Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #149 (Vengeance story only)
Cover Date: Mar 93
Title: "The price"
Credits:
Chris Cooper - Writer
Fred Harper - Penciler
Fred Harper - Inker
Michael Kraiger - Assistant Editor
Richard Ashford - Editor

Review/plot:
Someone tries armed robbery but it turns into murder. Vengeance blasts him with hellfire.

It apparently decapitates him, according to a later news report.

Two days later, Vengeance finds out the criminal was a cop named David Johnson, and he was responsible for a string of other robberies. As police lieutenant Michael Badilino, Vengeance visits the Johnson family's home and learns that David's son has a heart condition, and the robberies were to pay the medical bills. And all of the businesses that David targeted were suspected of "drug involvement". He then finds the son on the roof of the building with his dad's gun, shouting about how he's going to find and kill Vengeance (well, actually, he thinks it was Ghost Rider who killed his dad).

Badilino talks the kid down. There are some wild levels of psychology going on here, though.

As is often the case, even when there's a good idea in a Marvel Comics Presents story, it's not developed enough, which is why it comes out looking bizarre. Is Badilino just being totally cynical here? Or is he feeling any regret? Are his actions as Vengeance totally walled off from his human self? We can be fairly confident that whatever Badilino is supposed to be feeling now, this won't result in Vengeance doing anything different next time, since the stories in this series are virtually never referenced again.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: It's Christmas season.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I actually liked the Vengeance serials that ran in MCP. Chris Cooper did much better work with Michael Badilino in these stories than Howard Mackie ever did in Ghost Rider.