Marvel Premiere 44
Oct 1978
Jack of Hearts!
by Bill Mantlo, Kieth Giffen, Rudy Nebres
Jack of Hearts battles Hemlock, an assassin hired by the Corporation.
Jack returns to his father’s mansion in Connecticut. Agent Martins of SHIELD who is also Jack’s butler and looks a little like Alfred Pennyworth (with a full head of hair), hand delivers a note to Jack. It is from Hemlock, an assassin hired by the Corporation, the organization that sent the thugs who killed his father.
Jack heads to Ithaca, NY where he finds Hemlock and some of his goons waiting for him. Hemlock has been hired to kill Jack. He also wants the secret of Zero Fluid. It was invented by Jack’s father. Jack was accidentally bathed in Zero Fluid while trying to escape his father’s killers. It is the source of his powers which are now so volatile that he has to wear a protective suit to keep him from injuring others. At the mansion in Connecticut he regularly bathes in a neuro-mist which dampens his powers.
There is a brief recap of Jack’s encounters with White Tiger (Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu 23), Hulk (Hulk 214, 215), Iron Man (Iron Man 103-113). I own some of the Iron Man issues, 103-107 and 112. I should really take another step back and read the Iron Man issues. I’m pretty sure that they are all available on Marvel Comics Unlimited. From the way this story begins it sounds like the events of those issues lead into Jack’s situation at the beginning of this story which is more or less the same as his situation at the beginning of the 1984 mini-series.
Agent Martins is a recurring character in Jack of Hearts stories. This is his first appearance. He doesn't have very many more. His last one is during the Jack of Hearts (1984) limited series.
Giffen and Nebres do a very nice job with the art. It looks different from Giffen’s work a few years later on Legion of Super-Heroes. There are a few modified 9-panel grid pages which aren’t quite the same but are similar to some of the panel arrangements that Giffen used during his work on Legion of Super-Heroes.
First Class Mail, the Marvel Premiere letters page, is given over to a text piece by Bill Mantlo titled Dealing from the Top of the Deck. He explains the status of the Jack of Hearts and encourages fans to write in if they want Jack of Hearts to get his own book. There is also a character sheet drawn by Dave Cockrum which as the text accompanying it explains is now the definitive look for Jack of Hearts.
