Essential Marvel Team-Up

Rating:
Summary: A Real Trip Down Memory Lane!
Review: Having grown up reading the Marvel Comics of the 70's, I purchased this book more for the nostalgia value than anything else. On that level it's a great book; I remember reading a lot of these stories in the old Treasury Edition reprint format, and they brought back a lot of great memories.

The stories themselves are a mixed bag, ranging from awful (The Hawkeye/Quasimodo story) to great fun (The 2-part Stegron the Dinosaur Man story, which culminates with Dinosaurs overrunning Times Square). The writing is not up to the standards of 2002, but the stories are fun, and the art, by comic legends such as Sal Buscema, Gil Kane, Ross Andru, etc., is great. And you can't beat the value of the "Essential" books- Over 500 pages of classic Marvel Comics for [the price]. The production values seem better than in previous Essential books, and the new cover design is a HUGE step up from the one that has "graced" previous volumes. And with the New Spider-Man movie, this would be a GREAT starting point for potential comic fans.

Rating:
Summary: Great example of Marvel fun in the 70s!
Review: If you were a kid growing up in the early 70s, Marvel Comics were possibly an integral part of your life. And in the 70s, "team-up" books were what it was all about. I'll never forget my Dad buying me Marvel Team-Up No. 1 in 1972........and the idea of my favorite characters "teaming up" was instantly appealing!

No, these weren't masterpieces.......but "Marvel Team-Up" was a fun book, originated at a time when Marvel was at a transition period.......a creative period which resulted in mega-fun for the readers. Yes, there are members of the Avengers and FF here......but Spidey also teamed up with such unusual characters as Werewolf by Night, Ghost Rider, Brother Voodoo, The Black Panther and even (later) the Frankenstein Monster!! The idea was to give the spotlight to secondary characters through Spider-Man, and for awhile (at least until Jim Shooter came along as editor in 1978) it worked.

If you're not familiar with Marvel beyond the obvious characters (Hulk, Spidey, Fantastic Four, etc.) this is a great way to introduce yourself to Marvel's second bananas. It's also a great way to find out what comics were like in the early 70s.

I mean, as long as you're not looking for comicdom's answer to Shakespeare or Dante', and approach it with a fun frame of mind, you should enjoy "Marvel Team-Up" immensely. Hey....let's have more 70s titles like "Marvel Two-in-One," "Tomb of Dracula," "Ghost Rider" and others......

The only reason I don't give this 5 stars is because of the cheap black and white, flimsy format. I really wish Marvel would take DC's lead and just go to their "Masterworks" approach for everything. Still, if you want to forego purchasing the originals, this is a nice alternative.

Rating:
Summary: Hardly "Essential," but possibly of interest
Review: It must have seemed like a great idea at the time: take Spider-Man, Marvel's most popular single character, and hook him up with other characters from the Marvel universe for action-packed adventures. Thus "Marvel Team-Up" was born. Unfortunately, the execution just isn't that good, even though many of the 24 issues included in this volume are drawn by comics veterans Gil Kane and Ross Andru and are written by Gerry Conway (who worked as the writer of Spider-Man's main title for a few years), Len Wein (co-creator of Swamp Thing) and Roy Thomas (too many titles to mention).

There isn't much variety among the guest stars: members of the Fantastic Four and the Avengers take up the majority of issues in this collection (eight issues and six issues, respectively). And since most of the stories are wrapped up in one issue in order to stick with the "one guest star per issue" format, many of the stories feel like rush jobs. The artwork suffers as well: Andru, new to pencilling Spider-Man, doesn't have the feel for the character yet, and Kane's pencils are often obscured by lousy inking.

Still, there are individual stories that stand out, like the fourth issue guest-starring the X-Men (whose own comic had been cancelled) and Morbius, the Living Vampire. Kane's pencils look great here, helped substantially by Steve Mitchell's inking. And the 19th issue also looks nice, with Kane drawing dinosaurs in Ka-Zar's Savage Land. But the majority of stories in this volume are forgettable filler.

At least the quality of the reproductions here are nice (Marvel's "Essentials" series is notorious for lousy print quality), and it's much cheaper to buy this book than to try and snag the original issues. But unless really have a burning nostalgic desire to look at these stories again, I'd skip this volume and pick up any of the other "Essential" volumes touching on Spider-Man, the Avengers or the FF--just about any of those stories are better than what you'll find here.

Rating:
Summary: This one should have been a Masterworks Volume or a CD Rom
Review: It's too bad the people at Marvel don't put these wonderful volumes in color on CD. The black and white don't do these stories justice; although they are still enjoyable. If you like the seventies greats as far as writers are concerned...ones like Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Wolverine creator Len Wein..then this is the book for you. It has the first twenty five titantic issues all in one volume. Growing up in the seventies I do remember getting that first issue in a coffee shop/newsstand way back in 1972. This is when comics were 20 cents each! Artists like Gil Kane, Ross Andru (who drew the Spider-Man/Superman team up), Ghost Rider's Don Perlin,Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito all took part in this great comic all those years ago. I will never forget those Gil Kane covers. This volume also has the first Spidey team up with Brother Vodoo! For those of you who love seventies Marvel, don't let this one pass you by!

Rating:
Summary: This one should have been a Masterworks Volume or a CD Rom
Review: It's too bad the people at Marvel don't put these wonderful volumes in color on CD. The black and white don't do these stories justice; although they are still enjoyable. If you like the seventies greats as far as writers are concerned...ones like Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Wolverine creator Len Wein..then this is the book for you. It has the first twenty five titantic issues all in one volume. Growing up in the seventies I do remember getting that first issue in a coffee shop/newsstand way back in 1972. This is when comics were 20 cents each! Artists like Gil Kane, Ross Andru (who drew the Spider-Man/Superman team up), Ghost Rider's Don Perlin,Sal Buscema, Mike Esposito all took part in this great comic all those years ago. I will never forget those Gil Kane covers. This volume also has the first Spidey team up with Brother Vodoo! For those of you who love seventies Marvel, don't let this one pass you by!

Rating:
Summary: Essential Fun
Review: On the face of it, Marvel Team-Up hardly seems worthy of an Essential collection when a number of other Marvel titles -- Daredevil comes immediately to mind -- have not yet garnered such attention.

But I bought Essential Team-Up the first time I laid eyes on it and found it to be worth ever penny.

I'm a big fan of non-hero titles -- Love and Rockets, Eightball, just about anything from Drawn & Quarterly -- but there is an undeniable charm to these stories, especially coming to them post-"Watchmen," "The Dark Knight Returns," and every other attempt to modernize or legitimize men running around in tights.

One gripe: the Human Torch appears in far too much of it -- I'm assuming the writers (Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway among them) enjoyed the bickering he and Spider-Man participated in. More variety in guest-stars would probably up the fun quotient for me. As is, how can you go wrong with something like Spider-Man and Brother Voodoo in "Moondog is Another Name for Murder!"?

I'm hoping for a Volume 2 in this series. Hopefully, we'll see it in a reasonable period of time. (For obvious reasons, it seems only "Spider-Man," "The Fantastic Four," and "The Avengers" Essential series warrant any timely release cycles.)

And since Marvel is already producing other off-the-beaten-path Essentials ("Ant Man" and "Howard the Duck"), how about "Master of Kung Fu," "Iron Fist" (for the early John Byrne) and "Marvel Premiere?"

Essential Marvel Team-Up is a blast. Enjoy.

Rating:
Summary: Ahhhhh, The Seventies
Review: This volume (Volume 1 of Essential Marvel Team-up) holds special meaning for me as issue 14, with the savage Sub-Mariner was the first (and last) comic book I stole from a corner store. I had to have this issue with these two stars. That was the true appeal of the first couple of years of this series, anticipating the wonderful match-ups and catching a first glimpse of those wonderful covers with two heroes in full-throated action, such as the wonderful sight of Spider-Man battling the Werewolf (by night) on a bridge in San Fransicso. Many of the stories do not live up to the promise and it was hard to develop more complicated stories in this format. In fact, the most developed storyline (extending over three issues and involving Spider-Man, the Human Torch, the Avengers, and the Inhumans) was the weakest. The writing improved with the addition of Len Wein and the art was generally quite good, particularly as done by Gil Kane (see his wonderful work with Captain America, Spider-Man and the Gray Gargoyle, one of the best stories in the series). The stars tend to be the more famous characters of the Marvel universe, with Human Torch hogging too much of the spotlight (thankfully in the case of the classic Human Torch/Iceman dust-up) but there are occasional appearance by such rarely seen characters as Brother Voodoo. All in all, this is a wonderful volume and a delightful trip down memory lane. Where else could one see Spider-Man and the Ghost Rider (he of the flaming head) battle a villian whose head is one giant eye, the Orb.

Rating:
Summary: The Good Old Days...Need to Have Vol. 2,3 &4!
Review: While the highly underrated (and uneven) 'Marvel Premiere' was Marvel Comics best showcase of new talent in the 70's, 'Marvel Team-Up' allowed mostly established heroes to interact for an issue or two without messingup continuity. 'Essential Marvel Team-Up' reprints issues #1-24 in the "Essential" series format (black and white pages; low price).

For a Spider-Man fan, 'Marvel Team-Up' was heaven. Unlike the awful 'Marvel Two-in-One' starring the Thing, the stories in 'Team-up' were often pretty good and gave Spidey a chance to play with 'capes' who normally turned their noses up at him. It wasn't always as good as his regular comic, but sometimes it was even better (especially once the Claremont & Byrne team came aboard). The first 24 issues were not the best the series had to offer (there is more than enough of the Human Torch to last one lifetime), but I still highly recommend it. Things really got going around issue #53 (when John Byrne began drawing), #57 (when Chris Claremont began writing) and #59 (when they brought some of the magic they later used to propel the X-men out of the stratosphere). Hopefully, the popularity of the Spidey movies will get more volumes published.

Here is the guest stars/villains of each story:
1. Human Torch/Sandman 2. Human Torch/Frightful Four
3. Human Torch/Morbius 4. Original X-men/Morbius
5. Vision 6. Thing 7. Thor 8. The Cat 9. Iron Man/Kang
10. Human Torch/Kang 11. Inhumans/Kang 12. Werewolf
13. Cpt. America 14. Sub-Mariner 15. Ghost Rider
16. Cpt. Marvel 17. Mr. Fantastic/Mole Man
18. Human Torch & Hulk 19. Ka-Zar/Stegron
20. Black Panther/Stegron 21. Dr. Strange 22. Hawkeye
23. Human Torch & Ice Man 24. Brother Voodoo

Also recommeded: "The Very Best of Spider-Man"; "Death of Gwen Stacey"; "Spider-Man:The Wedding" (not yet released).