His father was the greatest of Heroes, saving the entire universe from subjugation time and time again! Now he must continue that tradition , his powers are the same, but his outlook is different. He wields the mighty Nega bands and has the Celestial insight of Cosmic Awareness. The universe is his inheritance, for he is its Protector as he struggles to find his place amidst the Heavens, his buds call him Genis, but he's known as........ Captain Marvel !

Captain Marvel #72

"All the kings horses and all the kings men......."

By Ralph L. Angelo Jr.

Splash page : Space, a shadowed figure sitting in what appears to be a floating throne sits looking at Titan silently. He is unseen by Titans highly advanced security systems. Techno-Mystic wards protect him from detection.

Page 2

Scene of several blurry, unrecognizable faces staring intently downwards at the camera view.

Face 1: "He's awakening, quickly call the others."

Face 2: "Hurry, get the medics back in here!"

Page 3:

Genis bolts upright in bed, his vision clearing rapidly.

Genis: "Wha-Where ...am I? Titan? But how?"

Around him stand Elysius, Mentor and Eros, as well as several Titanian physicians.

Mentor: "Relax my boy, it is a welcome sight to have you back among the living and awake again."

Genis : "Uh, why do you say it like that? Was I ...dead?"

Elysius: "No Genis, but you have been in a coma for three weeks."

Page 4

Genis: "WHAT !?!"

Eros: "Relax Gen, you took a brutal beating at the hands of some mad man. Can you tell us anything about it?"

Gen: "I -I don't really remember it all. Wait, it's coming back to me slowly. Why's it so hard to think? Why do I feel this way, like I'm sloggin' through mud? WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME ?"

He tries to get out of the bed, but he cannot move.

Gen: "What is this? I can't feel my legs?"

Elysius: "My poor boy."

She wraps her arms around him and holds his trembling form.

Page 5

Genis : "Mom, Uncle Eros, what happened to me?"

Mentor sighs and walks over to the now weeping Elysius and rests his hands on her shoulders.

Mentor: "Genis, there is no easy way to say this son. You were almost killed in battle with someone calling himself "Black Sun". He broke your back , and then hurled your limp form fifty stories to the street below*."

*It happened last issue-Ralph-Vell

Mentor: "The heroes known as Power Man and Iron Fist immediately contacted the Avengers, who called us. I flew my flagship to Earth immediately and placed you in stasis. "

Genis: "Well, why didn't you just heal me? I am an eternal of Titan, at least half. Why couldn't you just make me better?"

Page 6

Eros: "That's the problem Genis.......You're half Eternal, not whole. Your Kree half keeps getting in the way. We can't heal you. I've tried constantly for weeks, but your genetic code is very different from anything we've seen before. What ever we try just doesn't work."

Mentor holds the sobbing Elysius.

Mentor: "And there is more my boy. You have suffered brain damage as well. If you hadn't been wearing the Nega bands, you would've surely died that day. They protected you from passing over into the next life."

Genis: "Should I be happy about that? You're telling me these thoughts like molasses are permanent and that I'll never walk again and I should be happy to be alive?"

Page 7

Elysius: "YES! That's exactly what we're saying! Don't be so stubborn. You're alive. That's so much better then the alternative!"

Genis : "For who mom? For who? Not me. I'll never be useful again, EVER! What do you want me to do, a dance? C'mon Uncle Eros, lets go to Deneb 7 and hook up with a few babes. Oh wait, fergit it. I can't walk. Why'd they wanna hang out with me?"

Mentor: "ENOUGH!"

All eyes turn to the ruler of Titan at the thunderous sound of his voice.

Mentor : "You are upsetting your mother with your selfish behavior! We've all had enough worries the past three weeks without you finally coming out of your coma and making things that much worse."

Gen: "You don't think I have a right to be selfish right now? My whole life is over! Damn Cronos' eyes! I'm supposed to be a protector of the Universe, how'm I supposed to do that if I can't even go to the bathroom without help?"

Page 8

Mentor: "You make do, that's how. You make do."

Genis relaxes, slumping into himself.

Gen: "Look, I-I'm sorry mom, everybody. Please, let me just have a few minutes alone okay?"

Eros: "If you need us Genis, we'll be nearby, just call."

Genis: "Right now I just want to sleep a little okay guys? Please?"

Mentor : "Yes, relax Genis. Think things through. We need to know as much as possible about the being who did this to you."

Page 9

Genis: "Okay Mentor. And listen, everybody, thanks for rescuing me. Really, I do appreciate it."

Mentor, Eros and Elysius leave the hospital room as Genis closes his eyes and begins to sleep a very restless sleep.

In his minds eye he sees himself battling a behemoth forty stories tall, jet black with teeth as large as mountains! His blows have no effect whatsoever on this giant, like a rag doll he's tossed away and broken, screaming as he's tossed into a deep dark pit, never to be seen again. He awakens screaming!

Page 10

Genis "Gaaaah!"

A medic rushes in, but Genis just waves him off.

Genis : (Oh man, I can't live like this. I-I can't even think straight. Everything's jumbled. I gotta get better, I just gotta. That guys gonna pay fer what he did to me. And there's somethin' important I'm missin' here too. I just can't remember! My head hurts..."

Suddenly a voice is heard, but not by Captain Marvels ears, no , he hears this in his spirit, his soul. It is an ancient and wise voice, filled with knowledge and power as well as an overwhelming goodness.

Voice: "Come to me my boy. Destiny awaits you. The time for you to be a hero is not over. The Universe needs you, especially now."

Genis : "Who-who are you?"

Page 11

The medic returns

Medic: "Did you say something Master Genis? Are you in pain?"

Genis: "No-no doctor, I'm just talking to myself."

Medic: "If you need me call."

He exits and Genis then "thinks" his words instead of speaking them.

Genis: (Who are you? Can you help me?)

Page 12

Voice: (You can help yourself Captain. I can guide you, but the doing will be yours. You must come to me though. It is the only way.)

Genis : (Well where are you?)

Voice : (Use your greatest gift young Captain, it will guide you to me.)

Genis: (Umm, well okay, I'll try.)

Captain Marvel concentrates his cosmic awareness and suddenly he knows. Also something else bites at his mind. Some hidden memory of pain.

Genis: "I'm coming."

Page 13

He floats out of the sick bed, using the Nega bands for flight , he dresses himself in his uniform which hangs torn and tattered . With a thought, the Nega bands repair the uniform.

Genis: (I have to get out of here, but they'll all try to stop me. Can't Let them)

He fires a photon blast at the ceiling, tearing it asunder he races upwards , towards the surface of Titan.

One final blast of photonic power and he's free of the planetoid and racing outwards towards the center of the Solar system. Nearby the hovering chair sits silent. Its lone occupant watches, intrigued at this latest development.

Page 14

Voice: "Yes Genis-Vell, that's it come towards me. I will help you."

Genis : "I know you will, I can tell."

Again, another flash of cosmic awareness tells him this being is benevolent.

Genis opens a hyperspace conduit and races through it, to it's end an instant later, at the Suns periphery.

Voice: "Come my boy, you must enter this burning star. Salvation lies this way."

Genis: "I-I know, I'm just a little scared is all."

Voice: "Do not be. You have nothing to fear here. I will not lie to you, you will feel pain, but it is necessary."

Page 15

Genis sighs deeply.

Genis: "Okay, here I come."

He dives into the burning star, his Nega bands almost immediately overload with power as they fight to protect him.

Voice : "Do not fight this Genis-Vell. Give in to the healing process. You will be whole again."

Genis : "O-Okay I will."

He surrenders to the burning fury around him, the cosmic miasma roars through him shredding him to a molecular level and then slowly the Nega bands begin to remember his basic genetic structure, and he is "re-created" as he should be, his mind, free of bodily constraints guides the process of re-creation, but there are questions also. Questions that demand answers.

Page 16

Genis: (Who are you? Are you ...God?)

Voice: "I have been called that , but it is inaccurate at the very least. I have been called many things, , "God", "The Man in the Sun", The "Guardian of the sun", The "Master of the Sun." . All these and more. And they are all inaccurate."

Genis: (Then who?)

Voice: "You may call me "Uwey" and at the moment, you stand within me."

Genis : (Within you? Then you are...?)

Uwey: "Yes, I am your Sun."

Page 17

Genis : (But how?)

Uwey: "We stars are all sentient, but we "Live" on a different level of consciousness then you corporeal beings do. There are some who know this truth* already, and they have chosen to keep that knowledge private. That is good and as it should be. Our physical manifestation gives life to all around us. This pleases us to no end. Our minds work on planes of reality you and your kind will never know. We do not need to be mobile and moving. Our minds roam all infinity and creation itself."

*Dr Strange being one such person. Waaaaay back in his original series, and I don't have the issue number here, so you're just gonna have to believe me---Ralph-ules

Genis: (But why the interest in me then? Why should you care about what's happened to me?)

Uwey: "Your future is important to all creation. What struck you down was not from your reality. It was a unexpected element, an...X-Factor as it were. It should not have happened. "

Page 18

Genis :( But why did it then? Why can't I remember....WAIT! I do remember now! At the end , when he had ....broken me. And I tried to scan him with my cosmic awareness, but it was as if he wasn't there, like he didn't exist, a-a big Black Hole in reality! I-I was blind to his presence. He looked at me afterwards, as if he knew I tried to scan him and got nowhere.)*

*Check out the end of our last issue.

Uwey: "Yes, a "Black Hole" .

Suddenly Captain Marvel spins, realization etched across his face!

Genis: (Are you telling me he's one of you gone bad? A Black Hole that decided to come to the physical world to get some kicks?)

Page 19

Uwey: "Yes Genis-Vell. That is exactly correct. He grew bored with our reality and searched for other, more corporeal excitements. That resulted in him leaving our reality and placing himself in yours."

Genis : (When? When did he do all this?)

Uwey: "To us , mere instants ago, to you... a millennia."

Genis: (A thousand years? This suckers been here a thousand years planning something so bad that he got your attention with it and you want ME to stop him?)

Uwey: "It is your duty. You have been named the heir to the protector. You will do this."

Genis: (I Know Uwey, I know. I'm just a little shocked is all.)

Uwey: "It is time for you to leave now Genis -Vell. Your form is healed and all is as it should be. But be forewarned, if he destroys you again, there will be naught I could do next time. This healing only will work once, as it has. He is a canny foe. You must be the same and more. In a frontal assault you will die. That is known, Do not let pride deter you from the right path."

Page 20

Genis flies from the Sun, renewed and invigorated

Genis: ( I won't Uwey, believe me this time I will not fail, nor fall again. Black Sun will know he faces the Universal Protector this time, and I will drive him back to the plane of existence he belongs on!)

Next : First strike! Genis begins his retaliatory attacks on his greatest foe !

Kree Lore C/O [email protected]

Due to last issues quick publication, followed by this one within a week, there wasn't any time for mail. Also I think the e-mail address change had a hand in that as well.

Where am I going with Genis? Well this you're going to have to stick around to see. Genis unlike Silver Surfer or Warlock, will be a very "hands on" type hero in my run. The Surfer, in the real MU has become very ethereal of late, his foes are not the ones I like to see him and his like deal with. He's NOT what Genis will be. Genis-Vell will, in some ways be "Act first , think second", and he'll pay for it along the way, as witnessed last issue. They'll be lots of action here, as anyone who's familiar with my Thor run can attest to, I LOVE big battle scenes . And they'll be big COSMIC battle scenes aplenty here. All the regular cosmic cast of characters will be appearing also. Warlock, the Surfer (Eventually) , Firelord , as well as some long unseen cosmic bad guys. I'm going to be mentioning Genis's dad less and less as time goes on here. I want him to stand on his own and create his own Mythos. Van started this with his multi issue arc, and I'll be continuing that feel here. This is a multi issue arc happening right now. As it stands the "Black Sun" saga will run around six issues total with lots of twists and turns thrown in along the way. So enough from me gang, send us your comments , suggestions, and hate mail (I'd rather have letters of praise actually, but I won't discriminate.) Talk to you soon

----Ralph-Vell