Issue(s): Marvel Premiere #42
Cover Date: Jun 78
Title: "Nightmare's evolution"
Credits:
Ed Hannigan - Script
John Warner - Plot
Mike Vosburg - Penciler
Ernie Chan - Inker

Review/plot:
Tigra is involved in an event with the Cat People for her solo story in Marvel Premiere. The Cat People had welcomed one of the High Evolutionary New Men into their ranks. He is Tabur, a cat person, obviously, and he was one of the original New Men, but he got scared (scaredy-cat?) during the fight between the Man-Beast and Thor and the Evolutionary, and ran off, and got left behind when the other New Men left Earth. It's said that something snapped in him at that point and he devoted himself to "revenge", and he's now turned on the Cat People as well. He's acquired a device of theirs that engages in some questionable evolutionary biology to convert creatures back to earlier forms.

We've seen this type of thing before, but it always irks me to see modern elephants getting "devolved" into mastodons, etc..

The device was originally intended to be used to restore Tigra to human form, something she says she would have had no interest in anyway.

There's an added layer of complexity when Tabur turns the device on the Cat People. Since the device would have turned Tigra back into a human, and since i've learned that these Cat People are related to the ones that Morbius encountered circa Fear #22, and since they were evolved from house cats, i wasn't sure what they would turn into, but i certainly wasn't expecting Sabretooth tigers.

In any event, this turns out to be Tabur's downfall, since even as Zabus they are still loyal to Tigra.

Tabur does turn into a housecat when he's hit by the ray (presumably that's what the High Evolutionary created him from).

Art is kind of wonky. Ernie Chan's inks definitely come through strong, and that's generally a good thing. And there's plenty of Cat People and prehistoric animals and also some New Orleans Mardi Gras scenes to keep things interesting. But the lines still look a bit scratchy and there's weird moments with Tigra's facial expressions where she seems to be smiling even when she's getting bad news.

Speaking of bad news, Dr. Joanne Tumolo is killed by Tabur in this issue. Tigra's reaction to that is somewhat more appropriate, i guess? She at least looks mildly annoyed, like when you leave your wallet at home by accident.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - death of Joanne Tumolo

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• It's said that the device Tabur acquires is as devastating as the Cat People's ultimate weapon (the Black Plague) shown in Giant-Size Creatures #1.
  
• Greer Nelson met Joanne Tumolo and became the Cat in Cat #1.
  
• The High Evolutionary's original New Men were introduced in Thor #134.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The title is a reversal of the story "Evolution's Nightmare"(I can't remember right now if it was a comics or prose SF story).

"Evolution's Nightmare" is the title in Planet of the Apes #5 (Feb 1975), with art by Ed Hannigan.
Hope this helps!