{"id":27573,"date":"2023-02-19T09:00:30","date_gmt":"2023-02-19T09:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=27573"},"modified":"2023-02-17T18:57:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-17T18:57:55","slug":"captain-marvel-by-jim-starlin-the-complete-collection-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/02\/19\/captain-marvel-by-jim-starlin-the-complete-collection-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"
\nBy Jim Starlin<\/strong>, Mike Friedrich<\/strong>, Steve Gerber<\/strong>, Steve Englehart<\/strong> & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-1-30290-017-5<\/p>\n

50 YEARS!! It\u2019s been five decades since this tale was first told! If you don\u2019t know why, you have a real treat in store\u2026<\/p>\n

As much as I\u2019d love to claim that Marvel\u2019s fortunes are solely built on the works of Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, I\u2019m just not able to. Whereas I can safely avow that without them the modern monolith would not exist, it is also necessary to acknowledge the vital role played by a second generation of creators of the early 1970s. Marvel\u2019s eager welcome to fresh, new, often untried talent paid huge dividends in creativity and – most importantly at a time of industry contraction – resulted in new sales and the retention of a readership that was growing away from traditional comics fare. Best of all, these newcomers spoke with a narrative voice far closer to that of its rebellious audience\u2026<\/p>\n

One of the most successful of these newcomers was Jim Starlin. As well as the topical and groundbreaking Master of Kung Fu<\/strong> – co-created with his equally gifted confederates Steve Englehart & Al Milgrom – Starlin\u2019s earliest success was the epic of cosmic odyssey compiled here.<\/p>\n

Captain Marvel<\/strong> was an alien on Earth, a defector from the militaristic Kree. He fought for Earth and was atomically bonded to professional sidekick Rick Jones<\/em> by a pair of wristbands allowing them to share the same space in our universe. When one was here, the other was trapped in the antimatter dimension designated the Negative Zone<\/em>.<\/p>\n

After meandering around the Marvel Universe for a while, continually one step ahead of cancellation (the series had folded many times, but always quickly returned – primarily to secure the all-important Trademark name), Mar-Vell<\/em> was handed to Starlin – and the young artist was left alone to get on with it.<\/p>\n

With many of his fellow neophytes, he began laying seeds (particularly in Iron Man<\/strong>, Sub-Mariner <\/strong>and Daredevil<\/strong>) <\/strong>for a saga that would in many ways become as well-regarded as the Jack Kirby Fourth World Trilogy<\/strong> that inspired it. However, the Thanos War, despite many superficial similarities, would soon develop into a uniquely modern experience. And what it lacked in grandeur, it made up for with sheer energy and enthusiasm\u2026<\/p>\n

This epic compendium gathers and collates Iron Man<\/strong> #55, Captain Marvel<\/strong> #25-34, Marvel Feature<\/strong> #12 and pertinent extracts from Daredevil<\/strong> #105. It collectively spanning February 1973 to September 1974, and concludes with the landmark Marvel Graphic Novel<\/strong> #1 from 1982: thus re-presenting Starlin\u2019s entire input into the legend of the Kree Protector of the Universe and one of the company\u2019s most popular and oft-reprinted sagas.<\/p>\n

The artistic iconoclasm began in Iron Man<\/strong> #55 (February 1973) where Mike Friedrich scripted Starlin\u2019s opening gambit in a cosmic epic that would change the nature of Marvel itself.<\/p>\n

Inked by Mike Esposito, \u2018<\/em>Beware\u2026 Beware… Beware the\u2026 Blood Brothers!\u2019 <\/em>introduces formidable and obsessive Drax the Destroyer<\/strong>: an immensely powerful apparent alien trapped under the Nevada desert and in dire need of rescue thanks to the wiles of even more potent extraterrestrial invader Thanos<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

That comes when the Armoured Avenger blazes in, answering a mysterious SOS, but only after brutally dealing with the secret invader\u2019s deadly underlings\u2026<\/p>\n

All this is merely a prelude to the main story which begins unfolding a month later in Captain Marvel<\/strong> #25, courtesy of Friedrich, Starlin, & Chic Stone wherein Thanos unleashes \u2018A Taste of Madness!\u2019 <\/em>and exiles Mar-Vell\u2019s fortunes change forever\u2026<\/p>\n

When ambushed by a pack of extraterrestrials, Mar-Vell is forced to admit that his powers have been in decline for some time. Unaware that an unseen foe is counting on that, he allows Rick to manifest (from the Negative Zone) and they check in with sagacious scientific maverick Dr. Savannah<\/em>. Suddenly, Rick is accused by the savant\u2019s daughter (and Rick\u2019s beloved) Lou-Ann<\/em> of her father\u2019s murder\u2026<\/p>\n

Hauled off to jail, Rick brings in Mar-Vell who is suddenly confronted by a veritable legion of old foes before deducing who in fact his true enemies are\u2026<\/p>\n

Issue #26 then sees Rick freed from police custody to confront Lou-Ann over her seeming \u2018Betrayal!\u2019 <\/em>(Starlin, Friedrich & Dave Cockrum). Soon, however, he and Mar-Vell realise they are the targets of psychological warfare: the girl is being mind-controlled whilst Super Skrull <\/em>and his hidden \u201cMasterlord\u201d are manipulating them and others in search of a lost secret\u2026<\/p>\n

When a subsequent scheme to have Mar-Vell kill The Thing <\/strong>spectacularly fails, Thanos takes personal charge. The Titan is hungry for conquest and needs Rick because his subconscious conceals the location of an irresistible ultimate weapon.<\/p>\n

Jones awakens to find himself \u2018Trapped on Titan!\u2019 <\/em>(Pablo Marcos inks) but does not realise the villain has already extracted the location of a reality-altering Cosmic Cube<\/em> from him. Rescued by Thanos\u2019 hyper-powered father Mentor<\/em> and noble brother Eros<\/em>, the horrified lad sees first-hand the extent of the genocide the death-loving monster has inflicted upon his own birthworld. Utterly outraged, he summons Captain Marvel to wreak vengeance\u2026<\/p>\n

Meanwhile on Earth, still-enslaved Lou-Ann has gone to warn the Mighty Avengers<\/strong> and summarily collapsed. By the time Mar-Vell arrives in #28 she lies near death. \u2018When Titans Collide!\u2019 <\/em>(inks by Dan Green) reveals another plank of Thanos\u2019 plan. As the heroes are picked off by psychic parasite The Controller<\/em>, the Kree Captain is assaulted by bizarre visions of an incredible ancient being. Fatally distracted, he becomes the malevolent mind-leech\u2019s latest victim\u2026<\/p>\n

Al Milgrom inks \u2018Metamorphosis!\u2019 <\/em>as Mar-Vell\u2019s connection to Rick is severed before the Kree is transported to an otherworldly locale where a grotesque eight billion-year-old being named Eon <\/em>reveals the origins of universal life whilst overseeing the lifelong soldier\u2019s forced evolution into an ultimate warrior: a universal champion gifted with the subtly irresistible power of \u201cCosmic Awareness\u201d\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Iron Man, meanwhile, has recovered from a previous Controller assault and headed for Marvel Feature<\/strong> #12 to join Ben Grimm<\/em> in ending a desert incursion by Thanos\u2019 forces before enduring \u2018The Bite of the Blood Brothers!\u2019 <\/em>courtesy of Friedrich, Starlin, & Joe Sinnott, after which the story develops through an extract first seen in Daredevil<\/strong> #105.<\/p>\n

Here enigmatic and emotionless super scientist Madame MacEvil<\/em> tells her origins and foreshadows her future role in the cosmic catastrophe to come. When Thanos killed her family, the infant Heather Douglas<\/em> was adopted by Mentor, taken to Titan and reared by psionic martial artists of the Shao-Lom Monastery<\/em>. Years later when Thanos attacked Titan and destroyed the monks, she swore revenge and took a new name – Moondragon<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

Subsequently returned to Earth and reconnected to his frantic atomic counterpart, the newly-appointed \u201cProtector of the Universe\u201d confronts The Controller, thrashing the monumentally powerful brain-parasite in a devastating display of skill countering exo-skeletal super-strength in #30\u2019s \u2018\u2026To Be Free from Control!\u2019 <\/em>after which #31 celebrates \u2018The Beginning of the End!\u2019 <\/em>(inked by Green & Milgrom) as the Avengers – in a gathering of last resort – are joined by psionic priestess Moondragon and Drax. The latter is revealed as one more of Thanos\u2019 victims, but one recalled from death by supernal forces to destroy the deranged Titan\u2026<\/p>\n

The cosmic killer is then revealed as a lover of the personification of Death<\/em>: determined to give her Earth as a betrothal present. To that end he uses the Cosmic Cube to turn himself into \u2018Thanos the Insane God!\u2019 <\/em>(Green inks) who, with a thought, imprisons all opposition to his reign. However, his insane arrogance leaves cosmically aware Mar-Vell with a slim chance to undo every change, and the last hero brilliantly outmanoeuvres, defeats and apparently destroys \u2018<\/em>The God Himself!\u2019 <\/em>in the cosmically climactic Captain Marvel<\/strong> #33 (inked by Klaus Janson)\u2026<\/p>\n

With the universe saved and a modicum of sanity and security restored, Starlin\u2019s run ended on a relatively weak and inconclusive note in #34 as \u2018Blown Away!\u2019<\/em> – inked by Jack Abel and dialogued by Englehart – explored the day after doomsday\u2026<\/p>\n

As Rick strives to revive his on-again, off-again musical career, a new secret organisation called the Lunatic Legion<\/em> sends Nitro, the Exploding Man<\/em> to acquire a canister of deadly gas from an Air Force base where old pal Carol Danvers<\/em> (long before her transformations into Ms. Marvel<\/strong>, Binary<\/strong>, Warbird<\/strong> and ultimately Captain Marvel<\/strong>) is head of Security\u2026<\/p>\n

Although the Protector of the Universe defeats his earth-shattering enemy, Mar-Vell succumbs to the deadly nerve agent released in the battle. The exposure actually kills him but he will not realise that for years to come\u2026<\/p>\n

In 1982, The Death of Captain Marvel<\/strong> was the first Marvel Graphic Novel<\/strong> and the one that truly demonstrated how mainstream superhero material could breach the wider world of general publishing.<\/p>\n

Written and illustrated by Starlin with lettering by James Novak and colours from Steve Oliff, this tale concluded the career of the mighty Kree Champion in a neatly symmetrical and textually conclusive manner – although the tale\u2019s success led to some pretty crass commercialisations in its wake\u2026<\/p>\n

As previously stated, Mar-Vell was an honoured soldier of the alien Kree empire dispatched to Earth as a spy, who went native: becoming first a hero and then the cosmically \u201caware\u201d Protector of the Universe, destined since universal life began to be its stalwart cosmic champion in the darkest hours.<\/p>\n

In concert with the Avengers and other heroes, he defeated death-worshipping Thanos, just as that villain became God, after which the good Captain went on to become a universal force for good.<\/p>\n

That insipid last bit pretty much sums up Mar-Vell\u2019s later career: without Thanos, the adventures again became uninspired and eventually just fizzled out. He lost his own comic book, had a brief shot at revival in try-out title Marvel Spotlight<\/strong> and then just faded away\u2026<\/p>\n

Re-enter Starlin, who had long been linked to narrative themes of death. He offered a rather novel idea – kill Mar-Vell off and actually leave him dead. What no fan realised at the time was that Starlin was also processing emotional issues thrown up by the passing of his own father and the story he crafted echoed his own emotional turmoil.<\/p>\n

In 1982, killing such a high-profile hero was a bold idea, especially considering how long and hard the company had fought to obtain the rights to the name (and sure enough there\u2019s always been somebody with that name in print ever since) but Starlin wasn\u2019t just proposing a gratuitous stunt. The story developed into a different kind of drama: one uniquely at odds with contemporary fare and thinking.<\/p>\n

Following the Thanos Saga, Mar-Vell defeated second-rater Nitro but was exposed to experimental nerve gas during the fight. Now years later he discovers that, just as he has found love and contentment, the effects of that gas have inexorably caused cancer in his system. Moreover, it has metastasized into something utterly incurable\u2026<\/p>\n

Going through the Kree version of the classic Kubler-Ross Cycle: grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, the Space-Born hero can only watch as all his friends and comrades try and fail to find a cure, before death comes for him\u2026<\/p>\n

This is a thoughtful, intriguing examination of the process of dying observed by a being who never expected to die in bed, and argues forcefully that even in a universe where miracles occur by the hour sometimes death might not be unwelcome\u2026<\/p>\n

Today, in a world where the right to life and its intrinsic worth and value are increasingly being challenged and contested by special interest groups, this story is still a strident, forceful reminder that sometimes the personal right to dignity and freedom from distress is as important as any and all other Human Rights.<\/p>\n

No big Deus ex Machina<\/em>, not many fights and no happy ending: but still one of the most compelling stories the House of Ideas ever published.<\/p>\n

Augmenting the sidereal saga, a number of now-mandatory bonus bits include Starlin\u2019s exploded-view map-&-blueprint of Thanos\u2019 homeworld Titan; original cover art from Captain Marvel<\/strong> #29 plus original art and the 3-page framing sequence for the reprint issue #36.<\/p>\n

Other extras follow: the all-cosmic hero cover to fan-magazine F.O.O.M. #19; the all-new covers, back covers and bridging pages for prestige reprint miniseries The Life of Captain Marvel<\/strong> (as well as the humorous introductory \u2018<\/em>Editori-Al\u2019 <\/em>strips cartooned by Al Milgrom) and much, much more.<\/p>\n

A timeless classic of the company and the genre, this is a tale no full-blooded Fights \u2018n\u2019 Tights fan can be without.
\n\u00a9 1972, 1973, 1974, 1982, 2016 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jim Starlin, Mike Friedrich, Steve Gerber, Steve Englehart & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-1-30290-017-5 50 YEARS!! It\u2019s been five decades since this tale was first told! If you don\u2019t know why, you have a real treat in store\u2026 As much as I\u2019d love to claim that Marvel\u2019s fortunes are solely built on the works of … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Captain Marvel by Jim Starlin: The Complete Collection”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[94,18,85,120,79,231],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-avengers","category-captain-marvel","category-daredevil","category-iron-man","category-marvel-superheroes","category-the-thing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7aJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27573"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27577,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27573\/revisions\/27577"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}