The series had three volumes: the first ran bi-weekly for 175 issues from 1988 to 1995 and the second ran for 12 issues from 2007 to 2008. The third volume started in 2019 and is currently ongoing.
Marvel Comics Presents was the series in which Wolverine's origin as Weapon X was first told, serialized in issues 72-84.
This comic has the examples of:
- An Arm and a Leg: In issue 54, Jack Russell in his werewolf form attempts to chew his arm off in an attempt to escape the chains he locked himself up in.
- Call-Back: In the hundreth issue, Wolverine and Ghost Rider use the Rider's explosive reaction to Wolverine's adamatium claws that they discovered in their first meeting many issues ago to their advantage.
- Captain Ersatz: One story had Doctor Strange finding himself against a Freddy Krueger-lookalike Eddy from an in-universe film series A Sleepless Night on Sequoia Street.
- Cartwright Curse: Lampshaded when Wolverine is tied up next to wannabe-Sabertooth villain Cyber:Cyber: Did you know you recite the names of your dead girlfriends when you're unconscious?
Wolverine: You should know, you killed one of 'em!
Cyber: Ahhh, who hasn't? - Censor Shadow: In a Story Arc showing the origin of Wolverine (running away from Project X), he's nude the entire time, but for shadows. The one time the artist couldn't justify any shadows, he was suddenly in a pair of tighty-whitey briefs.
- Combat Compliment: In issue #53, Silver Sable and Black Widow clash over custody of a French criminal named Yves Chevrier. Black Widow has been hired by several agencies to capture Chevier for gun-running, fraud, drug dealing, and grand larceny. Silver Sable is after Chevrier for aiding a Nazi criminal named Heinrich Edelhardt who later killed Silver's agents when they tried to apprehend him. The two end up in a brief scuffle in which they compliment each other's moves before turning their attention back to Chevrier who is trying to escape.
- Cross Through: Issues #169-172 featured side-stories from the "Hands of the Mandarin" arc running at the time in Iron Man and two adjacent titles (War Machine and Force Works).
- A Day in the Limelight: Some stories would focus on supporting characters from other series, obscure characters and sometimes even villains.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: In issue 54 regarding the werewolf transformation, the moon is written as a metaphor for a lover, the time leading up to the transformation as sex, and the actual change as orgasm.
- Evasive Fight-Thread Episode: The story with the title "Spider-Man vs. Wolverine" showed an inconclusive fight between them (Spider-Man attacked a person whom he thought was impersonating Wolverine and stopped after a few traded blows once Wolvie proved he was the real deal).
- Fearless Fool: An alien parasite who feeds on fear tried taking over various heroes, only to be driven out each time by them overcoming their fears. In desperation, the starving parasite tried taking over a random human, only to die when he discovered to his horror that this human had no fear, and turned out to be Daredevil.
- Fetal Position Rebirth: In issue 58. The werewolf lies dying, prompting Jack to merge his human and wolf souls together, curing him.
- Horror Host: One of the stories featuring the villain Nightmare had him acting as such.
- Lampshade Hanging: Silver Surfer's ability to hear sounds in space gets the spotlight in the issue 69.Silver Surfer: Is that a sound— here in the vacuum where no sound can carry? It seems impossible!
- Laser Sight: In a story told in issues 39-41, a sniper aims main character Hercules as a cliffhanger in one issue. In the following one, Hercules notices the laser sight in his chest, and dodges it easily. The story takes place circa 2385 AD, and still they make the same mistake.
- Or Was It a Dream?: Spider-Man is woken up by another Spider-Man ("Spider-Mech") who recruits him into the Galactic Alliance of Spider-Men, a sort of neurotic parody of the Captain Britain Corps. When he is thrown back through the portal by a "Doctopoid" and lands back in bed, he naturally assumes it was all a dream, unaware that Spider-Mech's Subspace Spider Signal is still under the bed.
- Our Souls Are Different: In a story set in issues 54-59, it's said that Jack Russell has two souls (one wolf and one human) which he manages to merge together.
- Our Vampires Are Different: In a Thor-centric story, the Thunder God answers the distressed prayers of a colony of Vikings settled on an island off the coast of what will be the New World. He is too late, and they are all vampires. Some attack him on sight, and instantly turn to dust since, in a sense, he is a god and Holy Burns Evil. Their master, Dracula's Atlantean predecessor as Vampire Lord, Varnae, however, is almost invulnerable to him, since the gods of Atlantis that he worshipped are long gone.
- Super-Reflexes: In the first issue, Silver Surfer broke free from energy shackles in less than a nano-second before they could sap away his powers.
- Wolverine Publicity:
- There was hardly an issue in the 90s without Wolverine or Ghost Rider, usually by a way of a Crossover with some other Marvel character. Even between Wolverine's first (issues 1-10) and second (issues 38-47) serials, he guest-starred in Havok's serial, appearing on the covers of issues 29 and 30.
- Averted with The Punisher, who appeared only twice in the comic's 175-issue run. Also averted with Wolverine himself in the second volume; he wasn't even mentioned until appearing in the last chapter of Machine Man's serial in the final issue.
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: In a Christmas issue, the three ghosts end up incorrectly trying to convert the Fantastic Four's mailman, Willie Lumpkin. An address screw-up caused them to think they were targeting J. Jonah Jameson.
