I’m not a fan of the early Silver Age Captain Marvel. When I first encountered the series as part of my Silver Age reread I thought it was mediocre — certainly nothing that would require three separate posts in little over a month. But then came the Zo arc. And the reboot to the Nega-bands version. And now Captain Marvel #18.
The plot of “Vengeance is Mine” (Roy Thomas, Gil Kane—who also did the cover) has Mar-Vell hunting down Yon-Rogg, who’s kidnapped Cape Canaveral security head Carol Danvers as bait for his nemesis. Captain Marvel finds Yon-Rogg in a cave where the latter has acquired the Psyche-Magnitron, a Kree super-weapon that makes your thoughts real.
Yon-Rogg recreates the invincible Kree robot enforcer, the Mandroid (a name Thomas would put to better use in a later Avengers).
Mar-Vell is outmatched, but tricks the robot into blowing up the Psyche-Magnitron which cuts off its power source. Marv then pounds the shit out of Yon-Rogg, stopping just short of killing him (the usual I Can’t Sink To His Level shtick) and escapes with Carol before the cave collapses. Even by the standards of supposedly fatal explosions this one isn’t very convincing — it’s amazing it took Yon-Rogg literally decades to return (or not so amazing, he’s not particularly interesting).
The story doesn’t make this issue particularly noteworthy. A couple of things do make it worth this post. First, it was Carol being bathed in the Psyche-Magnitron energy that transformed her into Ms. Marvel a decade later, the result of her subconscious wish to be as powerful as Mar-Vell.
Second, we have a scene where Rick stops off in a small cafe, picks up a guitar and wows the crowd.
It’s something that could have been forgotten next issue, just as everyone ignored the Wasp being a jazz enthusiast. Instead, Rick would become a professional musician, something that continued on until well after the famous Jim Starlin run on Captain Marvel (I’m not sure when it stopped or if it stopped). I give Roy Thomas points for this, as it’s (again like the Wasp) the first characterization Rick’s gotten other than “loyal sidekick.” Roy also shows him ambivalent about his role as Captain Marvel’s partner, alternating between exhilaration — it’s as close to a superhero as he’s ever gotten — and disillusionment (he’s still hanging around in the Negative Zone when Mar-Vell gets into the action).
Oh, and in case you’re worrying about the heckler, he made the mistake of being in an issue drawn by Gil Kane.
Being punched in a Gil Kane comic hurts.
I don’t anticipate more posts about Earth’s spaceborn superhero … but who knows?
Yeah, the only thing worse than the famous Gil Kane punch is the Sal Buscema back-flip punch.
Great Gil, King of the Nostrils!
P.S. those song lyrics are a bit cringe, they might be ‘characterization’ though, I admit.
On second thought, ‘Kane, the Nostril King’ might have a better ring to it.
Why don’t we start a poll?