Carol Danvers Faces off against an Old Enemy: Ms. Marvel #22 – February 1979
Ms. Marvel #22: "Second Chance!"
Carol Danvers’ life is taking a new kind of turn.
The issue opens with a dramatic panel that shows us that Carol Danvers is being fired from “Woman” magazine. Not in person even, but J Jonah Jameson has left her a not so kind memo telling her this. Being an editor was a big part of her character, a career woman in a position of power, but that doesn’t work so great with being a superheroine. Jameson was never able to find her when he wanted to talk to her. She’s hardly surprised, she was not what Jameson wanted from the start.
Near the memo, on her desk we see a picture of her family, all of them, including her brother who has passed away, but is probably still close to her heart, despite the fact that she doesn’t speak of him, a picture is worth a thousand words.
She walks away from her work desk feeling tired and sad. She is also walking away from her last tie to Spider-Man. In her first issue, she felt too connected to him, working in the same building, having the same boss, and hanging out with Mary Jane. Now Chris Claremont completed the transformation of the character, new outfit, new life, and new goals probably.
Danvers loved her job, and now she’ll have to find a new one again. She’s done it before so she’s not too worried, but she did love her work as an editor. She decides that first, she needs to let out some steam and changes into Ms. Marvel. Flying is a great way to let out steam. She loves it so much that she doesn’t notice that she’s being followed.
A Javelin is being thrown at her, but she manages to catch it. An old enemy has returned.
Her enemy is an old enemy that has returned. Death-Bird of the Shi'ar people, and who we last seen in Ms. Marvel #10, where we assumed she died. But, like I wrote there, nobody really dies in comic books. In Ms. Marvel #10 we also saw that Death-Bird worked for MODOK, who we didn’t hear from since then. MODOK left her to die, but looks like she doesn’t mind that laps, if she's still working for him. They fight. Ms. Marvel thinks that she has won, but Death-bird simply disappears.
Looks like Danvers decides to console herself after a really bad day. She lost a super-villain and her job. So obviously the best solution to those problems is to go shopping and get a new ugly hairdo. Well, I guess she didn’t have time to go shopping between being an editor and a superheroine. But, it still feels like a bad move. She decides that maybe a night out in town with friends will cheer her up when she walks into her apartment.
In order to cheer her up, her friends have organized a surprised party for her. Her “Woman” staff is there, her regular friends and some of her friends from NASA. All there to support her. Looks like being an editor and a superheroine hasn’t hurt her popularity much, which is great because everyone needs friends.
Frank Gianelli organized this party. He walks over to her and kisses her, which is really annoying. He says that he claims first kiss and last waltz. He also says that this party is meant to show their appreciation of her hard work, they are not happy that she was fired. This is really nice of them.
The party is a lot of fun for Danvers, but not everything goes smoothly. She wants to know why Tracy Burke is avoiding her. Apparently, J Jonah Jameson has offered her Danvers’ job. Danvers like the great and professional woman that she is, tells her to take the job with her blessing. It’s nice to see that there is no animosity between two competing career women.
Then we switch to a ship in Manhattan caring cargo from Tokyo to Stark Industries. Death-Bird attacks the security and orders her crew to take the cargo. For her, this is an opportunity to go home.
Michael Barnett, her psychiatrist, also shows up at Danvers’ party. He hopes that they are friends, and he hopes to marry her one day. Even though it’s really hard to protect a superheroine who runs with the Avengers. Their entire relationship is very unprofessional and disturbing.
Some crazy ex-girlfriend tries to get her hands on him, but then he spots Danvers. Playing a guitar, something that she hasn’t done in years, but she loves doing. We didn’t know that she likes or even knows how to play until now. He is really drunk and spills his drink on her. She takes him outside for fresh air. As they leave, we see that Raven Darkholme is in her party, and she has some bad plans for Danvers and Barnett. It’s interesting to know why she’s after Danvers, because it’s not Ms. Marvel she’s interested in.
While they are outside, Danvers’ has a seventh-sense vision and she flies away. Noting that these visions are as bad and painful as her villains. Barnett is left alone thinking: “by hook or crook, I’ll have you as my wife… and then I’ll end this Ms. Marvel craziness forever!” He is a villain of a different sort than Death-Bird. He is a typical chauvinist villain, who doesn’t want his woman to be all powerful when she is. And she’s not even his woman, or close to being one.
Ms. Marvel arrives at the crime scene and knocks out the man carrying the cargo and goes after Death-Bird with a fury. But, somehow, Ms. Marvel feels that she is weakened, something is wrong with her. Then, Death-Bird throws a Javelin at some mechanical part of the ship and it explodes, taking Ms. Marvel with it. Death-Bird believes that she is dead and says that she will never forget Ms. Marvel as she was her greatest foe. But, Ms. Marvel can take a hit. She thinks that the alcohol and the too much food has affected her senses. No super sobriety there. Also, why would too much food affect her? That’s strange.
Death-Bird throws a Javelin at Ms. Marvel, misses her, but hits a road. The road collapses and a car start to fall. Suddenly, Ms. Marvel manages to knockout Death-Bird in order to get to the people in the car. Promising that she will break her promise never to kill again if the people are hurt. She’s angry that Death-Bird doesn’t care who get hurt from her actions. She is holding the road, but there are people trapped inside the now burning car, if she’ll let go, they will fall, but if she won’t they will burn. Out of nowhere, Death-Bird shows up to hold the collapsed road. Apparently, she has a code of honor, and won’t let innocent people get hurt. She didn’t even try to take advantage of Ms. Marvel’s vulnerable state.
As soon as the people are safe Death-Bird lets the road collapse and punches Ms. Marvel straight into the burning car. The car explodes and then road falls on top of it. Again Death-Bird thinks Ms. Marvel is dead. She really should learn to make sure by now. But, as there are so many people watching, she can’t steal the components she needs to get her home.
Then Ms. Marvel comes out of the rubbles. Everyone is happy and the people she saved thank her, but she is not happy. Death-Bird has disappeared yet again.
This issue marks a drastic change for Carol Danvers. She now lost her last connection that made her too close to Spider-Man, her work at the Daily Bugle. She changed her outfit that made her too similar to Mar-Vell. Now she is totally free and original. Chris Claremont completed the change that he started in Danvers after he took over the character. She also has two awesome female villains to deal with. Death-Bird is Ms. Marvel’s villain and Mystique is Carol Danvers’ villain. Just a friendly reminder, Mystique or Raven Darkholme started her career as a Carol Danvers villain. Ms. Marvel had fought against men in the past, but these two powerful women make an interesting change for the character. This issue marks the beginning of a new potential for Carol Danvers.
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