Greetings, Groove-ophiles! If you thought Jim Starlin was the first to take
Captain Mar-Vell on a trippy metamorphosis, you might wanna think again! In
Captain Marvel #11 (December 1968), Arnold Drake, new penciler Dick Ayers, and Vinnie Colletta killed off Marv's true love,
Una; had his arch-enemy
Yon-Rogg send our
Kree Captain on a faster-than-light rocket ride to seeming oblivion; then made slight costume alterations
and created a new set of powers for
Mar-Vell at the hands of the mysterious entity known as...
Zo (
Oz backwards--get it?). Not sayin' they did it better than Judo Jim (just can't beat Judo Jim!), but they dood it first! Prepare to meet "...a new Mar-Vell..." in..."Rebirth!"
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| Cover art by Barry Windsor-Smith and Herb Trimpe |
I try to balance out my negative comments with positive ones on Diversions depending on what the entry for the day is. But with CM #s 5-15 there is no way to say anything good. Dick Ayers was a slight improvement over Don Heck and I never knew Barry Smith did the cover. But this is less a trip down memory lane than a descent into silliness. By the ending where Cap gets his new powers I'm thinking, "Watch out, Incredible Hulk!". Teleportation, strength and illusions? What a powerhouse! I hope I'm not too negative to keep from being posted, but I am just so disgusted by this issue and those immediately surrounding it. Arnold Drake buried our good Captain into stories that made this a fourth tier title. Looming off into the future were cancellation, revival and cancellation again followed by another revival that had the good fortune to cross paths with a super talent from Detroit named Jim Starlin.
ReplyDeleteGroove! Thanks for posting.Like Key above I am a tad frustrated too. I really felt that Marvell had so much going for him, inherently. But the art and story are just not that engaging... sometimes I have to wonder about the creative process... Cheers!
ReplyDelete