{"id":36288,"date":"2026-08-22T08:00:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T08:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=36288"},"modified":"2026-08-21T18:21:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T18:21:51","slug":"marvel-team-up-marvel-masterworks-volume-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/08\/22\/marvel-team-up-marvel-masterworks-volume-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Team-Up Marvel Masterworks volume 8"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Chris Claremont<\/strong>, Steven Grant<\/strong>, Bill Mantlo<\/strong>, Mark Gruenwald<\/strong>, Bill Kunkel<\/strong>, Allyn Brodsky<\/strong>, Sal Buscema<\/strong>, Mike Vosburg<\/strong>, Herb Trimpe<\/strong>, Don Perlin<\/strong>, Bob McLeod<\/strong>, Gene Colan<\/strong>, Michael Netzer<\/strong>, Rich Buckler<\/strong>, Alan Kupperberg<\/strong>, Frank Giacoia<\/strong>, Gene Day<\/strong>, Steve Leialoha<\/strong>, Frank Springer<\/strong>, Eduardo Barreto<\/strong>, Josef Rubinstein<\/strong>, Jack Abel<\/strong>, Bruce<\/strong> Patterson<\/strong>, Bill Sienkiewicz<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1302955571 (HB), 978-1-3025-2987-1 (Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times<\/em><\/p>\n

The concept of team-ups – an established star pairing or battling (usually both) with new or less well-selling company characters – has been with us since the earliest days of comics, but making those brief encounters\/temporary alliances a key selling point really took hold with DC\u2019s The Brave and the Bold<\/strong> in the 1960s before being taken up and industrialisedby their biggest competitor.<\/p>\n

Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> was the second regular Spider-Man<\/strong> title, launched as 1971 ended. A big hit, it confirmed that the time had finally come for Arachnid expansion, offering a venue for uncomplicated action romps to supplement the character\u2019s – and company\u2019s – complex subplot fare in regular books. However, even in an infinite Marvel Multiverse, certain stars shone more brightly than others and some turned up in team-ups more often than others…<\/p>\n

This compelling compilation gathers the contents of Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #78, 80-90, MTU Annual <\/strong>#2 and material from Marvel Treasury Edition<\/strong> #25, collectively covering February 1979 through February 1980. It opens with an overview Introduction<\/em> from editorial ace Ralph Macchio before plunging into a peerless parade of peril action\/adventure…
\n\"\"
\nIn Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #78, courtesy of Bill Kunkel, Don Perlin & Frank Giacoia, \u2018Claws!\u2019 <\/em>sees the webslinger and Wonder Man<\/strong> unite to fight hyper-evolving, yet increasingly bestial man-made monster The Griffin<\/em>, a done-in-one palate-cleansing fight fest, after which an embarrassment of chronological proportions occurs…<\/p>\n

When the series was originally published, MTU<\/strong> #79 featured a rather tasty pairing of the Amazing Arachnid with barbarian hot property Red Sonja<\/strong> in a brutal, time-bending battle with long-dead Hyborian sorcerer Kulan Gath<\/em>. Unfortunately, the key word here is \u201cproperty\u201d and as Marvel did not at this publishing moment have rights to the \u201cShe-Devil with a Sword\u201d that epic encounter has been embargoed for this book. Thus we rejoin the fun with #80 in itself a continuation of an earlier tag-team-up (seen in the last volume). Then & there Dr. Strange<\/strong>, Clea<\/em>, Ms. Marvel<\/strong>\/Carol Danvers<\/em> & Spidey fully believed they had foiled a mage-murdering plot by Christian extremist Silver Dagger<\/em> and Marie Laveau, Witch Queen of New Orleans<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Here & now in MTU<\/strong> #80, however, Chris Claremont, Mike Vosburg & Gene Day depict \u2018A Sorcerer Possessed!\u2019<\/em> as Strange finally succumbs to Laveau\u2019s subtle, long-festering enchantment and turns into a werewolf in advance of the entire dimension falling prey to her demonic masters. With the wallcrawler, Clea and Wong<\/em> unable to counter the encroaching cataclysm, salvation comes from a most unlikely source as Satana, Daughter of the Devil<\/em> invites herself to the party for \u2018Last Rites\u2019<\/em> (inked by Steve Leialoha), spearheading a counterattack she does not expect or intend to survive…
\n\"\"
\nBack in Marvel Team-Up<\/strong> #57 Claremont & Sal Buscema laid groundwork for a re-definition of superspy The Black Widow<\/strong>. It was the opening shot of an extended thriller embroiling Spider-Man in a devious and deadly espionage plot and resulted in the wallcrawler being saved from a lethal ambush by Natasha Romanoff<\/em>. In the aftermath, he took reluctant possession of a strange statuette for her. In #82 (cover-dated June 1979) the scheme comes to fruition as Claremont, Sal B & Leialoha craft a 4-part, multi-operative conclusion that begins with Spidey saving Natasha from mere street thugs, but all is not as it seems…<\/p>\n

\u2018No Way to Treat a Lady\u2019 <\/em>reveals that the lethal superspy has escaped capture and torture by retreating into a timid, ineffectual cover personality, so the hero must keep \u201cschoolteacher Nancy Rushman<\/em>\u201d alive until he learns how and why. That task gets even harder after S.H.E.I.L.D.\u2019s Strike Force<\/em> – led by hot-headed wildcard La Contessa Valentina Allegra de la Fontaine<\/em> – come mercilessly gunning for her…<\/p>\n

The original (old\/white) Nick Fury<\/strong> joins the fray in \u2018Slaughter on 10th<\/sup> Avenue!\u2019<\/em>, \u201cshooting\u201d Spider-Man and capturing Nancy before discovering – after the webspinner steals her back – that his entire peacekeeping espionage organisation has been taken over by hidden death-dealing anarchist mastermind Viper<\/em>. Now her deadly hench-thugs Silver Samurai<\/em> and Boomerang <\/em>are loose and seeking to \u201cclean house\u201d…<\/p>\n

In #84 \u2018Catch a Falling Hero\u2019 <\/em>reveals the purpose of that long-forgotten statuette, as Viper consequently targets Washington DC and President Jimmy Carter<\/em>. Meanwhile Spider-Man and slowly recovering Nancy infiltrate the fatally-compromised flying fortress Helicarrier even as Fury calls in a clean pair of hands – belonging to occasional British asset Shang Chi<\/strong>, Master of Kung Fu<\/strong> – for a deliberately distracting frontal assault that culminates in all-out war above the Capitol and the closest of close shave conclusions for all concerned in concluding chapter \u2018The Woman Who Never Was!\u2019<\/em>
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\nAt this juncture the 31st<\/sup> century Guardians of the Galaxy<\/strong> were guests of The Avengers<\/strong> and resident in (or rather far above New York). However, before the time-lost titans finally departed for their own era again they injudiciously interacted with a few 20th<\/sup> century stars. MTU<\/strong> #86 (October 1979) reveals how undercover Guardians Starhawk<\/em>, Nikki<\/em> & Martinex<\/em> stumbled over Spider-Man whilst attempting to eradicate history-threatening evidence of their existence. The main threat as delineated by Claremont & Bob McLeod comes from nefarious armaments company Deterrence Research Corporation<\/em> who want to steal their colossal space station\/timeship Drydock<\/em>. The toughest \u00a0part of the mission is saving ambitious reporter \u201cRap Reynolds<\/em>\u201d from DRC\u2019s super-flunkies Hammer and Anvil whilst preventing him from exposing the mission of the future heroes and publishing the \u2018Story of the Year!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Steven Grant, Gene Colan & Frank Springer then expose the webspinner and Black Panther <\/strong>to shady business practice in conglomerate Roxxon Oil<\/em>\u2019s latest scheme to acquire Wakanda\u2019s vibranium. It begins by framing T\u2019Challa for illegally renditioning a shady businessman on US soil and then sending in superpowered mercenary Hellrazor<\/em> to save the poor entrepreneur and American prestige. Since Spider-Man has been an outraged observer from the start, his immediate intervention blunts \u2018The Razor\u2019s Edge!\u2019<\/em> but greed never rests and more plans are afoot for another day…<\/p>\n

Invisible \u201cGirl\u201d<\/strong> Susan Richards<\/em> appears next, as MTU<\/strong> #88 – by Claremont, Sal Buscema & Eduardo Barreto – depicts a fighting mad mother on a rampage in \u2018A Child is Waiting\u2019<\/em>. When toddler Franklin Richards<\/em> is kidnapped, parvenue plunderers \u201cthe Hole in the Wall gang<\/em>\u201d think they can get rich by safely having superheroes steal from established rivals like Boss Morgan of Harlem<\/em> and The Maggia<\/em>. Sadly, with Spider-Man and NYPD detective Jean DeWolff<\/em> secretly aiding Sue, they haven\u2019t got a chance in hell…
\n\"\"
\nMutant madness erupts in Marvel Team-Up <\/strong>#89 as Claremont, Michael Nasser\/Netzer, Rich Buckler & Josef Rubinstein choreograph action extravaganza \u2018Shoot-Out over Center Ring!\u2019<\/em> as the webspinner and former circus acrobat Kurt Wagner<\/em>\/Nightcrawler<\/strong> reunite and combine against anarchic showman-hitman Arcade<\/em> and obsessed assassin Cutthroat<\/em> in a vengeance-fuelled Big Top thriller before #90 unites brainy acrobatic heroes Spider-Man and The Beast<\/strong> in frantic battle against merciless mercenary Killer Shrike<\/em> and disembodied maniac Modular Man<\/em>. When their raid of a science fair and purloining of a device that might eradicate the entire city with microwaves triggers countdown thriller \u00a0\u2018Death on the Air\u2019<\/em> (Grant, Vosburg & McLeod) our embattled champions are barely able to prevent catastrophe… and only at tragic cost…<\/p>\n

The regular monthly pairings pause here but a brace of extra-sized bouts remain to enjoy, beginning with Marvel Team-Up Annual<\/strong> #2, wherein Claremont, Sal Buscema, Alan Kupperburg & Jack Abel pair Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk<\/strong> against Soviet super-agents Crimson Dynamo<\/em>, Darkstar<\/em> & Vanguard<\/em> in Cold Wat chiller \u2018Murder in Cathedral Canyon!\u2019<\/em> The Russians want US scientist Daniel Ironwood<\/em> to build an antimatter bomb and think kidnapping his daughter Cissy is the best way to achieve their aims, Sadly, she\u2019s Peter Parker<\/em>\u2019s current girlfriend…<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, fugitive Bruce Banner<\/em> is seized\/recruited by KGB Colonel Vahzin<\/em>. He needs an exotic ordnance expert to stop rogue element Nikolai Kutzov<\/em> and his super-powered dupes blowing up the world, and it\u2019s extremely fortuitous that his ally can become the strongest being on Earth. All the elements are in play at a distant beauty spot when the wallcrawler meets the Jade Juggernaut, but although they do a save the world, the cost is far too high…<\/p>\n

Less dramatic but just as bombastic, the fun concludes with Marvel Treasury Edition<\/strong> #25 (1980) and opportunistic tie-in \u2018Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk at the 1980 Winter Olympics\u2019<\/em>: an utterly bonkers banding together of Marvel\u2019s then top TV sensations to stop subterranean tyrants The Mole Man<\/em> and Kala, Queen of the Netherworld<\/em>, hosts of moloids<\/em>, a band of fiery Lava Men<\/em> and mutant troublemakers \u2018The Outcasts\u2019<\/em> sabotaging the games by kidnapping athletes…
\n\"\"
\nThe entire package comes courtesy of scripters Bill Mantlo, Steven Grant & Mark Gruenwald with Herb Trimpe & Bruce Patterson scoring big on interior art and Al Milgrom, Jack Abel, Bill Sienkiewicz & Patterson handling the covers.<\/p>\n

The Bonus material this time includes the gallery of covers by Milgrom, Buckler, Leialoha, McLeod, Sienkiewicz, Abel & Patterson, as well plentiful original art pages by Vosburg, Leialoha,, Buscema, Milgrom; the covers for Marvel Treasury Edition<\/strong> # 22 (1979, by Bob Budiansky & Je Sinnott); the covers from Marvel Tales<\/strong> #242 & 244 by Marshall Rogers August and October 1990.<\/p>\n

These tales are generally superb examples of Marvel\u2019s Second Wave; Bronze Age yarns fans will find little to complain about. Although not perhaps a book for casual or more maturely-oriented readers there\u2019s lots of fun on hand and young readers – or Marvel Cinema-goers – will have a blast, so why not consider this tome for your \u201cMust-Have\u201d library?
\n\u00a9 2025 MARVEL.<\/p>\n

Today in 1880, komics genius and Krazy Kat<\/strong> Kreator George Herriman<\/strong> was born, followed by comics pioneer and packager Jerry Iger<\/strong> in 1903; African-American political cartoonist Chester Commodore<\/strong> in 1914; comic book star artist Bob Brown<\/strong> (Tomahawk<\/strong>, Batman<\/strong>, Space Ranger<\/strong>, Daredevil<\/strong>, Superboy<\/strong>, Avengers<\/strong>, Challengers of the Unknown<\/strong>) in 1915 and Silver\/Bronze Age letterer Shelly Leferman<\/strong> in 1922. Post-war comics creators born today include Britain\u2019s unique Kevin O\u2019Neill<\/strong> (Ro-Busters<\/strong>, ABC Warriors<\/strong>, Captain Klep<\/strong>, Nemesis the Warlock<\/strong>, Metalzoic<\/strong>, Marshal Law<\/strong>, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen<\/strong>) in 1953; writer Daniel G. Chichester<\/strong> (Daredevil<\/strong>, Batman<\/strong>, Dr. Zero<\/strong>, Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D<\/strong>, Terror Inc.<\/strong>) in 1964; artist animator Duncan Rouleau<\/strong> (Venom<\/strong>, X-Factor<\/strong>, Metal Men<\/strong>, Ben 10<\/strong>, The Nightmarist<\/strong>) in 1965 and Spanish illustrator Alberto Jimenez Albuquerque<\/strong> (Les Fugitifs de l\u2019Ombre<\/em>, Inca<\/em>, Skull Kickers<\/strong>, Letter 44<\/strong>, Mystery Girl<\/strong>, Generation X<\/strong>) in 1982.<\/p>\n

This day in 2011 German cartoonist Bernhard-Viktor Christoph-Carl von B\u00fclow<\/strong> (Wum<\/em><\/strong>, Odipussi<\/em><\/strong>, Pappa Ante Portas<\/em>) died.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Chris Claremont, Steven Grant, Bill Mantlo, Mark Gruenwald, Bill Kunkel, Allyn Brodsky, Sal Buscema, Mike Vosburg, Herb Trimpe, Don Perlin, Bob McLeod, Gene Colan, Michael Netzer, Rich Buckler, Alan Kupperberg, Frank Giacoia, Gene Day, Steve Leialoha, Frank Springer, Eduardo Barreto, Josef Rubinstein, Jack Abel, Bruce Patterson, Bill Sienkiewicz & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1302955571 (HB), … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Marvel Team-Up Marvel Masterworks volume 8”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[165,237,158,54,182,98,146,72,79,266,174,219,249,39,354,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-black-panther","category-black-widow","category-dr-strange","category-fantastic-four","category-guardians-of-the-galaxy-graphic-novels","category-hulk","category-marvel-horror","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes","category-marvel-team-up","category-nick-fury","category-s-h-i-e-l-d","category-shang-chi","category-spider-man","category-wonder-man","category-x-men"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-9ri","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288","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=36288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36296,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288\/revisions\/36296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}