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1988-10-01 01:03:50
Previous:
Captain America #345-347
Up:
Main

1988 / Box 26 / EiC: Tom DeFalco

Next:
Excalibur #1-2

Marvel Comics Presents #5 (Daredevil)

Issue(s): Marvel Comics Presents #5 (Daredevil story only)
Cover Date: Oct 88
Title: "You'll see it when you believe it"
Credits:
Terry Kavanagh - Writer
Dwayne Turner - Penciler
Michael Gustovich - Inker
Mike Rockwitz - Assistant Editor
Terry Kavanagh - Editor

Review/plot:
The Al Milgrom four-parter is over, but the final story in Marvel Comics Presents continues to be a pointless fill-in featuring a character that already has his own book. And this one is written by Terry Kavanagh, who is also this book's editor, which i think is weird regardless of whether it's because he's giving himself a little extra assignment for spending money or because he literally couldn't find anyone else to write a short story. This early into the series, if you're not able to showcase a variety of characters and talent, i don't know what the hopes for the future are.

This is Kavanagh's Marvel universe writing debut, i believe.

Daredevil finds a kid beaten up in an alley and gets him to the paramedics. As the kid, Freddy, is being taken away, DD gives him a card for Matt Murdock's clinic. Freddy arrives the next day, panicked and hoping that Murdock can help him acquire a gun. Matt calls the kid's parents but they aren't home. Matt walks Freddy home and is there to hear a call from the guy, Rick, that has been stalking him.

Daredevil hits the streets to look for Rick and in the funniest scene in the story, but also a weird moment of frivolity in an otherwise serious story, Turk throws himself through Josie's window since he doesn't know anything about this (why would he?).

Daredevil soon figures out that Freddy's name is really Fredrick, and so "Rick" is really Freddy stalking himself (having used a pre-recorded message for that phone call). Rick has meanwhile gotten himself a gun from his father's dresser drawer. Daredevil shows up in time to stop Rick from killing himself.

Quality Rating: D+

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: Placing this soon after Daredevil's (unrelated) appearance in Marvel Comics Presents #4.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Characters Appearing: Daredevil, Turk

Previous:
Captain America #345-347
Up:
Main

1988 / Box 26 / EiC: Tom DeFalco

Next:
Excalibur #1-2

Comments

There really should have been policy that no one with his own book should have any stories in MCP. Instead, it is filled with them. I suspect many of these are probably inventory filler, failed limited series that didn't get a greenlight, or annual back ups.

There are so many secondary characters with potential that could be given a chance to shine. The book might also have been improved if they had less stories per issue. I think the default was 4?

Posted by: Chris | July 28, 2014 10:20 PM

But there are two logical reasons why MCP did feature guys with their own titles: they'd help sell the mag to fans who don't care about, say, Ultra-Man. Using the books' own logos in big type on the covers, with the MCP logo quite small, even tricked me into thinking that some issues featuring a Excalibur were actually Excalibur issues. (Obviously, I found out when I opened the mag.) just as importantly perhaps, this gave Marvel's editors and neophyte writers a chance to write characters who were otherwise creatively spoken for, which was probably part of the mag's internal reason for existing. Marvel Fanfare was supposed to do that too, I guess, but at this point MF is just doing 32-page versions of filler stories that would have taken 8 pages in MCP.

Neither of these are good creative reasons, of course, although with higher quality control the use of characters featured elsewhere need not have been much if a problem.

Posted by: Walter Lawson | July 28, 2014 10:37 PM

In a way, MCP is as much a harbinger of '90s suckiness as the advent of Rob Liefeld. Marvel's '90s writers put in early appearances in this series: Kavanagh, Harras, Mackie, Lobdell. Notably, they're all moonlighting Marvel editors, except Lobdell, who must have been friends with an editorial staffer. (Kavanagh? Maybe Harras?)

Posted by: Walter Lawson | July 28, 2014 10:46 PM

MCP had some excellent wraparound covers.
Just thought I'd mention that while everyone's picking on it!

Posted by: cullen | July 29, 2014 1:11 AM

Cullen - unfortunately, the covers may have been the best things about these issues - pretty packaging, somewhat mediocre to lousy content IMO. I bought them hoping they would have some potential impact on the main series at some point. My bad :)

Posted by: clyde | July 29, 2014 8:52 AM

Did Daredevil take steroids in that first scan? I've never seen him so pumped up. If that's how he looked, it's no wonder Turk threw himself through the window. Thankfully, the steroids wore off by the next scan.

Posted by: clyde | July 29, 2014 3:11 PM

I bought a couple of MCPs and found them much less satisfying than Solo Avengers. I think the reason that MCP sold well was entirely due to Wolverine fans buying anything with their hero in it, no matter who wrote it or the quality. True marvel zombie style. Its been demonstrated that it never matters who writes Wolvie, he still sells.
Solo Avengers at least tried to spotlight obscure characters.

Posted by: kveto from prague | July 29, 2014 4:05 PM

Historical Significance: Possibly the start of the dreaded "Assistant-Editor-as-Writer" phase at Marvel.

Posted by: Mark Drummond | July 31, 2014 7:18 PM

Using only secondary characters without their own book is a nice idea, but every issue of this series I have is usually only readable for Wolverine story.

Posted by: MindlessOne | May 25, 2017 10:47 AM

The idea is really sound if you think about it: a book for characters who could need the boost or more to them. The problem, of course, is "would it sell on it's own"? Obviously the answer is no, which unfortunately leads to the need of a headliner in order to at least get eyes interested and wallets opened for a book like this. Obviously, giving Wolverine another book is not something we would want, but it sort of gets the idea across: lets create a long-term story of interest, then people could read that, check out the other characters and maybe we could find something that clicks, both with readers or a character who has more potential than given out front. Of course you still need quality to make these other characters stand out; and since most didn't or just didn't have enough pages to, thus the book's failing.

Posted by: Ataru320 | May 25, 2017 11:20 AM




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