Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel Get into Trouble: Ms. Marvel #11 – November 1977
Ms. Marvel #11: "Day of the Dark Angel!"
Carol Danvers and Ms. Marvel just can’t catch a break.
The issue opens with a clear break from the previous one. Last time we saw Ms. Marvel she was swearing a fight to the death against Modok, now she is stopping a bank robbery. One of the robbers recognizes her and tells the others that it’s that “miz Marvel broad!” not a very flattering way to refer to her. The other robber says: “I don’t care if she’s missus America -- Blast her!” They start shooting her, but this is Ms. Marvel. She’s good at improvising, like Mar-Vell is. Obviously, we are supposed to mock them, because of their bad grammar, but it shows that some male criminals don’t take Ms. Marvel seriously. Too bad for them, because she manages to stop them, and without harming them.
She has a moment of internal wondering about her dual nature. As a Kree she should be able to kill the robbers with no problem, it’s the Carol Danvers part of herself that is holding her back. We are back to Ms. Marvel and Carol Danvers duality. That is not cool and getting really old. In the next panel, Ms. Marvel also says that she hopes that Carol Danvers’ “dislike of violence -- and her growing hatred of Ms. Marvel -- doesn't get us both killed…” So, we also learn that the relationship between the two just continues to deteriorate constantly.
It’s funny that Ms. Marvel made the fourth robber surrender by threatening him. It’s also funny that she is nervous about making Carol Danvers late for work. Apparently, Ms. Marvel hasn’t had any criminals to fight in weeks so she got caught up. Weeks? Must be more safe in New-York than I thought. Or are the rest of New-York superheroes doing that much of an amazing job?
Ms. Marvel tells us that when Danvers is in control, it’s like she doesn’t even exist. That’s just terrible, and terrible writing. We feel sorry for Ms. Marvel, and start to begrudge Danvers and I don’t think it’s good. Ms. Marvel even considers masquerading as Carol Danvers and pretending to be her, which is hilarious and ridicules at the same time. But, it also makes sense, being one person all the time makes sense.
Ms. Marvel flies straight to the Daily Bugle. Unfortunately, that doesn’t really help Carol Danvers as she’s in her nightgown. Danvers forces a change so that Ms. Marvel will fly her home, so that she can grab something to wear. Then she changes back to Ms. Marvel and flies back to the Daily Bugle, all while giving the cleaning lady (she has been living in a hotel room since her penthouse burned down) a heart attack. This is actually very funny.
Danvers ends up forty minutes late to work. Not great. Tracy Burke lets her know that the office is in a commotion, so she enters yelling: “silence!” I don’t know about you, but I don’t think that such behavior as a boss will get you very far. Actually, Danvers is a terrible boss, Gianelli’s vouchers weren’t approved because she didn’t use the proper channels and she forgot that she is supposed to cover the NASA shuttle launch. Good thing Burke knows her and packed her a bag in advance.
Danvers tells Burke “there are times I begin to wonder who really runs this shop.” The next panel is Burke’s internal thoughts and she is not happy. She too wonders who runs this place, she half feels bad that she missed an opportunity to tell Danvers how she feels and half wants the entire business to blow up in Danvers’ face. However, she doesn’t want to take over Danvers’ position so the issue got over the familiar stereotype of female competition.
It appears to me that Danvers isn’t doing a great job as an editor, even though she hasn’t been Ms. Marvel in weeks.
Danvers walks around the cape and says hello to people, but she feels like she doesn’t belong there anymore. She was there a few months ago, but now it’s worse. She thinks because “you can’t go home again;” I think because she gets into trouble every time she’s there. She was even banned from base, I guess after she ended up in a cave in the previous time she was there. But, in Marvel Team-Up Vol 1 #62, Ms. Marvel saved the cavourite crystal and I guess that Danvers took credit for it. This makes no sense, because Marvel Team-Up doesn’t really work with the timeline, but we’ll just have to forgive Marvel. Now Danvers earned the right to be back in the cape and to write about the launch. Later we find out that some people at the cape hold a grudge against her, because of her book about her time in US air force. Of course, they would hold a grudge against someone exposing how they are crappy workers.
Danvers’ friend Salia will be on this flight, and she will also be mission command pilot. It’s really impressive. It’s also impressive to see that she’s scared like a normal human being. The ship will also be carrying the cavourite crystal into space.
Suddenly, Danvers gets a headache. We know what that means. It’s Ms. Marvel time or vision time. We see that the missile which Salia is in has severe electric problems and then something from earth actives the cavourite crystal, causing the missile to explode. Salia somehow survives, but falling towards earth. In real time, after the missile launch Danvers gets another splitting headache.
Danvers desperately tries to stop the change from happening, she is worried about her friend, but Ms. Marvel has bigger worries and she forces the change.
Ms. Marvel flies to a Caribbean island called Saracen Cay, where she heard a psychic cry in Danvers’ vision and where a NASA tracking station system is located.
When Ms. Marvel lands on the beach, the sand comes to life. It turns into undead monsters that attack her. When she defeats one, two appears. Hello hydra. She manages to defeat them with her brain and not her strength. We also find out there is a person behind this. Then the sand molds together to create one supermonster. After some difficulty she defeats him too. Then flames burst around her. She jumps into the oceans, and the water attacks her. She manages to get out and on land. Now she’s angry.
Ms. Marvel meets her true enemy, Hecate, and her followers, the Elementals. It’s amusing how she calls Ms. Marvel “little human sister”. Apparently, all women are sisters when they meet Ms. Marvel, even when they try to kill her. The issue end with a cliffhanger, and Ms. Marvel’s odds don’t look great.
Both Ms. Marvel’s and Carol Danvers’ life are on fire. Carol Danvers can’t keep up with her work, even though apparently Ms. Marvel hasn’t appeared in weeks. And Ms. Marvel can’t stop a robbery and get Danvers’ to work on time. In the end she faces a new female enemy that is very impressive. But, not too impressive as we saw that Ms. Marvel did manage to handle herself rather respectively in this fight. Her male enemies don’t find her impressive, ever, but women enemies always refer to her as sister. I don’t like it. Men, especially humans, should show her the respect she deserves, just like her women enemies do. Or let no one show her any respect. This fake sisterhood is annoying. You can’t call someone sister and then try to kill them 5 minutes later.
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