Carol Danvers and Her First Team Up With Spider-Man: Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 #62 – October, 1977
Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 #62: "All This and the QE2"
Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man in their first team up. It is impressive due to both physical strength and minds.
This issue picks up right where the last one stops, with Spider-Man fighting against the Super-Skrull (small chance of him showing up in the Captain Marvel movie, or perhaps not). He is just buying time until some other superhero will come and help him out. One of the police officers tells captain DeWolff he hasn’t been able to contact anyone else. Now, Spider-Man manages to anger the Super-Skrull, because he’s Spider-Man and he has a big mouth. The Super-Skrull in response tries to burn him (remember he has the powers of all of the Fantastic Four), but fails. Apparently, Spider-Man’s brilliant plan from the previous issue half worked and now the alien’s power, that comes from an asteroid far away, are semi-blocked.
Then we switch to the ship that Carol Danvers is on. Apparently, she’s on a vacation that wasn’t planned in her own comics. Until the Super-Skrull hits her ship. Inside the ship he finds a crystal, those sure seem to be popular in Marvel comics. This crystal will give him enough power to build and power a spaceship, as well as destroy the earth. Convenient. Of course, he says it out loud so Carol Danvers can hear him.
So, Ms. Marvel jumps into action. She calls herself human, but the Super-Skrull recognizes her Kree uniform based on Captain Marvel’s uniform and a fight takes place. She loses the first round because of her hate for the Skrulls which clouds her judgment. Her Kree hate. Her humanity is occasionally vague.
Then she goes back into battle using her wits. However, she gets distracted when the Super-Skrulls drops the cavourite crystal, and he punches her off the ship.
But Spider-Man pulls her out of the water. They meet at last. First, he mistakes her for a man. Then he accidentally calls her a girl. But, she just corrects him and tells him “you’ve got the right idea.” Ms. Marvel isn’t the one to preach, but to prove her worth.
They talk to each other, which is a promising start indeed. He tells her about the power grid effect which reduced the Super-Skrull power. So, Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man create a plan. Although at first it looks like she created a plan and Spider-Man is in the dark, we quickly learn that it is not the case. They are a team. Also, it’s nice that they have the right amount of time to talk and create a plan, before the Super-Skrull shows up again.
Spider-Man now holds the cavourite crystal which promises that a very angry Super-Skrull will be chasing only him now. But now Spider-Man is fighting him in his own territory now: long, tight and twisting corridors. In the meantime, Ms. Marvel creates a new grid, which makes the crew members of the ship very unhappy. But at least they call her “young woman!” and not a girl, so she’s got that going for her.
The Super-Skrull arrives at a small room where both Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel await him. Ms. Marvel sends Spider-Man to turn the electricity on and to get out. This is her fight, though at first, he wants to stay and help her. The grid lights up and Ms. Marvel soon finds out that a weakened Super-Skrull is still very strong.
To me the panel in which Ms. Marvel throws a car at the Super-Skrull is a wink at the first issue of Superman - the first superhero. Just the fact that they are both lifting a car over their heads and the both have red in their costumes is a bit of an Easter egg in my eyes.
Even though the Super-Skrull has raw power, our Ms. Marvel has brains. The crystal from some convenient reason starts working, and Ms. Marvel knows exactly what to do when it does. She tells Spider-Man to close the power and throws and crystal at the Super-Skrull, which sends him to a difference dimension. Comic book convenient solution.
The issue ends with a cliffhanger which calls the reader to follow “Ms. Marvel, a mystery -- to be unraveled in her own mag.” This was all a publicity stunt to increase her popularity.
Spider-Man was Marvel’s most popular character, there is no doubt in my mind that this issue was created to help the sales of Ms. Marvel. Which means that it was probably not doing too great. I must admit that Ms. Marvel and Spider-Man make an excellent team in this issue, a perfect balance of strength and brains. I did notice how Spider-Man never doubted her ability to help him, just like he treated police Captain DeWolff with respect. As an introduction to a new character (Ms. Marvel) I would think it is underwhelming. As a continuation of her adventures chronologically it makes no sense, but it is a fun issue.
Do you agree with me? Have anything to say about this or any other related issue? Let's discuss in the comments below or on my Facebook page or on Twitter.