I posted previously about a b/w Showcase edition of Batman and how I had enjoyed a similar volume of Marvel Team-Up more, despite not being the biggest fan of Spider-Man. In fact, in its early years, MTU also featured team-ups with Spidey's "frenemy", the Human Torch.
This volume can be split into two phases, by artist. The first is the Jim Mooney Era, the second is the Sal Buscema period. Buscema was the regular penciller when I first bought MTU, as we'll see shortly. It's a book that offers great VFM but your tolerance of Bronze Age tropes has to be high. I picked it up at a comics mart at Glasgow's Trades Hall a couple of weekends ago.
I was familiar with Mooney's Silver Age work on Supergirl and there's a hokey, "old-timey" quality to stories pitting Daredevil against The Unholy Three ( aka the Ani-Men), Torch/Thor versus the Lava Men and the Hulk versus the Chameleon. Nostalgic scripters at early-70s Marvel often revived the less successful villains of the early 60s (C.F. Kurrgo, the Miracle Man and the Molecule Man.)
There are some new- and throwaway- villains: Infinitus, a new version of Midas and, in an early attempt to promote Iron Fist, Drom the Backwards Man, who perishes like Silvermane . The best-known of these stories is the one where Hercules tows the island of Manhattan to safety. An editorial note actually scoffs at how ludicrous it is, in a meta-moment. The story is actually part of a subplot about a mysterious cabal known as "They", which Mantlo wraps up in the pages of the early-80s Hulk. However, I found these issues a bit of a chore.
My interest was piqued by the next sequence, by Conway and Buscema, that almost reads like a Defenders mini-series, with appearances by Son of Satan, Nighthawk, Valkyrie and Dr. Strange. Again, it begins with a Sixties revival: the Looter rebrands himself as The Meteor Man. The main antagonist is the corpulent Jeremiah and his Blood Church. Nighthawk looks dynamic and striking while Dr. Strange actually condemns the villain to a nightmarish fate.
The most striking element is Daimon Hellstrom himself. He's a one-man Defenders, combining visual elements of Dr. and Sub- Mariner, with the hair-trigger and imperious manner of Namor, plus the transformations of the Hulk. He's such a bizarre and controversial character to feature in what is essentially a disposable comic for kids.
The next two-parter is a goofy Universal horror tribute starring the Frankenstein Monster and Man-Wolf. There is a risible and rather crudely-named villain, Baron Von Stupf, who reminds me of Kirby's Baron Von Evilstein from The Demon. It's not terrible but it's very silly.
I have to admit that I've never been able to fathom the admiration Marvel fans have for the pedestrian scripts of Roger Stern, who rose to prominence writing Spider-Man, Captain America and The Avengers in the early 80s. I think the work of the tragic Bill Mantlo is far more imaginative and interesting. Admittedly, Mantlo doesn't get off to the most inspiring start with a story featuring the Beast and the Griffin. Mantlo would next use this grotesque Englehart creation in the pages of the Champions.
The next two-parter is a callback to the Ditko days as Spidey and the Torch are bedevilled by new incarnations of the Crime-Master and the Big Man, masked fedora-wearing underworld bosses, and their lackeys the Sandman and the Enforcers. Mantlo gives this nostalgia- fest a Bronze Age twist by including the Sons of the Tiger in their first colour appearance.
Scarlet Witch, Vision, Dr. Doom and Moondragon star in a time-travel story set during the Salem Witch Trials. This unusual grouping battles against an Elder God-type known as the Dark Rider. This is a story that has always stayed with me, firstly because I was struck by the exotic Moondragon and secondly because I've played Rev. Parris in The Crucible, in 2003. ( Actually, I was supposed to take part in a production in 1999 but I dropped out changing one shift-work job for another).
This is a significant story in that it features another major failure for Spidey. He can't save Proctor and the other innocents who hang because, as Doctor Who would have it, this is a fixed point in time. I only read the latter two parts of the story in the 70s but I stuck with the title during the segue into the future-world of Killraven.
This is another ground-breaking idea from Mantlo, as Spidey actually crosses genres and continues to do so in the next instalment with Deathlok. I don't know how much sales traffic was generated by these appearances but they contribute to creating a cohesive future time-line, in line with the Gerber Defenders/Guardians of the Galaxy issues. One does wonder about Spidey's mental health, especially after the "Gwen's clone" debacle, as he is traumatised further by these dystopian visions.
The time-travel odyssey is followed by a cross-over with Marvel Two In One, the Thing's team-up mag. This two-parter also features the Basilisk, a villain killed off in the mid-80s FF as part of the "Scourge" sub-plot. That initiative was supposed to be about eliminating Marvel's "lame" villains. The Basilisk has a striking, simple visual and his eye-blast powers are linked to the nature of his mythological namesake. He's far superior to Nineties antagonists with "plucked-from- the-thesaurus" names like Post or Bastion.
The final arc, "The Mystery of the Wraith", is unusual in that Iron Man headlines for three out of the four episodes while Dr. Strange makes an appearance in the fiftieth issue. The storyline introduces classic car fan and butch lady cop Jean De Wolff, whose dysfunctional family's psi-powers drive the adventure.
I prefer Mantlo's stories in that he attempts to create a continuity in MTU and involves some of his own "pet" characters. Chris Claremont would go on to create similar stories as Mantlo's successor on the title, teamed with John Byrne. Those issues are more celebrated but it's Mantlo who blazes the trail.
Coming soon: more 90s Conan, Black Lightning and the Ninth Doctor
All images are presumed copyright of their respective owners
No comments:
Post a Comment