BRONZE AGE MINUTE: Captain Marvel #53

Marvel; November 1977
Cover by Gil Kane

Title: “The War of the Three Galaxies!”
Synopsis: Captain Marvel is recruited by the Inhumans to stop Kree and Skrull plans for a War of the Three Galaxies.

Writer: Scott Edelman
Penciler: Al Milgrom
Inker: Terry Austin and Bob Wiacek

Review: It’s understandable that New Yorkers in the Marvel U would be even more jaded than in the real world New York City, but the idea that cops and military would just walk away from a spacecraft that crashed in Times Square really strains the reader’s suspension of disbelief. That qualm aside, it’s nice that someone remembered the dangling “War of the Three Galaxies” storyline from the Inhumans’ canceled series. This story is a bit of an anticlimax after several issues of buildup in The Inhumans, but at least we finally get some sense of closure.

Grade: B

Cool factor: The inks of Terry Austin. Even over Al Milgrom, Austin’s inks add a perfect polish.
Not-so-cool factor: The inks of Bob Wiacek. Not that Wiacek’s a bad inker, he’s just no Terry Austin. And having two inkers on a book really hurts the art’s consistency.

Notable: Picks up the “War of the Three Galaxies” storyline from The Inhumans.

Character quotable: “You call yourself Kree? You are not worthy of that name!” – Captain Marvel, master of smack talk

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