Now we get down to business....

Marvel Team-Up #82



Spidey & Black Widow?

The question mark is a clue to the plot.......

Creative Team: Chris Claremont-writer, Sal Buscema-pencils, Steve Leialoha-inker, Rick Parker-letters, Ben Sean-colors, Al Milgrom-editor.

Synopsis: A red-headed woman is walking along the New York streets, where she passes a newspaper vending machine, with the Daily Bugle's front page feature covering the recent Red Sonja team-up, with Spidey....



Mary Jo Duffy is offering a counterpoint to J Jonah's editorial and I will be disappointed if J Jonah doesn't respond with anything less than "Jo, you ignorant slut!"



(Apologies to Mary Jo Duffy; it's just a joke, not an opinion)

The woman, who looks a heck of a lot like Natasha Romanoff, seems to think Spidey looks familiar, but then her thoughts say she is a teacher, from upstate New York.

Is there a school that teaches Advanced Femme Fatale? I mean, besides Wellesley College?



Her further thoughts indicate great confusion, including why she is in Manhattan. She is noticed by some guys, who have far more clear ideas about their intended actions. They follow her and then corner her in an alley. One big bruiser backhands her and grabs her by the hair and soon regrets it...



Spidey has turned up and he proceeds to open a whole case of whoop-ass on the punks. He is down to one, who sees the wisdom in backing off, until Spidey slips on the ice and the guy tries to knife him, only to be taken down by a knife-edge chop to the back of the neck, in true Hollywood fashion, which almost never works in real life! Said "karate chop" ia delivered by said school teacher and Spidey is impressed by her moves, then realizes she is Black Widow, which is news to the woman! She claims to not know Spidey and is no "widow." She becomes extremely agitated, then faints.

Spidey scoops her up and, against his betetr judgement, takes her to a secluded place (with packing crates inside) to hide her. She sleeps for a while and then wakes, as Spidey delivers her some hot soup, from a deli. (Chicken soup fixes everything!) he asks who she is, if she isn't Black Widow and she claims to be Nancy Rushman, a teacher from upstate New York....



Meanwhile, someone is remotely tracking a target, which has been located. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes (or even Sexton Blake) to figure out what this has to do with Spidey and Nancy (starring Gary Oldman, as Peter Parker).

Nancy has no idea at which school she teaches or why she is in New York. In fact, other than her name and occupation, she had no other memory of her life. Spidey looks in her purse and finds Black Widow's costume. Nancy has no idea what it is or how it got there and becomes agitated again. Spidey backs off and comforts her. He then convinces her to put on the insulated costume, for warmth, as she is shivering (Right! "Warmth." Uh-hunh....not because it is a sexy catsuit, or anything....) He also secretly hopes it will jog her memory (and more secretly hopes she will demonstrate her appreciation in very personal ways). She buys into this and puts on the costume and it fits her like a very tight and sexy glove. Nancy is no dummy and she says she is not a superhero and memories do not come flooding back. meanwhile, the remote observer says all units are in position.

Then, the defecation hits the oscillator......



They are attacked, from the sky, by a SHIELD strike team, led by Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine

or, possibly Julia Louis-Dreyfus....



...who would have been about 18, at the time of this story.

The strike team is all-female, showing that SHIELD was progressive, for the time, or someone wanted a lot of women in tight jumpsuits on the page.

Spidey whisks "Nancy" out of the line of fire, then puzzles why SHIELD agents are attacking either an innocent amnesiac school teacher or a seasoned SHIELD agent, like Black Widow. They continue to fire on them and Spidey snags a skysled, with his web and uses the momentum to propel them out of the line of fire, then they hoof it on the ground, with SHIELD in pursuit. Spidey gets taged with an energy beam and goes down, but not out. The SHIELD agent lands and moves in to secure him and "Nancy" defends him and kicks the ever-lovin' ......um, "stuffing," out of the lady SHIELD grunt.



"Nancy" is more freaked out by what she has done than the pummeled agent. Spidey tries to calm her and decides they need to get under cover. He sends "Nancy" down the stairwell (they are on a roof) to get to the subway and escape, while he delays the strike team. Spidey snares one, but his reflexes are still a bit wonky, due to the blast in the shoulder and Val rams him with her skysled. Then, she and two other ladies proceed to do to Spidey what some executives pay women of negotiable affection to do to them, while wearing similar outfits to the SHIELD agents (and/or Black Widow).



Sisters are doing it for themselves!

"Nancy" sees all she can stans and then can't stans no more and faster than Joey Stiles can yell "catfight," she enters the fray! She leaves the gals laying, then Nick Fury turns up and shoots her....



Spidey is stunned, then finds blood. he says she is dead and attacks Fury, but is shot down, by the SHIELD ramrod. He tells Val to come with him and the others to clean up the mess and our story comes to a stunning close!

Thoughts: Wheeelllldoggy that was a mighty fine picture story!

This makes up for the rather boring pieces we have had, of late, as Claremont gives us a hugely intriguing plot, with an apparent amnesiac Black Widow, or her twin, on the run from SHIELD, for some reason. Is it Nancy Rushton? If it is, how come she can kick gluteal? If it is Natasha Romanoff, why does she think she is a school teacher, names "Nancy?" Why is SHIELD after Black Widow? Or a school teacher? Why do they seem more interested in killing her, than apprehending her? Why does Nick Fury shoot her? Why was Val so submissive, in the last panel? What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?



Just as Project Pegasus was my central reason for reviewing Marvel Two-in-One (along with my other favorite MTIO stories), this is my central motivation for covering Marvel Team-Up.

Well, you didn't think it was so I could discuss Spidey and Clea, did you?

This is my favorite MTU storyline, bar none. Sure, I have other favorite stories from the series; but, this extended storyline stands above the others. One, it has a great mystery, at the heart of it, with the whole identity issue surrounding Black Widow/Nancy. Two, it makes extensive use of SHIELD, which I loved, in all of its original super-spy glory, before everyone did there best to make me hate when SHIELD would pop up or turn it into grand conspiracies of Deltites or secret societies. Three, it has some terrific and logically-connected guest stars. Four, it has Steve Leialoha making Sal Buscema look fantastic!

The basic premise here matches the plot from Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Identity, which inspired William Vance and Jean Van Hamme's bande dessinee, XIII. However, Claremont beat Ludlum to the punch, by a year! Now, that idea is not wholly original, as Richard Condon explored similar territory in 1959, with his novel The Manchurian Candidate, which inspired both the 1962 John Frankenheimer film (with Frank Sinatra and Laurence Harvey) and the 2004 Jonathan Demme film (with Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep). In that novel, both the Major Bennet Marco and Sergeant Raymond Shaw characters are suffering from memory lapses and identity issues, as we discover that they were subjected to mental conditioning, after being captured by enemy forces, to instigate a plot against the US government. Ludlum took the idea of an amnesiac, found unconscious and severely wounded, who is treated and returned to civilization, with no memory of who he is, and the only clue is a safety deposit box, in a Swiss bank. XIII took that premise and has the wounded man turn out to be wanted for assassinating the President of the United States. Claremont has Black Widow be the amnesiac and has SHIELD hunting for her. The question is why and who are the bad guys here? On the face of it, it appears to be SHIELD, as they are acting very aggressively and Fury shooting down "Nancy" and then Spidey, in cold blood, seems waaaaaaaay out of character. So, we are left to surmise that this might be yet another Rogue SHIELD story, which became a sort of fashion, around this time (see Iron Man 118-119, Marvel Super Action {magazine} #1, and Defenders #46-50). SHIELD became a stand-in for the nastier elements of the CIA, in the post-Vietnam and Watergate revelations of CIA dirty doings.

Claremont does a great job in keeping the mystery going and almost has us questioning if the person we think is Black Widow is really a school teacher lookalike; until Spidey pulls her costume out of Nancy's purse. Quite frankly, I think it would have been idea to keep that idea ambiguous through the whole issue; or, at least, until the end of the issue, with Nancy only demonstrating combat skills in the more desperate fight, leading to Fury shooting her, then Spidey. It creates greater impulse to read the next issue and heightens the intrigue, though the story, as is, has enough mystery and shock to get you to pick up the next issue. I just think maintaining amibiguity longer would ne a stronger narrative and would probably have been how Archie Goodwin might have handled this, or Doug Moench. Claremont wasn't a bad hand with mystery, as he dangled subplots, for years, in X-Men; but, I think he kind of undercuts the central mystery of identity a bit too early.

The art looks great, very dynamic and emotive and the fact that Sal Buscema is the penciller makes that a much bigger statement. However, it is obvious to me that it is down to Steve Leialoha's finishing that it is so effective. Now, I always liked Sal, up to a point. He was very dynamic; but, he wasn't so great at emotion. Oh sure, he could draw anger or surprise; but, that was about it for his facial expressions. Subtlety wasn't his forte. Leialoha adds a slicker line to Sal's pencils/breakdowns and gives more to the emotion of the scene. He also adds some softness to Buscema's women, who could be a bit hard-featured. Leialoha is a vastly under-rated artist, since he was primarily an inker and not associated with superstar runs; but, he was an inker who tended to add his own stamp to an artist's pencils and breakdowns, making them seem new, such as his inking of Carmine Infantino, on Star Wars and other Marvel books. Both Carmine and Sal were doing breakdowns, rather than full pencils and their inkers had a big hand in the finished art. Leialoha's finishes were more idiosyncratic than other inkers.

So, be prepared to hear me gush about these stories, for a bit.

Marvel Two-in-One #82



Thing & Captain America!

I missed this issue, back in the day, after picking up #81 and the next two. Also missed the upcoming Spider-Woman issue.

See what happens when you didn't have local comic shops or subscriptions?

I didn't miss a single issue, while I was in college and had access to a regular comic shop. Oh, I passed over a title here and there, and had to go back and find the issues later, once I got clued into a great series; but, I didn't miss an issue of a book I liked.

Thank Kirby for my scholarship, or I would have never read a single comic, between August 1984 and May 1988! Had that been the case, I doubt I would have picked up another comic, unless I stumbled into something, at a bookstore.

Creative Team: Tom DeFalco-writer, Ron Wilson-pencils, Chic Stone-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, George Roussos-colors, Jim Salicrup-editor

Synopsis: When we last left Ben, he had been infected by Virus X, by MODOK and AIM and was dying. He is stumbling around, weakened and confused and some punks think he is an easy target, though you have to wonder about the intelligence of a street gang that decides to mug a huge rock monster, even if he looks weak. These Phi Beta Kappas decide to give it a go; but, they are spotted by freelance artist Steve Rogers, who doesn't like bullies....



Man that movie got Steve Rogers so right!

Even though one of the idiots breaks a baseball bat over Ben's head, he doesn't run away and Ben falls to his knees and Einstein decides he is winning. Then Captain America turns up and it is Brown Trouser Time!



Cap smacks the morons around a bit, then takes Ben to the Baxter Building, for help. Reed checks him over, while Giant man has come in from Project Pegasus to consult. he programs Reed's analyzer with data to help isolate the virus that is killing him. ben wakes up and smashes the machine, then gets all uptight about how the virus is mutating his form, giving him rock mumps. He goes bonkers and Cap tries to stop him and has to use his shield to keep Ben from axe-handling him into the floor. Reed finally lassos Ben and gets him to calm down, but can't convince him that they can reverse the process. ben get's on his skyscycle to get some air and Ben Foster tags along, to repay Ben for helping him deal with the fact that he is dying.



Cap goes searching for AIM and MODOK, convinced that they wouldn't develop a germ weapon, without also developing an antidote. He first tracks down some hoods who launder money for AIM, then smacks them around to find out how to contact the beekeepers. We then cut to AIM's secret base, inside an iceberg, near Antarctica. One of the beekeepers reports to MODOK that Captain America is tracking them. MODOK isn't worried and goes back to infecting other AIM members with Virus X, for failing him/it.

Meanwhile, Ben and Bill visit the spaceport, where the FF originally snuck aboard the rocket that launched them into space and the cosmic radiation belt, turning them into freaks, in Ben's eyes. Reed promised to restore him to human form, but has failed at every turn. Foster tries to inspire him, but Ben isn't biting. The pity party is interrupted by a call from Cap.

Later, we see Cap, ben and Giant Man smash their way into an AIM command center.



Beekeepers shoot back, the boy smack 'em around and throw parts of the room at them, then find the location of the AIM central base. AIM has a transporter and before you can say "beam me up Scotty!" they are zapped to the Antarctic, where they arrive and find a reception committee waiting for them, guns drawn. MODOK also has a rock synthoid, to mimic Ben's hide. MODOK confirms the existence of an antidote and Thing decides it is Clobberin' Time! However, in his weakened state, the Thing Synthoid gets the upper hand. Oh, he's gigantic size, too. cap handles the grunts, while Giant Man hurls machinery to clear a path to follow Ben and the Thingbot. He finds the right lab and threatens the antidote out of a beekepper, while Ben gets in a few licks on the Bot. The beekeeper coughs up a rifle that will fire an agent that makes the body immune to radiation, neutralizing the virus. Ben Foster realizes it could save his own life.

Ben knocks the Thingbot through the wall, which causes the ocean to flood in. They hop onto the transporter pad, but falling debris knocks the antidote gun from Giant Man's hand. He retrieves it, but it has leaked anti-toxin and there is only enough for one dose. Bill Foster is forced to choose between saving Ben and himself.



Bill Foster is a hero and he chooses to save Ben. The antidote works and Ben is restored to his ever-lovin' blue-eyed self, while Bill Foster stumbles off to die.

Thoughts: Nice follow-up to last issue, as Cap helps get Ben to medical attention, then locate AIM and an antidote. Ben wallows in self pity for much of it, while Bill Foster, who is also dying, tries to get him to try to be positive and face the now, as Ben did for him. Ben ends up getting the message and takes care of the Thingbot and their escape, while Bill Foster reminds us of the words of John 15:13...

"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Bill had a chance to save himself, but he felt the world needed Ben more and gave him the life-saving anti-toxin. However, the moment is undercut by an a thought of self-pity, as his thoughts reveal he still sees himself as a loser. Prior to that, he was concerned about Ben and wanted to repay him, for helping him face his own dying, with dignity and courage, rather than self-pity. The closest he comes is feeling ashamed at the times he felt self-pity, when he realizes how much pain Ben hid behind his brash, fun-loving personality. However, nothing about that says he sees himself as a loser. In fact, for most of the issue, he seems at peace with his world, which is common to those who face terminal illness and have progressed to the final stage of grief: acceptance. Suddenly, Bill Foster has reversed, at the end. You could argue that the chance of a cure has shaken his acceptance of his fate; but, I have trouble buying that, especially as he sacrifices his chance for Ben. That isn't an act of self-pity but one chosen by someone who has accepted his death and wants to save someone else, because he can.

Bill Foster hasn't been treated well, by Marvel writers, at times. His motivation for becoming a hero was selfish and it backfired on him (in Luke Cage, Hero for Hire). In his own series, he tried to make up for that selfish act, then came in conflict with Atom Smasher and found himself exposed to high levels of radiation. Project Pegasus gave him a better superhero name (and less exploitive) and a purpose, though it also increased the radiation poisoning, as he valiantly fought Nuklo. Again, he continues to show courage here, then has the rug pulled out in the last panel. That is the one failure of Tom DeFalco, on this.

So far, I have mostly been happy with DeFalco's writing on this series. He captures Ben's voice and personality well and concocts interesting and fun plots. Now, he is tackling a serious subject and is handling it well, until he goes for some pathos and fails to stick the landing. Of course, we know Ben is going to try to return the favor; but, I would have just left it as Bill stumbling off, saying the world needs heroes like Ben Grimm, then just have him silently collapse, without the "loser" tag. It's a rookie mistake, going for Stan Lee soap opera, but missing the point that it isn't the right spot. The drama is the sacrifice and showing us the result, as Ben is saved and restored (to rock form) and then Giant Man collapses.

Ron & Chic do their thing, but the grid layouts really get annoying. This is a good story, but the layout adds a generic touch to things. Ron was looser in earlier stories and it felt more dynamic. Chic Stone isn't totally stiff; but, these layouts don't improve the pairing of Wilson & Stone. This is indicative of why I drifted away from marvel, almost completely, within a couple of years. Aside from the talent exodus, the comics just looked like the end result of an assembly line, devoid of any personality or style. The better artists who remained either ignored Shooter outright and got away with it, due to sales, or conformed just enough to avoid a confrontation, while younger talent learned to draw in what was becoming a house style (again, as earlier artists were encouraged to ape Kirby). You can debate the merits of it, with examples of where it works and where it doesn't; but, I found it dull.

Next up, Ben heads to Canada for some expert advice, and some beer and back bacon, eh?

Satana seems to have been resurrected in Hellstorm, prior to her Witches appearances. After Hellstorm was cancelled, Warren Ellis and Ariel Olivetti worked on a Satana mini-series, which went unpublished because Marvel introduced a policy of only publishing code-approved stuff. Ellis said the first issue came back to him with a letter saying they could suggest no changes that would make the work suitable for humans, other than completely rewriting and redrawing it. John Ostrander and Joe Bennett were later brought in to finish the mini with the intention of publishing it under the Marvel Max imprint, but this didn't come to pass. The Hellstorm Omnibus is said to include the complete but uncoloured Satana #1 and Olivetti's artwork intended for #2 and Bennett's for #3. In the meantine, Ellis had recycled the plot at Avatar as Strange Kiss.

Marvel Team-Up #83



Spidey & Nick Fury!

And Nancy Rushman!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont-writer, Sal Buscema-breakdowns, Steve Leialoha-finishes, Joe Rosen-letters, Ben Sean-colors, Al Milgrom-editor

Synopsis: When last we left, Spidey had been shot by Nick Fury, after he shot "Nancy Rushman." He got better. He coems to an pulls of his mask, feeling woozy. he flashes back to the events of the previous issue, then puts the mask back on and goes searching for Nick Fury.

Fury is in a hidden facility, where a tranquilized Black Widow is under observation. Nick reveals that she had contacted him, in a panic, about a danger to SHIELD....



Val is also under sedation, as Nick tries to figure out why she disobeyed orders. Meanwhile, Peter Parker does a bit of research at the Bugle "morgue" (reference section), to try to locate SHIELD's New York HQ. Miss McCullough, who runs the department, flips him the phone book and tells him to look it up, under "government organizations" (which is accurate, as that is where you find listing for government agencies, in a phone book). There is only a phone number. Pete tries the number and gets an address that doesn't match the phone exchange. he traces the exchange to a specific building and goes to it. He wears a hat and dark glasses and spots all of the security and bolts for an open elevator. he is chased by guards, but escapes up the roof hatch, into the elevator shaft and disappears.

Meanwhile, the doctor tending to Widow receives a message on a communicator and starts acting weird, then tries to kill Widow...



Widow comes out of sedation and defends herself. She grabs the nearest clothing, which is her costume, but she still thinks she is Nancy Rushman, teacher. She heads down a corridor and is spotted by a SHIELD grunt, but Spidey intervenes. He calms Nancy; but, alarms go off. Spidey decides they need to move fast and, rather than tell "Nancy" to move, he bitch-slaps her!



He's not even Rick James!

Spidey carries her off, as Claremont rationalizes using violence to persuade Nancy to leave. Meanwhile, the escape is reported to Clay Quartermain, on the SHIELD Helicarrier...



Clay seems off and we see him report to a woman, who is in shadow. She gives orders to Silver Samurai, last seen stealing a teleportation ring from John Belushi, to transport Boomerang to deal with Spidey and return to her side. he wants to go alone; but she forbids it. He leaves and she watches a CBS new story about an upcoming address of Congress, by President Carter.

Fury makes a call to someone named Dennis, asking for someone to be there by Midnight. Fury is worried that SHIELD may be under outside control. he contemplates the Nancy Rushman name, which was Widow's cover, as a Soviet spy, when she first came to America. He is observed by Boomerang, from a distance, as he follows Fury's high tech sports car.

Widow wakes up in Peter Parker's apartment and he says Spidey dropped her off there. She has a flash of memory, of being tortured and mental conditioning. She freaks out and Peter calms her. Them Fury kicks in the door and confronts them, at gunpoint. Fury "arrests" them and moves them to his car, when Pete's Spidey sense kick in and he pushes them down, as Boomerang launches an attack with an explosive boomerang.

Fury fights back and shoots down some of the boomerangs and the distraction lets Pete slip away and change and then Spidey turns up and attacks Boomerang. They fight, but Spidey gets stunned and Window intercepts him. Boomerang is getting overwhelmed, when Silver Samurai turns up. He holds off Spidey, then gets to Boomerang and transports him away, leaving Spidey, Widow and Fury stunned. All of the confusion has broken through some of Widow's mental blocks, as she warns that something big is going down, that affects more than just her.

Thoughts: Another great issue, continuing an intriguing story. The misleading cliffhanger is explained, though it is a cheat. of course, Fury shot everyone with tranquilizer darts, not bullets. Fury is straight, but Val was acting weird and we also see Clay Quartermain acting weird. Jasper Sitwell seems on Fury's side; but, the doctor was fine until he got the video call. Someone is controlling people. Widow's flashback reveals she was mentally conditioned, so we get further reinforcement that she is Natasha Romanoff. Fury mentioning that Nancy Rushman had been a previous cover identity of hers seals it. Problem is, Fury doesn't know if she is to be trusted.

We don't see who the boss is, but they are definitely female; or, a very good cross-dresser! We do know that Boomerang and Silver Samurai are working with her. Samurai was in the issue with the SNL gang and stole the teleportation ring that was the maguffin of the plot. So, he is big and armored, with a sword, and can teleport. Boomerang had fought the Hulk and Iron Fist and was basically a mercenary (and a less interesting rip-off of Captain Boomerang).

So, who is the boss?

Well, anyone who has been around a while recognized who it was by visual clues, like a green outfit, with elbow-length gloves. I'm not going to spoil it, but, this person has a beef with SHIELD and a history with mind control. She definitely commands Silver Samurai and seems to control the SHIELD Helicarrier.

At the time this was released, I had no idea about SHIELD having a New York Base. I had only seen the Helicarrier relatively recently. My first encounter with the name was in defenders, in the "Who remembers Scorpio?" story, but didn't have the issue where you see the thing; only a mention in the issue when "Fury" grabs Jack Norris. My first sight of it was either in Iron Man or when I got Son of Origins, which featured the first Nich Fury, Agent of SHIELD story. It was years before I got the Strange Tales issues, with the earliest SHIELD stories and saw the whole New York HQ, which was swiped from the Man From UNCLE tv series. Bacvk then, you entered the underground complex via a barber chair, which lowered through the floor. That is missing here, though Marv Wolfman used that in Marvel Two-in-One, during his run, when Ben dealt with Fury and Deathlok. Claremont has an interesting conceit, as Spidey tries to track it down and uses the idea that government offices are listed in a phone book. SHIELD is a government agency, though it was always conflicting as to whether it reported to the US government or the United Nations. In the 60s, you see Fury reporting to President Johnson, when the Howlers go on a mission in Vietnam, while Fury is in charge of SHIELD (since it was "the present.") At other times, they seem to have a global mandate, acting as a security agency for the entire planet, under UN authority and treaty, much like UNCLE, in the tv series. That was part of the conceit of Napoleon Solo having a Russian partner, Ilya Kuryakin. At the time, the US and the USSR were locked in the Cold War; but, the series suggested that THRUSH, the bad guys, were a threat to both and a fascist power in their own right. The recent Guy Ritchie movie used that idea and set the period in the 60s, as Nazi war criminals suggest a threat to both the US and USSR, leading to Solo and Kuryakin teaming up, with Alexander Waverly's help.

SHIELD was often poorly used, by writers, depending on their goal. Some used them as an allegory for the CIA and its poor reputation, in the post-Vietnam and Watergate environment. The CIA had been involved in dirty operations in Vietnam and there were exposes of other dirty dealings, which made them seem sinister and a law unto themselves. Adding to a White Hose that was defying the law, it led to a crack down on the CIA and Congressional oversight. Problem was, other writers liked to use SHIELD as a security force that helped round up super-criminals and other threats, like a mix of the FBI, NASA, and a supped up SWAT team. On top of that, there were several stories about rogue elements within SHIELD, like in Huntress/Mockingbird's past, in Marvel Super Action. There was a rogue Nick Fury, in Defenders, who turned out to be an LMD, controlled by Jake Fury, aka Scorpio, picking up from Steranko. Iron Man had a rogue SHIELD group try to start WW3, with tony Stark stopping them and then Nick Fury show his gratitude with a hostile takeover attempt on Stark International, to force them back into the weapons business. Now you have a rogue SHIELD element attacking Black Widow. In all of these, Nick Fury was usually kept clean, because we can't taint a war hero, although that was not the case with the takeover attempt. Fury backs down, but is tainted. Later, in Nick Fury vs SHIELD, we would learn it had all ben fake, that HYDRA and SHIELD were in cahoots and half the people were LMDs and it was all a paranoid mess and has never recovered (in my opinion). I prefer SHIELD as legitimately trying to protect the public from super terrorists, criminals, and alien threats. Call me old fashioned.

The other mystery is who Fury called, for help. That will be revealed in the next issue; but, the name Dennis is a clue, not to mention Fury's profession. I'm pretty certain the person who is coming isn't Joey and Nick was not talking to Dennis Mitchell!

The art continues to look great, thanks to Leialoha, though you get touches of Buscema in some faces and body language.

Now, the uncomfortable part. I never really noticed it, at the time; but, in retrospect, looking at the body of his work, Chris Claremont sure seems to have a thing for women being tortured and mind control. If it is just a dramatic device, then he is lazy and uses it too often. If it isn't a device, it is rather disturbing. Female characters do a lot of suffering, at his hands, physically and mentally. Given the reality that women are more likely to be the victims of sexual assault than men, it is especially disturbing when the victims are superheroes, who have greater power to defend themselves. Now, torture and mind control are dramatic devices that crop up a lot, in comics, and are part of their heritage from the pulps. It happens to male characters. However, it happens more often to female characters than males. You could argue that would be statistically correct; but, I would counter with it is overused for shock value and titillation, by lazy writers. We rarely see consequences of such experiences and the effects are more pronounced with the women than the men. The women are rescued by men more often than not and the males rescue themselves or are rescued by other males. How often has Black Widow needed rescuing, by daredevil, Nick Fury, Spider-Man or someone else? The thing is, Claremont got a lot of credit, in the fan press, for strong female characters; but, it is only after years of these things that people started talking about how often this kind of thing turns up in his work and how it is almost exclusively the women who suffer these events. Add the often fetish costuming to the whole thing and it is not too extreme to point to BDSM fantasies that are rather on the dark side. And yet, someone like Howard Chaykin, who is pretty blatant about sex in his work, gets criticism, despite the fact that he's pretty egalitarian about who does what to whom. Chaykin tends to be more satirical about it; Claremont more serious. Certainly, the traditions and culture of comics and pulp novels feeds this, as did societal attitudes and other storytelling media; but, when it keeps cropping up, despite shifts in attitudes and portrayals, you start to wonder how much is culture and how much is author/artist?

Marvel Team-Up #84



Ah, so Nick Fury didn't call Dennis Moore!



Seriously, an entire Monty Python team-up would have been wayyyy better than the Not Ready For Prime Time Players!

As long as they wrote it!

Creative Team: Chris Claremont-writer, Sal Buscema-breakdowns, Steve Leialoha-finishes, Diana Albers-letters, Ben Sean-colors, Al Milgrom-editor.

Synopsis: When we last left our heroes, Boris and Natasha.....I mean Silver Samurai and some woman in silhouette had brainwashed Clay Quartermain and the rest of the SHIELD Helicarrier, except Nick Fury, who was elsewhere and they are hunting for someone who is either Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, spy; or, Nancy Rushman, school teacher, aka That @#$% Who Assigns So Much Homework! The time has come to reveal the chick in the shadows......



Madame Hydra, aka the rechristened Viper. Chris reminds us that, after her defeat by Captain America, as Madame Hydra (in the truly awesome Steranko 3 issues), she somehow survived and murdered the Viper, aka Jordan Stryke, leader of the Serpent Squad. They were defeated by Nomad (aka Steve Rogers, aka Captain America) and a house crashed in on them; but, Viper somehow dropped into a basement, without shattering both legs or snapping her neck and survived, under tons of rubble. There just happened to be a convenient escape tunnel and she was able to sneak past police lines, when an even more convenient van turned up, with Ishiro Tagara, a member of the Japanese wing of the Red Army Faction, happened along, recognized her from ther HYDRA days and told her to hop in and they escape....



Who's writing this, Chris Claremont or Douglas Adams? I smell an Infinite Improbability Drive somewhere......

Tagara takes her to his estate in Japan, as he is a playboy terrorist, not a radical Marxist-Leninist and Viper recovers and falls in love with the dude. She conceives a scheme to attack and critically wound the US, causing the masses of the world to rise up and overthrow the democratic governments and establish a Socialist State, or at least a totalitarian government that neither Marx or Engels would state adhered to their principles. Philosophers!

Viper created a hypno-ray and whammied SHIELD's New York HQ (somehow) and sent them on walkabout, for an hour, then sicked Silver Samurai, an associate of Tagara (more upper class anarchists) on Spidey and Black Widow, as he tries to steal the cavourite crystal, so she can....I' don't know, pilot a sphere to the Moon?

Oh, it was to power a teleportation device. She was still able to create a teleportation ring, but lost it in the mail and it ended up in John Belushi's powdery hands. This led to the "hilarious" battle between Silver Samurai and his stooges and Spidey and the cast of the funny days of Saturday Night Live battling it out, before Samurai stole the ring from Belushi, after distracting him with a bag of white powder, which turned out to be confectioner's sugar, rather than Colombian White Lady. She then used the teleportation ring to get herself and Samurai aboard the SHIELD Helicarrier, in Sick Bay, where they replaced the doctor's video-phone with one that projects a hypno beam, putting the whammy on him. They then systematically summoned the crew to sick bay and then it got all kinds of funky.....



She plans to use the Helicarrier to attack a Joint Session of Congress, where President Carter will address them (possibly warning them that unless we do something about our dependence on fossil fuels and carbon emissions, the planet is @#$%ed; but it will be ignored when a new administration takes office).

Meanwhile, Spidey and Black Widow make a hang glider insertion onto the flight deck of the Hellicarrier, despite the massive rotor -wash that thing must have.....



Wonder if Chris had just see Sky Riders?



They spot a SHIELD security sweep and jump over the side and cling onto the hull; but, Nancy lacks the confidence to use Black Widow's equipment and has a panic attack and Spidey comforts her. She then starts to lip-lock him and Spidey senses a tingling. He decides he better lead her to safety, or at least a quiet room.

Meanwhile, Nick Fury receives clearance for landing and orders Quartermain to report to his office, when he arrives. Fury lands and is met by a security team; or a heavily armed valet and he tosses them the keys to his aero-car and says to park it.



It suddenly gets all narrative and we learn who Dennis was, as a hand chops down the security team, while Fury grins. Then Boomerang attacks and Fury goes down, leaving Shang-Chi to face him, in his pajamas. Boomerang isn't impressed, despite getting his butt kicked by Iron Fist and he starts throwing toys at him and Shang Chi makes like Wonder Woman and swats them with his bracelets. Boomerang throws a gas one and Chi hops to another spot. Boomerang goes after him and it goes all chop sockey, except Leialoha has either done his research or has studied a bit, as Chi actually uses real martial arts techniques, including elbow and palm strikes.....



...and then Boomerang takes Chi out with an exploding boomerang.

Spidey finds a porthole and tucks Widow inside and they have their darkened room, when they experience Convenientous Interruptus, as Viper turns up with her SHIELD zombies. Nancy recognizes Viper as the woman who tortured her, in her dreams and lets out a big scream and collapses on the floor, because Claremont is writing this. Before Spidey can do anything, Boomerang turns up, with Shang-Chi as prisoner and Viper yells at him for not killing him. It runs out that Boomerang has been replaced, by Nick Fury and Chi is awake and they open a 5 gallon can of whoop-ass on Viper, Samurai and the SHIELD zombies.....



Viper throws the cannon fodder at them and heads for the bridge. Spidey tries to go after and Samurai knocks him through the hull and into the atmosphere, without a parachute!



Thoughts: Well, it is an exciting issue, with the sneaking around and the fighting; but, Viper's story of escaping the Serpent Squad house and rescue and trip to Japan and Samurai is all just a bit hard to swallow, especially in a couple of pages. It just reads like a bad brainstorming session, with no story logic, at all. He also demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge or research into 1970s terrorist groups.

In the 1970s, various radical terrorist groups carried out campaigns of hijackings, bombings, shootings, kidnappings and other acts of terror, around the globe. One of the unifying factors of these groups, aside from spouting Marxist-Leninist and Maoist rhetoric was that they were almost uniformly drawn from the ranks of the Baby Boom generation of radical students. 1968 say massive political unrest across the globe, with youth protests being at the center of most, as students rioted and demonstrated in France, carried out anti-war demonstrations in America, and student protests in Japan (and similar protests in other European and Asian countries). The more radical groups turned towards violence as a means of protest and terrorist groups were formed, with the most noted including the PLO and PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which made the PLO look like a reasonable bunch), The Italian Red Brigade (who kidnapped and murdered former prime minister Aldo Moro), the Baader-Meinhoff Gang and German Red Army Faction, and the Japanese Red Army Faction. Claremont invokes the Japanese group, to tie Viper to Silver Samurai. They had carried out kidnappings and hijackings in Japan, under Fusako Shigenobu and Tsuyoshi Okudaira. They joined with the Revolutionary Left faction (a Maoist group), to form the United Red Army, who became notorious for the 1972 Asama-Sanso Incident, in which members of the group took over a mountain lodge, holding a caretaker's wife hostage and barricading themselves into the lodge, creating a stronghold. There was a siege standoff with the police for 9 days, before police assaulted the structure and fought their way to the terrorists. Shigenobu left Japan, with a cadre of 40 loyalists and went to the Middle east, where it operated in conjunction with the PFLP and perpetrated the Lod Airport Massacre, in 1972, where they attacked the airport with automatic weapons and grenades, killing 26 and wounding 80. They partook in hijackings and hostage taking in Singapore, Bangladesh, The Netherlands, Turkey, Malaysia and Italy, between 1972 and 1988.

The Japanese Red Army was primarily made up of middle class radical students and not the wealthy, who owned estates. The wealthy families of Japan tended to support the more conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which has been in power in Japan since 1955, with only brief interruptions in 1993-1994 and 2009-2012. He has also shown a rather ignorant level of knowledge of the Yakuza, in X-Men and pretty much everything about Japan that he didn't see in a movie. He's not unique in that; but, it is part of great leaps in logic in his writing, like having Silver Samurai being the half brother of Mariko Yashida and cousin of Sunfire. Guess nobody else in Japan has super-abilities or ties to Wolverine. To be fair, other people do the same thing for plot convenience, but Claremont makes a habit of it and this issue demonstrates a ton of it. Now, issue #57's battle between Spidey & Black Widow and Silver Samurai was all part of Viper's plans, as was issue 74, with Samurai fighting Spidey and the Not Ready For Prime Time Players. Now, issue 57 was written by Claremont, which has, as a subplot, Black Widow entering the SHIELD New York HQ, finding it deserted. She goes looking for answers, in a commandeered aero-car, when she spots Spidey fighting Silver Samurai and gets pulled into the battle. The end said that her mystery would play out in future issues of The Champions, which Claremont and John Bryne were co-plotting. However, that issue coincided with issue #13 of the Champions, where they are busy with The Stranger, with Black Goliath and Darkstar along for the ride. That was followed by issues 14 & 15, where they latched onto killer bee hysteria, with a twopart battle with Swarm. Then, Claremont and Byrne were gone and Bill Mantlo did the last two issues. So, maybe.....MAYBE, Claremont had intended for Viper to be revealed carrying out her plot in The Champions, but Claremont only got around to it now. I have trouble believing the SNL issue was meant to tie into this, other than the connection with Silver Samurai, to add the teleportation thing. Given that issue 57 was published in 1977, when the JRA had been involved in two hijackings and high profile incidents since 1972, I can buy that he intended to bring Viper into the story and tie her to Samurai. However, the whole Samurai thing flies against being a part of radical Marxist terrorists, like the JRA. Viper was associated with terrorism, through her debut, as Madame Hydra. I can see Claremont wanting to tie her to other terrorists and used the JRA to explain why a Japanese villain, Silver Samurai, is working with her, even if it does stand up to scrutiny. It made little sense that He was also the bastard son of Shingen Yashida, retroactively, so that Claremont could have him and Viper fight the X-Men. It also made little sense that Mariko, who apepared to be the daughter of a diplomat or government official, was instead the daughter of a criminal and tied to both the Yakuza and The Hand.

Anyway, Claremont is likely dusting off the plot he had intended for Champions (maybe) and updating it a bit.

This issue, we see that the Dennis that Nick Fury called was Sir Dennis Nayland Smith, which makes sense, since he was with MI-6; or, at least had been, since this is after he, Chi, Tarr, Leiko and Reston had broken away from MI-6 to start their own private firm. Fury would have had contacts with MI-6, over the years, which would have been Nayland Smith. So, if he suspects foul play within SHIELD, it makes sense he would reach out to someone he could trust, away from SHIELD, for help , though why not Captain America? Well, he was busy with Dr Faustus and the National Force. Claremont tries his hand at Chi's narration and shows that he is no Doug Moench, in that department. Chi doesn't get much of a role, except combat, since Claremont spends a lot of time on back story, with Viper and her operation and to get to the reveal that Fury has replaced Boomerang and force Viper into upping her timetable, at the climax of the issue.

Steve Leialoha continues to make Sal Buscema look way better than he ever did and I suspect he is responsible for Chi's actual fighting technique, rather than Sal. I have no actual proof of this; but I have a vague recollection of reading something that suggested Leialoha had dabbled in martial arts. If not, then he at lest researched better ideas that what Sal would have likely have provided or indicated. Guys like Sal tended to portray martial arts as basic karate chops and wild kicks, with no actual technique involved, which weren't any different than the normal physical stuff they did, with non-martial artists (except more chops than punches). You didn't get many palm strikes. I would at least bet that Leialoha had watched the Bruce Lee films and the other major kung fu films that floated around theaters, in the 70s, during the kung fu craze. Coming from San Francisco, that would seem rather readily accessible to him. Either way, he makes Chi look good here, even if Claremont doesn't give much thought to the character.

I joke, but there is a sexual tension going on here, with Spidey and Widow and it seems rather deliberate, on Claremont's part. That would seem to fit his pattern of heroines reduced to helpless victims, needing to be rescued. It fits into the basic damsel-in-distress sexual fantasy, where the victim possibly rewards their rescuer, though a certain segment prefers the distress over the rescue, in that scenario. I sometimes wonder if Claremont didn't read a lot of John Norman (look up the Gor cycle of books, if you are interested; but, I wouldn't recommend spending money on buying and reading them, beyond the first 3 and even that is with a forgiving eye to a lot of swiped ideas).

Claremont is definitely attempting to bring contemporary events, like hijackings and terrorism into Marvel and SHIELD; but, yet again, it requires everyone at SHIELD to be incompetent and a female lead to suffer torture, at the hands of someone who dresses like a dominatrix (which was pretty much what Steranko created, riffing on Wally Wood's Iron Maiden, in THUNDER Agents and Milton Caniff's Dragon Lady, in Terry & the Pirates). He is also dabbling in James Clavell, as Mariko and his fascination with Japan originated in Shogun (while Miller's seemed to be Lone Wolf & Cub and Eric Van Lustbader novels). He could have done with some more research, though. I suppose the general audience was fine with it, though, as X-fans seemed to dig it and these are definitely the high points of his MTU run, in my opinion.

Next up, the conclusion of the whole thing and a cameo from the Man from Plains, GA.

ps That's about all of my Canadian jokes. Notice I didn't do any "aboot" gags?

I leave those to Michael Moore.

Marvel Two-in-One #85



Thing & Spider-Woman

Creative Team: Tom DeFalco-writer, Ron Wilson-pencils, Chic Stone-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, George Roussos-colors, Jim Salicrup-editor

Synopsis: A dying Bill Foster reflects on his less-than-stellar career, as Black Goliath & Giant Man...



He barely beats Stilt-Man (seriously...Stilt-Man!) and is irradiated by Atom Smasher. he goes to Project Pegasus, in search of a cure and gets more rads, from Nuklo. He knows he is dying and decides to leave the Baxter Building to put his affairs in order. Reed tries to talk sense, but his mind is made up. ben takes him home, in the Pogo Plane.

In San Francisco, Spider-Woman tries to break up a heist and gets radiation zapped....



The villains pack up and head for LA. Spidey-Wo-Man goes home, showers and flashes her skivvies and heads for LA.

Bill Foster says goodbye to his colleagues and girlfriend and Ben makes himself scarce. He finds a guard unconscious and runs into the hoods, with the ugly green and purple outfits....



The big baddie turns out to be Atom Smasher, back from the dead. Ben gets a facefull and knocked through a wall. Spidey-Frau turns up and lends a hand and Foster uses his scientific knowledge to aid them. They figure out Atom Smoosher is building a bomb and Ben and La Mujer de Arana turn up and It's Clobberin Time!



Ben whoops some robots and Femme Araignee withstands a radiation blast from Atom Smacker. She tells Ben that it just tickles, as she is able to build up immunity. ben realizes that this might save Bill Foster.

Foster turns giant, to fight Atom Slapper and wins, but collapses. ben rushes him to help and he gets a transfusion from Spider-Woman and is saved. S-W loses her immunity factor and Ben wonders if they have won, though it is the best they can hope for.

Thoughts: Decent ending and one I picked up on, once Spider-Woman was mentioned as being in the next issue. It was established at the start that her treatments at Wundagore Mountain made her immune to radiation poisoning, as well as other toxins. It was a nice use of that character element, though the story ends with Bill Foster probably not able to withstand turning into a giant and Spider-Woman robbed of her immunity factor, which sets her on a path for death, later on (she got better!).

Art is so-so, with Chic Stone really restraining Ron Wilson.

It turns out that this Atom Smasher is the brother of the original, which means DeFalco is now stealing soap opera cliches. Next he will have Ben team up with Luke & Laura, to stop a weather machine in the hands of a madman. Or battle the schemes of Erica Kane...or Phoebe Tyler-Wallingford, or that Hans Gudegast guy, from the Young & the Restless.

Next issue, it is Ben and Sandman.

This one....



or this one.....



??