{"id":14301,"date":"2015-11-26T08:00:07","date_gmt":"2015-11-26T08:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=14301"},"modified":"2015-11-25T17:06:54","modified_gmt":"2015-11-25T17:06:54","slug":"essential-marvel-team-up-volume-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2015\/11\/26\/essential-marvel-team-up-volume-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Gerry Conway<\/strong>, Bill Mantlo<\/strong>, Chris Claremont<\/strong>, Bill Kunkel<\/strong>, Gary Friedrich<\/strong>, Sal<\/strong> Buscema<\/strong>, John Byrne<\/strong>, Dave Wenzel<\/strong>, Kerry Gammill<\/strong> & various (Marvel)
\nISBN: 978-0-7851-3068-0<\/p>\n

The concept of team-up books – an established A-lister joining or battling (frequently both) less well-selling company co-stars – was not new when Marvel decided to award their most popular hero the lion’s share of a new title, but they wisely left their options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in the Human Torch<\/em>. In those halcyon simpler times editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure and since super-heroes were actually in a decline at that time, they may well have been right.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless when it launched in March 1972, Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> was the second official Spider-Man<\/strong> title (an abortive companion title Spectacular Spider-Man<\/strong> was created for the more respectable – and expensive – magazine market in 1968 but folded after two issues) and it immediately began bucking the downward trend for costumed crusaders.<\/p>\n

Encompassing December 1976 to November 1978, this third mammoth monochrome Essential edition gathers the most consistently excellent period of the cathartic collaborations from Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #52-73, 75 and includes the first Annual<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The thrills, spills and chills commence with ‘Danger: Demon on a Rampage!’<\/em>: a rather rushed pairing of Spidey and Captain America<\/em> from Gerry Conway, Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito which saw the heroes unite to take down Gallic mercenary Batroc<\/em> and an enraged monster that had slipped out of an adjacent dimension.<\/p>\n

This is followed by an epic length adventure from Marvel Team-Up Annual<\/strong> #1 by Bill Mantlo, Buscema & Esposito (from a plot by Mantlo, Chris Claremont & Bonnie Wilford). ‘The Lords of Light and Darkness!’<\/em> featured Spider-Man and the then-newly minted and revived X-Men, Banshee<\/em>, Wolverine<\/em>, Nightcrawler<\/em>, Storm<\/em>, Colossus<\/em>, Phoenix<\/em> and Cyclops<\/em> helping Charles Xavier<\/em> combat a pantheon of scientists mutated in an atomic accident and elevated to the ranks of gods.<\/p>\n

Like most deities, the puissant ones believed they knew what was best for humanity\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Mantlo then teamed with John Byrne & Frank Giacoia to bring closure to a tale begun – and left hanging – in Marvel Premiere<\/strong> #31.<\/p>\n

MTU<\/strong> #53 revealed a ‘Nightmare in New Mexico!’<\/em> as The Hulk<\/em> met troubled and AWOL gene-splicing experiment Woodgod<\/em> whilst the tragic construct fled from corrupt Army Colonel Del Tremens<\/em>. By the time the Wallcrawler dropped in, the monstrous fugitives had joined forces leaving him a ‘Spider in the Middle!’<\/em> (with Esposito inks).<\/p>\n

As Tremens tried to suppress the calamitous crisis and his own indiscretions by killing everybody, the final scene saw the Web-spinner trapped in a rocket and blasted into space\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #55 found our ‘Spider, Spider on the Moon!’<\/em> (Mantlo, Byrne & Dave Hunt) as cosmic Avenger Adam Warlock<\/em> intercepted the ship and joined the Web-spinner and mysterious alien The Gardner<\/em> in battling the Stranger<\/em> for possession of the Golden Gladiator’s life-sustaining Soul Gem\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Back on Earth but still a trouble-magnet, in #56 Spider-Man – assisted by Daredevil<\/em> -faced ‘Double Danger at the Daily Bugle!’<\/em> (Mantlo, Sal B & Hunt) after Electro<\/em> and Blizzard<\/em> took the entire Newsroom hostage, after which Claremont came aboard as full scripter, starting a complex extended thriller embroiling the Wallcrawler in a deadly espionage plot which began ‘When Slays the Silver Samurai!’<\/em> (art by Sal Buscema & Hunt).<\/p>\n

After being saved from a lethal ambush by the Black Widow<\/em>, Spidey takes possession of a strange statuette but is diverted aiding Ghost Rider<\/em> against The Trapster<\/em> in ‘Panic on Pier One!’<\/em> (Pablo Marcos inks) before he can investigate further. Another distraction comes when MTU<\/strong> #59 declares ‘Some Say Spidey Will Die by Fire\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 Some Say by Ice!’<\/em> (Claremont, Byrne & Hunt) as veteran Avenger Yellowjacket<\/em> is apparently murdered by rampaging maniac Equinox, the Thermo-Dynamic Man<\/em> and the Amazing Arachnid is hard-pressed to stop the traumatised Wasp<\/em> exacting bloody vengeance in ‘A Matter of Love\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 and Death!’<\/em><\/p>\n

The secret of the statuette is revealed in #61 as the Human Torch<\/em> joins his arachnid frenemy in battle against Super-Skrull<\/em> and learns ‘Not All Thy Powers Can Save Thee!’<\/em>, before the furious clash escalates to include Ms Marvel<\/em> in ‘All This and the QE2’<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Despite the very best efforts of Claremont & Byrne their Kung Fu fantasy Iron Fist<\/strong> never achieved the kind of traction of their collaboration on the X-Men, and the living weapon lost his circulation battle with issue #15 of his own title. The series ended in spectacular fashion, but the cancellation was clearly unplanned, as two major subplots went unresolved: private detective Misty Knight<\/em> had disappeared on an undercover assignment to investigate European gang-boss John Bushmaster<\/em> and Danny was suffering repeated attacks on his chi by the mysterious Steel Serpent<\/em>\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Frustrated fans didn’t have to wait long for a resolution though: Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> was becoming the creative team’s personal clearing house for unresolved plot-lines. Issues MTU<\/strong> #63 and 64 (November & December 1977) exposed the secret of the sinister K’un Lun exile on the ‘Night of the Dragon’<\/em> before Rand and Spidey – with the assistance of Daughters of the Dragon<\/em> Misty Knight and Colleen Wing<\/em> – ended the threat in blistering martial arts manner in ‘If Death Be My Destiny!’ <\/em><\/p>\n

After a short and sweet flurry of original adventures in his own UK title, Captain Britain<\/strong> eventually succumbed to the English version of funnybook limbo – his title subsumed by a more successful one with CB reduced to reprints. Soon after, he pyrrhically debuted across the water in ‘Introducing Captain Britain’<\/em> by originating scripter Claremont in Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #65, illustrated by Byrne & Hunt.<\/p>\n

The story portrayed Brian Braddock<\/em> on student transfer to Manhattan as the unsuspecting house-guest of Peter Parker<\/em>. Before long the heroes had met, fought and then teamed-up to defeat the flamboyant hit-man games-obsessed Arcade<\/em> with the transatlantic tale concluding in #66 as the abducted antagonists systematically dismantled the maniac’s ‘Murderworld’<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The mystery of a long-vanished feline were-woman warrior was resolved in ‘Tigra, Tigra, Burning Bright!’<\/em> as the Webslinger was targeted by Kraven the Hunter<\/em>, using the Feral Fury as his enslaved attack beast until Spider-Man broke her conditioning, after which Claremont, Byrne & Bob Wiacek explored ‘The Measure of a Man!’<\/em> in #68 as the Arachnid philanthropically returned the captive Man-Thing<\/em> to his swamp habitat and encountered horrific demon D’Spayre<\/em> torturing benevolent enchanters Dakimh<\/em> and Jennifer Kale<\/em>. It took every ounce of courage from both man and monster to defeat the dark lord\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

A clash with Egyptian-themed thieves drew Spidey into the years-long duel between cosmic powered X-Man Havoc<\/em> and his nemesis the Living Monolith<\/em> in ‘Night of the Living God!’ <\/em>(inked by Ricardo Villamonte), but when the battle turns against them it needs the might of Thor<\/em> to stop the ravening astral menace in ‘Whom Gods Destroy!’<\/em> by Claremont, Byrne & Tony DeZu\u00c3\u00b1iga\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This epic clash signalled an end to the good times as MTU <\/strong>downshifted to short filler tales which began with #71 and ‘Deathgarden’<\/em> by Bill Kunkel, Dave Wenzel & Dan Green as Spider-Man and the Falcon<\/em> rushed to secure an antidote from the perfidious Plantman<\/em> for a poison killing Captain America whilst ‘Crack of the Whip!’<\/em> (Mantlo & Jim Mooney) found the Web-spinner and Iron Man<\/em> battling Maggia stooges Whiplash<\/em> and The Wraith<\/em>, and in #73 Daredevil helped still ‘A Fluttering of Wings Most Foul!’<\/em> (Gary Friedrich, Kerry Gammill & Don Perlin) when the Owl<\/em> set a trap for his most despised foes\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

Due to contractual difficulties, Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #74 – which featured a bizarre and hilarious pairing with TV’s Not-Ready-For-Primer-Time Players<\/em> and Saturday Night Live<\/strong>\u00e2\u201e\u00a2 – has been omitted, but this collection of top-rate comics entertainment still end on a stellar high as Claremont, Ralph Macchio, Byrne & Al Gordon unite in tribute to the New York Fire Department with #75’s ‘The Smoke of That Great Burning!’<\/em> wherein Spider-Man and Luke Cage<\/em> are caught up in a robbery and hostage crisis which soon turns into a major conflagration\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6<\/p>\n

This epic tome is padded out with an art-lover’s dream: a run of Marvel Tales<\/strong> covers (#193-199, 201-207, 235-236, 255, 262, 263) by the likes of Dave Cockrum, Todd McFarlane, Sam Kieth and others, plus the cover of Giant-Size Spider-Man<\/strong> #1, and it also includes info pages from the Marvel Universe Handbook<\/strong> on Black Widow<\/em>, Captain<\/em> Britain<\/em>, Havok<\/em>, Living Monolith<\/em>, Silver Samurai<\/em> and The Stranger<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These stories here are of variable quality – ranging from the barely acceptable to utterly superb – but all have an honest drive to entertain and most fans of the genre would find little to complain about.<\/p>\n

Although not really a book for the casual or more maturely-oriented enthusiast, there’s tons of great Fights ‘n’ Tights action here and younger readers will have a blast, so why not consider this tome for your \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Must-Have\u00e2\u20ac\u009d library\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6
\n\u00c2\u00a9 1976, 1977, 1978, 2009 Marvel Characters, Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Gerry Conway, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont, Bill Kunkel, Gary Friedrich, Sal Buscema, John Byrne, Dave Wenzel, Kerry Gammill & various (Marvel) ISBN: 978-0-7851-3068-0 The concept of team-up books – an established A-lister joining or battling (frequently both) less well-selling company co-stars – was not new when Marvel decided to award their most popular hero … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Essential Marvel Team-Up volume 3”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[79,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marvel-superheroes","category-spider-man"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-3IF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14301\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}