Cover: Gene Colan

Marvel Comics Presents #13

Feb 1989 · Marvel · 1.25 USD; 1.75 CAD; 0.50 GBP

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★ 1st appearance — Elmer Gore

About this Issue

Marvel Comics Presents #13 is the opening chapter of Don McGregor and Gene Colan's 'Panther's Quest,' a 25-part serial that was among the most ambitious Black Panther stories told to that point, setting T'Challa on a search through apartheid-era South Africa for his long-lost mother — bold subject matter for a mainstream Marvel anthology. The issue contains the cameo introduction of Ramonda, a character whose importance to the Black Panther mythology would only grow over the decades, eventually appearing in the MCU films portrayed by Angela Bassett. Running in the same issue is Part IV of Ann Nocenti and Rick Leonardi's 'God's Country,' a critically regarded Colossus serial that was one of the first stories to genuinely interrogate the experience of a Russian immigrant in Cold War America. Together, the two serials make this issue a rare anthology chapter dense with creative ambition and lasting narrative consequence.

Contains 4 stories

God's Country Part IV: Draw the Lines...

8 pp · Superhero

Roxanne's father

Panther's Quest [Part 1]: A Rumor of Life

8 pp · Superhero

Reed's on the Roof and We Can't Get Him Down

8 pp · Superhero

Davey

A Tooth for a Tooth

8 pp · Jungle

LeonardPhillip MilfordBetsy MilfordSultan (lion)

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $8

CGC 9.8 · 7 in census $69

CGC 9.6 · 5 in census $32*

CGC 9.4 · 2 in census $22*

CGC 9.2 none in existence

CGC 9.0 none in existence

CGC 8.5 none in existence

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CGC 8.0 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 7.5 · 1 in census $20*

CGC 7.0 none in existence

CGC 6.5 none in existence

CGC 6.0 none in existence

CGC 5.5 none in existence

CGC 5.0 none in existence

CGC 4.5 none in existence

CGC 4.0 · 1 in census $20*

* estimate — limited direct-sales data at this grade

Our model’s value — refined as new sales data arrives · CGC census counts shown where available

More listings for this title

Newsstand $2.95 VF $2.99 VF/NM $2.99 VF/NM $2.99 VF $3.16 VF $3.3 VF $3.72 VF $3.75

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History

The issue was released with a cover date of February 1989 (on sale October 18, 1988), edited by Terry Kavanagh under editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco, with a wraparound cover by Gene Colan — the same artist handling interior art on the Black Panther serial. 'Panther's Quest' teamed McGregor with Colan and inker Tom Palmer, reuniting a creative sensibility McGregor had brought to the character in the 1970s; the serial ran through issue #37, making it one of the longest continuous stories the anthology ever published. The Colossus segment, written by Nocenti with pencils by Rick Leonardi and inks by P. Craig Russell, was part of an eight-chapter run (#10–17) that The Comics Journal would later describe as the only fully credible solo Colossus story ever written. The anthology format — four eight-page stories per issue — gave both serials room to develop in a way a standard solo title's compressed monthly schedule would have made difficult.

Trivia · 8 facts

First chapter of 'Panther's Quest,' a 25-part Don McGregor/Gene Colan serial running through Marvel Comics Presents #37, in which T'Challa searches apartheid South Africa for his missing mother.
Contains the cameo introduction of Ramonda (in T'Challa's imagination), as well as the first appearances of supporting character Patrick Slade and villain Elmer Gore — characters central to the entire 'Panther's Quest' arc.
Ramonda was originally written as Black Panther's biological mother; this was later retconned in Black Panther #1 (1998), establishing her as his stepmother and T'Chaka's second wife.
Part IV of Ann Nocenti and Rick Leonardi's 'God's Country' (chapters #10–17), a Cold War-themed Colossus serial pitting Piotr Rasputin against the rogue CIA cell called the Cold Warriors, with Number Six introduced in this run.
Cover art and Black Panther interior art by Gene Colan, inked by Tom Palmer; the Colossus segment was inked by P. Craig Russell.
The issue also features standalone short stories spotlighting Shanna the She-Devil (written and drawn by Bruce Jones) and a lighthearted Reed Richards/Invisible Woman comedy strip by C.J. Henderson and Mike Harris.
The Black Panther: Panther's Quest serial from this issue was later collected in the Black Panther Epic Collection Vol. 3: Panther's Prey (2021) and the Marvel Masterworks: The Black Panther Vol. 3, making the story accessible in trade format.
The Colossus: God's Country serial was separately collected in trade paperback, reflecting the lasting critical regard for the Nocenti/Leonardi collaboration on the book.