Cover Cavalcade

 OCTOBER IS HAWKEYE & GREEN ARROW MONTH!!

A 1974 cover by John Romita

Cover Cavalcade

 

JUNE IS BATROC THE LEAPER MONTH!

Here's a 1976 cover by Al Milgrom.

A Wedding, Two Villains and a Nuclear Explosion

 

cover art by Gil Kane

Spider Man #131 (April 1974) picks up right where the previous issue left off--with Doc Ock about to marry Aunt May. Gerry Conway is the writer and the art is by Ross Andru.

Why? Well, I'm going to summarize the issue a little out-of-order, explaining what Spidey discovers much later in the issue. Months ago, May was working as a housekeeper for Ock. He intercepted a letter telling May she had inherited a uranium-rich island (equipped with a privately-owned nuclear reactor) located in northern Canada. Ock killed the lawyer who sent the letter to keep this a secret and has since then been wooing May. He wants to marry her to get ownership of the island.

Hammerhead knows that May has inherited something valuable and he wants in on it. So he crashes the wedding, planning on snatching May and presumably forcing her to sign the island over to him.

Doc gets away with May and, after a brief tangle with Spidey, boards a helicopter he had hidden nearby and flies away. Hammerhead follows in his own helicopter (a big one that holds lots of troops). Spidey webs himself to the bottom of this second aircraft.

They all end up at that island. More combat shananigans follow. Spidey gets away with May, which isn't easy, because she thinks Spidey is a bad guy. 

Eventually, Spidey finds a jet plane with modified controls that would allow "even an idiot to pilot it." This is ironic, because in the last issue we found out that Peter couldn't drive a car. Now he has to fly a plane. I wish I knew if that bit of irony was on purpose or just an unintended consequence of the story being told. 

Anyway, while Peter and May fly off, Hammerhead and Ock have a final confrontation inside the island's nuclear reactor. This does not end well.

Dropping Spider Man into the middle of a gang war became an occasional tradition over the next few years and I always enjoyed the concept. In this case, the premise of Ock wooing May is a bit silly (and depends on May being so ditzy that Peter really should consider putting her in an Assisted Living facility), but Ock's motive of getting ownership of valuable real estate does make sense. Andru's art is great and the action-filled story is fun to read.

Next week, it's back to the Wild West to visit that most famous of lawmen--Quick Draw McGraw.

The Spider Mobile--Awesome or Dumb?

 

cover art by John Romita

The real-life explanation for giving Spider Man his own specialized vehicle is merchandise-driven. A toy company wanted to make vehicles for various Marvel characters. They asked Stan Lee if these vehicles could be featured in the comics. Stan agreed and told writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru include the Spider Mobile in The Amazing Spider Man. 

The in-universe explanation involved a car company that had developed a pollution-free engine and wanted to publicize it. So naturally, they contact a super hero who (in-universe) is often seen by the public as a criminal. Yeah, that makes sense. To be fair, having Spidey ask Johnny Storm to design and build it does make in-universe sense. It makes its debut in Amazing Spider Man #130 (December 1974).

So is the Spider Mobile awesome, dumb or somewhere inbetween? Well, it's design is something that would make a cool toy. But giving Spider Man a car doesn't really make story sense at all. It's something that simply doesn't fit the character and even Spidey seems to realize this--but goes forward with the idea to get the paycheck.

And that's what makes the Spider Mobile story arc okay in my opinion. That Spidey, who is always chronically in need of money, might agree to something inherently silly in exhange for some extra cash does indeed make story sense. And the car wasn't overused, popping up in just a handful of issues before being destroyed in Spider Man #160. (It has popped up from time to time again over the years, usually to get laughs.)

Also, Conway and Andru had some fun with it right off the bat, when Johnny Storm finds out that Spidey never learned how to drive when Spidey was taking the car for a test drive.

By the way, I don't read a lot of more modern comics, but the 2005 Spider Man/Human Torch mini-series did an story set between panels of this issue, in which Johnny gives Spider Man a driving lesson that is interrupted by the Red Ghost, the Super-Apes and some Hostess Twinkies. It is my favorite issue in that hilarious mini-series.

I'm pro-capitalism and pro-toy collecting, but all economic systems have their flaws. In the entertainment industry, there is a tendency to allow merchandising rather than good storytelling to drive a story arc forward. So it becomes a question of not whether a particular character or vehicle is the best fit for telling a story effectively, but whether that character/vehicle will sell toys. I often buy and enjoy these toys myself, so perhaps we consumers are a part of the problem. In this case, at least, the forced insertion of an out-of-place story element was played partially for laughs, so the end result is not horrible. In my opinion, the Spider Mobile falls somewhere inbetween Awesome and Dumb--perhaps leaning a little bit towards the Dumb end of the scale. 

But what was going on in Peter's life in issue #130 aside from his new car? Well, a gang war was bulding up between Hammerhead and Doctor Octopus, with the Jackel playing them off against one another in hopes they would destroy each other. Then the Jackel could jump in and build his own criminal empire.

Spidey encounters some of Hammerhead's men, though he doesn't know at first who their boss is. In fact, when he threatens one of them with being forced to watch re-runs of The Debbie Reynolds Show, the thug tries to talk, but gets zapped by remote control.

Judging from this clip, forcing someone to watch The Debbie Reynolds Show probably is a good way to get him to talk:

Spidey's second encounter with Hammerhead's men is also the combat debut of the Spider Mobile. The vehicle doesn't do well after the flat-headed mob boss joins the fight. The car is knocked on its side and Spider Man is knocked out.

Though this means the bad guys get away, Spidey (after regaining conciousness) finds an envelope that Hammerhead apparently dropped. Actually, it was planted by the Jackel, but in any case it gives Spidey vital information about what Hammerhead and Doc Ock are currently trying to accomplish.

And that criminal goal apparently involves Doctor Octopus marrying Aunt May!

Well, we can safely assume that Doc Ock isn't doing this for love. Next week, we'll look at Spider Man #131 and find out what the villains are up to.

The Downside of Secret Identies

 

cover art by Sal Buscema

Any comic book that includes the two-page splash image below is going to be a fun comic. Heck, if you look up "FUN" in the Oxford English Dictionary, it has this exact image as the definition. 

Marvel Team-Up #40 (December 1975) picks up right where the previous issue left off, in the middle of a free-for-all with Spidey and the Human Torch on one side, with the Big Man, the Crime Master, Sandman, the Enforcers and a bunch of Red Shirt mobsters on the other. Sal Buscema's are has never been better, while Bill Mantlo gives us a story that drips with fun and has a grasp of Spider-Man's verbal wit that few other writers have ever equalled.

Anyway, the good guys manage to give the bad guys a nice run, but in the end they are captured. But all is not smooth sailing among the villains. The Big Man and the Crime Master both want Spider Man for themselves. 

So, naturally, they organize a vote--letting the mobsters (who originally came to bid on the captured Human Torch) decide which of them gets Spidey.

As much as I love this issue, this is were it gets a bit contrived. A martial arts group known as the Sons of the Tigers just happened to be practicing nearby and hear the commotion. 

The Sons of the Tiger, like Shang Chi and Iron Fist, were an outgrowth of the Bruce Lee-inspired martial arts craze of the 1970s, a craze enchanced by the TV show Kung Fu. Unlike Shang Chi and Iron Fist, they didn't form a lasting impression. But they were good characters and perfectly fine candidates for a Team-Up appearance.

But the "just happened to be nearby" coincidence is combined with Johnny (after the heroes are rescued and the bad guys make a run for it) declaring that he can't stay to help because he has a hot date. This is the second time in Team-Up's run that Johnny makes a lame excuse to leave a story mid-stream to make room for another guest star. 

Oh, well. I guess I'm nitpicking.  Anyway, The Big Man, Crime Master and their minions double back and capture the Sons of the Tiger. But they are still bickering with each other and refusing to play nice. In fact, the Crime Master abruptly decides to murder the Big Man.

Spider Man, in the meantime, has picked up their trail and arrives to save the day. He frees the Sons and everyone teams up to beat the snot out of the bad guys. 

Then we get a great ironic ending. It turns out the Crime Master is the son of the original Crime Master. He was in love with the daughter of the original Big Man. Both vowed revenge on Spider-Man, but unfortunately didn't let each other know their plans. So Crime Master, Jr. has unwittingly killed the woman he loves.

It's a powerful ending. But, despite the inherent tragedy here, it doesn't stop the comic book from still being incredible fun from start to finish. The Mantlo/Buscema run on MTU is stuffed with classic stories, this one being one of the finest.

Next week, we'll return to Marvel's Planet of the Apes universe.

Old Bad Guys are New Again

cover art by John Romita

Marvel Team-up #39 (November 1975) was the second issue in which Bill Mantlo wrote the story and Sal Buscema drew it. And I think it is this issue that left readers confident that the Mantlo/Buscema era would be incredibly fun.

This issue begins with an unknown assassin trying to kill Spidey. Though, it turns out, the assassination attempt was expected to fail--it's simply the first step to lure Spider Man into a trap.

Soon after, the same bad guy, now backed up the Enforcers Fancy Dan and Montana, ambush Johnny Storm, capturing him.

So who the heck is this bad guy? When Spidey tracks the villains to a warehouse, he discovers this new guy is auctioning off the Torch to mobsters. And the new guys is claiming to be the Big Man.

This takes us back to early in Spidey's career. The original Big Man turned out to be Frederick Foswell, who had long since died. Obviously, the new Big Man is someone else. 

But mysteries will have to wait, since a fellow hero needs rescuing. Spidey busts Johnny from the coffin-like box in which he's being held and for a few minutes, it looks as if the two heroes will easily clean up the Big Man, the Enforcers and the mobsters. But then another element is tossed into the mix.

Someone claiming to be the Crime Master (another long-dead foe from Spidey's early career) shows up, with the Sandman as a bodyguard. 

 The entire issue is fun from start to finish. The mysteries involving the new Big Man and Crime Master are intriguing, the action is great and Sal Buscema's art often seems to pop off the page with pure energy. 

But we need to solve these mysteries, don't we? Next week, we'll look at the concluding issue of this story.

 

For Gosh Sake, Will Someone Buy Spider-Man a Plane Ticket?!!!?

 

In the previous issue of Marvel Team-Up, Spider-Man had to travel to South America. Despite the fact that he was working with a member of the Fantastic Four, he had to bum his own ride, cocooning himself to the bottom of a commercial airliner with his webbing. 

He ends that issue in Greece and with the necessity of getting to the Inhumans' Great Refuge in the Himalayas. And, as we see at the beginning of MTU #11 (July 1973), he has to hitchhike. Poor Peter. When Johnny Storm bailed out on him last issue, he couldn't even be bothered to use his FF-access to all sorts of high tech to score a ride for the webslinger.

This issue still features art by Jim Mooney. Gerry Conway had been writing this story arc, but this time he's credited with the plot, while Len Wein writing the script. 

Anyway, it sounds like I'm trashing the story, but I really don't intend that. Spidey having to hitchhike to the Great Refuge is a tad silly. Also, an upcoming "the story so far" flashback scene and a fight against henchmen when Spidey returns to the 23rd Century are both a little padded, showing that there probably wasn't enough of a story left to fill another issue. But Mooney's art is great and, overall, the plot indulges in entertaining Comic Book Science while getting the personalities of the various characters right. Despite its flaws, it accomplishes its purpose in being fun. 

Anyway, Spidey reaches the Great Refuge and explains to Black Bolt what's going on, including the important point that Zarrko's time bomb uses the same sort of radiation as does the Great Refuge's protective force field. As I mentioned, the flashback sequence accompanying Peter's explanation seems a little padded to me. But to be fair, the Comic Book Science involves is a tad convoluted. Maybe using up two pages to explain it all was unavoidable. On the other hand, two pages is 10% of the entire issue.

Black Bolt's brother Maximus, though still as Crazy-Pants as he usually is, is able to use the time bomb to slap together a time machine. Soon, Spider-Man and the Inhumans are zapped to the 23rd Century to rescue the imprisoned Avengers.

They actually appear several minutes before Spidey originally left at the beginning of the previous issue, with Zarrko only just arriving at Kang's headquarters. They follow him in and are soon locked in combat with a small army of henchmen. 

The ensuing fight is long enough to once again make me think that Len Wein was searching for ways to stretch out the remaining story to fill 20 pages, but it IS a good fight scene. Each of the key Inhumans and Spidey get a few panels to show off their own abilities and there's a really nice group shot as they polish off the last of the bad guys.

They confront Kang and Zarkko, which is when we find out what Kang's surprised reaction from the previous issue was for. Spidey and the Inhumans charge into the control room just moments after Chronologically-Earlier Spidey has fled. It doesn't really affect the story, but it's a fun moment.

There's some more fighting, the Avengers are freed and Zarkko is captured. Kang also appears to have been knocked out, but his armor turns out to be empty, allowing him to gloat a little via remote control as the story wraps up. 

But the cross-century invasion plans of both Kang and Zarkko are foiled. The heroes are zapped back to their own time and the day is saved.

I've just read back over what I've written and I am being nit-picky about some elements of the story. I admit that. But, by golly, there's a long tradition of comic book/science fiction fans being nit-picky--SO THERE! And despite whatever holes in logic might have been scattered about along the way, it's been a fun story arc and the world is a better place because it exists.

All the same, couldn't Johnny Storm have arranged a more comfortable ride for Spidey from Greece to the Great Refuge? C'mon,Johnny! You're better than that, man!

Next week, let's spend some time with Korak the Killer.

Abandon a Friend and Save the World

 

cover art by John Romita

Marvel Team-Up #10 (June 1973) picks up with Zarrko, the Tomorrow Man conveniently monologing about his plan to Kang as the two engage in a ray-gun stand-off.

Kang had easily conquered the 23rd Century because society had totally disarmed itself by that time. (Is there a hidden message here about the danger of not remaining on guard against evil and the impracticality of total pacifism? Probably not, as writer Gerry Conway is simply using Zarrko's already-established back story--but it's cool to think there is.)

But the 20th Century would be a harder target, because we have weapons all over the place. Zarrko, then, has seeded that century with three time devises that will turn back history, eliminate modern technology and make that time period easy pickings. He will preserve one nuclear stockpile and use that to take over.

Iron Man and Spider Man have both regained consciousness and overheard everything. Iron Man, though, can't move in his damaged armor. He tells Spidey to make a break for it, since he can't otherwise help the armored Avenger.

I like this moment a lot. The two had been bickering with each other throughout the previous issue, but when the chips are down, Spidey was willing to risk himself to help Iron Man. He also keeps his wits about him tightly enough to realize that Tony is right. Whether Zarrko or Kang comes out on top, Spidey can't stop them if he's taken prisoner.

So he makes a break for it, using his science skill to figure out Zarrko's time machine and zap himself home. In the meantime, Kang stuns Zarrko and--in a nice use of time travel tropes that will pay off next issue--he is then shocked by someone who appears off panel. 

Spider Man appears back in the 20th C. at the Baxter Building, where he quickly recruits the Human Torch to help disarm the "time bombs." (The rest of the FF is away at the moment.) His chance arrival at the doorstep of this issue's guest star is a bit contrived, but that highlights my one criticism of this otherwise fun story. I'll get back to that in a moment.

Anyway, Johnny takes a jet plane to Japan, where one of the bombs is located. I guess he rents or borrows it, since when we eventually see it, it doesn't have the FF logo on it. The Baxter Building is normally bristling with futuristic vehicles, but maybe Reed hides all the keys when Johnny is home alone.

Jim Mooney's art looks particularly cool as the bomb begin to emit radiation and start to turn time backwards. Johnny has to fist fight a samurai before melting the bomb, doing so in the nick of time before the time radiation takes effect on him. Those changed by the bomb revert to normal after it's destroyed.

Spidey, in the meantime, has spun a web cocoon on the belly of a commerical jet to get to South America, where he also battles time anomolies before Johnny shows up to melt that bomb as well. The two fly to Greece together, where Spidey turns the bomb off with his webbing, figuring they need one intact to figure out how to defeat Zarrko and Kang. 

Here's where the story runs into awkward contrivance. Johnny just happens to remember that the time radiation looks like the same sort of energy used in the force field that protects the Inhumans from the outside world. So Spidey needs to take the remaining bomb to them for help.

Pulling the Inhumans out of nowhere is awkward by itself, but that also means that Johnny needs to leave the story to make room for them in the next issue. His reason for abruptly abandoning an effort to SAVE THE ENTIRE WORLD? He doesn't want to deal with seeing his ex-girlfriend. Gee whiz, Johnny, watch Casablanca and man up, will ya? He takes off without even offering Spidey any sort of transportation to the Great Refuge!

Though the story fails to smoothly segue from one guest star to the next, it is overall a fun story, keying off Mooney's great art during the sequences in which time is flowing backwards to give it a real sense of comic book/science fiction adventure. Here's one more example of that art--Johnny's jet plane turning into a Da Vinci-style flying machine is awesome. It's a scene that does not bear close examination of logic, even by the standards of Comic Book Science (Both Spidey and the Torch have flashlights built into their belts. Shouldn't these have changed into oil lamps?), but it makes up for that in pure fun:

We'll see how it ends next week. 

Never Jump Through a Hole in Time!

 

cover art by John Romita

With Marvel Team-Up #9 (May 1973), writer Gerry Conway and artist Ross Andru began a three-part time travel story arc that took Spider Man into the future, back to the present and then back into the future. If Peter had signed up for Time Travel Frequent Flyer points, he would have cleaned up.

The story begins with Avengers Mansion briefly blinks out of existence and then turns out to be surrounded by a force field. Iron Man arrives to try to deal with this. Spidey, in the meantime, sees a news report about this on TV and swings over to help. 

Both heroes are in a sour mood,though, and spend several panels bickering with each other before a hole in the fabric of time and space opens next to them.

Caught up in a sort-of superhero oneupmanship, Peter and Tony both jump through this hole. It's a fun scene. The two had quickly gotten on each other's nerves and are reacting emotionally rather than logically, but this is the sort of fallability that always makes the inhabitants of the Marvel Universe so appealing. Even two of the smartest people in that universe can just plain mess up.

Still, things don't go too badly at first. They find themselves in another dimension, with highly advanced aircraft dogfighting around them. One of these crafts picks up the two heroes. Soon, they are introduced to Zarrko the Tomorrow Man.

Zarrko is a villain, but he hadn't appeared in a comic book for nearly ten years of real-life time and, at that time, he fought Thor. It's understandable that neither Spidey nor Shellhead knew he's a bad guy. Heck, a lot of readers in 1973 probably didn't recognize him.

Zarrko wants there help in dealing with a villain who is conquering 23rd Century Earth, which is where he hails from. Since this mystery villain has also captured the rest of the Avengers, the heroes agree to help Soon, they find themselves transported to that century., battling their way into a citadel, taking out mooks and sparring with a giant robot. They make it past these obstacles, but Iron Man's armor is severely damaged.

They make it to the citadel's control room, where they find the Avengers being held in stasis. They also abruptly discover that Zarrko's enemy is Kang the Conquerer. With Iron Man already nearly helpless, Kang easily zaps the good guys.

Zarrko shows up again, helpfully monologing his own plans to take out Kang and then carry out Kang's intention to use the 23rd Century as a base to conquer the 20th Century. A badly dazed Spider Man hears this and realizes that Zarrko is as much a threat as Kang. But there seems to be little he can do about it.

Marvel Team-Up #9 is a fun start to the trilogy. The interactions between Peter and Tony are fun, the story makes sense within the context of a Comic Book universe and the issue is packed with plenty of fun action, brought to vivid life by Andru's art.

We'll look at Part 2 of this story next week and see how it holds up as the action snaps back to the 20th Century.

Three Heroes, Two Villains and a Death Ray

 

Cover art by Gil Kane

Last week, when reviewing Marvel Team-Up #16, I mentioned that the randomness of the team-ups was a strength of the series, allowing us to see disparate heroes work together in stories that could be enjoyed on their own without having to worry about ongoing storylines in their own books.

The 17th issue (January 1974)--part 2 of the story being in issue #16--is actually slightly less random. T The previous issue had ended with Captain Marvel and the super-powerful Omega Gem both vanishing. Spider Man decides to check in with the smartest man in the world for help, which is a logical extention of the ongoing tale. 

Spidey does find Reed Richards at home, but Reed is in a bit of a funk. The FF had recently broken up and Sue & Reed are seperated, so its kind of understandable. But Spidey is able to pep-talk him into helping with the Captain Marvel problem. Reed quickly comes up with a way of tracing the power of the Omega Gem, which leads to the two heroes directly to Mole Man's subterranean empire.

They are immediately attacked by hordes of Moloids before being hit with a paralyzing gas. We soon find out that Reed expanded his lungs to ward off the effects of the gas while Peter simply held his breath, but pretending to be helpless gives Mole Man a chance to monologue and explain his evil plan.

The Omega Gem, with Marvel still inside it, teleported to the underworld, where it turned out to be just the thing Mole Man needs to power a laser cannon capable of ripping apart the surface world.

This explanation gives us a really cool Gil Kane splash page, though no explanation is ever give for why the gem teleports underground. Is it sentient and this was some sort of plan? Was it random? Writer Len Wein just asks us to accept what happened on face value and, to be fair, there probably wasn't much else he could do within this issue's page count. Besides, wasn't I just saying that randomness was one of the appealing features of team-up books? I shouldn't complain.

Reed and Spidey stop pretending to be helpless and begin to fight. Then, an unexpected "ally" shows up. Basilisk, still wanting the gem for himself, has followed Spider Man to the Baxter Building and then followed both heroes to the Earth's Core.

What follows is great fun. Basilisk and Mole Man fight, giving the heroes time to get to the gem and try to free Marvel. The villains realize what's going on and sort of team-up. Marvel adds to the action by (after hours of being able to only very slowly move his hands) touching his wrist bands together and thus trading places with Rick Jones. (For those who don't remember, the two men were linked together, with one having to be trapped in the negative zone while the other was free to act on Earth.)

Because Rick doesn't have Kree energy to syphon off, the gem shrinks back down to normal size again. In the meantime, Reed has sabotaged the laser, using it to cause nearby pits of magma to erupt. Basilisk is apparently killed. (Though, of course, he's not. He'll show up two years later in Marvel Team-Up #47.) The heroes try to save Mole Man, but he's also apparently killed. (Though, of course, he's not. He'll show up a year or so later in Hulk #189.) Nobody tries to save any of the poor Moloids. The heroes escape to the surface.

It's a fun story and a solid ending for the story begun last issue. Kane's art (especially that splash page) is great. If both issues depend a bit too much on villain monologues to provide exposition--well, that's such an established part of Comic Book Universes that I think we've all come to simply accept it. 

Next week, we'll start a three-part journey through DC's 1972 reprint book Wanted: The World's Most Dangerous Villains.