Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #137, Marvel Comics Presents #138, Marvel Comics Presents #139, Marvel Comics Presents #140, Marvel Comics Presents #141, Marvel Comics Presents #142 (Wolverine story only)
Cover Date: Sep-Nov 93
Title: Rumble in the Jungle: "Rumble in the Jungle" / "Arena" / "Masque" / "Bedlam" / "Battleground"
Credits:
Chris Marrinan - Script
Erik Larsen - Plot
Chris Marrinan - Penciler
Mike Machlan / Chris Marrinan / Scott Koblish - Inker
Michael Kraiger - Assistant Editor
Richard Ashford - Editor

Review/plot:
Chris Marrinan finishes a leftover Erik Larsen plot. I always wonder how much a plot is "worth". In other words, if a writer submits a plot and then leaves Marvel, is it really worth the effort to have an artist draw it and have someone (in this case the same someone) script it? Erik Larsen is a big name artist, and having him pencil a Wolverine story would be a big draw, but i don't think people would flock to this book because of one of his plots (and it's not like they plaster his name all over the covers of these issues). I suppose part of the question is how detailed the script is. If it's an old school Marvel method script, it seems to me that you'd be no worse off cutting your losses and letting Chris Marrinan plot his own story. But if it's a more detailed panel-by-panel plot that has been vetted by an editor, it would make sense to want to recoup what you paid for it and see it brought to fruition.

It's also possible that Marrinan was always going to draw this, maybe with Larsen as the intended scripter, and it's only just now ready for publication.

Anyway, Wolverine is vacationing on a tropical island, and yes this is the second story in a row where that's the case. I guess after his vacation was interrupted last time he's trying again on a different island. But he's having no better luck this time. Indeed, the set-up is virtually identical.

Wolverine jumps in to save the young woman from the Coven group that Wolvie will later describe as wearing "a parody of native costumes".

A vast improvement this time is the inclusion of a giant costumed ape with a machine-gun.

Wolverine wakes up with a head full of disorienting pain. He's now in an arena with the ape, who has swapped his gun for an axe and shield.

The ape is fully fluent in Liefeld Pose #1.

And it's even able to withstand a shluking from Wolvie's claws.

But Wolverine eventually has the ape down and is ready to administer the killing blow. He's stopped by the guy in white who knocked him out with a tree, and is surprised by who he sees when he unmasks him.

It's Doc Samson.

Samson is clearly under some kind of mind control.

They fight. Samson punches Wolverine straight out of the arena, which Wolvie thinks gives him an opportunity to escape. But he's immediately discovered by the leader of the group.

Wolverine is brought back and put in a device operated by Doc Samson.

The mind-controlled Samson is silent, and the other villains don't speak English, so we have no idea what's going on. But, somehow, possibly thanks to feedback from the device, Samson becomes free of the mind-control.

The device opened up a portal. Something starts to come through but Wolverine slashes it.

He then decides to jump into the portal to see what's on the other side. The answer is a whole army of "slimy", copyright-infringing aliens.

Samson fights the super-strong leader of the group on one side of the portal while Wolvie fights the aliens on the other.

On Wolverine's side, the fight winds up destroying the portal mechanism. Wolverine jumps back through before it's destroyed. The explosion seemingly fries the leader. After that, we finally get some exposition. And also the promise of more ape.

God yes:

The ape is finally killed when the fight winds up in a temple that a random guy was going to blow up to illegally clear the way to build some hotels for tourists. But that's not important. I take it all back. This plot was worth paying for and continuing to produce, even if it was just Erik Larsen writing "Ape with a gun!" on the back of a napkin.

Chris Marrinan has improved quite a bit from his early amateurish work at Marvel. It's still kind of wonky in some places, maybe in part due to who is inking. The middle chapters where he's inking himself may be the worst. But he's got a clear, moderately cartoony style. He's actually a good replacement for Erik Larsen (coincidentally, he's going to pencil and eventually write the Nova series; Larsen was also supposed to do a Nova series).

This was a fun story. I admit that i have become so sick of Wolverine stories in this book that i was just biding my time until they finished (this ends a streak of continual Wolverine stories that began in issue #38). So my enjoyment of this may be in part due to my low expectations. But my enjoyment of this was also due to an ape with a gun.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A