Cover: Barry Windsor-Smith & Jackson Guice

Marvel Comics Presents #72

Mar 1991 · Marvel · 1.25 USD; 1.75 CAD; 0.65 GBP

☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join free

★ 1st appearance — Carol Hines

About this Issue

Marvel Comics Presents #72, on sale January 24, 1991, is the opening chapter of Barry Windsor-Smith's 'Weapon X' — the story that finally answered the question of how Logan's skeleton came to be sheathed in adamantium. By introducing the Weapon X Program, the Professor (Thornton), Dr. Abraham Cornelius, and Carol Hines all in a single eight-page prologue, the issue established the institutional horror at the core of Wolverine's most enduring origin myth. Windsor-Smith's decision to cast the scientists — rather than Logan himself — as the viewpoint characters gave the arc an unsettling slasher-film structure that was unlike anything else in mainstream superhero publishing at the time, and his widescreen action layouts anticipate storytelling techniques that wouldn't become widespread until nearly a decade later.

"Weapon-X: Prologue" delivers a raw, haunting origin moment in Marvel Comics Presents #72, written by Fabian Nicieza and illustrated by Javier Saltares, with inks by Mark McKenna and colors by Kelly P. Corvese. The story follows Red Wolf as he honors the fallen Lobo with a solemn ceremony, then takes up the slain warrior’s skin as a cloak—only to later rescue a lone wolf cub after a brutal massacre of its family by drunken hunters. The cover, a striking collaboration by Barry Windsor-Smith and Jackson Guice, captures the moment with stark, haunting detail.

Contains 4 stories

Weapon-X: Prologue

8 pp · Superhero

In *Weapon-X: Prologue*, Professor Thornton recruits a secret team to forge the ultimate weapon—Logan—transforming him into the unstoppable force known as Weapon X. Through brutal experimentation, Logan’s skeleton is fused with adamantium, his claws are surgically grown, and a remote control is implanted in his mind. When the project’s guards are slaughtered in a violent rampage, it’s revealed the attack was orchestrated by the hidden financier. But the memories of that massacre? A fabricated illusion. Still, Logan breaks free, and with his past a blur of pain and lies, he vanishes into the wilderness—still a weapon, but no longer a puppet.

The Bush of Ghosts Part 5: Ant Hills of the Savannah

8 pp · Jungle

In "The Bush of Ghosts Part 5: Ant Hills of the Savannah," Heller and Shanna team up to uncover the truth behind a haunted jungle. As they follow a trail of destruction, they stumble upon a village in ruins—only to find a desperate soul on the verge of being consumed by swarming ants.

Redemption Song Part IV: A Momentary Taste of Being

8 pp · Superhero

Flesh of My Flesh

8 pp · Superhero

JerryHarryGaryHowie

In "Flesh of My Flesh," Red Wolf honors the memory of his fallen companion Lobo by wearing his skin as a cloak, a solemn tribute that echoes through the wilderness. When he stumbles upon a mother wolf and her cubs being slaughtered by drunken hunters, he steps in to protect the last surviving cub, a moment that marks the beginning of a new bond. The story quietly builds around loss, legacy, and the unexpected kinship that grows between a man and a wolf raised in the shadow of a fallen friend.

ComicBooks.com Value

Our Model is In Beta

Raw (VF) $13

CGC 9.8 · 1949 in census $256

CGC 9.6 · 1976 in census $83

CGC 9.4 · 1080 in census $70

CGC 9.2 · 546 in census $67

CGC 9.0 · 337 in census $62

CGC 8.5 · 189 in census $56*

Show all 13 grades ▾

CGC 8.0 · 91 in census $51*

CGC 7.5 · 59 in census $45*

CGC 7.0 · 27 in census $44*

CGC 6.5 · 16 in census $42*

CGC 6.0 · 7 in census $37*

CGC 5.5 · 5 in census $33*

CGC 5.0 · 3 in census $28*

* 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

VG+ $8.4 VF+ $9.6 NM- $10.99 VF $12.95 VF+ $13.95 Newsstand $14.99 NM- $15.99 VF+ $16.96

Related listings we couldn't confirm as this exact issue · 108 total · seen 30 days ago

Sell my copy

Have this issue — or a whole collection? Get a fair offer from us, skip the marketplace fees and the hassle.

We Buy Collections ▸

Fast, fair offers · we handle grading & shipping

History

Windsor-Smith conceived and drew the first installments of 'Weapon X' entirely on his own initiative, without a formal pitch or editorial mandate, motivated purely by curiosity about how Wolverine got 'stupid spikes sticking out of his hands'; he simply showed up at the Marvel Comics Presents office of editor Terry Kavanagh with finished pages. Marvel's direct-sales manager Carol Kalish and editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco briefly wanted to redirect the story into a hardcover graphic novel, feeling it was too polished for a newsstand anthology, but Kavanagh successfully lobbied DeFalco to let it run as a serial first — with a collected edition to follow. X-Men editor Bob Harras and longtime Uncanny X-Men writer Chris Claremont both pushed back during production: Claremont had always envisioned Apocalypse as the architect of Wolverine's adamantium bonding, and as a courtesy Windsor-Smith inserted a never-seen 'unseen director' into the plot to preserve that option, even though he felt it weakened his story.

Trivia · 8 facts

First appearance of the Weapon X Program (unnamed within this issue), along with its three core scientists: the Professor (Thornton), Dr. Abraham Cornelius, and Carol Hines — all debuting in this single prologue chapter.
Entire Weapon X lead story — script, pencils, inks, colors, and partial lettering — is the solo work of Barry Windsor-Smith, making it one of the most thoroughly creator-driven stories in Marvel's Copper Age anthology output.
The issue carries a distinctive wraparound cover: Windsor-Smith painted the front half and Jackson Guice (signed 'JNG') produced the back half.
Issue #72 is the prologue chapter of a 13-part serial that ran through Marvel Comics Presents #72–84; the Weapon X story occupies eight pages per issue within the anthology's four-story format.
Three back-up features also appear: Shanna the She-Devil in 'The Bush of Ghosts Part 5' (script by Gerard Jones, art by Paul Gulacy); Daredevil in 'Redemption Song Part 4' (script and art by Sandy Plunkett with Dwayne Turner); and Red Wolf in 'Flesh of My Flesh' (script by Fabian Nicieza, art by Javier Saltares).
The Red Wolf back-up introduces a second wolf companion named Lobo after Red Wolf's original Lobo was killed offscreen by Bengal in Marvel Comics Presents #15 — making this issue the first appearance of Red Wolf's second Lobo.
The complete Weapon X arc has been reprinted multiple times in collected form, and Dark Horse Books announced an oversized black-and-white hardcover edition (192 pages, 9" x 12") scheduled for November 2026, supplemented by archival artwork scans and a new essay by comics historians Chris Ryall and John Lind.
Hugh Jackman's costume and headgear as Weapon X in X-Men: Apocalypse (2016) were directly based on Windsor-Smith's visual designs from this story arc, extending the issue's cultural reach into the Fox X-Men film franchise.