Retro Trade Review: Captain Marvel – First Contact by David, Chriscross, and others

Contains Captain Marvel #0 – 6 (November 1999 – June 2000)

Written by Peter David

Pencilled by Chriscross (#0-3, 6), Ron Lim (#4), James Fry (#5)

Art Assist by Frank Strom (#5)

Inked by Anibel Rodriguez (#0-3, 6), Wayne Faucher (#2), Scott Koblish (#2), Mark McKenna (#4), Mark Nelson (#4), Scurry (#4), Walden Wong (#5)

Coloured by Tom Smith (#0), Steve Oliff (#1-6)

Spoilers from twenty-six to twenty-seven years ago

I never read this title (aside from the odd tie-in or guest appearance issue, like the Micronauts one below), but I was never sure why, because I really liked the way Captain Marvel was portrayed in Avengers Forever, and loved his costume design. I think this book was a victim of me just not having the time or funds for a lot of comics when it came out. I’ve always been curious about it, though.

I picked this book up before Peter David’s death, figuring that it would be a good test case to see if I wanted to track down the entire run. I loved David’s Hulk run, which introduced Marlo, Rick Jones’s wife. I’ve often found Jones an annoying character, except when written by David.

I also remember always liking Chriscross’s art, and the way he had such expansive panels. He always reminded me a bit of Kevin Maguire, and that is a big selling point for me. 

I’m still not terribly familiar with Genis-Vell, the heir to Captain Marvel’s name. I read his early appearances in Silver Surfer, when he was going by Legacy, not that long ago, but they didn’t impress me much. Kurt Busiek wrote him as a pretty serious hero in Avengers Forever, but I know that a Peter David comic is not going to take that same approach.

Oddly, this series launched with a Wizard exclusive zero issue, which is included in this trade.

This book features the following characters:

Heroes:

• Rick Jones (#0-6)
• Captain Marvel (Genis-Vell; #0-6)

Villains:

• Captain Marvel (Hyssta; #0-1)
• Wendigo (Lorenzo, aka Larry; #2-3)
• Kelly (#4-6)
• Visalia (#5-6)
• Dexam (former Micronaut; #6)

Guest Stars

• Moondragon (Heather Douglas; #1-6)
• The Hulk (Bruce Banner; #2-4)
• Drax The Destroyer (#3-6)
• Bug (Micronaut; #6)
• Commander Arcturus Rann (Micronaut; #6)
• Marionette (Mari, Micronaut; #6)

Supporting Characters:

• Marlo Chandler-Ross (#0-6)
• Lorraine (alive, #2; as a ghost, #4-6)

Let’s see what happened in the comics, with some commentary as I go:

• One thing that I liked about comics in this period is that they always started with a pretty comprehensive recap page, but if that existed on the Wizard #0 issue, it (and any other) didn’t make it into this book, so we start with Rick Jones staring at his reflection and seeing Genis-Vell’s looking back at him, reminding us that they are linked by the Nega-Bands (but not reminding us when, although we remember it was in Avengers Forever). Rick’s there to meet with Marlo, his ex-wife, who is stuck on a slow-moving bus. Rick starts seeing things that no one else can see – his waitress appears to be bleeding, and something comes crashing through a plate-glass window, but then all these things just disappear. He runs outside and sees a giant serpent-like creature and decides to let Genis take over, swapping places with him. Genis saves Marlo’s bus and blasts at the creature, causing glass to break, causing the waitress to get the injuries we saw on her earlier. Marlo gets off the bus and yells at Genis, who she doesn’t know yet. She gets him to realize that he was fighting nothing, and caused a lot of damage. He flies off.

• Even with a recap page (presumably), I’m sure readers of issue one were confused. Early in the morning police come to Rick’s door, wanting to ask about some superhero-related stuff. Rick pretends to not know about heroes, despite the fact that his apartment is crammed with memorabilia. Rick learns that Marlo told the police to talk to him. Marlo meets a guy named Lorenzo who goes by Larry in a restaurant, and he offers her a role in the film he’s shooting. We see a damaged spaceship enter Earth’s atmosphere. Rick and Genis-Vell argue with each other (remember they are in separate dimensions, so Rick keeps imagining Genis’s head is talking to him) about whether or not they should explain to the cops about the alien attack; Rick doesn’t want to get involved, but switches places with Genis anyway. Genis sees a pedestrian about to be hit by a truck and swoops down to save him, but no one else saw the truck, and the cops believe he attacked the guy. Genis allows them to take him into custody, and as they drive to the station, he sees the same crashed truck from his vision, just in a different location. The spaceship crashes near the Hollywood sign. Genis tries to explain to the officer interrogating him that he saw a giant serpent-creature last issue, and just then another cop runs in to claim that the same being is attacking downtown. Genis races to help. On Titan, Moondragon meditates and realizes she is needed on Earth. Genis finds the creature and attacks it. He’s surprised to learn that it can speak, and that it’s from a race called the Hyssta. Genis is perplexed and angered when he learns that the creature’s name is Captain Marvel; they make each other angry and start to fight. Rick gives Genis directions to get away from the bystanders, and together they lure the creature to the Tar Pits, and manage to get it stuck. It sinks. Later, Genis talks to the same cop from before and is cleared of any wrong doing. Both Genis and Rick are concerned that something is making them see things that aren’t there. We see that another Hyssta ship is responding to their Captain Marvel’s request for backup.
• Issue two opens with Marlo and another actress named Lorraine improving their way through the film that they are making (it’s a Blair Witch Project-style mockumentary that has them searching for some kind of monster in the woods). It’s clear that Marlo and Lorraine don’t much like one another. Genis rushes to stop an armed robbery, but Rick wonders if it’s really happening and has him pause; they realize that they are seeing things again. Genis spots the car from his vision and attacks it. Cops arrive and side with the drivers until Genis shows how many weapons they had in their trunk. Marlo and Lorraine bicker, and they both appeal to Larry to make changes when he turns up. He praises them, and doesn’t notice that something is watching them from behind some trees. Rick is in the comics store where Marlo works, and learns that she’s gone to Canada to be in her film. Rick freaks out and takes off. He explains to Genis that he’s worried she’ll be attacked by the Wendigo, and so he switches places with Genis and they head north. Lorraine rants into the camera when her tent gets ripped apart and the Hulk comes into the frame. Genis approaches just then and mistakes the Hulk for the Wendigo and attacks. This angers Hulk, who attacks back. He smashes Genis into the woods, and he and Rick talk about strategy. Rick hasn’t told Marlo about his connection to Genis yet, and so can’t switch back and calm the Hulk down as he usually does. Lorraine is comforted by Larry, who pulls out a knife and kills her suddenly. Moondragon enters Rick’s apartment and psychically convinces his landlord to let him live rent free. Marlo tries to calm the Hulk, but her efforts go nowhere when Genis swoops in and attacks again. Hulk starts to drown Genis, so he switches places. Rick is calming the Hulk as Wendigo shows up and grabs him.

• Marlo discovers Lorraine’s body, and learns that her killer took a few bites out of her arm. Rick is surprised to learn that the Wendigo can talk (it’s kind of obvious that this is Larry), and Genis is able to channel some energy through the Nega-Bands to help Rick get free of the monster’s grip. Hulk pushes Wendigo into the lake, and they keep fighting underwater while Rick summons Genis. Marlo finds him and embraces him, making Rick jealous. Moondragon is watching something like the Jerry Springer Show in Rick’s apartment when Drax the Destroyer turns up on the street, looking for her. He is upset with her for leaving Titan. Genis dives into the lake and helps the Hulk get to the surface. Elsewhere in a different Canadian forest, some hikers come across a naked man who is happy that the curse of the Wendigo has been lifted from him. Wendigo comes out of the lake and starts talking to Marlo, explaining that he’s consulted a number of magic users to figure out how to get the power of the Wendigo while keeping control of his mind. Everyone argues until Hulk starts the fight up again, but this time Wendigo is able to grab Marlo (although really, this is another false vision on Genis’s part). Hulk comes across Lorraine’s body and turns back into Banner. Wendigo is about to get him, but Genis blasts him. This time Wendigo grabs Marlo for real, so changing tactics, Genis offers to give him the Nega-Bands so he can become more powerful. Hulk jumps back into the area, and while Genis keeps Wendigo talking, Marlo grabs a talisman from his ear (this feels kind of like a deus ex machina) and throws it into the lake where it’s eaten by a fish. This causes the creature to turn back into Larry, and elsewhere, for the other guy to turn back into the Wendigo. It seems that Larry’s body is mindless, as his consciousness has been transferred into a fish. 
• Issue four opens with a dream sequence, as Marlo remembers wrapping things up in Canada with Bruce Banner and the RCMP, but then when she is startled awake by a vision of Lorraine as a ghost, Marlo jerks awake, and falls out of Genis’s arms (he was flying her home). As she falls, Genis and Rick argue, and Genis understands that Rick had been making fun of him earlier when he gave him a silly battle cry. Genis rescues Marlo and a small airplane she almost caused to crash. We see a young dazed looking girl named Kelly who starts to cut up her arm with a razor she smuggled into her bedroom. Genis drops Marlo off, and it seems like she propositions him (remember, she doesn’t know that he’s sharing his existence with Rick) then tries to cover it by offering him free comics. He flies off recommending that she call Rick, and then he and Rick talk and bond a little better. Marlo talks to herself for a bit, but then Lorraine appears to her as a ghost. Rick returns home to find a hole in his apartment wall and Moondragon waiting for him, neither of which make him happy. Drax is searching for mint cookies for Moondragon, but with no luck. Kelly’s mother and little sister find her, and the sister thinks she’s carved a picture into her arm. Moondragon explains to Rick that something is wrong with Genis’s cosmic awareness, and his inability to shut it off (which is likely explaining the weird flashes of future events he’s been having). Rick is angry when Moondragon suggests that Genis enter weeks of training with her, and that’s when Drax returns, thinking that he’s threatening his daughter. Drax attacks Rick, who has to switch places with Genis. They fight briefly, but in the fight Genis’s bands touch each other, somehow transporting both he and Drax to the Negative Zone, dissipating the protective shielding that Genis has in that realm. They fall towards a planet. 

• Genis and Drax have crashed on a planet and are unconscious when some locals dressed in robes find them, believe they recognize Drax, and take him away, leaving Genis to die in the desert. On Earth, Moondragon insists that Rick bring Genis and Drax back, but he refuses to, and is unable to explain his reasons. Moondragon tries to grab his nega-bands and receives a shock. A psychiatrist is talking to that Kelly girl who claims that she’s going to destroy everything. When Moondragon wakes up, she finds that Rick has tied her up and has placed his Walkman headphones over her ears. When she tries to use her powers, he turns on Limp Bizkit at full volume (he also threatens to use Korn on her). He explains that he can’t sense Genis, which is odd, so he doesn’t feel like he can switch places with him safely. Genis wakes up and he and Rick talk; they think that they’ve been incorrect in their understanding of how their powers work; he starts to look for Drax, but as he flies over some water, he is eaten by a big ugly fish. Marlo talks to herself in the shower, trying to rationalize her vision of Lorraine, when she sees the ghost again, and falls down. Drax wakes up in a castle adorned with portraits of the Hulk. He quickly realizes that the people there, who are green, think he’s the Hulk, but he can’t really explain things, because they associate his poor communication skills with the Hulk. He’s taken to their queen, Visalia, who is the sister of the late Jarella. She touches Drax, causing his mind to clear, and then kisses him; he decides he likes being the Hulk. Genis has freed himself from the fish, and receives directions to the palace from the locals. Kelly shows the shrink that she has powers, but tells him that if he tells anyone, they’ll think he’s crazy. Genis enters the palace and is attacked by guards. Drax arrives, now dressed as a warrior king, and tells him he doesn’t want to return with him.
• Marlo is rude to a customer at her comics store when the guy tries to sell a whole box of Youngbrood #1s, thinking they will make him rich. She leaves the store to go see Rick. With no explanation, we see three of the Micronauts (calling themselves the Microns, for legal purposes), Bug, Commander Rann, and Marionette moving through a crowd, talking about rescuing one of their own. Rann doesn’t seem interested in helping him, but Mari insists. Just then, Genis comes flying out of the castle they were approaching (establishing that they’re on the same planet). Visalia commands her guards to seize him, but he fights back, while telling Rick he’s letting his photonic energy, which builds more slowly on this world, restore itself. We see that Rick still has Moondragon tied up, and she tries to convince him that she’s just looking out for her father. Marlo knocks on the door. Drax flies down to stomp on Genis, but he’s hit by a blaster ray – the Micronauts have entered the fray. Drax gets confused, and Visalia, above, asks a cyborg she calls Dexam why his intelligence spell is fading. This conversation reveals that Visalia is not actually Jarella’s sister, and is apparently in love with Dexam. Somehow Mari is in their chamber and hears this. Kelly’s parents tell her that they’re committing her to an institution, but she uses her powers on them and they change their mind. Rann gives Genis some backstory to the Microverse; apparently Thanos teamed up with the reborn Baron Karza (clearly Hasbro owned that name too), and after a fight with the Micronauts and the X-Men, merged all the various Microverses into one (Crisis on Infinite Microverses, I guess?). Drax and the guards find Genis and the Micronauts, so the battle is back on. Mari calls Arcturus and reveals that Dexam and Visalia are trying to take over the world, using Drax to do it. She’s discovered. Rick talks to Marlo outside of his apartment, and she asks him to get dinner with her that week-end so they can talk about things. She goes in to use the bathroom and is surprised to see Moondragon tied up and sitting on the toilet. Lorraine’s ghost seems even more confused. While the fight in the Microverse continues, the heroes seem to get a plan together. Rann asks Mari to lure Dexam outside, while Genis gets Drax to chase him. On the balcony, Mari yells to the people that Dexam is trying to kill Visalia; this causes Drax to attack him. Visalia yells at him to stop, and in the process, reveals herself as having lied. Rick swaps in and tells the populace that Drax is not the Hulk, and that Visalia is not Jarella’s sister. When questioned, he claims to be a knowledgeable wizard, and switches places with Genis again. Genis, Drax, and the Micronauts watch as the people beat Visalia up.

• The book ends with a three-page recap of Rick Jones and Genis’s backstories that probably would have been more helpful at the front of the book.

This book feels like such a relic, because it’s clearly from that window in time when people were not writing for the trade, with complete five or six-issue story arcs, but also, the people in charge of collecting books were not selecting for the trade either, and so we are left with a very incomplete story. How do Genis and Drax return from the Microverse? Does Moondragon help Genis or her father once they do get back? What happens when Rick and Marlo have dinner? How long does Lorraine keep haunting Marlo? And what’s up with that Kelly girl? What about the way Genis and Rick keep getting glimpses of the future, but apparently not in the Microverse? None of these questions are answered here, nor are they answered in the trade to follow this one, because there wasn’t one. Presumably, Marvel expected that some people who read this would go on to get caught up on the series through back issues, but it’s a strange publishing model.

I don’t like how modern comics are written for trades, and the general lack of long-running subplots because of that, but this scattershot approach to collecting books doesn’t work for me either.

Anyway, that’s besides the point. The truth is, I found this book frustrating for other reasons that are very specific to how Peter David was writing during this era, with the assumption that readers have read his previous books and therefore know the ins-and-outs of Marlo’s relationship with Rick, so no one needs to be introduced. There are a ton of quick cuts that don’t always make sense (such as any time Kelly shows up, or the sudden introduction of the Micronauts into the story). I don’t need a lot of exposition, but this comic needed a bit more.

Beyond that, this was a fun read. I like the way Genis looks in this book a lot (especially compared to his Legacy look in previous appearances), especially in the issues ChrisCross drew. The interactions between Rick and Genis move from likeable to annoying, but overall, I can see the direction David is taking this buddy comic, and I like it. I also really liked the way Moondragon and Drax were used, and the connections that brought to the broader Marvel Universe. The storylines involving Marlo were interesting too.

It’s too bad the art wasn’t consistent with the early issues, but ChrisCross’s pages were all great. He does good work with the design Carlos Pacheco made for Genis’s costume.

One thing that stood out to me in the early issues here was the way Rick would call Genis ‘Genny’, and we learned it sounded like Jenny. I’d always assumed that Genis was pronounced with a hard-g, like Genghis Khan, so that really threw me. It’s always funny to me when I learn that my presumed pronunciations of established characters have been wrong for years, and I think it’s even funnier when I hear how people get other characters’ names wrong. 

Anyway, I kind of want to read the rest of this series now, and I guess I’ll be on the hunt for an omnibus or Epic Collections that have the whole series. I think this got relaunched at some point, with the same creative team, so hunting back issues would be complicated. This was a weird time for Marvel, and I realize that I overlooked some real good comics as they were comig out.

It felt good to be able to read a book and revive this column again. I’m hoping to do a few more this summer (trades and individual series). Let’s hope I have something new for you soon.

You can check out my Retro Review archives here.

If you’d like to read this trade, follow this link. Or, if you want the full series, it’s here.