Captain Marvel Return Overall Sales Analysis:

 
“Captain Marvel Publication: 1-5 including variants/reprints”: 84, 026

“Captain Marvel Publication: 1-5 including variants/reprints”, including “Civil War: THE RETURN”: 209,733

4409689 units sold including CW: Return and MA: 19

(Including Young Avengers Presents: #2 (Hulkling & Captain Marvel featured issue: 4, 444, 433 units sold)

(NOTE* I tried to add this to the Stephen Wacker page but am an admitted noob at the site, so please excuse my ignorance as it will pass in time, the article however, is very  informative and intriguing, give it a read! *Kindest Regards!)

Stephen Wacker is a talented editor who while doing work for Marvel Entertainment, among other notable work, made the controversial and insightful decision to put "coming soon: Captain Marvel #1" in the last page of "Civil War: The Return" which was written by Paul Jenkins, pecilled by Tom Raney, and inked by Scott Hanna, with Stepher Wacker having the forsight to recognize the ongoing fan interest in the character, who was one of the main pioneers of the Marvel Cosmic genre in the late 1960's till the late 1970's, which was killed off in the highly revered Marvel Graphic Novel #1: "The Death of Captain Marvel"  by Jim Starlin in 1982. Thus spawning a miniseries featuring the character in the modern comic world.

This would spawn the highly successful Captain Marvel miniseries written by Brian Reed, pencilled by Lee Weeks, and inked by Stefano Gaudiano, Jesse Delperdang, Rob Campanella, Butch Guice and Klaus Janson.  Covert art would be handled by Ed McGuiness, Dexter Vines, Jason Keith, and Jeromy Cox, with variants drawn by Lee Weeks and Tom Raney.

Though the series would not be released until 10  months later, and the character's very limited involvement in Civil War, being used in just one panel brief appearance, the character Mar-Vell would be published in a new Captain Marvel series for the first time since June of 1979, on November 14, 2008.

The series would return to a suprising level of success, with several of the issues selling before even hitting the comic retail outlets and reprints being produced, a testament to the anomaly of the timeless appeal of Marvel's original Captain Marvel, and the creative talent involved.

Wacker's decision, which actually put the wheels into motion for the project have been documented in interviews conducted by Marvel Entertainment.

Stephen Wacker works as an assistant to Joe Quesada, Marvel's Editor-in-Chief.

However, perhaps one of the many noteworthy factors of his career, is that the notion of bringing back Captain Marvel, in it's original Mar-Vell form. This has been an ongoing source of controversy over the years, with many writers and artists not wanting to demean the poignancy of the first Marvel Graphic Novel, but many fans feeeling the character was cut off too early in it's development and feeling that enough time has gone by that poignant stories can be told with a returning Mar-Vell.

For reasons not entirely known, and despite success, a still ongoing internet campaign, the decision was made to reveal that this Mar-Vell was actually a kree/skrull hybrid, combining the DNA of the original Mar-Vell, Captain Marvel, a highly revered hero, and that of the Skrull Kh'nrr, as part of Marvel's Secret Invasion mega crossover event with ties going as far back as the now legendary Kree-Skrull War in the Avengers comics of the early 1970's. What is of note is that this particular skrull, often referred to as "Skrull-Vell", and met with resistance by some hardcore fans feeling that the return of Mar-Vell was advertised and not delivered upon fully, is completely unique from the other skrull (see- Skrull)  impersonators or invaders, in that Mar-Vell's consciousness was present and the character was faced with a decision to be a hero in spite of it, and rebelled against the Skrull invasion of Earth, thus replicating the appeal of the original character, but was not used for reasons unknown and basically reduced to a background story (hardly appearing in the Secret Invasion main title when it was generally assumed that the original Mar-Vell, a hero still loved by many, would be the leader of Earth's resistance to outside inavsion or at least a main part of the story's overarc)  that would be used to launch the Noh-Varr character as becoming the new Captain Marvel, an endeavor that Marvel has attempted numerous times before with characters such as Monica Rambeau, Genis-Vell, Phyla-Vell, and Ms. Marvel ("House of M") among others. However, Noh-Varr is a kree soldier as Mar-Vell was, a new character which was introduced in Grant Morrison's successful Marvel Boy mini series of nearly 7 years prior.

This can be documented in Marvel's Dark Avengers and is part of the overarc The Dark Reign,  so despite demonstrated fan interest in Marvel's Captain Marvel, it appears that the readers will be receiving a new character in Mar-Vell's place and mantle, despite the ongoing support of the original Mar-Vell.

A common misconception is that the success of the Reed written Captain Marvel miniseries in a very trying economical climate, was due to the overarc of Secret Invasion or Civil War, this however, is debatable due to the fact that 10 months passed between Civil War: The Return and November 14, 2008, the release date of Captain Marvel #1, and the fact that Secret Invasion was not on the covers of the sold out Captain Marvel issues until issues #4 and #5. 

One can draw his or her own conclusion about the events, however it does seem a bit counterproductive, as the character does not seem to have reached it's apex, even after a respected death story.

Stephen Wacker's decision to push a return of Mar-Vell, however, was a gutsy and good decision and for a few months, made a lot of fans very happy, not to mention being a successful business decision. Too often major corporations fail to cater to their hardcore fanbase. It does not appear that Wacker was completely behind the decision to not address the original Captain Marvel, Mar-Vell fanbase in an ongoing form. One can only speculate.

Whether or not Marvel Entertainment will act upon this move, or suggested move, only time will tell.

Until then, Noh-Varr will be in the Captain Marvel mantle.

A campaign to bring back the original still goes on, but with the lack of attention from Marvel Entertainment, the future looks bleak for Mar-Vell fans.

One would think the logic here (if any) would be an attempt to combine the fans of the loved Mar-Vell, and Marvel Boy. In other words, readers of the Grant Morrison written Marvel Boy of 2001 and the Brian Reed written Captain Marvel of 2008, in another of Marvel's revamps of known characters to become edgier or more modernized, which has shown them some success, however in the case of Captain Marvel, the original Mar-Vell character had not been published regularly since 1979, and showed a suprising level of success, thus supporting the idea that the character was more accepted in today's market than the past. Either way, though, it seems that one side of this has been alienated, so rather than capitalize and push Mar-Vell, they have decided to use him as merely a legacy character once again. Thus reducing the overall potential of a Marvel Entertainment Captain Marvel publication, regardless of version or incarnation.

Stephen Wacker, has also worked on many other notable projects, and is definitely among the up and coming mega-minds of the comic book industry.

Perhaps, details like these, would not be overlooked if Stephen were given a chance to oversee a project that does something with the original character of Captain Mar-Vell whose return was also spotlighted in the succesful Earth X triology by the great Alex Ross set in an alternate universe. However that is merely a speculation, no one knows for sure how the wheels of the comic industry are turned behind closed doors.