Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 66

"Acts of Vengeance, Part 3: Dancing in the Dark"

Cover Date: December 1990

On Sale Date: October 1990

Writer: Howard Mackie
Artist: Mark Texeira
Inker: Harry Candelario
Letterer: Clem Robins
Colorist: Gregory Wright
Editor: Terry Kavanagh
Editor in Chief: Tom DeFalco

Cover Artist: Jim Valentino

In Cypress Hills Cemetery, the young Oriental girl and her unknown savior stand over the unconscious Wolverine and Ghost Rider. The girl says to her companion that the two heroes saved her lives, and that they should help them in return. The onlookers' father then appears, the same man that was Jack D'Auria's sensei, Yuji. He tells his son that he and his daughter, Brigitte, can handle the situation, and that he needs to go make sure there are no more of Deathwatch's men in the area. Weakly, the Ghost Rider stands and painfully gets on his motorcycle, riding away without saying a word.

The next evening, Wolverine awakens as his mutant healing factor kicks in, and he sees the silhouette of a man through blurred vision. He jumps out of the bed, ripping an I.V. tube out of his arm as he strikes, his claws hitting the one light in the room. Still hazy from the drugs pumped into his system, Wolverine attempts to find his opponent in the pitch black room. He comments to himself that his enemy has blended his scent in with that of the room, but the mutant can still barely hear the man breathing. Wolverine swings blindly in the dark, hitting nothing, but in turn gets hit himself. The X-Man swings again, but again hits nothing. On the third swing, Wolverine connects, drawing blood. As the stranger draws a sword, Wolverine locks onto the smell of his blood and pins down his location. Before either men can strike, a woman's voice yells out the name "Sean", and turns on the light, allowing Wolverine to only barely miss being stabbed by the stranger's sword. Before Wolverine can get a good look at his opponent's identity, the man crashes through a window and escapes. Brigitte, the one who turned on the lights, tells Wolverine that the two of them must talk.

Meanwhile, Dan Ketch rides to NYU Medical Center to visit his hospitalized friend, Jack. The gas cap on his motorcycle begins to glow, and Dan sees several of Deathwatch's men scaling down the hospital, still after Jack. Dan transforms into the Ghost Rider, who rides straight up the building. Grabbing the assassins' repelling ropes, the demon pulls them all back up to the roof, where he easily defeats the three men. He grabs one of them by the throat and demands to know what Deathwatch wants with Jack. When the ninja remains silent, the demon drops him off the edge of the roof. Yuji then approaches the Rider, stating that he did not think he was a killer. GR then stands aside to show that his chain was attached to the ninja's foot, dangling him above the street. The Rider pulls him up, and Yuji states that it is time for them to talk.

That is one terrified ninja, folks.

THE ROADMAP

Jack D'Auria was injured by Deathwatch's men in Marvel Comics Presents (1988) # 64.

This issue of Marvel Comics Presents also contained stories featuring Poison, the Warriors Three, and the Thing.

CHAIN REACTION

Howard Mackie returns to a familiar narrative trick while the mystery of Deathwatch's plan continues...and this story is actually starting to shape up somewhat.

In the first chapter of "Acts of Vengeance", writer Mackie introduced a rather inventive narrative technique that split the story in half horizontally across the page, allowing both Wolverine and Ghost Rider's separate stories to be told simultaneously. It was a clever way to show two different parts of the world with two different characters while making it clear that it was happening at the same time. We get a return to that technique here (and not for the last time in this story) with Wolverine and Ghost Rider being separated following their battle, and it helps to introduce more plot elements into a story that I was afraid would be nothing but fight scene after fight scene.

There's a lot to like about this chapter, particularly on Wolverine's side of the narrative fence. The X-Man has to fight an unknown character, one still hidden from the readers after his appearance last issue, in a completely dark room. While it gives the artist the excuse to be potentially lazy, it's also another nice touch to make the story's events unique. Ghost Rider's side isn't quite as inventive - another Ghost Rider versus Ninjas scene - but the chapter as a whole reads quite well.

Even Mark Texeira's artwork is starting to look better, and his Wolverine absolutely shines during the fight scene with the mystery man. I'm still not digging Candelario's inks, but at least some of the sloppiness has been improved.

"Acts of Vengeance" is finally starting to take shape into a story with potential...it's too bad that potential winds up being squandered.

An odd way to dodge a sword.