Introduction:

In March 1972, Marvel Comics hopped on the team-up comic bandwagon, as currently being examined in this this thread by codystarbuck and the commenters on this forum. After a trio of issues of Marvel Team-Up devoted to the team of Spider-Man and the Human Torch, Marvel bowed to fan expectations as had been shaped by rival DC’s The Brave and the Bold, adopting the policy of an ongoing lead character (Spider-Man) joined by a character selected from Marvel’s large stable of superheroes. In September1973, a second team-up feature debuted in Marvel Feature 11-12 before graduating to its own series, Marvel Two-In-One.  But Marvel had even higher hopes for team-up comics, and in November 1973, before Marvel Two-In-One #1, they introduced their second formal team-up series, Western Team-Up.  

I’ve seen next to nothing on the origins of this title among the large amount of comic book history we have seen published in our time, and I’ve come up short seeking information in the Marvel Comics of the time. In October 1972, Outlaw Kid had introduced letters pages in #12, with Rawhide Kid following in #104. Gunhawks, an all-new series that debuted in the same month, would feature letters pages once it had enough issues behind it to run them. At the time, these and Red Wolf were the only Marvel westerns featuring new stories; the others on the stand, such as Kid Colt Outlaw, Two-Gun Kid, Wyatt Earp, and Western Gunfighters, were all reprinted stories, even if they frequently had new covers. Outlaw Kid soon reverted to reprints, after featuring only two letters pages. As Western Team-Up’s debut came closer, I expected to find some promotion of the title in the Rawhide Kid letter columns, since Rawhide would be featured in the first issue, but unless I missed it, no such notification was published. I can’t be the only one here surprised by Marvel launching a title in 1973 with virtually no hype anywhere other than the obligatory mention in Bullpen Bulletins: 

 

I’ve found one other mention of the title that we’ll get to later, but it’s fair to say that Western Team-Up had a stealth launch.  

I can only speculate on Marvel’s rationale in publishing this title, but I think they are safe speculations. With the western comic creatively stagnant but still evidently profitable judging by the number of titles Marvel published at the time, and with westerns enjoying something of a revival as evidenced by films like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and True Grit, as well as continuing TV series joined by a new wave of TV westerns, it must have seemed worth the risk. But clearly superhero comics were dominating the sales. In June 1972, the cover of Outlaw Kid promoted itself with a cover blurb showing the Spider-Signal: “In the style of a western Spider-Man!”



Marvel’s westerns had, in the past, dabbled in team-ups, and most recently, Kid Colt Outlaw 171, June 1973 (Lee, Lieber, Keller, Rosen) reprinted “Day of the Gunslingers” from Kid Colt Outlaw 125, November 1965. That issue featured a team-up between Kid Colt and the Two-Gun Kid.



Presumably that issue had stronger sales than usual, and presumably Marvel Team-Up was showing similar strength on the newsstands. The conclusion that superhero fans like team-ups was one that, judging from my own tastes, was a reasonable one. Maybe the way to attract readership from Marvel’s superhero lines was a team-up title? Marvel didn’t have nearly as big a slate of western characters to pick from, but there were enough options to keep up some lively variety: superhero-ish characters like Red Wolf, Outlaw Kid, Ghost Rider, Black Rider, and Two-Gun Kid, mainstays like their star western feature Rawhide Kid and others then treading water in reprint form, like Kid Colt, Ringo Kid, Matt Slade, Wyatt Earp. They could even introduce new characters, and, as we shall see, decided to (sort of) do just that in the first issue.  

Did this work? Well, I don’t think I’m spoiling things by telling you all that Western Team-Up was destined to see only one issue published, so something clearly went wrong. I can tell you my own recollections, as a 13-year-old reader of the time accustomed to trekking from store to store to be sure I wasn’t missing anything. I noticed the book and…ignored it. 

I just wasn’t into westerns. I got what Marvel were trying to do to make this series appeal to me, and I admit there was some attraction I felt to a brand new team-up comic, being a devoted Brave and Bold fan and newly interested in Marvel Team-Up. Plus a brand-new character debuting? I was learning the joy of getting in on the beginning of a feature, whenever possible. But I passed on this one. 

As did everyone else in my vicinity, evidently. Week after week, I’d see Western Team-Up #1 lingering on the spinner rack. In my possibly-blurred memory, that comic hung around way past its expiration date, perhaps benefiting from the fact that no second issue ever arrived to remind the folks who restocked the spinner racks to take it down.  And one day, I had some dimes left over having bought everything I wanted. Rather than investing in sweets and slushies, the 7-11 at the corner of Millington and Frayser Blvd in Memphis Tennessee, nowadays occupied by the Frayser Xpress Mart… 

 

…got my 20 cents plus tax for Western Team-Up #1 and only. 

Which I read once and, entirely unimpressed with the story, the characters, and the art, added to the pile of comics I’d collected over the past two years or so.  I don’t know why I remember where I bought this particula rissue, but my fellow collectors probably have had the same experience of remembering the circumstances under which you read or obtained a completely inconsequential issue, nearly meaningless to your personal development as a comics enthusiast, while the events surrounding more emotionally significant acquisition remain elusive. That 7-11 I showed above wasn’t one of my regular stops, but it was within walking distance, so I’d hit it after checking all of my go-to outlets if I had money left to spend and the hunch that there was a comic out there waiting for me: one of Marvel’s black and white magazines that weren’t always well distributed, or an old issue I’d missed that had escaped there-stocker’s pluck for a cover-ripping return credit. But I was one of the few who took advantage of the opportunity to buy Western Team-Up off the stands in 1973.  

And here I’ve said more that I dreamed I’d ever say about it without having even begun to review the issue itself! So why am I creating a review thread for a comic that only lasted one issue? Well, as I said when I wrapped up my look at Super-Villain Team-Up, we have threads dedicated to reviewing Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-In-One currently active. There’s an incomplete review of Giant-Size Spider-Man, a.k.a. “Giant-Size Marvel Team-Up”. I’ve done an extensive overview of many aspects of Brave and Bold, although not individual team-up reviews, but a good hunk of those were covered in a couple of the podcasts promoted on this site. I expect someone will eventually focus on the non-Batman team-ups of World’s Finest, and someone will tackle DC Comics Presents. Someone had to do Western Team-Up…who better than the forum’s resident April Fool?


But as it turns out, there’s a bit more to talk about than just the one issue. Was this always just a one-shot? If it was an abruptly-cancelled ongoing, what was planned for future issues? If so, did any of those plans come to fruition? I don’t have a definitive answer to one of those questions, and if anyone does, I hope they will chime in. I do have thoughts on all the rest. And so I invite you to join me for a short ride on the Western Team-Up trail, pardners!