Marvel Comics Presents #1 (2019) Review

World War II is oddly hot right now at Marvel.

Marvel Comics Presents #1 Cover
Marvel Comics

There had been a real lack of anthology books outside of the odd holiday special so Marvel Comics Presents coming back out is spectacular to see. There are three sections to this new interpretation of Marvel Presents with three well-known names in comics at the helm of each. For simplicity sake, there’ll be three mini-reviews of each and then a wrap-up at the end.

First we have Marvel Comics Presents proper with Wolverine: The Vigil Part 1, written by Charles Soule, with pencils by Paolo Siquiera, inks by Oren Junior, and colors by Frank D’Armata. This is the tale of Wolverine during World War II, a happy time for most people who want to shoot at stuff but things get worse when a gypsy about to be killed by a Nazi squad summons a demon.

Marvel Comics Presents #1 Wolverine
Marvel Comics

Charles Soule sets up an interesting premise with this, showing the start of a family curse and how Wolverine will play into it over the years, assumably. The art style is actually very reminiscent of the older style of Wolverine’s solo book with the fact that there’s an inker at all making for a darker shade to this story. It’s is a great story to set up a story that can span through the rest of the series.

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Then it is the Marvel Age section with“War’s End”. It’s written by Greg Pak, drawn by Tomm Coker and colored by Michael Garland. When the Nazis surrendered, Namor was done, but the lungbreathers just couldn’t let him be.

Marvel Comics Presents #1 Namor
Marvel Comics

This is a one-and-done that really illustrates what Marvel Creative has been pushing as of late with Namor. He has helped the surface ‘bags of water’ before, aiding Allied troops, slaughtering thousands of Nazi troopers, not as a soldier but an ally to the surface world to best protect his own. He is a warrior but a fair one, and when he’s sent to take on Imperius Rex just so Allied forces can bomb Japan, that just adds to that burden. It is one of the best shorts in this, and hopefully, the real-world events for this section keeps it tight and unique for issues to come.

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Finally there’s the Marvel Spotlight section with “First Ride”, written by Ann Nocenti, pencils by Greg Land, inks by Jay Leisten, and colors by Frank D’Armata. In modern day, a young teen helps Captain America fix his motorcycle, while Cap helps her live her dream of stunts.

Marvel Comics Presents #1 Cap
Marvel Comics

Ann Nocenti is a legend in the industry but there was something off about this section. It has all the hallmarks of a positive message, with Captain America talking to the young teen’s mom about how Kelly needs to be who she is, despite her mother’s protests. For all that, the mother’s issue is the same one from the Bart the Daredevil episode of The Simpsons: Kelly wants to be a stunt driver but her mom keeps trying to not have her only child break her neck because she’s only got a dream and a dirt bike. This could just be a generational difference because a teen reading this could really see a positive message in it from Cap being on the teen’s side but just feels off. Cap also uses the contraction “ain’t” which is just weird.

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Overall these three stories are great first steps for a monthly way to give just stories without needing to over-convolute the timeline for current ongoings with short-but-sweet stories. For that, it is a solid Four out of Five.

Marvel Comics Presents #1 Star Rating
Marvel Comics

 
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Contributor
Contributor

A.J. Carey is a child of pop culture, learning to read on comic books and raised like any true '90s child on films way above his age range and network television!