It takes Marvel about half a year to bring Captain Marvel #19 to the newsstands, despite the fact that they just reimagined the character and, frankly, made him a lot more interesting.
In these issues, we see Rick Jones has become a rock star–or at least people now seem to dig his singing and he fills the seats at the clubs.
In the main story, Rick seeks out his old friend Bruce Banner to see if Banner can “fix” the whole problem of only Mar-Vell or Jones being able to be on Earth at one time, with the other being stuck in the negative zone. Of course, Banner doesn’t. He just Hulks out and the two of them fight.
The fight last most of the two issues.
And here how the series ends (for a two-year hiatus).
And future comic book artist Alan Kupperberg writes in.
I have always credited Rick Jones with being fairly-intelligent, so I have always had a hard time with his logic in this issue. Why would he expect a nuclear physicist ( Bruce Banner ) to be able to separate him from a Negative Zone-stranded Captain Mar-Vell-??? This would involve technology that Mankind simply does not possess yet! ( maybe in a few thousand more years ) Fortunately, it finally occurred to our star-spanning duo that there actually IS a gateway into the Negative Zone, at the Baxter Building!! ( see ‘Avengers’#89 ) I agree with you that it is a little peculiar that Marvel went to all this trouble to re-vamp Mar-Vell, just to cancel his series a scant four issues later! What the hell??! Yes, I HAVE been wondering about it, for FIFTY-THREE EVER-LOVIN’ YEARS!!!! That’s a DAMN LONG TIME to be trying to figure this out!!!! The series couldn’t be selling THAT bad!!! I thought these last three or four issues ( 17, 19-21 ) were actually pretty good, and promised a great series to come!! Well- it DID- it just took a couple of years to GET here!!! I do, however, prefer Roy Thomas’ Earth-bound superhero to Jim Starlin’s cosmic warrior. Just a matter of taste. The final two issues’ battle with the Incredible Hulk was pretty impressive, because it was a serious, double-issue throwdown! Even though Mar-Vell simply did not command the necessary physical might to defeat the Green Machine, he nevertheless spent two whole issues giving him a damn good fight! I wouldn’t have thought it! We wouldn’t see another great multi-issue Hulk-knockdown like this for another thirteen years, with ‘Iron Man’s #131-133!! Speaking of the Hulk- did anyone else think that ol’ Jade-Jaws was somewhat well-spoken in these two issues?? ( “You are not fighting a robot now, ‘masked one’!” ) “MASKED ONE”-????? What, is the Hulk taking elocution lessons, all by himself, out in the desert???! “MASKED ONE”-???? Oooooooooooo-kay. In closing, as to Rick Jones’ brief career as a rock-star: Well- it was 1970- in the late Sixties and early Seventies, in this country, anybody- and I mean, ANYBODY- who could play at least two chords on a guitar, could have a ( at least temporary ) career as a rock star, even without any lyrics!! In 1967 to 1971, girls would scream with orgasmic fury at ANYBODY who could strum a gretch, even for just a few seconds!! And if you think THAT’s nuts- just one decade later, DISCO ruled the entire WORLD!!!! No shit!!! I was truly frightened for the entire world!! I truly believed it would NEVER end, and, by the time it mercifully did, in 1981, I still couldn’t believe it was actually dead!!! I guess it was like how the Transylvanians felt when word got out that Dracula had been finally killed!! You’re praying to whatever God there is that it’s true, but you just can’t bring yourself to believe it!! Madonna has sworn to single-handedly, if necessary, bring about the Second Coming of Disco to our already-tortured land, and if she ( or anyone else ) DOES, I am going to sell all my Marvel Comics and move to Nepal!! Don’t hold me to this!!! It’s almost impossible to liquidate funnybooks for their full market value! However, I will TRY- I’d rather go fight in the Ukraine than have to go through another national disco-regime!! It’s inhuman!!