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Carol Danvers and Problems in the Workplace 2: Captain Marvel #6 – October 1968


Captain Marvel #6 – October 1968

The issue opens with a great reference to "Romeo and Juliet". No, it actually opens with Captain Marvel fighting against a creature called Solam. But on the same page Stan Lee refers to the readers as "Star-Crossed one", a clear reference to "Romeo and Juliet" who were called "A pair of star-crossed lovers" in Shakespeare's play. An excellent nickname for comic readers (at a time when comic books popularity was starting to decline). Then we see he is in a machine, combat-refresher, that makes him fight against a hallucination to keep him in shape. This is done under Colonel Yon-Rogg supervision who again tries to kill Mar-Vell, this time by damaging his mind. Nevertheless the good Captain survives and flies back to earth.

There is a problem with the Kree ship and they are forced to land on earth. However, they have another problem, the aura that makes the ship invisible will stop working for a short time when they re-enter earth.

Carol Danvers sees the Kree ship

We switch to Carol to find out that she had the F.B.I. do a check on Dr. Lawson, but they still don't have an answer for her. Then, while she's driving she sees the Kree spaceship entering the atmosphere. However, because she looked up, she didn't look at the road ahead and she almost runs over someone. That someone is Dr. Lawson himself.

Carol apologizes and then she sees who she's apologizing to. Dr. Lawson tells her: "now perhaps you'd like to retract your apology". She's not amused and tells him that she wasn't looking at the road because she saw a UFO. She states that she's been around missiles for years, but never seen anything like what she just saw. His response is "I think you've been under a strain lately! Security officer for our greatest missile base is a big job!" That's very condescending. However, it's not as bad as his comment on the last issue, when he blamed her suspicion of him on the fact that her job is too stressful for a beautiful woman.

Carol and Lawson when the Kree spaceship lands

When the ship lands it creates a great gust of wind which Carol notices. From some reason this makes her feel the need to hug Dr. Lawson, whom she dislikes. This is the first real behavior of a damsel in distress that we see from her. There is no big threat or danger. But she did just see an alien spaceship, so perhaps in her mind there is a threat. Still this image seems to me is that of a panicky woman, a damsel in distress; not the behavior expected from the head of security.

Carol apologizing to Lawson

Carol apologies to Lawson about the hug, saying she was acting like a "skittish girl." His response however is infuriating. He says "not at all", meaning that she wasn't skittish. But then he says that he prefers the "female side" of her rather than the "policeman" side. Because a woman can't be masculine, but her "policeman" job is close enough. And of course men can't be skittish; it's strictly a female behavior. This time her lack of response to me seems like an acceptance of his words, rather than cool composure. He tells her that instead of investigating immediately what happened, they need to be careful and plan ahead.

Carol and Lawson as the spaceship flies off

In the meantime the spaceship flies off. This time when the strong wind gust comes again, Carol doesn't hug him. She's annoyed that they missed the chance to investigate. Lawson responds by telling her: "if there was anything to investigate". Just on cue they see the fire from the spaceship's lift off. His excuse now is that it could be "another freak atmospheric condition…yes! We'll check with the cape's meteorologist!" When they see the marks the ship left on the ground he says it's not his job to explain them, but anything could have made the marks. He walks away from the argument in a very disrespectful manner. As Mar-Vell walks away the issue states that he hasn't yet felt the "sting of an earth woman's anger…!" That's an insulting choice of words. Women can do a lot more harm than sting, but why make the distinction in the first place? He would be in no less trouble if Carol was a man.

Ironically, Mar-Vell is then placed in a similar position to that of Carol. He has been called to look at a missile launch. But when Dr. Norman Lundquist explains to him what this missile is going to do, Mar-Vull tells him that it is dangerous. However, the doctor just scolds him and tells him that the only reason that he is there, is out of professional courtesy. Both Carol Danvers and Dr. Lawson are wise professionals in their field and their smart advice is ignored. This can also show that Carol's problems in the workplace are not exclusively due to her gender, but a lack of general professionalism in that base.

When Carol sees Lawson in the launching room she calls him a "man of almost infinite mystery!" in her mind and she has no idea how right she is.

She comes closer and asks Dr. Lawson what he was doing in alone in the woods last night. He's answer is a disturbing lie, he says that: "I was busy watching over young lady security officer who think they've seen flying saucers in the sky!" I don't even know where to start with that. It is creepy Twilight material. From some reason he thinks that a logical deflect is telling that he was following/stalking the head of security. Because apparently following the head of security is less suspicious then being alone in woods in the middle of the night. From some reason no one finds this deflect as disturbing or odd. Also again, he puts an emphasis on the fact that she's a woman in this job. But Carol only responds about the U.F.O part, that she did see it and Lawson saw the marks on ground as well.

Carol walking away

His response is that he didn't see anything that he didn't see before. She knows that he is lying. This time, it's Carol's turn to angrily walk away, while promising that she will prove herself right. Mar-Vell's response doesn't show any regret about the terrible way that he's treating her, even though someone treated him similarly just moments ago.

As Mar-Vell predicated, the launching goes wrong. The protective gem breaks and out of the missile comes Solam. He changes into his Captain Marvel outfit and fights the energy creature. Captain Marvel, with the help of the professionals and workers in the launching room, uses the same light auxiliary cannon that created the creature to destroy it.

The issue ends with a yet again with a tormented Captain Mar-Vell, an angry Colonel Yon-Rogg (Mar-Vell fought against Solam despite the order of his commander not to do so), and a new menace for the next issue.

Carol's authority is constantly being undermined by Dr. Lawson. Even though he's authority is also undermined by a famous doctor, it doesn’t make him treat Carol any better. And he's not even sorry about it. You can look at Carol as a representative of some of the difficulties that woman had to face while working in none-traditional "feminine" jobs, or just look at this base as a very unprofessional one.

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