Greetings, Groove-ophiles! Ya know, Ol' Groove loves Jim Starlin's
Captain Marvel run. It's one of the all-time best comics imho, and that's a fact. But, for a long time, Ol' Groove was under the impression that t'was Judo Jim who brought the cosmic to
Captain Marvel. Well, as we've already seen (
last ish and in
ish #11), it just ain't so. Starlin did it best, but he wasn't the first. Here's another example of the
Green Uniform Captain Marvel being oh-so-cosmic: "That Zo May Live...a Galaxy Must Die!" from
Captain Marvel #15 (May 1969). I mean, before you read it, just look at the images! The layouts, the colors, the "pop art" stylings--even the stars in
Mar-Vell's eyes! Here's the wildest thing: remember Starlin was the artist who took over writing the mag? Dig this: writer Gary Friedrich did the layouts for this story! Far-out, huh? And the art-team for this ish is a unique one, as well: Tom Sutton and Dan Adkins. (Why: Am: I: Using: So: Many: Colons?) And amidst all the weirdness,
Mar-Vell even visits Heaven, Hell, his home world Kree-Lar, and even his hometown of Rad-Nam. All of this is supposed to lead to a battle with a robotic
Kree idol called
Tam-Bor that, in silhouette at least, looks for all the world like a giant fish skeleton. Yeah, this mag is a trip, baby!
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| Cover art by Marie Severin and John Verpoorten |
This particular issue is among the crown jewels of psychedelia in my collection. Thanks for keeping the memory alive!
ReplyDeleteIt's somewhat sad that the succeeding issue was nowhere near as awesome in either plot or art...
Captain Marvel never caught on with me or my friends. I remember this issue and the one where on the cover Captain M. is being chased by a giant spaceship, only because they sat lonely and unloved in the spinner in a local newsagent for weeks. Marvel's uniform was rubbish! When Gil Kane got the book and later Jim Starlin it was like Aliens 2, how could something that started so boringly turn out to be so good?
ReplyDeleteHadn't read many of the first 24 issues of Captain Marvel, having only started collecting the title with #27 when I was 11 in 1973, and getting issues 25 & 26 much later, along with a few other earlier ones. This is the first time I'd seen this one -- very nice art & story, much better than most of the others I've read featuring Cap in his original uniform.
ReplyDelete