Issue(s): Marvel Spotlight #1, Marvel Spotlight #2, Marvel Spotlight #3
Cover Date: Jul-Nov 79
Title: "The Saturn storm!" / "The dark corners!" / "Blue -- red -- blue!"
Credits:
Doug Moench - Writer
Pat Broderick - Penciler
Bruce D. Patterson / Gene Day - Inker
Jim Salicrup - Assistant Editor
Roger Stern - Editor

Review/plot:
In theory a Marvel Spotlight series would highlight of new or neglected characters, but it starts by finalizing a poor plot from the canceled Captain Marvel series.

For a #1, it's not a very new reader friendly plot, nor is it very interesting. Mar-vell and his companions Drax the Destroyer, Rick Jones, and Rick's girlfriend Gertie make their way back to Titan to fight an out-of-control ISAAC...

...and have to refight all of the minions they defeated at the end of the Captain Marvel series.

Captain Marvel defeats ISAAC by expending his lifeforce in some kind of transcendental something.

That wraps up the story...

...but we're not done.

Captain Marvel and Rick have some R&R on Titan after their battle with ISAAC, and then head back to Earth. Marv brings his new girlfriend Elysius with him, inspiring some jealousy from Eros.

On the way home, they learn from Eon that some space aliens have gone to Earth to hunt down Captain Marvel.

But we won't see a conclusion to that.

There's also a neat scene talking about the potential that humans have - an attribute that will later be defined as their X-Factor.

Captain Mar-vell continues to appear in this series next issue, but it's a standalone story by an entirely different creative team.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Continues directly from Captain Marvel #62. In issue #3, Rick notes that they've been on Titan for "almost a month".

References:

• Captain Marvel and Rick Jones stopped sharing a body in Captain Marvel #50.
  
• Una died in Captain Marvel #11.
  
• Discussing why he wants to return to Earth, Captain Marvel says the the Kree Supreme Intelligence told him and Rick in Avengers #97 that the Kree and Skrulls are both evolutionary dead ends, whereas humans still have potential. Mutants and Inhumans are cited as examples.
  
• Eon granted Captain Marvel cosmic awareness in Captain Marvel #25.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Actually, I think this was an unpublished issue of the previous Captain Marvel series that had been lying around in inventory.

Weirdly, there is no Wolverine in the X-Men panel.

Elysius seems to have filched Satana's old furry boots.

The title might refer to the Bobby Vinto /Burt Bacharach/Hal David song Blue on Blue.

They stuck the Nitro issue and the first two issues here into my Death of Captain Marvel trade. I actually kind of liked the story with Isaac and it is concluded not with more violence but making Isaac understand what he's doing.

Never understood that recent printing of Death of Captain Marvel. I get they needed to beef the page count up and the Nitro issue being included is utterly relevant. But then the first two Marvel Spotlight's are weird choices. For starters, they're part of a larger story; so why not the entire story arc? Or the 3rd Spotlight issue? Or those inventory Spotlight ones? Or that Edelman story where Mar-Vell battles Nitro again? Or than fanfare story about Ms. Marvel learning Mar-Vell's dead? Just seemed like a needless addition of two extra issues to get the folk who bought the last printing to buy it again (and that previous printing did the exact same thing by adding that Nitro issue to it).

In #3, Rick mentions they've been on Titan for a month. This sorta affects placement issues for Mar-Vell since you have Avengers #181 after this story arc and Avengers #181 sorta hinges on Mar-Vell (and others) still being around the Mansion after Korvac Saga.

Mar-Vell could have gone back and forth during that time.

Well, Rick is desperate to return to Earth, so the idea Mar-Vell went back and forth isn't viable.

What MIGHT work is... placing these Mar-Vell stories before Korvac Saga. There's nothing really saying it can't be set there, no reference to Mar-Vell's minor role in that and the only real consideration is that Thanos is dead. But placing this before Korvac also means that Eon's ominous warning to Mar-Vell in #3 (which was never followed up on) could work as a unintentional reference to Korvac.

Or maybe just placing the whole thing after Avengers #181

I'm not sure that Mar-vell was meant to be living at Avengers Mansion since Korvac saga in #181? A lot of time passes after the Korvac saga - Beast rejoins the X-Men for a while, for example. I'd say Gyrich had Mar-vell's name on a list and so when Mar-vell was summoned for a meeting, he went to it, not knowing that it was to be fired from a team that he didn't even really consider himself a part of. The month Rick refers to takes place during this entry, so i'd think that as long as Mar-vell is back on Earth in time to respond to the summons for the meeting in #181, it should be good. Let me know if i'm missing something.

Wasn't one of Gyrich's complaints that there were too many Avengers currently staying at the Mansion? Which was one of his points that led into him cutting down the current roster to seven? And then after most of them had left, Gyrich was still insisting that the few hangers-on (Wonder Man, Yellowjacket) be gone by the morning. Part of his whole security bent and making sure he knew who was in the Mansion and when, etc. And then in #182, Wasp and Beast bemoan that if Gyrich hadn't sent Captain Marvel and the Guardians away, then they'd still be at the Mansion and Mar-Vell could use his Cosmic Awareness to see if he sensed what caused Wanda and Pietro's collapse.

(at either end, it's worth noting, Mar-Vell didn't have anywhere to stay, so could be staying at the Mansion. At one point in Marvel Spotlight #3 - I think it's that issue anyway - he even notes he doesn't have anywhere to live on Earth. But to follow this story, it would mean that Elysius would have to be with him at the Mansion and that's just another obstacle)

I couldn't find the line in Spotlight #3 about him saying he doesn't have anywhere to stay. I did find Elysius saying that she, like him, didn't have a "natural" home, but that's obviously something different.

And you're right about what Gyrich's reasoning is in Avengers #181. But i still think i can keep this here. It seems logical enough that Captain Marvel was given a room at Avengers Mansion, stayed there for a while, went off into space with Rick for a month, and then returned to his room in the Mansion in time for Gyrich to kick him out. Elysius could have been living with Marv, adding to Gyrich's security concerns.