posted May 19, 2003 07:51 PM            

Mar-vell was interesting AND something of anomoly, as apart from the Surfer he was the only alien, and had even less contact with the other Marvels than Norrin.

A two volume reprint would be fantastic as it would have to include the Marvel Superheroes issues (most in poor condition) and almost all of the run before Mar-vell's transformation into the more classic look.

These were good stories as the villains were often killer robots, aliens and mutants designed to bring Mar-vell down by scheming superior.

posted May 20, 2003 01:35 PM               

"Three, maybe four sales tops."

In the same post, when someone mentions an Ant-Man/Wasp Masterworks:

"Well, it'd do better than Captain Mar-Vell, I'd expect."

If Tom B. doubts its likely, I'm not holding my breath.

posted May 20, 2003 02:56 PM               

I'm just glad someone wised up at Marvel and realized you might have a hard time selling vol. 6 if volumes 2-5 have been sold out for about a decade.

posted May 21, 2003 02:26 AM               

Here's how it breaks down... Martin Goodman TOLD Stan to create a character called "Captain Marvel". He & Gene spun off some terrific ideas he & Jack Kirby had started in FANTASTIC FOUR (I wonder how pissed Jack was at the result?). Stan's effort was clearly half-hearted, instead of a great science-fiction series we got a BAD soap-opera. Roy Thomas took over with the 2nd episode and with his typical heavy-handed dialogue style made it even worse than it already was. The saving grave was Colan & Colletta-- BEST damn inks I've EVER seen Vince do in his entire career!!!

In CM #5, the entire team was replaced. Arnold Drake, I fear, had no idea what he was doing, while Don Heck had his more-spectacular-than-usual layouts BUTCHERED by John Tartaglione for 3 issues. Vince returned-- a HUGE improvement!!! (I wouldn't make this up). But then Dick Ayers replaced Don, followed by Frank Springer.

Arnold told a story of an alien being who granted CM ultimate superpowers. I couldn't believe it-- it was the EXACT SAME story Starlin did several years later, except Starlin's was 10 times better. Gary Friedrich did 3 issues, completely incoherent. The last of these, Tom Sutton and some FANTASTIC Dan Adkins inks supplied the comics equlivalent of 2001's drug-induced "star gate" sequence. It probably made more sense if you were stoned while reading.

CM #16 had Heck return, inked by Syd Shores-- one of the BEST ink jobs Don had EVER received!!! And-- Archie Goodwin wrote his one-and-only episode, tying EVERYTHING up, forcing it to make sense, and "explaining" things SO WELL, you'd ALMOST be fooled into believing it was all intended his way from the start. (What a writer! But I wasn't fooled...) In effect, Archie did the conclusion of-- get this-- an 18-PART "ORIGIN" story, which ended with CM getting a new costume. But the damned thing ended on a CLIFFHANGER!!! (There are ties when Marvel's OBSESSION with "to be continued" can be a monstrous pain-in-the-ass.)

Then Roy, Gil Kane & Dan Adkins took over, and incredibly, that's when the book REALLY went to hell. Even more incredibly, when Conway, Wolfman & Wayne Boring did 3 issues a couple years later, it was EVEN WORSE!!!!! When Mike Friedrich & Jim Starlin came along right after-- anything would have been an improvement. Who'd have DREAMED Starlin would do the BEST run-- EVER??

There's one issue where, on the letters page, Stan ADMITTED they'd made a mistake and screwed up on the whole direction of the series. Boy, you don't see THAT everyday!

posted May 21, 2003 07:26 PM            

Although Captain Marvel is probably the worst superhero of the classic Marvel period, he is a part of the most important Marvel era. Although obtaining a complete run is much easier than obtaining a fraction of any Golden Age character's run, it's not easy to get a complete set.

Also, if Marvel Masterworks does anything from the 70s other than X-Men, I think Captain Marvel is the best choice. However, like with New Teen Titans, I don't think that the revival should be put in a Masterwork until after the original.

posted May 22, 2003 12:13 AM               

I'm also wondering if, because of the immense importance to the story, if FANTASTIC FOUR #64-65 should ALSO be included at the front of the 1st book? It serves as a 2-issue "prologue" to what follows (though, again, I wonder where it might have gone had Jack been able to do it, rather than have Gene Colan on the art & co-plotting?).

In addition to this, for the sake of REAL "completeness", I think SUB-MARINER #30 (Oct'70) should be included as well, it came out 2 months after CM #21, the last issue before the (2nd) cancellation. Roy Thomas wrote this, clearly trying his best to keep CM in the public eye. (A year later, the Skrull-Kree War erupted in THE AVENGERS!)

Also ripe for inclusion would be MARVEL TEAM-UP #16 (Dec'73). This had art by Gil Kane (his 6th & final CM story!). While it came out in the middle of the 1st Starlin-Thanos epic, there was essentially NO break anywhere in the book's continuity, so on my personal index I placed it between CM #24 & 25-- making it (retrocatively) a last Gil Kane hurrah before Starlin took over.