X-amining Ms. Marvel #14 - Patreon First

"Fear Stalks Floor 40"

February 1978

In a Nutshell

Ms. Marvel fights to protect her father and win his respect

Writer: Chris Claremont
Penciler: Carmine Infantino 
Inker: Steve Leialoha
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Janice Cohen
Editor-in-Chief: Archie Goodwin

Plot

Checking on her father Joe at his construction site, Ms. Marvel manages to save him when he's trapped in a cascade of falling girders. Once he's safely on the ground, she transforms into Carol and overhears Joe angrily accusing the site's owner, Maxwell Plumm, of skirting codes & using substandard material. Carol offers to help investigate & gather evidence on Plumm, but her father refuses, saying it's man's work. Meanwhile, at Woman magazine, Frank Gianelli chases out someone trying to burgle Carol's office. Back in Boston, Carol suddenly feels as though she's being followed, and transforms into Ms. Marvel before flying off, not realizing she barely missed an encounter with Dracula. Just then, she gets a flash of her seventh sense, showing her father being threatened by a villain named Steeplejack. The strength of the flash makes her realize the events are happening in the present, and she races to the construction site, where she once again saves her father and defeats Steeplejack, who turns out to be Maxwell Plumm. Joe remains cold to the idea of a female superhero, despite having his life saved by one twice. Carol's mother, however, who immediately recognizes Ms. Marvel as Carol, insists that Joe loves her, while Carol comes to accept that her father will likely never change, and she no longer really cares if he does.

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