Marvel Comics Presents ran for 175 issues from 1988 until 1995. Each issue included four eight-page stories with typically two or three on-going features (and no ads). It spotlighted some of the leading creators of mainstream comics over a period of precipitous economic growth and even more rapid decline. Reading through it is an opportunity to revisit any number of weird aspects of 90s superhero comics. This blog is a primitive, oddly regimented, manifestly scattershot crawl through an often disappointing but occasionally splendid comic. All image copyrights are Marvel's. Issue credits linked below. Updated on Wednesdays.
Marvel Comics Presents #24: Late July 1989(3.04.20)
Credits: grandcomicsdatabase
From a design/lettering/layout perspective, this is a smoldering disaster. The justly lauded Steranko X-Men logo is mutilated in a slipshod effort to signal Havok's affiliation. Evils are further compounded when it's paired with an additional logo and subtitle. It's an outright disaster and, while Larsen's cover can--I suppose--be praised for tethering the current lead and soon-to-be-lead features, it just looks dreadful with the hodgepodge framing (and Al Gordon's iffy inks).
A. Cyclops, "The Retribution Affair" [8/8]
The final installment has Cyclops handing lead feature duties over to Havok, but not before a dense, sorta climactic offering. Lim's work has been consistently impressive throughout this story and he capably handles the destruction of Master Mold as well as a surprise return of Banshee to the story.
As feared, Callisto, in the end, offered nothing to the story and was presumably stuffed in here for continuity hounds. Andy Yanchus' colors have undergirded a lot of the textural and atmospheric notes over these issues and he probably deserves more credit than I've supplied up to this point. In this final chunk, Lim's also given free range to have fun with some large-scale pyrotechnics. Narratively, this story felt like a whole bunch of not much, but, as a venue for Lim to flex his muscles, it isn't totally forgettable fare.
B. Black Panther, "Panther's Quest" [12/25]
The tempo continues to shift in this feature with a meditative, character-driven installment that finds Zanti discussing his plans to aid T'Challa with his (understandably) circumspect wife. The dialogue here is among the strongest McGregor's offered up to this point and, while Colan riffs on the format by having Zanti's boys scrap in the background, there's a varied and delicate touch throughout. The 2x6 page that unfolds Zanti's farewell to his family is a rich and quite resonant touch--certainly among the best in this feature and recent issues of MCP. Rosen nicely manages taut dialogue in tight spaces here, although the serrated box caption remains an abiding eyesore.
C. Shamrock, "I Haven't Got Time for the Past"
Lobdell continues serving up features with tertiary leads and, while previous installments were played largely for laughs, this is overwrought, uneven, and--honestly---strangely compelling. Shamrock, bloviating about her calling as a teacher, squares off against Arnim Zola who has struck a deal with her cackling militant IRA father on occasion of her brother's death. We're informed that her luck powers are a manifestation of myriad micro-poltergeists of innocents slain in war and matters eventually conclude with her father's gun exploding and killing him.
Dennis Jensen's pencils are all over the place, veering into the illegible. But, despite this, there's a pulpy vibrancy to this bizarre, manic yarn, which is obviously helped along by Arnim Zola's presence. Arguably the weirdest--in the far-out, unintentional superhero camp vein--one-hitter encountered in MCP thus far.
D. Havok, "Pharaoh's Legacy"
Havok's vacation across the outback is interrupted after running into Leila O'Toole and then being immediately set upon by G.I. Joe style villains. The pacing is strange as is Leila's distressingly casual recounting of having previously joined an Egyptian death cult. Generally, there's an air of aimlessness--things being haphazardly tossed together with some objects left uncolored and some poorly designed panels featuring reams of negative space. Buckler's reputation for swiping casts a long shadow over the assessment of the pencils, though the dimensionality of Havok's blast effects is quite nice. We are, however, subjected to what seems to be the skeeviest panel yet in MCP with Havok ogling Leila and thinking only to himself: "Nice." Creep.
Power Ranking: Black Panther (A), Cyclops (B+), Shamrock (B), Havok (C)