Captain Marvel: Ms. Marvel - A Hero Is Born: Ms. Marvel: A Hero Is Born Omnibus

This is a review of Captain Marvel: Ms. Marvel - A Hero Is Born Omnibus.Despite its impressive box office, there has evidently been little initial interest in this first (male or female) Captain Marvel Omnibus, which would suggest the movie’s fans aren’t particularly interested in the seventies comic-books that gave us Carol Danvers, aka Ms. Marvel aka Captain Marvel (latterly, from 2012). This is a shame, as Marvel’s book publishing arm has ignored its own convention to rush this book out in time for the film. Normally, a character, irrespective of how established or obscure they might be only get the deluxe Omnibus treatment once they’ve advanced significantly in Masterworks releases (the alternative shorter, expensive, collector-orientated format) so as not to harm sales. But in a radical and welcome departure from the norm and with Ms. Marvel barely on its second volume in Masterworks format, this Omnibus has already surpassed it, collecting the combined volumes of Masterworks one, two and three - were it yet to be published.This is quite something for Marvel. By comparison, Black Panther and Ant Man, despite performing comparatively well on big screens have yet to be given the revered Omnibus treatment, despite both comic-books being equally or more advanced in Masterworks publication.So the big question is, is this book worthy of the special treatment it’s been accorded? Well not by the character’s co-creator, Gerry Conway if the words in his liberal foreword are to be believed. In fact, he seems positively embarrassed by it!A brief note to anyone interested; Carol Danvers makes her first fleeting appearance in 1968’s Marvel Super-Heroes 13 by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan, whereas Carol as Ms. Marvel debuts in 1977’s Ms. Marvel 1 by Gerry & Carla Conway and artist extraordinaire John Buscema. Carol Danvers is actually imbued with powers in 1969’s (male, original) Captain Marvel 18. Astonishingly, neither Marvel Super-Heroes 13 or Captain Marvel 18 is included in either the Masterworks or this Omnibus, a disappointing omission for supposedly archival book formats.So Conway’s overt self-deprecation is a bit of a shame, as similarly with Black Panther, Ms. Marvel signifies Marvel’s earnest, wholehearted attempt to inject some diversity into its contiguous fictional universe. Yet unlike today, where so many top-tier male characters have been dismissively and controversially overwritten for the purpose of diversity, these characters were created new. In fact, Ms Marvel, by being a gender analogue to a male counterpart set the trend for female incarnations of Hulk, Spider-Man and Thor. Yes, the storytelling is old hat by contemporary standards but that’s not really the point, as the same critique could be drawn against countless books of this era. And whilst this book isn’t on a par with its higher quality contemporaries, Conway and Buscema make a decent go of it. In terms of production values it held its own, but ultimately the character just didn't garner enough support to sustain it beyond twenty issues. But they tried! Although thematically posing little relation to Spider-Man, Conway slyly sows his book into its mythos. A.I.M. and Modok make early appearances culminating with Avengers tie-ins as Carol ultimately joins the team. Unlike many books, the art stays consistently high once Buscema departs and the character is obviously held in high esteem, remaining front and centre even if she couldn’t sustain a permanent ongoing book. Of course, subsequent writers take the character in very different directions, notably Kurt Busiek where, like Tony Stark she battles with alcoholism and most of Carol's subsequent tales are already captured in collected formats.In terms of this book's Omnibus credentials its good and at 720 pages a decent size. The recoloring seems accurate compared to my faded originals, the letters pages are included and there are commentaries and additional art pages featuring design sketches and unused covers etc. In fact the only caveat is the cover art, an horrendous piece that gives the hero a deranged, constipated expression.

A cracking good omnibus featuring Ms Marvel (or Captain Marvel) from the 1970s. The book includes Ms Marvel 1-23 along with a selection of Marvel Team Ups, Marvel Two in One, Defenders, Avengers etc. Sadly the book does not include Carol Danvers' appearances in the earlier Captain Marvels (same in the epic editions). The art is first rate throughout. The stories are generally pretty decent though in many cases Ms Marvel faces a selection of average villains (no Thanos etc). The book includes a number of articles about the creation of the comics and also includes a small selection of bonus pages (surely there must be more available ?).

Nice read but the old style art is not very attractive to my young daughter .

Perfect condition, nice book