gregorydickens:

In the wake of the news that Captain Marvel is getting her own movie, I see a lot of online comments about reading her stories. They are good lists. I do not dispute them.

However.

One comic I don’t see mentioned is Uncanny X-Men 158. I submit that you need to look at this particular issue to see how good Carol was in the days of yore. The days when I was but a child. We may have only had 36 states then. But Carol was getting the full-court press by Chris Claremont.

Published in 1982, this issue is about a year before she becomes Binary. She has been de-powered by Rogue since August 1981, and she’s hanging out with the X-Men. I read this shortly after it was published, and I would have sworn on a stack of Bazooka Joes that Carol was not only an X-Man, but the team leader. Because she does all this in one comic:

+ She spars with the Starjammers and is only defeated when they literally dogpile her.

+ She helps the team sneak into the Pentagon to hack its files on the team.

+ She dishes on her impressive military background.

+ She literally bumps into her archenemy Rogue and charges her, powers be damned.

+ She sneaks off for the primary mission and fights Rogue’s mom, Mystique.

+ She beats Mystique with a chokehold and hands her to the MPs.

+ She wipes out the Pentagon’s intelligence info on the X-Men and her own civilian and hero identity with a resolve to move forward.

It’s a Carol comic guest-starring the X-Men. Other stuff happens, yeah. Kitty thinks about Peter, and the team fight Rogue (and there’s Storm carrying Wolverine even though his skeleton weighs as much as my house).

But, cheese and crackers, people, this was the first time I had seen Carol Danvers, and she clearly has no powers, and she gets the job done like Big Daddy Kane.

And the shewent into space and became Binary (Uncanny X-Men 164). And then she punched Rogue into outer space (Uncanny X-Men 171) and tells the team that if they help Rogue, she’s outta here. And she’s outta there.

She was cool because she was capable even between super powers, and this comic is her showcase. Comixology has it for $2. Give it a try.

(via kellysue)