Review by Win Wiacek

In 1969 Captain Marvel was a white male superhero. This was despite his being from a race of blue-skinned aliens. When left at the close of Volume 1, he was having doubts about the validity of infiltrating an American missile base masquerading as the dead consultant Walter Lawson.

Despite his effusive, candid, behind-the-scenes introduction, Roy Thomas only returns to write the feature with the final chapters here, by which time Mar-Vell has been passed through many hands. As this volume opens under Arnold Drake and Don Heck, Mar-Vell’s commanding officer Colonel Yon-Rogg is openly planning murder, and Mar-Vell’s bond to Una is fractured when Carol Danvers makes overtures, with Lawson’s past a further complication. Thus, when Mar-Vell is ordered to make allies of Lawson’s super-scientific criminal syndicate – at the cost of Carol’s life – the hero ignores his orders and pays the penalty as he is arrested by his own crew and faces a firing squad in ‘Die Traitor!’

In the following four chapters there’s little sense of purpose as Drake, then Gary Friedrich fill the pages of what’s patently a struggling series, the only saving grace being Tom Sutton’s boldly experimental illustration as Mar-Vell returns to his homeworld (sample art).

However, ‘Behind the Mask of Zo!’ captivatingly makes sense of all previous issues, supplies a grand resolution and provides a solid context for the total revamp of the character to come. That’s how good a writer Archie Goodwin was. And if you read Thomas’ introduction, a clandestine creative secret is finally revealed!

It’s best to think of everything previously discussed over this and Volume 1 as prelude, since Captain Marvel as we know him begins with a total retooling by Thomas and Gil Kane. ‘And a Child Shall Lead You!’ has the imperilled warrior inextricably bonded to voice-of-a-generation and professional sidekick Rick Jones who switches places with a mighty adult hero when danger looms.

The idea of a comic written from a teenager’s viewpoint was thrilling and revolutionary, but the real magic is Kane’s phenomenally kinetic artwork. His mesmeric staging of the perfect human form in motion rewrote the book on superhero illustration with this series.

Thomas categorically ends the Yon-Rogg saga in ‘Vengeance is Mine!’ with John Buscema pencilling the concluding nine pages. Next is a crazed sociologist and too-benevolent landlord revealed as ‘The Mad Master of the Murder Maze!’

And that’s when the series was cancelled.

However, Captain Mar-Vell refused to die. Six months later he was back and the quality still improves with every page. ‘The Hunter and the Holocaust’ has Rick attempt to free his trapped body-and-soulmate by consulting old mentor Bruce Banner. En route, a tornado destroys a town and Mar-Vell first renders assistance and then fights off resource-looters the Rat Pack. Cap and Rick’s mentor finally meet, in ‘Here Comes the Hulk!’, but that’s just a garnish on this tale of student unrest and manipulative intolerance. Captain Marvel was then cancelled again, only to return with a different direction in Volume 3.

Before departing, though, there’s a little comedy treat from 1968 by Thomas and Colan. ‘Captain Marvin: Where Stomps the Scent-ry! or Out of the Holocaust – Hoo-Boy!!’ is funny or painful depending on your attitude.

This is not Marvel’s best character, and much is poor. However, the good stuff is fantastic, so you’ll just have to take the rough with the smooth. It’s also available in black and white in Essential Captain Marvel Vol. 1.