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Marvel Masterworks: Ms. Marvel #1
Marvel Masterworks: Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1
The year was 1977, and Marvel was set to debut its latest and greatest new super heroine. NASA Security Chief Carol Danvers' life had long been intertwined with the alien Kree's interventions on Earth. But now it was time for this new woman in a new era to take on a new persona all her own - Ms. Marvel! As editor of Woman magazine, Danvers must contend with the Marvel Universe's biggest blowhard, J. Jonah Jameson, while discovering her identity and origins as a super hero.
COLLECTING: Ms. Marvel (1977) 1-14
COLLECTING: Ms. Marvel (1977) 1-14
251 pages, Hardcover
First published October 28, 2014
33 people are currently reading
137 people want to read
About the author
Chris Claremont
3,280 books889 followersChris Claremont is a writer of American comic books, best known for his 16-year (1975-1991) stint on Uncanny X-Men, during which the series became one of the comic book industry's most successful properties.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Claremont has written many stories for other publishers including the Star Trek Debt of Honor graphic novel, his creator-owned Sovereign Seven for DC Comics and Aliens vs Predator for Dark Horse Comics. He also wrote a few issues of the series WildC.A.T.s (volume 1, issues #10-13) at Image Comics, which introduced his creator-owned character, Huntsman.
Outside of comics, Claremont co-wrote the Chronicles of the Shadow War trilogy, Shadow Moon (1995), Shadow Dawn (1996), and Shadow Star (1999), with George Lucas. This trilogy continues the story of Elora Danan from the movie Willow. In the 1980s, he also wrote a science fiction trilogy about female starship pilot Nicole Shea, consisting of First Flight (1987), Grounded! (1991), and Sundowner (1994). Claremont was also a contributor to the Wild Cards anthology series.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
May 3, 2018
If you stayed to the end of the Avengers: Infinity War movie you saw Nick Fury calling the next hero to get a Marvel movie. This collection of Ms Marvel's early stories is a nice 80's throwback to a different time in comics. Ms Marvel ands She-hulk would be the leaders in Marvels new wave of female heroes to break into comics. Nice enjoyable reads. Recommended
September 2, 2022
Good color artwork. Though her costume and hair color change from issue to issue. The first few issues were so irregular that it was like three origins in a row . The villains, except for Doc ock were a little second rate. The space uniform exposed a lot of skin. But what the hey, I still found her likable. The Ms. Marvel name has been shared a lot but still has value. Sort of like santa claus.
April 14, 2021
Pretty enjoyable, but very much feels like everyone involved was just there for the paycheck
January 6, 2018
Mixed bag
Spotty introduction to the character. Clearly all artists in board seemed perplexed by her. Production values increase in the last issue but it's takes a while to warm up. Dracula makes a cameo. That fact alone shows some uncertainty by the creative team.
Spotty introduction to the character. Clearly all artists in board seemed perplexed by her. Production values increase in the last issue but it's takes a while to warm up. Dracula makes a cameo. That fact alone shows some uncertainty by the creative team.
January 24, 2021
Better than I expected. I'm reading through some classic X-Men and Ms. Marvel is prevalent, so I paused that to go and read this to get her back story. Having just re-watched the movie (Captain Marvel) it's good to have this backstory as well. I wish I'd read her earlier appearances (before she became Ms. Marvel), so I might need to do that.
Classic art (Sal Buscema is a personal favorite) and style, great action, but definitely C-list villains (except maybe Death Bird). Still, classic and a worthy read... on to Volume 2
Classic art (Sal Buscema is a personal favorite) and style, great action, but definitely C-list villains (except maybe Death Bird). Still, classic and a worthy read... on to Volume 2
November 18, 2020
It's not super groundbreaking stuff, even for early comics, and even for trying to address the feminist ideal in Marvel comics (Wonder Woman at DC did it first and better), but the stories are fun, the art is great, and I finally got to read Carol's beginnings! It's been pretty cool to see the evolution of the character throughout her years of production. Fun stuff. Thanks, Mike!
February 17, 2016
The writing isn't the best, but I appreciate the foreword by one of the authors. Keeping in mind that this was the 70s, the collection is nice for Carol Corps fans like myself to experience the history of the character. The quality of the book is great, nice paper and good color.
December 7, 2020
A damned good history lesson on a new favourite hero 🌟...
December 11, 2018
Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) debuted in 1977 in her own series, a Marvel's answer to the women's lib movement that was in full swing at the time. Carol originally appeared in Captain Marvel as a Security Chief for the Air Force and appeared pretty frequently until she was caught in the violent explosion of a Kree device during one of his battles, which subsequently lead to her gaining the powers she has in her own series. Why they didn't include the issue where this happens in this collection is beyond me and one of the negatives of the collection.
In this series Carol is the editor-in-chief of a women's magazine (lazily called WOMAN) and her boss is J. Jonah Jameson (which results in some of series best scenes as they butt heads). Her alter-ego of Ms. Marvel is not something she controls, usually when she turns into the superheroine it's because there is trouble happening nearby. This collection of the first 14 issues of the series is pretty much her discovering her powers and building a bit of foundation for a longer running character. It's written primarily by Chris Claremont, taking over for Gerry Conway after the first few issues.
For a series that started out with the intention to show a strong, independent female superhero there are a lot of setbacks. First off is none of these comics were written by a woman, in fact the only female input in these first 14 issues is the handful of women who were colorists for the art. Take from that what you will, but it's very telling in the writing that there wasn't a lot of female input on this character.
My biggest issue, however, is the lack of direction in the storytelling. For the first handful of issues her powers are tied to the suit she wears, but then they decide that she can use those powers without the suit (something that oddly enough never comes up again in this collection). After issue 10 there is an involved storyline where she battles a squad of villains that seems like it could be a major arc, but it abruptly ends at the beginning of issue 13 with her suddenly being able to control her powers without blacking out. For some reason Dracula appears in one of the issues, not battling or even encountering her, just sort is like 'she's lucky she didn't go into those shadows for Dracula was hiding there'....no explanation for that at all.
You could tell this series wasn't going to last (it ended after 23 issues), but I'm glad Carol Danvers stuck around to become a major player in the Marvel Universe because she is an awesome character. However, this first series just wasn't the best way to introduce the world to Ms. Marvel and I can see people being frustrated by it. Not awful, but not great either.
In this series Carol is the editor-in-chief of a women's magazine (lazily called WOMAN) and her boss is J. Jonah Jameson (which results in some of series best scenes as they butt heads). Her alter-ego of Ms. Marvel is not something she controls, usually when she turns into the superheroine it's because there is trouble happening nearby. This collection of the first 14 issues of the series is pretty much her discovering her powers and building a bit of foundation for a longer running character. It's written primarily by Chris Claremont, taking over for Gerry Conway after the first few issues.
For a series that started out with the intention to show a strong, independent female superhero there are a lot of setbacks. First off is none of these comics were written by a woman, in fact the only female input in these first 14 issues is the handful of women who were colorists for the art. Take from that what you will, but it's very telling in the writing that there wasn't a lot of female input on this character.
My biggest issue, however, is the lack of direction in the storytelling. For the first handful of issues her powers are tied to the suit she wears, but then they decide that she can use those powers without the suit (something that oddly enough never comes up again in this collection). After issue 10 there is an involved storyline where she battles a squad of villains that seems like it could be a major arc, but it abruptly ends at the beginning of issue 13 with her suddenly being able to control her powers without blacking out. For some reason Dracula appears in one of the issues, not battling or even encountering her, just sort is like 'she's lucky she didn't go into those shadows for Dracula was hiding there'....no explanation for that at all.
You could tell this series wasn't going to last (it ended after 23 issues), but I'm glad Carol Danvers stuck around to become a major player in the Marvel Universe because she is an awesome character. However, this first series just wasn't the best way to introduce the world to Ms. Marvel and I can see people being frustrated by it. Not awful, but not great either.
March 27, 2019
The first 14 issues of Ms. Marvel, a feminist hero through a man's eyes, as the foreword mentions, rather sheepishly. In 1977 that means showing a strong independent female who becomes a strong I dependent superhero.....in tights with midriff baring cutouts. Ah well, it was a start, 40 years ago and they were at least trying.
It takes a while to develop the character, not until late in the book, the Hecate arc, did I start liking the stories. It normally takes time to develop a character and we are judging the writing in hindsight, against current standards, which are frankly much higher. In 1977 these were comic books, not graphic novels.
In any case good, not great, she did not spring up fully formed like say a Spider-Man did, but it will be interesting to see the progression of the character. As for the sexism, those richly written and illustrated novels of today still seem to be a 16 year old's wet dream, Ms. Marvel would need an even skimpier suit and bigger boobs to compete today.
It was nice seeing the variety of artists, Chris Claremont was very good, Sal Buscemi, Don Heck!, and even Duck Giordano of Batman fame, ironically enough I think his last installment was my least favorite artistically, but he was never a favorite of mine. Ironically, I do not think Marie Severn, one of the few female illustrators of the time, got a shot. Pity.
It takes a while to develop the character, not until late in the book, the Hecate arc, did I start liking the stories. It normally takes time to develop a character and we are judging the writing in hindsight, against current standards, which are frankly much higher. In 1977 these were comic books, not graphic novels.
In any case good, not great, she did not spring up fully formed like say a Spider-Man did, but it will be interesting to see the progression of the character. As for the sexism, those richly written and illustrated novels of today still seem to be a 16 year old's wet dream, Ms. Marvel would need an even skimpier suit and bigger boobs to compete today.
It was nice seeing the variety of artists, Chris Claremont was very good, Sal Buscemi, Don Heck!, and even Duck Giordano of Batman fame, ironically enough I think his last installment was my least favorite artistically, but he was never a favorite of mine. Ironically, I do not think Marie Severn, one of the few female illustrators of the time, got a shot. Pity.
September 16, 2017
I find it fascinating that this collected volume starts out with sort of an apology by Mooney, explaining that the character was intended to reflect the feminist movement, but was still created by men and with the male gaze in mind. The character of Carol Danvers was created as an Air Force security guard, but later had her DNA fused with that of Captain Marvel (the Kree one) in an explosion, giving her a superhero identity distinct from her regular self. There's quite a bit of Spider-Man in these early stories; she deals with both everyday problems and crime-fighting, works for J. Jonah Jameson (as the editor of a women's magazine in her case), becomes friends with Mary Jane Watson, and even battles a Spidey villain in her first solo outing. One twist is that the Ms. Marvel persona just takes over from time to time, and neither identity is aware of the other. This volume does eventually reach the point where she becomes fully cognizant of her double life, but even then her personalities are sometimes at odds. Carol would later go on to become the new Captain Marvel in 2012, and wear a less revealing outfit.
June 26, 2019
A completely forgettable mess. Ms. Marvel was a name without any details, so these were made up as they went along. At first she has the power of flight due to her terrible costume, but then it broke and since there was no internal logical to how she could fix it, she can all of the sudden fly without it. In one issue she is fighting a sorceress over some magic rock.the artist forgot to draw it for the rest of the issue. Then for some reason, sorceress and MM are friends and the former villain tells MM her own origin. It’s fourteen issues of this stuff. A terrorist organization makes their headquarters in a department store, but no one can ever find it. Carol’s father is such a misogynist that he won’t even let his wife bring a magazine called “Woman” (edited by his daughter) into the house. Ms. marvel gets some of the most forgettable villains ever. Steeple Jack, Grotesk, three guys called elementals because they have elemental powers, and greedy business men make for a rogues gallery of yawns. Hala! She yells weird stuff all the time. No one really cared what they were doing on this book and it showed.
February 20, 2021
This is more like 2.5 than 3 stars... none of the material here really rises to above average, and overall, it seems to suffer from the lack of cohesion and consistency of bronze age comics. The ray of light is Chris Claremont coming into his own with multi-layered stories with strong characters, even if none of them really stand out and there are the usual Claremont dangling threads. The art is by a collection of Marvel stalwarts, the Buscema brothers and Jim Mooney primarily with the last issue drawn by C Infantino and inked by Steve Leialoha. The stories are largely forgettable but what sticks is the no-holds-barred warrior's attitude of Ms. Marvel, a far cry from the placid bland Wonder Woman stories of many decades prior.
January 25, 2019
I decided to go back to Ms/Captain Marvel's origins in preparation for the film this year.
I enjoy reading older comics, and seeing the differences between the writing style then and that of modern comics.
This collection is a rollicking read. A bit 'monster of the week' but with an underlying story arc about how Carol comes to terms (eventually) with her inner superhero, which is only truly resolved in the last few pages.
I also really liked the introductory article (included at the end of the collection) by Gary Conway, about how he came to write the series.
Altogether a very enjoyable read. Recommended.
I enjoy reading older comics, and seeing the differences between the writing style then and that of modern comics.
This collection is a rollicking read. A bit 'monster of the week' but with an underlying story arc about how Carol comes to terms (eventually) with her inner superhero, which is only truly resolved in the last few pages.
I also really liked the introductory article (included at the end of the collection) by Gary Conway, about how he came to write the series.
Altogether a very enjoyable read. Recommended.
November 23, 2022
Carol Danvers/Ms. Marvel was one of my first "four-color" crushes, and I love going back to read this run of her original series. This iteration of her was Marvel's first attempt to create a "strong female protagonist," and I still enjoy the way she became a self-assured character. Admittedly, some aspects of these stories don't hold up well as now in current feminist critiques, but for the time they were valiant efforts by male writers. I like the run of her self-titled series. Later when she was an on-and-off member of the Avengers, the writers put her through Hell, and I'm not sure I like the direction they took her in.
May 18, 2019
Ms. Marvel explodes onto the pages of her very own series in this collection of the first 14 issues from her 1977 debut. Gerry Conway and Chris Claremont are clearly men writing a female character but they are at least trying to write a strong, modern, female character as opposed to the stereotypes often paraded around as female characters in comics previously. The art is perfectly serviceable 70's Marvel style by a handful of industry stalwarts and workhorses. An interesting look into Carol Danvers' past.
March 29, 2018
Ms. Marvel, was one of the very first Marvel comic-books to have collected and read and re-read every day until the new issue came out.
At that age Mr Claremont, Jerry Conway, the Buscema bros (and Mr Sinnott, I think), were spinning-out stories with previously unknown female protege and, of course with all the the cool esoteric behind Carols identity, I had a a grade-a, 7th grade crush on her. Ms Marvel was a top-notch investigator, but still feminine.
At that age Mr Claremont, Jerry Conway, the Buscema bros (and Mr Sinnott, I think), were spinning-out stories with previously unknown female protege and, of course with all the the cool esoteric behind Carols identity, I had a a grade-a, 7th grade crush on her. Ms Marvel was a top-notch investigator, but still feminine.
February 3, 2019
If you like 70s-era comics, this one isn't bad. It also isn't great, they never really understood what they were trying to accomplish with Carol here and it's kind of all over the place. Hecate and the Elementals get introduced and then just suddenly resolve and go away. Dracula shows up in a 2-panel cameo. It's just kind of a mess, but still an interesting glimpse into how culture was accommodating the women's rights movement.
January 30, 2023
The 70s were weird. Who would’ve guessed that a stupid concept as a powerhouse with amnesia would become this popular. She probably wouldn’t have if they keep the concept of Carol and Ms Marvel as two different people. One that was eliminated she could finally become a better hero. However I wish her powers had been more consistent. She is strong but than she isn’t. She isn’t bulletproof but she’s invulnerable. Make up your mind.
April 27, 2023
It's the Swinging Seventies, with Skylab, polyester pantsuits and the women's lib gravy train Marvel is still struggling to hop onto. In this version Carol Danvers, she's a magazine editor - the perfect job to give her more than enough free time to beat up bad guys and destroy private property. I will say this about Ms. Marvel, she has plenty of action. What she doesn't have plenty of is a costume.
August 15, 2019
I was actually bored. I see why I did not collect this series when I was younger.
While spouting the ultra-feminist sound-points the heroine is dressed in decidedly unpractical clothing for a warrior-born. Interesting to look and see how far she has traveled from her early days until now. Not always forward, not always backwards.
While spouting the ultra-feminist sound-points the heroine is dressed in decidedly unpractical clothing for a warrior-born. Interesting to look and see how far she has traveled from her early days until now. Not always forward, not always backwards.
June 7, 2024
Apathetic but significant
Interesting more for its historical worth at making a "feminist" superhero. There's the campy, skimpy costume, the dated expository writing, lots of woman fainting, and the weird pattern I've just noticed from the past few books that male superheroes get mind controlled and female superheroes get hit with "he's too sexy beams".
Interesting more for its historical worth at making a "feminist" superhero. There's the campy, skimpy costume, the dated expository writing, lots of woman fainting, and the weird pattern I've just noticed from the past few books that male superheroes get mind controlled and female superheroes get hit with "he's too sexy beams".
October 28, 2018
The shaky start of Marvel Feminism. It’s a good attempt, for the guys, but getting women on board would have been much better. Might have avoided the uniform debacles, for one thing. Probably wouldn’t have avoided #14’s Dracula cameo, though.
March 15, 2019
Wow. forgot how cheesey the comics were in the 70s
still this was a wondrous time for a female led heroine at the height of the Women's movement
and I did like the twist that she did not know who she was
still this was a wondrous time for a female led heroine at the height of the Women's movement
and I did like the twist that she did not know who she was
June 5, 2019
Excellent
Introduction of ms marvel, a different type of superhero with flaws and problems that we are not use to seeing. Good villains and stories to pull you in. Lovely artwork. My favorite female character because of these stories.
Introduction of ms marvel, a different type of superhero with flaws and problems that we are not use to seeing. Good villains and stories to pull you in. Lovely artwork. My favorite female character because of these stories.
August 21, 2020
Beautiful.
Captain Marvel is a a wonderful fantasy adventure super heroin. It is easy to fall in love with her beauty, and bravery. She is not just every man's dream,, but every woman's dream too.
Captain Marvel is a a wonderful fantasy adventure super heroin. It is easy to fall in love with her beauty, and bravery. She is not just every man's dream,, but every woman's dream too.
May 29, 2017
Ms. Marvel
The origins and first adventures of Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers.. interesting to look back at the present Captain Marvel's initial forays as a superhero..
The origins and first adventures of Ms. Marvel Carol Danvers.. interesting to look back at the present Captain Marvel's initial forays as a superhero..
September 21, 2018
The 1970s were special: https://blogendorff.com/2018/09/21/bo...
May 11, 2019
Slow start, changed outfits halfway through book, not a great read
January 22, 2017
The original adventures of Carol Danvers are much different than she wound up even while still called Ms. Marvel. For one thing, some of her powers (like flight) were due to Kree circuitry in her scarf. You could also see the character struggle to get through the sexism of her creators, from the belly window in her costume to -- well, it written by Claremont after all.
Still, there's some good rip-roaring fisticuffs with villains like MODOK and The Elementals. Not those Elementals.
Still, there's some good rip-roaring fisticuffs with villains like MODOK and The Elementals. Not those Elementals.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews