stevie is the coolest woman ever. ik this seems uncontroversial to most people here but it’s actually a big deal for a woman of her generation to outright say it.
Chris Claremont takes over the run at issue #3, subsequently writing Carol for years in different series. Claremont is best known for his 16 year long run of Uncanny-Xmen (1963), a wildly popular comic that Carol eventually has a very fun role in. (Fun fact: Uncanny X-Men was a major influence on Buffy the Vampire Slayer!)
Ms. Marvel (1977) #3 - #4
Now that we're past the earliest / most establishing issues, this will be more structured (still with panels) than a play-by-play recap. I'll mix up the format as needed, depending on what I'm reviewing.
Chris Claremont writing, with Gerry Conway credited for the plot.
Kids
Early in #3, Carol has a sweet moment with some kids she saves. I always like it when Carol interacts with children. If you're a big Carol fan and you haven't yet read the recent Avengers Academy* (2024) run, I'd recommend it. She's a relatively minor recurring character, but I adore the author's take on Carol's characterization. Draws a lot from Carol's experiences being a kid and how that might shape her perspective and style of care for them as an adult.
*The very long and full name of the comic is...
"Avengers Academy: Marvel's Voices infinity comic (2024)"
Salia Petrie
Welcome to Salia Petrie ♡, Carol's astronaut pal. We'll see more of her in future issues.
Carol's Strengths
Carol and Jonah's interactions have been a highlight for me. Unlike in Spider-Man comics around 1977, Carol is much more of a peer to Jonah (she even calls MJ a nice kid, highlighting her age difference from Peter). As such, the interactions she has with JJJ are able to be upfront and confrontational.
Jonah is neither an equal match, nor a source of overwhelming conflict for our lead (yet, at least). I think it's really fun that the main purpose of his appearances early in are to establish Carol as a tenacious, confident woman who doesn't concede easily.
We also establish (so early!) that Carol can be a bit of an asshole sometimes, slamming the door on her way out of Jonah's office after a taunting remark on her victory. But Jonah's more of an asshole than anyone, so it's a great place to set that up and keep Carol likeable.
This flashback is good as well; while at NASA, Carol blows the whistle on the creator of the Doomsday Man, confronting him and leaking his reports in an attempt to shut his project down. He's lucky that he got to deal with NASA Carol and not Carol in her previous, more violent job...
A fun sequence where we learn that Carol studied the Doomsday Man's schematics so carefully in her investigation years ago that she was able to spot a difference in the actual design of the robot mid-fight. Posits her as intelligent.
Also my Carol is Not Young agenda would like me to point out that she held a position of authority for "years" prior to becoming editor of a major newspaper. Plus calling MJ a kid. More propaganda coming naturally over time, as Carol says a million other things that make her sound older.
Carol's Weaknesses
Carol's health is on the serious decline, and people are starting to notice something is wrong with her. She is experiencing horrendous pain in both of her personas, and comes out of her Ms. Marvel spells feeling horribly fatigued. This is superhero shenanigans related, but reads pretty easily as a disability metaphor as well. As a chronic migraine sufferer myself, that first panel is really how it feels sometimes, and I've always enjoyed that Carol could relate.
Throughout Carol's history, her mental and physical health tend to be her biggest weaknesses, even as she is increasingly one of the most powerful characters in Marvel comics.
A running theme in Ms. Marvel (1977) is in the contrast between Carol's undeniable skills and how her health is affecting her. We've just seen Carol flawlessly negotiate ownership of an exclusive story, but before she can actually get the scoop, her migraines are once again stopping her from, well, doing anything. They've already halted multiple attempts to connect with MJ, pulled her away from her job, and left her feeling depressed and confused.
In addition to her Ms. Marvel Migraines severely limiting the energy and time that Carol Danvers has, it is causing others to perceive her as unwell, unreliable, and difficult. Being Ms. Marvel will continue to test Carol's relationships with other people, something she doesn't always manage very well.
Art!
The art in these 2 issues is really fun. Also, her first SPACE BATTLE. Congrats, Carol, that rules. I know you've always wanted to do this.
Lastly... Claremont Retcon #1/?
Carol / Ms Marvel personality split.
By the end of Claremont's first issue, it's gone; didn't take long. Carol still feels the effects of the divide, for a little while, but she's no longer having full blackouts.
Ms. Marvel was elated to learn she was Carol, but Carol seems pretty unfazed and disappointed to learn she's. Ms Marvel. I think this was approximately how I reacted when I realized I was gay.
1. "Yipee Yay I finally understand what tf is going on with me."
2. "......Wow wait this going to make my life more difficult, huh."
★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★☆★
Rating: Cool visuals and less swooning... we are getting somewhere.
Overall, pretty good, but looking forward to getting to stronger comics of hers. Excited to have Claremont here, mostly because I know he has a fun vision for the character and will get into a lot of fun stuff later. Shoutout to Salia Petrie, who I will give more time to soon; she has some greater appearances coming up.
The Doomsday Man fight was really solid, visually and narratively. That, as well as Jonah's scenes fall firmly into good comic territory. Either could appear in a comic today, and I'd be satisfied.
Pitching Leverage to a socialist friend: "The heist team gets hired by people who have been victimized by these corporate baddies, so there is always a scene at the beginning where some lady is telling the team 'my dad died because he couldn't afford his diabetes medication after the new factory owner Joshua Dirtbag the Third cut his hours' and the team is like 'say no more. we will put on elaborate disguises and convince him to bet on a fake racehorse, and somehow at the end of it you will have all his money and he will go to jail'."
Nine years after her introduction, and a little over a year after her last appearance, Carol's first solo series, Ms. Marvel (1977) debuted.
The first 2 issues were written by extremely famous comic writer Gerry Conway, before the book was handed over to other extremely famous comic writer Chris Claremont. Claremont ultimately defined a LOT of Carol's early characterization (and immediately changed several established details), so we'll limit this first review to those first 2 Conway issues.
Ms. Marvel (1977) #1 - #2
Off the bat, Carol is an extremely physical, hand-to-hand fighter. This is in notable contrast to other female superheroines at the time, who often fought from a distance, and rarely got to get up close and punch.
From Avengers (1963) #172: Wonderman is later quite jarred by this lol.
"I've never seen anybody so... aggressive! ... she hauls off and belts people -- like a man would!"
At her introduction, Ms. Marvel's powers are the following: Flight, Super-Strength, and a "Seventh Sense" precognitive ability. She gained these after absorbing Kree radiation in Captain Marvel (1968) #18.
This varies from her CURRENT power set: Flight, (stronger) Super-Strength, Energy Absorption, "photon" blasts, and a healing factor.
The "simplest" explanation for the change is that Carol is retconned to be half-Kree from birth. Rogue steals Carol's extraneous powers, leaving her 'simply' half-Kree, and then aliens experiment on Carol, mutating her to having god-level Kree/Human powers. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
TLDR fun fact: the answer to how Carol got her powers is no longer "Kree Magnitron" and is only kind of "Kree from birth" and is mostly "the Brood".
PPS: Her current limited series is also bringing back the Seventh Sense, and it has been referenced in The Ultimates (2015) prior to that, implying she still has a remnant of that as well.
A reference to Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, which had premiered on TV a year or so prior. Also a reference to Popeye... and a reference to cool as fuck little girls. Suzy's mother is quietly alarmed, her first hint that her daughter is one day going to lead a Dykes on Bikes contingent.
J. Jonah Jameson (of Spider-Man) hires Carol to run "Woman" magazine for the Daily Bugle. He tells her he's tired of articles on Women's Liberation, Kate Millet (of the book "Sexual Politics"), and women's careers. He'd prefer to focus on diets, fashion, and recipes.
She agrees to the job, telling him straight up that she won't be following that guidance at all. Throughout the series, she and Jonah frequently clash on the feminist & journalistic direction Carol is taking the Bugle's magazine.
JJJ refers to her as Miss Danvers, the title for an unmarried woman. She corrects him, that she is to be called "Ms.", a relatively new honorific (popular in the 70's) that didn't focus around women's marriage status (equivalent to the neutral "Mr."). The superhero name Ms. Marvel was also intended to be read as explicitly feminist, though that nuance has been lost over time.
Carol strongly negotiates her salary with Jonah, not backing down as he tries to short her by a third. $30,000 in 1977 is equivalent to about $165,000 in today's dollars.
I like this whole sequence a lot, from the magazine content to the negotation. For 1977, it was explicitly feminist and pushed boundaries. Compared to modern comics, where we often get a shallow sort of "girl power" that doesn't actually challenge current social norms.
Genuine examples of progressive, current feminism I'd love comics to have the chutzpah to tackle in 2026:
abortion access
rising white supremacy sentiment and its affect on women
recognizing trans women as women
inclusion of more central gay/bi/queer women (ahem... no reason it could not include our lead...)
the tradwife trend, incels, & other growing anti-feminist sentiment
If that seems too political, then I'd recommend you get familiar with the controversial progressiveness of many early comics. Including this one!
And I know dudes were still mad about the mere existence of the Captain Marvel movie, but if they're going to review-bomb or complain about every woman-led superhero movie and comic anyway, then they may as well just be as feminist as they want to be. Let's not cater to people who were never going to be the audience.
Anyway, little known fact these days, Carol's a writer. It continues to be her job far after this series, and she publishes a number of successful novels. Her current limited run remembered she was a journalist, but for the most part, her writing career hasn't been brought up much lately; I hope that changes.
Her credentials are established in the first issue: she's always loved writing, she wrote a highly successful (and profitable) book about the space industry, wrote at least one article featured in Rolling Stone, and is now being hired as editor of Woman magazine as a result of her strong reputation. Oh, also MJ Watson and Peter Parker are here. Carol invites MJ over for coffee.
Carol reveals that her encounters with Mar-Vell forced her out of her job as NASA's Chief Security Officer, as seen in Captain Marvel (1968). Adding 1 point to the pinned achievement tracker, under "times Carol was fired".
She also tells MJ, "turns out I have more talent for the pen than the sword-- and ... I'm a lot happier..." This was before Carol's longer history/backstory were established, but it's a sad little sentiment in retrospect. Carol's life has been filled with violence since she was a kid, and this is the first time she has ever had something different. But it won't last long.
Carol collapses, citing a terrible migraine, and asks MJ to leave. Early in this series, Carol painfully blacks out any time she "transforms" into Ms Marvel; neither Carol or Ms Marvel have any memory of being the same person. A point for brain injury / memory problems in the achievement tracker.
I look like this when I'm having a migraine, too.
"What does it look like I'm doing? I'M WINNING."
Ms. Marvel murders fights the Scorpion, who has captured Jonah in pursuit of enacting vengeance.
Carol, subconsciously seeking a little vengeance of her own, saves Jonah, but leaves him chained up, instructing him to him to call her "Ms.", as she had previously expressed..... only now, she is Ms. Marvel.
(try and picture the way comics sometimes puts the logo for their series in a normal speech bubble)
Issue #2:
Carol really almost killed the dude.
He's been taken by A.I.M., a supervillain org full of mad scientists known for their yellow hazmat suits.
We are introduced to Professor Korman, who has literally just sold his lab to the Scorpion to fund his new crime career.
Also, poor Scorpion, not only did he almost just die, his new lab is trashed too. Guy can't catch a break.
MJ stops back by the Bugle to find Carol working late. She invites MJ to dinner, where she recounts a summary of events in Captain Marvel (1968).
Actually Carol does as much swooning and falling unconscious as her appearances in Captain Marvel. Maybe the horrific migraines are actually completely separate from the identity issues, and that's why she was always passing out then.
Carol wakes, distraught, and we meet ✧ Michael Barnett ✧, a man who is explicitly both Carol's therapist and boyfriend. (uh oh.)
At least from later issues, written by Claremont:
Wow, someone should kill this guy. lol
Mike lulls Carol into some sort of hypnosis, and she recounts her experiences with Mar-Vell. In retrospect, I guess the new reading is that the reason the radiation didn't kill her is that she was already half-Kree.
Sorry you're depressed, Carol, I hope you find like, a good therapist--
Carol, in a trance, reveals to him she's Ms. Marvel. Mike turns away to smoke a cigarette, mourning his crazy patient-girlfriend.
She passes out and transforms in his arms, jumping out the window, and Mike accepts that she is, in fact. Ms. Marvel.
Carol fights the Scorpion, taunting him so mercilessly while she handily beats him that she's sure to have a nemesis forever. Someone should make a new comic where Mac's just been biding his time, planning, since 1977, but killing Carol Danvers keeps getting harder and harder as she grows more invincible over the years, so it's taking a while.
Then, Carol and Korman knock each other out, and the issue ends with them hilariously passed out on the floor. "WHO WILL WAKE FIRST TO CLAIM THE FINAL VICTORY-"?
Rating: Just as much swooning as her first appearances, actually, but surprisingly pretty good.
For an older comic, these first couple issues delivered. Carol's fights were fairly interesting, and she got to really hit people. I immensely enjoyed her scene when Jonah hired her, notably the debate about topics women actually care about and deserve to read, and about women deserving appropriate pay. If modern Marvel scales that up as much as Carol's powerset, we could have a really fun solo.
I think it's insane that even in the most leftist and "progressive" spaces the idea of equating morality with looks is alive and present and no one fucking bats an eye at it. like racists and mysoginysts are always portrayed as fat and hairy and generally unkept, as a contrast to the morally good and attractive leftists of course; people will have no problem being genuinely fucking awful about someone's appearance if they're deemed to be a "bad person". and the worst part is you point all of this out and people act like you're reading too much into things like no dude you gotta start using your brain more
The gloves leave stearate particles, a kind of soapy thing, but it *looks* like microplastic, hence the contaminated data! Gloves are NOT shedding microplastics. (Adding this bc this was a misconception I had from the headlines! Glad I read one of the articles in full! Yay learning!)
gummygunk
titsay
areudirty
discoholicmusic
pixelskylines
