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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 1, 2020 0:44:45 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #24"Moondog Is Another Name for Murder!"Cover Date: Aug, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Brother Voodoo Villain/s: Moondog the Malicious (1st and only appearance) Guest Stars: Wally Bevins & Gail Paris (1st & only appearance) Official Plot:While web-slinging through the city, Spider-Man sees a young woman being attacked by a group of men in Voodoo garb. Fighting off the attackers, he is joined by Brother Voodoo who helps win the fight in their favor and the girl is saved. Brother Voodoo explains that they are agents of Moondog the Malicious, someone whom Brother Voodoo has been tracking after he had left New Orleans. Learning that the woman attacked was an actress who was rejected for a role in a play about Voodoo, the two heroes begin their search for Moondog. Having tacked down Moondog and his followers to a warehouse, the two heroes attack but are soon captured and tied to stakes that are lit aflame. Brother Voodoo's immunity to fire saves him, and Spider-Man wraps himself in protective webbing until the fire burns down. The two then free themselves and battle off Moondog and his men. In the climax of the battle, Moondog apparently snaps out of a trance and doesn't remember anything that has happened, claiming that he is an accountant. Before departing, Brother Voodoo explains that the man was possessed by one of the Lao spirits. Brodie's View:I'll be honest with you, this issue's Guest Star, Brother Voodoo, is one I really don't know too much about. I know a greater focus has been paid to him in recent years than it had in really any other era past this period of the 1970's, but being that I haven't really read a ton of Post CIVIL WAR (the original) Marvel stuff, any of his recent exploits are kind of unknown to me, other than the fact that he was Sorcerer Supreme for a brief time. He was one of those characters introduced during the time Marvel went all in with creating supernatural characters in the wake of the laxing of the comic book code in the late 60's/early 70's, but only a couple of those characters would really make it into the 80's/90's intact. That all being said, I'll try my best not to make a total fool out of myself by discussing the events of this story, where it relates to Brother Voodoo. The story starts with Spider-Man coming across a woman being attacked by a group of thugs that end up being voodoo cultists. He is joined by Brother Voodoo, and the two heroes end up Teaming up to figure out what's going on. Spidey finds out that the woman who was being attacked was an actress that tried to audition for a play that turned out to be basically a recruitment pool for the cultists. Brother Voodoo and Spidey end up going to the theater, but are attacked and taken down by the cultists. They are then tied to stakes, and set aflame by our main villain, and the leader of the cultists, Moondog the Malicious, who is kind of a one and done villain, so, I won't say too much about him. I will say that both heroes survive being set on fire; Spidey, due to his encasing himself in a cocoon of webbing, and Brother Voodoo by....being immune to fire, I guess. Spidey and BV end up taking out the cultists and Moondog, who turns out to be a normal guy that was possessed by the spirit of Moondog, who Brother Voodoo vows to stop if he ever tries anything else....he doesn't, though, so, that's all she wrote, folks. This was a decent story that followed the typical MTU formula, although, it skips the whole "Heroes meet, fight, and then Team Up to fight the real enemy" trope that many of these stories feature, especially these one and done type of stories. Once again, I would probably feel more strongly about the story if I gave a crap about Brother Voodoo, but I honestly don't. It was good for what it was, though. Anyways, that ends the first MARVEL ESSENTIALS of MTU. We now move in to the 2nd trade (there are 4 trades....I have the first 3, and hope to get the 4th by the time we get to that point) with Spidey teaming up with a character that is kind of similar to the type of hero he is. However, this hero would go on to become darker as the 70's gave way to the 80's, while Spidey, other than a few stories here and there, thankfully never went fully down that same path. GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 2, 2020 1:01:48 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #25"Three into Two Won't Go!"Cover Date: Sept, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Daredevil Villain/s: The Unholy Three (Ape-Man, Bird-Man, & Cat-Man) Guest Stars: Gail Callan, various Policemen, & Foggy Nelson (the last in Flashback form only) Official Plot:Spotting the Cat-Man stalking through the streets with a brief case, Spider-Man suspects that he is involved in a crime and tries to apprehend him. This causes Daredevil to get involved and come to blows with Spider-Man, allowing Cat-Man to escape. After realizing that his quarry had escaped, Daredevil stops the fight and explains to Spider-Man that Gail Callan -- the daughter of a rich industrialist -- was kidnapped earlier and that a ransom was handed over to Cat-Man (By Matt Murdock, Daredevil's civilian identity) and that Daredevil hopped to track the Cat-Man back to his hideout. Finding clues at the scene of the fight, Daredevil and Spider-Man track Cat-Man and his comrades in the Unholy Three in a shack just outside of Coney Island. Fighting the crooks across the amusement park grounds, they are eventually defeated and Gail is rescued. After, Spider-Man leaves Daredevil, Gail, and the defeated Unholy Three for the police. Brodie's View:We start the 2nd MARVEL ESSENTIALS of MTU with the comic equivalent of a squash match spread out over an issue. Hell, the mock fight Daredevil picks with Spider-Man is more of a real fight than the one our two heroes end up having with the villains of this story; The Unholy Three, which is a cool name (after the silent movie, I take it), but the villains themselves are pretty lame. In fact, looking over their past history pretty much told me that other than maybe their debut as Daredevil villains....they've ALWAYS been pretty lame and easily defeatable. Anyways, the issue starts with Spidey stopping one of the Three, Cat-Man, who pretty much looks like a cat, and is escaping with what looks like stolen money. That fight doesn't go long, as Daredevil swoops in and picks a fight with Spidey, which allows Cat-Man to escape. That ends their fight as well, as DD was pretty much just ensuring Cat-Man would escape so he could trail him back to The Unholy Three's hideout. We see in a flashback that the Three had kidnapped the daughter of a rich industrialist, and that Matt Murdock had ensured that the ransom money the Three had demanded was given to Cat-Man (hence, the money). This brings us to the present, and the two heroes, of course, Team Up to go whoop ass on The Unholy Three, while also saving the kidnapped woman. And whoop ass they do, as DD and Spidey pretty much have the three animal based villain's number from the second they invade. Heck, Spidey ends up ripping the wings off of Bird-Man, rendering him pretty much useless pretty quickly. In fact, only Gorilla-Man (who actually seems to be a real gorilla, rather than his tech augmented partners) gives them any kind of trouble, as he threatens to toss the kidnapped woman off the top of a roller coaster (as the Three made an abandoned carnival their hideout), but Spidey and DD distract the gorilla long enough to ram a roller coaster car into him, ending this fight completely. Once again, not a fantastic story, but I will say it's quite satisfying to see our two heroes just completely own on a group of 4th Rate villains. That definitely makes this issue just breeze by, which is always a good thing, especially with a pretty standard story. The next issue will be another Spidey free issue, as The Human Torch will once again take the "Star" role. His Guest Star will take us back into the realm of dealing with larger than life threats, as the Guest Star himself is larger than life. In fact, you could say that he was down right Godly. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 2, 2020 17:15:32 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #26"The Fire This Time...!"Cover Date: Oct, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: The Human Torch & Thor Villain/s: Jinku (& the Lava Men) & They Who Weld Power (Tyrannus, Prince Rey, & The Keeper of the Flame) Guest Stars: Molto (Dies), King Basallo, the Moloids, & The Avengers (Captain America, The Wasp, Iron Man, & Giant Man---the last in Recap form only) Official Plot:The story begins with the Human Torch observing a set of flaming footprints that lead to an alleyway. There, he is confronted by a Lava Man named Molto, who attacks Human Torch, under the assumption that he was an assassin sent to kill him. Human Torch is trapped in a cocoon of concrete, which he breaks out of using his fire abilities. He then begins a fight with Molto, but after a few minutes, Molto collapses. He reveals that he is dying. He tells Human Torch about his mission, which is to see Thor and warn him about a plot that could possibly destroy the world. Meanwhile, in a cab, Dr. Donald Blake is in a taxi on his way to an appointment, when he sees a message to Thor. He gets out of the taxi, runs into an alleyway, and transforms into Thor. He flies to the head of the Statue of Liberty, where Human Torch is with Molto. Molto recounts the Avengers' victory over Doctor Jinku and his attempt to take over the surface world. He then tells Thor that Jinku had a "vision" and told the ruler about it, and they take over the Mole Man's follower's machinery, which will help them control lava. Jinku then also attacks Molto, leaving him for dead. But he returned to the surface to warn Thor. He then hardens and crumbles away into dust in front of Thor and Human Torch. Thor and Human Torch travel to Hawaii, just in time to rescue the people from the eruption of Mauna Loa. Human Torch cools off the lava by absorbing the heat, bringing him to Nova heat, which he expels into the volcano itself. Thor then summons rain to solidify the lava, and they break through the hardened lava to find the Lava Men and the machine. A battle ensues, which finishes with Jinku knocking out Thor and stunning Human Torch. He reveals that they set up a trap to catch Thor, but he wasn't expecting Human Torch to come too. Jinku orders Human Torch to be thrown into a lava pit, apparently killing Human Torch when he doesn't resurface. Jinku manages to retrieve Thor's hammer, which is required to power the machine to the point of making all of Earth's volcanoes erupt. However, Jinku doesn't realize that when Thor is without his hammer for 60 seconds, he turns back into Dr. Blake and the hammer returns to a walking stick. Jinku is shocked, and Blake grabs the stick and transforms back into Thor. He then fights, hoping to avenge Human Torch and Molto, but Human Torch reappears, this time with an army of Mole Men. The panel after that states the battle was of so much magnitude, it couldn't be described (it also says that the closest thing to the magnitude is to imagine everyone in Providence, Rhode Island slugging it out with everyone from Boise, Idaho with double the result and the added power of Human Torch and Thor). They obtain victory over the witch doctor, much to his shock. However, the last panel shows a group of mysterious people laughing at Jinku's words on why his vision failed him. Brodie's View:The Human Torch, once again, takes the lead role for this issue (this is the period in the series when we would get a few Torch led issues), and his Guest Star is none other than The Mighty Thor, who actually factors into the plot of this story quite a bit. We start with the Torch coming across one of the Lava Men, who Johnny automatically figures to be up to no good, and the two fight. However, the Torch soon discovers that the Lava Man (Molto) is dying, and he was on the surface simply trying to reach Thor. Johnny ends up making that happen, and Thor soon joins the duo just in time for Molto to drop the back story behind what is happening (the Lava Man's witch doctor, Jinku, has taken over the Lava Men, and is trying to use a machine to bring about the end of humanity---it will be revealed that this is the same machine the Mole Man was planning to use to do the same thing in #17) before dying (BTW, that trope always cracked me up. "I'm going to stay alive just long enough to fill in some exposition, and then die right after"....lol). After all this, the two heroes fly to Hawaii, where they stop one of their volcanoes from erupting, and then burrow down into the Earth where they are attacked by Lava Men. Being that this story follows somewhat of a typical format, they are captured, and the main villain is able to do their big speech. See, it turns out that the Mole Man's machine, to bring about the full apocalypse Jinku wants, needs a new power source, and Thor's hammer is seen as the perfect tool for that purpose. The Torch is thrown into the lava pit that Spidey and Mr. Fantastic were tossed into in #17, and Jinku uses the Earth itself to take Thor's hammer from him. However, this is during the period that Thor is bonded with Donald Blake, so, after about a minute of being separated, Thor transforms back into Blake, and his hammer transforms back into Blake's walking stick, making it useless. Donald uses the confusion from all this to take his stick back, and after transforming back into Thor, he destroys the Mole Man's machine. Thor mourns the loss of the Torch, before Johnny shows back up, revealing that all the lava did was reignite his flame powers, and after a massive battle involving Thor and the Torch (and the Mole Man's Moloids, who had been screwed over by the Lava Men in the first place) whoop ass on the Lava Men, ending their threat. I do love how we kind of get a one page wrap up to all this, where Thor basically just chastises Jinko and the Lava Men for trying to pull this. Then again, what could really be done? Take them to jail? Lol. At the very end of the issue, though, it is revealed that a lot of this had been manipulated into happening by the shadow group knows as They Who Weld Power, who has kind of been a low key thorn in the sides of our various heroes in the pages of this book, even though they were often in the dark about it until much later. A decent issue, not as fun as last issue's story was, but not bad either. Thor and the Torch make an interesting duo, as, other than their respective teams teaming up, I'm not sure how often these two characters would directly team up after this. Anyways, in the next issue, Spider-Man makes his return for the last issue of the Len Wein run on this book, and his Guest Star? Someone big and green, who has already made an appearance in this series, but not teaming with Spidey. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 4, 2020 14:59:04 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #27"A Friend in Need!"Cover Date: Nov, 1974 Writer: Len Wein Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Hulk Villain/s: The Chameleon Guest Stars: Joey Cord (only appearance; dies), NYPD, various Prison Guards/Inmates Official Plot:When the Chameleon disguises himself as Spider-Man in an attempt to break his friend Joe Cord out of prison, his initial attempt fails. When reports about "Spider-Man's" break in at the prison gets to Peter Parker, he decides to investigate using his press credentials to try and get the story. When he arrives there, he finds himself stuck with J. Jonah Jameson and Ned Leeds, who have also come to cover the story. Meanwhile, the Hulk is bounding through the city following his last adventure with the Defenders. When he crashes into the Chameleon's get-away vehicle, the Chameleon puts on a Rick Jones disguise, hoping to trick the Hulk into breaking Joe out of prison. The Hulk, believing that the Chameleon is really his friend Rick Jones, travels to the prison and begins breaking in. Peter manages to slip away and change into Spider-Man and attempt to stop the Hulk from breaking Joe out. However, the Hulk is too strong and succeeds in his appointed task. However, Spider-Man follows the Hulk to the Chameleon, where Spider-Man reveals his old foe's true identity. The Hulk violently attacks the Chameleon, but Spider-Man fights him off. When the Chameleon tries to escape, Spider-Man stops his getaway car with a web net, and when a police officer tries to shoot the Chameleon, Joe takes the bullet and dies. After, the Chameleon turns himself over to the police, and the Hulk and Spider-Man leave the scene, Spider-Man leaving J. Jonah Jameson with a web-gag parting gift when Jameson orders the police to arrest Spider-Man. Brodie's View:Len Wein ends his nice little run here, and he does it with a very cool issue, that, while not as great as #21 (the Team Up with Dr. Strange), but I'd probably say that this was the second best issue in Wein's run, as it is quite entertaining. Of course, that probably shouldn't be a shock, as pairing Spider-Man with The Hulk is almost always a guarantee of a fun story, and this story is no exception. However, this story mainly revolves around the villain of this issue, The Chameleon, who wishes to break a friend out of prison as part of repaying a debt. Luckily, he just happens upon The Incredible Hulk, who happens to be stomping by. Being that this is the Classic "Dumb as a Box of Rocks" Hulk, it only takes The Chameleon donning a Rick Jones mask to trick the green giant into helping with his cause. We then get the fun set up of the Hulk busting into the prison, looking for "Rick's Friend," while Spidey fruitlessly tries to stop him. Not to say Spider-Man doesn't try either, but as it should be, even Spidey's strongest hits are just kind of shrugged off as annoyances by the Hulk. Finally, the Hulk does indeed bust the Chameleon's friend out of prison, and that's where the big climax of this story happens. See, being that the Chameleon had spent the first part of the issue framing Spider-Man (and in fact is still wearing the fake Spidey outfit under his own outfit), it doesn't take Spider-Man long to unmask the Chameleon, and this happens just as the police show up to surround all of them. The Chameleon freaks out, and grabbing his friend, tries to make an escape that fails. Finally, the whole thing ends in a shoot out, and the Chameleon's friend ends up taking a bullet meant for the disguise wearing villain, and like in #21, the villain ends up being undone by his own villainy, as the very focus of his villainous acts (at least in this issue) ends up being destroyed by them. It's always cool when not only is a villain beaten, but they end up being forced to deal with the disastrous end result of their actions....not that they ever really learn, but it's cool all the same. The next issue will see the return of the writer of the first run on this book, and he'll be bringing in a Demi God to Team with the wall crawler. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 6, 2020 1:19:47 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #28"The City Stealers!"Cover Date: Dec, 1974 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Hercules Villain/s: The City Stealers (Only Appearance) Guest Stars: Mayor Abe Beame Official Plot:Spider-Man is web-slinging across the city, fretting about finding an apartment building. While not far away, Hercules is walking along the docks, remarking on how bizarre the standards are on Earth. Soon two heroes thoughts are disturbed when the entire island of Manhattan begins to shake. While Spider-Man saves the life of a woman who falls out a window of the Empire State Building, Hercules saves a drunk who falls into the water. The quake soon ends quickly as it started. Determined to find out what happened, Spider-Man swings to Empire State University where he changes into his civilian identity of Peter Parker. There he listens in on a meeting being held by Dr. Aldritch, the professor of seismography. There he learns that not only should an earthquake be impossible in this region, they actually experienced two that happened at different points of the city. Having gotten the answers he needed, Peter departs and changes into Spider-Man once more to investigate one of the locations. Meanwhile, Hercules is assessing the damage caused by the quake along Wall Street when another earthquake begins again. Ripping up the street, Hercules spies a mechanical being drilling into the ground. While at the opposite end of the city, Spider-Man encounters another. When he tries to stop it, his webbing and powers are no match for the armored foe and he is quickly knocked out. When Spider-Man wakes up, he finds himself chained up by these so-called City Stealers along with Hercules. Unlike Spider-Man, the demi-god allowed himself to be captured in order to find out what these beings were up to. Now that he has been taken to their hideout, he breaks himself free. However, he is felled by an energy blast by one of the City Stealers. Spider-Man demands to know what they have been up to and learns that they have unmoored the entire island of Manhattan and are now tugging it away by a massive submarine. Seeking to stop them, Spider-Man finally breaks free from his shackles just as Hercules is coming around. The pair overpowers their captors and rip apart their armor to find elderly men inside, who claim that they were forced to do the bidding of their masters. With the battle over, Hercules -- miraculously -- pulls the entire island of Manhattan back in place. With the city back, the pair turns their attackers over to the authorities. Before departing, they are visited by the mayor of New York. Although the mayor thanks them for saving New York, he asks who will fix the various tunnels and bridges. Exhausted after their ordeals, the two heroes depart, telling the mayor to see if Reed Richards might be interested in helping him out with his problem. Brodie's View:Boy, am I glad that the site that I get my synopses from often also gives little behind the scene information as well, as I was prepared to totally shit on this story, but now I'm only going to somewhat shit on it. My reasoning isn't really that the story is terrible. It's okay for what it was, but there's really no true resolving at the end of the story, at least where it concerns the villains of the piece, however, I'll get to all of that at the end of my review. The first half of this issue splits time between both the star of the series, Spider-Man, and the character he's Teaming up with, and that's the Mighty Hercules. We see both characters making their way through New York; Spidey doing his usual thing, while Herc is busy observing the actions of various mortals. However, this is all interrupted when strange earthquakes start to strike NYC, and more specifically the island of Manhattan. Eventually, both heroes reason that something or someone underground must be behind these earthquakes, as NYC is not under any kind of a fault line. What both find are powerful robots known only as The City Stealers, who end up taking both heroes out with relative ease. The two heroes awaken to find themselves chained up, and we get the explanation for what is happening from one of the robots. Basically, they plan on dragging the entire island of Manhattan out to sea, and ransoming it for a large amount of money, and if that money is not paid, sinking it entirely. This is all Spidey needs to hear, and he breaks his chains. Herc quickly follows, and the two heroes, when Teamed up, are quickly able to take the robots down. Hercules ends up ripping one of the robots open to find old men inside, who speak in fearful tones about "They," but we never get any resolving within the story itself, as Hercules basically drags the island of Manhattan back to its proper place by himself. The story ends with the then current NYC mayor bitching at Spidey and Herc about the damage done, and the two heroes basically call him ungrateful and walk away....and that's pretty much it. Once again, I was totally ready to tear this issue apart for that, at least until I looked at the "Behind the Scenes" facts on the site I get the issue synopses from. That clued me in that the "They" the old men were referring to, and the group behind these old men getting these robotic outfits in the first place, were, of course, the shadowy group that's been behind a lot of unexplained things that have taken place in the pages of MTU, They Who Weld Power. Unfortunately, this whole sub plot doesn't ever really get paid off in the pages of this book, but rather a MUCH later issue of THE INCREDIBLE HULK. Still, it is at least a little bit of explanation to a story that had me literally shaking my head in a "WTF?" manner at the end of it. With the explanation, though, it at least knocks the story back up to a "B" level....well, probably a "B-," but, hey, a "B" is a "B." I'm hoping the next story will be better, as it will be another Human Torch led issue. The Torch's Guest Star? An Avenger that we haven't seen in the pages of this book since Gerry Conway's last run. GRADE: B-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 7, 2020 0:50:29 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #29"Beware the Coming of... Infinitus! or How Can You Stop the Reincarnated Man?"Cover Date: Jan, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: The Human Torch & Iron Man Villain/s: Infinitus (Only Appearance) Guest Stars: Francis William Maxwell, Michael Rogers' brother, & an Unnamed Liberian (Only Appearance of all) Official Plot:Calling the Fantastic Four for help, Iron Man is disappointed to find that only the Human Torch is available to answer the call. Changing to Tony Stark, Iron Man explains to the Torch that his plants have been attacked by a costumed being calling himself Infinitus. Previously fighting this foe as Iron Man, Stark was easily defeated by this opponent who claims to be the reincarnation of Pharoah Amenemhet III of the 11th dynasty in Egypt. After an attempt on Tony Stark's life, Iron Man begins working on a new device, while the Torch reads up on all he can learn about Pharoah Amenemhet. Tracking down Infitinitus, the two heroes defeat Infinitius, and reveal him as Michael Rodger, brother of a Stark employee who was killed in one of the accidents. After Infinitius is turned over to the police, Iron Man thanks the Torch for his help and the Torch departs. Brodie's View:Yeesh, what happened to the Gerry Conway from his first run on this book? So far, I feel like a child that's dealing with a Step Dad that's a HUGE step down from the previous Step Dad, as while not all of Len Wein's stories were Amazing, the good far outweighed the bad. So far, since Gerry Conway has came back on the book, we've had last issue's wet fart of an issue, and this issue, which is kind of more of a dry fart, so, a little better, I guess. I will say that this is the era where Iron Man, for some strange reason (actually, Stan Lee was the one that suggested this, and then instantly backtracked when he actually got a look at how dumb it looked) had a nose on his armor, which looks pretty silly most of the time, although, perhaps I wouldn't say that if his armor had the nose on it from the start. Who knows? Anyways, this is kind of a Human Torch/Iron Man Team Up, although, I can't really see why, but I'll get back to all of that in a second. This story basically starts with The Human Torch answering Tony Stark's call for help, only to be insulted by Iron Man for not being Reed Richards. This causes the two to start arguing until Iron Man settles it down by telling Johnny why he called him. See, someone keeps trying to take out Tony Stark (who secretly Is Iron Man, but very few people know that at this point), who is always with his assistant when these attacks happen....that's important for later. After another attack attempt later, the Torch discovers that the attacker is a new villain calling himself Infinitus, who claims to be a reincarnated Egyptian Pharaoh from the 11th Dynasty. This sends The Human Torch to....the library, while Tony Stark/Iron Man just kind of manipulates the Torch into doing all of this (of course, this begs the question as to why Stark couldn't have just done all of this himself?), and eventually the Torch talks to Stark's assistant. We find out that Infinitus' target has been the assistant, rather than Stark (which begs the question as to why he wouldn't just catch the assistant when he was alone and simply kill him, rather than trying to take out the Iron Man protected Tony Stark at the same time?), and it doesn't take that much digging to find out that Infintus has been the brother of the assistant all along, and....yeah, who cares? Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, I think last issue was actually better than this issue. This was just a waste of the Torch and Iron Man teaming up. Not a badly written story, as far as dialogue goes, but just kind of a waste of a story. I suppose after a strong start to the series, we're in kind of the dead zone right now, but like MARVEL TWO IN ONE before it, things will pick back up as we start to approach #50. I can guarantee that. For the mean time, it looks like we're stuck with some Meh issues, but I hope I'm wrong about that, because I hate spending these reviews just tearing things apart. That's not why I do these. I'm hoping the next issue will be better, as Spidey will be back, teaming with a character that started out as Captain America's sidekick before kind of evolving into a cool character on his own terms. GRADE: C
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 8, 2020 0:40:36 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #30"All That Glitters Is Not Gold!"Cover Date: Feb, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Falcon Villain/s: Midas (Only Appearance) Guest Stars: Redwing, Gloria Grant, Ramon Grant, & Harrison J. Merriwell (Only Appearance of the Last Two) Official Plot:After a patrol, Peter Parker is changing out of his Spider-Man costume when he hears a scream from the streets below. Dutifully putting his mask back on, Peter spots his neighbor, Glory Grant being attacked by a group of men. Spider-Man gets between Glory and her attackers. Worried about having another false murder accusation lobbed against him, the wall-crawler pulls his punches on these thugs, even though they are coming at him at full force. Dodging a bullet, Spider-Man knocks out the attackers, with some assistance from Glory Grant. Now that Glory is safe, she asks Spider-Man to do her a favor and carry her attackers up to her apartment. The web-slinger complies to this strange request, and when he asks why he learns that one of these thugs is her cousin, Ramon. As she starts telling him that this is a family affair that she must deal with alone, Ramon suddenly wakes up and tries to attack them again. Noticing the youth is in a trance, Spider-Man wraps him up in webbing to stop him from hurting anyone. Suddenly, Ramon snaps out of it and tells them what happened to him. He explains that he and his friends went to a local nightclub where they were grabbed and drugged by some goons. They were then taken into the back of the establishment where a man in a gold suit sprayed them with something, and that was the last thing he remembered. Glory heard about this golden man, and how there were rumors about him wanting to wipe out African-Americans. Hearing this, Spider-Man is furious and decides to deal with this mystery foe and swings off. With Spider-Man gone, Glory places a call to the office of Sam Wilson in Harlem. Hoping it's Captain America, Wilson instead learns that it is from Glory Grant. After she tells Sam everything she knows, Wilson changes into the Falcon and goes out to investigate this new lead. The two heroes descend on the nightclub, unaware of each other until they both come crashing in through the main entrence. Their foe, a golden garbed man named Midas, orders his men to kill them. While Spider-Man webs up on half of the shooters, the Falcon tangles up the rest in a massive show curtain. During the confusion, Midas escapes, leaving the heroes to try and get answers from his minions. The Falcon tells Spider-Man to let him talk to the thugs as he speaks their language. Going outside, Spider-Man hears the sound of a ruckas inside as the Falcon beats the location of their employer out of them. When the Falcon emerges from the club, he tells Spider-Man that Midas is actually Harrison Merriwell. This comes to a shock to Spider-Man, as Merriwell is a well-known philanthropist. The pair travel to Merriwell's estate located in a suburb of Connecticuit and decide the best way to announce their presence is to come up and ring the doorbell. The butler is surprised to see two costumed individuals standing on the door, and invites them in anyway. No sooner are they inside, Spider-Man and the Falcon are struck from behind. When the pair awaken, they find themselvse shackled to the floor of a walkin freezer. There they are then confronted by Midas who tells them that he is leaving them to freeze to death, saying that they are as insane as his brother. As Midas turns to leave, Spider-Man fires some wedging the door, preventing it from closing all the way. As the temperature starts to drop, Spider-Man's webbing begins to expand, causing it to force the door open. The noise draws down people who are attending a party downstairs. Upstairs, they accuse Harrison's brother Malcolm of being Midas and trying to murder them. Malcom denies this but when the two heroes try to apprehend him, he fights back. Admitting that he did so to prevent his brother from squandering their fortune on the unfortunate. While trying to fight back, Malcolm is knocked out of a window when the Falcon literally pulls the rug out from under him, sending him into the river below the window. Harrison is not surprised that his brother was doing this, and fears that he is somehow responsible because he didn't pay enough attention to his brother. The Falcon and Spider-Man tell him that all Midas ever cared about was gold. Brodie's View:In many ways, this issue seems like kind of a do over of last issue, although, with much better results. Perhaps that's because Spider-Man is back to being the star of the story, as The Human Torch isn't quite as easy to instantly relate to and root for as Spidey is. Perhaps it's also due to the Guest Star for this issue, The Falcon, allows to use this one shot story to touch on a much deeper subject; rich white people funding the pushing of drugs into the black community. Going back to the Falcon for a second, this seems to be during a period where Sam wasn't partnering up with Captain America, and instead is running a community outreach center, while also doubling as a neighborhood crime fighter. This definitely ties into the main jist of this story, and I will also give Gerry Conway props for linking a member of Spidey's supporting cast, Gloria Grant, into the mix, as it makes the story not seem as One Shot as last story's was. Anyways, this story starts with Spidey rescuing Gloria from a gang of youths (one of which she's related to) who seem to be all hopped up on something that makes them into little more than crazed psychos. Once the teens detox, Spidey and Gloria find out that they were forcefully dosed with this insanity drug by a masked white man that refers to himself as Midas. As Spider-Man leaves to investigate this lead, Gloria makes a call to Sam Wilson, which brings the Falcon into the story. The two heroes eventually find themselves at the same spot, walking into an ambush, but the Teaming up of said heroes overcomes the ambush, and eventually they find themselves heading to the home of a rich philanthropist that donates a nice chunk of money to various liberal causes, including the black community. At first, Spidey and Sam suspects this rich man of secretly funding this insanity drug, but they quickly discover that it is the brother of the man who is secretly Midas, as Midas hates the fact that his brother would give some of his money to "the lesser types," but a nice sock in the jaw, and being propelled out the window (and into the river below) by our heroes ends things for old Midas, who is never seen again, story wise. I wouldn't say this issue is up to the standard of some of the Best issues we've had of this series so far, but it's a HELL of a lot better than the last two issues were, and makes me feel a little bit better about having to review several more Conway written issues before our new writer takes over. Speaking of future issues, or more specifically, Next Issue, we'll see Spider-Man teaming up with a "newer" character; one taking his cue from America's love of Kung Fu at the time, but also a character that has endured over the years. Heck, he even appeared in a couple of Netflix series recently. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 8, 2020 22:19:43 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #31"For a Few Fists More!"Cover Date: March, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Jim Mooney Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Iron Fist Villain/s: Drom the Backwards Man (Only Appearance; Dies) Guest Stars: None Official Plot:Peter Parker is sitting down in a diner for a meal that is suddenly interrupted when Iron Fist kicks the mugger through a window into the restaraunt. Parker watches in awe as Iron Fist easily disarms the knife weilding man and steps out once the fight is done. Curious about this martial artist, Peter slips into a nearby alley to change into Spider-Man and follow after him so he can snap photos for the Daily Bugle. As Spider-Man follows after Iron Fist, he is unaware that the both are being observed by a strange man who speaks backwards. This is Drom the Backward Man, and he believes that these two heroes can provide him with enough power to continue living and follows after them. In order to accomplish this, the man uses a ray device to snap Spider-Man's web and cause him to land on top of Iron Fist. Thinking that this is an attack, Iron Fist strikes back. Spider-Man's speed allows him to dodge a kick that is powerful enough to knock down a lamp post. Sure enough the two heroes begin to fight each other, much to Drom's delight. However, Spider-Man has a cooler head and uses his webbing to tie up Iron Fist. After explaining that someone shot his web, the pair agree to compare notes. Iron Fist rips free of the webbing and the pair sit down at a nearby playground to compare notes. Furious that they are no longer fighting, Drom uses his weapon to transform the sand around them into a massive four armed sand creature. Iron Fist is knocked out in the opening salvo, but Spider-Man manages to get the upper hand when he wraps the sand creature in webbing. Suddenly it is destroyed by Drom who reveals himself to his two targets. Spider-Man tries to fire a web at their foe, but it disintegrates before making contact with Drom. While Spider-Man is still confused, Drom blasts him, knocking the hero out. Spider-Man later wakes up in Drom's lab and finds himself tied to a chair. Using a device that translates his words, Drom explains his origins to the confined hero. He explains that after his birth, due to some bizarre twist of fate, he turned from an infant to an old man. Drom quickly learned that he was aging backward and began inventing the technology he needed to keep himself alive, from devices that transform food into material his reversed metabolism can eat, and drain the energies from people and objects that is reflected back at a specially made mirror that slows his reversed aging process. That's why he instigated the battle between Spider-Man and Iron Fist, in order to draw the power he needed. Now with Spider-Man his prisoner, Drom will drain the hero of all his energy. As Drom activates the device, Iron Fist comes crashing through the wall, having followed Drom from the scene of their battle. After knocking Drom aside, Iron Fist frees Spider-Man and after Iron Fist is warned not to touch Drom, the pair quickly figure out a way to defeat their foe: the mirror. Grabbing the looking glass, the pair smash it on the ground. Suddenly, Drom begins to rapidly de-age until he no longer exists. In the aftermath of the battle, Spider-Man and Iron Fist find it hard to remember their ordeal, as though all memory of Drom is being erased. Hoping to keep some kind of record of the battle, Peter Parker returns to his apartment and records his account in the hope he will always remember this strange battle. Brodie's View:Okay, so far we're 2 for 2, as far as Good Stories Vs. Bad Stories go in the second run for Gerry Conway in this series, as this issue is actually pretty fun. I was kind of expecting some kung fu related villain/supporting characters in this story, but honestly, the only kung fu related thing in this story was the Guest Star himself (Iron Fist). The villain of this story is a One and Done-er named Drom The Backwards Man, who is part Benjamin Button, part Dorian Gray, and part Parasite, as he is a man that was born as an old man at the end of his life, and then ages backwards. In fact, his condition is so severe that anything he touches just dissolves, and he must absorb the energy of powered characters to slow the de-aging process. This is what creates the Team Up in this issue, as after Peter Parker witnesses Iron Fist kicking the shit out of some rough necks in a New York diner, he (as Spider-Man) is manipulated into getting into a brief fight with Iron Fist by Drom, who is secretly after Spidey. Once the two heroes figure this out, they break off to compare notes, but are attacked by a sand creature created by Drom. However, the sand creature is merely a diversion that allows Drom (who pretty much speaks backwards for most of the issue....lol) to capture Spidey, and after a bit of monologuing, as Drom tells his backstory, Drom gets down to trying to steal Spider-Man's life force. However, Iron Fist was secretly tracking the both of them, and after freeing Spidey, the two end up dropping Drom's wall of mirrors (which kind of keeps his aging at least somewhat in check, as it reminds Drom of how he's supposed to look) on him. This causes Drom to completely de-age into being a baby again, and then he fades into nothingness. At the end of the story, we find that Drom's vanishing didn't just stop with him, as basically Spider-Man (and we can assume, Iron Fist) completely forgets about fighting Drom in the first place, and the only thing he retains from this story is the knowledge of Iron Fist's existence. Once again, I wouldn't rank this story up there with some of the best of this series so far, but it was a heck of a lot of fun, as Drom definitely makes an interesting "One and Done" type of villain. Plus, Spidey and Iron Fist make a surprisingly good duo, which is probably why they would end up teaming up together quite a bit over the years (Heck, Iron Fist is even a supporting character on the ULTIMATE SPIDER-MAN animated series). We'll see if Gerry Conway can keep up the Two Story momentum as we move into the next issue, which will once again be a Human Torch led issue (we're almost done with those....Thank Goodness). The Torch's Guest Star will be another supernaturally based character that spun out of the massive influx of supernatural characters that invaded Marvel in the first half of the 1970's.....but one that hasn't appeared in this book yet, so, that should narrow the identity of this character down quite a bit. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 9, 2020 15:11:50 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #32"All the Fires in Hell...!"Cover Date: April, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: The Human Torch & Daimon Hellstrom: The Son of Satan Villain/s: Dryminextes (Only Appearance) Guest Stars: The Thing, Wyatt Wingfoot, Katherine Reynolds, The Keewazi (Silent Fox, and others) Official Plot:While hanging around the Baxter Building, the Thing tells the Human Torch about his recent run-in with the Son of Satan while investigating a situation in Lawless, Arizona. This reminds Johnny that he hasn't seen his friend Wyatt Wingfoot in a long time now that he had returned to his people of the Keewazi, who are also located in Arizona. When Johnny contacts Wyatt, Wyatt attacks the monitor, and Johnny is advised by Silent Fox that Wyatt has been possessed by some unknown force. Remembering what Ben told him about Daimon Hellstrom, Johnny flies to St. Louis and asks Daimon for his assistance in exorcising whatever has possessed Wyatt Wingfoot. Arriving at the Keewazi reservation, Daimon quickly exorcises the possessed Wyatt. However, he and the Torch soon learn that the entire tribe has been possessed by Dryminextes. During their battle against the possessed Keewazi, Daimon himself is soon possessed by Dryminextes as well. Regaining control of himself, Daimon instructs Johnny that light is the demon's weakness. The Torch then saves the day by unleashing a powerful nova blast which brightens up the night sky and frees the entire tribe from Dryminextes' control. After the battle, Daimon bids Johnny and Wyatt farewell and walks off into the darkness. Brodie's View:Okay, so, maybe Gerry Conway just had a shaky start with his return to writing MARVEL TEAM UP, because other than those first two Bleugh issues, it's been pretty smooth sailing since then. This story being another example of that, as it is also pretty fun, even though the teaming of The Human Torch and The Son of Satan seems like a pretty bizarre one, Conway actually delivers a pretty solid story with this duo. I will say another bonus for this issue, and quite a few issues to come for the near future, is the addition of the Great Sal Buscema as the regular artist (until an even Greater artist takes over for him about twenty or so issues from now ). Now, this is nothing against Jim Mooney, who I would argue is one of the unsung heroes, artist wise, of the 1970's Marvel product, as the dude was always a great fill in artist when the regular one split or had to take time off, but Sal's work is just on that higher level. Anyways, this issue starts off by actually referencing another Team Up with Daimon Hellstrom, this one taking place in the pages of the second TEAM UP book Marvel would release in the 70's, MARVEL TWO IN ONE (#8, to be specific), which I reviewed a few years earlier. Of course, this gets us a nice little Thing cameo in this book, which is always fun, but it also plants the seed in the star (at least for this issue) of this particular book, The Human Torch, to seek out Hellstrom when his long time friend, Wyatt Wingfoot, appears to be possessed ( ). After seeking the Son of Satan out, the two travel to the village of the Keewazi tribe (of which Wyatt is a member) to find out that Wyatt is indeed possessed by some sort of demon. Daimon cures Wyatt, but the demon/s end up just jumping into the bodies of the rest of the tribe, and the two heroes (if The Son of Satan could really be called a Hero) end up having to fight off a village of possessed people. This eventually causes Daimon to give in to his Son of Satan nature, and he starts trying to kill the villagers. He then turns on Johnny when he tries to stop him, and tries to strangle the poor boy to death. Eventually, Daimon comes to his senses, and finds a way to remove the demons, who reveal that luring Hellstrom to the village, and forcing him to lose control was their goal all along. The story ends with Hellstrom walking away, kind of defeated, as he realizes that he was easily manipulated into giving in to his demonic side. Pretty cool story, and I actually think this was probably the best usage of Hellstrom in a Team Up type of situation (well, until his Guest Spots in HOWARD THE DUCK, but that would come later), as Conway didn't try to overcomplicate things. It was just a simple, yet fun, story that got both of its characters over to the best of their abilities, and it was cool seeing the Human Torch having to deal with a purely supernatural threat (or threats). Very solid. Anyways, we'll see Spider-Man return in the next issue, and he'll be teaming with a Defender that was one of Marvel's many attempts to try and make their own Batman type of character. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 10, 2020 16:50:11 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #33"Anybody Here Know a Guy Named Meteor Man?"Cover Date: May, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Nighthawk Villain/s: The Meteor Man & The Innocents of God (Jeremiah)---(1st Appearance of the last) Guest Stars: Ivan Carmichael & Bill Gordon (Only Appearance/In Flashback Only for the last) Official Plot:When returning home, Nighthawk finds that his apartment is being robbed by the Looter, who steals a meteor fragment from Nighthawk's private safe before fleeing. Reviewing his private library, Nighthawk learns of the Looter's past and of his previous battle with Spider-Man. Coincidentally, as Nighthawk searches the city for the Looter, he comes across Spider-Man, who is out trying to find the Scorpion. After an accidental collision, Spider-Man agrees to help Nighthawk find the Looter. As Nighthawk goes to the prison to learn how the Looter managed to escape from jail, Spider-Man scours the city to find their quarry. Nighthawk learns that Norton Fester was a model prisoner, until one of his fellow inmates jeering about Fester being a loser caused him to lose his temper, reactivating his super-strength and allowing him to escape. Spider-Man, however, doesn't find much more than a strange religious cult that worships a man named Jeramiah in his searches. However, the Looter gets the drop on him soon enough. During Spider-Man's fight with the Looter, the Looter manages to get the best of him and escape, and the arriving Nighthawk saves Spider-Man. Angered that the Looter got away, Spider-Man lashes out at Nighthawk and calls him a coward, upon which Nighthawk strikes Spider-Man. The two part on bad terms, and Spider-Man leaves to continue his hunt for the Scorpion. While the two heroes depart, the cult's leader Jeramiah arrives to his followers and tell them that Spider-Man is a symbol of modern-day evil that must be destroyed. Brodie's View:Gerry Conway ends his run with Two Three Part stories, and this is the First part of the first Three parter. This first Three Part-er will deal with The Defenders, or at least all the Team Up's will involve members of that group dealing with villains that are introduced/re-introduced in this issue. The first major one we'll be dealing with is a villain that previously was known as The Looter, but who officially becomes The Meteor Man (no relation to the 90's movie, which Marvel also did a comic book adaptation of) after stealing a rare piece of a meteor from our Guest Star from this issue, Nighthawk. In addition to being a Defender, Nighthawk was one of Marvel's first attempts to create a Batman type of character, as Nighthawk is basically a rich guy that plays crimefighter in his spare time, although, he's not as driven as Batman. That last bit definitely plays a role in this story, as Nighthawk comes home just in time to see the former Looter stealing his rock (although, why he would have a high powerful piece of meteor just sitting out in the open in his house in the first place? Not very smart, Kyle.), and spends most of the rest of the issue finding out that the Meteor Man is more insane than evil. This causes him to basically just walk away from doing anything about the Meteor Man, which pisses Spider-Man off (although, Spidey spends most of this issue pissed off, but I'll get back to that in a second), as Nighthawk was the one who sought Spidey's help in the first place. While this issue isn't terrible, there are some character things that make it an annoying read. The first I kind of touched on, as one kind of wonders what Kyle Richmond's (subtle naming...lol) commitment to even being a superhero is, as a nice chunk of the villains out there are more mentally ill than straight out evil, and if one is going to use that as a reason for dipping out on bringing him to justice, then why bother with any of them? Maybe there's a reasoning for all of this later in the story, but it just makes Nighthawk look totally worthless here. The other major annoying thing in this issue is Spider-Man himself, as he spends the entire issue just pissed off and looking to argue and fight with everyone (he ends up instantly attacking Nighthawk, when Kyle comes for his help). Granted, this is when he was starting to go through the original Clone story in his own book, so, he's not in the best of moods for this story, but still, an angry pissed off Spider-Man is not a fun one to read, and it just makes things even more difficult to really invest in as a reader. I will say that another major thing that gets introduced here, and will play a bigger role as this story goes on, is the introduction of a religious cult called The Innocents of God, which is led by a suspicious man named Jeremiah, who I imagine will become a much bigger threat once The Meteor Man has been taken care of. Speaking of which, in the next issue, Spider-Man will indeed do battle with The Meteor Man, and he'll be teaming with a Defender who will hopefully prove to be more willing to help take down this powerful villain than Nighthawk's bitch ass was. GRADE: B
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 12, 2020 20:23:57 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #34"Beware the Death Crusade!"Cover Date: June, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Valkyrie Villain/s: The Meteor Man & The Innocents of God (Jeremiah) Guest Stars: Nighthawk, Aragorn, NYPD Officers (Ralph McElroy & Luis Dominquez---both die) Official Plot:As Spider-Man sits and mulls over the supposed return of Gwen Stacy, he is attacked once again by the Looter/Meteor Man, who easily defeats the distracted Spider-Man and dumps him in New York harbor. Meanwhile, at the private riding academy of Kyle Richmond, Nighthawk (Richmond himself) meets with his fellow Defender, Valkyrie. Explaining his anger over his previous encounter with Spider-Man, when Nighthawk informs Valkyrie that he let the Meteor Man go free, Valkyrie flies off on Aragorn to capture him. While elsewhere in the city, Jeremiah's church the Innocents of God are having a gathering that generates enough noise to attract the attention of a couple of police officers. When they try to interrupt the night's worship, Jeremiah destroys them with a bolt of mystical energy. Spider-Man, web-slinging through the city, picks up a police report of the Meteor Man making another robbery. Deciding to check it out for himself, he offers his aid to the police. When Valkyrie arrives and offers her help, Spider-Man refuses and goes in alone. However, as Spider-Man battles the Meteor Man, Valkyrie enters the room and tries to help. Outnumbered, the Meteor Man flees the scene. When Valkyrie and Spider-Man free the shop owner they learn that the Meteor Man sought a statue made out of meteor stone. Chasing after the Meteor Man, the two heroes attack him in the air, and are able to send him crashing down to the ground, knocking him unconscious. When turning the Meteor Man in and explaining to Valkyrie about the Meteor Man's need for psychiatric help, Spider-Man is watched by Jeremiah. Brodie's View:Okay, I'm glad I lightened up a bit and changed my grade slightly for the last issue, as this one redeems it somewhat. It's almost as if Gerry Conway realized he went a little too unpleasant with both Spider-Man and the main story, so, he ends up addressing both throughout this story. First, Spider-Man, who realizes that he was being a SUPER dick in the last issue, despite the various issues going on in his own book. Then again, it's probably good for Spidey that he decided to check his attitude, because something tells me that this issue's Guest Star, Valkyrie, wouldn't have taken his abuse as well as last issue's Guest Star, bitch ass Nighthawk, did. Speaking of Nighthawk, we basically get Valkyrie calling him out for his chumping out at helping Spidey track down the Meteor Man (after basically kickstarting the investigation against the 4th rate villain himself) at the end of the last issue, and flies off to help Spider-Man, as she feels she's fulfilling an obligation that Nighthawk should have seen through, which is absolutely right. Go F*** yourself, Nighthawk....lol. Of course, Spider-Man is better having Valkyrie fighting by her side instead of Kyle Bitchboy, as she makes a more capable partner, taking the fight to MM as much as Spider-Man does. Heck, she's basically the one that lands the "killshot" that takes Meteor Man out, which I'll get to in a second. Most of this issue is dedicated to finishing off the Meteor Man story off, as he was only ever a red herring; a typical costumed villain to distract from what the REAL threat is, and that threat is the psychotic "Priest," Jeremiah, and his Innocents of God religious cult. We see him waste a couple of cops that try to put an end to one of his religious ceremonies, and we get little hints throughout the issue that he might have his eye on sacrificing a hero. We will certainly see him try next issue, but we'll get back to that in a bit. First, let's get back to the Meteor Man, who attacks Spidey at the start, and proves to be quite the physical threat to both him and Valkyrie. The two heroes spend most of the issue (other than our Jeremiah subplot breaks) trying to stop MM from getting other pieces of the meteorite that amped up his powers, and amping them up even more. Of course, a major strike against MM succeeding in his plan, and in fact the very thing that costs him the victory in this issue, is his choice of...lol....transportation. See, the Meteor Man, by himself, can't fly, so, he uses a combination of a large glider balloon and a jet pack to fuel the balloon. He probably should have just gotten a better jet pack, as the balloon makes him just a large target for any hero that can also fly, and especially one that carries a sharp object with them as a weapon, like Valkyrie, who finally just pops MM's balloon, sending him crashing to the Earth like...yeah, you guessed it. Lol. But once again, the Meteor Man was merely a red herring, so, his getting completely owned at the end of the Second Part of a Three Part story isn't that worrisome. No, as I said earlier, the threat is and always really was Jeremiah and his Innocents of God, and we'll see them take the main stage in the next issue against The Human Torch, who leads the title for the Last time, and another Defender that is the perfect person to call against a supernatural threat like Jeremiah. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 13, 2020 23:08:31 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #35"Blood Church! Chapter One Dark Immortal!"Cover Date: July, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: The Human Torch & Doctor Strange Villain/s: The Innocents of God (Jeremiah) & Oruthu (Only Appearance of the 2nd) Guest Stars: Valkyrie, Clea, & Ivan Carmichael Official Plot:With Spider-Man and Valkyrie missing after their battle with the Meteor Man, a troubled Dr. Strange looks out for allies to help him look for them. Understanding that the Human Torch is one of Spider-Man's closest friends, Dr. Strange seeks out the Torch and enlists him in helping find Valkyrie and Spider-Man. While the Human Torch goes to search the Meteor Man's last known address, Dr. Strange goes to the prison where he was held to learn more. When the Torch arrives at Norton Fester's former apartment, he finds himself confronted by Jeremiah and his followers the Innocents of God. Jeremiah, having waited for someone to show up looking for Valkyrie, and finding the Torch suitable for his purposes, knocks out the Torch with his mystical eye bolts. The Torch wakes up to find that Valkyrie is being used for a mystical ceremony that Jeremiah is conducting. Freeing himself and trying to stop it, the Torch is once more knocked out by a mystical bolt from Jeremiah. Meanwhile, Dr. Strange's trip to the prison turns out to be a dead end when the warden won't let Strange see the Meteor Man. Leaving, Strange picks up the presence of evil magic near the city and checks it out in his astral form. Strange is then pulled into another dimension where he finds Valkryie's soul being tormented by demons. Strange fights the demons off before returning to his human body. Meanwhile, the Torch revives and frees himself, and uses his flame powers in order to prevent Jeremiah from using his followers in a sacrifice. During the battle, Dr. Strange arrives, and with his superior mystical skill, easily over-powers Jeremiah and banishes him to the realm of the demons he really worshipped. Brodie's View:We get the last part of this little Defenders related Three Parter here with the final confrontation (well, also the first real confrontation, but that's besides the point) with Jeremiah and his Innocents of God cult. I will say, first off, that even though this is technically a Human Torch led issue, actually it's the "Guest Star," Doctor Strange, who is the focal character here, as he basically seeks out the Torch to team with him. The reasoning for this is that both Spider-Man and Valkyrie vanished sometime immediately after the events of last issue. Spider-Man's disappearance apparently factors in with something happening in his own book, as we never get an answer for it here. Valkyrie, however, we find out has been kidnapped by Jeremiah, who plans to sacrifice her to appease the "God" he worships. Strange reasons that a possible answer might come from the Meteor Man, who is back in prison after having his balloon both figuratively and literally popped by Spidey and Valkyrie. However, like Meteor Man's role in this story as a whole, any answers he could have to give are kind of pointless, as Jeremiah has been the Big Bad all along. In fact, the only role the Meteor Man plays in this story is splitting Strange and Johnny up, which allows the Torch to be captured by Jeremiah and his cult. Strange is oblivious to this until almost midway through this issue, as he is too busy following up on the Meteor Man lead. Meanwhile, the Torch comes to as Valkyrie is about to be sacrificed, and tries to fight Jeremiah, but is taken down by his "Holy" eye beams, and doused with Holy Water to ensure he doesn't Flame On again. Doctor Strange, realizing that something is wrong, enters a supernatural dimension where he finds Valkyrie's soul being tortured by demons due to Jeremiah's actions, and it is finally after this that Strange makes a beeline for Jeremiah, aiding the Torch in taking him down. It turns out that none of Jeremiah's powers were actually supernaturally based, but rather Jeremiah was a mutant who was able to feed off the mental energies of the youth he enthralled. However, he did end up summoning demons with his supernatural mania, and after Strange sends Jeremiah to them as the sacrifice he intended first Spidey, and then Valkyrie to be, we find out at the very end of the issue that he will spend an eternity being tortured by the very demons he worshipped. Talk about a villain getting their just desserts. This was a decent Three Parter that started out kind of weak, but got stronger as it went on. The ending was probably the best part, which is always a better thing to have a weak start and a strong ending rather than the reverse of that. In the next issue, we'll see the return of Spidey, as well as the first part of a Two Part story (I was wrong in the last review when I said it was a Three Part-er....sorry) that will end up the second run of Gerry Conway, as well as teaming Spider-Man up with.....MONSTERS(!!!). Should be fun. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 14, 2020 22:25:01 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #36"Once Upon a Time, in a Castle..."Cover Date: Aug, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Frankenstein's Monster Villain/s: The Monster Maker--Ludwig von Shtupf (1st Appearance) Guest Stars: Man-Wolf, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Agent 324 (Judith Klemmer)---1st Appearance of)/(The Following are all in Recap form only) Victor Frankenstein, Derek McDowell, Dracula, Ralph Caccone, & The Clone Creature Official Plot:Swinging in to stop a bunch of crooks making a robbery, Spider-Man is struck from behind by a ray beam and is knocked unconscious. Reviving, he finds himself bound to a table next to the Frankenstein Monster and soon learns that he is the prisoner of Ludwig von Shtupf, the Monster-Maker. Spider-Man breaks free and he and the Frankenstein Monster escape. Finding themselves in the mountains, the Monster tells Spider-Man of his origins, which in spite of being incredible to the wall-crawler, Spider-Man accepts in light of his experience with the Gwen Stacy clone. When they see a lone woman being attacked by von Shtupf's men, Spider-Man and the Frankenstein Monster come to her rescue and fight off the men, only to find themselves knocked out by gas. Coming around, they learn that the woman -- Judith Klemmer -- is an agent of SHIELD, who is on assignment to stop the Monster Maker, as he intends to try and take over the world with an army of monsters. The trio agrees to storm von Shtupf's castle, with Spider-Man and Klemmer going in through the back, and the Frankenstein Monster through the front gate. While Spider-Man and Klemmer get in quietly, the Frankenstein Monster simply walks into the castle, beating any opposing force in his way. He arrives last and walks in on von Shtupf just as he is unleashing his other prisoner against Spider-Man and Klemmer: The Man-Wolf. Brodie's View:I will say that despite a shaky start, Gerry Conway seems to be trying to end his 2nd run on a high note, as this is the best issue we've gotten from him in this 2nd run. Maybe that's because Conway is teaming Spidey up with the Marvelized versions of the Classic Universal Monsters, and I love me some Classic Universal Monsters. Take this issue for instance, which has our Web Slinging hero teaming up with the Friggin' Frankenstein('s) Monster, although, I will say this Monster seems more influenced by the actual Mary Shelley version of the character, rather than any of the film versions up to that point (although, he very much resembles the classic Karloff version in appearance). The biggest examples of this are his intelligence, his ability to speak, as well as his humanity, which in the Marvel Universe compels him to go out and fight evil. How the two characters end up Teaming up is due to the actions of a Mad Scientist (can't have a classic Universal Horror story without one of those ) that calls himself The Monster Maker, who kidnaps both Spidey and "Frank" in order to use them to create an army of monsters. Of course, he doesn't count on Spidey being as strong as he is, and he is able to easily break out and escape with Frank. This leads us to a nice little bonding moment between the two, as Frank recounts his origin, both from the original novel, as well as the events that happened in his own short lived series. This moment doesn't last for long, as the two heroes see a woman being threatened by the Monster Maker's cronies, however, after saving her, she gases them and takes them back to her place. See, this woman is an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D,. and that organization has had their eyes on the Monster Maker for some time. Hearing all of this, Spidey and Frank agree to help her, but when they try to invade the Monster Maker's castle, they find that the MM had captured a new monster to use in his experiments; one that Spider-Man knows quite well....THE MAN WOLF(!!!). This sets up a big monster (and Spidey) throwdown to end off Gerry Conway's 2nd run before we get a new regular writer (but one long time readers of these reviews will recognize ), but as I said at the beginning of the review, he plans on going out WELL. In the next issue.....do I really have to say it? Spider-Man and The Frankenstein('s) Monster vs. The Man Wolf, with every one else kind of caught in the middle(!!!). GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 15, 2020 22:42:08 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #37"Snow Death!"Cover Date: Sept, 1975 Writer: Gerry Conway Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Man-Wolf Villain/s: The Monster Maker--Ludwig von Shtupf Guest Stars: Frankenstein Monster, S.H.I.E.L.D. (Agent 324 (Judith Klemmer)) Official Plot:Ludwig von Shtupf has just unleashed the Man-Wolf on Spider-Man, S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Judith Klemmer, and Frankenstein's Monster. After a brief battle with the Man-Wolf, the creature grabs agent Klemmer and smashes out of a window, escaping into the mountains. Before Spider-Man and Frankenstein's Monster can go after them, they are knocked out by von Stupf. Waking up shackled to a device, von Sthupf reveals his plan: With his dissector device, he plans on breaking down Spider-Man, Frankenstein's Monster, and Man-Wolf into their base components and create an army of monster. Meanwhile, the Man-Wolf brings Klemmer to a remote part of the mountains, where the beast defends her from attacking wolves. When she believes the Man-Wolf is trying to make her its mate, she convinces it to get her food. While the creature catches her some food, she escapes into the woods hoping to get to safety. Meanwhile, Spider-Man and Frankenstein's Monster manages to break out of their shackles and get the drop on the sleeping von Shtupf. Leaving Frank behind to watch over von Shtupf, Spider-Man goes after the Man-Wolf and Klemmer. He finds and battles the Man-Wolf until Judith is once more attacked by wolves. The Man-Wolf rescues her again, but is seriously injured and falls off a cliff, but is saved by Spider-Man. Afterwards, the Man-Wolf is taken into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, when Spider-Man talks about how hard it must be for somebody to love a monster, Frankenstein's Monster -- unintentionally hurt by Spider-Man's comments -- walks away from the scene, Spider-Man doesn't realize the damage he's done until after they notice that the Monster is not aboard the S.H.I.E.L.D. ship when it lifts off. Brodie's View:The end of the Gerry Conway run (his 2nd) has arrived. The next issue will bring us a new regular writer (one, as I said in the last review, that will be familiar to long time readers of these reviews) and a brand new direction (and a LOT of multi part stories), but first we must finish up with a Monster Mash, so to speak. Spider-Man and The Frankenstein Monster end up facing off against The Man-Wolf (and through him, The Monster Maker, Ludwig von Shtupf...lol), and both seem to be holding their own until the Man Wolf sees S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, Judith Klemmer, who he quickly runs off with, leaving our two heroes at the mercy of Von Shtupf, who knocks them out and restrains them once again. We then finally get Von Shtupf's MASTER PLAN, which involves basically Frankensteining new monsters from the base materials of Spidey, Frank, and the Man-Wolf. Of course, as a silly villain like Von Shtupf would reliably do, he leaves them (to take a nap...lol) to find a way to escape, and Spidey and Frank catch the supposed Monster Maker napping. Spidey webs him to his own chair, causing Von Shtupf to have a total breakdown, crying and whining like a three year old having a tantrum....lol. This scene is the highlight of the issue, as it very much seems like something Steve Gerber would have done with his ridiculous villains in the pages of HOWARD THE DUCK (one of the secret gems of the 1970's, btw). Besides, Von Shtupf's inclusion was pretty much just an excuse for Conway to revisit classic monster movie tropes with representatives from the major icons of those movies (the only thing missing is a vampire, although, we did get a cameo from Dracula during last issue's recap of the Frankenstein Monster's history). Speaking of monster movie tropes, we get another one while Spidey and Frank are dealing with Von Shtupf, and that involves the Man-Wolf and Judith Klemmer. It's the classic "Misunderstood Monster" trope, as MW ends up taking a liking to Judith, protecting her from a pack of legit wolves, even at the cost of his being injured. Near the end of the issue, Spidey finds the two, and immediately tries to go into attack mode against the Man-Wolf (who he has fought before, in the pages of his own book), but the Man-Wolf, being too injured from the battle with the wolves, instantly passes out. This ends the story, other than Spidey and Judith inadvertently making the Frankenstein Monster feel bad (who secretly dips out on them), when talking about the Man-Wolf's life as a monster. A very cool ending to a (2nd) run that started off....well, pretty bad, quite frankly. I'm glad Conway pulled it together after those first two shaky issues, and delivered some pretty solid stories, with this last two parter being the highlight. Then again, I'm a big horror fan, so, of course I was going to like this story, as it very much touches on a lot of the tropes and character types that one would expect in those classic Universal horror films. My only minor quibble is that I wish the werewolf in this story would have been THE Marvel werewolf character, the Werewolf By Night, but I can definitely deal with Man-Wolf. It doesn't kill the story in any way. Onto the next issue, which as I said at the beginning, will be the first issue of a new writer's run, but that new writer will ease us into things a bit, as Spidey will once again be teaming with a character with a monsterous (or you might say, Beastial) appearance. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 17, 2020 22:40:19 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #38"Night of the Griffin"Cover Date: Oct, 1975 Writer: Bill Mantlo Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Beast Villain/s: The Griffin Guest Stars: The NYPD, The Secret Empire, & The Angel (the last two in Recap form only) Official Plot:While web-slinging through the city in the rain, Spider-Man suddenly sees a man falling out of the sky. In saving him, the two are plunged into the harbor where they are pulled out by the Beast. They learn that the man who they rescued is a scientist who was responsible for turning John Horton into the Griffin, a mutate which Beast battled before. He explains that the Griffin broke out of prison to get revenge on the scientist for turning him into a monster. The Griffin had tracked the scientist down and dropped him from the sky to his death before Spider-Man came to his rescue. However, despite his best efforts the scientist dies in Spider-Man's arms. The Beast and Spider-Man then decide to work together to bring the Griffin into custody. They are soon attacked by the Griffin, who uses his powers to command seagulls to join in his attack. The battle takes them across the city to the Brooklyn Bridge where the two heroes work together to defeat the Griffin. With the villain knocked unconscious, but at the cost of holding up traffic on the bridge. When a rich woman complains to the arriving police about how Spider-Man and the Beast made her wait in traffic for 15 minutes, Spider-Man webs her feet to the pavement before leaving. Brodie's View:We enter a new era, as it relates to MARVEL TEAM UP, with this issue, as Bill Mantlo (writer of the #272-300 run of THE INCREDIBLE HULK that I reviewed earlier in this thread) takes over as the new regular writer for a decent little run. Now, while most of Mantlo's run is going to consist of multi-part stories (starting with the next issue), his first issue on this book is actually a One and Done story (although, perhaps not that One and Done, as the villain, The Griffin, will make at least one more appearance in this series) following up on a fight that took place between our Guest Star, The Beast ( ), and the villain, as I stated before, The Griffin (a former criminal mutated into kind of a flying lion creature with a lizard tail), which took place during The Beast's short lived solo run in the pages of AMAZING ADVENTURES (which pretty much depicted his transformation into the blue furred "monkey" form he kept for the better part of thirty years). In fact, the Griffin initially attacks Spider-Man and The Beast because he wanted revenge on the former X-Man (turned Avenger, as he had recently joined that group around this period), but wound up splitting his anger between Hank and Spidey, due to the latter's insults. This is after Spidey and the Beast "Team Up," after SM rescues the scientist that helped create The Griffin after the latter tossed the former into the river. It's here we get that wonderful trope of a dying character living just long enough to fill our heroes in on the backstory of the Griffin, and how things got to that point...before biting the big one. It's right after this that the Griffin attacks (with an army of seagulls, as part of his powers apparently involve the ability to control birds), and most of the rest of the issue is the two heroes fighting off the Griffin until they gain the ability to actually team up on the mixed up creature, where they thump his ass like one would expect. But the story isn't the selling point of this issue, it's the great banter between Spidey and the Beast, as both characters can bring the great banter. Heck, I would read a book regularly written by Mantlo, if Spider-Man and The Beast were the regular co-stars of the book, as the comedy would kind of almost write itself. The Griffin takes a powder for now, but as I said, he will make a reappearance later, in MUCH worse shape than he is in during this issue. In the next issue, we enter the first multi-part story of the Mantlo run, and we kind of go back to the beginning, Guest Star wise, as Spidey will be teaming with the character that helped start this whole deal....and was kind of the co-star of this book for the first 30 or so issues. Have I pretty much given away that character's identity yet? GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 19, 2020 1:15:16 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #39"Chapter One: Any Number Can Slay!"Cover Date: Nov, 1975 Writer: Bill Mantlo Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Human Torch Villain/s: The Enforcers (Big Man II--1st Appearance of, Fancy Dan, & Montana), The Crime Master II---1st Appearance of, & The Sandman Guest Stars: Manuel Arguelles---1st Appearance of Official Plot:While out on patrol Spider-Man meets a young Spanish boy named Mosquito, who gets caught in the middle of an attempt to assassinate Spider-Man, the assassin gets away and the only fatality is one of Mosquito's pigeons. Meanwhile, the Human Torch is out in the Fantasticar when he is attacked by Montana and Fancy Dan, who easily defeat the Torch and take him captive. Later, Spider-Man happens upon a gang of criminals who are hoisting a coffin into a warehouse. Sneaking into the building, he is shocked to see the someone posing as the Big Man, allowing criminals to bet on the life of the Human Torch. Taking out one of the criminals and disguising himself in the crooks clothes, Spider-Man manages to get close enough to the coffin to break the glass and free the Torch. The two make short work of the criminals and the Enforcers, just when they are about to take out the Big Man, they are suddenly interrupted when the Crime-Master, apparently alive and well, and the Sandman, who has come to take control of the criminal underworld. Brodie's View:After one One and Done story in the last issue, we move into the Multi-Part stories section of Bill Mantlo's run with this Two Parter dealing with a few blasts from the past for Spider-Man and our Guest Star for this issue, The Human Torch. It's none other than the criminal trio that made their debut early on in AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, The Enforcers, led by a new incarnation of a character calling himself The Big Man (the original had tried to atone for his past criminal acts by giving his life to try and save the life of J. Jonah Jameson), and what they want is REVENGE on both Spidey and the Torch. In fact, The Big Man II opens the issue taking a shot at Spider-Man, while he's busy talking to a young boy that just happened to be out feeding his pigeons. The group has better luck with the Torch, ambushing him while he's riding around in one of the Fantasti-Cars, and they use Johnny as bait to try and lure the Wall Crawler in. Eventually, he does come, even knowing that this is most likely a trap, but knowing he has little other choice but to risk it for the sake of the Torch. He disguises himself as one of the mobsters bidding for the life of the Torch, before springing Johnny free to take out The Enforcers and the other criminals. This is where we get a nice swerve, as a brand new character appears on the scene, calling themselves The Crime Master (the original died in a shootout with police), who brings in another character from both Spidey and the Torch's past, The Sandman(!!!), who is back to his Classic look after being in a metal containment costume during his time with the Frightful Four. This sets up a big ass fight, and we will get quite a few of them in the next issue, but I will say that this was a nice start to this story, as it got a lot of the "story" part of the Two Part-er out of the way before we get to those Big Ass Fights. Speaking of the next issue, in the second half of our story, we get a group of side characters joining the fray, but these side characters can certainly fight, and will make the Big Ass Fight(s) this issue set up even bigger. And after all of that is done, we get....Another Multi-Part story!!! GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 19, 2020 23:39:03 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #40"Murder's Better the Second Time Around!"Cover Date: Dec, 1975 Writer: Bill Mantlo Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Sons of the Tiger (Abe Brown, Bob Diamond, & Lin Sun) Villain/s: The Enforcers (Big Man II--Dies, Fancy Dan, & Montana), The Crime Master II---Last Appearance of, & The Sandman Guest Stars: The Human Torch, Lotus Shinchuko, & Manuel Arguelles Official Plot:With the arrival of the supposedly revived Crime-Master and the Sandman, a battle rages between them and the Big Man and the Enforcers over control of the underworld, with Spider-Man and the Human Torch caught in the battle. During the Torch and Spider-Man are overpowered and defeated and the Enforcers are defeated as well. Meanwhile, Lin Sun and Lotus Shinchuko are walking past the warehouse where the battle is going on (as it is near the dojo of the Sons of the Dragon) and spy on the situation. Seeing that the Big Man and Crime Master are fighting over the right to kill Spider-Man and the Torch, they get the other Sons of the Dragon and attack. During the fight, Spider-Man and the Torch are freed and Sandman, the Enforcers, Big Man and Crime Master manage to escape. Afterwards, the Torch leaves, wanting to catch up with the date he had planned before he was captured. Spider-Man continues after the crooks. He spots them escaping out of man-hole and follows them as they enter the Sons of the Dragon's dojo and take them hostage. However, Big Man and Crime Master begin arguing to the point where Crime Master shoots Big Man in cold blood. Spider-Man arrives and frees the Sons of the Dragon and they all defeat the Sandman, Enforcers and Big Man. After the battle, both Crime-Master and the dead Big Man are unmasked. While Crime Master is revealed to be Nick Lewis Jr., the son of the original Crime Master, Big Man is revealed to be Janice Foswell the daughter of the original Big Man. Mortified that he shot Foswell -- who was the woman he loved. Spider-Man and the Sons of the Dragon leave the distraught Crime Master for the police. Brodie's View:We definitely get the Big Ass Fight that was promised at the end of last issue. Actually, we get a few Big Ass Fights in this, the Second part of a Two Part story involving a new Big Man (leading the Enforcers team that the previous Big Man did) and a new Crime Master seeking revenge on Spider-Man and The Human Torch. However, being that we get different Guest Stars this issue (we'll get to them in a second), the two wannabe crime lords seem to lose their interest in the Torch past the mid point of the issue, as Johnny weirdly just flies off in the middle of all this to go on a date (lol), and they focus all their energies at the end for Spidey and his Guest Stars, the Sons of the Tiger (a trio of Kung Fu fighters, who are side characters in the DEADLY HANDS OF KUNG FU series). However, let's back up a second, as I'll explain how they get involved in the first place. Basically, the building where the Enforcers, the Crime Master II, the Sandman, and the various other criminal types that were planning on killing off Spidey and the Torch in, was right next to the dojo of the SotT, and the first Big Ass Fight that breaks out between our two heroes and the various villains within that building brings the group of fighters in to the battle. Overwhelmed, the bad guys cause a distraction and jet, setting up Johnny flying off to his date, the SotT going back to their dojo to have a bit of side plot story (from their own book) being hinted at in this one, and Spider-Man going back to the young boy he was talking to when this whole story began last issue, and seeing the baddies sneaking off to their new base of operations. However, as Spidey finds, the criminals have also captures the SotT, and plan on killing them for interfering with their plans. That is, until Spider-Man poops their party, freeing the SotT, which kick starts our second Big Ass Fight. Eventually, the good guys turn the tide, but this sets up kind of a shocking swerve for the ending, as Big Man II ends up getting shot by the second Crime Master and dying. When the second Big Man is unmasked, it is revealed to be the Daughter of the original Big Man, who took his identity to gain revenge on Spider-Man and the Torch for the perceived role they played in her father's death. We find this out from the man who killed her, the second Crime Master, who is revealed to be the son of the original Crime Master, and past lover of the woman who posed as the new Big Man. It seems that this new Crime Master was doing the same thing as the daughter of the original Big Man was, little knowing that their separate missions of revenge would bring them in direct conflict with each other.....Cool. Kind of a shocking ending to this story, which actually ends it off pretty solidly, with few to no loose ends left hanging, as the former Crime Master II never returns to the comic pages. As for the Sons of the Tiger....honestly, I never read any of the Kung Fu related comics, so, I really can't say much either way for these characters. I guess it was cool they were involved, as it really did bring us some nice Big Ass Fights, but then again, any number of characters could have filled those spots, so....they were okay, I suppose. Moving on to the next issue, and the next Multi Part Storyline (which actually leads into another multi-part story, and then to a Crossover), which will actually somewhat concern something that happened in real life, but fictionalizing it up enough to make it a pretty cool and exciting MTU story. The first few parts of the story will team Spidey up with former Avengers, and then he'll "Team Up" with one of the most Unlikely people in the Marvel Universe that one would imagine Spider-Man having to Team Up with. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 21, 2020 0:20:00 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #41"A Witch in Time!"Cover Date: Jan, 1976 Writer: Bill Mantlo Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Scarlet Witch Villain/s: Cotton Mather---1st Appearance of Guest Stars: The Vision, various Salem villagers, and Edwin Jarvis (the last in Recap form only) Official Plot:When the Scarlet Witch is summoned by Cotton Mather to Dr. Doom's Castle, the summoning causes her to react violently towards the Vision before leaving in a Quinjet. When Cotton Mather tries to take control of the Scarlet Witch, she sends out a spell to bring help. This orb of mystical energy finds and transports Spider-Man to Dr. Doom's castle. There, Spider-Man tries to stop Cotton Mather, but the power of both Cotton Mather and the subjugated Scarlet Witch prove too much for the web-slinger and he is buried under a pile of rubble. Cotton Mather then uses Dr. Doom's time machine to send both he and Scarlet Witch back to the year 1692 during the time of the Salem Witch Trials. Spider-Man frees himself and follows them through Doom's time machine to 1672 as well. Arriving in that era he sees that Cotton Mather has put Scarlet Witch on trial before all the pilgrims. The "trial" is interrupted by the arrival of the Vision, who also traveled back in time as well. When Spider-Man comes to Vision's aid, Cotton Mather orders the pilgrims to attack the trio. Brodie's View:Leaving behind the mobster/crime family section of the Marvel Universe for a few issues, we move into the realm of the supernatural (and Science Fiction, as we deal with Time Travel) in this new Multi-Part story, as this one deals with the Witch Trials of Salem. A super powered Puritan man known as Cotton Mather decides that the Guest Star of this particular issue, The Scarlet Witch, deserves to be put on trial in 1672 Salem, so, he possesses and kidnaps her, and then uses one of Doctor Doom's time machines (in a castle he abandoned) to take her back there. Spider-Man just happens to become involved, when he comes across a hex bolt portal intended for her husband, The Vision, to come save her. Spidey is sucked into the portal (The Vision does end up taking the portal as well, but off screen), and transported to Doom's castle, where he unsuccessfully tries to save Wanda, only to be trapped under a pile of rubble by a brainwashed Scarlet Witch. However, there was apparently free will for Wanda enough to ensure that Spidey wouldn't die from the save in, and he manages to pull himself out. He then takes Doom's time machine to 1672, where he arrives just in time to see the Witch tied up, and being put on "trial" by Mather and the rabid, kill crazy town folk. However, as I hinted above, Spider-Man wasn't the only one to go back in time, as Wanda's then husband, The Vision, shows up to try to free his wife. However, this leaves the two having to face off against a town of psycho pilgrims, who have been convinced that the Vision is Satan himself. Obviously, this continues in the next issue (and the next, and the next, and the next....), but this was a pretty cool start to this story. Cotton Mather, even though I believe that this storyline are his only appearances, is one tough customer that seems to have a way to control and manipulate people. It's clear that it will take more than Spidey, the Scarlet Witch, and even the Vision to beat him. However, as I said a few sentences ago, he's going to get lots of people to fight against before all this is said and done. In the next issue....well, if you haven't guessed who the Guest Star will be, I'm not going to do any more to give you any more hints. GRADE: B+
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 22, 2020 23:19:41 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #42"Visions of Hate!"Cover Date: Feb, 1976 Writer: Bill Mantlo Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & The Vision Villain/s: Cotton Mather & The Dark Rider---1st Appearance of Guest Stars: The Scarlet Witch, Doctor Doom, & various Puritans (John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor (1st Appearance of the last two), George Burroughs (only Appearance; dies in Flashback), Tituba, Betty Parris, Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams (1st Appearances of all; all only in Flashback), & Sarah Good (Only Appearance; Dies in Flashback) Official Plot:Coming to the rescue of the Scarlet Witch who has been put on trial during the 1692 Salem Witch trials by Cotton Mather, the Vision, and Spider-Man free her. They are then attacked by Cotton Mather and his followers. During the fight, Spider-Man is knocked out by the followers, Scarlet Witch is grazed by a bullet, and the Vision is taken out by Cotton Mather. Spider-Man awakens in a prison cell with people who have been accused of being witches and are slated to be hung. He is greeted by John Proctor, who tells him how Cotton Mather had come here to increase fear of witchcraft so that he can exploit the genuine witches. He paints a picture of a town caught up in hysteria thanks to a witch woman named Tituba, who hailed to Barbados. She caught the children in the art of witchcraft and convinced them to accuse others of witchery. Vision arrives and frees Spider-Man and the still unconscious Scarlet Witch, and the two heroes go to capture Cotton Mather. They find him speaking to his master, a being called the Dark Rider. When the Dark Rider reveals his plan, the Vision lashes out blowing their cover. Right when Spider-Man is about to tell Dark Rider where he came from, they are interrupted by the arrival of Dr. Doom. Brodie's View:History becomes fiction, or at least used to give this fictitious story some extra gravitas in this, the Second part of a Four part story (which kind of continues past that for a couple of issues, but we'll get to that a few issues from now) dealing with Marvel heroes being transported back in time to become involved with the Salem Witch Trials. We last left Spider-Man and The Vision facing down some kill crazy Puritans for trying to rescue the Vision's wife, The Scarlet Witch. This has all been, in many ways, orchestrated, or at the very least made worst by a religious fanatic (or at least someone who wants people to believe that) named Cotton Mather, who also seems to have been gifted with some sort of supernatural power; power which seems to back up his claims of being sent by God to rid the world of witchcraft and all witches. Of course, as we'll find, the origins of his powers come from a much lower place than Heaven, but we'll get to all of that in time. Anyways, Spidey and the Vision manage to free Wanda before all Hell breaks loose, but the problem, other than underestimating Mather, is not being organized in their defense. One of the Puritans end up grazing the Witch with a bullet, which causes the Vision, of course, to lose his shit and just beating Puritans down. This allows Spider-Man to be overwhelmed and beaten into unconsciousness by more Puritans, and then the Vision is taken down by a burst of "Holy" power by Mather. Spidey awakens in a cell, where he ends up meeting John Proctor, a "fictional" character inspired by the real John Proctor. Proctor fills the Web Slinger in on how things got to this point, which is basically the real history of how the Salem Witch Trials happened in the first place. An interesting note I found when doing a bit of research on this story, and how close it followed what really happened, was that there actually WAS a Cotton Mather stoking the fires of hate during this period. Of course, the real Cotton Mather did his work writing pamphlets denouncing witchcraft and witches, but like the fictional Mather, the real one definitely did his part in making sure innocent people died for the "crime" of being witches. Back to the story, though, Spider-Man, realizing that he can't save Proctor or any of the other prisoners due to messing up the time stream, decides to break himself, Vision, and Wanda out instead. On their way to try and escape, they happen across Mather, who is speaking to a mysterious figure calling himself The Dark Rider. The Rider seems to be the source of Mather's "Holy" power, and himself seems to be of supernatural origin. The heroes go to confront the two, but before too much can be said, they all are interrupted by the arrival of a new player in this "play," Doctor (F'N) DOOM(!!!). Needless to say, things are about to get REAL interesting, but I must say I really liked this issue as a whole. I dug how Mantlo was able to effortlessly weave real life and real events into a totally fictional story, and that ending.... ( ). In the next issue, well, I don't know how much Teaming Up Spidey will do here, but the Guest Star will be....well, once again, it's pretty obvious who the Guest Star will be. GRADE: A-
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Post by BrodietheSlayer on Apr 24, 2020 0:15:34 GMT -5
Marvel Team Up #43"A Past Gone Mad!"Cover Date: March, 1976 Writer: Bill Mantlo Artist: Sal Buscema Featured Character/s: Spider-Man & Doctor Doom Villain/s: Cotton Mather & The Dark Rider Guest Stars: The Scarlet Witch, The Vision, & various Puritans (John Proctor, Betty Parris, Mary Walcott, Abigail Williams, Ann Putnam, & Elizabeth Hubbard) Official Plot:The mystical being known as the Dark Rider has orchistrated events during the Salem Witch Trials of 1692 in order to draw out Doctor Doom in order to steal his magical energies. His arrival brings the praises of Cotton Mather, a unwitting dupe of the Dark Rider. Unimpressed with Mather's insane ramblings, Doctor Doom knocks Cotton Mather aside. The Dark Raider recounts the events that lead to the birth of Doctor Doom, Spider-Man and the Vision attempt to attack their foe. In response, the Dark Rider uses his powers to make a cat grow in size. The pair struggle with the massive feline until it is blasted by a hex bolt from the Scarlet Witch, causing the cat to return to normal. The expendature of mystical energy all go to feed the Dark Rider who grows in size. Meanwhile, not far away in the town of Salem, John Proctor and his followers are being brought to trial as they have been accused of being witches. Before the judge, Proctor swears that he is not a witch, but the young girls who accused him begin raving like they are being hexed by him. These claims are validated when the image of sirens appear over the court. Regarldess of Proctor's insistances that he is not a witch, he and his people are found guilty and ordered to hang. While back in the forest, the battle rages on. As Doctor Doom attempts to fight off the Dark Rider, his only serves to increase his foe's power. As Spider-Man and the Vision watch on, the Scarlet Witch realises that she must help Doctor Doom in order to stop another foe. During their opening salvo, the Dark Rider is able to fight off both the Vision and Spider-Man. The Scarlet Witch manages to stun the Rider with a hex bolt. However, he soon breaks free and incapacitates Doom and the Witch, leaving none to stand in his way. Brodie's View:When last we left things, Spider-Man and The Vision confronted Cotton Mather and the being he seems to get his power from, a mysterious cloaked figure calling himself The Dark Rider, and a fight of some sort seemed to be on the verge of happening....and then Doctor Doom showed up to give us a perfect "Oh Shit!!!" ending. Unfortunately for our heroes (and Doom), we find out that the Rider is way more than he seems, as he "unmasks" to reveal himself as a demon that feeds on magical power. A demon that throws Doom off by recounting his entire origin, including deep, dark secrets that I'm sure Doom thought he was the only one with the knowledge of. Meanwhile, the Rider also sends his cat (which grows giant sized) after Spidey and The Vision, who are barely able to hold the creature off until it's blasted by a still out of it Scarlet Witch, who comes to try and aid the others in the battle with the Rider. However, even this only temporarily shakes the demon, who takes everything Doom and the heroes heap on it, and just brushes it all off. Meanwhile, Cotton Mather, the person we thought was running the show up until the end of last issue, goes completely nuts, and is pretty much a non factor for the rest of the story. Then again, Mather was only the tool the Rider used to make all of this happen, as the demon, now with various power/magic sources he can feed off of, becomes larger and more powerful. The Witch and the Vision are quickly taken out, and things all fall down to Spidey and Doom, who temporarily Team Up against the Dark Rider. However, even the two of them working as a team is not enough, and the issue ends with all the heroes down and seemingly totally defeated by the Dark Rider, who plans to use their power to rule the past, and therefore, the present and future as well. Talk about an All is Lost moment, right? To pound that home even more, the battle is juxtaposed with the "trial" of John Proctor and some of the other people who were called out for being "witches." Needless to say, as it went with the real Salem Witch Trials, things don't go too well for Proctor and the others. Unfortunately for them, their fates are pretty much set in stone at this point, as there really isn't anything the Good Guys could do to save them at this point in time anyways. In the next issue, we'll see the resolving of this part of the Multi-Part story (I'll explain what I mean by this in the next review), and one more character will join the fray to try to save the past from being taken over by the Dark Rider. I will give the hint that this character is bald....and it isn't Charles Xaiver, although, the character does have similar abilities as Professor X. GRADE: A-
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