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Hello and welcome to another week in Ye Olde School Café! I hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving and is ready to gobble down some Marvel Cosmic goodness! What if I told you that a book existed that included work by Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin, Gene Colan, Don Heck, Dick Ayres, Gary Friedrich, Tom Sutton, Gil Kane, and John Buscema. Yeah, I know you’d think I was crazy, but the book actually exists! Essential Captain Marvel vol. 1 is the book, and I’m going to be presenting it this week for you. Back in 1967, the early days of Captain Marvel were revealed in Marvel Super-Heroes #12 & 13, but then he sprang into his own monthly title called simply Captain Marvel. Here we see many cosmic threats, some new, some old, but we also see the Kree and their greatest warrior ever. Features appearances by Super-Skrull, Ronan the Accuser, Iron Man, and Carol Danvers (Ms. Marvel) as well!

As I stated above, the first couple of issues that featured Captain Marvel were Marvel Super-Heroes #12 & 13. In these two books, we see Captain Marvel and his shipmates making their way to Earth. You see, it’s been determined that the Kree will teach Earth a lesson that they are the dominate species and can’t be pushed around. Once he makes his way around, he then decides to assume the guise of a normal man. He’s then contacted by the Imperial Minister on the Supreme Intelligence and told that either his mission will succeed or that he’ll die trying.

During the middle of the night, Captain Marvel leaves his hotel room to finish his mission. He thinks about Colonel Yon Rogg on the ship. He knows that Rogg wants to kill him and take his woman, Una. This has him distracted, but he still continues. He seems to be struggling with his pride in his home world and knowing good from evil, though. At this point, we see some people at NASA huddling around and trying to figure some things out. Captain Marvel is now using a different disguise (a doctor Lawson), and it gets him into the NASA secret facility nearby. It is here where Mar-Vell meets Carol Danvers, and that fortuitous meeting would change his life and hers forever. The two meet while NASA is studying a robot of unknown origin (Kree Sentry 459). Carol prevents him from checking out the robot. Just as they start to talk about it, Yon Rogg activates the robot and begins to tear the base apart and anyone that gets in its way!

The military tries feverishly to stop the gigantic machine, but their weapons have little to no effect on it. Mar-Vell decides that he must take action if the Kree are to find out if Earth is actually worth the effort or not. Meanwhile, aboard the spaceship, Yon Rogg tries to pretend that he cares for Mar-Vell, but deep inside he’s hoping that Sentry 459 saves him the trouble and kills Mar-Vell instead of him actually having to do it. Una (Mar-Vell’s woman) looks on, but she knows that Rogg wants her man dead. Outside the NASA base, the Kree Sentry is laying waste to the personnel and equipment. As Mar-Vell approaches, the Kree Sentry doesn’t recognize him and orders him to stop before it has to annihilate him!

Well, that’s it for now, but come back next week to hear the exciting conclusion to Captain Marvel’s first appearance! Will he be able to stop the Kree Sentry, or will it take him down?

Billy Dunleavy
billy@comicattack.net