Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #50, Marvel Comics Presents #51, Marvel Comics Presents #52, Marvel Comics Presents #53 (Comet Man story only)
Cover Date: 1990 - Jul 90
Title: A Family Affair: "A Family Affair" / "Bad blood!" / "Reunion" / "Final jeopardy"
Credits:
Bill Mumy & Miguel Ferrer - Writer
Kelley Jones - Penciler
Gerry Talaoc / Alfredo P. Alcala - Inker
Kelly Corvese - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
The original Comet Man series did not propel the character or the writers to fame (or at least comic book fame; the writers, as Hollywood actors, already had a different kind of fame). The character did appear in Steve Englehart's Unified Theory of the Marvel Universe arc in Fantastic Four #315-317, but he didn't do much there. His appearance was just so that the origin of the Fortisquian aliens that were a part of his series could be threaded into the greater Marvel universe. And Bill Mumy was subsequently relegated to writing short filler stories that have appeared in the likes of Marvel Super Heroes, annual back-ups, and this series (Marvel Comics Presents). Miguel Ferrer did even less. His only comics credits since Comet Man have been a "Trypto The Acid Dog!" comic for Renegade Press and a non-continuity Marvel Graphic Novel called Dreamwalker; both of those were with Mumy.

But now both writers return to Comet Man, along with that series' original art team (except for issue #53, which is inked by Alfredo P. Alcala).

The original series did leave an unresolved story. Comet Man's son, Benny Beckley, was left catatonic and in the care of his sister Rosemary after Comet Man's brother, John Gallagher, aka The Superior, tried to activate in Benny the same super-powers that his father has. Comet Man's appearance in Fantastic Four acknowledged that unresolved situation, but to say that Comet Man wasn't ready to deal with it at the moment. That's what this story is about.

Comet Man, orbiting the moon in his Fortisquian friend Max's spaceship, contacts Mr. Fantastic and asks for help in locating the Superior. And he's pretty impatient about it.

Reed is unable to discover any information about the Superior or his organization, The Bridge. Reed suggests that Comet Man therefore just concentrate on finding his son. So Comet Man teleports down to his sister's house while Max teleports down to Los Angeles to enjoy Earth culture (he feels like he's more ready to handle it than last time).

When Comet Man arrives, he sees an out of control car speeding towards a child (not his son) on a bike. He stops the car and recognizes the person inside.

The man seems to have an ethnicity shift between issues.

The guy, Lou, is Comet Man's brother-in-law. Comet Man (aka Stephen Beckley) is thought dead at this point, so Lou is surprised to see him. He's also an alcoholic, and his wife has left him, and she took Benny with him. She's now living with "some rich guy in Connecticut", and Lou gives her the address.

Meanwhile, Max is accosted by some local criminals demanding a "toll"...

...and he uses his powers to make them beat themselves up...

...and then causes them to agree that violence is bad, and then he makes them give him their money.

Comet Man arrives at the place where his sister is staying. She is with John Gallagher, who we know is the Superior, but Comet Man and his sister don't.

Of course, John would be Rosemary's brother as well, so i hope they haven't been sleeping together.

John secretly contacts his boss at The Bridge, asking for funding to deal with his brother, but whoever his boss is tells him that due to budget cuts, there are no funds for him. So that leaves John to deal with Comet Man on his own.

Comet Man uses his powers to revive his son Benny and see his last memories.

"Weeks" pass, and eventually Max shows up at John's place and casually mentions that John is the Superior.

Things explode into chaos after that, but John doesn't have super powers and didn't actually seem to have developed any plans during the weeks that Comet Man was staying in his house, so Comet Man quickly winds up holding John by the throat.

Comet Man beast up John, egged on by his son.

Comet Man ultimately doesn't decide to kill him. But while he's calling the authorities, John pulls out a gun. And Benny forces John to use it to kill himself.

And that is the very very dark ending.

This is an anti-climatic wrap-up to the Comet Man series. The fact that the mysterious mastermind, the Superior, had literally nothing going on in this story is just sad. It's true that the ending potentially sets up a new dynamic between Comet Man and his son (one that Peter David will pick up on a decade later in an issue of Captain Marvel, the next and final appearance of these characters) but they could have like tacked on an extra page to the last issue of Comet Man #6 to get to this. There's nothing here.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Comet Man mentions his "recent adventure" with the Fantastic Four and says that it was after that that he decided to return home to Earth. The MCP therefore push this back in publication time a bit. But i don't think that's necessary. Mr. Fantastic also says that Comet Man contacted him "out of the blue", and even though Reed wasn't a member of the FF at the time that Comet Man was with them, it wouldn't really be "out of the blue" if Comet Man contacted him soon after that. So i'm leaving this at publication date. "Weeks" pass during the third part of this story, while Max is enjoying LA and Comet Man is reconnecting with his son.

References:

• Obviously this plays off the Comet Man series.
  
• Comet Man's "recent" adventure with the Fantastic Four was in Fantastic Four #315-317.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A