Suggestions From The Long Box- The Death of Captain Marvel (1982)

The Death of Captain Marvel; writer- Jim Starlin; artist- Jim Starlin.

I'm long overdue for this, so I apologize. It's Big Bob Hefler, or the Hef as I'm called by some. I'm throwing you one of my Suggestions From the Long Box again. This is where I reach in blindly and grab a book at random from one of my long boxes. I occasionally cheat and know exactly what I'm doing when I pick a book, and this graphic novel from Marvel Comics is one of those books.

Remember when you could get a brand new graphic novel for six bucks? I do. It was 1982. Wolverine was hot, the Uncanny X-Men was hot, and Captain Marvel was on his deathbed. The 66 page, six dollar book, The Death of Captain Marvel had me freaking out in a panic as soon as I saw the cover. Captain Marvel was one of my heroes. He was a Kree warrior who turned his back on his people because they stood against everything he knew was good. Captain Marvel fought solo and along side the Avengers against foes like Thanos, the Super Skrull, Supreme Intelligence, Ronan the Accuser, and Nitro. In fact, it was the villain Nitro that paved the path to our hero's demise.

The story begins with Captain Marvel, or Mar-Vell as he is also known, recording his life story in a handheld device. He's doing this because he's facing his own mortality and feels the story needs to be told. It's a somber time for whomever is reading the book, because we can all tell something is going on. Mar-Vell is preparing himself for his final end. He's come to terms with the fact that he'll no longer be a part of the universe's line of defense and he's being brave in the face of death, just like a true warrior. Unlike most warriors, Mar-Vell won't be leaving this mortal coil in battle. In fact, when the super villain Nitro attacked New York with a deadly nerve gas, our valiant hero sealed the canister with his bare hands to save the day. That is where his cancer started. No spoiler here, since it's in the title, but in the end he does die of cancer and all of the Marvel heroes are there to say goodbye. Not one of them have a dry eye.

This book was such a big deal when it came out, because even though we've seen heroes and villains die in comics, none of them had died from something like cancer until Jim Starlin shocked us with The Death of Captain Marvel. Readers could empathize with the characters as they watched their friend's final days. It really put reality into the story. It's a heavy topic and Jim Starlin knows how to write heavy topics. Starlin's art and writing have won him gobs of awards. He's created characters like Thanos and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu; he's revamped characters like Captain Marvel and Adam Warlock; and he's killed heroes and sidekicks like Robin when he wrote the Batman storyline "A Death In The Family."

The Death of Captain Marvel goes down as my favorite comic story of all time. It was the first Marvel Graphic Novel published by Marvel Comics, he was my favorite hero growing up, and this story was the first time I ever felt like I lost a friend or family member.

That's my suggestion from the long box for you today. Look for it wherever comics are sold and try to haggle down to that cover price of $5.95, just to see if they'll go for it. See ya'!