Marvel Team Up 146: Spidey Meets Nomad

cover to MTU #146. 1984

I didn't really appreciate Marvel Team-Up during its original run. Then again, I was just starting to read and collect comic books at the time. I did collect Web of Spider-man, Amazing Spider-man and Spectacular Spider-man back in the 80s when I was reading Spider-man fairly regularly but I thought Marvel Team up was not one of the core books and one I could skip.

Flash forward 30 or so years and I pick up issues of Marvel Team up every time I can. For anybody not familiar with Marvel Team-Up, the comic features Spider-Man teaming up with a different Marvel universe hero every issue. I am not sure why the book isn't called "Spidey Team up" or something like that, but be that as it may, it's usually an entertaining read. 

This book comes from the Jim Shooter era of Marvel when he was editing the Marvel books, (roughly 1979-87) an era I remember fondly and I may romanticize due to it coinciding with my formative years of comic book reading.

Just look at that cover! Who could resist picking this book up and finding out who is doing this to Spidey and what the Taskmaster is up to in the story. Unlike most comic book covers, this scene actually occurs withing the book's covers. Cary Burkett's story is pretty good this ish, despite the fact that there is a glaring plot hole. I won't give away the plot but basically taskmaster and a weird but powerful villain named the Black Abbott are recruiting neighborhood gangs for purposes and schemes which are not clearly stated in the story.

Holistically, the entire story is well told bookmarked by the moral transformation of a minor character. There's plenty of action too as Spidey and Nomad (who was Captain American and originally created by Gil Kane, though the identity of Nomad by the time this ish came out was adopted by Cap's partner Bucky) team up to take down the Taskmaster and his client and foil their plans.

Spidey at this point was wearing his post Secret Wars and pre-Venom symbiote black costume and it is always fun to see the symbiote crawling in and out of Peter Parker's body. Artist Greg Larocque does a great job of depicting this and the rest of this comic so I have no complaints about his artwork. 

My gripe is with the plot hole and it's a big one, one segment of the battle has Taskmaster hurling a sonic arrow at Spider-man. As fans of the webcrawler know and as detailed in Web of Spider-man #1 and other books, the sonic attack should have affected the symbiote and Spidey would have been left naked in the middle of the battle! However, this does not happen so it's possible that Brukett was not aware of this drawback from the suit at the time this comic came out. The editors in the Spidey offices failed to catch this.

The rest of the story is OK. I would probably give it 3 out of 5 stars for its entertainment value and that gorgeous cover.

More information:

• SpiderFan.org
• Marvel Team Up information (Comic Vine)
• Marvel Comics Chronology 
• A Brief History of Nomad 

DC's Super Powers Mini Series still Holds Up After 30 years

 

Hello, after almost a year absence, I am bringing the epic loot blog back to life.
Like a phoenix resurrected, this is the one corner of the internet where I look at the comic book gems you can find cheap, if you dare to look.

I am revisiting the DC Super Powers mini series this week because I found a lot of the issues while scouring the back issue bins at the magic warehouse last time I visited.

I picked the comics up right away, knowing both their historical value and their editorial value as well.

I am not going to rehash the significance of this series to both DC and Marvel here, as I am sure there are plenty of sites on the web where you can find that information. To differentiate, this is the first series (3 were produced to coincide with the line of toys made by Kenner) but this is the 1984 original.

Instead of rehashing it's historical significance, I want to look at the series from the point of view of the fanboy and the comic book enthusiast. I started reading comics around this time and my memories are still fresh of this booming period which led to Marvel's "Secret Wars" series later this year.

First off, the interesting thing to note here is that Jack Kirby is credited with the plot. Kirby's style is all over the book and he adorns the first cover which in comparison to other Kirby penciled masterpieces, looks a bit underwhelming.

Joey Cavalieri's script is serviceable if not standard comic book fare. It is cool to see Darkseid's galactic minions take off and recruit Earth's villains, as they give cosmic powers to each villain individually. The plot isn't staggering or Earth shattering, but it serves to set up the story, nothing more, with the big bang ups and heavy action coming in later installments of the book.

What's of interest to most comic book aficionados is Kirby's stamp on the book, from the look of Darkseid's champions to his frenetic style of composition, to the use of his New Gods characters, it is interesting to note the king's influence all over the proceedings. He would go on to pencil later versions of the Super Powers comic books.

Of course, the nostalgia factor is ramped up to 11 with ads found within the book's pages touting DC's coming line that year with titles like Blue Devil and the excellent All Star Squadron by Roy Thomas, Rick Hoberg and Bill Collins, and an ad for Atari's Moon Patrol game occupying the inside back cover slot.

This comic is pure 80's gold at 75 cents cover price. Can't wait to read the rest of the series.

Addtional info:

• Super Powers 5 issues (Comic Vine)
• Collecting Nostalgia Super Powers (New Monster Project)
• Super Powers Collection (Toyworth)

 

uploaded to Youtube courtesy of Mai Le