Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #163 (Mace story only)
Cover Date: Sep 94
Title: "Origins"
Credits:
Carl Potts - Writer
Barry Crain - Penciler
Hilary Barta - Inker
Michael Kraiger - Assistant Editor
Richard Ashford - Editor

Review/plot:
Mace is revived from cryogenic storage. The Sunrise Society won't say how long he's been frozen. He's ordered to hunt down the Shadowmasters to prove his loyalty.

But instead he escapes.

In addition to a potential meeting with the Shadowmasters, Carl Potts sets up a long term goal for Mace by revealing that his trainer, Mas Kimura, survived and went missing from Sunrise Society.

It's interesting how Carl Potts has been setting up all of this continuity in the Marvel universe that went almost entirely under the radar. The infusion of the Shadowmasters themselves into the Punisher series was pretty low key and never really went anywhere, and their subsequently published origin story didn't result in any new push. Then Mace appeared in Venom, which is pretty high profile, but after this origin story, nothing further happens. This stuff isn't all that interesting (and a bit derivative, as noted previously), but less interesting things have nonetheless persisted. Marvel being in a state of instability at this point was probably a factor. Marvel Comics Presents will be canceled relatively soon, and so will Secret Defenders (the closest thing to a Marvel Team-Up/Two-In-One where unfinished stories used to get wrapped up). And even the adjectiveless Spider-Man book, which was briefly reserved for giving platforms to special guest creators, is being subsumed into the Clone Saga. So i guess there was nowhere for Carl Potts or another writer to go any further with Mace and the Shadowmasters.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: See the Considerations for the previous Mace entry regarding the gap between the third and fourth parts. This ends with Mace on his way to Southern California to find the Shadowmasters so that they can help him find Mas Kimura, which is how Venom: The Mace #1 begins. So this takes place not long before Venom: The Mace.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? Y

My Reprint: N/A