Marvel Comics Presents #123
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMarvel Comics Presents #123 opens two concurrent multi-part arcs that together represent the anthology format at its most ambitious: Scott Lobdell's 'Passion Play' debuts both Lynx and the Courier — two characters who would anchor an eight-part Wolverine espionage storyline involving the Black Widow, S.H.I.E.L.D., and a globe-spanning bioweapon conspiracy — while Ann Nocenti's 'The Walking Wounded' kicks off a psychologically charged Ghost Rider/Typhoid Mary crossover that pits Danny Ketch's penance stare against a character defined by dissociative identity disorder, creating a built-in thematic collision between punishment and innocence. The Nocenti/Steve Lightle Ghost Rider chapter proved durable enough to be reprinted in the 2015 trade paperback Daredevil: Typhoid's Kiss and again in the Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Omnibus Vol. 2 in 2025. As a single issue it also doubles as an early showcase for Scott Lobdell, who used Marvel Comics Presents as his proving ground before becoming one of Marvel's primary X-Men writers of the decade.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Marvel Comics Presents was a bi-weekly anthology series that editor Tom DeFalco used partly as a training ground for emerging talent, and Scott Lobdell's path to the book is illustrative: after repeated rejections from Marvel editors including DeFalco himself, Lobdell submitted a story involving a relatively obscure Contest of Champions character, and DeFalco — not needing approval from other editorial offices for such minor characters — gave him his first assignment. The 'Passion Play' Wolverine arc in #123 was one of Lobdell's early results, paired with Ann Nocenti returning to Typhoid Mary — the character she had originally created with John Romita Jr. for Daredevil #254 in 1988 — now placing her against Danny Ketch's Ghost Rider with artist Steve Lightle, who handled pencils, inks, and colors on the arc. The fourth story, 'The Doomed Man,' was written and drawn entirely by Scott Kolins, and used Captain America and the Red Skull in flashback to frame a self-contained account of Master Man.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Lynx (Earth-616), a woman whose body carries the experimental 'Panacea' drug capable of curing all disease, in the Wolverine story 'Passion Play Part 1: Clean Slate.'
- First appearance of the Courier (Hans Middlestadt, Earth-616), a bioelectric-powered German government agent sent to recover Lynx, also in 'Passion Play Part 1.'
- The Wolverine/Lynx/Courier arc was scripted by Scott Lobdell with pencils by Dennis Jensen and inks by Jon Holdredge, and ran through issues #123–130.
- Ann Nocenti wrote 'The Walking Wounded Part 1: Soulfeast,' the opening chapter of an eight-part Ghost Rider/Typhoid Mary story; Steve Lightle served as writer, penciler, inker, and colorist on the arc.
- The Ghost Rider/Typhoid Mary 'Walking Wounded' chapters from issues #123–130 were reprinted in the 2015 trade paperback Daredevil: Typhoid's Kiss and in Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Omnibus Vol. 2 (2025).
- A fourth story, 'The Doomed Man,' was written and drawn by Scott Kolins and featured Master Man with Captain America and the Red Skull appearing in flashback.
- The She-Hulk story, 'Adrenazon's Revenge Part 1: There's a New Girl in Town,' was scripted by Kelly Corvese with art by Dave Hoover, and features Jennifer Walters framed for murder by a look-alike villain.
- The issue was published in both a direct-edition and a newsstand edition, with a cover date of March 1993 and an on-sale date of January 5, 1993.
Cast · 21 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Daredevil: Typhoid's Kiss #[nn] (2015), Wolverine Omnibus #4 (2023), She-Hulk Epic Collection #6 (2024), Ghost Rider: Danny Ketch Omnibus #2 (2025)
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