Bad Tidings: Marvel's Super-Villain Team-Up Reviewed
Nov 5, 2020 11:05:36 GMT -5
Roquefort Raider, chaykinstevens, and 1 more like this
Post by MWGallaher on Nov 5, 2020 11:05:36 GMT -5
Super-Villain Team-Up #17, June, 1980, 17 pages
“Dark Victory”
Peter Gillis, writer
Arvell Jones, penciler
Bruce Patterson, inker
John Costanza, letterer
Bob Sharen, colorist
Jim Salicrup, editor
Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Cover by Keith Pollard and Bruce Patterson
Summary:
AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) founding member George Clinton arrives by chopper on Exile Island where he is welcomed by the Red Skull and the Hate Monger, having been abducted on an armed raid. He is escorted to the same underground laboratory that we saw last issue (last year!), with the same disguised hillside secret hatch door that Carmine Infantino drew but the hardware inside looks a lot more orderly!
As an AIM founder, Clinton is familiar with the Cosmic Cube; he recalls AIM’s creation of the human computer MODOK, who created the Cube, which was stolen by the Skull, who lost it using it to battle Captain America, whereupon it was retrieved by Thanos, who used it more effectively and made himself a god, but who was defeated by Captain Marvel, who destroyed the Cosmic Cube! Whew! All that flashback and we still don’t get much of an idea of what the Cube really does.
In building a second Cube, RS and HM plan to use a battery of connected normal humans instead of recreating MODOK, harvesting the hordes of captives we saw last issue, since the process burns out the brain.
Among those captives is Yousuf Tov, whom we met last issue. He’s now an ordinary, haggard prisoner, but Rachel has escaped to the safety of SHIELD, where she reveals that they have scarred her with the notorious Nazi SS symbol on her face:
Seems that Rachel was punished for her part in the rebellion, but escaped by garroting a guard with a rope made from her hair and spittle and stealing a boat, succeeding where her onetime lover Yousuf had not.
But her appeal to SHIELD is not truly her own woman: back on Exile Island, we learn that she is in fact under the telepathic control of the Hate Monger, via the brain of a stupefied prisoner serving as a mental transmitter of HM’s commands.
HM is summoned to the lab, where the Skull has been joined by the bizarre Armin Zola, who is extracting information from Clinton, who is hooked up to Zola’s machinery. The successor Cube is nearly complete, as the Skull slips hints of his greedy intent to claim the Cube for his own, leading to a mutual suspicion between him and the Hate Monger. Both know the alliance will not last.
Back at SHIELD, Agent Bill Collins laments the unavailability of superhero backup, leading to a confrontation with Rachel, who wants to go in with the human forces they have available. Collins tries to bar Rachel from the attack, but relents after giving her a “brotherly embrace” and feels the massive scarring on her back, even through her uniform. Collins calls for immediate launch of an assault on Exile Island.
Meanwhile, the Red Skull laments that the time has come to turn on the Red Skull, revealing the internal psychological torment betraying the Fuhrer raises inside him.
SHIELD’s “Bootsy Squad” approaches the island via high-tech aircraft and begins the attack, as “mercenaries from a dozen countries” respond below them. The Skull orders the deployment of the island’s greatest defense, an adamantium clamshell that rises from either side to total enclose the island. Parachuting SHIELD agents attack from the surface of the dome, using the “Overkill Horn” to break through the adamantium with sound. (Has this ever been used against Wolverine?)
In the underground command post, the Skull orders retreat from the slave pens and release of the “decoys”. The Hate Monger’s plan is in play: he intended to get SHIELD to attack to distract the Skull, while HM heads for Zola, who has nearly completed the Cube. Revealing himself as Hitler (again!), we finally get the true origin of the Hate Monger; he is the mental essence of Hitler transferred between a series of clones created by Zola:
Hitler’s plan? To literally enter and become the Cube! The big hitch, which Zola points out, is that the Cube vault can only be opened by HM and the Skull in unison.
Back in the battle, we now see the aforementioned “decoys”: Zola has created clones of the Skull and Hate Monger, allowing Rachel to get a lot of rage out of her system by slaughtering the two again and again:
Rachel finds Tov, a victim of brain burnout. With only a page to go, the SHIELD forces blow up the Island, but far below, the Red Skull reveals that the Cube project was not perfected; the second Cube had not replicated the essential nature of the original and served only as “the perfect prison”, one which he allowed Hitler to unwittingly enter:
Comments:
And thus does Super-Villain Team-Up come to the end of its classic run, with an unexpected sequel to an unexpected revival following an unexpected reprint edition that renewed the trademark on a cancelled, unlikely, and unsteady little series originally dedicated to keeping two of the Marvel Age’s Silver Age solo characters in print following the demise of their ongoing solo series.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Peter Gillis has peppered this finale with tributes to the music collective Parliament/Funkadelic, with African-American characters Bill Collins (William “Bootsy” Collins) and George Clinton, the most prominent figures of the hit-making R&B/funk group.
Rachel never got a last name, but I think that Gillis was investing in making her a potential recurring character in the Marvel Universe, wherever he might have the chance to use her. I don’t know if he found that chance, or if anyone else ever did, but it seems that Yousuf Tov’s story came to an end here (although Rachel surely brought his burned-out but living body with her when SHIELD fled the destroyed island, right?).
It’s kind of a shame to destroy Exile Island, although it’s certainly nothing that comic book technology couldn’t have (and probably did) undo. The idea of a remote island run by deposed tyrants supported by multinational mercenaries conducting advanced technology research and serving as a prison for its enemies has plenty of potential.
The Hate Monger being literally Hitler was an idea that I don’t think ever went over well, even when Jack and Stan first introduced it in Fantastic Four. Establishing that he was a clone is a little more palatable and does less damage to the canonical and fitting ultimate defeat of Hitler at the hands of Captain America and Bucky.
These past two issues have, at least, been something of a “super-villain team-up”, something there’s less of, in most issues, than this title would have led readers to expect. Roy Thomas made clear at the start that this was supposed to be a Dr. Doom/Sub-Mariner book, but midway, the letters pages implied that the intent had been for this to be more of a Marvel Team-Up style book with a rotating guest slot, so I think Marvel lost track of exactly what the point of this book really was. The fan base was primed for a title “Team Up” to imply a rotating guest slot, despite Marvel’s first attempt at the format being, evidently, intended to be a Spidey/Torch ongoing.
Ultimately, the list of headline villains (or antiheroes) was meager: Dr. Doom, Sub-Mariner, Red Skull, Magneto, and Hate Monger--maybe we can count Arnim Zola--taken from the FF and Captain America stable of villains, with one X-Men villain tossed in. Clearly a waste of potential. Even as a Doom/Namor book, the introduction of more established villains could have provided plenty of super-villain team-ups, with Doom or Subby recruiting assistance to take on the other. The final two-parter probably wasn’t intended to do anything but retain trademark, so Marvel didn’t have much concern that the Hate Monger likely wasn’t much of a draw. But surely plenty of Spider-Man villains had significant potential as cover features. I’d have gone for the likes of Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, and the Lizard. We could have had team against team, like the Frightful Four vs. the Sinister Six. Alas, SVTU was what it was, a curious, mostly inconsequential stopgap that tied up some loose ends from Namor’s comic, kept Dr. Doom prominent without usurping the FF title, and gave us adequate entertainment for our dimes.
Looking back now at my introduction to this thread, I have no regrets at revisiting these, most likely for the final time. I apologize for the hiatus, but I’m glad I got around to finishing this thread, covering every issue, all the crossovers, and a couple of ancillary stories.
My next review thread should be a bit shorter, but not quite as short as you might be expecting. As I mentioned last time, the team-up titles have gotten plenty of review recently in this forum, although no one has taken on DC Comics Presents or the non-Batman period of World’s Finest. And I didn’t review individual issues in detail in my look at Brave & Bold. But I leave that to others, because there’s one other Bronze Age team-up book I’ve got my eye on for a closer look.
Get ready to partner up, compadres, and join me soon for a look back at Marvel’s Western Team-Up!
“Dark Victory”
Peter Gillis, writer
Arvell Jones, penciler
Bruce Patterson, inker
John Costanza, letterer
Bob Sharen, colorist
Jim Salicrup, editor
Jim Shooter, editor-in-chief
Cover by Keith Pollard and Bruce Patterson
Summary:
AIM (Advanced Idea Mechanics) founding member George Clinton arrives by chopper on Exile Island where he is welcomed by the Red Skull and the Hate Monger, having been abducted on an armed raid. He is escorted to the same underground laboratory that we saw last issue (last year!), with the same disguised hillside secret hatch door that Carmine Infantino drew but the hardware inside looks a lot more orderly!
As an AIM founder, Clinton is familiar with the Cosmic Cube; he recalls AIM’s creation of the human computer MODOK, who created the Cube, which was stolen by the Skull, who lost it using it to battle Captain America, whereupon it was retrieved by Thanos, who used it more effectively and made himself a god, but who was defeated by Captain Marvel, who destroyed the Cosmic Cube! Whew! All that flashback and we still don’t get much of an idea of what the Cube really does.
In building a second Cube, RS and HM plan to use a battery of connected normal humans instead of recreating MODOK, harvesting the hordes of captives we saw last issue, since the process burns out the brain.
Among those captives is Yousuf Tov, whom we met last issue. He’s now an ordinary, haggard prisoner, but Rachel has escaped to the safety of SHIELD, where she reveals that they have scarred her with the notorious Nazi SS symbol on her face:
Seems that Rachel was punished for her part in the rebellion, but escaped by garroting a guard with a rope made from her hair and spittle and stealing a boat, succeeding where her onetime lover Yousuf had not.
But her appeal to SHIELD is not truly her own woman: back on Exile Island, we learn that she is in fact under the telepathic control of the Hate Monger, via the brain of a stupefied prisoner serving as a mental transmitter of HM’s commands.
HM is summoned to the lab, where the Skull has been joined by the bizarre Armin Zola, who is extracting information from Clinton, who is hooked up to Zola’s machinery. The successor Cube is nearly complete, as the Skull slips hints of his greedy intent to claim the Cube for his own, leading to a mutual suspicion between him and the Hate Monger. Both know the alliance will not last.
Back at SHIELD, Agent Bill Collins laments the unavailability of superhero backup, leading to a confrontation with Rachel, who wants to go in with the human forces they have available. Collins tries to bar Rachel from the attack, but relents after giving her a “brotherly embrace” and feels the massive scarring on her back, even through her uniform. Collins calls for immediate launch of an assault on Exile Island.
Meanwhile, the Red Skull laments that the time has come to turn on the Red Skull, revealing the internal psychological torment betraying the Fuhrer raises inside him.
SHIELD’s “Bootsy Squad” approaches the island via high-tech aircraft and begins the attack, as “mercenaries from a dozen countries” respond below them. The Skull orders the deployment of the island’s greatest defense, an adamantium clamshell that rises from either side to total enclose the island. Parachuting SHIELD agents attack from the surface of the dome, using the “Overkill Horn” to break through the adamantium with sound. (Has this ever been used against Wolverine?)
In the underground command post, the Skull orders retreat from the slave pens and release of the “decoys”. The Hate Monger’s plan is in play: he intended to get SHIELD to attack to distract the Skull, while HM heads for Zola, who has nearly completed the Cube. Revealing himself as Hitler (again!), we finally get the true origin of the Hate Monger; he is the mental essence of Hitler transferred between a series of clones created by Zola:
Hitler’s plan? To literally enter and become the Cube! The big hitch, which Zola points out, is that the Cube vault can only be opened by HM and the Skull in unison.
Back in the battle, we now see the aforementioned “decoys”: Zola has created clones of the Skull and Hate Monger, allowing Rachel to get a lot of rage out of her system by slaughtering the two again and again:
Rachel finds Tov, a victim of brain burnout. With only a page to go, the SHIELD forces blow up the Island, but far below, the Red Skull reveals that the Cube project was not perfected; the second Cube had not replicated the essential nature of the original and served only as “the perfect prison”, one which he allowed Hitler to unwittingly enter:
Comments:
And thus does Super-Villain Team-Up come to the end of its classic run, with an unexpected sequel to an unexpected revival following an unexpected reprint edition that renewed the trademark on a cancelled, unlikely, and unsteady little series originally dedicated to keeping two of the Marvel Age’s Silver Age solo characters in print following the demise of their ongoing solo series.
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Peter Gillis has peppered this finale with tributes to the music collective Parliament/Funkadelic, with African-American characters Bill Collins (William “Bootsy” Collins) and George Clinton, the most prominent figures of the hit-making R&B/funk group.
Rachel never got a last name, but I think that Gillis was investing in making her a potential recurring character in the Marvel Universe, wherever he might have the chance to use her. I don’t know if he found that chance, or if anyone else ever did, but it seems that Yousuf Tov’s story came to an end here (although Rachel surely brought his burned-out but living body with her when SHIELD fled the destroyed island, right?).
It’s kind of a shame to destroy Exile Island, although it’s certainly nothing that comic book technology couldn’t have (and probably did) undo. The idea of a remote island run by deposed tyrants supported by multinational mercenaries conducting advanced technology research and serving as a prison for its enemies has plenty of potential.
The Hate Monger being literally Hitler was an idea that I don’t think ever went over well, even when Jack and Stan first introduced it in Fantastic Four. Establishing that he was a clone is a little more palatable and does less damage to the canonical and fitting ultimate defeat of Hitler at the hands of Captain America and Bucky.
These past two issues have, at least, been something of a “super-villain team-up”, something there’s less of, in most issues, than this title would have led readers to expect. Roy Thomas made clear at the start that this was supposed to be a Dr. Doom/Sub-Mariner book, but midway, the letters pages implied that the intent had been for this to be more of a Marvel Team-Up style book with a rotating guest slot, so I think Marvel lost track of exactly what the point of this book really was. The fan base was primed for a title “Team Up” to imply a rotating guest slot, despite Marvel’s first attempt at the format being, evidently, intended to be a Spidey/Torch ongoing.
Ultimately, the list of headline villains (or antiheroes) was meager: Dr. Doom, Sub-Mariner, Red Skull, Magneto, and Hate Monger--maybe we can count Arnim Zola--taken from the FF and Captain America stable of villains, with one X-Men villain tossed in. Clearly a waste of potential. Even as a Doom/Namor book, the introduction of more established villains could have provided plenty of super-villain team-ups, with Doom or Subby recruiting assistance to take on the other. The final two-parter probably wasn’t intended to do anything but retain trademark, so Marvel didn’t have much concern that the Hate Monger likely wasn’t much of a draw. But surely plenty of Spider-Man villains had significant potential as cover features. I’d have gone for the likes of Sandman, Kraven the Hunter, and the Lizard. We could have had team against team, like the Frightful Four vs. the Sinister Six. Alas, SVTU was what it was, a curious, mostly inconsequential stopgap that tied up some loose ends from Namor’s comic, kept Dr. Doom prominent without usurping the FF title, and gave us adequate entertainment for our dimes.
Looking back now at my introduction to this thread, I have no regrets at revisiting these, most likely for the final time. I apologize for the hiatus, but I’m glad I got around to finishing this thread, covering every issue, all the crossovers, and a couple of ancillary stories.
My next review thread should be a bit shorter, but not quite as short as you might be expecting. As I mentioned last time, the team-up titles have gotten plenty of review recently in this forum, although no one has taken on DC Comics Presents or the non-Batman period of World’s Finest. And I didn’t review individual issues in detail in my look at Brave & Bold. But I leave that to others, because there’s one other Bronze Age team-up book I’ve got my eye on for a closer look.
Get ready to partner up, compadres, and join me soon for a look back at Marvel’s Western Team-Up!
) device, but I seem to remember that there are also "natural" cosmic cubes, which were a kind of egg for cosmic beings. The Beyonder was at one point revealed to have been a flawed cosmic cube, as I recall, before he was retconned into being God only knows what. Are there, then, real cubes and artificial ones?
