts and a magnetic beam. With the test over, he finally puts his costume and helmet on (how are we supposed to think this 60-minute time limit is such a big deal when Mar-Vell is so casual about it?), then he tests out his air-jet belt (now called "jet-belt") and flies up to meet Yon-Rogg's vessel.
Yon-Rogg realizes if he "accidentally" presses his ship's weapons he can kill Mar-Vell and have it done with (although that would look really bad in the mission report, as it would make Yon-Rogg's assignment a total failure). Una guesses what Yon-Rogg is about to do (because the man lacks subtlety) so Yon-Rogg orders her locked up in her quarters. To show how little he cares about pretense, Yon-Rogg takes a moment to line up his shot through a viewfinder instead of simply brushing the weapon's trigger. Even then, he misses and hits an airplane which emerges from a cloud bank at just the wrong time (or right time, from Mar-Vell's perspective). Mar-Vell explores the wreckage and finds a dead man whose identification papers name him as Dr. Walter Lawson, an expert on missile guidance systems who was headed to Cape Canaveral. Which is, apparently, the place Mar-Vell stumbled through in the previous issue. Mar-Vell realizes if he swipes the dead man's papers he could gain access to the Cape on behalf of his vaguely-defined mission. No idea what he did with Lawson's body though - or the airplane wreckage. I mean, wouldn't the security officials have questions about these things?
Anyway, from her quarters Una opens up a can of morpheo-gas and vents it through the ship, causing Yon-Rogg and the rest of the crew to fall unconscious. Without Yon-Rogg to stop her, Una is able to send a new batch of breathing potion to Mar-Vell; she teleports it directly into Mar-Vell's room, so I have no idea why he went to the bother of trying to rendezvous with the ship.
The following day Mar-Vell goes to work at the Cape by claiming to be Dr. Walter Lawson; he carries along with him the cylinder containing his Kree battle suit. A week goes by as Mar-Vell studies Earth's missile defenses to better understand their present level of technology. Strangely, although last issue his presence nearby a missile caused its guidance systems to go haywire due to the radiation in his body, but now Mar-Vell is working on guidance systems with no problem at all (it's almost as if Stan Lee had to invent some reason for Mar-Vell to get into a fight last issue!). Mar-Vell continues taking his breathing potion every hour throughout the week, which means either Una sent him a very large bottle before, or Yon-Rogg has resumed shipping them down (as we'll see, Una is still confined to her quarters).
At the start of his second week, Mar-Vell finally meets General Bridges, the military official in charge at the Cape, who brings him to meet Carol Danvers, the Cape's chief of security. This is the first appearance of Carol who would, of course, become a super hero herself a decade later, join the Avengers and take Mar-Vell's name to honour him. But at this stage she's simply a security official, dressed casually in a sweater and slacks (no idea why she's dressed like a civilian in what's clearly a military operation). Oh, but I'm burying the lede: Carol is currently occupied in analzying Sentry#459, the Kree robot whom the Fantastic Four fought and was supposedly destroyed, setting off the chain of events which brought Mar-Vell himself to Earth. This makes Sentry#459 the first character from another Marvel Comics series to appear in Captain Marvel. As is quickly explained, the Sentry was found by pearl divers at the island where the Fantastic Four fought it and it was transported to the Cape.
General Bridges wants 'Lawson' to study Sentry#459 because his expertise also includes robotics. Carol Danvers is not exactly pleased to have Lawson there, as she explains: "Your dossier is still being examined by my security division! If you must know, you've always had a reputation as a recluse... even an eccentric!" Carol is convinced 'Lawson' has something to hide; of course, we know she's right, but there's more to this situation than what first appears - as will be covered in future issues.
Yon-Rogg is pleased to see Sentry#459 has been found and notes it has grown in size, which is one of its powers (possibly Roy Thomas covering up for Colan having drawn the Sentry as twice the size of what Kirby designed). Rather than seeing Sentry#459's survival as an aid to his empire's designs on Earth, Yon-Rogg just sees another opportunity to kill Mar-Vell. He activates the Sentry then sits back to watch the chaos. Sentry#459 awakens and does quite a lot of ranting and boasting for a robot (Roy's Sentry is little more verbose than how other writers treat them). General Bridges puts in a call to Dr. Lawson's hotel, which of course puts him in contact with the suspicious hotel clerk - because Mar-Vell wasn't smart enough to switch hotels after adopting Lawson's identity. Ergo, the clerk has begun putting together that 'C. Marvel' and 'Walter Lawson' are the same person. Good one, Marv. Mar-Vell puts on his battle suit and sets out to confront the Sentry. The Sentry recognizes Mar-Vell as a Kree officer and asks if he's come to join it in its rampage. If Mar-Vell refuses, then the Sentry will consider him its enemy. So now Mar-Vell is in a bind as we end on a cliffhanger. Why is this a cliffhanger? Well, Mar-Vell now says his job is to study Earth to determine if it should live or die, but the Sentry could destroy the Earth on its own. Okay, that's just a bit contrived, but we've got to get to a fight somehow.
Thoughts: A huge, huge improvement over the previous issue. Mar-Vell still isn't being called 'Captain Marvel', but Roy Thomas takes the time to explain what the Uni-Beam weapon is capable of (and moves it to Mar-Vell's wrist, which is a good idea). The supporting cast is expanded as the hotel clerk starts to become a significant figure (albeit still unnamed) and we meet General Bridges and Carol Danvers!
Roy Thomas deserves particular kudos for Carol Danvers. At the time, virtually every female character Stan Lee introduced in his comics worked in very stereotypical female roles like nurse (Jane Foster), secretary (Pepper Potts, Betty Brant) or were independently wealthy (the Wasp). Carol's role as security chief has a built-in tension to set her against 'Lawson', which is good grist for the series' storytelling engine. But security chief is just not the kind of occupation Marvel's civilian ladies held in the 1960s. She's not introduced as a love interest either - in this issue, neither she nor Mar-Vell evince a romantic interest in each other. Good for you, Rascally One.
While in the previous issue Mar-Vell's only action scene was a brief clash with the military, here Thomas & Colan set up Sentry#459 as Mar-Vell's first true foe. Although the premise of the series is still a little too murky, simply getting Mar-Vell into secret identity troubles and fights against super-menaces do a lot to help the series find its foot as a super hero book. And although it's in a throw-away line of dialogue, we finally know what Mar-Vell is doing on Earth - he's there to decide whether or not it should be destroyed. There's a great deal of potential in the premise, of Mar-Vell as a would-be invader who instead becomes Earth's defender. Heck, it's so good plenty of other super hero stories have done it (like Hawkgirl on Justice League). It's an especially provocative idea in 1968, when resistance to the Vietnam War was growing among young people, granting Captain Marvel a chance to tap into the youth culture of its time. We'll see how well Captain Marvel's creators handle it (or bungle it) here.
Strangely, the letters page in Marvel Super-Heroes had a very muted response to Captain Marvel's debut. Letters for #12 appeared in issue #14, but were mostly concerned with the reprint features! Only one letter complimented the new Captain Marvel.
Next: Marvel Super-Heroes #13 asserts the story continues in the next issue (#14), but actually Mar-Vell was launched into his own comic book series, Captain Marvel! So next time we'll look at Captain Marvel #1!
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