Friday, May 15, 2015

Making a Splash: How Green Was My Mar Vell?

What it is, Groove-ophiles! Today we're gonna plant our peepers on several sensational splashes featuring our favorite Kree Captain Marvel (Marv Ell) during his "green" period. Marvel's Space-Born Super-Hero's green and white uniform is one of the most divisive sets of duds of the Groovy Age. Fans either loved the green-and-white or hated it. Ol' Groove is pretty sure Groove-ophile Charlie Horse 47 digs the green, 'cause he was willing to bribe yers trooly with his 1969 vintage No-Prize if I shared these pulsating pages by Gene Colan, Don Heck, Dick Ayers, and Frank Springer from issues 1-16 (February 1968-June 1969) of Captain Marvel plus Marv's first two appearances in Marvel Super-Heroes #'s 12-13 (October-December 1967). Can you dig it?
Yeah, this is actually from the reprint in C.M. #36






Ish 8, art by Don Heck and Vinnie Colletta







CM #15, art by Tom Sutton and Dan Adkins

Ditto the above


The first appearance of the red-and-blue uniform!

12 comments:

  1. "Captain Marvel must perform!"
    Now there's a phrase that might come in handy later.
    m.p.

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  2. Dumb question: how did they manage to have two sequential issues opening with basically the same scene?

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  3. Though I'm far more into the red-blue-yellow look, as long as Cap got involved in such mind-blowing issue like the Tom Sutton one (the first time I ever read him with his old threads on in a french edition of Stan Lee's Origin of Marvel Comics line and a true taste of things to come, thinking about Starlin), they could make him wear a tutu riding a surf (the surf part highly improbable).
    Did you get the No-Prize? (Never saw one)

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    Replies
    1. Greetz, everyone has their preference but I never, ever met anyone who prefered the red-blue to the green Marvel. Then again I never asked anyone LOL. Who else was green besides Cpt Marvel, Green Llama, and Green Lantern? I can't think of anyone else, off hand.

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    2. I was actually supposed get a No-Prize for my letter that was published in CM #36 (the poorly written thing at the end of the LOC by the kid from Fairfield, OH), but never actually received it 'cause some bigger, older, smarter (probably college) kid proved me wrong in the LOC of CM #38.

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  4. Am I wrong, or Yon-Rogg wore a similar uniform?
    I've always considered this outfit as a standard Kree military uniform. I'm relying on my memory, anyway.

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  5. Groove - this rocks! Thanks a bunch for the Green Marvel and artist comparisons. Anyone who doesn't dig the Subby-Marvel splash must not have a pulse! (Regarding the 1969 No-prize, my wife told me some guy named Irv Forbush showed up, posing as a fire-extinguisher salesman... Anyhow, I am wondering if it is safe to get it out of hiding???) Have a great weekend!

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    Replies
    1. I thought he was a furrier. I remember a "Furs by Forbush" label in a Mighty Sore comic

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    2. I got the "fire extinguisher" bit from one of the splash pages above. Gosh, I hate to do this, but I actually nearly cried when Marvel switched artists from Colan to Heck on Cpt Marvel. I think I did cry when they did that for like Daredevil 100. Well, when you are like 10 years old you can get upset more quickly. That being said, if I look back at DC switching from Kaluta to Robbins, or using Robbins on the Invaders, I actually kind of dig it, since it has a 40s nostalgia about it. Regrettably I don't get nostalgia-itis over darlin don's art.

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    3. From Colan to Heck, yes...
      "What the Heck"! I can easily understand you!

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  6. I remember reading the first issue as a fill-in( the reprint in #36) with a new intro and end by the Englehart-Milgrom-Janson team . At the time, it was too retro for me and I really longued for the frame to cover the picture. Today, I truly dig the Dean. Eventually, Janson got to ink Colan and that was fine by me.

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  7. Thank you sir. This is wonderful to see the vintage Captain Marvel get some attention. Sadly I understand the red and blue Cap has won the day, but the pure sci-fi adventures of the original are still my favorites. Bought the debut with my own hands and gobbled up each issue after gleefully. Eventually I was able to get hold of the MSH appearances, but it was many years later.

    Rip Off

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Special thanks to Mike's Amazing World of Comics and Grand Comics Database for being such fantastic resources for covers, dates, creator info, etc. Thou art treasures true!


Note to "The Man": All images are presumed copyright by the respective copyright holders and are presented here as fair use under applicable laws, man! If you hold the copyright to a work I've posted and would like me to remove it, just drop me an e-mail and it's gone, baby, gone.


All other commentary and insanity copyright GroovyAge, Ltd.

As for the rest of ya, the purpose of this blog is to (re)introduce you to the great comics of the 1970s. If you like what you see, do what I do--go to a comics shop, bookstore, e-Bay or whatever and BUY YOUR OWN!