Horrific heroism, kung fu crimefighting, courtroom chaos: Spider-Man's up for anything in this selection of shared sagas! Co-starring Daredevil, the Incredible Hulk, the Thing, the Beast and the Frankenstein Monster! Join Spidey on a titanic trip through the timeline in one of his most incredible epics yet, followed by the trial of the Wraith and the debut of Jean DeWolff! Plus: guest-stars from the Avengers and the Defenders! Also featuring the Human Torch's team-ups with Iron Man, Doctor Strange and more! Collects Marvel Team-Up #25-51 and Marvel 2-in-1 #17
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sometimes, two heads really are better than one!,
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This review is from: Essential Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials) (Paperback)
When I first started collecting Essentials years ago, I used to scout out the reviews of all existing titles here on Amazon in order to see which ones were most worth my hard-earned cash (I kind of own them all now, so in hindsight it was a moot point). One of the more loudly praised volumes was the Essential Marvel Team-Up #1; the critics said that it was the ideal series for any real Marvelite since every issue featured our friendly neighborhood Spider-Man joining up with a new hero from anywhere in the Marvel Universe to take down a seemingly unstoppable foe. So I scooped up my copy, read it, and frankly I didn't get it. The partnerships were usually interesting but the storylines were hackneyed to an embarrassing degree. About half of the 24 issues in the first volume seemed to invoke this exact sequence: Spidey and the other guy follow clues towards the villain separately, they meet and initially fight before realizing that the other one isn't the real mark, they start to pursue the actual perp together and are swiftly captured, the villain's henchman bind the heroes while he goes off on a standard monologue of villainy, then Spidey and his buddy break out easily and save the day. Honestly, that's all the slim minority of those issues was about. The stories offered no important or lasting plot developments (save for the origin of the Puppet Master in issue #6) and didn't try to follow continuity with the main Spidey book very closely. For example, Mr. Parker was gallivanting around in the Himalayas with the Inhumans the same month that Gwen Stacy was killed. Thus, I had considered Marvel Team-Up not to be an exemplary comic narrative but more of a "gateway book" for fresh-faced readers, a place where they could learn about Marvel characters in an extremely casual environment and become enticed to look into the more serious lines later. Therefore, when the second volume was announced months ago, I, the veteran comic reader, didn't wait with baited breath, but I did pick it up recently (had to do something before Hulk 4 and Tales of the Zombie arrive) and now my fingers are teaming up with my keyboard to tell you what I learned.
First, most of the early issues are of the same quickly hashed out, throw-away quality that I had been dreading. In one, Spidey and the Lion of Olympus, Hercules have to stop three robots from chaining Manhattan Island to a big submarine and yanking it out into the sea (which is less ludicrous than that time Red Skull trapped Fun City in that giant floating bubble, but still not great). Then the Falcon stops by to solve the anemic mystery of the hate crimes of Midas, the Golden Man (Could he be the warm-hearted wealthy philanthropist or his bitter, racist brother? Boy, that is a noodle-scratcher). A B-grade horror double-feature starring the Man-Wolf and Frankenstein's Monster introduces us to bargain-basement Boris Karloff-wannabe Baron Ludwig von Shtupf (Wait, no one here can read Yiddish, right?). The nadir of the whole collection, though, is the Human Torch + Iron Man v. Infinitus piece. I won't describe the whole utterly confused nonsense plot to you, but I will say that Iron Man, the Armored Avenger, one of the most powerful members of Marvel's heroic pantheon, was almost killed on three separate occasions by some punk with a "heat gun" and he attempted to call in the entire Fantastic Four to come save his hide. How Tony could stand to show his shelled head in public after that debacle is simply beyond me. However, I found myself entertained by more than a couple of these episodic tales. In the cover issue that showcased the Hulk, a rather touching saga of friendship and loyalty centered around, of all people, the ruthless and (literally) faceless villain Chameleon. Then Spidey and Iron Fist join up for an extremely off-beat yarn about Drom, a fellow who due to some kind of temporal anomaly was born ninety years old and ages backwards, and is also certifiably unhinged as a result (You know, sometimes I'm glad I don't live in a comic book universe where stuff like this can just spontaneously happen). Defender regulars Nighthawk and the Valkyrie are called in to halt the newest rock-thieving spree of the Looter/Meteor Man (This guy always seems so pitiful on first glance yet continually proves himself to be just dangerous enough to warrant a return appearance). Lastly, the Web-Head gets some assistance against a virtual stampede of old foes (including Sandman and the Enforcers) from the obscure kung fu-ers called the Sons of the Tiger. I can't think of any other reprint volume that features this bunch, so that alone might seal the deal for all the `70's chop-socky comics fans out there. About halfway through this book, Bill Mantlo takes the reins from Gerry Conway and starts gradually shifting the plots towards ongoing story arcs. One particularly ambitious saga starts with the Scarlet Witch's abduction by Cotton Mather, an actual historical figure and chief provocateur of the Salem Witch Trials. This forces Spider-Man and the Vision to follow their trail, jumping back to 1692 by way of Dr. Doom's patent-pending Time Rectangle. Our heroes learn then that that very dark chapter in American history was begun not by prejudice or madness, but by a mohawked demon-wizard ... hey, wait! I just remembered the Essential Tomb of Dracula #4 claimed it happened when Vlad the Impaler cursed the Salem townspeople for hanging his wife. Which one is it, Marvel? In any case, Wanda is taken out of the ensuing battle early when a musketball grazes her temple* , but reinforcements arrive in the shape of shorn-headed lady mentalist Moondragon and even Dr. Doom himself, who naturally had come to investigate the unauthorized use of his rectangle. Even when the war is won, the story still isn't over because on the way back to the present Spidey inadvertently detours into two separate dystopian far-flung futures, one in 1990 with Deathlok the Demolisher (who needs to get his own Essential) and one in 2013 with Killraven (who already has his own Essential, unfortunately). This book ends with a fabulous four-parter on the mysterious mind-clouding new foe known as the Wraith. Spider-Man, Iron Man (in a redeeming MTU appearance), and Doctor Strange join forces to piece together a complex revenge plot with the help of Jean DeWolfe, a police captain fond of fishnet stockings and Studebakers. Although the plot has a couple of holes (Why would someone who has the power to project horrible waking nightmares on others need RC toy planes stuffed with explosives to kill his enemies?), I salute Mr. Mantlo for building the narrative on the guest stars that he had and not deeming it necessary to arbitrarily bring in a new partner in every installment, as was the books' unspoken rule beforehand. Overall, this era in MTU saw the phasing out of the walk-on disposable one-shot episodes and the establishment of a true series of events, and I was definitely pleased with the change. The mid-70's was the height of what is known as the "Bronze Age" of comics, a time defined by a proliferation of new genres in the medium like horror or satire. But despite all the new directions being taken, Marvel Team-Up was where the old-fashioned superhero action was still poured on thick and, thanks to some forward-thinking plotting, it still worked very well. I know I'll be anticipating another volume of this run. Will you? Catch you later, true believers! * Déjà vu! The Scarlet Witch was last shot in the head in Avengers #49 - Synopsizin' SynapZe
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Collection of 1970s B/W Spider-Man reprints,
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This review is from: Essential Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials) (Paperback)
This massive volume collects issues #25-#51 of Marvel Comics' Marvel Team-Up comic originally published from September 1974 to November 1976. This was Marvel's second regular monthly title to feature Spider-Man besides the flagship "Amazing Spider-Man" that had run since 1963. Most issues pair Spider-Man with another character from the Marvel Universe, ranging from movie stars like the Incredible Hulk or Iron Man to minor 1970's characters like Man-Wolf, Killraven and Nighthawk. The Human Torch replaces Spidey in issues #26, 29, 32 and 35. This also includes a tie-in "Marvel Two In One" issue (#17) from this era that features The Thing.
The credited writers are Len Wein (#25-27), Gerry Conway (#28-37) and Bill Mantlo (#38-51). Conway also served as "Amazing"'s writer during his run on "Team-Up". The first eight issues read like special one-offs with all matters resolved within one issue. Mantlo offers three multi-issue story arcs, most notably in #48-51 that features Iron Man, Captain Jean DeWolff and The Wraith (easily the best issues of this collection). Just two pencilers are credited - Jim Mooney (#25-31) and Sal Buscema (#32-51) - providing uniformity for this collection despite the fluid cast. The black and white newsprint evokes newspaper comic strips instead of traditional comic books. At almost 500 pages this is a tremendous value and the only feasible access to 1970's Spider-Man comics that are not yet collected on DVD-ROM.
3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
MTU Vol. 2 Captures Many Good Memories,
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This review is from: Essential Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 2 (Marvel Essentials) (Paperback)
As an ex-owner of many of the comics being reprinted in Marvel's Essential series, it is a real treat for me to reread these stories in this format, uninterrupted. While some of the stories presented in this volume are "campy" and "hokey," there are some real gems presented from the early careers of Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema. In particular, issues #39-40, which contains a plethora of villains from Spidey's rogues gallery (Sandman, the Enforcers, the Crime-Master, and the Big Man) and a rare color/mainstream appearance by the Sons of the Tiger);#41-46, where Spidey joins with the Scarlet Witch, Vision, Dr. Doom, and Moondragon to fight the Dark Rider back in the days of the Salem Witch Trials via Doom's time machine. Spidey also goes into the future and meets Killraven and Deathlok the Demolisher. Another of the gems herein includes issues #48-51, where we meet Jean DeWolff for the first time, (before her horrific murder by Sin-Eater 10 years later). Buscema's artwork is excellent, a preview of the style he would use later in his career (Rom and Spectacular Spider-Man). If you're into the Bronze Age of comics,particularly Marvel in the mid-1970s, before things got too complicated, this is a piece of the Essential collection you won't want to miss!
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