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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 8, 2020 1:35:42 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #6"...As Those Who Will Not See!"Cover Date: Jan, 1973 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Thing Villain/s: The Puppet Master and The Mad Thinker Guest Stars: Alicia Masters, Jacob Reiss, & Marcia Reiss-Masters (the last two in flashback form only) Official Plot:Following his battle against the Puppet Master within the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building, Spider-Man is startled by the sudden arrival of the Thing who has returned home with his girlfriend Alicia Masters. The Thing demands to know why Spider-Man is in his headquarters and to explain the damage caused. The wall-crawler explains his battle against the Puppet Master with the Vision. Wanting to have a talk with the Puppet Master, the Thing picks up his unconscious body and shakes him awake. Hearing the voice of her stepfather, Alicia tries to rush to his side but is stopped by Spider-Man. However, when Alicia explains who the Puppet Master is to her, explanations are needed. The Thing then drags the Puppet Master into another room to interrogate him. He then returns to tell them that their foe has offered to take them back to his old hideout that he shared with the Mad Thinker. There, the Puppet Master claims, exists a cure for Alicia's blindness. Deciding to look into this, Spider-Man, the Thing, Alicia and the Puppet Master head to this old hideout in the Fantasti-Car. Along the way, Spider-Man and Alicia ask why the Puppet Master suddenly has a change of heart. He explains that he feels guilty for the death of Alicia's biological father, Jacob Reiss. He explains how they were experimenting with the radioactive clay he would later use as a criminal in order to discover the "building blocks of life". Jealous of Jacob's marriage and daughter, the man who was once known as Phillip Masters began plotting against his partner. One night he tricked Jacob into coming to the lab where Phillip struck Jacob. The fight caused an unstable reaction in the radioactive clay and it blew up, destroying the facility and killing Jacob. Surviving unscathed, Phillip emerged from the rubble and see that Alicia and her mother had also come along and were caught in the blast. Checking on Alicia he discovered that she was stricken blind and vowed to do whatever it took to restore her lost sight. He concludes by telling them that his guilt led him to marry Alicia's mother and try and find a cure. However, when Alicia's mother later died, it pushed him further over the edge, leading to his becoming the Puppet Master. With his story explained, Phillip breaks down into tears, telling them that he is a weak man. When they arrive on the island where the Mad Thinker's lab is located, a defense device springs out of the ground and stuns the Thing and Spider-Man. This allows the Puppet Master the chance to escape through a ground hatch. When the two heroes come to, they break through the ground and gain access to the facility. With no sign of the Puppet Master, the pair split up to find him. Meanwhile, the Puppet Master has located that his sometime ally, the Mad Thinker, is currently hiding out in the facility. He explains that he had no choice but to lure the two heroes to their secret hideout. Although the Mad Thinker is unimpressed, the evil genius believes he can easily destroy these two menaces. He activates a series of traps to try and kill their foes. Spider-Man finds himself falling down a deep shaft with walls that are greased enough to prevent him from clinging to them. While the Thing finds himself trapped in an airtight room to suffocate. Seeing that Alicia is still waiting in the Fantasti-Car, the Mad Thinker sends out one of his androids to recover her. Meanwhile, Spider-Man narrowly avoids a spiky death by slowing his descent by rebounding off the walls and slowing him down enough to cling onto the bottom portion of the shaft, that isn't oiled before he can hit the spikes. Outside, the android approaches Alicia who begins screaming in fear. Demanding that the Mad Thinker stop tormenting his step-daughter, the Puppet Master is easily knocked aside. When he tries to knock out the Thinker with a wrench, Spider-Man arrives and gives him the extra boost he needs by forcing down the wrench harder thanks to a web-ball. Outside, the Thing destroys the android, Spider-Man emerges from the hidden facility and learns how the Thing survived his death trap. As they are comparing notes, the facility suddenly explodes, seemingly killing the Puppet Master and the Mad Thinker. Alicia mourns the loss of her stepfather, but tells the two men that they could never understand the length of the Puppet Master's insanity. Brodie's View:We get the second half of this little connected Puppet Master story here, and actually get the origin story for everyone's favorite bald headed geek with the magic clay. We also get, no offense to The Vision, a more entertaining Team Up for Spider-Man in this issue, and a character that knows The Puppet Master quite well (as he's the substitute father for this character's main squeeze), the Ever Lovin' Blue Eyed Thing, which definitely puts this story over last issue's. Basically, in the aftermath of last issue's story, the Thing (with Alicia Masters) arrives at the Baxter Building to find Spider-Man with PM, who is recovering from The Vision messing him up at the end of last issue's story. This eventually leads to the heroes (and Alicia) escorting old baldie back to a headquarters he shared with The Mad Thinker (who, little do the heroes know, is still very much using that HQ) in the hopes of finding a cure for Alicia's blindness. It's on the trip there that we see The Puppet Master's origin, as it's revealed that he's the one that killed her actual father (or helped cause his death due to his jealousy, as he was in love with Alicia's mother), injured her mother, and caused her blindness in the first place. Basically, the Puppet Master is revealed to be a dickhead that feels bad about being a dickhead sometimes. Of course, the solution would be to just not be a dickhead, but evidently, this is too much for PM to be able to handle, as the first thing he does upon arrival, is use one of the HQ's booby traps to escape from the two heroes. They try to follow him, but end up separated and in deadly traps designed by The Mad Thinker, who seems to be best buds with The Puppet Master until the robot that the Thinker sends after Alicia causes her to scream. It's there that the Puppet Master shows some concern, which gets him backhanded like the bitch he is by The Thinker, which causes PM to betray his supposed ally. Well, he attempts to, but he's a puss butt, and must be helped by Spider-Man (who managed to escape his trap) to knock The Thinker out and save the day....well, save the heroes at least. The heroes (and Alicia) end up escaping, but The Puppet Master blows up the base, making it seem like the two villains are dead (one could only hope in the case of The Puppet Master's lame ass), but as we all know, you can't keep a good villain, or even a lame villain in the case of Puppet Master, down....unless your name is Scourge. All in all, this was a pretty cool issue, as it was fun seeing Spider-Man and The Thing fighting their way out of death traps, and both characters are great at bringing the banter. I just wish we wouldn't have had to deal with The Puppet Master for TWO BACK TO BACK ISSUES, but at least that's over for now. He can't hurt us anymore. It's on to bigger and better things for the next issue, which will have Spider-Man and a certain hammer welding Avenger tackling villains a heck of a lot more powerful than The Puppet Master. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 9, 2020 0:08:00 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #7"A Hitch In Time!"Cover Date: March, 1973 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Ross Andru Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Thor Villain/s: Kryllk the Cruel Guest Stars: Uatu the Watcher, Fandral, Iron Man, & The Scarlet Witch (the last two in cameo form only) Official Plot:Walking through the streets of Manhattan, Peter Parker is lost in thought until he hears the screams of a woman being mugged. With no time to change into Spider-Man, Peter kicks off his shoes and leaps into action. He easily incapacitates the muggers and is surprised to see that the woman involved is trying to flee the scene. When Peter tries to stop her, she tells him that she doesn't want to get involved. Peter is frustrated but allows the woman to leave. This entire exchange is observed by Thor who tries to encourage the youth not to get too upset. Peter is glib with the thunder god, testing his patience. Suddenly, the sky begins to change, inverting to a negative color. Quick thinking, Thor begins swinging Mjolnir creating a protective vortex around the pair. When the vortex dissipates, Thor and Peter are the only two unaffected in a now inverted world. While Thor takes in the scene and questions what mystical force was responsible, Peter changes into Spider-Man. Just as Spider-Man finishes changing into costume, they spot a group of strange armored soldiers walking about the city. Thor finds them familiar and identifies them as foes, leading Spider-Man into battle. As they battle the warriors, Thor recognizes their leader as the troll known as Kryllk. As the two heroes battle Kryllk's army, the troll explains that what he has done to Earth is merely the staging grounds for an attack on Asgard. The heroes are restrained, and Kryllk shows off his means of accomplishing this goal, the Dark Crystal. When Thor and Spider-Man tries to strike back, Kryllk and his minions suddenly teleport away. Spider-Man asks Thor who their foe is, and the thunder god explains that Kryllk attempted to conquer Asgard centuries ago, only to be stopped by his father Odin. Their next move takes them to Avenger's Mansion, where the team is also frozen like everyone else in the city. They quickly use the Avenger's computers to track the energies of the Dark Crystal to Asgard. Since he has been exiled from his home, Thor sends Spider-Man to stop the crystal, while he goes to Kryllk's hideout. Traveling through a vortex created by Thor, Spider-Man quickly arrives in Asgard. He discovers that it is in the same situation as Earth. Meanwhile, Thor arrives on a planetoid near Jupiter where Kryllk has set up operations. Feeling vibrations emanating from beneath his feet, Thor uses Mjolnir to smash down below. There he finds Kryllk and his army standing guard before the Dark Crystal. The thunder god fights through the soldiers, but when Thor tries to attack Kryllk himself, but the villain is protected by the aura of the crystal. Kryllk explains that he found the Dark Crystal deep below Asgard and that it told him the secrets of the universe, secrets that Kryllk intended to use against his hated enemy Odin. While back on Asgard, Spider-Man has also found a Dark Crystal, as well as more of Kryllk's minions and Kryllk himself. Spider-Man begins fighting his the soldiers, and takes note that Kryllk is not even paying attention to him, as though he has having a conversation with someone. When Spider-Man tries to strike Kryllk his fist passes right through his foe. Although it has no apparent effect on Kryllk in Asgard, his physical form near Jupiter suddenly screams in pain and vanishes. Suddenly, the Watcher appears with Spider-Man, and explains that the Dark Crystal belonged to him and that Kryllk had stolen it to tamper with the time continuum in an attempt to destroy Asgard. With the threat now over, the Watcher teleports Spider-Man and Thor back to Earth. Returning to his observatory on the moon, the Watcher ponders how fate allowed Spider-Man and Thor to combat this threat. Brodie's View:After two issues of having to deal with a dweeby little fart of a villain like The Puppet Master, we now move on to bigger and badder threats in this one. Spidey teams up with The Mighty Thor, and the two must fight an army of trolls to save not only Earth, but Asgard (and one can only assume the other realms as well). I will say this issue has a lot of kick ass action, as Spider-Man and Thor end up making a pretty good little duo, kicking mucho troll behind. The story starts with Peter Parker defending a woman from two robbers, but the woman runs away afterwards, not wanting to get involved with potentially identifying her attackers to the cops. Peter is kind of pissed about this, and Thor (who was observing from up high) trying to offer words of encouragement doesn't do much to help with Peter's salty mood about the situation. However, before the argument can really get going, things go wonky, as everything becomes a frozen/inverted version of reality, all except for the two heroes, who must then figure out what is happening and how to stop it. We quickly find out that things have been inverted both on Earth and Asgard, and the being responsible for this is a troll named Kyrllk the Cruel, who is using a MacGuffin called....wait for it....The Dark Crystal (lol) to invert Earth as a warm up for he and his troll army taking over Asgard. Needless to say, this starts the fight, as Peter (who has now changed into his Spider-Man outfit, revealing his secret identity to Thor in the process) and Thor have to fight their way out of the troll onslaught, and once out of that mess, they decide to split up to try and stop Kyrllk before he can accomplish his goal. Spidey ends up going to Asgard, and eventually finds the mirror image of The Dark Crystal and Kyrllk there. It's here that I have my only issue with this story, as all it takes to stop Kyrllk is Spider-Man touching his mirror image, which causes the real Kyrllk to fall over on Earth, ending the threat that quickly. The Watcher then shows up to reveal that the Crystal was his all along, and Kyrllk had stolen it from him. The two heroes leave, pondering why they, out of everyone, were the ones that were allowed to be free from the Crystal's power, and, of course, after they're gone, Uatu reveals that this might not have been a coincidence after all. Surprise, surprise....the Watcher broke his oath and interfered in the course of events. No wonder Nick Fury eventually killed his ass. Lol. Anyways, other than the rushed ending, this was a pretty cool issue, with lots of action. Spidey and Thor do make a pretty effective duo, and we'll see them teaming up again before this run is finished. In the next issue, Spider-Man will be teaming with a hero that had just recently started out at that point, and would eventually team with him again, but in a very different (yet similar) form. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 9, 2020 23:27:15 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #8"The Man-Killer Moves at Midnight!"Cover Date: April, 1973 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Cat Villain/s: Man-Killer Guest Stars: Ms. Cartwright, Drake, Watkins, Karl Lubbings, & Mayor Samuels (the last two are in flashback form only, and both die) Official Plot:Patrolling the streets, Spider-Man's spider-sense warns him that someone is nearby. Suddenly, a woman in a yellow cat costume attacks him, but he manages to evade. He is taken off guard by the fact that he is fighting a woman. As soon as he avoids a near-fatal fall, the woman asks the wall-crawler if she had proved herself and if they can talk. This woman, calling herself the Cat, explains to Spider-Man that she needs help in solving the murder of a Chicago politician. The Cat explains that the killer is a woman named Katrina Luisa van Horn, aka the Man-Killer, who has fled to New York City. She recounts how she witnessed the mayor of Chicago getting murdered from afar by someone who threw a sharp projectile at him. Tracking the killer, she was overpowered by the Man-Killer, due to her enhanced strength. Convinced that this threat needs to be dealt with, Spider-Man tells her that they have a job to do and the pair swings off. Meanwhile, elsewhere in the city, the Man-Killer crashes in on a meeting between an all-female militia that paid for her training. Furious that they hired a man as a bodyguard, she attacks and easily trounces him. She begins reflecting back to the events that led to this. During the Winter Olympics, she accepted a challenge from fellow skiers Karl Lubbing to prove that women couldn't compete with a man. The two then hit the hills, and Lubbing immediately tried to cut Katrina off causing them both to ski off a cliff. Lubbing died, and although van Horn survived she was horribly scarred and crippled, ending her career. Finishing her recollection, Man-Killer tells her minions that they are going to strike at the male power base by attacking the Manhattan-Harlem Power Plant. At that moment, Spider-Man and the Cat are traveling across the city, the Cat explains how she got her powers. As they arrive at the power plant, they are too late to stop Man-Killer from launching her attack. They witness as their foe arrives in an A.I.M. built battle vehicle and blasts the power plant wide open. The guards are no match for Man-Killer and her small army, but Spider-Man and the Cat arrive to lend a hand. The female militia is easily rounded up, but the Man-Killer manages to escape. They are told by the plant manager that Man-Killer has stolen a top-secret component that is highly radioactive. Spider-Man rushes off and manages to track down the Man-Killer. The two fight it out when the Cat arrives and explains to the Man-Killer that the device she stole for A.I.M. is going to an organization run by men. At first, Man-Killer refuses to believe it, after which she enters a catatonic state trying to process the idea of working for a group of men. With their foe defeated, Spider-Man and the Cat leave her for the authorities. Brodie's View:This is an issue and a story that....lol....hasn't aged very well, at least in the statement it appears to try to be making. There were kind of a few Anti Feminist/Anti Protester issues that were released by Marvel around this period, and this is a perfect example of that type of story. I will give this story credit for introducing a character that ended up sticking around for quite a long time in the Marvel Universe---the Man-Killer; a former professional skier that was severely injured while trying to shut a male chauvinist up by performing a risky ski run. She ended up getting an exo-skeleton that augmented her strength and power quite a bit, and her hatred over what happened to her grew to include ALL men, hence the name. She is the quintessential example of a male writer's view of a man hating feminist run amok, and the story kind of feeds into the idea that hard core feminists are hateful psychos that are secretly being led and manipulated by men....something that might be somewhat true, but there was a better way of presenting that idea than what Gerry Conway does with the Man-Killer. That all being said, I was ready to bash this issue more, but it is pretty damn entertaining none the less. Perhaps that's because the Man-Killer is written like an Exploitation movie character, and is so over the top to the point of being hilarious. Take, for example, this bit of dialogue she speaks while beating the shit out of the mob type that has been training her underlings. "He's a Man, baby -- and men are DIRT!" One could almost imagine a character from SWITCHBLADE SISTERS (or a movie like that) speaking that line, and it makes the character/story hard to take more seriously than an exploitation movie character. That's not saying it's not entertaining....as I said before, it is, but it's definitely pretty dated as well. All that being said, the other main story of this issue is the character of The Cat; a female modeled superhero that had recently begun her superhero career, and represents the more level headed/"realistic" counter to the near psychotic Man-Killer. The character, Greer Nelson, would be The Cat for a couple of years, before the decision was made to mutate her into being an actual Cat Person, and The Cat would become Tigra, who is still very much a part of the Marvel Universe. In this story, The Cat teams with Spider-Man to try and stop the Man-Killer from stealing and using a highly radioactive device that one can only assume that she would have tried to use to eliminate all men or something of the like. However, she's stopped in her tracks by The Cat, who reveals that her secret benefactors have been AIM all along; an organization run by men, which causes the Man-Killer to totally break down and become catatonic, which ends this story. Once again, very dated, but also quite fun in an over the top kind of way. Anyways, the next issue that will start a multi part story that will involve quite a few different characters (some we've seen in this book before, some that are new to it), and will have our web slinging hero traveling through different time periods. Our first part will have Spidey teaming up with a certain armored Avenger....should be fun. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 11, 2020 0:12:05 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #9"The Tomorrow War!"Cover Date: May, 1973 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Ross Andru Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Iron Man Villain/s: Zarrko: The Tomorrow Man & Kang the Conqueror Guest Stars: Harry Osborne, The Avengers (Captain America, Thor, The Vision, The Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, & Quicksilver), & Edwin Jarvis Official Plot:The people of Manhattan are in for a shock when Avengers Mansion begins to shake violently and briefly blink out of existence. Arriving on the scene is Iron Man, who tries to get into the mansion to see what is causing this situation. Unfortunately, there is some kind of barrier that is preventing him from entering the mansion. At that moment, Peter Parker is watching the situation unfold on television and debates going to help as Spider-Man. His mind is made up when his roommate, Harry Osborn, yells at him for having the television up too loud and slams the door. Soon, Spider-Man arrives at Avengers Mansion. Just as Iron Man is telling Spider-Man that he can handle this on his own when suddenly a portal opens through the barrier. The pair jumps through and they end up falling into another dimension, a strange world where highly advanced ships dogfighting above them. When Iron Man flies up to try and stop the battle from continuing, one of the ships catches the armored Avenger in a tractor beam. The ship then lands and from it emerges Zarrko the Tomorrow Man. He tells the two heroes that they have a mutual enemy that they must stop and invites them aboard his ship. He then flies through the time barrier to the 23rd century. He explains that his era was invaded by their mutual foe due to the fact that his era is defenseless. He flies them over a facility where the Avengers are being held captive. Spider-Man and Iron Man then leap out to the ground below and engage the guards standing outside. They easily get past the guards and defenses until they are attacked by a massive cyborg. During the cyborgs opening salvo, Iron Man's power source is damaged. Spider-Man quickly incapacitates the cyborg while Iron Man reroutes his circuits to restore full power. Meanwhile, outside, Zarrko lands his ship as the time storm that prevented him from entering has dissipated enough to let him enter the fortress himself. With his plan succeeding, Zarrko believes that he is on the cusp of ruling all time. Elsewhere in the facility, Spider-Man and Iron Man have found the room where the Avengers are being held in stasis. They also discover that their foe is none other than Kang the Conqueror. The evil time traveller blasts both heroes with a bolt of energy that knocks them out. However, before Kang can deal with them, Zarrko arrives hoping to take control of Kang's plot to take over the present. Brodie's View:We go from ham fisted (yet, enjoyable in a trashy kind of way) attempts at social statements in the last issue, to all out old school comic book bliss in this one, as we begin the first part of a three part story known as THE TOMORROW WAR. Basically, Spider-Man and this issue's guest, Iron Man, end up involved in a time spanning chess game between two villains. The first one we see, Zarrko: The Tomorrow Man, doesn't show his villain side to the two heroes until the very end of the issue, where he thinks he has what he wants (control of Kang the Conqueror's time citadel). He basically kidnaps the Avengers, and later Spidey and Iron Man to try and achieve this goal, but the two heroes are two frazzled from suddenly being thrown into the 23rd Century to really catch on to that until it is essentially too late. I say essentially, as Spider-Man is able to escape from Zarrko and Kang (as the two villains are pointing weapons at each other) back into the past. Obviously, this will bring the Guest Stars for the next two issues into the fray, as this issue's Guest, of course, Iron Man, gets messed up 2/3rds through the issue, as a robot that is pissed to discover that Iron Man is a human in a robot suit, rather than a real robot, that he messes the armored Avenger up with one blow. And being that this is still the period where Tony Stark's very life depends on his suit's being operational, this pretty much takes him out of the fight for the rest of this storyline. No worries, though, as like I said, there will be more heroes joining the fray over the next two parts of this story. Before that, though, it's Spidey and Shell Head battling Kang's attack ships, while trying to figure out just what the hell is going on. I will say an interesting aspect of this story, at least for those who have only seen Spider-Man and Iron Man through the lens of more modern comics/the MCU movies, is how adversarial the two heroes are in this. Of course, this was just a sign of the times during this period, as, I think an attempt to make Marvel characters different from DC ones, where the heroes were, for the most part, all super buddies. Marvel characters, also for the most part, were kind of dicks to each other, at least until some threat or baddie make them toss aside their dislike of each other long enough to do what must be done, and this issue was a perfect example of that formula, as Spidey and Iron Man are just kind of flat out douches to each other. No father/son relationship here, for sure. However, once Iron Man gets wrecked by the previously mentioned human hating robot, Spidey does show legit concern for him. That all being said, this was quite a cool beginning to this multi part story, as one can tell that Gerry Conway is wanting to make a little epic in the pages of this Team Up book. We'll see the next part of that epic unfold in the next issue, as Spider-Man will seek out a hero is he quite familiar with (especially in the pages of this book....hint, hint) to try and save Iron Man and the rest of the Mighty Avengers in the future. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 12, 2020 22:53:12 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #10"Time Bomb!"Cover Date: June, 1973 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Human Torch Villain/s: Zarrko: The Tomorrow Man & Kang the Conqueror Guest Stars: The Avengers (Captain America, Thor, The Vision, The Scarlet Witch, & Quicksilver), & Edwin Jarvis Official Plot:Iron Man and Spider-Man have been brought to the 23rd Century to help Zarrko the Tomorrow Man to stop Kang the Conqueror from taking over this era. However, Zarrko wants to control history himself, and after Kang has incapacitated the two heroes, Zarrko has made his move. Zarrko explains his plans to conquer history using a series of "Time Bombs" that will regress the technology in the modern age to that of previous centuries, leaving the Earth ripe for conquest. He intends to use this all over the world except for a nuclear weapon depot in the United States which he intends to plunder for his own ends. As Zarrko details his plans, both Spider-Man and Iron Man have revived from the blast they received from Kang. Iron Man cannot help because his armor's power source was destroyed, and so he tells Spider-Man to flee back to the present to stop the Time Bombs and to find help. The web-slinger manages to slip away and find his way to the time portal. Setting it from the date he was taken from, Spider-Man uses it to travel back in time. Meanwhile, Kang and Zarrko fight it out until they are interrupted by an unexpected arrival that Kang finds impossible to believe... ... Meanwhile, Spider-Man finds himself transported to the Baxter Building, setting off the alarms. However, they are shut off by the Human Torch, the only member of the Fantastic Four who is present. With the rest of the team away, Johnny agrees to help Spider-Man track down and shut down the Time Bombs. The pair split up to deactivate the time bombs, the Torch heading to Japan, and Spider-Man going to South America. When the Torch arrives in Japan he witnesses as a bullet train suddenly transforms into an old-fashioned steam engine. Using his ability to see into the infrared spectrum, Johnny tracks the energy signatures given off by the Time Bomb. He finds it in a hut, but the owner doesn't take kindly to trespassers. However, the bullets from his gun melt harmlessly against the Torch's flaming body. The Time Bomb suddenly turns the Japanese man into a samurai warrior, but the Torch easily trounces him. Getting up close to the Time Bomb, he suddenly begins succumbing to the effects of the device, his memories of how to disarm the weapon quickly vanishing from his mind. At that moment, Spider-Man arrives in South America by hitching a ride on he outside of a commercial airliner. When the plane lands it suddenly transforms into a biplane thanks to the effects of the Time Bomb. Searching for the device, he has to fight a bunch of locals who have been transformed into primitive savages. When Spider-Man tries to disarm the device, he finds the same problem the Torch had. Before he can completely succumb to the radiations, the Torch arrives and melts the device. The pair then commandeers a plane and use it to go to Greece. There they find more opposition trying to stop them from disarming the Time Bomb. They easily fight their way through and this time, Johnny only disables the bomb instead of outright incinerating it. With the threat over, they begin to try and figure out a way back to the future to save the Avengers. The Torch recognizes the energy emissions from the devices as being the same as the Negative Zone barrier that once surrounded the Inhuman's domain of Attilan. However, because of his feelings toward his ex-girlfriend Crystal, the Human Torch decides not to accompany Spider-Man and wishes him luck. Brodie's View:Okay, before I go into the second part of the three part "Tomorrow War" storyline, I do want to say that I got ahead of myself in the last review, by saying that Spider-Man escaped from Kang the Conqueror and Zarrko: The Tomorrow Man at the end of the last issue, when it actually happens at the beginning of this one. Serves me right for getting too far ahead of myself in reading. Anyways, Spidey does indeed take the advantage of the two time hopping villains being too distracted with the threat of each other to even notice the Wall Crawler dipping out on them (he tries to get Iron Man to join him, but Tony Stark is basically trapped in his suit, as getting messed up by both the religious zealot robot and Zarrko's ray leaves his armor non operational---other than the basic systems keeping him alive). Spidey heads back to the past, and enlists the help of his sometimes pal, the Human Torch, and the two heroes soon head off to different locations in order to stop time bombs that Zarrko has placed in certain parts of the world. This time bomb is slowly reverting things and people to what they would have been in the past. For example, the Torch ends up going to Japan, and is shot at by a Japanese soldier that quickly is transformed into an ancient samurai, which is pretty awesome. In fact, I like the idea of the two heroes having to race against time itself, while time is altering around them, to stop Zarrko's time bombs. Eventually, they are able to stop the three bombs, and the Torch recognizes that the radiation put off by the bombs is similar to the energies put off by the Negative Zone barrier that surrounds the home of the Inhumans (which should kind of tip one off as to who next issue's Guest Stars are ). However, he decides to pass on going to Attilan with Spider-Man, as he's still broken up about the fact that Crystal (one of the Inhumans), who he had kind of a thing with, is still there, and he doesn't want things to get awkward between them. This was a nice way of explaining why the Torch won't be the Guest Star for two issues in a row, the same way that Iron Man getting taken out last issue guaranteed that he wouldn't be the Guest Star for this issue. That's smart story telling there by Gerry Conway. One more thing to note is that in the future, and shortly after Spider-Man sneaks off to find a way back to the past, the fight between Kang and Zarrko is interrupted when someone enters Kang's citadel that he can't believe he's seeing. We don't see who it is either, but I will say that this mysterious new entity (or is it? ties into this whole story, and next issue we will find out exactly who Kang is freaking out over, as well as get the boffo conclusion to this story. And then, things get hairy for poor Spidey. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 13, 2020 23:07:00 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #11"The Doomsday Gambit!"Cover Date: July, 1973 Writer: Gerry Conway (Plot) Len Wein (Script) Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Inhumans (Black Bolt, Triton, Gorgon, & Karnak) Villain/s: Zarrko: The Tomorrow Man & Kang the Conqueror Guest Stars: Maximus, Omega, The Avengers (Captain America, Thor, The Vision, The Scarlet Witch, & Quicksilver), Edwin Jarvis, & The Human Torch (the last in recap form only) Official Plot:With the last of the Time Bombs sent to the present by Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Spider-Man travels to the hidden land of Attilan to get assistance from the Inhumans to save the Avengers from the 23rd century. Hitching a ride on a helicopter, the wall-crawler arrives just out of the secret city. His arrival doesn't go unnoticed as no sooner has he arrived is he confronted by guards on hovering platforms. Spider-Man is quickly knocked out and brought before the Inhuman Royal Family. When Spider-Man regains consciousness he is ordered by Karnak to explain why he has come to Attilan. Spider-Man quickly explains the capture of the Avengers and that the time travelers known as Kang and Zarrko are at war with each other to conquer the past, present, and future. Learning that Zarrko's Time Bombs used an energy source similar to the Negative Zone barrier that once protected Attilan, Spider-Man came to them for help at the recommendation of the Human Torch. Hearing this story, the Inhumans agree to help Spider-Man return to the 23rd Century and rescue the Avengers. Black Bolt takes the Time Bomb to his insane brother, Maximus the Mad. He gets to work on rigging the device to take them to the future. Meanwhile, Triton takes Spider-Man on a tour of Attilan, showing him the sights including the massive inert body of Omega. Soon enough, Maximus is finished rigging the device and they use it to travel to the 23rd Century. They arrive a few moments before Spider-Man escaped into the past and witness Zarrko entering Kang's citadel. They wait for Zarrko to go into the building and follow after him. However, before they can enter the fortress, Spider-Man and the Inhumans are attacked by the guards. After they defeat the guards, they rush inside just as Kang immobilizes Zarrko. When Kang sees who has arrived, he cannot believe that Spider-Man is back. Outnumbered and overpowered, Kang is quickly incapacitated by a scream by Black Bolt. This scream also breaks the Avengers free from the stasis cells they are being held in. In the confusion, Zarrko tries to get away, but he is quickly webbed up by Spider-Man and dragged back. When they check on Kang they discover that his armor is empty. That's when the voice of Kang booms over them, telling them that they were merely pawns in his dirty little war with Zarrko and that he will see them again. Suddenly, the gathered heroes are teleported back to the present day. The Avengers thank Spider-Man and the Inhumans for the rescue, and Spider-Man jokingly quips that he will send them the bill before he web-slings for home. Brodie's View:So, I'll get one thing out of the way before I do this review; never been that big of a fan of The Inhumans (which are this issue's Guest Stars). They don't quite enter that category of being characters I strongly dislike, like, say, a Ka-Zar, but I will say that anything with them involved usually gets a big "Meh" from me. Although, I will say that Marvel's trying to push them over The X-Men a couple of years ago kind of made me salty (although, I wouldn't take that dislike on the characters themselves; that was Marvel purely being petty because Fox owned the movie rights at the time), and I wasn't too unhappy to see that attempt pretty much fail completely. The Inhumans, to me, are at their best as Guest Stars in someone else's book, rather than my having to read their own book. That all being said, I will say that they were put to good use here, as after Spider-Man goes through the big who-hah at having to explain things to them after the wall crawler is stopped soon after entering their domain, the Inhumans roll deep with Spider-Man back to the future to stop Kang: the Conqueror and Zarrko: The Tomorrow Man, and together the group make a pretty solid wrecking crew. In fact, that allows this three part story to end with some nice kick ass action, as Spidey and the Inhumans (or at least the main four male Inhumans, led, of course, by Black Bolt) pretty much whoop first Kang's guards, then Kang himself (yep, Spidey and The Inhumans were the sudden entrants that caused Kang to freak out at the beginning of the last issue), and Spider-Man puts the finishing touches on Zarrko, who tries foolishly to escape the ass kicking he has coming after fooling Spidey and Iron Man into breaking into Kang's citadel for him. Needless to say, this manages to free the captured Avengers as well, but when the amassed heroes try to bring the beaten Kang to justice, they find out that the Kang they've been dealing with for this entire story has been a robot. You'll find throughout the history of Marvel Comics that half the stories that have dealt with Kang over the years have really been the heroes dealing with a robot or a Space Phantom (or someone) posing as Kang. Of course, that's usually how writers will retcon stories featuring Kang (or Doctor Doom, who is another character that gets robot retconned at times) that they didn't see making sense due to how the character was portrayed in the past. Of course, Gerry Conway and Len Wein (who will be slowly taking over the writing duties on the book over the next few issues, and will be the regular writer for a while) kind of take care of this within the story itself, so, all's well that ends well on that one. Regardless, this was a pretty cool little storyline that really allows the writing/art team to hint at what was possible with this book, besides just being a "Two Heroes team up to fight a one and done villain" book that this one could have very easily fallen into the trap of being. That all being said, in the next issue we get exactly that concept....lol, although, I will say that the Guest Star is one of my favorite Marvel heroes/characters of all time, so, it'll be pretty awesome just based on that alone....at least for me. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 17, 2020 0:39:51 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #12"Wolf at Bay"Cover Date: Aug, 1973 Writer: Gerry Conway (Plot) Len Wein (Script) Artist: Ross Andru Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Werewolf By Night Villain/s: Moondark the Magician (1st Appearance of) Guest Stars: Buck Cowan, Lissa Russell, J. Jonah Jameson, & Joe Robertson (the latter two in flashback form only) Official Plot:Sent on assignment in San Francisco, Peter Parker takes a moment to explore the Golden Gate Bridge as Spider-Man. Thinking this might be what he needed to get his mind off of Gwen Stacy, the wall-crawler is unaware that he is being observed by the Werewolf by Night. Lost in thought, Spider-Man barely notices his spider-sense going off and narrowly avoids the opening attack by the Werewolf. The lunge knocks them both off the top of the Golden Gate Bridge. As they fall, Spider-Man thinks back to how he found himself in this situation, to begin with... A few days earlier, Peter Parker went to see J. Jonah Jameson for an out of town photo assignment. Jameson complains about having to cover the expense of such a trip, but Joe Robertson tells them that Daredevil and the Black Widow have been very active in California and that they are newsworthy enough to send someone out to San Francisco. Accepting that Peter is likely the best photographer to send to capture photos of the two heroes, Jameson agrees to send Parker out, but warns him that he better take some stellar pictures ... Snapping out of his recollection, Spider-Man manages to break their fall with a net of webbing. However, the Werewolf still comes at the wall-crawler, forcing the hero to toss the monster off the side of the bridge and into the water below. As Spider-Man looks for any sign of his attacker, he is unaware as the spectral face of some strange individual appears behind him. After a brief observation, the face vanishes before Spider-Man can sense its presence. Famished, Spider-Man swings into the city and changes into Peter Parker. Going into a diner, he orders a meal from the waitress. Peter notices that the waitress who took his order was emotionless. Looking around, he notices that everyone else in the diner appears to be in some kind of trance. When the waitress comes back with his food, she suddenly screams, and the Werewolf comes crashing in through the front door. Peter struggles with the Werewolf, but their fight sends them crashing out of the diner's window. With his street clothes shredded, Peter slams the Werewolf's head into the side of a car then leaps onto the roof of the diner to change into his Spider-Man costume. Suddenly, the people inside the restaurant come pouring out and walk off into the streets, still under a trance. With the sun rising, Spider-Man is shocked to witness the Werewolf revert back to human form. Spider-Man helps the man up, and learns that he is Jack Russell. Russell explains that he came to San Francisco to recover from the effects of the last full moon along with his sister Lissa and his friend Buck Cowan. He explains that they decided to check out a magic show by a magician calling himself Moondark. During the performance, Moondark put the entire audience into a trance, including Jack Russell. When he snapped out of it, he found himself in Moondark's dressing room. The sorcerer then used his magical powers to transform Jack into the Werewolf and teleport him to the Golden Gate Bridge to attack Spider-Man. Deciding to help, Spider-Man is taken to the theater where Moondark is performing. There, the wall-crawler smashes their way in. However, Jack suddenly turns into the Werewolf and attacks Spider-Man, sending both crashing down the stairs. There Moondark still has Lissa and Buck in a trance. Although Spider-Man struggles with the Werewolf, he realizes his best chance is to stop Moondark. The wall-crawler shoves Moondark through his mists of transportation, sending the two away. Without Moondark's influence, Jack Russel and his friends are returned to normal. They then wonder what became of Spider-Man and Moondark. Meanwhile, on the Golden Gate Bridge, Spider-Man holds on for dear life, after being transported there by the mists. Unfortunately for Moondark, he fell into San Francisco Bay, and seemingly perished. Spider-Man swings off to recover his clothing so he can complete his assignment. Spider-Man's trip to San Francisco continues in Daredevil #103.... Brodie's View:Aw yeah, Brotha! Now we're dealing with one of my Top 10 favorite Marvel characters (actually The Thing is on that list too, so, this will be 3 of my Top 10 that have been represented so far) teaming with my favorite Marvel hero (Spidey), and that's Jack Russell, the MF' WEREWOLF BY NIGHT(!!!). I love the fact that Marvel started to really filter in new horror based characters after knocking down the door with Morbius, and I love the fact that Spider-Man is teaming up in this issue (if you can really call it Teaming Up, as the actual Werewolf spends most of this issue trying to KILL everyone's favorite wall crawler) with Marvel's OG werewolf character (Man Wolf would be introduced shortly after, but he wasn't really a traditional werewolf). What's interesting is that this is the first MTU story to take place after the historic death of Gwen Stacy, which is referenced here. In fact, that's kind of the reason for this whole story, as Spidey, needing some time away from New York after Gwen and the Green Goblin's (apparent) death, takes a photo assignment in San Francisco (as that was where Daredevil and The Black Widow were operating out of during this period). He's not there long when the Werewolf suddenly attacks him on the Golden Gate Bridge, and the two have a pretty awesome fight. Spidey winds up breaking away, only to find that the people around him all seem to be in a kind of trance; one that isn't disrupted when the Werewolf comes for him again. Spider-Man winds up tricking the Werewolf into running head first into a car door, knocking him out. This causes the Werewolf to transform into his human form, Jack Russell, and it's here when the backstory gets filled in, as Jack, his sister, and his friend has attended the show of a magician known as Moondark. Moondark ends up taking control of the audience, and realizing that Jack is a werewolf, somehow forces Jack to transform (which kind of begs the question as to whether Jack's transformations are as much mental as they are supernatural, as how would Moondark be able to trigger a moon based transformation that easily(?)....I know, I shouldn't think too hard about it, but it is a pretty sizable plot hole). Moondark also senses Spider-Man's presence in San Fran, and wrongly thinking that Spidey was there to quash his plans, sends the Werewolf after him, which kind of sets up his own defeat. While trying to sneak into Moondark's Base of Operation, Moondark's power causes Jack to transform again, at least until Spidey is able to break Moondark's hold, and the Werewolf knocks both he and the magician through the portal he had created. Obviously, the Werewolf had his own book, so, he would live, and Moondark would return a few more times, so, he would survive, but at least it was a way to end things off for Spidey, as that's where the issue ends. I'm kind of torn with this issue, as I did, for the most part, enjoy it, and I love Werewolf By Night, so, that's always going to boost the grade up a bit, but this was kind of the "One and Done" issue that I mentioned last issue, when discussing the multi part epic story that came before this one. Not saying that the one and done issues are bad, but this one was kind of built on a silly premise, so, that keeps it from reaching that "A" level, as much as I want to give it one for loving the Spidey vs. Werewolf stuff so much....but if you like seeing Spider-Man fight monsters, it's pretty fun all the same. In the next issue, Spider-Man will be teaming up with a hero on the complete opposite end of the spectrum than Werewolf By Night. In fact, it'd be fair to call the character that he teams up with a "Living Legend." GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 18, 2020 0:43:12 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #13"The Granite Sky!"Cover Date: Sept, 1973 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Captain America Villain/s: AIM and The Grey Gargoyle Guest Stars: S.H.I.E.L.D. (Nick Fury, Dum-Dum Dugan, & Ace (1st Appearance of the Last), Nathaniel, The Falcon, Redwing, & Sharon Carter (the last three in Recap form only) Official Plot:Peter Parker has come to the New York waterfront to think. He had hoped that his recent travels to San Francisco would help get his mind off of the recent death of Gwen Stacy. His thoughts are interrupted by a drunk sailor named Nathaniel who can see the sorrow in Peter's eyes. As the man rambles on about how one needs to move on in life, Peter has had enough of this man's drunken advice. While his back is turned, Parker uses his web-shooters to quickly swing away. Nathaniel is taken aback by the sudden departure of the young man he was giving advice. Suddenly, a strange meteor falls out of the sky and splashes down in the water. When Nathan goes to investigate he finds a strange man emerging out of the water. Helping the man out, Nathan is suddenly turned into stone. The man he attempted to rescue turns out to be the super-villain known as the Grey Gargoyle. A few blocks uptown, Peter Parker is changing into Spider-Man and thinking over what Nathaniel had said. At first, he curses the spider who gave him his powers but ultimately decides that it was for the best and goes looking for a crime to stop. As he patrols the city Spider-Man comes across some A.I.M. scientists who begin shooting at him on sight. Spider-Man easily rounds up the shooters and decides to investigate where they came from. Swinging down the street, the wall-crawler's spider-sense begins to tingle. Suddenly, he spots an A.I.M. goon getting tossed out a window by Captain America's shield. Spider-Man leaps into the building to give Cap a helping hand. The two men easily defeat the AIM soldiers, and with the fight over Captain America radios S.H.I.E.L.D. to pick them up. Suddenly, the pair is teleported aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier, much to Spider-Man's surprise. They are greeted by Dum Dum Dugan, who has them lowered from the flight deck into the facility. There, an eager S.H.I.E.L.D. agent remembers that Spider-Man is wanted for murder and tries to apprehend him. Spider-Man fights back to evade capture, but the situation is quickly defused when Nick Fury enters the room and orders his men to stand down. He then invites the wall-crawler to sit in on his debriefing with Captain America. Fury tells them that while Cap's mission was to stop AIM from getting ahold of a new telemetry system, there were three of the devices made and that A.I.M. managed to snatch the other two while Cap went after the first. However, Fury anticipated this and planted homing devices on them and they were able to track A.I.M. to a secret facility in Queens. They then begin organizing an attack, which Spider-Man is hesitant to take part in, but Fury convinces him to do so for the sake of national security. Meanwhile, at the A.I.M. facility hidden below the site of the old World's Fair, the Grey Gargoyle is plotting to get revenge against Captain America for stranding him in space. He recounts that he was trapped in space until he was able to contact A.I.M. and had them shoot down his vessel so that he could crash-land in New York. Before they can launch their own missiles, Captain America, and Spider-Man attack. However, during the course of the battle, the pair are turned into stone by the Grey Gargoyle. He then chains their stone bodies to the rockets that contain a weapon that will allow the Grey Gargoyle to turn entire cities into stone, as part of a scheme to blackmail the entire world. However, when the rockets are shot off, he is suddenly attacked by Captain America and Spider-Man again. Something unique to their body chemistry allowed the two heroes to break free from the Gargoyle's spell. During the ensuing battle, one of the loose chains wraps itself around the Grey Gargoyle's leg as the rocket takes off, pulling the villain into space once more. With the battle now over, Spider-Man decides to head home, leaving Cap to clean up the mess. Brodie's View:We're full on into the Len Wein era, writing wise, now, and he fully starts his run off with a BANG in this issue. In fact, other than the very beginning issue, which is a funny throwback to #2, where a drunk guy named Nathaniel gave the Human Torch love advice (Spidey completely blows him off, and then The Grey Gargoyle turns him to stone), the rest of this issue is non stop comic book action goodness, as Spider-Man and our Guest Star this issue, Captain America, kick the shit out of too many AIM agents (and the Grey Gargoyle before this whole story is over) to mention. In fact, it's Spidey's helping Cap fight AIM agents in the first place that gets the web slinger involved in this story, as the two heroes are summoned by S.H.I.E.L.D,. and more importantly, Nick Fury to stop AIM and the Gargoyle from turning entire cities into stone via missiles. In a funny scene, Spidey kind of dips out, stating that this whole thing is above his pay grade, when Nick Fury basically guilts the wall crawler into helping Cap....lol. Good stuff. Anyways, the heroes are captured and turned to stone, and about to be shot out into space as part of AIM/The Gargoyle's plan, when they suddenly are returned to normal on their own. Cap recons that it must be something in their unique makeup that caused each hero to be able to reverse the effects of GG's touch (btw, there's a great story in the early 90's where the Gargoyle ends up turning Bruce Banner into stone (this is during the Joe Fixit era), but as soon as the sun goes down, Bruce transforms into a stonelike version of the Grey Hulk, and...things don't end well for the Grey Gargoyle...it's pretty funny shit). Of course, things don't end up very well for the Grey Gargoyle here either, as he ends up falling and becoming attached to the missile he had intended to shoot Spidey and Cap into space with, shooting the C list villain into space instead. That's pretty much all she wrote, as the two heroes end up kicking the asses of the remaining AIM agents (who I've always loved, with their goofy yellow beekeeper outfits). Anyways, like #2, this was a fun, exciting issue if one likes seeing Captain America (and Spider-Man) kicking the crap out of (mostly) nameless bad guys, with the nation/planet hanging in the balance. This was a One and Done story, but I will say even using C list bad guys like Grey Gargoyle and AIM makes the story mean more than, as much as I loved the Guest Star, last issue's story did. Anyways, in the next issue, we'll see Spidey teaming up with a character Captain America knows quite well. In fact, it's a character that made his debut two years before The Captain did, and they would team up to Invade(rs) the Nazis quite a bit during WWII. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 18, 2020 22:38:34 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #14"Mayhem Is... the Men-Fish!"Cover Date: Oct, 1973 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Sub Mariner Villain/s: Tiger Shark, Doctor Dorcas, & his Aquanoids (1st Appearance of the last) Guest Stars: Leonard McKenzie, Llyra, & The Hulk (All in Recap Form only) Official Plot:While web-slinging across the city, Spider-Man is suddenly drawn to a trench-coated man who is attacked by muggers, but easily fights them off. When it's revealed to be the Sub-Mariner, the two engage in a brief battle, which is interrupted by the escape of a ship out into the ocean. Namor explains that he was tracking down Tiger Shark, the man responsible for killing his father. Spider-Man agrees to help Namor track down Tiger Shark and bring him to justice. Meanwhile, Tiger Shark has once more allied with Dr. Dorcas, who has been developing men-fish called Aquanoids to be his army of aquatic mutates. When Namor and Spider-Man arrive on Dorcas' ship, the two fight off both Tiger Shark and Dorcas' Aquanoids. Winning at first, the two heroes are soon drugged and restrained. However, before Dorcas and Tiger Shark can dispose of them, Spider-Man causes water to flood into the ship, renewing Namor's strength. Breaking himself and Spider-Man free, they quickly defeat the Aquanoids and Tiger Shark. However, they are forced to abandon ship when devices within the ship become unstable. Getting to safety, the two watch as Dorcas' vessel explodes, seemingly killing Tiger Shark and Dorcas in the process. With the battle over, Namor feels that his father's death has been avenged. Brodie's View:Len Wein seemed to be into Spider-Man teaming with Classic Marvel heroes for his first couple of issues as the main writer on this book, as this issue has Spider-Man teaming with The Avenging Son himself, Namor: The Sub Mariner. However, before they team up, we get a bit of a fight between the two characters, as Namor is still seen at mostly being a villain by the Marvel universe at this point, due to his actions during the 1960's comics, where he mostly was a villain. However, this is during Namor's slow transition into being more of a hero, or at the very least an Anti Hero, and his cause is definitely just in this issue, as he is after the man who killed his father, the Fearsome Tiger Shark(!!!). Anyways, Spidey eventually figures out that his attacking Namor was actually allowing Tiger Shark to escape, so, he ends up teaming up with The Sub Mariner after getting a bit of backstory as to why Namor is after TS in the first place. We eventually find out that Tiger Shark is working with another Sub Mariner villain, Doctor Dorcas, who has created humanoid/sea creature hybrids (much like Count Nefaria and his Ani-Men....remember them from UNCANNY X-MEN #94/95?) known as the Men-Fish or Aquanoids. Anyways, Dorcas wants to beef these mutates up, so, when Namor and Spidey come looking for them, the villains trick them into attacking fake versions of themselves that have been coated with a substance that ends up knocking the two heroes out (that seems to happen a lot during this period...lol). Spidey awakens to find himself encased in unbreakable glass, as Namor, who is still unconscious, is hooked to a machine that will drain his life force and power, and transfer it into Dorcas' Men-Fish. Of course, being typical comic book villains, they dip out and assume everything went according to plan. This allows Spider-Man the chance to free Namor (using a SEA COCK (talk about a phrase that doesn't hold up well today)...lol), who then frees the Wall Crawler, and the fight is on! Spidey fights the Men-Fish, while Namor finally gets his revenge on Tiger Shark (who apparently dies, but you all know how THAT goes ). Doctor Docas flees the ship, but not before activating the self destruct measure, destroying their base. However, the two heroes manage to escape, and Spidey congratulates Namor on avenging his father, with Namor pondering whether the violence and death involved in getting that payback was worth it, showing his movement more to the hero side of the fence. Pretty cool issue. Not as good as the last one, but there is a lot of action in this issue as well, from the Spidey/Namor fight that starts the issue to the various hero vs. villain action that ends it. Nothing too groundbreaking, unless one was a reader of Namor's own book, and then I'm sure they enjoyed some long term stories being paid off here. Pretty fun, though. Anyways, in the next issue, we skip the older heroes and move into (then) newer characters, and the character Spidey will be teaming up with will be yet another of my Top 10 Favorite Marvel Heroes, so, YAY!!! GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 19, 2020 23:12:38 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #15"If an Eye Offend Thee!"Cover Date: Nov, 1973 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Ross Andru Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) Villain/s: The Orb (1st Appearance of) & They Who Wield Power (Tyrannus, Keeper of the Flame (Lann), & Prince Rey)---Behind the Scenes Guest Stars: Mary Jane Watson, Roxanne Simpson, Craig "Crash" Simpson, & Mona Simpson (the last two in Flashback form only) Official Plot:Peter Parker is out on a date with Mary Jane Watson. Passing Madison Square Gardens, Mary Jane sees an advertisement for a motorcycle stunt show featuring the Ghost Rider. Needing something to get his mind off his recent troubles, Peter agrees that they should check it out. Soon they take the stands and watch as Ghost Rider takes to the arena. Peter is impressed by what he thinks is make-up, little suspecting that Johnny Blaze is possessed by a demon. Soon the show begins, with Ghost Rider jumping his motorcycle off a ramp over four other cyclists, including his girlfriend Roxanne Simpson. Suddenly, the show is interrupted by the arrival of a gang of motorcyclists led by a man wearing a helmet in the shape of a giant eyeball. The intruder introduces himself as the Orb and they begin running amok in the area. When a guard attempts to draw his gun, the Orb stuns him into a trance just by looking at him. The Orb then begins using this ability on the crowd. While Ghost Rider decides to do something to stop this intruder, Peter Parker manages to look away from the Orb in order to prevent himself from being entranced. Deciding to do something himself, Peter uses his web-shooters to get up into the rafters of the stadium so he can change into Spider-Man. As Ghost Rider tries to stop the Orb and his goons, the villain manages to grab hold of Roxanne. As Ghost Rider pursues, the Orb's goons try to stop him. That's when Spider-Man swings in to lend a hand. As Ghost Rider pursues the Orb, the villain uses his hypnotic powers to make people in the audience to walk into Ghost Rider's path, forcing him to wipe out in order to avoid hitting them. When Spider-Man tries to swing after the escaping bikers, the Ghost Rider uses his hell-fire to blast his web-line. This angers Spider-Man, but the Ghost Rider tells him that Roxanne Simpson's safety is his responsibility. Suddenly, the enthralled audience members begin reciting the same message: That Johnny Blaze is to meet with the Orb and exchange ownership of his stunt riding show in exchange for Roxanne's safety. The Orb is giving him two hours to make up his mind. Meanwhile, at his lair, the Orb snaps Roxanne out of her hypnotic trance. When she demands to know who he is and why he is doing this. The Orb reveals that he is Drake Shannon, a former partner to her father, the late Crash Simpson. He tells her how they both owned the stunt riding show. With neither man wanting to buy out, they agreed to a race where the winner takes control of the show. Unfortunately, circumstances were that Shannon ended up wiping out, and sliding 25 yards on the pavement on his face. Horribly scarred face, Drake became jealous of Simpson's success and faded off, never to be heard from again, until now. Concluding his story, he explains that he was found by individuals who gave him his orb. He then reveals his motivation: to take everything away from Crash Simpson. Removing his helmet and revealing his horribly scarred face, he says he is taking it to compensate for everything that Crash Simpson had over him. As he puts his helmet back on, the Orb is interrupted by the Ghost Rider, who has managed to track him down. Blaze turns over papers giving Shannon control of the stunt riding show and is about to take Roxanne away when suddenly the Orb's men draw their guns. The Orb reveals he had no intentions of letting them leave alive to tell the authorities that they made the deal under duress. Before they can open fire, Spider-Man swings in and attacks, just as they had planned. While the two heroes are busy with the bikers, the Orb tries to make his escape with Roxanne again. After rounding up the Orb's goons, they take some motorcycles to follow the Orb down the subway tunnel outside his hideout. The trail leads them into Grand Central station, where Spider-Man manages to pull Roxanne to freedom with his webbing, while Ghost Rider disarms the Orb with his hell-fire. The Orb tries to make his escape down the subway tunnel again with the Ghost Rider in hot pursuit. However, the villain didn't expect a subway car heading the opposite direction. While Ghost Rider manages to jump to safety, the Orb is not as lucky and is struck down by the train. However, as they search the scene, they find no trace of the Orb except for the discarded papers, which turn out to have been forgeries. Ghost Rider uses his powers to burn them. With the danger over, Spider-Man swings away, slightly disturbed by a comment by Ghost Rider that he is not wearing a mask. Brodie's View:Hells (no pun intended) Yeah! In this issue, Spider-Man teams with yet another character on my Top 10 List of my favorite Marvel heroes....Johnny Blaze, the original (at least on a motorized vehicle) GHOST RIDER! And I will give writer Len Wein credit so far for trying to alter each issue of his run of MTU to kind of have the feel of the character who was teaming with Spidey. We saw it with Cap and Namor, and we definitely see it here, as at least on the surface, this story definitely feels more like a GHOST RIDER issue that Spider-Man just happened to Guest Star in, rather than the opposite. It probably doesn't hurt that the villain is VERY Ghost Rider centered, as The Orb is basically a former partner of Johnny Blaze's adopted father figure, Craig "Crash" Simpson, who kind of Doctor Doom-ed himself trying to compete with Crash in a race. I say that because he horribly disfigured his face, which is why he now wears a helmet that looks like an eye ball, which is kind of a cool look. Anyways, The Orb (who also has the powers of hypnosis through his eyeball helmet) invades one of Johnny's stunt shows (at MSG, with Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson in attendance), and after hypnotizing most of the crowd (save for Spider-Man, who joins GR in trying to fight The Orb's minions off), kidnaps Johnny's main squeeze (and Crash's actual daughter), Roxanne Simpson, forcing Johnny to sign over his stunt show company to him. Ghost Rider does, but it's a set up for he and Spider-Man to bust in and rescue Roxanne. A lot of fighting and motorcycle racing commences, with The Orb eventually losing control and running smack dab into an oncoming train, seemingly killing him (he'd be back, though). That's basically the story, but there are a few things to note and mention. One, is I'm glad Len Wein didn't go the route the writer of the actual GHOST RIDER comic would have went with The Orb, and that's making him a direct minion of Satan, who is behind 99% of the villains Ghost Rider fights in like the first year or two of his comic....it's the reason I didn't last very long trying to review it. Love Ghost Rider, but his comic got very repetitive with how much they would overuse Satan as a main villain. In fact, I do believe when The Orb makes his reappearance in the pages of the GHOST RIDER comic, he's brought back by, you guessed it, SATAN(!!!) (feel like I should be reading that in a Church Lady voice...lol). Here, he's a minion of a different entity, but this is more of a Secret Society created around this period; a group calling themselves They Who Wield Power, and They would supply and amp up various villains throughout the 70's. The head of this group would be revealed to be long time Hulk villain, Tyrannus, who I'm assuming did it for shits and giggles, as he eventually would turn on his cohorts and kill them off. Anyways, that interesting fact does kind of give a depth to this story it probably wouldn't have had otherwise, as it's very much a "one and done" story....well, at least in the pages of MARVEL TEAM UP. It's a fun story regardless, and I'm always going to give a MTU story bonus points for having a character I love featured with Spidey. In the next issue, we will have the first part of a two part story that deals with the creation of a new villain that would pop up a couple of times in MTU and other books....before being wiped out by Scourge in the mid 80's. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 21, 2020 1:03:35 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #16"Beware the Basilisk My Son!"Cover Date: Dec, 1973 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Captain MarVell Villain/s: The Basilisk (1st Appearance of) Guest Stars: Rick Jones, a Security Guard, & a Night Watchman Official Plot:Captain Marvel has sent his partner Rick Jones to New York City after he detected a Kree energy source of the long-lost Alpha Stone, a powerful emerald crystal. At that very moment at a museum, a thief named Basil Elks eyes the mysterious stone. Breaking the display case, he removes the coveted object. He thinks about how this will prove to the other convicts in prison that Basil Elks, who they jokingly referred to as Basilisk, was a criminal in his own right. His thoughts are interrupted when he is caught red-handed by a security guard. Before Basil can draw his gun, the officer fires and through a twist of fate strikes the Alpha Stone. The gem is shattered by the bullet, releasing energies that transform Basil into a green-skinned form. The frightened officer tries to flee, but when Elks tells him to freeze, he is surprised when his eyes fire energy that freezes the guard in his tracks. Realizing what he has done, Basil looks in the mirror and is amazed by his transformation. Realizing that he can transmute matter with his eye beams, Basil reshapes a suit of armor into a costume and decides to take on the moniker that has taunted him during his criminal career -- Basilisk. Not far away, Peter Parker is heading down the streets in the hopes of catching the late show at the local movie theater. As he passes the museum he witnesses one of the walls blowing out and Basilisk departing the scene. Realizing that this could be trouble, Peter slips into some bushes so he can change into Spider-Man and pursue this new menace. When the web-slinger confronts this new villain, he discovers that his foe's eye blasts are powerful. Furious at this surprise attack, Basilisk decides that he will begin his new criminal career by destroying Spider-Man. While the hero is stunned, Rick Jones happens on the scene. Seeing that Spider-Man is at the mercy of his foe, Jones claps his armbands allowing Captain Marvel to trade places with him. Although Captain Marvel has the element of surprise, Basilisk uses his powers to melt the concrete under the heroes feet. It takes his power of levitation to break free and resume the fight. Basilisk realizes that he can use his powers to rocket himself into the air and tries to escape. Before Mar-Vell can stop him, the villain uses his powers to entrap the hero in ice. The Captain manages to break free before he can fall to the ground, but by this point, Basilisk has escaped. Spider-Man thanks Captain Marvel for the assist and learns that the Alpha Stone is one of two ancient Kree weapons. Some time ago, the Alpha and Omega Stones were taken into space to be destroyed. However, one Kree soldier sought their power for himself. But, instead of gaining ultimate power, the two stones caused the ship to explode and they were lost in space, until now when the Alpha Stone turned up on Earth. Fearing that Basilisk might find the Omega Stone and increase his power, the two heroes agree to team-up and hunt down their foe. The pair track Basilisk down to a nearby construction site where he is attempting to dig up the Omega Stone. While Spider-Man runs interference, Captain Marvel recovers the Omega Stone. However, the stone reacts with Marvel, growing in size. It encases the Kree warrior and suddenly teleports away. Distracted by the sudden disappearance, Spider-Man is unable to stop Basilisk from getting away. Spider-Man realizes that Marvel's disappearance wasn't planned and wonders what he can do to help. Brodie's View:We get the creation of a new villain that actually will appear in this book a few more time, The Basilisk, as well as the Kree crystals that gave him his power, and will be the focus of the next couple of issues. Speaking of the Kree, Spider-Man's Guest Star for this issue is, of course, the former Kree soldier turned superhero, Captain Marvel, or as I like to refer to him, Captain MarVell, who is looking for those very crystals as the story begins. Of course, this is the period where MarVell is bonded to everyone's favorite sidekick character (hey, he's WAY better than Snapper Carr), Rick Jones, who is actually the one trying to locate the crystals. Unfortunately for the both of them, a low rent criminal named Basil Elks (Get it? ) is robbing the museum that one of the crystals is being stored in. This guy is a piece of work, but when discovered, has an absolutely hillarious moment when he realizes that his monologuing has caused him to almost get busted by the guard. Like, he actually basically says this out loud, which made me legit lol (I will say that Len Wein can definitely bring the comedy to his stories, along with the action). However, during the firefight, one of the bullets hits the crystal, which causes an explosion that transforms Basil into the super powered Basilisk, and we're officially off and running. After escaping the museum, the Basilisk realizes that there is another crystal, and that finding that other crystal could make him even more powerful, however, he is slowed down by Spider-Man, who is then joined by Captain MarVell, after Rick Jones transforms into him. The two heroes have a back and forth fight with the Basilisk, until the villain winds up escaping. This allows MarVell to tell the backstory of the crystals (AKA The Alpha and Omega stones), and why it's so important that the two heroes stop the Bailsisk before he gets that other stone. It comes close, as Basilisk finds the stone, but is too busy fighting Spidey and MarVell to really get it. MarVell tries to retrieve the stone, but it feeds off of his Kree energy, growing larger and encasing him. The now large Omega Stone, with MarVell trapped inside, sinks down into the Earth, leaving the Basilisk and Spider-Man fighting over a stone that is no longer there, and thus the Basilisk splits, leaving Spidey wondering how he's going to save MarVell. This was a pretty cool story, as the Basilisk is a pretty powerful villain, one powerful enough to keep both Spider-Man and Captain MarVell hopping throughout this issue. It's too bad that the Basilisk would kind of become a forgotten villain as we would move into the 1980's, with his biggest moment during that decade being popped by Scourge during that particular storyline, where the vigilante was going around mopping up the Marvel Universe of the various C/D list villains introduced in the two decades before. Anyways, the Basilisk will definitely show up at some point during the next issue, as Spidey will enlist the help of another hero to try and save MarVell, and I'll give you a hint....the hero is a member of the Fantastic Four that Spider-Man hasn't teamed with yet in this book....so, that should give you a 50/50 shot of guessing who Spidey's Guest Star is in the next issue. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 22, 2020 0:37:21 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #17"Chaos at the Earth's Core!"Cover Date: Jan, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Mr. Fantastic Villain/s: The Basilisk & The Mole Man (& his Moloids) Guest Stars: Rick Jones/Captain MarVell Official Plot:After Captain Marvel had disappeared with the Omega Stone, Spider-Man heads to the Baxter Building in order to enlist the aid of Mister Fantastic of the Fantastic Four. Slipping into the Baxter Building, Spider-Man sets off the alarms and is snared in a coil device. This alerts Mister Fantastic to his presence and as soon as he realizes that he is dealing with Spider-Man, he deactivates the security system. Demanding to know why the wall-crawler is intruding. Thinking that Spider-Man has come looking for the Human Torch, Reed Richards tells him that the Fantastic Four has disbanded and he is the only one left. When the web-slinger explains that he has come for Richards, he explains his encounter with Basilisk, the Alpha and Omega Stones, as well as the disappearance of Captain Marvel. After hearing this, Mister Fantastic tells Spider-Man that he can't help. However, Spider-Man won't take no for an answer and tells Richards to stop kicking himself while he is down, convincing Reed to change his mind. Using a device that he constructed to track Kree energy signatures, Reed is able to track the Omega Stone, pinpointing the location as the center of the Earth. Getting into the Fantasti-Car, Reed pilots himself and Spider-Man to the tunnel that leads to the Mole Man's domain of Subeterranea. No sooner are they there are they swarmed by a legion of Moloids. Although the pair held their own against the diminutive attackers, they are ultimately felled by a blast of knock out gas. They are then carried to the Mole Man's throne room where they are revived. The Mole Man decides to show them his latest weapon, a massive laser cannon that is powered by both the Omega Stone and the magma found in Earth's core. The Mole Man explains that he will use the laser to punch holes to the surface, causing untold destruction. As an added bonus, the first shot -- when focused through the crystal -- will also incinerate Captain Marvel as well. With his plan laid out before his foes, the Mole Man orders his Moloids to toss Mister Fantastic and Spider-Man into the magma pit below. Despite this effort, the pair manages to avoid death using their respective powers to get out of the pit. The Mole Man then orders his minions to get them, but before this can happen, Basilisk arrives and uses his powers to turn to the Moloids into ice. Basilisk explains that he followed Spider-Man after their battle as he knew the wall-crawler would lead him to the Omega Stone. This leads to a clash between the Mole Man and Basilisk over the Omega Stone. While they are distracted, Mister Fantastic and Spider-Man attempt to free Captain Marvel from his prison. When the two villains see this they put aside their difference momentarily to stop them. With the heroes down, Basilisk turns on the Mole Man, knocking him out with an eye blast. Basilisk then attempts to get at the Omega Crystal and claim it for his own. However, by this point, Captain Marvel has managed to draw his armbands close enough to trigger a switch with Rick Jones. With Jones back on Earth, the Omega Stone is restored to normal. Thanks to tampering by Reed Richards, the laser cannon begins to destabilize. As the three heroes attempt to leave, Basilisk seemingly perishes in a wave of magma while trying to recover the Omega Stone. The Mole Man is also trapped and begs for help, but the exploding laser cannon prevents the heroes from saving him as well. The trio then flee to the surface in the Fantastic-Car. There, Rick Jones thanks Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic for their help before swapping places with Captain Marvel, who flies away. Brodie's View:So, if you picked Mr. Fantastic to be the Guest Star this issue over The Invisible Girl/Woman, congrats, you won the 50/50 shot. Sue Storm/Richards would eventually team with Spider-Man in the pages of this book to complete the set, but that won't be for a while yet, so, for this issue it's nothing but Reed Richards all day and night (lol). Really, though, given how we left things at the end of the last issue, Reed was definitely the preferable character to want help from anyways, which is why Spidey seeks him out at the beginning of the issue. However, he finds a depressed and self pitying Reed, after his temporarily shutting down the mind of his SUPER powerful son, Franklin, caused Mr. Fantastic to disband the Fantastic Four for a brief time. Even after Spidey recaps the events of last issue, Reed balks at helping, until Spider-Man's guilt trip makes the stretchy former leader of the FF finally give in and agree to help him. It's probably for the better that a Fantastic Four member ended up helping the wall crawler with this one, as the person who ended up taking the Omega Stone (with Captain MarVell still trapped inside) was none other than the FF's first foe, The Dreaded Mole Man(!!!). And once the two heroes venture into his lair, are attacked and overwhelmed by the Mole Man's Moloids, they find out that the Mole Man plans to use the crystal to power a mega laser that will cut through the Earth's surface from underground, causing mass destruction and chaos on the surface world. The Mole Man then tries to send Spidey and Reed to their mutual deaths, but both are able to survive....and that's when all Hell breaks loose. See, the Basilisk shows up, wanting the Omega Stone for himself, and this leads to the two villains attacking each other, which was awesome, as there's few things I enjoy more than watching two Heels turn on each other for heelish reasons. They end up temporarily working together long enough to stop Spidey and Reed from freeing Captain Marvel, and then the Basilisk turns on Mole Man again, and tries once again to get the crystal for himself. However, that's when Captain MarVell slams his wrist bands together, transforming back into Rick Jones, which frees him from the crystal. This causes things to go really nuts, as both the Mole Man and the Basilisk's blasters end up causing a cave in, which supposedly ( ) kills both villains, and all's well that ends well on the hero side of things. This was a pretty cool ending to this two part story, as, once again, like Gerry Conway before him, Len Wein definitely has no problem bringing on the butt kicking action that we all love so much, and we get a ton of it in this story. A very solid ending to a solid story. In the next issue, we get a bit of a Spidey break, as The Human Torch will actually be the "Main Star" for this story. His Guest Star? Someone very large....and green. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 24, 2020 1:04:05 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #18"Where Bursts the Bomb!"Cover Date: Feb, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: The Human Torch & The Hulk Villain/s: Blastaar & Paxton Pentecost (1st Appearance of the 2nd) Guest Stars: Ferguson Blaine, F.A.U.S.T. (1st Appearance of both), Mr. Fantastic, The Thing, Beast, The Angel (All in Recap form only), & Wyatt Wingfoot Official Plot:Following the dissolution of the Fantastic Four, the Human Torch is spending some time visiting his old college friend Wyatt Wingfoot. While they travel along the Catskills, they spot a fuel truck that has crashed. While Wyatt sweeps the drivers to safety, the Torch uses his powers to envelope the burning tanker in a flame barrier to lessen the force of the resulting explosion. Afterward, Johnny admits how things don't feel right without Ben or Reed around. Suddenly, a device on Wyatt's skycycle starts going off alerting Johnny that one of the Fantastic Four's most powerful foes is active once again. Meanwhile, at an old cottage home, Doctor Paxton Pentecost is laboring to resurrect a powerful being that has been in his possession for some time. After blasting a massive cylinder with energy, the being inside suddenly breaks free. It is Blastaar, a warlord from the Negative Zone. When Blastaar threatens to destroy Pentecost, he discovers that the scientist has implanted an obedience device in his brain that causes him pain until Blastaar surrenders. Paxton explains that he learned about Blastaar from his first battle with the Fantastic Four and recovered his seeming demise at the hands of the X-Men. Blastaar demands to know why he was revived. Paxton explains that he invented an autonomous factory called FAUST that was stolen from him by his financial backer Ferguson Blaine. He now wants Blastaar to destroy his creation before Blaine can profit from it. Blastaar accepts the challenge, using his blasts to destroy a scale model of the factory. Elsewhere, the Hulk lands on a nearby construction site. Panicked by his arrival, one of the construction workers attempts to strike him with a wrecking ball. This barely phases the Hulk and he begins going on a rampage, trashing the construction equipment along the way. Suddenly, the Hulk feels a stabbing pain in his head. Furious, he leaps off trying to find the source, intending to smash it once he has the chance. At that moment, Blastaar is attacking the FAUST facility, when he is suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the Human Torch and Wyatt Wingfoot. The Torch ingulfs Blastaar with a flame blast, but the creature shrugs it off and strikes the Torch with a blast that sends him flying. As fate would have it, Johnny lands into the open hands of the Hulk. He tries to convince the gamma-spawned monster to help, but the Hulk is uninterested until the painful buzzing in his head begins again. Meanwhile, Ferguson Blaine arrives on the scene with the authorities. He tries to talk sense into Paxton, but this falls on deaf ears. Instead, Pentecost has Blastaar attack the officers who have arrived on the scene. However, before he can cause any serious harm, the Hulk and the Human Torch arrive. While the Hulk battles Blastaar, Paxton is prevented from shooting his former colleague by the Human Torch. Unable to stop Blastaar, they stand by and watch in awe as the Hulk crumples the Adamantium walls of FAUST around Blastaar, encasing him in a shell of the nearly indestructible metal and then tosses him out to sea. With the battle over, the Hulk finds the pain in his mind is gone and leaps away. When Blaine thanks the Human Torch for his help. The Torch points out that his greed cost a good scientist his mind. Brodie's View:So, we get a little Spider-Man break for this issue (don't sweat it, though...he'll be back in the next issue), as the other character meant to be the "Star" of this book, The Human Torch, gets top billing here. His Guest Star, none other than The Incredible Hulk, but I will say that the cover to this issue is deceptive. The Human Torch and The Hulk, although they've fought many times in the past/would fight in the future.....don't fight here. However, the main threat of this issue is big enough to where our two heroes don't need to fight each other, and that's Blastaar (THE LIVING BOMB BURST!!!). Blastaar is brought back by Doctor Paxton Pentecost, who wishes to use the Negative Zone warlord to get payback on a former colleague that screwed him over, and made a lot of money off of his work. Paxton wishes for Blastaar to burn through the adamantium building this deceitful colleague (Ferguson Blaine) to house the automated factory Paxton came up with. This all is what draws the Human Torch into this whole deal, as a threat like Blastaar is kind of hard to ignore. Meanwhile, The Hulk is out rampaging, as he always does. He tries to get some peace, but the puny humans continue to hound him, which, as always, sends The Hulk back into the dessert. Meanwhile, the Torch tries to confront Blastaar, but the creature is easily able to deflect the Torch's flames, and blasts him miles away from where the Living Bomb Burst is making some headway into destroying Blaine's building. The Torch, however, ends up landing into the arms of the Hulk, who is being pained by a strange buzzing that is putting the green giant into an even greater rage than he was before. The Torch decides to use that to his advantage, so, he talks the Hulk into following him back to Blastaar. Needless to say, once the two monsters meat, it's on like Donkey Kong, as The Hulk figures out that the strange buzzing is coming from Blastaar, which isn't too great for him, as while Blastaar is powerful enough to match The Hulk in strength on a base level....the Hulk's strength level is based on his anger, and he's pretty pissed off by Blastaar. Meanwhile, the Torch confronts Paxton, who has Blaine dead to rights, but is prevented from killing the slimy rich douche. Feeling remorseful, Paxton then tries to help Johnny stop Blastaar, who he knows will destroy everything on the planet if he isn't stopped. Luckily, the Torch still has The Hulk on his side, and they wrap Blastaar up in a ball of adamantium, and toss his ass into the ocean....lol. Talk about disposing of a problem. Anyways, Blastaar will, as one would expect, return, but this was a solid way to get rid of him until the next time he was needed for a story. All in all, this was a decent little story that used its two heroes well, and, hey, who doesn't like to see The Hulk fighting a threat equal to him? In the next issue, Spider-Man will return for another multi issue story, but I will say that the first part of this story has him teaming with one of my Least Favorite Marvel Heroes. GRADE: B+
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Ultimo Gallos
Grimlock
Dreams SUCK!Nightmares live FOREVER!
Posts: 14,323
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Post by Ultimo Gallos on Mar 24, 2020 14:45:17 GMT -5
The last time I flew,2007,I brought along the first volume of Essential Marvel Team up. Your newest review covered the issue I finished up reading right before the plane landed.
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Post by Hurbster on Mar 24, 2020 18:00:41 GMT -5
I remember reading the UK versions of these when I was a kid. One that stuck with me was Spidey and Beast up against Killer Shrike.
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 24, 2020 23:52:33 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #19"The Coming of... Stegron the Dinosaur Man!"Cover Date: Mar, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Ka-Zar Villain/s: Stegron (1st Appearance of) & The Swamp Men Guest Stars: Zabu, Curt Connors & S.H.I.E.L.D. Official Plot:High over the sky over Antarctica, Spider-Man is being transported to the Savage Land by a S.H.I.E.L.D. aircraft. Once they are over this prehistoric domain, Spider-Man jumps out of the plane, using his web-shooters to craft a parachute to slow his descent. As he drifts down, he reflects back on the turn of events that brought him to this moment. Reading a classified advertisement asking for assistance, Spider-Man pays a visit to his old friend Curt Connors. Connors asks Spider-Man for help in tracking down his former assistant, Doctor Vincent Stegron. The pair were working on a project of cellular regeneration for S.H.I.E.L.D., using Dinosaur DNA to start with. Fearing that this would lead to a similar situation that results in the creation of another horror like the Lizard, Connors was disturbed to learn that Stegron stole their work and fled to the Savage Land. Connors asks Spider-Man to assist him in bringing Vincent back home. Spider-Man agreed to help, using a favor owed to him by Nick Fury in order to get a flight to this remote location. Spider-Man ends his recollection just as he lands in the Savage Land and immediately begins looking for Vincent Stegron. No sooner has he arrived, the wall-crawler has to deal with the various dinosaurs that live in this primitive place. Just when it looks like Spider-Man has bitten off more than he can chew, he is rescued by Ka-Zar and his sabretooth tiger Zabu. Working together the pair manage to fend off the dinosaurs. With the danger over, the web-slinger brings Ka-Zar up to speed. Having heard of Stegron, telling Spider-Man that he started camping with the deadly Swamp Men and has proclaimed himself the ruler of the dinosaurs. On their way to the village, they are attacked by an army of Swamp Men. However, despite their best efforts Spider-Man and Ka-Zar are knocked out and taken prisoner by the Swamp Men. When they come to, they find themselves before a massive dinosaur shrine. Then, much to their horror, they are greeted by Vincent Stegron, who has mutated himself into a humanoid dinosaur. Stegron explains that with his new found power he plans on taking over the world and returning dinosaurs to dominance. When Ka-Zar attempts to talk sense into the Swamp-Men they are unwilling to listen to him. However, he manages to break free of his bonds, but while he is busy with freeing his allies and dealing with the Swamp Men, Stegron makes his escape. The so-called Dinosaur Man flees to a massive transport ship and summons a horde of dinosaurs that he intends to unleash upon the outside world. Suddenly, Spider-Man and Ka-Zar catch up with Stegron. Their foe sends his dinosaur minions to fend them off. While they are distracted, Stegron makes his escape with a cargo load of dinosaurs. After Ka-Zar and Spider-Man wrap up the creatures they are fighting, Spider-Man hitches a ride on Stegron's ship in the hopes of stopping him. Brodie's View:Guh, I hate Ka-Zar. I know I've said that often throughout these reviews, but there's something just so lame about this blatant rip off of Tarzan that just rubs me raw. Granted, I know I'm going to have to see him at some point during any story that involves The Savage Land, which is a bummer, because stories set in The Savage Land are usually pretty cool, if for nothing else the chance to see superheroes fighting various dinosaurs. Yet, one always knows that there is going to be a shit tasting jelly bean in the bag of jelly beans that is a Savage Land story, and Ka-Zar is that shitty jelly bean. It's kind of like having to put up with Longshot's lame ass showing up in any story that involves Mojo....you know it's going to happen, so, you just have to suck down that shitty tasting jelly bean the best one can. That's the thing about this story; on the surface, it's pretty decent, Spidey is sent to The Savage Land by his old Frienemy, Curt Connors (AKA The Lizard), who is worried about a colleague of his, who was hoping to replicate his Lizard making formula with dinosaurs. Spider-Man shows up at The Savage Land (after catching a lift from S.H.I.E.L.D.....a favor from Spidey helping out in #13), fights with dinosaurs, and, of course, is joined by Lame-Zar and his pet sabretooth tiger, Zabu. They soon find Curt Connors' old colleague, although, now he has mutated into a dinosaur man, and is calling himself....Stegron(!!!). Actually, that part is pretty cool, as Stegron would become a semi regular villain for Spider-Man in subsequent years, and he and the Savage Land Swamp Men quickly take down Spidey and Ka-Zar. However, the heroes escape, and seem on the verge of stopping Stegron, when the dino man creates a dinosaur stampede in order to crush the heroes to death, but Ka-Zar winds up taking down the biggest dinosaur, a T-Rex, which sends the other dinosaur scampering away. Ka-Zar then sees that Stegron has escaped (on his way to NYC to start a process that will allow him to RULE THE WORLD(!!!)), but Spider-Man has secretly hidden on his ship. The good news is that the next issue will have little to no Ka-Zar. The bad news is, Spider-Man better hope whoever he teams with has enough skill and smarts to help him take down Stegron before he and his army of dinosaurs end up stomping New York City to the ground. Luckily, the person he's teaming with has both. GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 26, 2020 16:04:42 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #20"Dinosaurs on Broadway!"Cover Date: April, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Black Panther Villain/s: Stegron & The Swamp Men (the 2nd in Recap form only) Guest Stars: Curt Connors, Mary Jane Watson, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Edwin Jarvis, various Policemen, Ka-Zar, & Zabu (the last two in Recap form only) Official Plot:Spider-Man clings to the side of Stegron's ship as it flies from the Savage Land to New York City carrying a load of dinosaurs. As they approach the city, Spider-Man recounts how he and Ka-Zar failed to stop Stegron from escaping from the Savage Land in an insane plan to take over the Earth with an army of dinosaurs. Spider-Man tries to get the drop on Stegron, but his dinosaurs raise the alarm, allowing the man-monster to strike the wall-crawler with his tail. Spider-Man tries to gain the upper hand by webbing Stegron's tail to the floor. However, his foe rips free and knocks out Spider-Man with another blow, then tosses him over the side of the ship into the waters below. Moments earlier, at Avengers Mansion, butler Edwin Jarvis alerts the only Avenger present -- the Black Panther -- of the approach of Stegron's ship. Deciding to investigate, the Panther takes a Quinjet out to investigate. He arrives just as Spider-Man was tossed overboard, and manages to save the wall-crawler from a fatal fall. When Spider-Man recovers from the blow, he takes the Black Panther to see Curt Connors and get everyone up to date on the threat of Stegron. Connors blames himself for allowing this to happen and begins working on a cure for Stegron as soon as possible. Since both the Panther and Spider-Man have backgrounds in science, they get to work with Connors in the hopes of finding a cure. Meanwhile, Stegron and his dinosaurs have hit New York City, starting with Central Park where they interrupt a mugging before going on a rampage. Soon, Spider-Man and Black Panther are forced to go out and handle the creature while Connors works alone. By this point, Stegron and his dinosaurs are rampaging through Times Square. As Spider-Man begins webbing up the dinosaurs, the Black Panther takes on Stegron. At that moment, at the Daily Bugle, Mary Jane Watson has stopped by looking for Peter Parker. Joe Robertson hasn't seen Peter, but when J. Jonah Jameson comes in to tell them about the dinosaurs rampaging on Broadway, Mary Jane knows exactly where to find Parker and heads off to check it out, despite warnings from the two newspapermen. When Mary Jane arrives on the scene, she manages to slip past the police blockade and tries to get close to the action. She narrowly avoids being crushed by a toppled dinosaur, thanks to Spider-Man who gives her a good scolding. With most of the dinosaurs wrapped up, Spider-Man joins the Black Panther in trying to contain Stegron. That's when Curt Connors arrives on the scene and tells Stegron that his condition is incurable. Stegron lashes out at Connors and then makes an attempt to escape on a pterodactyl. Spider-Man attempts to stop him and the two begin fighting high above the Statue of Liberty. During the fight, Stegron loses his balance and falls into the water below. There, much to his horror, Stegron realizes his new body is not buoyant and he can't swim and quickly sinks to the bottom where he seemingly drowns. Later, Curt Connors and the Black Panther find Spider-Man on the docks. The wall-crawler feels terrible for not being able to save Curt's friend. However, Connors points out that Vincent Stegron was doomed before he ingested the serum that turned him into the Dinosaur Man. Even though Spider-Man thinks Connors is right, it still doesn't make him feel any better. Brodie's View:It's Dinosaurs on Broadway, and Spider-Man is ill equipped to deal with both them and Stegron (who is leading them) at the same time. Luckily, he has a Guest Star this issue that is more than a lame Tarzan Wannabe (although, Lame-Zar does show up in Recap form, but he only stinks up a few panels in this issue...Yay!), heck, he's an Avenger and the leader of a nation. Of course, I'm talking about none other than The Black Panther, who after learning about Stegron's invasion of NYC from Jarvis, arrives just in time to save Spidey from falling to his death (Stegron knocked Spider-Man out, and tossed him off of his flying ship). Eventually, the two exchange notes, with Spidey taking the two to Curt Connors' laboratory, as he might be the only one that can stop Stegron. Unfortunately, we find out later that Stegron's transformation is a permanent one, but he doesn't seem to bothered by it, as his goal is a New Dinosaur World Order anyways. That works for his being a regular villain down the line, as, unlike The Lizard, there really is no sympathetic side to the character. He's just an insane dinosaur person. Back to this issue, though, we get a lot of cool splash pages of dinosaurs attacking New York City, and while Spidey and The Black Panther try to wrangle up the more dangerous dinosaurs, it's clear that taking out Stegron is the key. The heroes do try, and they do make some headway, but with both the dangerous Stegron and various attacking dinosaurs to contend with, it's a hell of a lot tougher than it looks. That is, until Stegron is knocked into the water, and finds out that his new dinosaur body, as powerful as it is, is a heck a lot heavier than his human body, and it sinks like a stone. Of course, Stegron would return to bother the wall crawler again, but for now, his threat is over, although, Spidey feels guilty for how things ended up. This was a much better issue than the last one (probably due to the lack of Ka-Zar, other than a couple Recap panels), and The Panther made a pretty cool Guest Star for Spider-Man to have to work with to stop Stegron and his Dino-Invasion. The next issue will take us into the mystical realm, which should be a pretty big tip off for who Spider-Man's Guest Star will be. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 27, 2020 17:49:38 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #21"The Spider and the Sorcerer!"Cover Date: May, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Doctor Strange Villain/s: Xandu Guest Stars: Melinda Morrison Official Plot:While out on patrol, Spider-Man happens upon an alleyway mugging. The wall-crawler quickly sends the muggers packing. When he checks on their intended victim, the elderly man puts Spider-Man under a hypnotic spell. The man in question turns out to be the sorcerer known as Xandu, who had fought Spider-Man in the past. He orders his hypnotic slave to retrieve the Crystal of Kadavus which is being kept in the Sanctum Sanctorum of Doctor Strange. He intends to use the mystical artifact to make himself the ruler of the cosmos. Gloating at the irony of using one of his foes to attack the other, Xandu teleports Spider-Man away so he can complete his task. At that moment, from his home in Greenwich Village, Doctor Strange has just finished reading some of the writings of the Ancient One and has decided to meditate upon it. As he enters his meditations, Spider-Man appears around the corner. Xandu mentally directs the wall-crawler to do his bidding, but this mind control has also affected the hero's motor skills and he gives himself away by knocking over a metal urn. Hearing the crash, Doctor Strange thinks it is his servant Wong, but when he gets no reply he gets up to investigate. When Doctor Strange happens upon the web-slinger, Xandu clouds Spider-Man's perceptions to make it look as though Strange is attacking him. This leads to a struggle between the two, however, Doctor Strange has to pull his mystical punches as he does not wish to harm Spider-Man. Under Xandu's control, the wall-crawler has no such compunctions and manages to use his webbing to pull a statue off a mantle and strike Strange in the back of the head, knocking him out. Spider-Man then recovers the crystal and is brought back to Xandu's lair. There, the evil sorcerer uses the power of the Crystal of Kadavus to regenerate the previously destroyed Wand of Watoomb. Xandu explains that Doctor Strange tried to erase his memory of the mystic arts. This left Xandu a drunken derelict, but ultimately his mystical knowledge returned to him, restoring his sense of purpose. Xandu explains that he is not just seeking to conquer the world, but also to restore a life that is lost to him. He recounts how in his younger days he was betrothed to a woman named Melinda. Tragedy struck when one of his spells went out of control and struck her down. Try as he might, he found himself unable of restoring Melinda to life. With Melinda in a death-like coma, he sought to find a cure for her. He hoped that the Wand of Watoomb could save her. However, because of the hero's interference, he now seeks to destroy them. However, before he can kill Spider-Man, Doctor Strange arrives on the scene. Using the Wand of Watoomb, Xandu teleports both Spider-Man and Doctor Strange to a mystical dimension. There he transforms himself into a more powerful being. As Doctor Strange and Xandu engage in mystical combat, Spider-Man snaps free of Xandu's mental control. When Strange is bolted aside, Spider-Man tries to use his webbing to snatch away the Wand from Xandu. The evil sorcerer turns this against him, using a spell to turn the wall-crawler's webbing against him. When the pair try to combine their powers against Xandu, he uses his mystical powers to bind them like marionettes. By this point, Doctor Strange tries a dangerous gambit by casting a spell that allows his mystical bolts to be fired out of Spider-Man's hands, catching Xandu off guard. As it turns out, Doctor Strange swapped powers with Spider-Man, using webbing to blind Xandu. At the Doctor's command, Spider-Man tosses another bolt of magic at Xandu, knocking free the Wand of Watoomb. With Xandu restored to normal. Doctor Strange then tosses the Wand deep into this other dimension where he hopes it will be lost forever. Returning to Earth, Doctor Strange learns of Xandu's intent to try and revive his beloved Melinda and agrees to try what he can to help. Examining the woman's body and using his mystical powers to learn what he can. He then tells Xandu that there is nothing he can do, as she is not in a death-like sleep, but a death like sleep. Unable to restore someone from death, Doctor Strange apologizes to Xandu as there is nothing he can do. Unable to accept this reality, Xandu loses his mind and the two heroes leave him to cry over his lost love. Brodie's View:Lol. It's almost like writer Len Wein knew he had to reward us for having to deal with two issues that involved Ka-Zar, so, he ended up dropping this issue on us after that two parter. I will say that this issue is probably in contention with a couple others for being the BEST issue of this series so far, as it has a lot of great moments to it, as well as a pretty flaw proof overarching storyline that not only served up some great action, but also gave us a deeper villain, at least where it relates to his motivations. In short, a wizard named Xandu (a regular foe of Spidey's Guest Star this issue, Doctor Strange) takes control of Spider-Man, and has him break into Doctor Strange's Sanctum Sanctorum to steal the Wand of Watoomb. Now, as one would expect, Xandu wants the Wand to become all powerful, but he mainly wants it to revive his lost love, Melinda, who was accidentally hit by one of Xandu's magic bursts, and put into what appears to be a death like sleep. Xandu basically makes Spidey think that Doctor Strange is evil, and is attacking him as any other super villain would, but in fact that isn't the case at all. Len Wein and this issue's artist, the great Sal Buscema do a great job with this, as we're literally seeing the two realities change from panel to panel. Finally, Spidey ends up knocking out Strange, and bringing both the Wand and the Master of Mystic Arts back to Xandu, the evil wizard plans to "reward" Spidey by killing him. However, here's where things get really awesome, as Strange casts a spell that transports all three to a mystic dimension, which ends up snapping Spider-Man out of Xandu's spell. The two heroes try to fight Xandu, but with the Wand, the wizard is much too powerful for them. It's here that Strange gets a clever idea, and actually switches his and Spider-Man's powers, which allows Spidey to start nailing Xandu with magic (as Strange hits him with webbing). This catches Xandu off guard, which makes him drop the Wand, and ends his threat. Back in our dimension, Dr. Strange tries to help Xandu revive his lost love, but realizes that she's not sleeping....she really is dead (although, Xandu does eventually find a way to bring her back), and the two heroes leave a now destroyed Xandu to deal with what he has done, as he essentially killed her with his own magic. Damn! Yeah, now that I think about it, this might be the best issue of this series so far, but we've got a lot of great issues to go before this run is over. In the next issue, Spider-Man will be teaming with yet another character from my Top 10 Favorite Marvel Heroes list. Awesome. GRADE: A
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 29, 2020 0:49:44 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #22"The Messiah Machine!"Cover Date: June, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Hawkeye Villain/s: Quasimodo & his Automatoids Guest Stars: The Beast (in Recap form only) Official Plot:While Spider-Man is web-slinging across the city, he is so deep in thought he doesn't notice Hawkeye firing an arrow at him. Although his web-line gets severed, the wall-crawler saves himself by gripping the side of a building. However, this leaves him open to being pinned with arrows by Hawkeye. Spider-Man pulls free, yet Hawkeye lunges for him. Although the wall-crawler manages to fight him off, the bowman keeps coming at him. Spider-Man demands to know why Hawkeye was attacking him and is told that the surprise attack was meant to get his attention. Spider-Man is not impressed and tells Hawkeye his reasons had better be good. Hawkeye tells Spider-Man how he had cut ties with the Avengers recently in order to run solo. The other day, he had spotted an electronics supply truck being stolen. Swinging into action, the former Avenger tried to stop the thieves with a flame arrow. When the crooks emerged from the truck, he attempted to incapacitate them, only to learn that they were robots. Hawkeye was blasted by a ray gun, but as the robots made their getaway he managed to hitch a ride on the back of their truck. It took him to a mansion upstate in Westchester. When the robots began offloading the truck, he jumped one of the robots and stole its coveralls and hat. However, when a massive robot came to inspect it's subordinates, it immediately detected Hawkeye. With his cover blown, Hawkeye made a quick escape. Concluding his story, Hawkeye asks Spider-Man for help investigating this situation further as he doesn't want to go crawling back to the Avengers. Spider-Man decides to tag along to see what is going on. Back at the Westchester mansion, the Automatoid reports to it's master, the living computer known as Quasimodo. Quasimodo is furious to learn that his minions allowed a human to escape. Suddenly, he is alerted to the arrival of both Hawkeye and Spider-Man on the premises. The two heroes believe they have arrived undetected since Spider-Man rigged up a device that should have masked their presence. They soon learn how wrong they are when they are ambushed by an army of robots. The two heroes easily smash the robots using their combined skills. However, before they can get into the mansion, a trap door opens up under them and they fall into containment tubes in Quasimodo's lab. Spider-Man recalls that Quasimodo was seemingly destroyed during a battle with the Beast. The sentient machine explains that it is tired of the humanoid life it was given by the Silver Surfer and intends to link itself up with the massive computer system that unit created. To dispose of Spider-Man and Hawkeye, he ejects them out of the tubes at a high rate of speed. However, Spider-Man and Hawkeye manage to save themselves with their unique skills. They leap back down into the lab, much to the frustration of Quasimodo. It orders the Automatoids to attack them while he connects with the chair. In order to stop them, Hawkeye snares the robots in metal cables which he plugs into the power source, shorting them all out. With the robots down, they find they are too late to stop Quasimodo from plugging into the control chair for his supercomputer. However, the feedback from the electrical surge shorted out Quasimodo's mind. Presuming their foe has been vanquished, Spider-Man switches off the computer and they depart. Brodie's View:Man! Why do all the issues that have Spider-Man teaming up with favorite characters have such...okay stories. Granted, I'll still give the issue a half way decent grade, as I loves me some Hawkeye, and he and Spidey do make a cool duo....but I will say that a better overall story would have gotten the issue an even higher grade. Basically, Hawkeye ends up flagging down Spidey by shooting an arrow at him, and after we get our typical example of heroes meeting and almost fighting, we get the back story setting up this issue. Hawkeye (after leaving The Avengers and having an unsuccessful stint as a Defender) was following a stolen electronics truck that was taken to a mansion, and once there, the marksman was attacked by the thieves, who turned out to be robots disguised as people. This intrigues Spidey, and the two go back to the mansion where they are....attacked by robots and captured. That seems to be a running theme with some of these stories: heroes meet, fight or almost fight, decide to team up, get overwhelmed and knocked unconscious, and then finally are brought to the main villain, who lays out their plan that will eventually be stopped by the two heroes. This issue follows that formula to a "T," as our main villain ends up being "The Living Computer," Quasimodo, who lays out his past before dropping his main plan. See, Quasimodo was actually a supercomputer created by The Mad Thinker, and then eventually given human form by the Silver Surfer, although, I have no idea why the Surfer would do that. Perhaps the actual story explains it better, but it kind of makes no sense here. Anyways, Quasimodo, who is named as such because he literally looks like an evil version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame, plans to interface with all the computers in the world, and take them over, thus, RULING THE WORLD(!!!) This is probably one of the first times this plot device was used, as computers were still a relatively new thing in 1974. Anyways, Spidey and Hawkeye end up breaking free and fighting Quasimodo's robots until Hawkeye uses one of his trick arrows to short the robots out, which also ends up shorting the Living Computer out, leaving him completely inert. I will say another flaw with this issue, other the fact that the story is highly formulaic, is the fact that it is a LOT of set up for a ridiculously quick resolution. I mean, the last battle is kind of done and resolved in like two pages. However, I will say the one thing that saves this story from being total crap is the partnership of Spider-Man and Hawkeye, as the two wise crackers make a great duo. I'd rather see those two team up on the regular than Spidey and The Human Torch. Speaking of which, the next issue will be another where the Torch will take the lead role. His Guest Star? Someone with the complete opposite powers as his, and the two will fight a new villain that has....both of their power sets. GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Mar 31, 2020 1:21:33 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #23"The Night of the Frozen Inferno"Cover Date: July, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Gil Kane Featured Character/s: The Human Torch & Iceman Villain/s: Equinox (1st Appearance of) Guest Stars: Spider-Man, The X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, & The Angel), & New York Policemen Official Plot:Needing to borrow a ship from the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man takes off on his own task. The Human Torch sees him off before returning to the Baxter Building to watch over the place while the rest of his team is gone. Bored, and confused over his current feelings for Crystal, the Torch decides to go out and investigate the jewelry store robbery that Spider-Man tipped him off on earlier. When he arrives on the scene he spots the frozen footprints in the pavement melting. Suddenly, he is struck from behind by a chunk of ice. Flaming on, the Torch flies above the buildings to try and find his attacker. He spots Iceman of the X-Men speeding by on an ice slide and immediately assumes that the mutant was his attacker. The Torch launches an attack, much to Iceman's surprise as he doesn't know why the Torch is after him. With his ice slide smashed, Iceman asks the Torch what's going on. The Torch tells him about how Spider-Man encountered someone with ice powers who robbed the jewelry store. Since Iceman fits that description, the Torch intends to take him to the police. The two begin fighting in the streets, however, they are an even match. Suddenly, a car pulls up on the scene and Cyclops, Angel, and Marvel Girl come out and tell the pair to stop fighting. When they refuse, Cyclops separates them with an optic blast. As it turns out, Iceman could not have been the one responsible because he was with the X-Men planning a secret mission during the time of the robbery. Iceman asks for permission to go after the one responsible for framing him and it is granted. After the X-Men depart, the Human Torch insists on tagging along in case Iceman needs any help. Suddenly, there is an explosion at the jewelry store again, and the heroes rush to stop the one responsible. Inside, the pair are attacked from behind, Iceman with fire, and the Torch with ice. When they recover they spot their attacker -- wearing a special metal suit -- leaping out of the hole blasted in the wall with a bag of stolen loot. The two leap after their foe, tearing his protective suit in the process. The thief complains that he was trying to find a cure for himself. Calling himself Equinox the Thermodynamic Man, the thief rips open his suit to reveal that his body is half fire and half ice. The two heroes being fighting with Equinox, but they find themselves equally matched. When the battle attracts the police, Equinox attempts to escape on top of a city bus. However, the Torch and Iceman pursue after him, knocking him back onto the street again. There, the pair blasts him simultaneously causing a thermodynamic response that overloads Equiniox to the point of exploding. Once the smoke clears the Human Torch and Iceman find the blast left a hole in the street that leads to the sewers before. Unsure if Equinox died in the blast or escaped, the pair couldn't find the body in the rushing water anyway and so they depart. Brodie's View:We get another, for the most part (as he appears on the first page), Spider-Man free issue here, as The Human Torch once again takes the lead role here. His Guest Star, which also goes very much with the villain in this issue (who we'll get to in a second), is Iceman, who at that point was still with The X-Men (who also make a brief appearance in this issue, which we'll also get to in a second). Basically, the Torch sees Spidey off on his own mission (which would take place in a GIANT SIZED SPIDER-MAN issue, hence, the different Team Up here) before encountering a foe that attacks him with ice. Assuming that the person that attacked him could only be Iceman, Johnny seeks out the X-Man, who happens to be passing by, and attacks him. This sets off a pretty nice fight between the two, as it's cool when two heroes with completely opposite powers fight each other (although, I think Torch would take it unless it was a life or death battle....then, Iceman might have a chance). This lasts until The X-Men (minus Beast, who was having his own solo adventures by this point) show up and basically ends the fight between the two. They then let Bobby know that he's due to help them in a mission soon, which puts a time limit on the two elemental heroes figuring out the real culprit, and the official Team Up begins. They do eventually find the villain, a new character named Equinox, who thanks to an experiment gone wrong, has the powers of both fire and ice, and a constantly mutating form to match this (switching from fire to ice). The two heroes chase and fight Equinox, who reveals that he stole what he stole to seemingly try to cure himself of his condition. Of course, we don't find out more because the two heroes end up overloading Equinox, which causes an explosion that seemingly kills him. However, at the very end of the issue, we find out that he escaped to fight another day. Equinox is a pretty cool new villain, but we really don't see a lot of him in this issue. Most of the issue is dedicated to the fight between the Torch and Iceman, and it's only in the last third that the real villain makes his presence known. However, I get that Len Wein was setting up a villain/storyline for down the road, and we will most certainly see Equinox pop up even before my run of reviews on this series ends. All in all, though, this was a pretty fun issue, as I actually prefer the Torch/Iceman team vs. the Torch/Spider-Man one. It's too bad these two heroes didn't team up more. Anyways, Spider-Man will fully return in the next issue, and his Guest Star will once again bring us into the more mystical side of things. Of course, being that Dr. Strange was already recently used in the pages of MTU, I can tell you that the Guest Star is someone else involved in the mystical arts, but I'll let you try to figure out who I could be talking about. GRADE: B+
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