Hey, hey, hey, Groove-ophiles! Most of the time, filler issues were a bummer. On rare occasions, though, they proved to be pretty cool. Take this classic from Captain Marvel #57 (April 1978). Roger McKenzie (who wrote a pretty mean Captain America and Daredevil in the latter part of the Groovy Age) picked up a dangling thread from Jim Starlin's classic Death of Warlock/Death of Thanos two parter (which you can read here) and turned it into a cool tale of heroism and sacrifice. Also making it a special ish was the guest-starring role of the Mighty Thor. Mar-vell and Thor seemed like a very odd team, but when you think of their cosmic backgrounds, t'wasn't so odd after all. Top the ish off with awesome art by Pat Broderick and Bob Wiacek and you've got a forgotten classic that shouldn't remain forgotten! Put on your shades, baby! Here comes a..."Star Burst"!
Some of these Captain Marvel stories drawn by Broderick, and mainly written by Moench (including those in that second Marvel Spotlight run) were the first I ever read - long before I learned of the character's much-lauded "prehistory" by Starlin.
ReplyDeleteThanks for giving a nod to Roger McKenzie, by the way. I always thought he was a rather underrated and unfairly overlooked writer - after all, he actually wrote about the first ten issues of what is now known as Frank Miller's first run on Daredevil...
This is one of the few Captain Marvels I still have from the 70's and 80's; I really loved the artwork at the time, I think because it reminded me of Jim Starlin and that both artist and inker were bright new talents to me. I hope someone at Marvel is considering the Captain for a movie.
ReplyDeleteI had a letter published in this issue, my only LOC to appear in a Marvel comic.
ReplyDeleteVery cool, Johnny B, I have that issue! I would hope that someone in the marvel cinematic universe would see that "Marvel's TRUE superman" (albeit a more complex character) would transfer well to the silver screen and perhaps be better returned for real (not basically lying to fans and teasing it over and over again.
DeleteReally cool stuff you have here...Shame what they did with Mar-Vell when Jim Shooter became editor, the character was just beginning to take off after being seperated from Rick Jones in ish #50, matter of fact, I believe Moench and Broderick won an award for that run, there was even a protest for Mar-Vell, it's chronicled on the cover of Comic Book Reader in 1079 as it has what would have been Captain Marvel #63. The character was made for the screen, I think I will riot if he's not in it! lol BRING BACK MAR-VELL! Thanks guys*
ReplyDeleteI have over 50 comic books ranging from 1977 to 1997 I'm in the state of Georgia and I'm trying to get them appraised. Can someone HELP ME
ReplyDeletePLEASE!
Captain Marvel always seemed a little lost after Starlin, Engelhart and Milgrom moved on. But I was invested in the character enough to continue on till cancellation. I really liked Wiacek's early brushwork before he seemed to go to pen points and a much thinner line (and critical acclaim) on separate runs for Power Pack and the X-men (he and Paul Smith made a team supreme on X-Men).
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