What do you think?
Rate this book
Ms. Marvel (1977) #1-23
Essential Ms. Marvel, Vol. 1
Ms. Marvel's current successes are only the latest in a line of earth-shaking adventures that began in her original series, reprinted here in its entirety! New nemeses like Steeplejack and the Doomsday Man vie for the female fury's attention alongside classic criminals like the Scorpion, Tiger Shark and the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants! Featuring Namorita and Vance Astro, later of the New Warriors! Alien intrigue with the Kree and Shi'ar! Supernatural thrills! And the first appearance of the marvelously malicious Mystique! Plus: X-Men alumni including Grotesk and the Lizard People! Guest-starring Captain Mar-Vell and the Avengers! Collects Ms. Marvel #1-23, Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11.
512 pages, Paperback
First published February 21, 2007
5 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
Gerry Conway
2,058 books88 followersGerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
April 29, 2018
So close to giving this a 4 out of 5 but the ending of it really blew it. Yes there was corny 70s comic book stuff in here but what does one expect? It was fun. You could argue whether a woman parading around in a skimpy silly outfit with powers copied from a man isn't exactly feminists, but bad guys would make a crack about her being a crazy broad and she'd smack em good and dang if that isn't cathartic. But the end is such a mar on the series. The whole fiasco with Marcus. They didn't even include the Avengers issue where the damage was done, but instead used Chris Claremont's attempts to deal with the fallout of it. Still, this volume is worth reading. I must admit, while her next adventures as "Binary" don't interest me as much as her time as Ms. Marvel, and Captain Marvel, I am moderately interested to see where she went in the 80s. I don't really know of a good collection to do so except I guess to read Uncanny X-men from the era. Anyway, for the origins of a badass super lady, I say give this collection a go.
February 4, 2025
Interesting read that felt like it was trying to find itself but never really landed on solid ground. It introduced a fascinating character, but some of the stories feel rushed to a conclusion just to give it some action at the end. It wss a fun read but definitely wouldn't said it was a favorite. It is worth reading once though and seeing some of Carol Danvers original stories as a solo superhero, outside of the Avengers.
January 21, 2020
"Algunas mujeres prefieren que las protejan. Otras no. Algunos hombres prefieren ser el protector. Otros no. No tienes ningún derecho a imponerme un rol, igual que yo no lo tengo a imponértelo a ti. He luchado toda mi vida por tener la libertad de escoger la vida que quiero vivir, no quiero otra". (Diálogo entre Carol Danvers y Iron Man).
En la década de los setenta aparece el personaje de Ms. Marvel, una mujer poderosa, fuerte, independiente que nacía como reflejo de la realidad social del momento, en pleno movimiento feminista. En este contexto surge la idea de crear una superheroína feminista, alejada de los típicos roles conservadores de la época, o al menos esa era la idea.
Aunque estos cómics clásicos se caracterizan más por las aventuras que viven sus personajes que por la profundidad de la historia en sí, creo que en esta recopilación que se hace en este tomo se tratan varios aspectos muy interesantes. Por un lado, es inevitable ver en sus viñetas un retrato de la época en la que fue escrito y dibujado, a pesar de que intenta dar un punto liberal y de modernidad a la historia y a la protagonista, no deja de tener ese regustillo machista. Pese a algunos aspectos negativos que me han hecho arrugar la nariz en alguna que otra ocasión, el cómic me ha dejado en general un buen sabor de boca.
Este volumen relata los orígenes de Ms. Marvel, conoceremos como adquirió sus poderes y como Carol Danvers se ve obligada a adaptarse a una nueva vida. Tras haber trabajado en las fuerzas aéreas y haber sido jefa de seguridad de la N.A.S.A tiene que dejar su carrera y buscar otro empleo. Será contratada como directora de la revista “Woman” dando a la misma un enfoque totalmente distinto a lo esperado.
Carol Danvers experimentará una crisis de identidad, los acontecimientos que la obligaron a dejar su empleo en seguridad le han dejado secuelas, mareos, migrañas y una nueva personalidad…Ms. Marvel. Carol y Ms. Marvel tendrán una lucha interna muy interesante, dos mentes que coexisten en el mismo cuerpo, una dualidad constante, una búsqueda de identidad.
También quiero resaltar una introducción brillante incluida al principio de este tomo titulada "Bienvenidos a la casa del árbol" escrita por Gerry Conway, uno de los primeros guionistas del personaje. Conway reflexiona y se plantea de una forma bastante crítica lo que supuso para él guionizar una serie protagonizada por una superheroína femenina en una época en la que se había excluido a la mujer del mundo del cómic, ¿por qué no fue una mujer la que guionizó Ms. Marvel?, el propio guionista dice avergonzado <<éramos un club de chicos. Las chicas no contaban. Teníamos nuestros juguetes y no queríamos compartirlos>>.
Sólo me queda añadir que he disfrutado este cómic muchísimo y que voy a seguir de cerca los pasos de Carol Danvers.
En la década de los setenta aparece el personaje de Ms. Marvel, una mujer poderosa, fuerte, independiente que nacía como reflejo de la realidad social del momento, en pleno movimiento feminista. En este contexto surge la idea de crear una superheroína feminista, alejada de los típicos roles conservadores de la época, o al menos esa era la idea.
Aunque estos cómics clásicos se caracterizan más por las aventuras que viven sus personajes que por la profundidad de la historia en sí, creo que en esta recopilación que se hace en este tomo se tratan varios aspectos muy interesantes. Por un lado, es inevitable ver en sus viñetas un retrato de la época en la que fue escrito y dibujado, a pesar de que intenta dar un punto liberal y de modernidad a la historia y a la protagonista, no deja de tener ese regustillo machista. Pese a algunos aspectos negativos que me han hecho arrugar la nariz en alguna que otra ocasión, el cómic me ha dejado en general un buen sabor de boca.
Este volumen relata los orígenes de Ms. Marvel, conoceremos como adquirió sus poderes y como Carol Danvers se ve obligada a adaptarse a una nueva vida. Tras haber trabajado en las fuerzas aéreas y haber sido jefa de seguridad de la N.A.S.A tiene que dejar su carrera y buscar otro empleo. Será contratada como directora de la revista “Woman” dando a la misma un enfoque totalmente distinto a lo esperado.
Carol Danvers experimentará una crisis de identidad, los acontecimientos que la obligaron a dejar su empleo en seguridad le han dejado secuelas, mareos, migrañas y una nueva personalidad…Ms. Marvel. Carol y Ms. Marvel tendrán una lucha interna muy interesante, dos mentes que coexisten en el mismo cuerpo, una dualidad constante, una búsqueda de identidad.
También quiero resaltar una introducción brillante incluida al principio de este tomo titulada "Bienvenidos a la casa del árbol" escrita por Gerry Conway, uno de los primeros guionistas del personaje. Conway reflexiona y se plantea de una forma bastante crítica lo que supuso para él guionizar una serie protagonizada por una superheroína femenina en una época en la que se había excluido a la mujer del mundo del cómic, ¿por qué no fue una mujer la que guionizó Ms. Marvel?, el propio guionista dice avergonzado <<éramos un club de chicos. Las chicas no contaban. Teníamos nuestros juguetes y no queríamos compartirlos>>.
Sólo me queda añadir que he disfrutado este cómic muchísimo y que voy a seguir de cerca los pasos de Carol Danvers.
December 14, 2017
Pretty interesting collection. We got to see the first appearances of Mystique as well as appearances by Sabretooth, Tiger Shark, The Scorpion and more. Ironically, the issue with Sabretooth was fully completed but the series was canceled before it was published in the original run. If it had been published, it would have ended up a very valuable issue as it probably would have been the 2nd or 3rd Sabretooth appearance ever. But it remained unpublished until 1992, as well as another issue which seemed to have been half completed which was later finished with a new ending.
Overall it was a good read with at least decent art. If you're a fan of Bronze Age Marvel you'll probably enjoy this one.
Overall it was a good read with at least decent art. If you're a fan of Bronze Age Marvel you'll probably enjoy this one.
November 17, 2016
In 1976, Marvel Comics felt the time was right for another try at a overtly feminist superhero to appear in a solo book. (Their first stab was 1973’s The Cat, who became Tigra.) Someone, probably Gerry Conway, who would be the first writer on the series, remembered the existence of Carol Danvers, a supporting character in the Captain Marvel series who early on had had an experience that could be retconned into a superhero origin. The name was deliberately chosen to reference feminism, and the first issue had a cover date of January 1977.
Ms. Marvel’s backstory came out in bits and pieces over the course of the series, so I am going to reassemble it in in-story chronological order. Carol Danvers was a Boston, Massachusetts teenager who loved science fiction and wanted to become an astronaut and/or a writer. She was very athletic and whip-smart. Unfortunately, her father was a male chauvinist pig who felt that the most important thing for a young woman to do was marry a good man and have kids. (In his partial defense, this would have been in the Fifties.) He told Carol that he would not be paying for her to go to college, as the limited funds would be needed for her (not as bright but his dad’s favorite) brother’s education.
Carol pretended to have given up, and after graduating high school with honors, continued a part time job until her eighteenth birthday. At that point, without telling her family, she enlisted in the United States Air Force. Her father never forgave her for this defiance. Somehow Carol got into flight school and became an officer and one of the Air Force’s top jet pilots. Then she transferred into intelligence and became a top operative, partnering with her mentor/love interest Michael Rossi and rising to the rank of major. (At some point, her brother died in Vietnam.)
NASA recruited Major Danvers out of the Air Force to become their security chief at Cape Canaveral. While there, she became entangled in events surrounding Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior who became known to Earthlings as Captain Marvel. Carol was attracted to the mysterious hero, but that went nowhere as he already had a girlfriend. During a battle with his turncoat superior, Colonel Yon-Rogg, Mar-Vell saved Carol from exploding Kree supertechnology. At the time, no one noticed that the Psyche-Magnitron’s radiation had affected Ms. Danvers.
While the Mar-Vell mess wasn’t really Carol’s fault, she hadn’t covered herself in glory either, and her security career floundered. Between the time we last saw her in the Captain Marvel series and her own series, Carol had decided to try her other childhood dream and wrote a book about her experiences at NASA. (Apparently it was a bit of a “tell-all” as some at the agency are angry about it when they appear in this series.) She also began experiencing crippling headaches and lost time, and consulted psychiatrist Michael Barnett. Dr. Barnett was at a loss for a diagnosis but began falling in love with his client.
Which brings us to Ms. Marvel #1. An amnesiac woman in a “sexy” version of Captain Marvel’s costume (plus a long scarf that was a frequent combat weakness) suddenly appears in New York City to fight crime. She soon acquires the moniker of Ms. Marvel. At the same time, Carol Danvers has been tapped by J. Jonah Jameson to become the editor of Woman magazine, a supplement to his Daily Bugle newspaper. JJJ is depicted as being rather more sexist than in his Spider-Man appearances to better clash with Ms. Danvers over the direction the magazine should be taking.
Mary Jane Watson befriends the new woman in town (her friend Peter Parker appears briefly, but Spider-Man never does in this series.) But their bonding is cut short by another of Carol’s blackouts. Across town, the Scorpion, who has a long standing grudge against Jameson, has captured the publisher and is about to kill him when Ms. Marvel appears to save the day.
Eventually, it is discovered that Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel are the same person, but having different personalities due to Ms. Danvers being fused with Kree genes and having Kree military training implanted in her brain. Thanks to this, she has superhuman strength and durability, and a costume that appears “magically” and allows her to fly (until she absorbs that power herself.) From her human potential, Ms. Marvel has developed a “seventh sense” that gives her precognitive visions. Unfortunately, they’re not controllable and often make her vulnerable at critical moments.
Much later, the personalities are integrated as Carol learns to accept all of her possibilities. Ms. Marvel fights an assortment of villains, both borrowed from other series (even Dracula makes a cameo!) and new ones of her own, especially once Chris Claremont starts writing her. The most important is the mysterious shape-shifter Raven Darkhölme, who considers Carol Danvers her arch-enemy, even though they have never met. Carol doesn’t even have Raven on her radar!
In issue #19, Ms. Marvel finally meets up again with Mar-Vell for the first time since her transformation, her origin is finalized, and they part as friends. The next issue has Carol change her costume to one that looks much less like Mar-Vell’s. but is still pretty fanservice oriented (like a swimsuit with a sash, basically.) It’s considered her iconic look. Shortly thereafter, Carol is fired from Woman (she missed a lot of work) and Dr. Barnett starts getting pushy about advancing their romantic relationship.
And then the series was cancelled. Ms. Marvel was still appearing as a member of the Avengers team, but that was about to change as well.
In the now notorious Avengers #200 (not reprinted in this volume), Carol Danvers is suddenly pregnant despite not having been in a relationship in some time. The pregnancy is hyperfast, and the baby is delivered within 24 hours. The child, Marcus, rapidly ages to young adulthood and explains that he is the son of time traveler Immortus, who’s been stuck in the Limbo dimension all his life. In order to escape, he had brought Ms. Marvel to Limbo, and seduced her with the aid of “machines” so that he could implant his “essence” inside her. He then erased her memories of these events and sent her back to Earth so that Marcus could be born within the timestream.
Marcus’ presence is causing a timestorm, and a device he is building only seems to make the storm worse, so Hawkeye destroys it. Sadly, it turns out the device was meant to “fix” Marcus so that he would not be detected as an anomaly, and without it, Marcus must return to Limbo. Ms. Marvel volunteers to go back with him, because she is now in love with the man and wants to stay with him forever. None of the other Avengers find this the least bit suspicious, and it’s treated as a happy ending for the character.
But come Avengers Annual #10, which is in this volume, Chris Claremont got the chance to respond to that. Raven Darkhölme had since been revealed as Mystique, leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants One of the Brotherhood, Rogue, ambushes Carol Danvers in San Francisco, where Ms. Danvers has been living incognito. Rogue is a power parasite, able to steal the abilities and memories of her prey. Still clumsy with her powers, Rogue steals Ms. Marvel’s powers and memories permanently; attempting to hide the results, she dumps the victim off a bridge.
Spider-Woman just happens to be nearby and rescues the amnesiac Carol. The arachnid hero then calls in Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men to assist in figuring out what happened. Professor X is able to restore many of Carol’s memories from her subconscious, but not all of the emotional connections.
Meanwhile, the Avengers battle the Brotherhood, which is trying to break some of its members out of prison. Once that’s settled, they go to meet Carol. She explains that Marcus made a fatal mistake in his calculations. By being born on Earth, he’d not made himself native to the timestream, but he had made himself out of synch with Limbo. Thus the rapid aging he’d used to make himself an adult on Earth couldn’t be turned off, and he was dead within a week. This freed Carol from the brainwashing, and she was able to figure out just enough of the time travel tech to get home. And then Carol rips into the Avengers for not even suspecting there was something wrong. Once freed of the brainwashing, she recognized the rape for what it was and didn’t want anything to do with those who had condoned it. Chastened, the Avengers leave.
(One bizarre bit is that Carol Danvers is established as being 29. Nope. Sorry, not even if she got promoted first time every time in her military career. She’d be a minimum of 32 by the time she made major, was in that rank for at least a few years, and then there’s her next two careers.)
The volume also contains the Ms. Marvel stories from Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11, which have the plotlines originally intended for issues #24 & 25 of the series. Here we learn that Mystique’s grudge against Ms. Marvel was caused by a self-fulfilling prophecy that Rogue meeting Carol Danvers would cost Rogue her soul/life. As Mystique had adopted Rogue as a daughter, she felt that the best way to protect the power parasite was to kill Ms. Marvel in advance. The last few pages are obviously drastically rewritten to have Carol vanish from the timestream (and thus invisible to precognition) for a while before returning and the plot of Annual #10 kicking in.
After the issues published in this volume, Carol Danvers went through several different name and power set changes, before becoming the current Captain Marvel. She’s scheduled for a movie in the relatively near future.
Good bits: Lots of exciting action sequences, and some decent art by Marvel notables like John Buscema and Dave Cockrum. (Have to say though that Michael Golden’s art looks much less good without color.) Despite some clumsiness at the beginning, Claremont does a good job with Carol’s characterization, peaking with her interactions with the mutated lizards known as The People.
Less good bits: Carol’s costumes are clearly designed with the male audience in mind, rather than any kind of practicality. Many male characters seem to feel obliged to use words like “dame” and “broad” much more than they came up in conversation even back in the Seventies. Male (and male-ish) villains seem to default to trying to mind-control Ms. Marvel into serving them–this is one reason why Marcus succeeding at it jars so badly. And Dr. Barnett suddenly getting so pushy about the relationship and his plans to convince Carol to give up being Ms. Marvel seems off-and we would never have found out why as he was scheduled to be murdered in the next issue.
Most recommended to fans of the current Captain Marvel series who want to see where the character came from; other Marvel Comics fans might want to check it out from the library.
Ms. Marvel’s backstory came out in bits and pieces over the course of the series, so I am going to reassemble it in in-story chronological order. Carol Danvers was a Boston, Massachusetts teenager who loved science fiction and wanted to become an astronaut and/or a writer. She was very athletic and whip-smart. Unfortunately, her father was a male chauvinist pig who felt that the most important thing for a young woman to do was marry a good man and have kids. (In his partial defense, this would have been in the Fifties.) He told Carol that he would not be paying for her to go to college, as the limited funds would be needed for her (not as bright but his dad’s favorite) brother’s education.
Carol pretended to have given up, and after graduating high school with honors, continued a part time job until her eighteenth birthday. At that point, without telling her family, she enlisted in the United States Air Force. Her father never forgave her for this defiance. Somehow Carol got into flight school and became an officer and one of the Air Force’s top jet pilots. Then she transferred into intelligence and became a top operative, partnering with her mentor/love interest Michael Rossi and rising to the rank of major. (At some point, her brother died in Vietnam.)
NASA recruited Major Danvers out of the Air Force to become their security chief at Cape Canaveral. While there, she became entangled in events surrounding Mar-Vell, the Kree warrior who became known to Earthlings as Captain Marvel. Carol was attracted to the mysterious hero, but that went nowhere as he already had a girlfriend. During a battle with his turncoat superior, Colonel Yon-Rogg, Mar-Vell saved Carol from exploding Kree supertechnology. At the time, no one noticed that the Psyche-Magnitron’s radiation had affected Ms. Danvers.
While the Mar-Vell mess wasn’t really Carol’s fault, she hadn’t covered herself in glory either, and her security career floundered. Between the time we last saw her in the Captain Marvel series and her own series, Carol had decided to try her other childhood dream and wrote a book about her experiences at NASA. (Apparently it was a bit of a “tell-all” as some at the agency are angry about it when they appear in this series.) She also began experiencing crippling headaches and lost time, and consulted psychiatrist Michael Barnett. Dr. Barnett was at a loss for a diagnosis but began falling in love with his client.
Which brings us to Ms. Marvel #1. An amnesiac woman in a “sexy” version of Captain Marvel’s costume (plus a long scarf that was a frequent combat weakness) suddenly appears in New York City to fight crime. She soon acquires the moniker of Ms. Marvel. At the same time, Carol Danvers has been tapped by J. Jonah Jameson to become the editor of Woman magazine, a supplement to his Daily Bugle newspaper. JJJ is depicted as being rather more sexist than in his Spider-Man appearances to better clash with Ms. Danvers over the direction the magazine should be taking.
Mary Jane Watson befriends the new woman in town (her friend Peter Parker appears briefly, but Spider-Man never does in this series.) But their bonding is cut short by another of Carol’s blackouts. Across town, the Scorpion, who has a long standing grudge against Jameson, has captured the publisher and is about to kill him when Ms. Marvel appears to save the day.
Eventually, it is discovered that Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel are the same person, but having different personalities due to Ms. Danvers being fused with Kree genes and having Kree military training implanted in her brain. Thanks to this, she has superhuman strength and durability, and a costume that appears “magically” and allows her to fly (until she absorbs that power herself.) From her human potential, Ms. Marvel has developed a “seventh sense” that gives her precognitive visions. Unfortunately, they’re not controllable and often make her vulnerable at critical moments.
Much later, the personalities are integrated as Carol learns to accept all of her possibilities. Ms. Marvel fights an assortment of villains, both borrowed from other series (even Dracula makes a cameo!) and new ones of her own, especially once Chris Claremont starts writing her. The most important is the mysterious shape-shifter Raven Darkhölme, who considers Carol Danvers her arch-enemy, even though they have never met. Carol doesn’t even have Raven on her radar!
In issue #19, Ms. Marvel finally meets up again with Mar-Vell for the first time since her transformation, her origin is finalized, and they part as friends. The next issue has Carol change her costume to one that looks much less like Mar-Vell’s. but is still pretty fanservice oriented (like a swimsuit with a sash, basically.) It’s considered her iconic look. Shortly thereafter, Carol is fired from Woman (she missed a lot of work) and Dr. Barnett starts getting pushy about advancing their romantic relationship.
And then the series was cancelled. Ms. Marvel was still appearing as a member of the Avengers team, but that was about to change as well.
In the now notorious Avengers #200 (not reprinted in this volume), Carol Danvers is suddenly pregnant despite not having been in a relationship in some time. The pregnancy is hyperfast, and the baby is delivered within 24 hours. The child, Marcus, rapidly ages to young adulthood and explains that he is the son of time traveler Immortus, who’s been stuck in the Limbo dimension all his life. In order to escape, he had brought Ms. Marvel to Limbo, and seduced her with the aid of “machines” so that he could implant his “essence” inside her. He then erased her memories of these events and sent her back to Earth so that Marcus could be born within the timestream.
Marcus’ presence is causing a timestorm, and a device he is building only seems to make the storm worse, so Hawkeye destroys it. Sadly, it turns out the device was meant to “fix” Marcus so that he would not be detected as an anomaly, and without it, Marcus must return to Limbo. Ms. Marvel volunteers to go back with him, because she is now in love with the man and wants to stay with him forever. None of the other Avengers find this the least bit suspicious, and it’s treated as a happy ending for the character.
But come Avengers Annual #10, which is in this volume, Chris Claremont got the chance to respond to that. Raven Darkhölme had since been revealed as Mystique, leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants One of the Brotherhood, Rogue, ambushes Carol Danvers in San Francisco, where Ms. Danvers has been living incognito. Rogue is a power parasite, able to steal the abilities and memories of her prey. Still clumsy with her powers, Rogue steals Ms. Marvel’s powers and memories permanently; attempting to hide the results, she dumps the victim off a bridge.
Spider-Woman just happens to be nearby and rescues the amnesiac Carol. The arachnid hero then calls in Professor Charles Xavier of the X-Men to assist in figuring out what happened. Professor X is able to restore many of Carol’s memories from her subconscious, but not all of the emotional connections.
Meanwhile, the Avengers battle the Brotherhood, which is trying to break some of its members out of prison. Once that’s settled, they go to meet Carol. She explains that Marcus made a fatal mistake in his calculations. By being born on Earth, he’d not made himself native to the timestream, but he had made himself out of synch with Limbo. Thus the rapid aging he’d used to make himself an adult on Earth couldn’t be turned off, and he was dead within a week. This freed Carol from the brainwashing, and she was able to figure out just enough of the time travel tech to get home. And then Carol rips into the Avengers for not even suspecting there was something wrong. Once freed of the brainwashing, she recognized the rape for what it was and didn’t want anything to do with those who had condoned it. Chastened, the Avengers leave.
(One bizarre bit is that Carol Danvers is established as being 29. Nope. Sorry, not even if she got promoted first time every time in her military career. She’d be a minimum of 32 by the time she made major, was in that rank for at least a few years, and then there’s her next two careers.)
The volume also contains the Ms. Marvel stories from Marvel Super-Heroes Magazine #10-11, which have the plotlines originally intended for issues #24 & 25 of the series. Here we learn that Mystique’s grudge against Ms. Marvel was caused by a self-fulfilling prophecy that Rogue meeting Carol Danvers would cost Rogue her soul/life. As Mystique had adopted Rogue as a daughter, she felt that the best way to protect the power parasite was to kill Ms. Marvel in advance. The last few pages are obviously drastically rewritten to have Carol vanish from the timestream (and thus invisible to precognition) for a while before returning and the plot of Annual #10 kicking in.
After the issues published in this volume, Carol Danvers went through several different name and power set changes, before becoming the current Captain Marvel. She’s scheduled for a movie in the relatively near future.
Good bits: Lots of exciting action sequences, and some decent art by Marvel notables like John Buscema and Dave Cockrum. (Have to say though that Michael Golden’s art looks much less good without color.) Despite some clumsiness at the beginning, Claremont does a good job with Carol’s characterization, peaking with her interactions with the mutated lizards known as The People.
Less good bits: Carol’s costumes are clearly designed with the male audience in mind, rather than any kind of practicality. Many male characters seem to feel obliged to use words like “dame” and “broad” much more than they came up in conversation even back in the Seventies. Male (and male-ish) villains seem to default to trying to mind-control Ms. Marvel into serving them–this is one reason why Marcus succeeding at it jars so badly. And Dr. Barnett suddenly getting so pushy about the relationship and his plans to convince Carol to give up being Ms. Marvel seems off-and we would never have found out why as he was scheduled to be murdered in the next issue.
Most recommended to fans of the current Captain Marvel series who want to see where the character came from; other Marvel Comics fans might want to check it out from the library.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2020
This one was a really quick read, for some reason. I remember the debut issue, coming out in early-October 1976. Her outfit with its exposed belly & navel as well as her Farrah hairdo are all relics of the times. So are J. Jonah Jameson's expectations for her as editor of a women's magazine that he wants to be more "Good Housekeeping" while she envisions "Ms." The past is a foreign land, indeed. The collection ends with a reprint of Avengers Annual #10 which winds up in the aftermath of Carol Danvers'/Ms. Marvel's encounter with Rogue & her rescue by Spider-Woman. No spoilers, but while Jim Shooter disavows having written the distasteful storyline of Avengers #'s 197 to 200, he remains culpable. The book closes with Carol Danvers, a character I have now been with for several weeks, having read Essential CAPT Marvel Vols. 1 & 2 before this, confronting her former Avenger teammates on their lack of compassion in her time of need. I suppose that it brought closure, but I was left with a sense of the maudlin as I closed the back cover of this collection.
April 15, 2024
This is Claremont's Carol Danvers, who, as set up by Gerry Conway, finds herself out of Air Force securtity and working for a new Women's magazine under the auspicies of JJJ's Daily Bugle? She eventually reconciles her human and new Kree sides to become the Ms. Marvel we know, just in time to meet up with Rogue.
Don't be bothered by costume changes that include complete changes of hair length and style. It's the 1970s!
Don't be bothered by costume changes that include complete changes of hair length and style. It's the 1970s!
January 19, 2017
Well, they definitely saved the best for last with Marvel Super-Heroes #11 or Ms. Marvel #25. That is by the best issue and is worth all the buildup. As for the rest, it's inconsistent. At times it's feminist and interesting, and at time it's chauvinist and ridicules. The first few pages are great, until you realize that they turned her into a combination of Captain Mar-Vell and Spider-Man (I mean her best friend is Mary Jane and she works for the Daily Bugel and she has Mar-Vell's costume in its "feminine version"). As her terrible personality/power problem is resolved, her story gets better. Occasionally she deals with feminist issues of her time, chauvinism in the work place, how society views women, expectations and from women and more. and occasionally she needs a diet, shopping makes her feel better and she dates her psychiatrists and one of her employees at the same time. As for her villains, well, again they saved the best for last. Although the ending is a bit abrupt and a little under developed.
December 17, 2014
I almost didn't read this because it was so big...and in black and white…and from the 70s. But I gave it a go and really enjoyed it. After only reading the more recent Ms. Marvel series, it was interesting to see her origin and the struggles she went through after first receiving her powers. This included some story lines outside of the Ms. Marvel comic, and I think there was some important information missing leading up to her showdown with Rogue....but overall, still a very good read.
July 15, 2014
Fantastic! Like many older comics, it really picked up close to the end of its run. Definitely for fans of Carol Danvers, Captain Marvel, and of 70s comics. It was pretty amazing for its time and revolutionary in regards to a strong female lead with a relatively diverse cast (for the time).
March 23, 2018
This book collects the entire Miss Marvel series from the 1970s (1-23) along with two previously unpublished stories that were released with Marvel Superheroes Magazine #10 and #11 in the 1990s, and Avenger Annual #10. While Carol Danvers had been introduced in 1968, this book really marks her heroic beginnings as Miss Marvel.
Throughout the book, Miss Marvel is a battler, having the knowledge of a Kree Warrior. The character was introduced when seventeen page issues had become the norm and this leads to some tight and exciting battles. My favorite stories in here are found towards the back of the book. Issues 17 and 18 have her dealing with a murderous plot involing SHIELD and the Avengers. Issue 19 sees Ronan the Accuser trying to take her and Captain Marvel back to the Kree homeworld in a good team up. In Issue 20, she gets a new (much better) costume and begins a two part story involving sentient lizards in the desert. The story in Marvel Superheroes #11 shows how she began investigating the death of a friend and ultimately ran into the then villainous Rogue and Mystique and lost her powers and memories to them. Avengers Annual #10 is a great story about the Avengers having to fight Rogue, but Miss Marvel's main role in this is as the inciting character and to chew the Avengers out over something they did in an issue not collected in this book.
The biggest challenge with this book is the character of Miss Marvel and Carol Danvers. Probably the main point of sympathy is her relationship with her dad, class A chauvinist who won't accept that she can do anything and when she was younger refused to pay for her college because he was spending all the college savings on her brother. Beyond that, the writers tried to give her some feelings of duality for the first dozen issues. But beyond that, she comes close to becoming an example of the "Strong, Independent Woman" archetype that replaced the damsel in distress...and is just about as interesting. In the first issue, she's hired on to edit a magazine for J. Jonah Jameson, says in the interview that she'll ignore the his vision of the magazine and edit the thing her way. She bulldozes him so that Jameson gives her the pay rate she demands to run the magazine the opposite of how he actually wants it run. Again, this is J. Jonah Jameson.
To be clear, the stories are all good fun, if you're looking for some fine comic action. The writing is by Gerry Conway (for the first three issues) and then by Chris Claremon, two comic book legends. The art is all competently done. This book will give you some fun action. If you're looking for a deeper and more well-rounded female character, however, you'd do better to check out Spider-woman and She-hulk books that came out a few years later.
Throughout the book, Miss Marvel is a battler, having the knowledge of a Kree Warrior. The character was introduced when seventeen page issues had become the norm and this leads to some tight and exciting battles. My favorite stories in here are found towards the back of the book. Issues 17 and 18 have her dealing with a murderous plot involing SHIELD and the Avengers. Issue 19 sees Ronan the Accuser trying to take her and Captain Marvel back to the Kree homeworld in a good team up. In Issue 20, she gets a new (much better) costume and begins a two part story involving sentient lizards in the desert. The story in Marvel Superheroes #11 shows how she began investigating the death of a friend and ultimately ran into the then villainous Rogue and Mystique and lost her powers and memories to them. Avengers Annual #10 is a great story about the Avengers having to fight Rogue, but Miss Marvel's main role in this is as the inciting character and to chew the Avengers out over something they did in an issue not collected in this book.
The biggest challenge with this book is the character of Miss Marvel and Carol Danvers. Probably the main point of sympathy is her relationship with her dad, class A chauvinist who won't accept that she can do anything and when she was younger refused to pay for her college because he was spending all the college savings on her brother. Beyond that, the writers tried to give her some feelings of duality for the first dozen issues. But beyond that, she comes close to becoming an example of the "Strong, Independent Woman" archetype that replaced the damsel in distress...and is just about as interesting. In the first issue, she's hired on to edit a magazine for J. Jonah Jameson, says in the interview that she'll ignore the his vision of the magazine and edit the thing her way. She bulldozes him so that Jameson gives her the pay rate she demands to run the magazine the opposite of how he actually wants it run. Again, this is J. Jonah Jameson.
To be clear, the stories are all good fun, if you're looking for some fine comic action. The writing is by Gerry Conway (for the first three issues) and then by Chris Claremon, two comic book legends. The art is all competently done. This book will give you some fun action. If you're looking for a deeper and more well-rounded female character, however, you'd do better to check out Spider-woman and She-hulk books that came out a few years later.
July 3, 2025
Ohhhh boy.... this book is all over the place. I think it is clear from his issues that Gerry Conway wanted that of split being in one body dynamic. Because Mar-Vell but only a woman. It is clear from his first few issues that Chris Claremont did not... but again... he initially was scripting over plots by Conway. Claremont taking over as writer AND plotter was a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it made Ms. Marvel a truly distinctive character. In the 70s Claremont was developing a reputation as the guy you go to if you want to fix a broken series. He had done it with X-Men. Yes, Len Wein started it but even the excitement died down shortly after it started. It was Claremont who finished the construction job as it were. He had done it with Iron Fist, and Luke Cage Power Man.
The problem with Ms. Marvel is that reading it is an adult.... it is clear that the editors had a direction they wanted to go and Claremont had another. You can almost hear the arguments between them in the dialogue of the book. Hell, it's hard not to read J. Jonah Jameson as Marvel management and Carol Danvers as Claremont. It ALMOST works.... since it was book of about one looking for herself, her identity and reason for being outside of Mar-vell, being told in a series of stories that lack a sense of identity or reason for being. It is ironic that as Claremont started to clearly WIN the battle and these stories written by Chris Claremont started to feel like stories by Chris Claremont that the series begins to sorta fall apart and lose itself.
But the Avengers Annual... oh man. That seems like a brutal 80-page slap to the face to every writer to handle Carol between the end of her solo series and the publication of that annual. It would almost seem mean spirited... if it weren't absolutely correct.
The problem with Ms. Marvel is that reading it is an adult.... it is clear that the editors had a direction they wanted to go and Claremont had another. You can almost hear the arguments between them in the dialogue of the book. Hell, it's hard not to read J. Jonah Jameson as Marvel management and Carol Danvers as Claremont. It ALMOST works.... since it was book of about one looking for herself, her identity and reason for being outside of Mar-vell, being told in a series of stories that lack a sense of identity or reason for being. It is ironic that as Claremont started to clearly WIN the battle and these stories written by Chris Claremont started to feel like stories by Chris Claremont that the series begins to sorta fall apart and lose itself.
But the Avengers Annual... oh man. That seems like a brutal 80-page slap to the face to every writer to handle Carol between the end of her solo series and the publication of that annual. It would almost seem mean spirited... if it weren't absolutely correct.
February 10, 2019
Really interesting. I can't stand Jameson...
March 24, 2019
An excellent look at the early heroics of Carol Danvers.
March 17, 2012
When I picked this up I really had no idea what to expect, I was only mildly familiar with Ms Marvel. I mostly knew of her from how she ties in with Rogue of the X-men and from her appearances in various video games. So, like I said I wasn't sure what to expect.
What I found was pleasantly surprising. The series starts in the late 70's and comes off as a very obvious response to cultural impact of the woman's lib movement. Now, I know nothing of the various authors intents so I don't know if this was a simple cynical attempt for what appeared to be a new market (strong willed woman) or if it was a sincere attempt to have a strong independent woman. Regardless of intent I'd say Carol Danvers for the most part comes off amazingly strong and independent and it's nice to see that in a super hero comic.
There were a few moments that made me grown. For most of the book she has some sort of male companion, although even there the men mostly seem more into her than she is into them. One of them even seems hellbent on getting her to marry him and settle down, giving up her independence both as Carl Danvers AND as Ms. Marvel. I was actually very interested in seeing where that went and how the writers were going to deal with her reaction to that in the late 70's, but sadly the male character in question was killed off before that plot line could be developed.
It was interesting seeing how other super heroes/villains reacted to her. There was a lot of almost vaudevillian shock that a woman was kicking so much ass. From my perspective, living in the world I live in now, it really made the villains seem all that much villainous and the heroes seem all that much more flawed, but I wonder how much of that was intended when it was written?
Feminist critics aside, I'd say if this "essential" volume has any real holes in it it's that her Carol Danvers/Ms Marvels story wasn't quite complete. I really wish it would have included the issues of Captain Marvel where Carol Danvers was introduced and especially the issues that involved her gaining her powers. Such a big part of this character seems to be the almost genre breaking way she both has and doesn't have a secret identity, and because of that I think her characters life before she was Ms Marvel proper would have been nice to have here.
And I do think she she different than other marvel super heroes when it comes to whether she has a secret identity or not. Most marvel heroes are either always the same character (such as the mutant characters, regardless of if they are in costume or not wolverine and cyclops are still the same person) or they have a very clear duel personality (like Iron Man or Spider Man, who completely separate lives when not in costume with separate stories going on mostly unrelated to superheroing). But Carol Danvers IS different. At first she literally is two different people but over time she, again literally, comes to realize she is one person. Ms Marvel is not Carol Danvers in a custom, and Carol Danvers is not MS. Marvel when not using her powers.
Now that I'm at the end of this review I'll be honest, I mostly picked this up not cause I wanted to know about the character per say but because I thought her outfit is hot. I was very surprised to find a female character who's story and character was independent and awesome enough that by the time she got the hot outfit I no longer cared what she was wearing, I cared about HER and her struggles.
What I found was pleasantly surprising. The series starts in the late 70's and comes off as a very obvious response to cultural impact of the woman's lib movement. Now, I know nothing of the various authors intents so I don't know if this was a simple cynical attempt for what appeared to be a new market (strong willed woman) or if it was a sincere attempt to have a strong independent woman. Regardless of intent I'd say Carol Danvers for the most part comes off amazingly strong and independent and it's nice to see that in a super hero comic.
There were a few moments that made me grown. For most of the book she has some sort of male companion, although even there the men mostly seem more into her than she is into them. One of them even seems hellbent on getting her to marry him and settle down, giving up her independence both as Carl Danvers AND as Ms. Marvel. I was actually very interested in seeing where that went and how the writers were going to deal with her reaction to that in the late 70's, but sadly the male character in question was killed off before that plot line could be developed.
It was interesting seeing how other super heroes/villains reacted to her. There was a lot of almost vaudevillian shock that a woman was kicking so much ass. From my perspective, living in the world I live in now, it really made the villains seem all that much villainous and the heroes seem all that much more flawed, but I wonder how much of that was intended when it was written?
Feminist critics aside, I'd say if this "essential" volume has any real holes in it it's that her Carol Danvers/Ms Marvels story wasn't quite complete. I really wish it would have included the issues of Captain Marvel where Carol Danvers was introduced and especially the issues that involved her gaining her powers. Such a big part of this character seems to be the almost genre breaking way she both has and doesn't have a secret identity, and because of that I think her characters life before she was Ms Marvel proper would have been nice to have here.
And I do think she she different than other marvel super heroes when it comes to whether she has a secret identity or not. Most marvel heroes are either always the same character (such as the mutant characters, regardless of if they are in costume or not wolverine and cyclops are still the same person) or they have a very clear duel personality (like Iron Man or Spider Man, who completely separate lives when not in costume with separate stories going on mostly unrelated to superheroing). But Carol Danvers IS different. At first she literally is two different people but over time she, again literally, comes to realize she is one person. Ms Marvel is not Carol Danvers in a custom, and Carol Danvers is not MS. Marvel when not using her powers.
Now that I'm at the end of this review I'll be honest, I mostly picked this up not cause I wanted to know about the character per say but because I thought her outfit is hot. I was very surprised to find a female character who's story and character was independent and awesome enough that by the time she got the hot outfit I no longer cared what she was wearing, I cared about HER and her struggles.
October 9, 2013
i make no bones about it: i am a fan of old fashioned superhero comics.
thought balloons and expository captions - these are what make comics unique and fun.
as the bulk of this is written by chris claremont i am even happier.
i like chris.
lots of solid superhero stuff.
the odd balance between carol danver's life as an editor of a women's magazine (after being an air force test pilot and security specialist) and her duties as a superhero. while most of the art remains workmanlike what it does do is tell the story.
it is one of those series where they never quite managed to figure out what to do with the tone of the stories or the direction of them.
the last couple of issues are rushed in a way that looks like claremont just wanted to tie it all up so you knew what was supposed to happen in the never published issues.
because it is claremont it features the x-men - but you guessed that.
i am sure lots of people would disagree with a four star review but i am a sucker for the marvel and dc 'phone book' collections and i can't help enjoying basic superhero stuff.
thought balloons and expository captions - these are what make comics unique and fun.
as the bulk of this is written by chris claremont i am even happier.
i like chris.
lots of solid superhero stuff.
the odd balance between carol danver's life as an editor of a women's magazine (after being an air force test pilot and security specialist) and her duties as a superhero. while most of the art remains workmanlike what it does do is tell the story.
it is one of those series where they never quite managed to figure out what to do with the tone of the stories or the direction of them.
the last couple of issues are rushed in a way that looks like claremont just wanted to tie it all up so you knew what was supposed to happen in the never published issues.
because it is claremont it features the x-men - but you guessed that.
i am sure lots of people would disagree with a four star review but i am a sucker for the marvel and dc 'phone book' collections and i can't help enjoying basic superhero stuff.
February 19, 2014
What a surprise find!
It tries to be a feminist book, and I think it almost succeeds. I like that Carol Danvers is a magazine editor of "Woman" magazine, that all the characters in the office have their delicately painted storylines, as Carol tries to keep the peace and be a superhero in her spare time. It's engaging exposition.
And the action is pretty good too. Chris Claremont took over this character almost right away, and he's an expert at finding villains/sorta villains with tortured backstories, where they don't necessarily want to be heroes, but they have no choice in their head but to be villain. One villain in particular, Deathbird, a killer girl with wings, has some beautiful panels of flying and punching.
And then there is a surprise twist at the end of the volume that changes the character entirely. In general, this was a very exciting and somewhat original way to squeeze a new flying/fighting hero in the late '70s.
Art by John Buscema, Jim Mooney, and people who seemed to mimic Mooney's style, did not hurt at all.
It tries to be a feminist book, and I think it almost succeeds. I like that Carol Danvers is a magazine editor of "Woman" magazine, that all the characters in the office have their delicately painted storylines, as Carol tries to keep the peace and be a superhero in her spare time. It's engaging exposition.
And the action is pretty good too. Chris Claremont took over this character almost right away, and he's an expert at finding villains/sorta villains with tortured backstories, where they don't necessarily want to be heroes, but they have no choice in their head but to be villain. One villain in particular, Deathbird, a killer girl with wings, has some beautiful panels of flying and punching.
And then there is a surprise twist at the end of the volume that changes the character entirely. In general, this was a very exciting and somewhat original way to squeeze a new flying/fighting hero in the late '70s.
Art by John Buscema, Jim Mooney, and people who seemed to mimic Mooney's style, did not hurt at all.
April 14, 2013
The origins of the kree/human heroine is one of the lesser celebrated of Marvel's history, yet, after reading this volume, it's one that is exciting, often moving, sometimes silly, occasionally breathtaking and, ultimately poignant and emotionally devastating, showing personal cost and the failing and betrayal of the untouchable superteam.
The early friendship with MJ had promise that could have been more fully utilised and who doesn't want to see more J.J Jameson, but this is a portrayal of an ultimately strong female hero with a complete life and story, making Carol Danvers' confrontation with The Avengers all the more heartbreaking.
Claremont proves what a great writer he was and, while the art is a bit of a mixed bag, it tells the story.
This is a vital and highly recommended work.
The early friendship with MJ had promise that could have been more fully utilised and who doesn't want to see more J.J Jameson, but this is a portrayal of an ultimately strong female hero with a complete life and story, making Carol Danvers' confrontation with The Avengers all the more heartbreaking.
Claremont proves what a great writer he was and, while the art is a bit of a mixed bag, it tells the story.
This is a vital and highly recommended work.
March 5, 2023
Great Marvel Readthrough, pt 18
Cliché and derivative (even for a comic book) plotlines, nearly as many pencilers as there were issues, B- and C-list villians from other Marvel titles, initial appearances from Mystique that never go anywhere, and...um...Chris Claremont.
Certainly not the best title I've read, but not the worst either.
When it's on-point, it's a lot of fun; too bad it's rarely on-point.
Cliché and derivative (even for a comic book) plotlines, nearly as many pencilers as there were issues, B- and C-list villians from other Marvel titles, initial appearances from Mystique that never go anywhere, and...um...Chris Claremont.
Certainly not the best title I've read, but not the worst either.
When it's on-point, it's a lot of fun; too bad it's rarely on-point.
May 26, 2016
The start of Ms Marvel. At first, she has no idea she is turning into Ms Marvel, and Ms Marvel doesn't know she is Carol. This gives a nice twist to the storyline. Initially she does seem emotionally dependent on men, but after a while that changes and she becomes the Carol we know. There's some decent stories, and having Carol be a magazine editor is a nice touch. A really good read.
August 20, 2017
All of the strengths and weakness of Claremont's writings, with the unfortunate addition of a confusing ending due to cancellations and chronological confusion.
March 31, 2019
The Ms. Marvel series from the 70's wasted no time establishing itself within the shared continuity. From some of Spider-Man's supporting cast and villains to ties to the Avengers, this book had a nice pace and rhythm.
January 14, 2010
One of the best overall Essential volumes I have read.
June 27, 2013
Super fun!
October 4, 2016
I must have more carol danvers.
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews