Marvel Team Up

This is the best of all the team up comic books as far as I am concerned. It started in the early 1970's and ,just as Superman's run at a team up book started with him teaming up with the Flash for two issues, this series started by going it one better. In the first three issues Spider-man teamed up with the Human Torch in all three issues. Soon he was teaming up with the entire Marvel Universe.

Like any good team up book the fun was seeing Spider-man team up with others that normally he would not be able to meet. The oddest team up was with the entire cast of Saturday night Live. Peter and Mary Jane had tickets to the show. Backstage John Belushi got a package that contained something that the Silver Samurai wanted. So along with the cast Spider-man tried to keep it away from him and tried to figure out why he wanted it.

The first letter I ever wrote to a comic book was to Marvel Team up telling them how much I liked issue 22 when he teamed up with Hawkeye. Over the years I grew to love this book more then any other book that Marvel published. It seems odd to me that the ones that stick out the most in my mind were the ones that I didn't really like. Perhaps it is because the book was usually so well produced that there were very few bad ones.

The one issue that I was really disappointed with was issue #30. Spidey teamed up with the Falcon but at first glance inside you may never know it. They were both tackling a crime from two different angles and didn't know that the other was also working on it. They didn't really team up till the last two or three pages. They were so surprised to see each other that it gave the crooks an advantage. Still they did save the day.

Another issue that I did like had him team up with Daredevil. They trailed the villians to Coney Island that they were using the abandoned amusement park as their hideout. I remember buying it at Denham's Drug Store in Florence, Ky. I quickly read it in the car and loved it. I was impressed with how Daredevil was able to use his super sense of smell on a simple clod of dirt to determine that it was from Coney Island and that it came from a boot of one of the villains.

I was always puzzled by why they sometimes replaced Spidey as the mainstay of the book with either the Human Torch or Hulk. Actually the Hulk was easy to understand. He now had a hit show on TV and they probably were hoping he would boost sales for his issues. Torch may not be too puzzling in hindsight. He and the Thing were always popular members of the Fantastic Four and since the Thing already had his own series with Marvel Two in One (we'll talk about that tomorrow) they may have been hoping that they could spin him off into a third team up book.

Speaking of the Human Torch team ups look at issue #22 above. Notice anything different? Thor's helmet has no wings! That observation got a letter writer a no-prize. I wish I could say that it was me but it wasn't.

Over the years MTU lost its appeal to me. I am sure that the stories were just as well done as

the others I did read. When I heard the last issue in the run that I loved was going to be issue #150 I had to have it. The X-Men were, as they are now, on a hot streak and they helped the series go out with a bang.

New Story this Weekend on 60s Shop

Kent at The60sshop@aol.com has informed me that staring Friday he will have an explosive 3 part story that will concern all fans of music from the 60's. Especially fans of Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits. That is all that he was able to say at this time. So if you want in on the ground floor to hear this news e-mail Kent today at The60sshop@aol.com to subscribe to his news letter.

DC Comics Presents

By the end of the 1970's DC Comics decided to give Superman his own Team up series again when they gave him DC Comics Presents. The series allowed them to team up the grandfather of all superheroes with nearly every DC character in their universe. While it was a treat to see him work with some JLA heroes on a one to one basis it was more fun to see him team with others that he normally would not be with. This was rarely done while he headlined the team up version of World's Finest with a different guest star each month. Those new guest stars included Blackhawk, Blue Devil, Mr. Miracle and Firestorm right before he joined the JLA.

It started out much like World's Finest did. With one of the classic races between Superman and the Flash. It was, if I remember correctly, the only continued story in the entire series. The rest were self-contained one issue stories.

The high point of the series for me was with issue #17. It was in that issue that he met up with one of my favorites at that time. It was Firestorm. Firestorm was still fairly new to the DC universe and it was a vote of confidence for his fans that he would be around for years to come when at the end of the story Superman suggested that he should join the JLA. Firestorm jumped at the chance and soon he was shown off to the JLA who elected him as part of the team. Apparently Firestorm learned from the mistake of Black Lightning who kept turning them down until the 21st century.

I didn't read every issue of the series but I enjoyed those that I did. It was a treat to see Superman with a team up book again. His run on team ups in World's Finest gave us a taste of how well he could be with this genre. For some reason the series ended with issue #97. Why wouldn't DC just let it run 3 more issues to let it finish with 100 issues. To have let it end sooner then that is a slap in the face to a legend of a superhero like Superman.

The title was brought back years later as title that paid tribute to editor Julie Schwartz. New creators remade classic tales that Julie edited. It was a tip of the hat to the great editor.

World's Finest Part 2

I have to extend this team-up week by one day as I just realized that World's Finest should count not once but twice as a team up book. You see in late 1969 DC changed the format of the book to make it more of team up book for Superman alone. Gone were the monthly team ups with Batman and Robin. Now he was free to join others in their fights against crime. Usually he was teamed up with other members of the JLA but back then that was pretty much all DC had that were hits. Still they could have shown some light on recent flops to let readers know they had not forgotten them. It would have been interesting to see him team up with the Creeper, Hawk and Dove or the Inferior Five. That last one would have been very interesting in a strange sort of way. Perhaps they were thinking of heading in that direction towards the end as in the last issue he is teamed up with the Vigilante. I don't think anyone was that familiar with him at that time. I know I wasn't. With issue #215 the book focused on the super sons of Superman and Batman. I haven't read many of those but they were pretty good but should have been imaginary stories but we aren't here today to discuss those issues.

The new direction for the series actually started off with a bang as its first two issues was a two part story with the now classic race with the Flash. The second team up was with Robin. Why team him up with Robin or Batman so soon? It should have been another member of the DC Universe. However, it was the 200th issue so I suppose they wanted to make sure that for the sake of continuity they made sure it was a member of the old team.

This format only last a short 17 issues for Superman. Sales must have fallen as during that run he teamed with Batman 3 times and Robin once. While I have always love the regular World's Finest team this short run holds a special place in my heart. These were the first time I ever saw Superman team up with anyone other then Batman.