Review by Tony Keen
Over the decades, Carol Danvers has become one of the most popular among Marvel’s super-powered women, perhaps among their characters outright. This collection features the first year or so of her superheroic adventures, from 1977 onwards, in her first identity of Ms. Marvel. Much criticised for ludicrous ‘feminist’ conceits, early Ms. Marvel is never great, but at least these comics are readable, which is more than could be said for some Marvel comics of the late 1970s.
After the series is set up by Gerry Conway, writing duties transferred to Chris Claremont, who rapidly dumped all elements of Conway’s conception of the character he didn’t like. However, Claremont doesn’t match his contemporary standards on Iron Fist or X-Men, possibly not getting the same level of creative input from artist Jim Mooney that he was getting from John Byrne and Dave Cockrum respectively. There’s also a certain feeling that Claremont hasn’t quite figured out Ms. Marvel’s place in the Marvel Universe. The villains she faces are generally either rubbish (Steeplejack), while established characters such as M.O.D.O.K., seem to be filling in time before their next encounter with a better-known hero. There’s also a sense that, in a lot of cases, Carol shouldn’t take so many pages to defeat her opponents. Still, a highlight of this run is the first appearance of Deathbird.
Comparisons have been drawn between Ms. Marvel and Supergirl, not least because both have the same surname in their civilian identities. It’s even been argued that Marvel were trying to do a DC-style comic under the Marvel imprint, though by 1977 the stylistic differences between the two were eroding. The Supergirl comparisons were fuelled when Mooney, signature Supergirl artist, came onboard as regular penciller (apart from a few fill-ins). However, as his pencils are mostly inked by Joe Sinnott, the result ends up looking like a typical mid-seventies Marvel comic exemplified by the sample image of Ms. Marvel battling Grotesk, one of Roy Thomas’ lesser X-Men villains. Nevertheless, Mooney’s dynamism, unsurprisingly, suits the material well.
Most of this content had been reprinted in colour only four years previously in Marvel Masterworks: Ms. Marvel Volume 1. What gives this volume the edge is the inclusion of two Claremont-scripted appearances of Ms. Marvel in other titles. Truth be told, her team-up with the Defenders isn’t that great. Claremont is working from a plot by Conway, presumably using ideas that Conway had intended to employ had he stayed on the main series. To make things worse, Claremont really doesn’t have much of a grip on the characterisation of Defenders Nighthawk, Hellcat, and Valkyrie, by then established as the core of the team.
In contrast is Spider-Man, the Human Torch, and Ms. Marvel taking on the Super-Skrull. It’s a proper treat. Claremont and Byrne were on a roll at the time with Marvel Team-Up, and this is a great example of a well-told superhero story. The Super-Skrull works well as a villain for someone with Kree heritage, such as Ms. Marvel, and the only disappointment is the ending, which hints at new developments for Carol that never manifested.
Overall, though, this collection swings from the okay to the really quite good. It is all available in black-and-white in Essential Ms. Marvel.
