Issue(s): Marvel Fanfare #40 (Angel story only)
Cover Date: Oct 88
Title: "Chiaroscuro"
Credits:
Ann Nocenti - Writer
David Mazzucchelli - Penciler
David Mazzucchelli - Inker
Al Milgrom - Editor

Review/plot:
This a weird and of course highly symbolic story by Ann Nocenti that takes place directly after Angel falls out of the sky in Mephisto vs.... #2.

The main character in the story is a very religious and senile old woman whose grandson steals from her wallet while she reads from the Bible.

Later, Angel falls from the sky...

...muttering about a battle with Mephisto....

...and asking about "the Beast"...

...and she of course interprets it all as him being a Biblical angel falling from Heaven. She brings him to a bed, collects his feathers, which had been falling off, and glues them all back on.

She briefly considers keeping a feather for herself but realizes that it's wrong.

Angel later recovers, kisses her goodbye, and then flies off.

This inspires the old lady to throw away all the kitchen appliances that had been giving her trouble, and then get into the car that she hasn't driven in years and that everyone tells her she is now too old to drive.

Presumably she immediately crashes into a tree, and Angel crash lands on the other side of that fence.

Exactly what you'd expect from Nocenti, and not something i would necessarily have been happy to have waited over a year for after the footnote in Mephisto vs..... But it's also about what you'd expect from Marvel Fanfare at this point, and it's at least a quirky offbeat story with David Mazzucchelli art.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: For Angel, this takes place during or directly after Mephisto vs.... #2. The fact that Angel is shown flying away at the end of the story seems to confirm that it's during, before Mephisto restores Angel to his hospital bed and damaged wings.

The second story in this book is a Storm/Mystique meeting that takes place circa Uncanny X-Men #185, so it's been split into a separate entry.

References:

• While delusional, Angel refers to the events of X-Factor's fight with Mephisto from Mephisto vs.... #2.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? Y

My Reprint: N/A

I liked this story a lot. The art's got kind of a Darwyn Cooke vibe about it.

A good, unconventional story with wonderful art. Nocenti and Mazzucchelli are both offbeat and individualistic, so it's nice that they had an opportunity to collaborate. This story is also an interesting look at how Mazzucchelli's artwork was evolving into the style he would utilize on his independent projects.

There is a brief article on this story by my pal John Turnbull in Back Issue #96, which is a Marvel Fanfare retrospective. It goes on sale next month...

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