Marvel Comics Presents #88

I did a review of an issue of MCP a couple of days ago. In it, I lamented the choice to make Sam Keith the permanent cover illustrator of this anthology series. I mean if going to highlight different characters, writers and artists, you need to be eclectic. It's bad enough that Wolverine is the cover star of every issue. But now we have every issue starring the same character by the same artist. 

And while I am a fan of Sam Keith, I looked ahead and noticed that some of his covers are terrible. Here's an example of what I was talking about.

Off the the right, Tyger Tiger looks alluring. But in the back center of the cover, we've got story antagonist Cyber looking like a hobo clown. He's all blocky looking. It's like he's wearing a costume of The Thing in a dirty overcoat. And that hat! It's supposed to be a crumpled fedora. But fedora brims don't stretch out like that. I should know. I wear a distressed version of Indiana Jones' classic hat from The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull daily whenever I'm out and about. 

Going back to the cover. to the cover. Then we've got this ghostly half face of Wolverine. I think it's supposed to reflect the internal struggle Wolverine is having thanks to being poisoned by Cyber. But look at the face flap! If Wolverine was a real person having to wear that mask in the real world, that stylized face wing would be like a foot taller than he was. 

It kinda reminds me of the bat-ears Kelley Jones always draws on Batman's cowl. I hate them because I've never understood why the Dark Knight would have such gaudy tall points on his head. And like those renderings, it all looks just ridiculous.

The only thing else of note I want to talk about this issue is one of the 8-page single stories. The last story of this issue stars a character named Volcana. The thing about Volcana that is unusual for its time is that she's a plus-sized superhero character. Yes, she gets teased about it mercilessly from the villain in the story. But in an age where female heroes had Cindy Crawford physiques and showed a lot of skin in outfits that even Victoria's Secrets would say was in poor taste, to have an overweight superhero like this was rare. 

Now, was Volcana really all that overweight? No, not really. As you can see from the image above, she probably was about 30 pounds overweight; which for early 1990s standards was the equivalent of seeing a 1000lb person today. The character actually looks kind of sultry and in today's world, she'd be praised for being a body-positive influence. 

A mixed bag of Marvel Comics. Surely, not as high a quality of the last two issues. But I enjoyed it despite the warts and cellulite. 

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 7 out of 10 stars.