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Post by dbutler69 on Oct 5, 2020 14:52:20 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #4 Thing & Cap and a little band, known as The Guardians of the Galaxy! Creative Team: Steve-Gerber-writer, Sal Buscmea-pencils, Frank Giacoia-inks, C Jetter-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-editor Synopsis: Ben takes Wundarr to the zoo. More people stare at them than the monkeys. He goes up to a stand to buy Wundie some cotton candy and turns around and finds out he has let all of the kitties out of their cages...  That is one yellow lion, Petra! Ben plays with the big kitty and then a gorilla wants to join in, while Wundarr has a fit. Not far away, Steve Rogers and Sharon Carter are walking and he hears the commotion. He sees Ben putting his playpals back in their cages and then turns his attention to the thieves looting the empty concession stands. And wouldn't you know it, Namorita just happens to be in the park and says hello to Wundie. Ben returns all grumpy and she tells him to chill. She is attending college and offers to tutor Wundie. Ben is happy to dump him on her and goes off with Cap to explain. They go to the Baxter Building, for coffee and unstable molecules and Reed is tinkering with Dr Doom's time machine. Reed leaves it to entertain their guests and Ben accidentally trips a power switch. Faster than you can say convenient plot twist, it is powered up and has pulled some woman from the future to their time and she screams at he linoleum o the floor, since everyone knows it was responsible for the great ugliness of 1974. She trips out, muttering about Baddoon then faints. When she comes to, she tells them about the Brotherhood of the Baddoon and Ben, Cap and Sharon go with her Back To the Future and materialize in a Gene Colan panel...  Well, that is what he made it look like. They are attacked by Zoms, then Daleks turn up....no, wait, that is Dr Who: Daleks' Invasion Earth 2150 AD (just 130 years people, reserve your slave collars!) It becomes Clobberin' Time and everyone joins in...  Then the Monster of Baddoon does a run in and the ref calls for the bell, after he decks Ben and causes Sharon to be knocked out. A Zom hits Cap with a foreign object ray and they are carried out of the ring. Thoughts: Classic Gerber fun and he was the guy who made the Guardians of the Galaxy interesting, though we don't see them yet. Thing's lighter tone contrasted well with the sometimes gloomier MTU (depended on Spidey's mood, though Conway tended to gloomy and whiny). Ben is just happy to punch bad guys. Apparently, Central Park is the Nexus of All Coincidences. Next time, the Guardians join Ben & Cap for a War Games match against the Brotherhood of Baddoon...and possibly the 4 Horsemen. Wooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!! I loved this two-parter! Among my favorite team-up stories of all time, but then I'm a sucker for the Guardians of the Galaxy. |
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Post by brutalis on Oct 5, 2020 15:09:54 GMT -5
Never had the 1st part of the GOTG 2 parter in my collection. Had the 2nd part and I was never able to find the 1st part until buying the Essential MTIO. Since then, only ever read the 1st part once.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 7, 2020 16:47:35 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #5 Monstroid? How creative! Creative Team: Gerry Conway-writer, Gil Kane-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, John Costanza-letters, Roy Thomas-editor Synopsis: Spidey is out web-slinging, when he spots some dude in a trench coat weaving around, stumble and fall through the pavement!  It's the Vision, whose brain is on fire. he should see a doctor... Spidey takes him home, to sleep it off. he wakes up and says he has been having epileptic seizures, thn Conway proceeds to give a false impression of what they are...  Meanwhile, the Puppet Master discovers a crashed spaceship and an android, who he takes control of and redubs Monstroid. He uses him for petty theft. Viz recovers and they leave, before Harry wakes up for a bathroom call. They go to a hospital and Spidey uses the EEG to check Vision's brainwaves and finds two sets. PM has Monstroid take them tot he Baxter Building, but the FF are out. meanwhile, Spidey tracks dwn the signal tht is causing the seizures to that locale. PM sends Monstroid out and Viz hits the floor with a migraine. Spidey fights...  Spidey tries to stomp it into the ground, which doesn't work, but succeeds in stoping the signal driving Viz batty. Puppet Master tries kicking Viz around and gets F-ed up. He drops the controller and Monstroid drops.  Good Guys win! Thoughts: Pretty light story which just seems to go through the motions. The Monstroid isn't particularly well developed and is is mostly a device to mess with Vision, who is sometimes a bit too powerful. Puppet Master is in his element; but he works better with the FF, since there is a personal element to their battles. This seems more like a plot recycled for Spidey and Vision. Call me crazy; but, if I pick up a comic because Vision is in it and he spends most of it stumbling around, I'd be pretty ticked off. Not one of the better ones. On the plus side, the art is as good as you would suspect.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 7, 2020 17:06:45 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #5 I think Ben says it all. Creative Team: Steve Gerber-writer, Sal Buscema-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, Annette Kawecki-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-editor Synopsis: The Monster of Badoon brings the unconscious Sharon Carter, Captain America and Ben Grimm in front of the Boss Badoon. Boss wants to know who they are and a mind probe is used. It also gives Cap a wash and blow dry.  This leads to a recap, then Ben wakes up and It's Clobberin' Time!  Meanwhile, Tarin, the future chick, argues with the resistance leaders that they have to strike, now. This is tabled in committee, until someone else reports captain America is there and they summon the Guardians of the Galaxy, accompanied by some 1970s AOR staple. (How about "Saturday's All Right for Fighting?")  Major Astro recognizes Cap and brings their ship, the Captain America, into Earth orbit. Cap and ben bust some more lizard heads and then the Guardians turn up to do more damage. Major Astro shakes Capp's hand and relates his past. The human resistance turns up and Ben says it is once again Clobberin' Time! They bust in on the palace, Ben & Charlie 27 take down the Monster, while the rest skin some snakes...  The Badoon are defeated, the gang beams back home, and the Guardians celebrate, with RC Colas and vintage tapes of The Midnight Special. Thoughts: Much more fun s Ben kicks some butt, Vance Astro meets his hero , and Cap seep sees that his ideals will live on into the future, Good stuff, with plenty of action and goofiness, and some serious moments. In a Terry Pratchett book, this is when the hero knows he will win, because that's what heroes do.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Oct 8, 2020 13:52:33 GMT -5
On the plus side, the art is as good as you would suspect. I wouldn't suspect anything inked by Mike Esposito of being good. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 11, 2020 15:47:55 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #6 Spider-Man and The Thing. This might confuse my reviews, though this is before MTIO and the Marvel Feature tryout. Creative Team: Gerry Conway-writer, Gil Kane-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, Jean Izzo-letters, Roy Thomas-editor. Jean Izzo is Jean Simek, daughter of Artie Simek. I had to verify, as Roy's wife, at the time, was named Jean and I wondered if there was some nepotism, like other editors. Roy's wife was Jean Maxey and she did do a bit of writing at Marvel, co-creating Jack Russell and stories for Night Nurse and Spidey Super Stories. Roy's second wife, Danette, would be the inspiration for Danette Reilly, in All-Star Squadron, and co-wrote some work with Roy, at DC and other companies. Do you realize that "Roy the Boy," is nearly 80? I am sooo old! (not quite that old, though). Synopsis: Thing comes along and finds Spider-Man standing over Puppet Master, in a smashed up Baxter Building. He gets aggressive, despite Alicia trying to calm him down, when Spidey points out PM, and Ben turns his anger onto the bald dude. He turns to Spidey to protect him and Alicia calms everyone down, revealing to Spidey that PM is her step-father. Ben has words with him and returns, saying that there is a chance that Alicia's blindness can be cured. They head off in the Fantasticar and we get the backstory...  PM and a partner, Jacob Reis, were working on the secrets of protoplasm. Jacob was young and handsome, with a beautiful wife and daughter, which PM coveted. He vowed to destroy Jacob, and Jacob caught him working in their lab and they fought. He fell into the chemical vat, which exploded, catching Alicia and her mother, who had followed Jacob inside. Alicia was blinded. The radioactive clay would later be used to sculpt the PM's puppets, which gave him control over people.  PM married Alicia's mother, but her eventual death twisted him. They arrive at the site of the old lab. Ben trips an alarm and is blasted by a laser, as PM drops to the ground. he dives through the portal that opened to reveal the weapon and the hatch shuts behind him. Ben eventually recovers and wakes Spidey, then goes after PM, after pounding some ground...  Ben smashes the weapon and then he and Spidey split up and move through the underground complex. We shift to another part of the base, where PM meets with the Mad Thinker...  PM led them into a trap, hoping to destroy them. Thinker is a bit miffed, but sees the wisdom in PM's enticements to destroy his captors. Spidey finds himself led through air ducts and then dumped down a hole...  Thing moves through rooms and finds his way cut off by a door. he tries to open it, with his head, and gets an Excedrin Headache No. 42, then gassed. Thinker sends his android after Alicia. Spidey bounces off walls to bleed momentum and find a dry wall (they've been coated in oil), succeeding just above the spiked floor. He finds a way out, while the android approaches and Alicia screams. PM sees through a monitor and takes a pipe wrench to the back of Thinker's noggin.  Ben stops the android, with a tree. Not a branch, the whole tree! Spidey pops out of a hatch, they compare notes, as Ben explains how he got out and the tunnel blows up. They believe Puppet Master and the Thinker are dead. Thoughts: I first read this story in 1976, in Marvel Treasury Edition #13: Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag, where it was reprinted with a new framing sequence (with a snowball fight!)  It was included, along with "Even an Android Can Cry," from Avengers #58, "He Who Strikes the Silver Surfer," from Tales to Astonish #93, and "Once Upon a Time-The Ox," from Daredevil #86. It's a good story, though the whole family-jealousy backstory is a bit thin on substance. There is an emotional element that pays off; but, it feels a bit simplistic. Then again, this was written for kids, in the early 70s, before they were driven away from comics by Comic Book Guys. PM gets some humanizing, though Thinker remains firmly planted in the world of melodrama. All he is missing is a handlebar mustache or a cackling laugh, talking about how "they" will all pay! Spidey conveniently forgets about his web shooters, as he hurtles down the oiled shaft.....that sounds really inappropriate.........and his escape seems a bit out of nowhere. Ben's is dispensed with in a single panel and dialogue explanation, which sounds like Conway forgot to write it and had to stick it in, at the end, when Roy pointed it out (or Gil). Speaking of Kane, his layouts are good and the action great; but, there is a sketchiness to the figures, in some panels, thanks to Esposito's inks. I rarely notice the inker's work, unless it is really out of whack with the pencils and they seem at odds, here. Some have bashed Esposito (see above); but I never had an issue with his work, when paired with Ross Andru. Some teams just gel better. I would have thought he and Kane would, but, not so much here, at least. Someone in my defenders thread said something about Esposito refusing to add additional texture to art where the penciler didn't provide the detail and maybe that is the case here. Kane was doing a lot of work; maybe he wasn't giving Esposito full pencils. I don't know; I've never paid that close attention to that sort of thing. For me, if they art and words create an interesting story, then it works for me. I have artist and pencil & ink team favorites; but, am not usually that put out by inking jobs on favorite artists, unless it really looks wrong.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 11, 2020 16:31:12 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #6 Thing and Doctor Strange. Have I mentioned before that I am not too keen on Dr Strange? Well, I'm not. Too few rules to his magic and rather bland as a personality. He's had some great art and some good stories; but, I find that there are only a select few of his stories that I like and most of them are due to the art. Cover is by Starlin, which is a plus. Creative Team: Steve Gerber-writer, George Tuska-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, Artie Simek-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-editor.So, no Starlin on the inside. Synopsis: In a subway station, a girl plays a harmonica, as a crowd listens, including Doc and Clea. Some punks hassle the girl, after she finishes. One of them grabs the harmonica and she tries to grab it back and gets pushed onto the tracks. Doc grabs the harmonica, instead of going after the girl!  The train hits here and instead of meat and goo, we get sparky "snow" which settles over the crowd and becomes part of them. Doc isn't surprised but the punks are and they run away. Doc takes the harmonica back to the Sanctum, to study. Meanwhile, Ben Grimm gets a call at :10 AM, from Mrs Coogan, an old Yancy Street neighbor...  She's the grandmother of one of the punks and relates his experience to ben, who promises to check it out. Doc contacts the spirit of the girl, via the harmonica and learns she is a manifestation of destiny. She touches Doc's mind and he goes in search of the people from the crowd, first happening on the goldberg's a couple who witnessed things. Sheldon has been turned into The Question....  Doc restores him and he suddenly decides to stop being a work drone and write the Great American Novel (make sure it has plenty of sex and violence). Meanwhile, Thing finishes interrogating Mrs Coogan's grandson (Steve? A-HAWwwwwwww!)  Bne goes back to the alley and finds that the Yancy Street Gang have grafittied his aero-car. He is busy throwing a fit when Doc comes along. They go off to exchange intel, when an alley rat turns into a giant rodent and climbs up the building!  I think I saw this on The New Avengers..........("Gnaws!") The rat grabs to grandkid and, in the absence of a kitty or terrier, Ben grabs it by the tail, while Doc applies a mystic broomstick to the head. It's not enough and Ben fights it, and doesn't do well.  Doc tells the punk he has to defeat the rat and prove he is master of his destiny and the kid does it. And the crowd goes wild...  Ben and Doc return tot he Sanctum and Clea tells them Valkyrie showed up and took the harmonica (and Clea just let her...) and this carries over to next issue, as Val becomes the guest star (that's the blonde chick, not Airboy's sweetie). Thoughts: Um.................yeah..............did I mention I'm not fond of Dr Strange? Stuff like this is why. Sure, it's a decent enough story and a morality tale, with a metaphor about taking destiny into your own hands. Wonder if Gerber was feeling heat from Roy (never heard of anyone having many issues with Roy, as EIC, other than Shooter, later, when he was writer/editor and Shooter couldn't say boo)? Or maybe he had been watching old horror movies; I don't know. It's odd, which is Gerber's usual MO. Tuska isn't who I would have chosen for this; but he works well enough. He handles rats and people well. Starlin probably would have made it creepier. This reads rather like an unused Defenders story, as much as anything, especially since Ben isn't the prime mover, for much of it. We'll see about next issue.
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Post by chaykinstevens on Oct 11, 2020 16:41:29 GMT -5
Roy's second wife, Danette, would be the inspiration for Danette Reilly, in All-Star Squadron, and co-wrote some work with Roy, at DC and other companies. Roy Thomas also wrote What If? #13, which featured a character named Danette who has sex with Conan. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 14, 2020 14:10:51 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #7 Spider-Man and Thor team up to clean up the roach problem, in Manhattan. Man, they have some big suckers! Well armed, too! Creative Team: Gerry Conway-writer, Ross Andru-pencils, Jim Mooney-inks, Artie Simek-letters, Roy Thomas-editor Synopsis: Petey is walking down the street, when he hears a woman scream, from an alley. He sees her being attacked and jumps out of his shoes and bounces off of walls, onto her assailants...  Wait, so, he wants to keep his identity secret, so he launches into a tumbling attack on some muggers. How is he going to explain this? So, what, he took acrobatic lessons at the Y? Also, who do his socks look like Spider-Man's boots? Conway actually addresses the feet, in a thought balloon (not the tumbling, though) and then notices the victim taking off. She says she doesn't want to get involved. I know this is steretypical New Yorker; but, usually it's the bystander, not the victim. She also has some wonky hair...  Thor turns up and doth thay a little too much of "doth" and "methinks." Theriously...I mean, seriously, who talks like that? Petey tries to get away from the Norse blowhard and then notices the sky has turned a funky color. Thor whips his hammer around, creating a vortex against whatever is happening and then everything turns into a photo negative (anybody under 30 even know what that is, anymore?) Spidey decides to suit up, in front of Thor, then the cockroach people turn up and the pair of heroes attack them. The weirdos are led by Kryllk the Cruel and they are really trolls, with a penchant for horned helmets and rather un-Ulik-like appearance.  Apparently, Earth is just a beachhead for attacking Asgard, using the Dark Crystal...  No, not that one; a different Dark Crystal...  Faster than thou can sayeth "Beameth me (eth) up, Scotty!" the trolls doth bug out! The duo heads to Avengers Mansion, where everyone is a negative and Spidey tries to reverse engineer (literally, as everything is backwards) the monitors to follow Kryllk. He finds him and Thorr opens a portal to Asgard. Everything there is also back to front. Thor couldn't go there, so he followed a cosmic trail to an asteroid, around Jupiter. There, inside, he finds Kryllk and his trolls. One quick melee, then Kryllk tells him he is protected by the crystal, which he stole from Asgard, after it had originally been stolen by Odin. Spidey battles trolls in Asgard and also find Kryllk and punches him in the chest, to no effect; but, the asteroid Kryllk goes down clutching his chest.  Thor socks him in the jaw, then Kryllk goes down on Asgard. Thor turns up and finds Spidey with Uatu, the Watcher, who says the crystal belongs to him and he has the receipt.  It all ends abruptly and the Watcher goes back to I Love Lucy reruns. Thoughts: Kind of a bizarre story, where it looks like Conway didn't really have an ending, so it just kind of ends up all deus ex machina and Bob's yours uncle! Not the deepest adventure in the world but entertaining enough, for 20 cents. I wouldn't want a steady diet of stories like this.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 14, 2020 15:03:51 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #7 Thing & Valkyrie Hey; two against one! Creative Team: Steve Gerber-writer, Sal Buscema-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, Bill Mantlo-colors, Roy Thomas-editor Pretty much the Defenders team, really. Synopsis: So, last issue, Val made off with the harmonica that led people to their destinies and now she grabs Alvin Denton, the wino from the subway and disappears with him. Dr Strange and Ben try to locate her with the Orb of Agamotto; and, after adjusting his vertical hold, sees Val asleep in Vermont. Doc explains her back story to Ben, then sends him off to Vermont, because he can't be bothered with things....  Ben takes the Fantasticar upstate, but realizes he doesn't know where Cobblers Rosst is in Vermont. He stops at a gas station to get a map and gets punched through a window...  The attendant is actually The Executioner and it was a trap, for Ben. Wait, how'd they know he'd need a map? What if he had had Reed's proto-GPS system? Or an atlas, in the glove compartment? Enchantress is there, too and magics Ben, the harmonica and Alvin into the garage of the station. She takes the harmonica and then releases the magic sells that hold Alvin & Ben and created the illusion of the gas station. Then, they bugger off. The two wake up and Doc turns up, in astral form. he says Ben better get back to New York; but, Alvin says he has to get home, to Vermont. He says his daughter is in danger. Ben takes him to cobbler's roost. Doc turns up again and asks why he has violated doctor's orders and Ben says he doesn't need doctors telling him what to do, in a time of crisis. Well, he says that he has to get the old guy to Vermont to save a kid, but the jist is the same. Alvin tells his life story: successful lawyer, wife dies, he turns to booze, daughter and her boyfriend turn to occultists, daughter becomes vessel for the Enchantress to place the soul of Brunnhilde, the Valkyrie. Usual story. They find Barbara Norris sleeping and she then wakes up and turns into Valkyrie when Daddy says hello. While Val is stunned, as Alvin says he is her daddy, Enchantress and Executioner turn up for some more fun.  Reverts her back to an insane person. What a witch! (with a different first letter) Enchantress is then about to use the harmonica to bring about her destiny (return to Asgard, she thinks) and Alvin grabs it and gives it a toot, hoping it will restore Barbara. Then, everything turns Ditko. While Executioner whines, Enchantress restores Valkyrie and tells Alvin to blow again. He has a heart attack and drops the harmonica and Ben and Executioner go after it.  They go all Kirby and Ben calls on Val for help; but, she can't attack Enchantress; so, they switch partners and Ben slaps a woman around.  Ben gets the harmonica, blows it and restores them to the real world (well, the Marvel world) and Valkyrie cries over the dead body of her "father." I just love a happy ending! Thoughts: Still kind of under-developed, as far as the overall story; but, the Enchantress and Executioner usually make for fun villains and Valkyrie gets F-ed with some more. Gerber really did a number on her! Englehart, too! Sal makes it look all gaping mouthed and Buscema-y. This continues into defenders #20, as Valkyrie searches for Barbara Norris' past, while Ben moves on to ride hogs with Ghost Rider. In a Christmas story! Letters pages gush about the Guardians of the Galaxy and someone lobbies for Thing and Howard the duck to team up.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 17, 2020 19:35:06 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #8 Spider-Man & The Cat  No, no, no; that's T.H.E. Cat  No, that's the Cat in the Hat  No, that's That Darn Cat...  That's Lassie, who's a dog. You aren't even trying, now.  That's the one! I think.....or is that Hellcat?  No, that's A Hellcat, not THE Hellcat...  Okay, we've officially run this joke into the ground, through the Earth's core and out the other side. Creative Team: Gerry Conway-writer, Jim Mooney-art, Charlotte Jetter-letters, Stan Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-editor Synopsis: Spidey is toolin' long when his Spidey Sense is tingling. A Cat-like shape leaps out at him, misses and tries to get away; but, Spidey ain't havin' it. Then, Spidey finds out the figure has cooties....  Spidey wouldn't believe what she says, 'cause he is a man, so she tried to surprise him. At this point, Conway embarrasses himself with pretty poor female characterization (read stereotyping) as Cat says they have to stop Mankiller, who killed the Chicago mayor, who, somehow, wasn't Richard J Dailey (which no doubt led to copies of this disappearing in the Chicago area). Cat tried to confront Mankiller and got decked and woke up to police asking questions. She has to be stopped before she ruins the ERA for all women (so, she's Phyllis Schlafly? Anita Bryant?) Spidey asks why him and Cat says because he is a loner; and besides, it's your book. Meanwhile, In New York, Mankiller smashes her way into the HQ of the group of women who created her...  She was a top European women's skier who challenged some lowly Y Chromosome person to a race and he foolishly blocked her and they went over a cliff...  The militant Feminazis rebuilt her into Mankiller, and showed that Feminazis know nothing about fashion. They plan to strike at the Manhattan Harlem Power Plant. Cat tells Spidey about how she (improbably) gained her powers and then they spot an armed VW Beetle...  Wonder if that is where they got the idea for The Great and Powerful Turtle, in the Wild Cards series?  They literally hit the plant (with a battering ram, on the vehicle). Mankiller throws some more blades at male security guards and the heroes turn up. Spidey fights the Feminazis and Mankiller fights Cat. Spidey wraps the gals in webs, while Cat takes down Mankiller with a dropkick. They stop to crow and Mankiller makes off with radioactive materials (for a new prototype generator, which makes about as much sense as magic beans). Spidey chases after her and catches up and they fight, then Cat reveals that AIM created the exo-skeleton that boosts Mankiller's abilities and she falls apart at the idea that some man gave her strength.  Thoughts: The only way this could have been more insulting to female readers would have been for Cat to be barefoot and pregnant, or Mankiller and Cat to go shopping in the middle of the fight. If you thought Marvel writers putting words into the mouths of black characters was bad, this is even worse. Sweet Christmas! Cat and Mankiller both sound like the worst audience members from Oprah's earlier, less-holier-than-thou days, when she got the same trashy guests as Sally Jesse Raphael, Phil Donahue and Geraldo Rivera. Women at the time were demonstrating about equal pay for equal work and reproductive rights and the same opportunities as men and all Conway hears is "Man bad; woman good!" The group backing Mankiller read like they stepped out of a Rush Limbaugh diatribe (hence the Feminazi gag). The ending is completely ludicrous, as Mankiller falls apart because her exo-skeleton was made by a man (or men). Fanatics compartmentalize and rationalize things to fit their worldview; so, she would have just whooped Spidey and said something about it being used better by a woman, or something. I'm not sure if this is worse than the physical objectification of women in comics, just as bad, or just plain stupid; but, it demonstrates what a boy's club comics were and the industry, including Marvel. The younger generation wasn't necessarily more receptive to women than the older one. This kind of thing makes Claremonts worst cliches forgivable, as his female characters tended to be more rounded and realistic; certainly compared to this.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 17, 2020 20:29:42 GMT -5
Marvel Two-In-One #8 Thing and Ghost Rider! Creative Team: Steve Gerber-writer, Sal Buscema-pencils, Mike Esposito-inks, Charlotte Jetter-letters, George Roussos-colors, Len Wein-editor Synopsis: It's Christmas time; so, what better way to celebrate than than a satanic hero blazing around town?  Nearly ran into the 3 Magi....maybe that's how they ended up at Brian's stable... Geez; only half the actors in that scene are still with us.  The leader of the pack picks up GR and then it gets a bit Pythonish and Johnny Blaze heads out onto the highway, leaving the Magi to follow their star. Meanwhile, Ben is helping Reed put up his new super-telescope on the roof of the Baxter Building, so he can spot Santa bringing them their unstable molecule socks and cardigans. Ben tells Reed he should be hitting the party below.  Alicia catches up to Ben and says they are about to light the tree and takes him to the living room, where Sue is serving punch, while Medusa and Johnny trade kisses under the mistletoe, Wundarr plays with Franklin, and Namorita and her roommate Ann Christopher all hang out.  No one has Hanukkah presents for Ben, though. Someone ring up Hanukkah Harry! Johnny activates the lights and the whole tree, every branch, lights up, thanks to Reed's work. Ben laughs himself silly. Johnny Blaze rides through the desert and finds himself in Bethlehem, populated entirely by Native Americans and no room at the inn. He gets kicked out by the creator. Reed comes down and tells Ben that the Christmas star is pointing at Arizona, at Wyatt Wingfoot's reservation and he is going to check it out. Ben tells him he is staying and drinking eggnog while he goes in Reed's place. Ben takes the Pogo Plane...  no, this one...  and flies to Arizona, where he finds Bethlehem and Johnny Blaze spots him, from the ground. Blaze increases his hellfire, to attract Ben's attention and they have a pow-wow. Johnny then ambushes the Magi so he and Ben can enter the town incognito. They move in and discover that the creator is the Miracle Man! He rants about being beaten by the FF and stuck in another dimension with Native American spirits, who are all Lakota Sioux, apparently, even in the Southwest, and he tricks them and creates this little Christmas pageant to attain godhood. He turns some animals into monsters to attack the heroes, but they kick ass (well, bull) and then MM starts burning thigs. Johnny gets "Mary and Joseph" out, while Ben clobbers MM and the spell ends. Johnny rides off into the desert, after the Native spirits take MM away. Thoughts: Gerber needs to lay off the peyote...or whatever is in his peace pipe. This is truly weird, more than a little silly and no one acknowledges that Ben is Jewish. Well, it was kind of ignored, for years. Heck, Ben wasn't even bar mitzvahed until 2002. Jack always knew, though...  Amazingly, this is 5 years before Monty Python started mucking about with this territory. I'm kind of meh with the story. Not goofy enough to be funny, not especially subversive, just Gerber Fing with things 'cause no one is watching (we transitioned between Roy and Len in the last two issues). Also, the Native American stuff is so stereotyped, with everyone in teepees, headdresses and such. This is Arizona, not the Dakotas. Even I had read about the cultural differences in Native tribes by this time frame. Wish Gerber had. Pretty bad that this kind of thing continued until Tim Truman's Scout, in 1986 (well, Tomahawk did get some Mohican types).
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 25, 2020 16:22:55 GMT -5
Marvel Team-Up #9 Spider-Man and Iron Man, a meeting which would usually result is a messy goo, on an ironing board. That cover text is already confusing me. Sell it to the kids short and sweet, guys. As historians have noted, the Tomorrow War was the battle between Tom Snyder and the late night movie, for control of the insomniac market. At least Tom had help from Harlan Ellison and a surprising array of performers from Punk and New Wave, including one Alvin Yankovic. Creative Team: Gerry Conway-writer, Ross Andru-pencils, Frank Bolle-inks, Charlotte Jetter-letters, Stan Goldberg-colors, Roy Thomas-editor Synopsis: An earthquake seems to center around the Avengers Mansion, which briefly disappears and reappears, leading a cop to have a brief run in, with Iron man...  Iron Man tries to enter and see what's up and runs into a forcefield. Since he is a scientist (well, technician, at least) he uses a progression of methodologies that mostly involve ramming the force field, head first. Peter Parker witnesses this on tv. Roy tells us this story occurs before events in ASM #119 and 120 (where Spidey was in Canada, fighting The Hulk). Petey is tired and tired of helping everyone out and decides to let someone else do it, until Harry bursts in and tells him to turn down the tv and that he is sick of Petey's "blase attitude." Pete leaves in a huff and goes to help Iron Man, since he can't watch MASH. Shellhead had finally given up on using his shellhead as a battering ram and is trying his repulsors. Spidey interrupts and Gerry gets the Conan Doyle quote backwards...  It's, "Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth." Iron Man tells him off, until Spidey notices a big hole and they pile through. Everything goes all Ditko and they end up on a floating platform, while space ships fire rayguns...  Shellhead tries to fly off and gets nabbed by a tractor beam from the winning spaceship, which lands. Inside is the Tomorrow Man, who says he brought the two Heads (Shell- and Web-, respectively) to the future. He says his own 23rd century has been invaded and it stretches back to the current era. They go there and hide from the Federation starships and TM shows them a fortress, where the Avengers are being held. TM tried to bring them to the 23rd Century, but the invader got them, first. Spidey and Iron Man break into the complex and bust some heads (and slice through some doors) and they go skulking around, trying to find the Avengers. They keep running into goons and busting them up, until Iron man gets punched in the chest by a robot...  Spidey defeats the robot, then helps IM move on. Tomorrow Man sees that the gate is now open and heads inside to collect temporal energy to control everything. The two heroes find the Avengers and the invader...  Kang. What, like you didn't see that coming? He zaps them unconscious and starts to monologue, when TM interrupts, with a raygun. Thoughts: Kind of a wonky start and Iron Man is portrayed as a bit of an idiot. Harry's outburst seems to come out of nowhere; he had the pill addiction, so that is a possibility, but, this is before Gwen Stacy was killed and Norman Osborn dies after, and Harry finds the body. Just seems to be pointless conflict to get Peter out on the street. The two heroes are awful trusting of a guy who was a supervillain, in a previous Thor comic. That's like bad pro wrestling double-cross angle stuff, where a heel offers his help to a babyface, against a mutual enemy, and then double-crosses the babyface and it was all a ruse. Used to happen in the territory days, when they had more creative bookers than the so-called writers of the WWE (or complete anarchy of AEW). It's lazy storytelling, because the heroes have to act like morons, to pull off the swerve. So far, these MTU issues haven't done much to improve my opinion of Gerry Conway, as a middling writer who had flashes of brilliance, but was never consistently at the level of his peers. Not saying he didn't write some classics, like some of his Spidey stuff and some JLA stuff, at DC: but, that he wasn't as consistent with it as Roy or Len Wein. I'm not overly fond of time travel stories, especially in books like this; but, this is just the intro chapter; so we will have to see if this is one of the good ones. The action in the future was definitely better than the stuff at the start. Iron Man trying to head butt invisible walls is hardly the stuff of classics. You'd think he would go to the repulsors a lot sooner than he did. Tomorrow Man needs a makeover, desperately. Green jumpsuits are pretty generic, especially at Marvel. You can kind of tell when Jack Kirby was just creating a throwaway villain and when he was going for a memorable one and TM is pretty much in the former category. So-so beginning, which got better as it went along. Art is fine, though hardly spectacular and Iron Man looks a bit goofy. At least he didn't have a nose or roller skates. I like Ross Andru more than some; but this isn't Metal Men.
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Post by tarkintino on Oct 25, 2020 17:10:11 GMT -5
Story-wise, MTU was so unfocused at this time. Like most teal-up books, there are few lasting consequences (meaning the story was designed to be a one-off), and if not reviewed, they are fairly forgettable. Of course, this will soon change--at least in a bigger Spider-Man universe sense, and I recall appreciating that continuity, such as it was.
At least the covers were stellar, since the interiors left something to be desired, IMO.
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Post by codystarbuck on Oct 25, 2020 17:34:39 GMT -5
Marvel Two-in-One #9 Creative Team: Steve Gerber-plot, Chris Claremont-script, Herb Trimpe-pencils, Joe Giella-inks, Charlotte Jetter-letters, Janice Cohen-colors, Len Wein-editor. I take it this was Gerber bowing out (or bowed out and Claremont had to finish things). Really, the whole team looks like a last minute job. Synopsis: Ben, Namorita and Wundarr are at a puppet show, which Wundarr loves (it features the FF battling Dr Doom). The puppeteer takes a bow and looks like a puppet himself. In fact, he looks like this one...   As they are heading out, the kids notice the Thing, in his trenchcoat, and they scream, but as in Beatlemania screams, as the rugrats swarm Ben and tear up his clothes, for souvenirs. I think someone here is stuck in the 60s. Creepy puppeteer watches from the wings and cackles. Wonder who he is? Even Ben sees something familiar. They get outside and Ben got a parking ticket on the Fantasticar. They head off for Pizza and nearly collide with Thor. This is also witnessed by the puppeteer, who is revealed as...  Puppet Master, in the least effective surprise ever. Oh, and notice the name on the door? PM looks rather small and deformed, compared to previous appearances, with no explanation, other than it suited the Howdy Doody look. PM's got a Thor puppet and a partner, who is radioactive... Yes, someone actually paid money to dress in those clothes! Thor, under the influence, attacks the Baxter Building. He Fs-up Reed, Sue and Johnny, then wakes up and sees the damage...  He switches to Don Blake to tend to the FF, while Puppet Master loses contact. They watch Ben arrive and find Don Blake attending to the injured and thinks the PM is behind it, based on his thinking the puppeteer resembled PM. Blake says Thor did it and they figure out he was under PM's control. Ben goes storming off and Blake goes off to change and follow as Thor. PM's partner is revealed as Radion...  They take control of Thor again and it is Clobberin' Time! They go at it like Rock-'Em, Sock-'Em Robots, with PM and Radion watching from the sidelines, when Radion collapses, after Wundarr and Namorita turn up. PM loses control and ends up between a rock (monster) and a hard mace (hammer)...  Wundarr storms in to protect Unca Benjy and elbows PM into a wall. Thoughts: Kind of a weird and rather pointless story, which further suggests that it was a rush job patch, while the book gets a permanent team. PM is distorted for the Howdy Doody thing, for whatever reason that only appeals to Baby Boomers and not the Gen-Xers reading this (well, there might have been a few late Boomers). To us, Howdy Doody was that weird puppet from a Happy Days episode. Wundarr saves the day and we get an inkling about his energy damping powers. Thor takes down 3/4s of the FF, while under outside control, which wouldn't happen in their title, which is a problem of the team-up books, periodically. Of course, usually, Ben would be the one slugging it out, while Reed employs some strategy and Johnny and Sue help flank the villain. One of the problems with the team-up stories, with rotating guest stars, is that teamwork is often lacking or non-existent. Ironically, it's often a factor in ad hoc tag-team matches in pro wrestling, as the idea of two stars teaming sound good on paper; but, a single unit tag-team (like a Midnight Express or Rock n Roll Express) is more exciting to watch in tag matches, because of the teamwork. The two stars just do their thing, then tag their partner, who does their thing, then the go to the finish. You don't get the same quality of story, unless you have guys who mesh really well and work a tag-team story. Same here. Spidey and Ben work well and Spidey and Torch, because of past and chemistry. Thing and Thor, not so much. Thing and everyone in Project Pegasus works because they all stick around long enough for a story to build, unfold, and conclude, which incorporates everyone. Put in guest stars that mesh well with Spidey and Ben and you usually get a good story, so long as there is a decent reason behind the team-up, like a later run, where Spidey encounters an amnesiac Black Widow and investigates what's going on, across several issues. Subsequent issues feature Nick Fury and Shang-Chi, before the big finale; but, the mystery surrounding Black Widow carries the story along. Fury has a past with Widow, which helps and he also has a past with the FF (going back to FF #21). Shang Chi was a bit of an outlier; but, his book was about espionage, which fit well with Widow and Fury. Every once in a while, they threw some people together; but, gave them a pretty good enemy of crisis that made it all work. Amazing Spider-Man #162 features Spidey teamed with Nightcrawler. The two compliment each other already, as both are acrobatic, in style, and lighthearted, in personality. Then, the Punisher is thrown into the mix. Hulk and Iron Man turn out okay, when they go up against Thanos and the Blood Brothers, in the Marvel Feature prelude to MTIO, which also sets up Starlin's first run with Thanos, across Captain Marvel. Anyway, Thor and Thing are a so-so mix, after a similar mediocre crossing of Spidey and Iron Man.
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