IIRC, the MTU issues that featured the Torch instead of Spidey came out the same month as the quarterly Giant-Size Spider-Man. They didn't want to compete with themselves.

Marvel Team-Up #19



Spider-Man and Ka-Zar

So, where do you fall on the Kay-Zar/Kah-Zar debate?

Personally, I calls him a Sling-blade. Mmm-hmmmm......

Got any mustard for these here biscuits? Mmmm-hmmmm......

Creative Team: Len Wein-writer, Gil Kane-pencils, Frank Giacoia-inks, Dave Hunt-letters, Glynis Wein-colors, Roy Thomas-editor

Synopsis: At the request of Dr Curt Connors (alias The Lethal Lizard), Spidey is on a SHIELD jet, about to frefall into the Savage Land...



It seems Curt has been working with an assistant, the unlikely named Dr Vincent Stegron, on a SHIELD tissue regeneration research project, studying dinosaur DNA, supplied by Ka-Zar, to SHIELD. Vinnie got obsessed and has parachuted into the Savage Land. Curt wants Spidey to find him, before it goes all Crichton.

Spidey parachutes in an web-wrassles a dino....



then finds out that Jimmy Hart has sent out the whole First Dinosaur Family, and is about to get a whuppin, intil Ka-Zar and Zabu make the save, while referee Jerry Calhoun is out cold on the mat....



Spidey goes for the less lethal response, while Ka-Zar sticks his steel tooth into dino hide and Zabu does the same with his tusks. Spidey and Kev have a confab and Spidey tells him about Vinnie and Kev says the jungle winds have been gossiping about Stegron (busybodies!). He says an outsider has been hanging out with the Swampmen and they go down there to check them out. The Cajuns come out to great them (I ga-ran-tee) and it turns into Southern Comfort, with fewer automatic weapons...



Faster than you can say (or spell) "shrimp etouffe" Spidey and Kevin are out cold, and Zabu is trapped in a net. The swampmen get the cayan pepper and prepare the pot to make some gumbo....or at least drag Spidey and Kev in front of a snake idol, to present them to Jim Morrison....



Oh, wait, not, it isn't Morrison, it's just Val Kilmer ...er, Stegron, out to rule the world. He is somehow going to make dinosaurs the lords of the Earth, unless they run into colder climates. Kev eggs on the swampmen, who smack him right towards his knife, where he cuts himself free, frees Zabu and Spidey and then Zabu has a snack. Stegron takes it on the run (baby), because that's they way he wants it (baby), since he's under the gun. he hops into a waiting "ark" (hovercraft/barge ship) and calls the dinosaurs to follow and they enter the ark two by two....



...uttering the phrase "F@#$ Noah!". Stegron prattles at the pea-brained rabble, egging them on to conquest, when Spidey Zab and Kev turn up, like a meteor strike. The dinos stampede, Spidey tries a dropkick...



and gets knocked out of the ring. Stegron starts up his bass boat, while Ka-Zar tries to jam his knife into a dinosaur skull. Zabu herds the dinos away from the swampmen village and Spidey snares the departing Stegron and his smaller cast of dinosaurs, as they head north, to what the end credits says will be their Broadway debut!

"They say the neovenator lights are bright on Broadway...."

Thoughts: Well, isn't this just typical; a visionary scientist who seeks to conquer the world through interpretive paleolithic reptilian dance finds his dreams of Broadway stardom attacked by critics and jungle lords. Typical; there is no support for the arts, in this country!

There is a joke in here about Stegron and his dinosaur horde, especially given Glynis Wein's choices; but, I will leave that up to your own interpretation.

I can always depend on Len Wein for some fun in MTU and he doesn't disappoint here. Gil is having some fun, though I get the impression that he is letting Giacoia do a lot more in the inking.

Even with a cliffhanger, this is a fun issue. Next, will Stegron beat Andrew Lloyd Webber to Broadway with a musical about animals? Can Stegron find enough dinosaur poems for 3 acts? Is there such a thing as a Jelliclesaurus? And will it be as awful as Cats? (Believe me, I sat through that thing 30+ years ago and it wasn't entirely the filmmakers' fault that the movie sucks!)

ps For the wrestling-impaired:

Jimmy Hart-evil manager of dastardly villains in the Memphis wrestling territory, who then went to the WWF, to annoy people with his bullhorn, baby! He then managed Hulk Hogan, as a babyface, in WCW. Also a member of the 60s pop group, The Gentrys, who had a hit with "Keep on Dancing." From pop stardom to getting his butt kicked every Monday night, at the Mid-South Colosseum. That's show biz, baby!

First Family-Jimmy Hart's stable of heels, always out to get Jerry "The King" Lawler and his allies. Often made up of former allies of Jerry Lawler, as he had more people double-cross him than than drunken people making pledges to telethons.

Jerry Calhoun-Memphis territory's lead referee, who was blind as a bat and had a jaw made of eggshell, as he was constantly getting knocked out and missing the heels attacking Jerry Lawler or other babyfaces.

For the Doors-impaired:

Jim Morrison, possibly while high, wrote a poem, called "The Celebration of the Lizard, which contains the line "I am the Lizard King, I can do anything." References are made on the Doors album Waiting for the Sun, in "Not to Touch the Earth."

Groovy, man!

For the cinematic-impaired:

Southern Comfort-a 1981 film, starring Powers Booth and Keith Carradine, about a Louisiana National Guard unit, on exercises in the bayou, who shoot a local Cajun and incur the wrath of his friends. Also features Fred Ward and Peter Coyote, as well as Sonny Landham, who appeared in 48 Hours, Predator and failed in a bid to be elected governor of Kentucky, preventing a Hat Trick of governors from the cast of Predator!

For the Billy Bob Thornton-impaired....

I like the way he talks, Mmmmm-hmmmmm.........

Bah!  I say good day to you, sir!

Marvel Two-in-One #19



Thing and Toni the Home Perm Tigra!

Creative Team: Bill Mantlo-script, Tony Isabella-plot, Sal Buscema-pencils, Don Heck-inks, Karen mantlo-letters, Petra Goldberg-colors, Archie Goodwin-editor.

MTIO completely missed the 6-week Gerry Conway regime!

Synopsis: A decidedly female form creeps in through Ben's window and wakes him up....



....revealing that the woman is Tigra, the former Cat. They go to the gym, so Ben can sublimate through exercise, as Tigra relates how Greer Grant became The Cat, and then Tigra, since everyone skipped her solo series. She says she needs his help to stop someone named Cougar (a guy, so forget what you are thinking) from getting his hands on the Null bands, which were not destroyed in FF #80, no matter what Kirby's plot indicated. They are interrupted from a group that buys its uniforms at Goons R Us...



Ben hurls a hunk of metal at them and Tigra jumps on them with claws out, then it is Clobberin' Time! After said time has expired, it becomes Expositionin' Time! Cougar is a rogue were-cat (There! There what? There cat!) and Tigra was sent to get Reed's help in tracking the Null Bands, based on the FF's previous experience. Ben gets his key to Reed's safe, to find his tracker.

Meanwhile, some dude named Curt (not Connors) is being harangued by his old lady, about the goons he hired (hint) and he says they are lab assistants. he pats her pretty little head and sends her on her way, muttering about hiring him to save Conklin Industries, not bankrupt it. Then, Thing and Tigra show up, without explanation, because why not? Curt's excessive dialogue fills in the plot, while Togra and Ben get gassed and trussed (up). They awaken to restraints and more exposition. Curt is going to use the Nega Bands, as he is now calling them, to increase his power and rule the cat and human races, though dogs are another story. Tigra throws out the "You'll never get away with it!" cliche. Curt hits a switch, Ben gets a jolt and the power goes out and Ben smashes his restraints. he breaks Tigra free, curt turns into Cougar, Ben intercepts a blast from the Null Bands (back to that name) meant for Tigra and goes down. It turns into a cat fight, which Tigra loses, then Ben finds out if there is enough room to swing a humanoid cat...



...and is answered by a nice "Wa-Toom!" Cougar says he hates meeces to pieces and attacks Ben, then gasses the rocky one and grabs some doohickey and swipes a line from Jon Pertwee, as the device will reverse the polarity of Ben and Tigra's atoms, bet he gets shot and goes down. The shooter is Sheila Conklin, who knew he was a were-cougar all along (kinky). She walks away, and leaves the dead cat to ooze all over the floor.

Thoughts: It's no secret I haven't been impressed with Mantlo's stories on this book. Tony Isabella was writing Tigra at Marvel Chillers, so I assume his plot credit means this was either an unused plot or just a reference to the events within that series. Whatever, Mantlo makes a hash of it. There is no logical progression to events, characters appear without explanation, other things happen as a matter of plot convenience...hell, we don't even get Curt's last name! Mantlo can't keep straight if we are dealing with Null Bands or Nega Bands or The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band (where Kurt Russell took one look at Goldie Hawn's caboose and decided right then and there he would wait 16 years to ask her out!). This is just a bad issue, from start to finish.

I have no issue with his handling of Tigra, just the storytelling, in general.  Mantlo became a good writer; very good in many stories; but, a lot of his early work is pretty rough and he had stories published that might not have been, had there not been a deadline crunch.  He was a guy who volunteered to bang out a story on the fly, when Deadline Doom hit.  So, he was often writing under adverse conditions and things got out there that were just "okay" and a few that weren't very good, by my tastes (it's subjective, to be sure).  I think he was a guy who needed closer mentorship, earlier on and his stories in MTIO, so far, kind of fall in there, in my opinion.  It's not an easy book to write, as the rotating guest star means it is hard to build storytelling momentum.  He attempts to do it in Marvel Team-Up, with Spidey thrust back in time, then visiting some other eras, including potential futures (aren't they all?).  There again, I think his skills let down his intentions.

The team-up titles, like the mystery books at DC, were often a proving ground for young talent, since the veterans didn't want to deal with them.  Mantlo is learning; but, this story is one where I think Archie should have (if he didn't) sat down with him, and outlined what he did right and what he did wrong and how he could have improved it.  By the accounts I have read, it sounded like that was the kind of editor Archie was, given the time to do so.  However, he inherited a mess and a line that was more than one guy could edit.  So, I doubt he had the time to really mentor young talent, like he later did at DC.

Yep!

Fantastic Four Annual #11



The Invaders, with Roy Thinnes?



Awesome!

Oh, wait...this isn't Gold Key!



Creative Team: Roy Thomas-writer/editor, John Buscema-pencils, Sam Grainger-inks, Joe Rosen-letters, Phil Rache-colors

Synopsis: The FF are running a live ammo drill, not a re-run of Chico and the Man....



This is a re-run of Chico and the Man...



(Jim Jordon, of Fibber McGee and Molly fame)

Ben accidentally smashes up the floor, in a fit of rage and Reed goes all Ward Cleaver on him, with Sue taking the part of June (minus the pearls and heels). Ben storms off to use Dr Doom's time machine to go back to the gold rush of 1849 and get some dough and finds a bunch of Nazis in the room...



Ben does what any good son of Jewish immigrants does and smashes the Nazis. The rest join in and round up the goosesteppers, rather than doing what they should have done to the fascists. Reed checks out the time machine then starts theorizing that their recent scrap with Power Man might have dislodged a nearby vibranium cylinder, sending it onto the machine and back in time,. Reed checks the machine and it is set for 1946. Ben is the first to figure out that means the Ratzis came from after the war, which possibly means time was altered.



The Watcher turns up and carries out his job description and Reed is able to pull up images of 1946, showing the Nazis in control of London and Cleveland (but not Sheboygan). All of it was made possible by super weapons made with vibranium. The FF go back in time to fix things.

They arrive in the past, in 1942 and are warmly greeted by the Sub-Mariner...



Hey, for him that's cordial!

Misunderstandings lead to fights and it all goes Kirby, until Reed and Cap call a halt to the melee. They team up to go after Baron Zemo and his special weapons project, faster than you can say "Okay Axis, here we come!"

Not the snappiest battlecry in the world.

They take Namor's flagship across the Channel, into occupied France and land near a castle. They infiltrate, while Subby puts the moves on Sue, 20 years early...



The Torches fly together and a good time is had by all. They runn into hans und Fritz and kick their sorry Axis and then find a weapons lab.





They bust up the joint, run a gauntlet of machine gunners (Buscema can't be arsed to draw an MG-44...Kirby would have!) and then surprise Zemo, who ends up with Adhesive X all over his mask. he jumps down and escape tube and the Invaders and FF go below. they find three missiles about to launch and the torches destroy one and Ben smashes one and jumps on a third, which has lifted off. He rewires the guidance in mid-flight and sends it right back at the castle, Slim Pickens style...



However, Ben wakes up in 1976, the machine having brought them back. Ben goes to take off his exo-suit and finds the Watcher and realizes all is still not fixed...



Thoughts: Fun if somewhat absurd mash-up of Roy Thomas' books, the FF and the Invaders, which puts the FF back into WW2. This poses no problem for Reed and Ben, despite living in that era and fighting in the war (which is mentioned within the story, so still part of continuity). I really wish Kirby could have drawn this, just for the way he would have handled Ben smashing Nazis. Buscema does a good job (apart from German hardware); but, Jack would have probably taken a certain delight in this. As it is, it's a great romp of the FF and Invaders, storming a Nazi-held castle, with super-rockets about to launch, which really needs to be an MCU film and soon. Anytime a special commando unit attacks German fortresses with super weapons, it is a good time, whether it is the FF & the Invaders, Captain America, the Air Fighters, Blackhawk or The Guns of Navarone or Where Eagles Dare.

This is from the period where Ben had been cured of the cosmic ray transformation into The Thing. Reed crafted an exo-skeleton of the Thing body, to allow Ben to join the fight and then take off his head and enjoy a cold beer. In fact, with my spotty FF history, I saw him in the exo-suit, watching an Avengers press conference, drinking a beer, and thought for a few years that's the way it had always been, until I saw reprints of FF #1. Later, the gang goes to Counter Earth and goes through another cosmic ray storm on the way back, which transforms Ben back into the Thing.

This leads into Marvel Two-in-One Annual, where Ben runs across the Liberty Legion, after going back to 1942 to stop the Nazis some more.

Still trying to sell The Liberty Legion.

Sigh......