Synopsis / Summary / Plot
As usual this anthology contains 4 8-page stories with no adverts.
Wolverine/Typhoid Mary in Typhoid's Kiss part 2 of 8: A Killer's Rights
Writer Ann Nocenti. Pencils/Inks Steve Lightle. Letters Bill Oakley. Colours Kelly Corvese.
Last issue Wolverine was attacked in a motel room by a man named Roberts who at the same time asked for his help. He claimed to have been turned by the Project into a killer who gets his orders via an implanted radio receiver in his head. But now he's being told to kill Project members. He suspects Logan may have been a Project subject too. But Roberts has been working with another subject Mary Walker and they've compiled a dossier. He asked Logan to go help her bring the Project down.
Now Wolverine has left Roberts chained up in the motel room (because he kept attacking him). This issue's tale has parallel tracks following Wolverine and Roberts. I've separated them out.
Roberts muses that he wasn't evil as a kid so he can't be held responsible for what the Project programmed him to do. Unless he was a latent killer all along. But now he turns his anger against Wolverine and schemes to get free. He phones an animal shelter to say a dog's trapped its foot in a racoon trap. They send someone with some tools to free it but Roberts KOs him and starts to saw through his chain.
Logan meets Mary Walker in a diner. She claims to be innocent but has blackouts and nightmares and wakes up in unfamiliar situations. Roberts suggested that her mind might have been tampered with by the Project and she wants to help him, but Logan doesn't want to get her hopes up. She takes him back to her place to show him the stuff Roberts mentioned. But when they get there they kiss.
Nightcrawler in Night Of The Ripper
Writer Barry Dutter. Pencils Mark Runyan. Inks Tim Tuohy. Letters Michael Higgins. Colours Dana Moreshead.
A modern-day Jack The Ripper is stalking London's streets, but this time he's killed 3 pimps rather than prostitutes. Nightcrawler thinks he's spotted a pattern and is waiting for the next attack. He sees the Ripper stabbing his next victim and bamfs to the rescue. But a leg injury (from Excalibur #43) slows him and he gets an added arm wound as the villain escapes. A crowd grows and of course blames the demon-looking hero, but others recognise him. A Dr Jacqueline Davenport happens to be on hand to help the victim but instead she sneakily finishes the job. Then she bandages Kurt Wagner's wound and they go for a drink. They see a well-known pimp Harry Flanagan who Jackie suggests will profit from the decrease in competition. They follow him but Jackie tells Kurt she hears a nearby scream. Nightcrawler goes to investigate and Jackie The Ripper prepares to kill her next target. But Kurt had been suspicious of her all along and he stops her. Jackie tells him about her prostitute sister who died of a drug overdose. The police take her away and Nightcrawler warns Flanagan he'll be watching him.
Ghost Rider/Werewolf in Return Of The Braineaters part 4 of 6: Undercover At The Black Moon Bar & Grill
Writer Chris Cooper. Pencils John Staniski. Inks James Palmiotti/Ken Branch. Letters Steve Dutro. Colours Fred Mendez.
Last issue Ghost Rider and Werewolf fought the biker werewolf Braineaters on the Brooklyn Bridge as the villains chased young Billy Baldwin who had seen their human identities. Jack Russell was knocked off the bridge into the river and Ghost Rider surrendered to the bikers because they had Billy hostage.
Now we see that the gang have GR chained to 4 bikes in a vacant lot. They rev the bikes and try to tear him limb from limb, but he just holds on until the chains snap. Lupe is the only female member of the gang (and I'm not sure she's actually a werewolf). She's been a moderating influence on them so far, and this time she persuades them to leave before GR recovers and keep Billy the kid alive as insurance. Werewolf survived his dunk in the water and gets here too late. But GR has a cunning plan and reverts to Dan Ketch to haunt biker bars until he gets a lead which leads him to the Black Moon Bar & Grill. Lupe checks him out and Danny tries to get through to her better nature but the boys take him outside, beat him up and leave him for dead.
Thanos in I, Thanos part 3 of 4: Death's Dark Domain
Writer Jim Starlin. Pencils/Inks Shawn McManus. Letters Michael Higgins. Colours Kevin Tinsley/Sarra Mossoff.
When Death dragged Thanos' spirit into her realm he expected her vengeance for his action in the Infinity Gauntlet event. But instead she spoke to him directly for the 1st time. Now they are having a meal together (albeit at each end of a long table). She suggests she might forgive him if he will prove himself again her faithful servant. But 1st she reminds him of his betrayal. Before the IG event she gave him the singular honour of resurrecting him to be her agent again, but instead he sought and gained omnipotence to become her superior. And she was only rescued from that subjugation by Adam Warlock, which now puts her humiliatingly in that hero's debt. She is not allowed to strike at him directly so she wants Thanos to kill him for her, and in return she will be his love forever.