Ms. Marvel Finally Meets Carol Danvers: Ms. Marvel #13 – January 1978
Ms. Marvel #13: "Homecoming!"
Carol Danvers goes home for the first time and we get to meet her parents.
Yes, this issue opens with Carol Danvers coming home for a surprise visit to her parents’ house. Even powerful superheroines feel the most comfortable when they are under their parents’ roof. Well, those who have parents. Yes, there is a time gap in events from the previous issue and some events missing and this issue goes back and forth trying to explain everything.
Danvers’s mom, Marie Danvers, is a classic housewife. We see it from this first panel. She is washing the dishes with gloves and an apron, that’s a lot of dedication to just washing dishes. Also, the choice to show her washing dishes and not say, sitting and reading is meaningful. It emphasizes the difference between the generations. We have never seen Danvers doing one house chore, even though she probably does them.
They have a nice hug and Danvers tells her surprised mom “you were expecting Gloria Steinem? Or maybe even... Ms Marvel?” Now that is a strange comparison to make. Gloria Steinem was a prominent second wave feminist activist and co-founder of Ms. magazine. Yes, the same magazine that was referenced in Ms. Marvel #1 and #6. Chris Claremont was obviously aware of the social process that were happening at the time. It is a strange decision to put Ms. Marvel as someone more important, even though she exists in that fictional world. However, her mother is totally disconnected from reality, she has no idea who Ms. Marvel is. Even though she was on the cover of a magazine that her daughter edits, or even though it seems that even random people within the world of the comics know who Ms. Marvel is. Being a housewife from the old generation clearly means that you don’t get to be informed on what is happening in the real world.
Then we find out the Danvers brought along Mike Barnett. We haven’t seen him in a while. Bringing him to meet the parents sounds serious, but I wouldn’t bet on Danvers having a serious relationship with anyone. I guess he is back because of popular demand.
We also find out that Danvers’ father did all the carpentry work on the house. A stereotypical housewife should have a stereotypical husband to go along with her. Then we see a copy of “Woman” in the house, so how does her mother not know who Ms. Marvel is? Danvers’ mother is proud of her, showing how much the change from one generation of women to the other was necessary. However, her father is not proud of her and thinks that a man should be editing the magazine – of course. Even a woman's magazine.
Her mother asks for an update about Danvers life as they didn’t speak much lately. Being a superheroine and an editor is very time consuming. This causes a flashback. The last time we saw Danvers, she was on the beach in the Caribbean island called Saracen Cay and she wanted to kill the Witch-Queen Hecate. The events that Hecate caused, made Ms. Marvel help her save the world while she was dooming Danvers’ friend Salia Petrie whose spaceship was destroyed because of this conflict.
The flashback is a recap. We see a Ms. Marvel fighting the elementals with Hecate and Danvers coming out of the fight enraged with Skarab in her hand. She wants a life for a life. Hecate calls Danvers sister and informs her that she is holding back, because she could easily take her out. The Skarab makes Danvers as strong as the Elementals, but not enough to defeat Hecate. Hecate realizes the truth that we have known for the past 12 issues pretty fast.
As Danvers lifts a giant boulder to throw at Hecate and kill her, Hecate stops Danvers by asking her to look at what she is doing. She has much more than human strength in a human body. Hecate uses her own powers of illusion to make Danvers realize that she is Ms. Marvel. She also adds that she is Ms. Marvel since the Kree psyche-magnetron created her. A fickle event as her power appeared 6 months later.
Now when Hecate asks her who she is, Danvers simply says “me!!” what a beautiful and great word.
Danvers can now suddenly change to Ms. Marvel at will, but we can let that slide. Also, Danvers feels so happy, she feels that she has been reborn, she is now a complete person. She even hugs Hecate. Just a few moments ago she was angry and mourning for the death of her friend and now she is giddy happy? It should have been a bitter sweet revelation as she also realizes that she let her friend to die and that there is no one else to blame. Even though it was the right thing to do. Now we won’t have to suffer through Danvers hating on Ms. Marvel, when we know that they are one. It is also annoying that she needs someone else to tell her the truth about herself and did not come to this realization on her own.
Danvers’ reasoning behind the split personality is infuriating in my eyes, but I am looking at it with the eyes of a modern reader. She thinks that her mind could not handle becoming a Kree warrior, so it split into two. Because all male superheroes who get their powers from an accident somehow end up becoming literality two different people who hate each other and can’t get along. Great. Apparently, women can’t handle the pressure of powers. Well, this woman at least. And to think that comics used to be considered a subversive medium.
Then we meet Danvers’ father, Joe Danvers. A working man who once owned a successful contracting business which failed during the recession of 76’, now he works for other people as a straw boss on construction sites. The building site is not up to standards and we see Joe risks his life to save one of his workers, while putting himself at risk. Clearly his daughter inherited that from him.
Then we switch to Danvers in a party on a naval ship. She’s actually having fun for once. But, not far away, another ship is being attacked.
The Captain of the ship tells Mike to get Danvers to safety on shore: “this is no place for a lady!” Mike is more than happy to be a protective man and to take Danvers to safety. However, Danvers isn’t a lady, she’s Ms. Marvel. Mike only has himself to keep safe.
It’s the first time she’s facing two enemies as a complete person, it’s a pleasure to read. But her enemies are competent, and they have fought the Kree before. It’s a hard fight and she doesn’t win. While one is incapacitated, she fights against the other, and the first one has a chance to recover. In the end both of her enemies leave, saying that staying will jeopardies their mission. Ms. Marvel has a bad feeling about seeing them again.
At last we don’t have to hear anymore dialogue about Carol Danvers hating Ms. Marvel, when we know that they are one. Although the explanation for the split between Danvers and Ms. Marvel is pretty bad in my opinion, at least its behind us. It’s also a shame that she doesn’t come to this realization on her own and needs external help. We also see that Danvers’ mom is a totally different person than her daughter, not a source of inspiration. Danvers is more like her father, who seems to not accept her and her occupation at all. Even though Danvers is happier now, she did not win against her new enemies. They will be back.
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