From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 2h - Marvel Comics Presents #88-89 (1991)

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast

Episode 2H

Marvel Comics Presents #88-89 (November, 1991)

"Blood Hungry, Part 4: Four Scents Worth"

"Blood Hungry, Part 5: Five Scents Worth"

"Just Friends, Part 4: Fool for Love"

"Just Friends, Part 5: My Pal Mugsy"

"Hero of the People"

"Shopping"

"Youngblood"

"What's Wrong With this Picture?!"

Writers - Peter David, Scott Lobdell, Eric Fein, James Brock, & Dan Slott

Pencils - Sam Kieth, Jae Lee, Mark Runyan, James Brock, Rita Fagiani, & Joe Madureira

Inks - Sam Kieth, Tim Dzon, Don Hudson, Bob Wiacek, Jim Starlin, & Christopher Ivy

Colors - Pat Garrahy, Mike Thomas, Fred Mendez, Kevin Tinsley, & Dan Slott

Letters - Dave Sharpe, Diana Albers, Todd Klein, & Steve Dutro

Edits - Terry Kavanagh

Cover Price: $1.25/per

It's anthology day at #FCTCXMen - and so, Walt (@waltkneeland) and me are going to take a look at two issues of Marvel Comics Presents!

The Cyber storyline rolls on in Wolverine... the Beast is still looking for love... and we get to discuss the first Marvel work of eventual Uncanny X-Men artist, Joe Madureira!

All that, plus Walt answers the dreaded Pod-File questionnaire! 

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From Claremont to Claremont, Episode 1h - Marvel Comics Presents #85-87 (1991)

From Claremont to Claremont: An X-Men Podcast

Episode 1H

Marvel Comics Presents #85-87 (October, 1991)

"Blood Hungry, Part 1: First Scent"

"Blood Hungry, Part 2: Two Scents"

"Blood Hungry, Part 3: Three Scents"

"Life During Wartime, Part 4: Fire in the Hole"

"Life During Wartime, Part 5: True Colors"

"Life During Wartime, Part 6: Sacrifice"

"Just Friends, Part 1: Professor!"

"Just Friends, Part 2"

"Just Friends, Part 3: If This is Tuesday, it Must be Belgium"

"... The Dude in the Really Rad Armor!"

"Take Me Out to the Bomb Game"

"To Touch the Darkness"

Writers - Peter David, Marcus McLaurin, Marie Javins, Scott Lobdell, & Eric Fein

Pencils - Sam Kieth, Dwayne Turner, Rob Liefeld, Jae Lee, Ron Wilson, J. Adam Walters, & Ron Wilson

Inks - Sam Kieth, Christopher Ivy, Jose Marzan Jr., Tim Dzon, Sam de la Rosa, & Harry Candelario

Colors - Glynis Oliver, Marcus McLaurin, Mike Thomas, Mike Rockwitz, Fernando Mendez, & Kevin Tinsley

Letters - Clem Robins, Rick Parker, Todd Klein, Dave Sharpe, & Diana Albers

Edits - Mark Powers, Terry Kavanagh, & DeFalco

Cover Price: $1.25

No matter what the year is, Wolverine's adventures could never be kept to the handful of titles he was being featured in... and so, Walt Kneeland (@waltkneeland) and I are including his Marvel Comics Present exploits as part of this project!

This time out, we're featuring all three MCP issues cover-dated October, 1991 - which see Wolverine's first tangles with Cyber and also features adventures from other X-Men (and X-Adjacents) Beast and Firestar!

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@acecomics / @cosmictmill / weirdcomicshistory@gmail.com

chrisandreggie.podbean.com

chrisisoninfiniteearths.com

https://comicreviewsbywalt.com/

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Scratch #1 (2004)

Scratch #1 (August, 2004)

"Scratch"

Writer & Artist - Sam Kieth

Letterer - Phil Balsman

Colorist & Separator - Alex Sinclair

Assistant Editor - Harvey Richards

Editor - Joey Cavalieri

Cover Price: $2.50

Here's one I'd never even heard of until I found it in the cheap-o bin.  I love that this kind of thing still happens from time to time... and lucky for me, it was just in time for our Boo, Haunted Blog series!

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We open with Batman as he provides an introduction narrative for the story of a sixteen-year-old boy named Zack... a boy we will soon know much better as Scratch.  He continues... explaining that when Zack turned fifteen one of his fingers grew deformed... and ultimately exploded.  What remained was a gnarled claw... a shameful secret he kept, literally and figuratively tightly under wraps.  Eventually, his entire right hand took the form of a clawed paw.

One night... likely one with a full moon... Zack was beckoned into the woods by an internal urge.  He feels sick... nauseous... suddenly, the transformation begins... his mouth juts out... his teeth grow pointy and large.  Smells grow more vibrant... a deer is on the horizon... instinct kicks in... the poor deer never had a chance.  In case I'm being a bit too obtuse, what I'm tryin' to say is the kid turned into a werewolf.

He wakes up in his human state the following morning.  He is laying next to the eviscerated deer, and tries to come to grips with his actions of the night before.  He feels an itch in his malformed right "paw", and wanders further into the woods.  What he wasn't prepared for was how tired his body would be from last night's activity... and so he slumps over... passing out in sight of a tiny cabin.

A woman and two children discover Zack's body, and after noticing his deformity, decide to take him in.  This is an interesting scene, as we don't get all that good a look at the boy's saviors.  We mostly see them from behind... and while we do kinda get to see the woman's face, it is mostly covered by her hair.  Zack wakes up and he and we get an eyeful of his rescue party.  It's a pretty staggering sight... they are all physically deformed.  Zack feels comfortable... and hopeful, for the first time in a long while.

Morning comes, well two-days later... and with it, a whole bunch of backwoods yokels.  The creepy sheriff and a bunch of hillbillies are outside of the cabin, accusing the woman (Miss Sage) of abducting a young girl who had recently gone missing.  Sage is steadfast in her innocence, and we learn that at one point in the past, she herself had lost a daughter.  This ain't good enough for the yokels, as one of them chucks a rock at her big-headed "son's" big-head.

The sheriff is done negotiating and prepares to storm the cabin in search of the missing girl.  By this point, Zack is up and stirring again... and he's not too keen on the small-towners invading his newly-found safe place.  He puffs out his (bare) chest and tells them to beat it.  They notice his hand-paw, and decide that discretion is the better part of valor.  As they depart, the sheriff posts a notice for the missing girl to a nearby tree.

We now shift to a brief cameo of a hulking monster with a bunch of eyes.  It carries a sack... presumably one that contains a living human... perhaps even the missing girl.  It walks past a tree with the missing girl poster, and tears it down.  The poster, that is... the tree is fine.

With all the excitement having died down, we get a quiet moment between Zack and Miss Sage.  She reveals that she came to town as a physical therapist... sent by the government as a public relations ploy... because this area had suffered a Chernobyl-style radiation bath, which led to a bunch of deformities and what-not.  When the funding dried up, she stayed out of moral obligation.  She shares that her deformity was with her since birth, and not a result of radiation.

Outside, the children see the eyeball monster chowing down on some livestock.  Zack "Scratches" up and lunges into action.  He yells at the beast to let the girl in the bag out... to which, the voice from the bag agrees... but, not with much of a sense of urgency.  She also calls the grotesque critter "Gloop-Gloop"... so, we will too.

So... Gloop-Gloop, he ain't all that impressed with our teenage werewolf... He grabs him by his teeth, and slams him into the ground... at which point, he returns to his boyish figure.

In the distraction, Miss Sage tries to rescue sack girl... but gets a whack for her troubles.  Zack tells Gloop-Gloop "hands off"... but appears not to be able to change back in his werewolf form to punctuate his statement.  We are... [to be continued...]

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Ya know, when I chose this book to review I would'a bet money that I was going to hate it.  I'm not sure what I thought we'd be getting here... but I was sure I wouldn't like it.  After actually reading it, however, I thought it was pretty good.  Not much for werewolf stories myself, but in the context of the greater DC Universe, this could be quite fun.

The non-Scratch characters were neat... at least those who weren't written and illustrated as the stereotypical small town yokel.  The Miss Sage house o' misfit toys was a nice touch.  I like knowing that this little cabin might still be standing in some corner of the DC landscape... keeping in mind, I haven't read past this issue...

I did have some reservations in regard to the art.  Sam Kieth is pretty hot and cold with me.  I really enjoy his humanoid monster type of work, but found his "straight" humans as almost nightmarish.  Not that they are scary, or ugly... they just don't feel "real".  They feel "off" in a way that makes me feel a bit uncomfortable.  Can't really explain it.  With all that said, his style fits this story to perfection... and I don't think it would have been nearly as effective with anyone else on art chores.

Overall... a good first issue, and introduction to this Scratch fella.  I'm glad Batman didn't loom quite as large as I feared he might... and I'm quite interested in seeing how this all turns out.  This isn't a series that I see too often in the wild... in fact, when I grabbed this one... it was the first time I'd ever heard of it... so, it may be a bit of a challenge tracking down the remaining chapters.

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