Issue(s): Ms. Marvel #2, Ms. Marvel #3, Ms. Marvel #4
Cover Date: Feb-Apr 77
Title: "Enigma of fear!" / "The lady's not for killing!" / "Death is the Doomsday Man!"
Credits:
Gerry Conway / Chris Claremont - Writer
John Buscema / Jim Mooney - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Review/plot:
Gerry Conway writes all of issue #2 and the plot for issue #3. Chris Claremont scripts issue #3 and writes all of issue #4. Unfortunately, Buscema leaves after issue #3. The writing isn't bad, but i'm a little surprised at how overtly sexist J. Jonah Jameson is written.

AIM attempts to revive the Scorpion after his battle with Ms. Marvel last issue, but he's not doing so good.

AIM also contract out Kerwin Korman, who we met in issue #1, to defeat Ms. Marvel. Kerwin has created a hat for himself similar to the Unicorn and he calls himself the very inspired name "Destructor".

Scorpion wakes up and fights his way out of AIM so that he can seek revenge on Ms. Marvel.

Meanwhile, Carol Danvers continues to have headaches & blackouts. She transforms into Ms. Marvel during a session with her psychiatrist friend Mike Barnett ("The only man in the world I trust").

As Ms. Marvel she defeats the Scorpion again (The cover has her saying "Face it, Scorpion! You're just not man enough to beat Ms. Marvel -- Not Now! Not Ever!", but it's not quite so cheesy on the inside), but is unable to definitively defeat Destructor.

Later, Carol gets a call from an astronaut friend and is given an opportunity to do a story on a female astronaut at the base where she used to be the security chief. While there, however, the NASA base is attacked by the robot called the Doomsday Man from Silver Surfer #13.

AIM managed to capture and reactive the robot. Still not aware of her dual nature, Carol transforms into Ms. Marvel and fights the Doomsday Man. During the fight she is distracted by the cave where Carol was held hostage during Captain Mar-vell's final fight with Yon-Rogg. She realizes then that she and Carol are the same person, settling the schizophrenic aspect of the character.

She defeats the Doomsday Man much easier than the Silver Surfer did, thanks to her Seventh Sense detecting a shut-off switch. Destructor shows up again, but he winds up killing himself messing around with Kree technology in the cave.

The issue ends with Mike Barnett calling up Carol and telling him he knows about Ms. Marvel.

In her battle with the Doomsday Man, he grabs her scarf.

In retrospect, this is fairly obviously setting up the need for a costume change in a "No capes!" sort of way, but it takes a while to get there.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - early Ms. Marvel, including origin.

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• A footnote says that Carol Danvers arrived at Cape Kennedy in Captain Marvel #1, again neglecting her actual first appearance in Marvel Super Heroes #13.
  
• Carol was a bystander in the final fight between Captain Mar-vell and Yon-Rogg in Captain Marvel #18. It was in this issue that she absorbed the radiation that eventually made her Ms. Marvel.
  
• The Doomsday Man previously appeared in Silver Surfer #13.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

According to a Fred Hembeck strip in an early 1980s Comics Buyers Guide; Jim Mooney penciled Ms. Marvel nude and the costume was added when the pages were inked. Supposedly he did the same thing for Supergirl in the 1960s.

The title of #3 refers to the 1960s movie "The Lady's Not For Kissing"(at least, I think that's what it was called).

Chris Claremont stated in his interview in Comics Journal #51 that he was asked rather hurriedly to get on this book, and he did so with no advance plotting at all resulting in taking several issues to get a direction. He quickly dumped Ms. Marvel's split personality as he simply couldn't handle it, and wanted her costume changed immediately as Captain Marvel's design elements didn't work on a female body and made her look wrestler-ish.

FOOM#16 announced Destructor as "Invincor".

The title for issue 3 refers to "The Lady's Not For Burning," a 1948 play by a guy named Christopher Fry. The only reason I know that is because Claremont and Byrne refer to it at least two other times ("The City's Not For Burning", and "The Lady IS For Burning").

Roy Thomas did that a few times too, and I'm sure it happened a few other places as well. That must have been one hell of a popular play back then...

In the eighties, apparently, Margaret Thatcher indicated that she would not change her economic policy by declaring "The lady's not for turning." Hopefully she fired her speechwriter after that...

MTU #75 & FF #238, SS!

Tha main development is that a human scientist designed a robot not defeatable by the Silver Surfer.