Ms Marvel #1. This Woman, This Warrior!

You could never accuse this site of ignoring that new-fangled Women's Lib that's so fashionable now that we're in the 1970s.

Having already tackled the savage She-Hulk and sensational Spider-Woman ("To know her is to fear her!"), I'm now looking at that other battling female Marvel gave us in that period.

That's Ms Marvel, yet another book launched to prevent the company's lawyers having nightmares.

The She-Hulk and Spider-Woman books were not exactly classics, so, how does Ms Marvel's measure up?

It's New York and a bank robbery's underway.

But not for long because barely has it started than a brand new heroine flies in to smash teeth and fling cars around.

She's so new that and no one has a clue who she is - including herself.

And what she also doesn't know is those bank robbers are a mere distraction, hired so the Scorpion can sneak in round the back and rob the bank himself.

Next, we meet Carol Danvers, former head of security at Cape Kennedy, who's in the process of landing an editorial job at the Daily Bugle. And the first thing J Jonah Jameson wants her to do is write an expose of the brand new heroine.

No sooner is that agreed to than she bumps into Mary Jane Watson, invites her to her flat and promptly has a funny turn which leaves her telling her guest to leave so she can pass out on her bed in mysterious circumstances.

But there's no time for us to dwell on that because the Scorpion's back - and he's kidnapping Jonah!

And Ms Marvel's back as well! Her psychic powers having tipped her off, in advance, about the kidnapping, she sets off to free the publisher and bring the Scorpion to justice.

Once she locates him, a one-sided fight erupts and poor old Scorpy finds himself flung into the acid vat he'd prepared for Jonah.

Suitably alarmed, the villain flees, Jonah's unscathed, our heroine decides to call herself Ms Marvel and the day is saved.

But, back at work, showing his usual gratitude, Jonah demands Carol work even harder at exposing the terrible truth about Ms Marvel, as he's more convinced than ever that she's a deadly menace.

But just who is Ms Marvel? Why is Carol Danvers in the habit of blacking out? And just what is the mysterious link between the two women? What? What? What?

I would say that, in terms of feel, this is a comic which slots neatly between the She-Hulk's and Spider-Woman's.

As with Spider-Woman, more thought seems to have been put into the central character and her quandary than was the case with She-Hulk. However, the mood of the comic's more conventional than Spider-Woman's, making it seem closer to the She-Hulk's.

The main thing that strikes me about this issue is it feels like we've walked in halfway through it. Ms Marvel already exists, though we're given no idea how long she's been around for. She may have been in existence for months or appeared literally seconds before the splash page.

We also get a very familiar character in Carol Danvers but she's suddenly in an environment and a role some of us have never seen her in before.

Because of this, I've had to check with Wikipedia to see if Ms Marvel turned up as a guest in another book before this one launched but it seems the splash page of this issue really is her first-ever appearance.

I'm not sure if we're supposed to be as baffled by the link between Carol and Ms Marvel as Carol and Ms Marvel are, as you'd have to be pretty stupid not to realise they're the same person.

Ms Marvel's 7th Sense is a total cop-out. It means that any time she needs answers, she can just call on it to provide them. A perfect example here is how she finds the Scorpion's hideout just by a picture of it appearing in her head. It may make things easier for her but it also makes things far too easy for the writer who can just get away with taking any liberties with it that he wants to.

Speaking of writers, it's penned by Gerry Conway who seems to be struggling a bit to make it all cohere and it's drawn by John Buscema who's in his Workmanlike Pro mode.

Overall, I'd say it's not a comic that exactly demands you rush out and buy the next issue. Ms Marvel feels like too much of a black hole, as a character, for that, we've all seen JJ's hero-hating routine once too often, and the mystery of the link between Carol and Ms Marvel isn't a mystery, so that's not exactly likely to hook you either.

It also has to be said that that is one of the worst costumes any super-heroine has ever been lumbered with.

And I say that as someone who's seen every outfit Supergirl put on in the 1970s.


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