Issue(s): Marvel Chillers #3
Cover Date: Feb 76
Title: "Prologue: The three faces of Tigra / Holocaust is our business!"
Credits:
Tony Isabella - Writer
Will Meugniot - Penciler
Frank Chiaramonte & Sam Grainger - Inker

Review/plot:
I was hoping we might find in Tigra's solo series in Marvel Chillers a transition from her original, deliberately feminist appearances as the Cat to her flippant, somewhat sexpot, personality that's become more or less her standard personality. Unfortunately, there's no real evolution in these issues. If any personality at all is given to Tigra in this series, it's that of predator animal, which makes sense considering she's billed as a "were-woman" on the cover, and "a half-human huntress, preying on those who would prey on you" on the opening splash.

You could interpret this scene as showing a little of her future personality, but i think it's actually supposed to be showing that she's scary.

This issue has Dr. Joanne Tumolo taking Tigra to a Cat-People scientist so she can receive a treatment that will allow her to shift into a human form. They learn that the scientist has been captured by the police, who think he's a member of a crime group called the Rat-Pack. After rescuing the scientist...

...Tigra goes after the Rat-Pack, but is easily defeated by their leader Joshua Plague (there's a major revelation regarding him that you can guess by checking the characters appearing in this issue).

The issue ends with the implication that Red Wolf thinks that Tigra is responsible for a crime that was actually perpetuated by the Rat-Pack.

But next issue won't follow up on that due to the fact that it'll be a fill-in that nonetheless takes place after this issue.

It's nice to see a female fighter among the bad guys...

...but the group seem hopelessly generic and not a good fit for Tigra (again, the revelation will shake that up quite a bit).

The MCP does not list Dr. Joanne Tumolo as appearing in these issues. As far as i can tell, it's really her, so i've listed her in the characters appearing.

It's not a bad first issue. The art is a little cartoony, but overall it's OK.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Marvel Chillers #5 takes place during Avengers #147 (somehow; see the entry for that issue for details). So i've pushed issues #3 and #4 way prior to their publication dates. Yes i know that it actually pushes these issues between Marvel Chillers #1 & #2, but those are Modred the Mystic stories that don't have any effect on any other books.

References:

• An opening sequence recaps Greer Nelson's almost entire existence to date (with no footnotes):
  • Her origin from Cat #1.
    
  • Her fight with the Owl in Cat #2.
    
  • Her team-up with Spider-Man against the Man-Killer in Marvel Team-Up #8.
    
  • Her fight against the Man-Bull in Cat #4.
    
  • And her transformation into Tigra in Giant-Size Creatures #1.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The first chapter refers to the 1950s movie "The Three Faces of Eve".

Will Meugniot is primarily known for doing "Vanity" at Pacific Comics in the mid-1980s.

Writer Mark Evanier commented on this story in Comics Interview #2(4/83):"They didn't have an inker, they had finger painting".

This must be the first of many "Actually the Super Skrull" stories. It's kind of his thing.