Captain Marvel

This is Captain Marvel volume 4; though in actuality it's just a relaunch of Captain Marvel volume 3 in an arbitrary new #1 issue part as a sales booster stunt and also to participate in Marvel's 'U Decide' contest against Bill Jemas' 'Mar-Ville' and Bill Roseman's 'Ultimate Adventures featuring Owl Man'.

This volume continues the adventures of Genis-Vell bonded to Rick Jones; all chronicled by Peter David; all of which is carrying over from volume 3, along with artist Chriscross who remains the illustrator for the first portion of the 'new' series.

While this continues Peter David's vision of the character, it does go into some wild new territory right off the bat in issue 1 with Genis' cosmic awareness proving too much for him and driving him insane; a significant plot element that carries through most of this volume's 25 issue run.

Note: While this is issue #1, it also has a secondary numbering next to the '1' on the cover that is watermarked and continues the numbering from Volume 3. So, really, this is Captain Marvel Vol. 3 # 36. And the final issue of this volume, Vol. 4 #25 is really Vol. 3 #60.

The combined 60 issues from volumes 3 and 4 were a blast and proved to be one of Marvel's most critically acclaimed books at that time, though it always battled poor sales and it's a wonder that Marvel allowed it to keep going for 5 stellar years.

Peter David's work on 'Captain Marvel' marked the beginning of his period of putting out the best work in his career to date, which continues even now with his stellar work on 'Fallen Angel' for IDW and 'X-Factor' for Marvel.