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 #34: Late December 1989(5.13.20) Credits: grandcomicsdatabase The influence of Paul Smith has shown up in limited but obvious ways at this point in MCP, so a Smith cover is well overdue. Unfortunately, it isn't very good. One hint that something's gone awry is the coloring error on Coldblood on the rear, which suggests that there are production errors at the level of the color guide and, I suspect, inking. Smith's normally light touch has been traded in for heavier weights that leech out the airy naturalism he typically manages. The problems aren't all downstream, however. A second look reveals a peculiar Cap with hands bizarrely proportioned and a GI Joe-style, detached waist. A missed opportunity. A. Excalibur, "Having a Wild Weekend" [4/8] After the last two installments, the gag of embedding Excalibur into ersatz sitcoms is stretched too thin and, where the last two issues were sustained by tight, high-energy work from Larsen and Austin, this outing seems comparatively drab and forced. Perhaps it's an artifact of forcing too much of the Munsters into this, but the action, despite being damn near constant, feels kind of inchoate. That vibe isn't helped by the now-grating lack of clarity about the underlying arc. It's hard to complain about Larsen all that much. There are, for example, some lovely textures and dimensionality as Meggan transforms into a dragon, but this also feels like the first time the cross-fold panels obscure rather than open up the artistic room. B. Black Panther, "Panther's Quest" [22/25] A peculiar installment. McGregor halfheartedly tries for a kind of metatextual commentary with Zanti briefly having a hallucination of comics while suffering from a gunshot wound. That rapidly dissipates as he takes down some of the soldiers attempting to shoot down T'Challa's flyer. Zanti swiftly, remarkably, and implausibly recovers and there's an unedifying, tepid goodbye between him and T'Challa. There are notes of optimism about their reunion, but, after all this, it's hard to believe that Zanti would be uninterested in a hasty departure for Wakanda. The story notes feel overbaked and, as things get chatty (even by McGregor standards), it's easy to feel that Colan's ingenuity is getting squeezed off the page by dialogue. His slow action stanzas have been a real highlight , often managing more emotional resonance than McGregor's narration. Looking forward, it'll be hard to care all that much about T'Challa's mother when she's only afforded three or so installments. C. Coldblood, "Rise and Shine" [9/10] We've hit (eighties) videogame level narrative complexity: run, shoot, connect the wires, run, dodge, etc. And that's, in principle, fine, since this feature is ostensibly a Gulacy show, but there's an unfinished, over-inked feel to this installment. Previous outings showed Gulacy's ability to retain form and texture even when things are deep in shadow, but there are simply too many panels here, where the action is hard to track and there's no depth to the figures. To Gulacy's credit, however, he's well aware that, if you can't distribute top quality, at least ensure that the final page is a whopper. Here, Gulacy straight rips off ED-209 from Robocop as Mako's weapon of choice for the next installment showdown. And you know what? I'm down. D. Captain America, "Past and Future Sins" Captain America meets up with the Thin Man who more or less tricks Cap into helping him murder a Nazi living in hiding. So described, this might sound like a run of the mill affair, but Jack Sparling--a good Canadian kid, by the way--throws all manner of classic cartooning at this and, odder still, we're treated to Cap engaging in a whole host of quoditian activites. He rides in a car, has a cup of coffee in an armchair, and generally reminds of 50s era Midnight. It's a hoot. And a disarmingly dark affair, ending with Cap conflicted about whom he would prefer to have seen dead in the fight between the Thin Man and Agent Axis. I'm left deeply curious about the process of collaboration here between Sparling and Sholly Fisch who would, I suspect, be far apart in age and experience at that point. These are the weird outings I'm all for. Power Ranking: Captain America (B), Black Panther (C+), Coldblood (C+), Excalibur (C+)