I like this! Ms. Marvel starts in the middle of an action scene. No explanation of who this new hero is or where she came from. She just fights some bankrobbers and then immediately gets into it with Scorpion.
It’s interesting that Marvel introduced her in her own comic, rather than launch her somewhere else so they’d have a built-in audience. I guess back in the ’70s, when people still read a lot and bought lots of comics, it was okay to take this kind of a publishing risk. You’d never see that happen these days. Okay, technically that’s not true. Ms. Marvel premiered in “Marvel Super Heroes #13” in 1968. She just appeared as Carol Danvers–no powers yet. But I’m not counting that as Ms. Marvel’s first appearance because she wasn’t powered up yet.
That’s her to the left, looking pretty hot. But the dude would rather look at a robot than Carol.
Back to the story:
After the bank-robbery scene, we get a story about Scorpion trying to kill J. Jonah Jameson in which Mac Gargan offers the best reason to kill JJJ:
“Because I don’t like you.” Priceless.
Ms. Marvel gets involved because Carol Danvers, who we as readers don’t know is Ms. Marvel yet, gets hired by JJJ to produce “Woman Magazine.” When Ms. Marvel defeats Scorpion and saves JJJ, he turns around and sics Carol Danvers on her to find out who she is and what she’s about.
Rather than being told directly that Carol=Ms. M, we get a final sequence where Carol says she’s been having blackouts. As readers, we now know her deal. As if we hadn’t already figured out, given that two women were introduced in a single Marvel comic.
Interestingly enough, Marvel’s most famous female–the non-powered Mary Jane Watson–and her boyfriend Peter Parker appear in this issue. But Parker never puts on his Spider-Man costume, even though Scorpion is the villain.
Ms. Marvel is also the first legacy character to get her own book. A few other people have put on Iron Man’s armor and actually served as I.M. for an issue or two, but Ms. Marvel is full-on, with her own title, and a costume that looks a lot like Mar-Vell’s.
One of the top 10 John Buscema comics.