The Team-Up Companion

Sometimes, a hero can’t go it alone.

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO SILVER & BRONZE AGE TEAM-UP COMICS

THE TEAM-UP COMPANION

Go behind the scenes of your favorite teamup comic books with specially curated and all-new creator recollections from: ISBN-13: 978-1-60549-112-7 ISBN-10: 1-60549-112-8

53995

9 781605 491127

Neal Adams • Jim Aparo • Mike W. Barr Eliot R. Brown • Nick Cardy • Chris Claremont • Gerry Conway • Steve Englehart • Kerry Gammill • Steve Gerber • Steven Grant • Bob Haney Tony Isabella • Paul Kupperberg • Paul Levitz • Ralph Macchio • Dennis O’Neil Martin Pasko • Joe Rubinstein • Roy Thomas • Len Wein • Marv Wolfman and many other all-star writers and artists who produced the team-up tales that so captivated comics readers during the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s.

TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina 978-1-60549-112-7 $39.95 in the US

Printed in China

The Team-Up Companion examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics—DC’s The Brave and the Bold and DC Comics Presents, Marvel’s Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Twoin-One, plus other team-up titles, treasuries, and treats—in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes.

TEAM-UP CREATORS

MICHAEL EURY

He needs a brave ally, a bold companion.

Side-by-side, two-in-one, they become an unbeatable team.

TEAM-UP INDEXES

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TEAM-UP trivia

PLU

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BOB HANEY, COMICS’ MOST OUTRAGEOUS WRITER! AND MEET THE FAN WHO TEAMED WITH THE MAN OF STEEL!

© Jack Kirby Estate

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TwoMorrows Publishing

The Ultimate Guide to Silver & Bronze Age Team-Up Comics

By Michael Eury

TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina

Written and Edited by Michael Eury Book Design by Rich J. Fowlks Cover and Logo Design by Michael Kronenberg Fact-Checking and Supplemental Information by John Wells Proofreading by David Baldy and Kevin Sharp Front Cover Art by Curt Swan and Josef Rubinstein Front Cover Colors by Glenn Whitmore

Dedicated to the memory of Neal Adams (1941–2022)

TwoMorrows Publishing 10407 Bedfordtown Drive Raleigh, NC 27614 919-449-0344 www.twomorrows.com ISBN 978-1-60549-112-7 First printing, June 2022 Printed in the China The Team-Up Companion: The Ultimate Guide to Silver & Bronze Age Team-Up Comics © 2022 Michael Eury and TwoMorrows Publishing. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication, except for limited review use, may be reproduced in any manner without express permission. All quotes and image reproductions are © the respective owners, and are used here for historical presentation, journalistic commentary, and scholarly analysis.

Adam Strange, Ambush Bug, Anti-Monitor, Aqualad, The Atom, Atomic Skull, Batgirl, Batman, Batman Family, Big Barda, Black Canary, Black Spider, The Brave and the Bold, Captain Atom, Captain Comet, Captain Marvel/Shazam!, Catwoman, Challengers of the Unknown, Clark Kent, The Creeper, Darkseid, DC Comics Presents, DC Special Series, DC Super-Stars, Deadman, The Demon, Doctor Fate, Doctor Sivana, Doctor Thirteen, Doll Man, Doom Patrol, Female Furies, Firestorm, The Flash, Golden Gladiator, Gorilla Grodd, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Guardian, Hawk and Dove, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, House of Mystery, Inferior Five, The Joker, Johnny Cloud, Justice League of America, Kid Flash, Killer Moth, Lady Quark, Legion of Substitute Heroes, Legion of Super-Heroes, Lex Luthor, Liberty Belle, Lord of Time, Madame Xanadu, Mademoiselle Marie, Man-Bat, Martian Manhunter/Manhunter from Mars, Mary Marvel, Metal Men, Metamorpho the Element Man, Mister America, Mongul, Nemesis, New Gods, Nightshade, OMAC One Man Army Corps, Our Army at War, Parasite, Phantom Stranger, Phantom Zone, Red Bee, Richard Dragon Kung-Fu Fighter, Robin the Boy/Teen Wonder, Robotman, Scarecrow, Secret Society of Super-Villains, Sgt. Rock, Shazam!, Shazam!

Family, Shining Knight, Showcase, Silent Knight, Solomon Grundy, The Spectre, Starman, Jeb Stuart, Superboy, Superman, Superman Family, Super-Team Family, Superwoman, Teen Titans, Two-Face, Unknown Soldier, V for Vendetta,Vigilante,Viking Prince,Vixen, Weird Western Tales, The Whip, Wildcat, Wonder Woman, World’s Finest Comics, and Zatanna TM & © DC Comics.

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The Team-Up Companion

Abomination, American Eagle, Angel, Ant-Man, Arnim Zola, Aunt May, The Avengers, Black Bolt, Black Panther, Black Widow, Brother Voodoo, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Colossus, Dakota Kid, Daredevil, Dark Phoenix, Deathlok the Demolisher, The Defenders, Devil-Slayer, Doc Samson, Doctor Doom, Doctor Strange, Falcon, Fantastic Four, Franklin Richards, Frog-Man, Galactus, Giant-Man, Giant-Size Kid Colt, Giant-Size Spider-Man, Grapplers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Hate-Monger, Hercules, Human Torch, Iceman, Incredible Hulk, Inhumans, Invisible Girl, Iron Fist, Iron Man, Karma, Kang, Kid Colt Outlaw, Leader, Machine Man, Magneto, Marvel Fanfare, Marvel Feature, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-in-One, Master of Kung Fu, Mister Fantastic, Mockingbird, Moondragon, Moon Knight, Morbius, Nighthawk, Night Rider, Not Brand Echh, Nova, Outlaw Kid, Power Man, Rawhide Kid, Red Skull, Rhino, Sandman, Sasquatch, Shaper of Worlds, She-Hulk, The Shroud, Son of Satan, Spider-Man, Starhawk, Sub-Mariner, Super-Villain Team-Up, Thanos, Thing, Thor, Thundra, Tomb of Dracula, Warlock, Werewolf by Night, Western Team-Up, Wonder Man, Wundarr, and X-Men TM & © Marvel Characters, Inc. Magicman and Nemesis TM & © Roger Broughton. Black Cat, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Jackie Jokers, Little Dot, Nightmare, Professor Keenbean, Richie Rich, Timmy Time, and Wendy the Good Little Witch TM & © Classic Media LLC. The New Scooby-Doo Movies, Scooby-Doo and related characters, The Flintstones, Magilla Gorilla, and Yogi Bear TM & © Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Life with Archie, Fly Man, and Josie and the Pussycats TM & © Archie Comics Publications, Inc. Captain Action TM & © Captain Action Enterprises. Lady Luck TM & © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. The Phantom and Popeye TM & © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Sherlock Holmes TM & © The Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. Hopalong Cassidy TM & © William Boyd Enterprises. National Lampoon’s Vacation and Bugs Bunny TM & © Warner Bros. Laurel and Hardy TM & © Larry Harmon Productions. The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Avenger TM & © Condé Nast Publications, Inc. Carson of Venus, John Carter, Korak, and Tarzan TM & © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. HeMan, Masters of the Universe, and Skeletor TM & © Mattel. Godzilla TM & © Toho Co, Ltd. Red Sonja TM & © Red Sonja, LLC. King Kull TM & © Conan Properties International. Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman TM & © NBCUniversal. Star Trek, Petticoat Junction, and I Love Lucy © CBS Studios, Inc. The Brady Kids and the Fonz © Paramount Television. ABC Saturday Morning Sneak Peak © ABC. Saturday Night Live/ Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players © NBC. Mickey Mouse, Roger Rabbit, and Super Goof TM & © Disney. The Wizard of Oz © MGM. Muhammad Ali © Muhammad Ali Enterprises LLC. Snake Eyes TM & © Hasbro. Spy vs.

Spy TM & © EC Publications, Inc. Jon Sable Freelance TM & © Mike Grell. Zorro TM & © Zorro Productions, Inc. The Green Hornet and Kato TM & © The Green Hornet, Inc. Campbell Kids © Campbell Soup. Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders © Dallas Cowboys. E-Man © Joe Staton and Nick Cuti. S-329 and the Foozle © Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers. The Bold and the Brave © 1956 RKO Pictures. The Andromeda Strain and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein TM & © Universal Pictures.

Introduction by Michael Eury . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Chapter 1 The Brave and the Bold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 B&B Creator Spotlight: Bob Haney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 B&B Creator Spotlight: Jim Aparo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 B&B Creator Spotlight: Charlie Boatner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Chapter 2 World’s Finest Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Chapter 3 Marvel Team-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 MTU Creator Spotlight: Marvel Team-Up and Me (a brief affair) by Mike W. Barr . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 MTU Creator Spotlight: Marvel Team-Up #128 Cover Memories by Eliot R. Brown . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Chapter 4 The New Scooby-Doo Movies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Chapter 5 Marvel Two-in-One . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Chapter 6 Western Team-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 Chapter 7 Super-Villain Team-Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Chapter 8 Super-Team Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140 Chapter 9 DC-Marvel Team-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 Chapter 10 Harvey Team-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 Chapter 11 DC Super-Stars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164 Chapter 12 DC Comics Presents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168 DCCP Fan Spotlight: DC Comics Presents #11 Guest-star Marc Teichman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194 Chapter 13 The ‘Superman vs.’ Team-Ups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 End Notes and Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 The Team-Up Companion Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206 Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster.

By special arrangement with the Jerry Siegel Family.

Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger.

THE TEAM-UP COMPANION

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION Enter the World of Silver and Bronze Age Team-Ups

“Your two favorite heroes—in one adventure together!”

The logos of Superman and Batman (with Robin, the Boy Wonder) appeared alongside that tagline on the opening splash page of most issues of DC Comics’ World’s Finest Comics (WFC), arguably the first team-up comic.

It was that series’ shrinking page count, not a menace simultaneously threatening Metropolis and Gotham City, that combined these characters— who were as different as day and night—into shared stories. In 1954, World’s Finest, a 64-page anthology that hosted separate adventures of Superman, Batman and Robin, Green Arrow and Speedy, Tomahawk, and other attractions, underwent a page-count reduction to the new industry standard of 32 pages. Something had to go to make room. Booting out one of the company’s two most popular headliners was wisely deemed a noncommercial option, so at the behest of editor Jack Schiff, Superman and Batman became an odd couple forced by necessity into cohabitation.

The Superman/Batman team took over the book, starting with WFC #71 (July–Aug. 1954), in a let’s-outfox-nosy-Lois-Lane tale titled “Batman— Double for Superman!”

The Superman and Batman of 1950s World’s Finest stories were no Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, however. They were the best of friends, and aside from a handful of resolvable-in-one-issue rifts, their simpatico relationship would endure throughout the ensuing Silver and Bronze Ages. They first shared an adventure in the landmark Superman #76 (May–June 1952), in an oft-reprinted tale scribed by Edmond Hamilton and penciled by the illustrator destined to become heralded as the Superman artist, Curt Swan. The issue’s Win Mortimer cover presaged the argumentative Marvel Comics heroes that would emerge a decade later, as Superman and Batman squabbled like two roosters in a henhouse over who would rescue the habitually imperiled Lois Lane from a flameenshrouded rooftop. That flamboyant hook aside, within the story itself, the fellas made a cooperative combo, with alter egos Clark Kent and Bruce Wayne bunking together on a cruise, discovering each other’s secret identity, then collectively nabbing a jewel thief while forming, as the story was titled, “The Mightiest Team in the World!” (“The Mightiest Team on Earth!” on the cover).

Team-Up Semantics

While Superman and Batman teamed up in that adventure, technically Superman #76 wasn’t a team-up comic book—it was a crossover. And historically, it wasn’t their first meeting. Radio listeners recognized Batman and Robin as occasional guest-stars on Superman’s radio program, and Superman and Batman had been depicted together in All-Star Comics as members of the Justice Society of America—a super-team comic.

Super-teams? Crossovers? Team-ups? To the uninitiated (or my wife), they may seem like synonyms, all descriptions of superhero meet-andgreets, but as most fans know they are wholly different concepts.

A super-team is a collective, a club of heroes that gathers routinely to tackle dangers generally too intimidating for a single superhero.

Super-teams often hold regular meetings, adhere to bylaws, and elect a chairperson. The concept began in the early Golden Age when writer Gardner Fox combined Hawkman, the Flash, Green Lantern, the Spectre, Doctor Fate, Hourman, the Sandman, and the Atom as the Justice Society of America in DC Comics’ All-Star Comics #3 (Winter 1940). Its cover by artist Everett E. Hibbard featured this august ensemble seated around a meeting table. It’s a mundane pose that has, due to its historical significance, become iconic. Many super-teams would follow. Some, like the Young Allies and the Teen Titans, were a gang of kids, while others, like the Fantastic Four and the Metal Men, were a family of sorts. Still others, like the X-Men or the Doom Patrol, were societal outcasts banded together by a benefactor or, in the case of the Inhumans, by a genetic kinship. You’d find the Avengers assembling in Tony Stark’s Manhattan mansion, and the Justice League of America’s rotating chairperson gaveling a meeting to order from their secret mountain HQ or, later, from a satellite orbiting 22,300 miles above the equator. One thousand years in the future, the

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The Team-Up Companion

teenage team called the Legion of Super-Heroes confabbed in an upsidedown rocket ship—and each Legionnaire was issued a flight ring!

A crossover is a guest-star appearance by one character in another character’s book or feature, such as Batman’s aforementioned drop-in in Superman #76. There was a smattering of crossovers during the Golden Age, with the original Human Torch’s blazing battles with the hot-headed Sub-Mariner being the most popular. Crossovers would sometimes be no more than a one-panel cameo, the equivalent of a sitcom neighbor sticking his head in the living room door to say, “Hey.” Usually, however, they were perceived as events, like when Robin time-traveled to the past to meet Superboy in Adventure Comics #253 (Oct. 1958). As the Marvel Age of Comics evolved in the early 1960s, crossovers were frequently employed to convey that this House of Ideas had a universal blueprint, such as when a friendly neighborhood costumed teen petitioned the Fantastic Four for membership in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man #1 (Mar. 1963). Throughout the 1960s, Marvel crossovers were common— the FF fought the Hulk, and the Thing slugged it out with ol’ Greenskin time and time again, Spidey and the Torch became frenemies, Sub-Mariner made a splash in Daredevil, Thor and the Silver Surfer went at it, and so forth… and by the Bronze Age you could count on the wildly popular Spider-Man to swing by for a “side-by-side” sales-boosting crossover early in the run of many of Marvel’s new series launches. DC’s segregated editorial fiefdoms made crossovers less common during the Silver Age, although Superman editor Mort Weisinger, notorious for chaining Superman to his own books (JLA aside), would occasionally have Green Arrow and Aquaman, two characters he co-created many years earlier, guest-star in one of his books. The DC exception was editor Julius Schwartz’s office, where the epic “Flash of Two Worlds!” in The Flash #123 (Sept. 1961), revealing the inaugural meeting of the Silver Age Flash (of Earth-One) and his Golden Age counterpart (the Flash of Earth-Two), begat a fast friendship between the two, as well as annual crossovers between the Justice League and Justice Society and some of their individual members. In Schwartz’s corner of the Silver Age DC Universe, the Earth-One Flash and Green Lantern were also pals, and when Schwartz introduced Zatanna the Magician, daughter of the Golden Age character Zatara, her search for her missing father paraded through different books before culminating in a JLA appearance. In the 1980s, the crossover gave birth to the crossover event, a publisher’s line-spanning initiative that linked many, or all, of its titles in a standalone limited series bolstered by crossover tie-in issues of ongoing titles.

Marvel’s Marvel Super Hero Secret Wars and DC’s Crisis on Infinite Earths are the most famous examples of this type of crossover.

A team-up, strictly speaking, is a story where two different heroes join forces, with their logos appearing together on the cover. Team-ups usually are published within the pages of a series or special edition specifically dedicated to such stories. Blurring the line differentiating team-ups from crossovers is the fact that heroes usually team up in a crossover (although often they’re at odds), and that many crossovers have been branded as “team-ups” when reprinted.

It was during the superhero renaissance of the Silver Age of Comics that the team-up comic, a response to the popularity of hero-meets-hero crossovers, was born. DC Comics’ The Brave and the Bold (B&B), which originated as a “high adventure” series and later became a tryout title, introduced the team-up concept to fandom with issue #50 (Oct.–Nov. 1963), which combined two heroes that, up to that time and for some years to follow, had yet to receive their own self-titled series: Green Arrow and the Manhunter from Mars (better known as the Martian Manhunter). Each edition of B&B brought readers a different pairing of superheroes (and on rare occasion, a team-up of a superhero and a supervillain). Before long the team-up comic book had become a popular concept that spawned enough imitators to… well, fill an encyclopedic book.

Team-up stories generally feature one of three catalysts that unite their co-stars.

First is the “parallel path” story, where the heroes, working separately on the same or similar missions, are led to the same place and elect to team up.

Second is the “call for assistance” story, where one hero requires the special talents of another in a particular mission and appeals to that character for aid, resulting in a team-up.

Third is the “mistaken motivation” story, which you might call “the other Marvel method,” where two heroes end up fighting—often manipulated into conflict by a villain—until realizing they’ve been played for fools, leading to a team-up.

Outside of the stories themselves, behind-the-scenes matters sometimes dictated a character being chosen for a team-up. For B&B, legend has it that strong sales for Batman team-ups with Green Arrow, Sgt. Rock, and Wildcat led to their frequent reappearances in the series. Newer Marvel and DC characters were sometimes given a shot as a team-up co-star of a more popular hero to build their profile. And in a few cases, a hero whose book had been cancelled received a swan song—and a chance for the writer to tie up loose ends—in a team-up with a better-known hero.

Whatever the motivation for bringing together “your two favorite heroes”—or heroes you had never heard of—the end result with team-up comics was usually a fun read in an accessible story that didn’t require a knowledge of continuity.

About This Book

It is the team-up comic series that is the subject of this book—titles like The Brave and the Bold and Marvel Team-Up (MTU). The Team-Up Companion explores the heyday of the superhero team-up comic book, the Silver and Bronze Ages, starting with the advent of the team-up concept with B&B #50 in 1963 and continuing through the mid-1980s, when it (temporarily) fell out of fashion. Space restrictions and editorial sanity do not allow the inclusion of crossover comics outside of a handful of pertinent historical references.

With rare exceptions, the comic books surveyed herein hail from two publishers, DC Comics and Marvel Comics. As the team-up concept matured, it largely became the domain of those publishers’ most popular characters, Batman (The Brave and the Bold) and Superman (World’s Finest Comics, DC Comics Presents) at DC, and Spider-Man (Marvel Team-Up) and the Thing (Marvel Two-in-One) at Marvel. As such, DC’s and Marvel’s team-up titles became “gateway” comic books for readers: a Batman fan might encounter teammates Wonder Woman or the Metal Men for the first time in B&B, and a Spidey fan might similarly be introduced to Iron Man or Brother Voodoo in their co-star appearances in MTU. The Team-Up Companion is a labor of love for its author-editor.

Team-up comics shaped my young life and steered me toward my future vocation in the comic-book industry, a long and sometimes bumpy road where I’ve grown from would-be cartoonist to editor-writer at minorleague and major-league publishers to comics historian.

As a child lured into comics in the mid- and late 1960s by the popularity of TV’s Batman, DC’s Brave and Bold caught my eye when it teamed Batman and the Flash in issue #67 and Batman and Metamorpho, the Element Man in #68. B&B would become, and remain, my favorite title, bar none, throughout its long run. Beginning in high school, when I was known by my childhood nickname of Mickey Eury, I would scribble handwritten notes to its editor, Murray Boltinoff, besieging him for Batman team-ups with Aquaman, who for a few years in the early 1970s prior to his Super Friends resurgence had no other home, or for improbable team-ups like Batman and the Boy Commandos. While I scored high marks in penmanship in school, apparently Murray couldn’t read my signature, and after Mickey Eury’s first “appearance” in a DC Comics lettercol—The Brave and the Bold #112, a jump-for-joy moment, let me tell you, when my subscription copy arrived in my mailbox—my comments would sometimes appear in “The Brave and the Bold Mailbag” as “Mark Evry” and even “Mary Evry.”

For those of you who pore over old letters columns, the Evry “siblings” were inadvertent pseudonyms for yours truly.

I also read and anticipated each issue of B&B’s imitators: World’s Finest Comics, Marvel Team-Up, Marvel Two-in-One, Super-Team Family, DC Comics Presents, et al. I couldn’t resist the extraordinary team-ups, from media sensations like Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man and Superman vs. Muhammad Ali to Saturday morning cartoons’ answer to B&B, The New Scooby-Doo Movies, where Scoob and the gang teamed up with everyone from Sonny and Cher to the Addams Family to Batman and Robin. While I normally avoided cowboy comics, once Marvel cloned its own Marvel

Team-Up with a title called Western Team-Up, I couldn’t resist! You’ll find all of those projects explored here in The Team-Up Companion.

In high school, I earned the awe of my classmates and ire of my teachers by writing and penciling (with scads of comic-book swipes) my own primitive comic books, hand-lettered (occasional spelling errors included) in whatever ballpoint pen my dad had lying around, usually in blue ink. These comics starred my school friends whose personal or personality attributes inspired heroic identities like Weaselman, a pencilnecked classmate whose neck could stretch (lots of Elongated Man swipes there); Snakeman , a lisping classmate given a forked tongue and serpent costume I ripped off from Copperhead, Batman’s foe in B&B #78; and Wonder Wad, a classmate who once made a spitwad the size of a tennis ball. (The absence of superheroines in my comics was not the result of chauvinism, but because I was not a good enough artist to draw girls.) I created my own team-up comic, with the uninspired yet brand-promoting title of Eury Team-Up, where my heroes would either pair off with each other or in some cases team up with characters from real comic books or TV (Weaselman and Batman, Super-Redneck and the Three Stooges, whatever).

By the time I had fumbled through early adulthood into the editor’s chair at three different comic-book publishers—Comico the Comic Company, DC Comics, and Dark Horse Comics—team-up comics were temporarily out of fashion, although I worked on several super-team series. Once I landed at Dark Horse in the mid-1990s, the team-up comic had been reborn in the form of company crossovers, and I finally got to work on a couple of them as co-editor of Batman vs. Predator II and Superman vs. Aliens! Professionally, those books afforded me the opportunity to collaborate with industry legends such as Doug Moench, Paul Gulacy, Terry Austin, Dan Jurgens, and Kevin Nowlan… but personally, my inner child—the chubby boy from a small city in North Carolina whose loving father bought for him those Batman/Flash and Batman/ Metamorpho team-ups—had finally made his mark, albeit in a small way, on the world of team-up comics.

In the pages that follow, you’ll find essays that go behind the scenes of the team-up comic books of the 1960s through the mid-1980s, studying the stories behind the stories as told by their creators whenever possible.

Many of the interview quotes accompanying these essays were culled from past editions of the magazine I edit, Back Issue, or from interviews transacted for my previous historical books such as the Superman volume, The Krypton Companion. I conducted email interviews in 2021 for additional information where needed. In some cases the quotes you will read hail from acknowledged external sources. To my fellow comics historians whose previous interviews and articles helped shape my essays, I offer my deepest gratitude. I have endeavored to adequately cite each quote’s source, but if I have neglected to do so herein it is an unfortunate oversight.

The Team-Up Companion also features enlightening special features such as “Team-Up Time-Out” sidebars with pertinent facts and fun trivia, Q&A interviews, and guest contributions by Mike W. Barr and Eliot R. Brown. Rounding out the volume is a massive undertaking, an exhaustive issue-by-issue index, which individually lists creator and creative information about each and every comic book covered. I hope it will become a go-to source for data for readers for years to come.

Whether you grew up on team-up comics like I did or discovered them much later and are looking to learn more, The Team-Up Companion is the book for you. Thank you for heeding its brave and bold beckoning!

Michael Eury New Bern, North Carolina June 2022 MICHAEL EURY is the editor-in-chief of TwoMorrows Publishing’s Eisner Award–winning magazine Back Issue, in print since 2003, and RetroFan magazine, in print since 2018. He has written or co-written numerous comics-history books including The Justice League Companion and The Batcave Companion. A former editor and writer of comic books, he has penned introductions to several collected editions including DC Comics’ The Brave and the Bold Bronze Age Omnibus vol. 2. His single favorite comic book of all time is B&B #68, the first Batman/Metamorpho team-up, with Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man a close second.

Introduction

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Iron Man and Sub-Mariner

TM & © Marvel.

#1 (Apr. 1968)

Its dynamic Gene Colan/Bill Everett cover, displaying each hero’s logo, could have easily been mistaken for a team-up comic, but inside the two co-billed stars did not meet, instead starring in solo stories. This issue was a one-shot bridging the heroes’ graduation from short stories in Marvel’s “split books” Tales of Suspense and Tales to Astonish to full-length stories in their own self-titled monthlies.

The Atom and Hawkman

TM & © DC Comics.

#39 (Oct.–Nov. 1968)–45 (Oct.–Nov. 1969)

6

Weakening sales of DC editor Julius Schwartz’s individual The Atom and Hawkman series led to their merger into a single, shared title that continued Atom’s issue numbering. Most issues featured solo stories of the two heroes, but issues #39, 42, and 45 showcased full-length team-ups between the Tiny Titan and Winged Wonder.

The Atom and Hawkman #46 (Mar. 2010) was published decades later, as part of DC’s Blackest Night crossover.

The Team-Up Companion

Original run: #76 (Apr. 1970)–87 (Dec. 1971–Jan. 1972), 89 (Apr.–May 1972) Backup series: The Flash #217 (Aug.–Sept. 1972)–219 (Dec. 1972–Jan. 1973) Revival: #90 (Aug.–Sept. 1976)–122 (Nov. 1979) Writer Denny O’Neil was encouraged by DC Comics publisher Carmine Infantino to revitalize Green Lantern, the long-running sci-fi superhero book that was hemorrhaging sales. O’Neil, with artist Neal Adams, revamped the series, bringing in the liberal Green Arrow as a foil to the conservative GL and infusing socially relevant issues into the tapestry of superhero and sci-fi stories. DC’s critical darling of the early 1970s, the award-winning series did not dramatically resuscitate sales and was cancelled in 1972, briefly continuing as a truncated backup in The Flash. New DC publisher Jenette Kahn called for its revival in 1976, with O’Neil returning as scribe, originally paired with artist Mike Grell. The revived series scored greater success, although GL resumed his solo adventures with issue #123. Throughout both Green Lantern/Green Arrow runs, the series maintained its official title of Green Lantern.

TM & © DC Comics.

Superman and Batman’s shared adventures in World’s Finest Comics became the most famous “buddy book” in the business—and created a template for others to follow. These Silver and Bronze Age series may look like team-up comics, but are actually buddy books, as they featured a consistent partnership issue after issue. In most cases, they are the combination of two series into one.

Green Lantern/Green Arrow

Captain America and the Falcon #134 (Feb. 1971)–215 (Nov. 1977), 217 (Jan. 1978)–222 (June 1978) At a time when few characters of color were depicted in superhero comic books, Sam Wilson made his debut as the Falcon in Captain America #117 (Sept. 1969), and continued to appear in the book as a supporting cast member and, eventually, as Cap’s partner. Their collaboration became official when the book, still officially named Captain America, became co-titled as Captain America and the Falcon with #134. While many of Cap and

TM & © Marvel.

Buddy Books of the Silver and Bronze Ages

Daredevil and Black Widow

TM & © Marvel.

#81 (Nov. 1971)–124 (Aug. 1975) Pairing Marvel’s blind superhero and Soviet spyturned-S.H.I.E.L.D. agent as crimefighting and romantic partners was the brainstorm of writer Gerry Conway, who brought Natasha Romanoff to the pages of Daredevil, which he was writing in 1971.

Black Widow’s solo feature, launched in 1970 in Amazing Adventures, had misfired, and Daredevil itself was showing signs of fatigue, with Marvel briefly entertaining the notion of a Daredevil and Iron Man buddy book. The DD/BW team clicked, and its relocation from New York to San Francisco was a bonus in its revitalization. Issues #92–107 featured a shared Daredevil and the Black Widow cover logo, while the series kept its official title of Daredevil.

Steve Gerber followed Conway as the series’ scribe.

Batgirl and Robin

TM & © DC Comics.

Batman Family #1 (Sept.–Oct. 1975), 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13–16 (Feb.–Mar. 1978) As DC’s Batman titles adopted gothic themes in the late 1960s, the Caped Crusader’s youthful allies Robin (now the Teen Wonder) and Batgirl began appearing in short stories published as backups in Batman and Detective Comics. Robin and Batgirl first joined forces as a duo, without Batman, in a twopart backup in Detective Comics #400–401 (June– July 1970). In 1975, when

DC introduced its “Family” brand of Giants (see SuperTeam Family chapter) that featured a mix of new stories and reprints, Batman Family was added to its lineup.

Issue #1 featured a Batgirl/Robin tale by Elliot S! Maggin and Mike Grell that was conceived as a one-time team-up for the tryout series 1st Issue Special. For most of its run, Batman Family alternated full-length stories co-starring Batgirl and Robin (tagged the “Dynamite Duo” by editor Julius Schwartz) in its odd-numbered issues with shorter solo stories featuring each character in its even-numbered issues. By issue #13, however, Batman Family had become a Batgirl/Robin buddy book, with accompanying reprints starring other Batman characters, until format changes with issue #17 busted up the Dynamite Duo into solo tales once again. Batgirl/Robin creative personnel also included José Luis García-López, Bob Rozakis, Curt Swan, Irv Novick, and Don Heck.

Power Man and Iron Fist

#48 (Dec. 1977)–125 (Sept. 1986)

Marvel’s responses to 1970s Hollywood trends of “Blaxploitation” and martial arts, the publisher’s Power Man (originally Luke Cage, Hero for Hire) and Iron Fist titles were losing momentum toward the end of the decade. Both characters were revitalized once they were paired as a team of streetwise, mercenary adventurers in a series that demonstrated the best of their respective genres as well as elements from the broader Marvel Universe. After two Power Man issues guest-starring Iron Fist, with #50 the title displayed a shared Power Man and Iron Fist logo, although officially it retained its Power Man title until #67 (Feb. 1981), when its indicia bore the name Power Man and Iron Fist. Launched by the powerhouse writer-artist team of Chris Claremont and John Byrne, throughout its tenure Power Man and Iron Fist was crafted by many talented creators including Jo Duffy, Kerry Gammill, Denny O’Neil, Kurt Busiek, Archie Goodwin, Jim Owsley (Christopher Priest), and Mark Bright.

Introduction

TM & © Marvel.

Falc’s battles were urban struggles, during their long partnership international espionage adventures, cosmic clashes, and crises of political conscience appeared in the book, courtesy of creators Stan Lee, Gene Colan, Gerry Conway, Sal Buscema, Steve Englehart, Roy Thomas, and many others. With the exception of #216, a fill-in issue, the Captain America and the Falcon series continued until 1978.

7

The first team-up comic book: The Brave and the Bold #50 (Oct.–Nov. 1963), co-starring Green Arrow and Manhunter from Mars. Cover art by George Roussos.

TM & © DC Comics.

The Brave and the Bold was DC Comics’ most influential series of the Silver and Bronze Ages.

There. I said it.

You can stop laughing now.

It’s easy to dismiss The Brave and the Bold simply as “the Batman team-up” comic—that was its role for almost two-thirds of its 200-issue run (1955–1983).

Granted, the words “brave and bold” have become synonymous with the team-up concept: DC has frequently revived the title, as miniseries and ongoing series, to unite some of its heroes, most frequently Batman; writer Dwayne McDuffie’s “The Brave and the Bold” Justice League Cartoon Network two-parter involved a Flash/Green Lantern pairing at its story core; The Brave and the Bold, a 2002 Star Trek novel by Keith R.A. DeCandido, was a generations-spanning epic involving characters from three different eras; and Batman: The Brave and the Bold was a popular Cartoon Network animated series, in the spirit of the Silver and Bronze Age version of the DC title, that produced 65 episodes from 2008–2011 and spawned two comic-book spinoffs as well as children’s books and a successful line of action figures.

But The Brave and the Bold was much more than the DC Comics equivalent of a buddy movie. The title was the source of several phenomenally important comic-book milestones that make my audacious opening claim not so far-fetched after all: • It was the home of the original incarnation of the Suicide Squad, a concept that was reimagined in 1987 as a ragtag team of supervillains and errant antiheroes undertaking impossible missions, which has since enjoyed multiple revivals and two live-action major motion pictures; • It was the launch pad for the perennially popular Justice League of America, whose success spawned golf-course bragging rights from DC’s publisher to Marvel’s publisher and inspired the latter to mandate his editor to create a super-team comic, that series being Fantastic Four; • It was the original home of the Teen Titans, a team that has endured myriad incarnations, including dual versions of an extremely successful, widely merchandized TV cartoon as well as a live-action television series; • It was the title where Neal Adams, the extraordinary illustrator who, at the end of the Silver Age, almost single-handedly elevated comics art to a new level, first began to visually transform Batman from a wisecracking Caped Crusader to a fearsome creature of the night; • It was where Green Arrow first stepped out of the long-standing stigma of his “Batman with a bow” second-string status by appearing in his bearded, more dynamic look (which he still sports today); and • It was the first series where Jim Aparo, who would ultimately emerge as one of the great Bat-artists, got to try his hand at drawing the Dark Knight.

The Brave and the Bold also unveiled the lauded Silver Age revival of Hawkman and introduced the oddball hero Metamorpho, the Element Man; and ended its impressive run of nearly three decades with the inaugural appearance of Batman and the Outsiders, a group that would spin off to star in one

CHAPTER 1

From Earth-B to TV, the Metamorph-ing Batman Team-Up Classic

of DC’s bestselling titles of the 1980s. And along the way, The Brave and the Bold hosted meetings of everyone from the Flash and the Doom Patrol to Aquaman and the Atom to Batman and… just about everybody. Even their girlfriends and cousins.

In its capacity as comics’ premier team-up title, The Brave and the Bold further proved its mettle by: • becoming an important “entry level” series, affording lesserknown DC characters a larger audience by riding piggyback on a more visible main star, mostly fan-favorite Batman; and • offering exposure to “homeless” heroes not currently seen in their own features (for a time, it was the only place you could encounter Aquaman, the Teen Titans, and the Metal Men).

B&B 101

The Brave and the Bold—affectionately known to its readers as B&B— got its start in 1955 as a “high adventure” title, appropriating its name from Horatio Alger, Jr.’s novel, Brave and Bold or The Fortunes of Robert Rushton (interestingly, a 1956 war movie titled The Bold and the Brave earned an Oscar nomination for actor Mickey Rooney).

Edited by DC partisan Robert Kanigher, B&B was home to short stories starring a trio of swashbucklers: the Viking Prince (illustrated

by Joe Kubert), the Silent Knight (drawn by Irv Novick), and the Golden Gladiator (with art by Russ Heath), the latter of which soon vacated the series to be replaced by Robin Hood. Editor Kanigher was the series’ chief scribe, although the book also featured scripts from France Herron, Bill Finger, and the writer who would become eternally associated with B&B, Bob Haney (more—much more— on him later). Some of these brilliantly illustrated tales have resurfaced in various reprints, most notably DC Special #12 (May–June 1971), headlined

by Kubert’s Viking Prince, and a 2010 Viking Prince hardcover reprint edition.

By the end of the 1950s, the successful reintroductions TM & © DC Comics. of the Flash and Green Lantern in DC’s Showcase prompted a change in B&B’s format: Beginning with issue #25 (Aug.–Sept. 1959), The Brave and the Bold parroted Showcase as a tryout series, with DC ambitiously looking for the next big thing(s).

First out the gate was the Suicide Squad, a.k.a. “Task Force X,” another brainchild of Kanigher’s, a war-spy series illustrated

by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito that floundered through a trio of three-issue appearances before being absorbed into DC’s Star Spangled War Stories and “War That Time Forgot” series. The Suicide Squad’s ultimate claim to fame would be its reimagining, in the wake of DC’s “Legends” crossover, into a long-running (originally, 67 issues) supervillain super-team series beginning in 1987 that would later spawn revivals and movies.

The Squad was followed in issue #28 by a concept that would prove to be one of DC’s greatest triumphs: the Justice League of America (JLA), edited by Julius “Julie” Schwartz; this issue has been reprinted upon numerous occasions, including as an insert in a 1999 Justice League of America Monopoly game collector’s edition, and a 2020 facsimile edition published by DC. Three issues of B&B was all the JLA needed to promptly be promoted into its own title, with another Kanigher creation, “Cave Carson – Adventures Inside Earth,” following for three mostly forgotten issues. Schwartz returned with B&B #34’s

10

The Team-Up Companion

Hawkman rebirth, written by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Joe Kubert. After a three-issue run that has since become highly collectible, Hawkman was seen again in issues #42–44 before taking wing in his own series.

But the Justice League and Hawkman aside, B&B was not proving to be a hitmaker like Showcase: neither the Suicide Squad nor Cave Carson graduated to their own magazines at the time. Julie Schwartz eagerly infused athletic competition with his passion for science fiction and concocted the utterly bizarre anthology “Strange Sports Stories,” which included everything from phantom pugilists to a gorilla baseball team, but despite a five-issue spotlight in issues #45–49, that series struck out with readers.

Maybe DC didn’t need two tryout titles, the thinking went.

And so, commencing in 1963 with issue #50, The Brave and the Bold changed its format yet again.

Two Great Heroes—Teamed in a Book-Length Blockbuster

Green Arrow and the Manhunter from Mars joined forces in B&B #50 (Oct.–Nov. 1963), their logos (actually, facsimiles thereof) appearing side-by-side on the cover, marking the first-ever superhero team-up comic book.

This was a revolutionary idea. As explained in the introduction to this book, superhero crossovers and super-teams had been around since the 1940s, but never before The Brave and the Bold was the team-up concept—two separate heroes sharing one adventure, with a different combination following in the next issue— employed (even DC’s own World’s Finest Comics featured the same Superman/ Batman team-up each issue).

DC trumpeted the new team-up format in house ads to incite reader interest. As writer Mike W. Barr, who scripted the final B&B team-ups in the original series’ run, recalled to me in Back Issue #7 (Dec. 2004), “Back in the 1960s, when it was rare for DC characters to even acknowledge each others’ existence outside of the pages of Justice League of America and World’s Finest, the idea of a regular exhibition of DC team-ups was exciting.”

Less exciting, however, was the initial team-up choice of Green Arrow and Martian Manhunter, not quite the heavy hitters one would expect to inaugurate a groundbreaking new series. In our contemporary society where superhero cinema has become a bankable Hollywood genre, where a live-action show called Arrow can anchor a television network’s superhero franchise for eight seasons, and where Martian Manhunter can appear as a supporting cast member on that same network’s Supergirl, Green Arrow and the Manhunter from Mars may seem as good a choice as anyone for a team-up.

That wasn’t the world of comicdom in 1963, however. At that time, Green Arrow and the Manhunter from Mars were clearly second-stringers, despite the fact that they were members in good standing of the Justice League (Martian Manhunter was a charter JLAer, while GA was the first new member to have been inducted).

Historically, Green Arrow, with sidekick Speedy, was one of the few superheroes to survive the transition between comics’ Golden and Silver Ages. GA was always a dependable page-filler in short stories that peppered various anthology titles (at the time of B&B

#50, GA was the backup feature in World’s Finest Comics) who upon a rare occasion might score a non-JLA cover and story appearance in a title edited by the hero’s creator, Mort Weisinger (young GA meeting Superboy in 1959’s Adventure Comics #258; adult GA kissing Superman’s girlfriend in 1961’s Lois Lane #29). Martian Manhunter was largely invisible (one of his superpowers, actually!) to the average DC reader, his own feature being buried in the back pages of Detective Comics and his status as a JLA member being, more or less, that of a green Superman who rarely George Roussos. received significant story value.

And it certainly didn’t help that Brave and Bold co-editors George Kashdan and Murray Boltinoff assigned their GA/J’onn J’onzz team-up to artist George Roussos, one of their go-to illustrators and a regular contributor of pencils and inks on mystery short stories for their anthology titles, and inks over Mort Meskin’s covers and stories for the “Mark Merlin” attraction in House of Secrets. Roussos had established himself as a reliable industry workhorse who had done just about everything—penciling, inking, lettering, coloring—for almost every comic publisher. His career stretched back to the early Golden Age, on DC features including Batman, short stories starring Bruce Wayne’s butler Alfred, Johnny Quick, and Airwave, plus newspaper strips. At the time of B&B #50, Roussos was simultaneously inking stories at Marvel (often ghosting as “George Bell”), and was known for his liberal use of shadowy black spaces in his art, earning him the nickname “Inky” among his peers. In B&B #50’s letters column (a short-lived addition to the title added to engender support for the new team-up format), Roussos was described by the editors as a “hard, conscientious worker” who “finds relaxation in his hobbies, which are far afield from comics—photography, serious painting, and composing music.”

Roussos certainly boasted the credentials to snag the assignment of DC’s first superhero team-up, but he was perhaps spreading himself a little too thin to do anything less than “phone in” the 25page B&B story. During the same month B&B #50’s Green Arrow/ Martian Manhunter team-up was published, Roussos’ art could also be found in eight-page stories in DC’s House of Mystery (for a tale coincidentally titled “The Arrow That Saved the World”) and Tales of the Unexpected. As an inker, that same month his credit graced Meskin’s Mark Merlin in House of Secrets, plus over at Marvel, Jack Kirby’s Iron Man and Thor covers for Tales of Suspense and Journey into Mystery, respectively; Kirby’s “Tales of Asgard” short feature in Journey into Mystery; Larry Lieber’s Ant-Man and the Wasp feature in Tales to Astonish; and a couple of Lieber-penciled sci-fi backups.

Roussos’ storytelling in the GA/J’onn J’onzz story was adequate, but without flash, in artwork that seemed better appropriate for a random filler in a mystery title than the debut of a major feature.

B&B #50’s Green Arrow/Martian Manhunter story, “Wanted— The Capsule Master,” has been frequently reprinted due to its historical significance, but had the same story appeared later in the series’ run of team-ups it probably would have been seldom reprinted due to its meager artistry and limited commerciality.

This odd pairing of also-rans seemed predicated upon B&B’s previous “showcase” format—a one-time “split” adventure was a safe way to test their marketability. That worked for the Martian Manhunter, who would soon be elevated to cover star once he took over House of Mystery with issue #143 (June 1964). Green Arrow

You Can Bet on B&B!

Mickey Rooney’s performance as gambling G.I. Willie Dooley earned him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 1956’s World War II drama, The Bold and the Brave. © 1956 RKO Pictures. Courtesy of Heritage.

had to wait roughly another 20 years before getting his own book— and, initially, only a four-issue miniseries at that.

Nonetheless, B&B #50 seemed to click with readers. “Although G.A. and J’onn J’onzz are worlds apart in the usual storylines, you did a really fantastic job in meshing their actions,” beamed a letter writer in issue #51 who also offered a “million cheers” for the new team-up format.

The B&B Beat Goes On

Brave and Bold’s “showcase” rationale for its team-ups didn’t last for long—one issue, to be exact. Issue #51 co-starred Aquaman and Hawkman; the Sea King already had his own title, and the Winged Wonder had just landed a feature in Mystery in Space, with his eponymous series waiting in the wings (Hawkman #1 was uncaged in early 1964). And for the majority of the team-ups that followed, at least one of the characters starred in their own comic.

Howard Purcell’s artwork on B&B’s second team-up, the Aquaman/ Hawkman combo in #51, was a vast improvement over Roussos’ opening salvo for the series. Purcell, like Roussos, had been active in the field since the Golden Age, most notably on DC’s Sargon the Sorcerer and Gay (later, Grim) Howard Purcell.

Ghost features; a Purcell hallmark was his iconic cover art for 1941’s Green Lantern #1. As the adventure combined DC’s respective heroes of the sea and the air, Purcell smoothly navigated both worlds with his crisp, storybook-like

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

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renditions. His Aquaman was broad-shouldered and barrel-chested, like that of regular Aquaman artist Nick Cardy, and his sea creatures were horrific, without being too scary for the younger readers. Purcell’s Hawkman was lithe and lean like the version illustrated by Joe Kubert in the character’s earlier B&B tryouts, but also with polished inks reflective of the hero’s new artist, Murphy Anderson. Still, one can only imagine what this issue would have looked like had either Cardy, Anderson, or Kubert received the assignment.

Those imagining a Joe Kubert–drawn team-up would see that become a reality with the very next issue. George Kashdan and Murray Boltinoff, who co-edited the first two B&B team-ups, stepped aside for #52 (Feb.–Mar. 1964), edited by Robert Kanigher. Kanigher also wrote its story, “Suicide Mission!,” co-starring “3 Battle Stars”: Sgt. Rock, the grizzled top kick of Easy Company, whose feature headlined Our Army at War; Johnny Cloud, Native-American flying ace, a staple of the series All-American Men of War; and Jeb Stuart, tankman of the Haunted Tank, as seen in DC’s G.I. Combat. Kubert, DC’s primary war artist, beautifully illustrated the story, which included (spoiler alert!) a surprise guest-appearance by French Resistance operative Mlle. Marie. While this was, as cover-promoted, the first major

gathering of DC’s battle stars, according to DC Comics historian John Wells, B&B #52 wasn’t DC writer-editor Kanigher’s first attempt at crossing over his battle characters: Mlle. Marie had earlier met Sgt. Rock in Our Army at War #115 (Feb. 1962), and Rock had cameoed in the Johnny Cloud tale in All-American Men of War #96 (Mar.–Apr. 1963). Superhero fans might have regarded issue #52 as an oddity after the series’ back-to-back team-ups between two pairs of Justice Leaguers, but considering the popularity of DC’s war titles at the time, enlisting Sgt. Rock and his allies for B&B’s nascent team-up format was a brave and bold commercial strike.

The Kashdan/Boltinoff editorial duo returned with B&B #53, a science-based team-up between the Atom and the Flash, two characters from editor Julie Schwartz’s stable, which boasted amazing artwork by master cartoonist Alex Toth. At the time, Toth was transitioning from comic books and comic strips to the world of animation, having recently worked on the groundbreaking animated series Space Angel; in just a few short years he would find himself at Hanna-Barbera, designing a host of TV superheroes, most notably Space Ghost. (Kashdan, also a longtime DC writer, was himself doing some animation work on the side at the time, scripting for the cartoon series The Mighty Hercules.)

The third team-up took a break from superheroes in a battle classic by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Joe Kubert. Sgt. Rock would soon be no stranger to B&B.

B&B #54’s (June–July 1964) sidekick trifecta, the first appearance of the as-yet-unnamed Teen Titans. Cover art

by Bruno Premiani.

TM & © DC Comics.

TM & © DC Comics.

12

The Team-Up Companion

The next issue, #54 (June–July 1964), is best known for its introduction of what would become the Teen Titans in its three-way team-up between superhero sidekicks Kid Flash, Aqualad, and Robin, the Boy Wonder. What is often overlooked about this important issue are its stunning illustrations by Bruno Premiani, an Italian-born artist who fled his native country in the years leading up to World War II and resided in, and illustrated comics from, Argentina and the United States. Premiani was best known as the artist of DC’s peculiar original Doom Patrol. B&B #54 was Murray Boltinoff’s last as co-editor, although he would return to the title a few years later for a long run.

With issue #55, George Kashdan became Brave and Bold’s solo editor. After only a one-issue break, the Atom was back for a team-up, this time with the Metal Men, in conflict with one of Metal Men creator Will Magnus’ rogue robotic creations, Uranium, an automaton so mean that Doc Magnus had junk-heaped him earlier. This team-up was gorgeously brought to life by the remarkable Ramona Fradon, the former Aquaman illustrator and one of the few female artists in the industry at the time, with inks by Charles Paris; Fradon would not be a stranger to B&B in the future.

The Brave and the Bold #56 (Oct.–Nov. 1964) combined two Justice Leaguers, the Flash and the Manhunter from Mars, previously seen in B&B with the Atom and Green Arrow, respectively. With this issue the artistic traction gained by a succession of beautifully rendered issues came to a screeching halt as editor Kashdan assigned the story to Bernard Baily. Baily was a comics legend whose credits dated back to the Tex Thomson tale in the milestone Action Comics #1 (June 1938); he is best remembered for being the co-creator, with writer Jerry Siegel, of the Spectre, and for his long run illustrating the Ghostly Guardian’s Golden Age adventures in More Fun Comics, as well as Hourman and Mr. America stories for DC. By the 1960s, like many of his Golden Age compatriots, despite his pedigree Baily was yesterday’s news, now relegated to illustrating easy-to-thumbpast mystery stories for DC anthologies. He was unfortunately mismatched with the material in B&B #56. Its team-up of two of DC’s most colorful and visually dynamic superheroes, in combat with a mutant that became Composite Superman–like hybrids of JLAers, was blunted by Baily’s flat, lifeless etchings.

Yet The Brave and the Bold kept chugging along under Kashdan’s watch, never missing a beat, artistically schizophrenic with its rotating artists but always delivering surprises.

Bob Haney, B&B-Keeper

While a regular B&B reader could not anticipate the next issue’s team-up or artist, there was one creative constant on most of the stories: writer Bob Haney (see his full bio in the essay following). Haney started writing for DC in late 1950s, having previously honed his skills for a variety of comic-book publishers including Fawcett, Harvey, Dell, and Quality.

He was a regular contributor to DC’s war line, including the Revolutionary War series Tomahawk.

Haney was no stranger to superheroes. He authored many issues of Aquaman (and followed the Sea King to television in 1967 as one of the screenwriters of his animated Bob Haney. adventures); co-created (with principal scribe Arnold Drake and artist Bruno Premiani) DC’s “strangest heroes,” the Doom Patrol; and is probably best known as the scripter of those sometimes endearing, sometimes absurd, early Silver Age issues of Teen Titans, a group he formed in the aforementioned Kid Flash/Aqualad/Robin team-up in B&B #54,

bringing them back (with Wonder Girl added to the cast) cover-billed as the “Teen Titans” in issue #60. Yes, it was Haney who coined such teen-speak as “Twinkletoes” for Kid Flash, “Wonder Chick” for Wonder Girl, “Bird Boy” for Robin, and “Gillhead” for Aqualad, you dig? With Titans villains like the hot-rodding Ding-Dong Daddy and the fashion designer-turned-smuggler the Mad Mod, Bob Haney fancied himself to be acutely hip, but frequently came off as someone’s out-of-step dad, struggling to bridge the generation gap by communicating with “the youth of today” (in his defense, Haney was certainly not alone in this regard).

According to Haney, “I created the team-ups [in The Brave and the Bold],” the scribe explained to Michael Catron in a lengthy 1997 interview that was serialized in 2006 into The Comics Journal #276 and 278. Julie Schwartz’s latest Brave and Bold entry, “Strange Sports Stories,” was a flop and DC’s publisher was looking for something new for the book. “I had a meeting with [publisher] Irwin Donenfeld, George [Kashdan] and I. … They weren’t happy. The sales were dropping or something. So they gave it to George.” In that meeting, Haney proposed, “‘Well, how about we wheel one of the major house characters and have a guest-team guy with him each time?’ That was the concept at heart.”

The Brave and the Bold #57 (Dec. 1964–Jan. 1965) took a hiatus from the book’s team-up format and introduced an all-new superhero.

As costumed crimefighters were once again the rage, editor George Kashdan asked Haney to concoct a new super-character that could undergo chemical metamorphoses. “Metamorpho was my original idea,” Kashdan, late in his life, told Jim Amash in an interview published in TwoMorrows’ Alter Ego #94 (June 2010).

“The basic premise is a man with the bodily ability to change himself chemically. That was just something that came from thinking, and thinking out loud. [DC editor] Jack Schiff threw in some ideas, and Murray [Boltinoff] did, too.”

Kashdan promptly assigned the project to Haney to flesh out and script. In his 1997 interview with Michael Catron, Haney confirmed that his editor tasked him with the creation of “a guy who changes chemically. … I went home with that and I ran with the ball.” The result was Metamorpho, the Element Man, also known as—thanks to Haney’s peppy prose—“The Fab Freak of 1000-and-1 Changes!”

His hodgepodge body, segmented in multi-hued quadrants representing earth, fire, air, and water, topped off with a chalk-white mummy face that only a mother (or his girlfriend) could love, made Metamorpho look nothing like the other characters on DC’s roster (until Ultra, the Multi-Alien came along a year later). Visually, Metamorpho was creepy-scary but simultaneously fun and friendly, thanks to the wizardry of Ramona Fradon, the Element Man’s original artist. As she told me in an interview for my 2017 book, Hero-A-Go-Go: Campy Comic Books, Crimefighters, and Culture of the Swinging Sixties, “I muddled around with capes and masks Ramona Fradon. and other conventional superhero Courtesy of Ramona Fradon. costumes, but Metamorpho wasn’t conventional and none of them suited him. I finally decided that, since his body was always changing into different forms, clothing would get in his way, so I put him in shorts with the necessary insignia [an ‘M’ on his belt buckle] and left it at that.” This offbeat monster-hero, who longed to be human again but whose devil-may-care bravado kept him from succumbing to the pity parties routinely hosted by Marvel’s Ben Grimm, a.k.a. the Thing, chose to use his uncanny powers of elemental transmutation as a

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

13

action figure was the sensation of the 1964 Toy Fair, prompting DC to rush into production a two-issue G.I. Joe tryout (sneakily repackaging a potpourri of DC war reprints under new covers).

Uslan and Klein wrote in their Foreword to The Brave and the Bold Team-Up Archives vol. 1 (2005, DC Comics): “Our best guess is that Hasbro made a deal with DC to publish these two G.I. Joe tie-in comic books, and the schedule was demanding. The books were thrown into SHOWCASE at the last minute, bumping the two slated issues of Metamorpho.” In those days DC rarely rushed a character into its own book without a few tryout issues, so instead of launching Metamorpho in a self-titled series, the Brave and Bold team-ups were bumped for two issues to roll out the new hero—besides, B&B was a comfortable fit for the quirky new character, since Bob Haney was on board as that title’s team-up scribe.

Whatever the cause of Brave and Bold’s two-issue team-up preemption, superhero partnerships returned—to stay—with B&B #59 (Apr.–May 1965), pairing Batman and Green Lantern. Under a brightly colored cover by regular Green Lantern artist Gil Kane, the story, “The Tick-Tock Traps of the Time Commander,” was lushly rendered by the returning Fradon/Paris art team, more than compensating for the nearly unforgiveable Flash/Martian Manhunter artwork a few issues earlier. Bob Haney’s script nicely balanced the two heroes, who made an interesting team despite their different milieus.

Tryout Team-Ups

An undated recreation of the cover of B&B #57, introducing to the world Metamorpho, the Element Man. Art by Ramona Fradon.

TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage.

crimefighter—and he got the girl, filthy-rich socialite Sapphire Stagg, who, unlike the Thing’s blind paramour Alicia Masters, could actually see what a freak show she had hooked up with!

Metamorpho’s first tryout issue went on sale on October 29, 1964, with a follow-up story in the next issue, B&B #58. A few months later, the Element Man was awarded his own bimonthly title.

Although DC published other weirdo-hero books at the time (Challengers of the Unknown, Doom Patrol, Metal Men), Metamorpho was in a league all its own, thanks to Haney’s tonguein-cheek dialogue and outlandish plots and Fradon’s (inked by Charles Paris) imaginative, detailed realizations of the bouncy lunacy spewing out of Haney’s typewriter. Stan Lee reportedly was so impressed with Metamorpho that he offered Bob Haney a chance to write for Mighty Marvel, which Haney declined.

For years, longtime DC fans have been puzzled as to why Metamorpho was launched in B&B instead of Showcase, the publisher’s main vehicle for new-concept experiments—especially since B&B had so recently replaced its previous tryout formula with superhero team-ups. Comics historians Michael Uslan (also the executive producer of the Batman films) and Robert Klein (cofounder of the Grand Comics Database) blame it on G.I. Joe. Hasbro’s articulated

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The Team-Up Companion

Haney and Premiani’s reunion in #60 brought comicdom the first story to be branded as starring “The Teen Titans”—and artist Nick Cardy’s first exposure as the TT artist, as Cardy provided the cover that pitted the young heroes against the Astounding Separated Man. To date with his team-ups, Haney had tossed no end of wonky supervillains at his assembled heroes, from a flying frog (Tyros, in #51) to a Revolutionary War refugee with a weather-manipulating staff (Mister Twister, in #54) to a half-Flash/half-Martian Manhunter replicant (issue #56’s mutant). But no B&B villain to date could top #60’s Separated Man, a pimply, Pepto Bismol–hued giant whose super-sized body parts—from a fire-crying floating eye to a legless stomping foot—kept the Titans on their toes.

Haney—and editor Kashdan—took a two-issue hiatus for editor Julie Schwartz to helm The Brave and the Bold #61–62, a pair of separate team-ups of Starman and Black Canary. These issues were the second phase of editor Schwartz’s three-part wave of revivals of Golden Age superheroes, all members of the Justice Society of America, DC’s original super-team (from the newly designated Earth-Two) who had in recent years been enjoying annual crossovers with their Silver Age analogs, the Justice League of America (of Earth-One).

Predating the Starman/Black Canary team-ups by several months were back-to-back issues of Showcase (#55 and 56) teaming Doctor Fate and Hourman (see index for details).

The third of Schwartz’s Golden Age revivals was the one that clicked: the return of the Spectre, beginning in Showcase #60 (Jan.–Feb. 1966).

The creative team for all three Earth-Two projects—Doctor Fate and Hourman, Starman and Black Canary, and the Spectre—was writer Gardner Fox and artist Murphy Anderson.

Murphy Anderson.

“Murph” was in fine form in each © DC Comics. of the stories, his polished linework bringing these classic heroes in step with DC’s house look du jour. “When Julie decided to revive Doctor Fate and Hourman, those were two characters that I was quite well

aware of because I’d read all that stuff as a kid…” reflected the artist in his 2003 TwoMorrows autobiography, The Life and Art of Murphy Anderson (produced with R. A. Jones). “Starman, I liked partly because he was a second-string Superman,” said the artist whose name would, beginning in 1970, become synonymous with the Man of Steel as Curt Swan’s inker on many Superman and Action Comics stories produced for editor Schwartz.

Why the Doctor Fate/Hourman team-ups appeared in Showcase instead of the team-up title The Brave and the Bold is uncertain, perhaps a matter of Showcase’s schedule being full at the time.

Whatever the reason they were slated for B&B, the Starman/Black Canary team-ups were noteworthy moments in the title’s history: First, they were a rare tryout for a female headliner during an era of comics where Wonder Woman was DC’s only superheroine with an honorific magazine (although Supergirl also starred in a backup in Action Comics, occasionally scoring cover appearances).

Second, Anderson’s stunning cover for issue #61, with the heroes imperiled by Starman’s old foe, the Mist, was the recipient of the coveted Alley Award for “Best Comic Book Cover of 1965.” Third, the second Starman/Black Canary team-up, in issue #62, guest-starred Wildcat, another revived character that would soon become a semiregular Batman teammate in B&B. Jerry Bails, one of the fathers of comics fandom, noted in a 1965 fanzine that what became the Spectre revival was originally conceived as another team-up of JSA members. “According to

Murphy Anderson,” Bails reported in CAPA Alpha #5 (Feb. 1965), “the next team just may be Dr. Mid-[N]ite and the Sandman (minus Sandy no doubt). This would be Sandman’s modern debut, since he has not yet and is not yet scheduled to appear with the JLA.” Over the next few months, editor Schwartz’s plans changed, with Sandman getting sandbagged for the Spectre as Doctor Mid-Nite’s proposed partner. In Dan Tandarich’s “Greatest Stories Never Told” article (published in Back Issue #134, Apr. 2022) about writer Michael Uslan’s “Tales from Earth-Two,” a backup series planned for Justice League of America but aborted due to the infamous DC Implosion, as a kid in the 1960s Uslan waged a letter-writing campaign to Julie Schwartz, lobbying for the revival of the Spectre. Uslan told Tandarich that he received a note from Schwartz saying that a Spectre/Doctor Mid-Nite team-up would soon appear in Showcase. Jerry Bails also caught wind of those altered plans, repurposing a Bernard Baily Golden Age Spectre illustration as the cover art for CAPA Alpha #9 (May 1965), with the Ghostly Guardian’s thought balloon revealing, “I’ve got to hurry or I’ll be late for my Showcase appearance with Dr. Mid-Nite.”

Plans quickly changed again, with Doctor Mid-Nite’s revival being put to sleep outside of JLA appearances. In CAPA Alpha #10 (July 1965), Bails announced, “It is reported by inside sources that the Dark Knight’s [the Spectre] comeback in the Jan.–Feb. issue of SHOWCASE will be a SOLO appearance.”

Possibly predicated upon weaker-than-anticipated response to the Doctor Fate/Hourman and Starman/Black Canary team-ups that preceded it, Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson, with Julie Schwartz, wisely opted to allow the Spectre to go it alone. After an aggressive “The Spectre is Coming!” house-ad campaign in DC’s books paved the way, the Ghostly Guardian’s comeback in Showcase #60 was followed by Showcase #61 and 64—and then a new Spectre bimonthly title, as well as Spectre appearances in Brave and Bold team-ups (with the Flash in #72 and Batman in #75). And for the record, the Golden Age Sandman made his first Silver Age appearance alongside his JSA teammates in Justice League of America #46 (Aug. 1966).

After the two Fox-scripted team-ups, Haney zaniness returned with Brave and Bold #63, which brought “super-chicks” Supergirl and Wonder Woman together. Instead of a traditional team-up, the Maid of Might and Amazon Princess shunned their superresponsibilities and opted for the high life! This story, illustrated

by John Rosenberger, is a fun read for those who appreciate camp but might be a tough pill to swallow for the modern fan who would find Haney’s characterizations of Supergirl and Wonder Woman’s irresponsibility offensive. This issue’s primary claim to fame was its borrowing of characters from the editorial fiefdom of Superman editor Mort Weisinger, whose general attitude toward B&B was “Hands off the Superman family!” Not only was Supergirl the issue’s co-star, but her big cousin Superman played a significant role in the story. If Haney had had his way, Superman would have been a major recurring figure in the early B&B team-ups, as he revealed in his Comics Journal interview, but Mort’s tight grip on the character wouldn’t allow it. However, with issue #63, the corporate-mandated shoehorning of other editors’ material (Kubert’s #52, Schwartz’s #61 and 62) was over, and Brave and Bold was now editor Kashdan’s baby… with writer Haney behind the wheel.

Holy Hijacking, Batman!

Golden Age heroes Starman and Black Canary were revived in this team-up in B&B #61 (Aug.–Sept. 1965).

Original art by Murphy Anderson.

TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage.

Batman was at it again in issue #64, in Bob Haney’s “Batman versus Eclipso,” a “team-up” that was actually a battle between the Caped Crusader and the “Hero and Villain in One Man,” whose feature anchored the anthology book House of Secrets. In this Win Mortimer–drawn tale, Batman, normally the perfect gentleman, actually spanked the attitudinal socialite Marcia Monroe!

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

15

Batman TM & © DC Comics. TV Guide © TV Guide.

Next up was the Flash and the Doom Patrol in B&B #65, one of the most true-to-form nonBatman team-ups, accurately portraying “the World’s Strangest Heroes” and their arch-foes, the Brotherhood of Evil, in a story where the Fastest Man Alive was called upon to double for the DP’s disabled Negative Man. This issue featured the pencils of Dick Giordano, at the time a freelance artist, who would later return to ink or illustrate several Brave and Bolds and even serve as the title’s editor.

Between The Brave and the Bold #64’s release on December 23, 1965 and issue #65’s release on February 22, 1966, the world changed. For DC Comics, that is.

“Batmania” exploded after the January 12, 1966 premiere of ABC-TV’s Batman, executive producer William Dozier’s campy, twice-weekly live-action series that made overnight sensations and teen idols of actors Adam West and Burt Ward.

Some would argue that the program also made a mockery of the Caped Crusader, yet TV’s Batman was relatively true to form to DC Comics’ Batman of the era. With its deadpan narration, buzzy

The Other Teen Titans

Riverdale’s Pureheart the Powerful (Archie), Superteen (Betty), and Captain Hero (Jughead) teamed up for the first time in Life with Archie #50 (June 1966). Cover art by Bob White and Marty Epp. © Archie Comic Publications, Inc.

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The Team-Up Companion

music, vibrant costumes, off-kilter camera angles, in-your-face hand-drawn sound effects, cool hot rod, and straight-laced heroes keeping the peace in a mad, mad, mad, mad world, TV’s Batman struck a chord with kids and grownups alike. Sales of any DC comic book featuring Batman shot through the roof.

At first, Batman was just one of the many heroes cycling in and out of team-ups. Upon surveying B&B sales figures, it was clear to editor Kashdan and the higher-ups at DC that the Batman/ Green Lantern and Batman/Eclipso team-ups outsold the other issues—even before the release of the Batman TV show. As a result, the Caped Crusader began to appear more frequently.

Next up, though, was a non-Batman issue already in the pipeline, The Brave and the Bold #66’s team-up of Metamorpho and the Metal Men, the first B&B to feature pencils by Justice League of America artist Mike Sekowsky.

Batman was back in B&B #67 (Aug.–Sept.

1966), teaming with the Flash, who was plagued by a condition where his super-speed was endangering his life. Its cover, by regular Detective Comics Bat-artists Carmine Infantino (also the illustrator of The Flash) and Joe Giella, epitomized Batmania. Batman swung onto the scene on his Batrope, framed by a deep purple, midnight sky and stark full moon, with the brightly hued Flash collapsing in the foreground. Cutting into view were the fleet-footed Speed Boys, zipping toward silhouetted Gotham City skyscrapers, all drawn at a sharp Bat-angle. Infantino, DC’s master of eye-catching covers, amazingly simulated motion in a pose so dynamic that it was the next best thing to the frenetic direction of an episode of TV’s Batman. Any Bat-loving kid with 12 cents in his pocket had to buy this issue… …the next one, too, B&B #68, with Batman and Metamorpho, the Element Man. The heroes were in combat on the Sekowsky/Giella cover as the Caped Crusader, under the thrall of the cackling combo of the Joker, the Penguin, and the Riddler, had been transformed into the brutish Bat-Hulk. From its rambunctious cover throughout each and every page of this page-turner, “Alias the Bat-Hulk” was a full-throttle embrace of Batmania that also courted fans of rival Marvel Comics with its audacious appropriation of the name and personality of one of its super-stars!

Batman continued to dominate The Brave and the Bold for the next few issues. Batman and Green Lantern reunited in issue #69 for a rematch with the Time Commander, their foe from ten issues earlier. The tussling Batman and Hawkman tried to unmask each other in issue #70. Batman and the Green Arrow in the first of their many team-ups valiantly struggled against the fearsome, feathered “Thunderbird” in issue #71. The interior artists changed each issue, but Carmine Infantino provided their covers, maintaining the Batman look that was driving fans wild.

A DC house ad for Brave and Bold #71 cited fanmail for its team-up selection: “Yes, YOU called for the combo of GREEN ARROW, the Ace Archer of Justice, and BATMAN, the Caped

Crimefighter!” Yet it was writer Bob Haney who was actually calling the shots.

Haney relished this era’s capricious characterization of the not-yet-dark knight. His Batman was pals with Commissioner Gordon and a host of other VIPs, strutted around in daylight, and even borrowed a cue from the TV show’s dialogue, with Batman frequently referring to his B&B teammates as “old chum” (West’s Batman’s nickname for Ward’s Robin).

Haney’s pulsating prose rivaled Stan Lee’s, inciting readers into a frenzy with his boisterous captions. His opening caption for issue #64 screamed, “Get set for the big switch—as we present two costumed caperers battling each other… the one and only Batman, tangling with the devilish, dastardly Eclipso! Need we say more? No, but we will… it’s the most!” And before a reader could catch his breath after finishing an exhilarating issue, Haney’s hyperbolic closing captions guaranteed more action to come, as in this teaser from issue #69: “And Brave and Bold time will come again, too, real soon, with fabulous DC team-ups in the very next issue! Miss it never! Read it ever!”

Eclipsing Haney’s scripting skills was his uninhibited imagination.

Bob Haney was the consummate story man: He penned tales original and derivative, in genres as varied as street crime to space exploration, each told compactly within the confines of a single script. Haney was also one of the most talented plotters in the history of comics writing.

While his stories were sometimes outlandish, they were solidly structured, three-act plays that rarely left questions unanswered.

His effortless facility with diverse story matter made Haney the perfect candidate to write the ever-changing Brave and Bold.

And so Bob Haney, the story man holed up in his barb-wired, anti-continuity bunker, and George Kashdan, the story editor, went on their B&B spree, issue after issue, merging heroes with wanton abandon.

Despite Batmania having become a sensation, with TV’s Batman now an international hit and Batman comic books and merchandise appearing across the globe, writer Haney and editor Kashdan produced two more B&B team-ups without Batman in the lead.

The Brave and the Bold #72 (June–July 1967) combined the Spectre—in the process of graduating from his Showcase tryout to the eponymous pages of The Spectre—and the Flash, and did so quite bizarrely. Not only were they heroes from different worlds—EarthTwo and Earth-One, respectively (the team-up depicted Earth-One’s Fastest Man Alive visiting his “buddy” the Spectre on Earth-Two)— but on its beautifully rendered but peculiar Carmine Infantino/ Murphy Anderson cover, the towering Ghostly Guardian was being punched by his equally large “buddy,” the Flash—who happened to be a ghost himself! And their battle was occurring on the cratered surface of the Moon!

Two months later, issue #73 (which went on sale June 22, 1967) teamed Aquaman—on the cusp of television stardom in animation as part of Filmation Associates’ Superman/Aquaman Hour of Adventure, which was poised to premiere that September on Saturday mornings—and reliable B&B co-star the Atom.

The Joke’s On You Batman meet-and-greets weren’t limited to B&B during the TV show– spawned Batmania.

In Arnold Drake and Bob Oksner’s The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #97 (Nov.–Dec. 1966), the Dynamic Duo and the Joker dropped in! Later issues would feature Jerry’s encounters with Superman, Flash, and Wonder Woman.

Batman and Robin TM & © DC Comics.

Brave and Bold Changes

Sales figures were such that with #74 (Oct.–Nov. 1967), the first of many issues to combine Batman and the Metal Men, Batman commandeered the permanent lead spot in The Brave and the Bold, a position he never relinquished for the remainder of this incarnation of the magazine. The art team of Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, the illustrators of the band of robots in DC’s bimonthly Metal Men, drew Haney’s team-up, as well as #75’s Batman/Spectre story.

Andru, often paired with his longtime inking collaborator Esposito, would be no stranger to team-ups from this point on, the most famous of which being 1976’s bestselling Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man DC-Marvel crossover.

Issue #75, which went on sale October 24, 1967, was significant for two reasons. Story-wise, it was set on Earth-One, with writer

Beginning with his team-up with the Metal Men in issue #74 (Oct.–Nov. 1967), Batman took over B&B as its star.

TM & © DC Comics.

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

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A Licensor ‘Team-Up’

Ideal Toys’ Captain Action premiered at Toy Fair 1966.

This 12-inch generic hero could be disguised as a variety of comic heroes in costumes that were each sold separately. Licensing impresario Stan Weston negotiated with DC, Marvel, King Features, and other companies to fold their popular characters into one product line, allowing the imaginative kid with two or more figures to “team up” Batman with Captain America, the Phantom, or other heroes. A sidekick, Action Boy, and villain, Dr. Evil, followed. Captain Action has appeared in comic books, prose fiction, and other merchandise, and has enjoyed several revivals.

Captain Action © Captain Action Enterprises.

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The Team-Up Companion

Andru and Esposito illustrated Haney’s Batman/Atom team-up in B&B #77, which placed the heroes against a troupe of criminal circus performers.

With issue #78, The Brave and the Bold was reassigned to former co-editor Murray Boltinoff, as George Kashdan was ousted from DC’s staff as part of an editorial housecleaning that brought to the fold new blood like Joe Kubert, Joe Orlando, and Dick Giordano, artists who took editors’ chairs. That issue’s tale, “In the Coils of the Copperhead,” continued to mine the quirky vein of Haney’s freaked-out fables (it was likely commissioned by Kashdan but shepherded through production by Boltinoff), with the Amorous Amazon Wonder Woman and the Desirous Daredoll Batgirl ripping into each other for Batman’s affections.

While savoring the campy humor of the Batman television show, particularly in its out-of-character portrayals of the (Bat)man-crazy Wonder Woman and Batgirl, Haney’s story in B&B #78 was more menacing than most, thanks to the inclusion of the supercriminal, the Copperhead.

This story may have been the first time readers encountered this venomous villain, but in a heated exchange between Commissioner Gordon and Batman it was revealed that Copperhead had previously slithered through the Caped Crusader’s gloved hands: “Copperhead’s made us look foolish once too often!” barked the incensed top cop. Readers saw that Batman, in his guise of “millionaire playboy” Bruce Wayne, was so obsessed with snaring this foe who “never gives warning, strikes without a sound, and vanishes before you know what hit you,” he even had in his study a framed portrait of a striking viper, its fangs exposed (Wayne’s decorating tastes were as off-kilter as Haney’s stories).

From his coiled death-grip on the Caped Crusader on the issue’s cover to his poisonous bite that nearly killed Batman in the story itself, Copperhead was no joke. Most of Haney’s B&B villains were one-time foes, never to be seen again, but Copperhead impressed enough readers (some of whom became creators) to score return appearances in the future, beginning in the 1970s in the pages of Secret Society of Super-Villains and even stretching to DC animated cartoons and action figures. B&B #78 so imprinted the minds of two of its young readers—Karl Kesel, the artistwriter who would, among his many credits, scribe the 1990s Superboy series that emerged in the wake of the bestselling “Death of Superman” storyline, and the author-editor of this book—that its cover was recreated by Kesel, as cover layout artist and inker, with penciler Greg Guler, for the Copperhead’s appearance in DC’s Hawk and Dove #9 (Feb. 1990), edited by Michael Eury.

The artist who made Copperhead DC’s most frightening villain of the day was Bob Brown, illustrator of both the cover and interiors of B&B #78. Brown had toiled, largely unappreciated, in the comics business since the late Golden Age, his earlier DC work including the Vigilante feature in Action Comics. In the 1950s he was illustrating Westerns for Marvel, including The Rawhide Kid, before landing the long-running assignment of DC’s Tomahawk. In addition to Tomahawk, in the late 1950s and through the 1960s Brown was known for his art on Space Ranger (in Showcase and Tales of the Unexpected) and Challengers of the Unknown—all series that flew under the radar of the majority of superhero comics readers.

TM & © DC Comics.

Haney virtually ignoring the Julie Schwartz–established laws of DC’s parallel Earths with his inclusion of its co-star, EarthTwo’s Spectre, as well as the Spectre’s alter ego, detective Jim Corrigan. This would become a pattern of Haney’s, often to the consternation of DC’s other writers and editors who were attempting to build a cohesive continuity. Artistically, its cover was by Neal Adams, his very first solo-illustrated Batman cover for DC Comics (previously he had inked a Batman and Robin cover penciled by Carmine Infantino, for Detective Comics #370, cover-dated Dec. 1967 but arriving on newsstands one week after B&B #75). Before long, Brave and Bold would be just as much Adams’ series as it was Haney’s.

Another Neal Adams cover graced B&B #76, pairing Batman with Plastic Man, the Golden Age character created by phenomenal cartoonist Jack Cole and a property acquired by DC from the defunct Quality Comics. “Plas” at the time was winding down the first of many revivals at DC; launched in 1966, DC’s Plastic Man ran ten bimonthly issues.

With the high-profile assignment of the Batman/Wonder Woman team-up in B&B #78, Bob Brown instantly gained a larger audience.

“He’s the most underrated artist in the DC bullpen,” wrote future Marvel writer-editor and Black Lightning creator Tony Isabella in a letter published in Brave and Bold #80. DC’s editorial staff was already grooming Brown for bigger and better projects. Shortly after B&B #78 hit the stands, Bob Brown would become one of editor Julie Schwartz’s main Batman artists for the next few years, beginning with the story “Batman! Drop Dead… Twice,” scripted by Frank Robbins, in Detective Comics #378 (Aug. 1968). He was also assigned Superboy by that title’s new editor, Brave and Bold’s own Murray Boltinoff.

Brown jumped ship to Marvel in 1973, his work there including The Avengers, Daredevil, and a few Thing team-ups (covered elsewhere in this volume) for Marvel Two-in-One, although he would return to DC later in the decade for scattered assignments. Brown’s last published work was a Torpedo story in Marvel Premiere #40 (Feb. 1978), released posthumously after his death on January 29, 1977.

Neal Adams Revitalizes Batman

B&B #79 (Aug.–Sept. 1968) signaled a sweeping change for the title and for DC Comics. It was the first issue of a celebrated stint illustrated by Neal Adams.

Having drawn the Ben Casey TV show–inspired syndicated newspaper strip for a few years, the 26-year-old Adams brought his photorealistic style to comic books in 1967. After a handful of short stories for publisher Jim Warren’s horror magazines, the artist’s first two published DC works appeared in August 1967 cover-dated books, the nine-page battle story “It’s My Turn to Die” in editor Bob Kanigher’s Our Army at War #182 and the 23-page comedy caper “Jerry the Astronut” in The Adventures of Jerry Lewis #101 for editor Murray Boltinoff. Following those inauspicious beginnings came his first DC cover, on Boltinoff’s The Adventures of Bob Hope #106, as well as on the 24-page story inside that issue.

With the Hope cover, the genie had been released from its bottle and the magic of Neal Adams’ dynamic artistry would soon electrify DC’s line. The young artist continued to haunt the DC hallways looking for work and editors were eager to snatch him up: Boltinoff for more Lewis and Hope covers and stories, Kanigher for more war tales, and Mort Weisinger for Superman family covers and a couple of extraordinary Superman/ Batman adventures in World’s Finest Comics. Adams quickly made a name for himself as a story illustrator on Neal Adams. editor Julius Schwartz’s The Spectre © Marvel. (following its original artist, Murphy Anderson) and on the “Deadman” feature in editor Jack Miller’s Strange Adventures (following its original artist, Carmine Infantino)— although Miller’s misstep of assigning George Roussos’ blotchy inks to Adams’ delicate pencils on the artist’s first Deadman assignment in Strange Adventures #206 (Nov. 1967) nearly obliterated the work.

The Caped Crusader detoured from camp to “creature of the night” with the coming of artist Neal Adams in the landmark issue #79 (Aug.–Sept. 1968), the first Batman/ Deadman team-up.

TM & © DC Comics.

Bob Haney described his earliest impressions of the artist with whom he would soon be paired in a letter to The Comics Journal #45 (Mar. 1979), where he wrote, “Well, I recall the younger Adams’s first days at DC. All-American boy aura, oodles (doodles?) of talent, certainly no crybaby. I watched as his first splashes came off the presses, admiring the style, the panache, the sheer linear leaps of his layouts, etc., and concluded, as one of your readers did recently, that he was not naturally a ‘comic book artist’ with all the attendant virtues and vices of that state of grace. More of an illustrator. No knock that.”

Adams was dying to draw the Caped Crusader, but was turned away

by Batman editor Julius Schwartz: “Julie was ticked when I switched from his Spectre to [editor] Jack Miller’s ‘Deadman,’ so when I mentioned my doing Batman he told me to get out of his office,” Adams reminisced in his introduction to Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams vol. 1 (DC Comics, 2003). Adams was assigned a smattering of covers featuring Batman (including B&B #75 and 76), but resorted to plan B (or is that plan B&B?) to get to draw the character’s actual adventures.

“Maybe Julie Schwartz wouldn’t use me on Batman because I was already doing ‘Deadman,’” the artist continued, “but [Murray] Boltinoff

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

19

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The Team-Up Companion

non-Batman team-ups such as Deadman/Spectre and Wonder Woman/Martian Manhunter (the latter involving WW’s foe the Duke of Deception, who had ties to Mars), and the creation of “The Amazon Brigade” of “Hawkgirl, Mera, Supergirl, Batgirl, Zatanna, Wonder Woman, and Element Girl” [from Metamorpho]; Arul’s “Amazon Brigade” would get traction from other readers in later issues’ lettercols. “No iron-bound rule binds us to Batman,” Boltinoff responded. “We have departed from the Masked Manhunter in the past and undoubtedly we will again in time to come,” a promise the editor (and his successors) did not keep.

Also in that column, one writer complained that Batman had eclipsed his co-star, the Atom, in issue #77, appearing in a whopping 61 panels. A reader round-up revealed that Joe Arul wasn’t the only writer calling for non-Batman team-ups, with Wildcat/ Doctor Mid-Nite, Aquaman/Flash, and Superman/Green Lantern being among the reader suggestions.

‘How Can This Be Possible?’

Batman teamed with DC newcomer the Creeper in B&B #80, with both Haney and Adams nicely interpreting Steve Ditko’s crazy creation. The bad guy in #80 was the insect-man Hellgrammite, another Brave and Bold–introduced villain that later would be revived elsewhere.

By the time of his third B&B, issue #81’s team-up between Batman and the Flash, Adams had grown into a clearer vision of “kick-starting,” his layouts not just telling Haney’s story but detonating each page with an explosion of visual energy rarely seen before in the medium. From its title splash page, a symbolic image depicting the heroes’ seemingly hopeless struggle against a monolithic adversary amid the story’s title in gigantic lettering, to each subsequent page of rotating camera angles and mind-blowing “money shots,” Adams and his photorealistic art had illuminated DC’s escape route from “the Dark Ages.”

B&B #81’s bad guy, Carl Bork, was a hulking drifter who inexplicably became an unstoppable juggernaut. The story title— “But Bork Can Hurt You!”—was perhaps the most memorable title of any Brave and Bold adventure. In an interview in The Batcave Companion, Adams recalled to interviewer Michael Kronenberg that Bob Haney had originally called the story something different. “He had some title, and it was one of these standard titles. Then the dialogue that he wrote was, ‘You can’t hurt Bork, but Bork can hurt you.’ And I thought, ‘I’ve got to use that as a title. That’s a great title.’ … So I said to myself, ‘They’re going to argue for the other title and have a letterer do the other title. So why don’t I do this? Why don’t I just take the title I like and spread it across the illustration in such a way that you can’t get rid of it?’”

Adams’ instincts were correct.

The quote, emphasizing the story title, also appeared as word balloons on the issue’s cover.

Almost 20 years after its publication, B&B #81’s “But Bork Can Hurt You!” became a punch line when U.S. President Ronald Reagan’s Supreme Court nomination of former solicitor general Robert H. Bork, a staunch conservative, was voted down by the Senate in a fierce debate that captivated the television news.

Issue #81 also featured the first reader reactions to B&B #79, which were, in the words of Murray Boltinoff, “overwhelmingly positive paeans of praise.” One letter writer called it “the best

TM & © DC Comics.

said he would use me on any of his titles. I asked if I could do The Brave and the Bold and he said yes.” Boltinoff, freshly returned to the title, hired Adams to join writer Bob Haney beginning with B&B #79’s pairing of Batman and, appropriately, Deadman.

Appearing on newsstands on June 25, 1968, B&B #79 was published at a transitional time for DC’s Caped Crusader. Batmania had peaked and the ABC-TV show had ceased production after three seasons, the last new episode of Batman airing on March 14, 1968. The campy spirit of TV’s Batman would continue, however, on Saturday morning television that September with the premiere of Filmation Associates’ Batman cartoon series, originally aired as part of The Batman/Superman Hour.

The bloom being off the Batmania rose, DC was distancing itself from TV’s Batman, with editor Julius Schwartz’s Batman and Detective Comics titles carefully inching away from flamboyant supervillains more toward mysteries and puzzlers that emphasized Batman’s reputation as the World’s Greatest Detective.

Neal Adams, however, was much braver and bolder with his contributions to this Bat-renaissance. In his aforementioned introduction, the artist wrote of one of the challenges he faced at the time he took on the Brave and Bold assignment. “DC was working in the Dark Ages,” Adams contended. “They were stalled,” with Marvel Comics overtaking the venerable publisher in the marketplace. “The world had gone on.

The question was, what could I do to kick-start this behemoth?”

In The Brave and the Bold #79 he wasted no time in hosing off the perceived stench of camp from Batman: He lengthened the Caped Crusader’s cowl ears and his cape, making the latter resemble fluttering bat-wings (elongating Batman’s cape for dramatic effect has since become commonplace). He also disregarded Haney’s script directions that called for daylight scenes and depicted the character operating only under the cloak of nightfall. From the title splash page of issue #79, where a shadowed Batman, engulfed inside his flowing cloak, lurked behind Commissioner Gordon at a nighttime alleyway murder scene, Adams instantly conveyed that this was a different Batman than the madcap one whose adventures had been watched by millions on the “same Bat-channels” of their television sets.

Unlike most of Haney’s other team-ups, which eschewed continuity and established personalities to satisfy Haney’s plotting needs, B&B #79’s Batman/Deadman pairing, “The Track of the Hook,” continued Strange Adventures’ then-evolving original “Deadman” feature with its poltergeist protagonist searching for his own killer. So would this issue’s sequel, B&B #86’s Batman/Deadman adventure “You Can’t Hide from a Deadman!”

The comics industry took note of Batman’s renaissance, with B&B #79’s “The Track of the Hook” receiving the 1968 Alley Award for “Best Full-Length Story.”

An important change implemented in issue #79 was editor Murray Boltinoff’s addition of a letters column (Kashdan had run factual text pages in the series), “The Brave and the Bold Mailbag.” Boltinoff preferred to give as many fans as possible the opportunity to see their names and comments in print, and did so by running excerpts—“Bits from the B&B Mailbag”—in lieu of lengthy communiqués so common in other DC editors’ books. B&B readers were finally given a voice, and they certainly spoke up! Hardcore letterhacks objected (sometimes vociferously) to Boltinoff’s excerpting, but this format continued throughout the editor’s tenure. Before long, the column adopted a cheerful signoff (originally established by letterhack Anthony Kowalik) well remembered by readers: “B&B seeing you!”

While B&B #79 has become an important matter of historical record due to its first appearance (or reappearance) of the “creature of the night” interpretation of the Batman, its reinstated lettercol, when revisited today, offered insight into the mindset of some of DC’s readers of the era—and of the editor at this pivotal moment in the title’s history. DC fan Joe Arul wrote that the earlier issues’ absence of a lettercol “represents only indifference or laziness on the part of the editor.” Arul went on to suggest

This full-page house ad for The Brave and the Bold #84’s time-defying team-up traded on the concept’s absurdity.

Incongruences aside, this Bob Haney/Neal Adams issue was phenomenal.

TM & © DC Comics.

team-up yet,” another lauded it as “the best Batman story in all of his 29 years,” and yet another commended the tale’s “unparalleled realism” which “was achieved through the use of true-to-life villains and devices.” A flurry of accolades followed from other fans. The Bob Haney/Neal Adams Brave and Bold was a hit.

With each outing, Adams’ renovations of Batman became more visible, and Haney seemed revitalized by this change, his stories growing darker. B&B #82, for example, placed former Haney character Aquaman in his grittiest adventure to date, where the “sleepwalking” Sea King battled his Justice League teammate. Issue #83, teaming Batman and the Teen Titans, created friction between Bruce Wayne and Dick Grayson when Wayne took under his wing another orphan, a wayward teen whose fallacies were obvious to everyone but Batman.

B&B #84 (June–July 1969) presented one of the series’ most ambitious, and perhaps preposterous, stories, “The Angel, the Rock, and the Cowl,” co-starring Batman and Sgt. Rock, written by Bob Haney and illustrated by Neal Adams. It was hyped in a full-page house ad—which ran in black and white on the inside front covers of some titles and in full color in the interiors of other titles—whose graphics screamed the obvious question of this unlikely pairing, “HOW CAN THIS BE POSSIBLE?”

Yes, the union of Batman, the contemporary (late 1960s) member of the Justice League of America, and Sgt. Rock, the World War II hero and leader of the combat-happy Joes of Easy Company, seemed impossible.

But not to Bob Haney. His script began in Batman’s era then flashed back to the 1940s, with a young Bruce Wayne and nascent Caped Crusader aiding Rock and Easy Company on a combat mission. Given this story’s timeline, Batman would have been in his mid-40s in 1968, which obviously was not the case (both Batman and Superman were frozen at age 29 for many years during the Silver and Bronze Ages). This Batman/Sgt. Rock tale was an early example of author Haney’s disregard for continuity for the sake of a good story (B&B #84 would later be retconned into Earth-Two continuity). Despite its incongruences, it’s an exceptionally told adventure, with Adams—adding flourishes of Joe Kubert to his depiction of Sgt. Rock—at his best.

B&B #85, the Haney/Adams Batman/Green Arrow team-up that went on sale June 24, 1969, scored a bull’s-eye with its updating of Green Arrow’s appearance, adding a beard and flashy new costume and mothballing his Robin Hood–ish threads he had been sporting since the Golden Age. A few months later, in Justice League of America #75 (Nov. 1969, on sale on September 11), the saga of the “new look” GA would continue with writer Denny O’Neil. In this famous issue, GA’s alter ego Oliver Queen lost his fortune and Black Canary crossed over from Earth-Two to Earth-One to fill Wonder Woman’s recently vacated JLA spot.

The Brave and Bold Batman/GA team-up involved an attempted political assassination, quite a departure from the romantic triangle Bat-farce of just a few issues prior. The 1968 assassinations of civil rights leader Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy had imprinted the public psyche, making Haney’s “The Senator’s Been Shot!” timely. The writer deftly sprinkled levity into the story with a subplot involving a confidant to Wayne and Queen with whom both shared the secret of their heroic alter egos.

Adams’ eminent run ended with #86, the second Batman/Deadman team-up, “You Can’t Hide from a Deadman!” After Deadman possessed random bodies (including Robin’s) in half-hearted attempts to kill Batman, midway through issue #86 the adventure detoured into the surreal as Batman and Deadman (occupying the body of his brother Cleveland) jetted across the globe to the numinous Himalayan retreat of Nanda Parbat for an encounter with the League of Assassins. This furthered Deadman’s ongoing saga from Strange Adventures, but those unfamiliar with what had become Deadman’s complex storyline were puzzled by its inaccessibility—and if B&B readers expected anything from the magazine’s Batman team-ups, it was an easy-to-grasp plot devoid of cumbersome continuities.

According to Bob Haney, this tonal shift was not in his original Batman/Deadman script, as approved by editor Murray Boltinoff. While appreciative of Adams’ “growing mastery of the ‘frozen movies’ of comics,” as Haney wrote in his 1979 letter to The Comics Journal, the scribe revealed his dissatisfaction with the liberties the artist took with Brave and Bold #86. “My script was changed about halfway through into something new and strange,” Haney griped. “I felt I had fallen full fathom five without an Ariel to soothe my angst. When I bitched to N. A., we had a bit of a confrontation. He had taken it upon himself to ‘improve’ my script without consulting me or ye ed [Boltinoff]. …

Allow[ing] that Adams rewrite had a certain flashy style, it had nothing much to do with my script and I informed him to never change any more scripts. But this seemed to have no imprint. Ye ed and I concluded that the redoubtable Neal was not for B&B, reluctantly. So I was consigned to Neal’s purgatory of bad writers. This had a certain ambivalence. I was therefore dull, wordy, plotty, not nouveau, hardly trendy. Or the converse: tight, solid, with story and character values of a more classic kind, aimed at the mass reader, even saleable.”

Years later, any animosity Neal Adams may have felt about this matter was relegated to the past, as he praised the scripts of Bob

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Haney. As he reminisced in The Batcave Companion, “if you read those stories, you’ll find massive storytelling in there,” Adams said.

“They almost seem twice as long as a regular Batman story.

“I’d really like to remind people that Bob Haney did a tremendous job. Tremendous job. I loved working on those things.”

And fans loved reading them. “The Track of the Hook,” as of this writing, has been reprinted over a dozen times. Most of the Haney/Adams run (excluding the Batman/Deadman team-ups) was spotlighted in 1988’s six-issue deluxe reprint series The Best of the Brave and the Bold, with new wraparound covers by José Luis García-López (#79 and 86 appeared instead in a Deadman deluxe reprint series from the same era). They have also been chronologically reprinted in subsequent Brave and Bold and Neal Adams collections.

While no longer the regular B&B artist after #86, Adams stuck around for a while on most of its covers and would eventually return for issue #93.

Neal Adams’ alternative take for the cover for #85 (Aug.–Sept. 1969) was quickly jettisoned for (inset) this now-iconic cover that unveiled Green Arrow’s hip new look.

TM & © DC Comics.

22

The Team-Up Companion

Makes You Wonder…

After Neal Adams departed the title, scribe Bob Haney was given an issue off as Mike Sekowsky wrote and penciled B&B #87 (Dec. 1969–Jan. 1970), co-starring Batman and “the new” Wonder Woman.

Sekowsky, beautifully inked by Dick Giordano, was at the time the writer-penciler-editor of Wonder Woman. As of Wonder Woman #178 (Sept.–Oct. 1968), DC’s premier superheroine had lost her Amazonian superpowers and become Diana Prince, internationally shuttling martial-arts adventurer, in the vein of Mrs. Emma Peel on the British television import, The Avengers.

Incidentally, this change in Wonder Woman was part of a broader initiative at DC Comics that also affected many of the tales written by Bob Haney for The Brave and the Bold: the “relevance” movement. As Dick Giordano related to Andy Mangels in Back Issue #17, Carmine Infantino, then-DC editorial director, “was intrigued with the possibilities of having our characters be more in touch with what was happening on the street” (which explains Haney’s motivation for his urban Batman/Teen Titans team-ups in B&B #94 and 102 that dealt with youth unrest). “Depowering” Wonder Woman, and later Superman (as discussed in this volume’s World’s Finest Comics section), temporarily took place to make DC’s omnipotent characters more relatable to readers (and to their writer, Denny O’Neil, who soon relinquished the Wonder Woman writing assignment to its artist, Mike Sekowsky).

Diana Prince became a one-woman boutique of “mod” fashions; the closest thing she wore to a “uniform” was an occasional white jumpsuit (or variation thereof) that evoked the costuming of TV’s fetching Avengers co-star, actress Diana Rigg. “The entire project—including fashions—was patterned after The Avengers” by artist Mike Sekowsky, recalled inker Giordano, who also said that Diana’s mentor and martial-arts instructor—a blind Chinese mystic named “I-Ching”—was Wonder Woman’s equivalent to The Avengers’ bowler-topped John Steed. The Avengers comparison was apparently lost upon O’Neil, as he told Mangels in that Back Issue article, “I was not a television watcher at all. It seemed to be something in the air. Certainly the martial-arts stuff was beginning to be a part of our collective consciousness”—which also led to O’Neil’s creation of Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter, another martial artist that later would star in a prose novel, headline his own DC title, and even team up with Batman in B&B. Spinning back to Brave and Bold: Since issue #87’s story featured the absurd premise of Batman being behind the wheel of a roadster in an international automobile race, you are forgiven if you assumed this was another of Haney’s unconventional premises.

Issue #87 also began a five-part serial of one-pagers of a narrative titled “The Greatest Hero of Them All,” a historical look back at the various stars of The Brave and the Bold. It was authored by a young Marv Wolfman, who would go on to become one of DC’s and Marvel’s most influential writers.

After #87, Bob Haney was back at the typewriter for the next wave of issues. In B&B #88, penciled by Irv Novick, another unheralded DC illustrator who at the time was beginning to attract wider attention as a Batman artist, and inked by Mike Esposito, Earth-Two hero Wildcat was Batman’s teammate.

The adventure was presumably set on Earth-One, although no ink was afforded its location, or to how these heroes of parallel worlds could possibly encounter one another. Continuity-savvy readers were bewildered. Some surmised that this was an Earth-One Wildcat. Wildcat was a favorite character of Haney’s, and healthy sales of B&B #88 warranted the hero’s reappearances in four more issues.

Issue #89 was the first to combine Batman and the Phantom Stranger, an Andru/Esposito–drawn mystery about a ghost with a longstanding grudge running rampant in Gotham City. That art team

Nick Cardy’s ‘Best Artwork’

Artist Nick Cardy, once Bob Haney’s collaborator on Aquaman and Teen Titans, was enlisted in 1970 by editor Murray Boltinoff for a brief but memorable B&B stint (#91, 92, 94–96). “Even without his by-line, DC disciples should have no trouble recognizing the work of Nick Cardy in this issue,” penned Boltinoff in Brave and Bold #91’s letters page. “His versatility has been demonstrated by a wide range of subjects, from rugged renditions of Daniel Boone [in a DC frontier title of the 1950s] to such current covers as the silky smoothness of Girls’ Romances and Falling in Love to the eerie, suspenseful, imaginative interpretations of Unexpected.”

Born Nicholas Viscardi in New York City, Cardy was a decorated World War II veteran who, postwar, entered the world of illustration by drawing the Tarzan newspaper strip and the “Lady Luck” feature in the legendary Eisner/Iger Studio’s Spirit comic. He followed this

Golden Age crimebuster Lady Luck, as moodily illustrated in a special collector’s print by Nick Cardy, the artist of several fondly remembered B&Bs in the early 1970s.

Lady Luck © Will Eisner Studios, Inc. From the author’s collection.

with a lengthy body of DC Comics work such as the “Congo Bill” jungle strip, Tomahawk, and one of the late-1960s’ most innovative titles, Bat Lash, starring a cowboy antihero about whom the reader was asked, “Will he save the West— or ruin it?” Beyond comic books, Cardy’s distinguished career included magazine features, gallery exhibits featuring his military portraits, movie posters, and animation storyboards.

Resourcefulness was a prerequisite for the Brave and Bold assignment, and Nick Cardy could, essentially, draw anything.

Cardy’s Batman was beefier than Adams’ lean rendition of the character, and the hero’s bat-ears and cape had shortened once again (“I had a tendency to make Batman’s ears too small,” Cardy admitted), but Nick’s take on the Caped Crusader meshed wonderfully with Haney’s scripts, the Nick Cardy. next wave of which were street-level adventures that catered to Cardy’s impressive use of shadows and blacks.

The Batman/Black Canary merger in issue #91 (Aug.–Sept. 1970) perfectly underscored Cardy’s talent at drawing full-lipped, beautiful women. In this issue, Haney actually obliged the rules of DC continuity as he addressed Black Canary’s recent relocation (in the pages of JLA) to Earth-One from Earth-Two, building a new life for herself after the death of her husband, Larry Lance. However, the writer once again characterized a superheroine as lovesick, having Black Canary fall head-over-heels for Earth-One’s Larry Lance.

Next up came a special treat: the first-ever Brave and Bold Giant.

Published in DC’s short-lived, mixed-bag reprint series Super DC Giant #S-16 (Sept.–Oct. 1970), “The Best of the Brave and the Bold” reprinted the Batman/Flash team-up from issue #67 and Metamorpho’s origin from #57.

Also included were several new pages of a framing story starring Batman, written by Bob Haney and drawn by Dick Dillin and Mike Esposito, which also featured a pinup of Batman and many of his co-stars.

Visually, B&B #92 was probably Cardy’s strongest effort on the title. Its team-up between Batman and a quirky Haney creation, the one-hit-wonder sleuths called the Bat-Squad (Holmes-like detective Major Dabney, British rocker Mick Murdock, and sexy film ingénue Margo Cantrell), was set in foggy London, providing the artist an opportunity to flash his stark inking contrasts and crosshatching effects to augment the environment’s moodiness. “For this issue, I was experimenting with a different art style,” Cardy told writer Mike Pigott in Back Issue #71 (Apr. 2014).

“I used a lot of cross-hatching, to give more of a woodcut effect, like in Victorian-era newspapers.”

The Brave and the Bold #93 published a story that had been promised for some time in Boltinoff’s letters columns: a “team-up” between Batman and the House of Mystery, its shared cover logos unconnected by the customary “and,” in effect asking the question, “Batman…. Do you dare enter the House of Mystery?” This unusual

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TM & © DC Comics.

continued with issue #90’s offbeat Batman/Adam Strange team-up, where the Caped Crusader became emotionally unraveled after learning of his impending demise.

Cardy’s facility for drawing beautiful women was evident during his B&B run, including his depiction of corporate ice maiden and recurring villainess Ruby Ryder, who bowed in The Brave and the Bold #95.

TM & © DC Comics.

24

The Team-Up Companion

figures and faces to bring them in line with the house style. The interior Batman/Rock story by Haney was Cardy’s last as penciler-inker.

Cardy vacated the title in 1971 to become DC’s chief cover architect, although he stuck around briefly as one of B&B’s cover artists and even inked Bob Brown’s pencils on issue #97’s Batman/ Wildcat and #99’s Batman/Flash team-ups. The B&B stories he solo-produced, however, were considered by the artist to be “some of my best artwork,” as Cardy commented in Back Issue #13.

The Coming of Jim Aparo

When Bob Haney penned a script that paired Batman with the Phantom Stranger (the characters’ second meeting) for The Brave and the Bold #98, editor Murray Boltinoff, with encouragement from DC Comics’ top editorial brass, went straight to the guest-star’s regular artist to illustrate that issue. Boltinoff started #98’s lettercol with this editor’s note: “Jim Aparo, meet Nick Cardy.

Nick, meet Jim. He followed in your inkspots in Aquaman, and he’s fated to do the same in these pages.”

By the time the reader had reached the “Brave and the Bold Mailbag” to discover that announcement, however, Aparo had just introduced himself to the readership with a stunning debut… on a terrifying tale.

The Batman/Phantom Stranger shocker “Mansion of the Misbegotten” was Haney’s homage to the 1968 horror film Rosemary’s Baby—although Nick Cardy’s cover for B&B #98 dropped another pop-culture reference with a word balloon commanding a shadowed knife-wielder to “Kill the Godfather!” as Batman lay helpless. Set primarily in a gothic manor where a group of townspeople worshipped a lad (Batman’s godson!) who was apparently the son of the Devil, this frightfest proved the perfect introductory vehicle for Aparo into the mainstream DC Universe.

He was already adept at drawing the Phantom Stranger and that character’s surreal realm, and despite his initial misgivings he instantly adapted to Batman, offering a lithe, sinewy Caped Crusader comparable to Neal Adams’ style but uniquely his own rendition.

Haney’s continuity curse struck again with this issue’s conclusion, where Batman pledged his “love and protection” to his godson after rescuing him from the cult’s clutches. Despite this tale’s blatant invitation for a sequel, or perhaps the addition of a new supportingcast member (as was also requested in fanmail), the kid was never seen again. Haney had made Batman a deadbeat dad.

Jim Aparo, a former Charlton Comics artist, joined DC in the late 1960s as the artist of Aquaman, invited to the publisher by new editor Dick Giordano—himself a Charlton transplant—to partner with writer Steve Skeates on a serialized Fugitive-inspired roving storyline involving the disappearance of the Sea King’s wife Mera and Aquaman’s search for her. The writer-artist-editor trio became known as Aquaman’s “S.A.G.” team, standing for “Skeates/Aparo/Giordano.”

“My drawing interest began at the early age of 8 while confined to a sickbed,” Aparo confessed in a bio he wrote for B&B #98’s letters page. “A comic book whose title I can’t remember caught my eye, and with plenty of time on my hands, I began to copy its contents.” After an education of studying and mimicking comic strips and taking random art classes, Aparo initially struck out at finding work as a cartoonist and stumbled into the advertising field, where he spent a decade. There he honed his ability to

TM & © DC Comics.

but extraordinary tale, by guest-writer Denny O’Neil and returning artist Neal Adams, took Bruce Wayne on holiday to Ireland, where Batman was drawn into a haunted-castle supernatural thriller.

The depiction of an oil-painted portrait of a goateed man was a pivotal part of B&B #93’s ghost story, and many readers assumed that this was a self-caricature by the artist, since Adams was sporting facial hair at the time. Not so. “That was my buddy from school, Ken Stitzer,” Adams revealed in The Batcave Companion.

“We went to school together and we became fast friends for a number of years until we both got married and had kids. Only then did we drift apart. During that time, I took photographs of him for a couple of my stories.”

Haney and Cardy returned for a Batman/Teen Titans rematch in B&B #94 (Feb.–Mar. 1971), part of DC’s “relevance” trend of socially aware stories. Here, terrorist teens wielding a hidden bomb enslaved adults—including the Caped Crusader! In an interview with Spencer Beck published in Back Issue #13 (Dec. 2005), Cardy disclosed that one of those youths, a spiky-haired radical dubbed “The Genius,” was “a slight caricature” of DC Comics’ resident counterculture scribe, Denny O’Neil. This story, “Rebels in the Streets,” was Cardy’s favorite of his Brave and Bold run, as he admitted in his Foreword to 2003’s Teen Titans Archives vol. 1.

B&B #95 was the first team-up to feature a secret co-star, coverbilled as “Batman and ?” Carefully placed, shadowy rendered clues appeared throughout the tale, which culminated in the World’s Greatest Detective’s deduction that (spoiler alert!) the issue’s mystery guest was Plastic Man—and a down-and-out, uncharacteristically sullen Stretchable Sleuth, at that. Author Haney introduced internal continuity to B&B in this story with its debut of corporate ice maiden Ruby Ryder, a ruthless female forerunner to the tycoon Lex Luthor would become in the 1986 Man of Steel Superman reboot. Ryder would make several appearances in the title.

The cover of B&B #96 was unique in its use of artists: Nick Cardy composed the image and drew guest-star Sgt. Rock, but Murphy Anderson drew the Caped Crusader. Anderson was DC’s “Mr. Fix-It” of the early 1970s, hired to do patchwork on Superman and Batman

realistically draw everything from ladies’ fashions to cars, which primed him to eventually transition to comic books. “The magic year, 1967, rolled around,” Aparo wrote. “I called Dick Giordano, then an editor at Charlton Comics, for an appointment… samples under the arm.” Giordano was impressed with Aparo’s art and gave him his first assignment, the teen comedy “Miss Bikini Luv,” in the teen humor title Go-Go. More Charlton assignments promptly followed, most notably the superhero backup series “Nightshade,” a collaboration with writer Denny O’Neil on the sci-fi Western backup “Wander,” and a stint illustrating Charlton’s licensed The Phantom series, starring King Features Syndicate’s “Ghost Who Walks” jungle hero. After Aparo jumped to DC and Aquaman, he soon picked up a second DC title, The Phantom Stranger, edited by Joe Orlando.

Aparo was comfortable with his lower-profile assignments, and at first found the prospect of drawing Batman quite daunting. “I’d never drawn Batman up till then, so this was a big thing for me,” the artist professed in a 1991 interview for DC’s Direct Currents newsletter. He was so intimidated by the prospect that he chucked his completed first page of B&B #98 and redrew it from scratch.

A Controversial Centennial Issue

His one-issue mission accomplished, Jim Aparo exited The Brave and the Bold. Briefly.

The aptly initialed Bob Brown returned to B&B with #99’s Batman/Flash team-up, which ignored Bat-lore and young Bruce Wayne’s vengeful vow at the gravesite of his murdered parents, instead depicting Thomas and Martha Wayne’s ashes stored at a Wayne coastal cottage. And it got weirder, as a peg-legged sea captain’s ghost possessed Batman!

Editor Murray Boltinoff was so impressed with #98’s Batman/ Phantom Stranger art that he offered Jim Aparo the series with issue #100, beginning what would be a phenomenally lengthy stay for the artist. Then-DC publisher Carmine Infantino revealed in an interview in Alter Ego #38 (July 2004) his fundamental role in Aparo’s assignment. “It was my idea to put Jim Aparo on Murray’s book, The Brave and the Bold, and that book was our bestselling Batman title,” Infantino said. “Aparo was great.”

Anticipation had been building in the letters column about the upcoming centennial edition. “We’re being deluged with suggestions that run the gamut of DC heroes literally from A to Z, Capt. Action, that is, to Zatara,” editor Boltinoff reported in #98’s letters page.

Some of the many Batman teammates suggested for #100 in that column that would ultimately team up with the Caped Crusader in later issues or later incarnations of the title: Robby (mistyped as “Bobby”) Reed of “Dial ‘H’ for Hero” fame; Rose and the Thorn; the Hawk and the Dove; Batman and Robin of Earth-Two; Doctor Fate; the Legion of Super-Heroes; Mister Miracle; and the Elongated Man. Boltinoff opted to stay tight-lipped and not reveal B&B #100’s special team-up until the issue’s release.

Issue #100 (Feb.–Mar. 1972) reunited Batman and Robin, along with the popular trio of Green Lantern, Green Arrow, and Black Canary, collectively cover-billed as “4 Famous Co-Stars.” If that expanded combo wasn’t enough of a surprise for readers, the opening page, cinematically staged by Jim Aparo in his first official issue of what would amount to an unmatchable run, showed Batman being felled by a sniper’s bullet!

The centennial issue of B&B sidelined the Masked Manhunter as he convalesced, awaiting delicate heart surgery to remove the precariously positioned slug. It riffed off of TV’s Ironside (and perhaps DC’s own Doom Patrol) with Batman as a debilitated tactician, remotely commanding his fantastic foursome on a time-sensitive mission to intercept a drug shipment infiltrating Gotham City.

“In an attempt to capture some of the heat from the much-lauded Green Lantern/Green Arrow series,” reflected future B&B writer Mike Barr in Back Issue #7, “Bob’s script called for Green Arrow to kill a

Jim Aparo’s earlier work, such as The Phantom from Charlton Comics, honed the artist’s ability to render exotic landscapes and diverse characters. He would employ those skills for years in B&B’s pages. From The Phantom #32 (June 1969).

The Phantom © King Features Syndicate, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

drug dealer with an arrow to the heart. This act—uncharacteristically decisive for a DC hero—spurred a firestorm of controversy; no apology whatsoever from Haney, who maintained the pusher got what he deserved; and a ‘response’ story in Green Lantern/Green Arrow in which GA accidentally killed a thug who was trying to off him, then went on a months-long spiritual journey to seek forgiveness.”

In his Comics Journal #45 letter, Haney explained his rationale behind the controversial scene. “Yes, it was I who had Green Arrow shoot two drug traffickers in a B&B script and kill one. If anything I was compelled by Neal’s [Adams] more ballsy, bearded, swaggering huntsman [from B&B #85] in the art, along with trying to get away from the simpleton in a silly suit with his trick arrows stuff… especially in a serious story based on the real French Connection crime story (before the book, before the film), and B&B #100 did prove to be a minor classic. And I would do it again. Perhaps get both suckers with one arrow.”

Incongruences aside, Bob Haney and Jim Aparo’s Brave and Bold #100 was a tightly plotted, excitingly paced, and gorgeously rendered epic.

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B&B Becomes a Hit

Batman was back on his feet in #101 in a reunion with Metamorpho, but Aparo was knocked off his the next issue, or at least out of his drawing chair: A family emergency called him away halfway through illustrating #102’s Batman/Teen Titans tale, the issue being completed

by Neal Adams and Dick Giordano.

That story was noteworthy for another reason, as Mike W. Barr explained in Back Issue #7: “In B&B #102, ‘The Commune of Defiance,’ Batman exhibits a badge proving him to be ‘a deputized Gotham City sheriff.’ Haney was again going his own way in terms of B&B continuity; making Batman a deputy sheriff effectively vitiates his vigilante status.” While the badge-flashing Batman (right) did seem contrary to form, according to comics historian John Wells, “In Haney’s defense, Batman had been deputized by the Gotham City Police Department as early as 1942, in Detective Comics #70 and several others, although his badge was bat-shaped and jewelstudded. This endured into the 1960s and was even reflected in the Adam West TV show.”

Bob Brown stepped in again to cover for Aparo on #103’s Batman/ TM & © DC Comics.

Metal Men adventure, its plot involving a rogue sentient computer borrowing heavily from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Aparo was back on board with issue #104’s Batman/ Deadman team-up, the title’s third pairing of the two, with Boston “Deadman” Brand falling in love with a beautiful criminal he was investigating “undercover” (while occupying her boyfriend’s body).

B&B #105 co-starred Batman and Wonder Woman—gorgeously portrayed by Aparo—in the heroine’s second and final appearance in these pages during her powerless “Diana Prince” phase, which was winding down in her own series. With #105, interior artist Jim Aparo also took over as cover artist, replacing Nick Cardy, who had been illustrating B&B covers since #91, with the exception of three Adams covers (#93, 95, 99). A Batman/Wildcat cover by Cardy for issue #110 aside, Aparo covers would grace most issues of this series for the remainder of its run. Jim Aparo had made Brave and Bold his home.

The Brave and the Bold was now running like a well-oiled machine, with Boltinoff overseeing the Haney/Aparo creative combo. The next wave of team-ups featured repeat performances for Green Arrow (#106), Black Canary (#107), Sgt. Rock (#108), and Wildcat (#110), Issue #109 paired Batman and the Demon, the co-star’s first appearance outside of his Jack Kirby–produced comic.

B&B #111 (Feb.–Mar. 1974) was out of the ordinary, a Batman/ Joker partnership (“The Strangest Team-Up in History,” according to its cover blurb) published shortly after Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’ influential “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge” in Batman #251 (Sept. 1973), which returned the Clown Prince of Crime to his original homicidal personality. The issue sold phenomenally well, and the Joker soon became a recurring figure in Brave and Bold.

Issues #112 (Apr.–May 1974) through 117 (Feb.–Mar. 1975) were published in the 100-Page Super Spectacular format, featuring all-new Haney/Aparo lead stories accompanied by curated reprints and special features. Covers featured a main image spotlighting new Aparo cover artwork representing the issue’s team-up, with supplemental boxes or “bullets” (circles) with previously published art promoting the issue’s reprints.

Highlights during that phase include #112’s Batman/Mister Miracle team-up which, like #109’s Demon team-up, was the first interpretation of the Super Escape Artist by an artist outside of his creator, Jack Kirby; #114’s greatly anticipated Batman/Aquaman team-up (a clash,

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actually), a rare appearance of the Sea King during his dry spell after the late-1970 cancellation of Aquaman; and Haney’s Fantastic Voyage– inspired story in #115’s Batman/Atom team-up, where the Tiny Titan inhabited and manipulated the brain of the clinically dead Caped Crusader! The Super Specs’ supplemental material was the responsibility of assistant editors E. Nelson Bridwell (#112) and Paul Levitz (#113–117), and included table of contents pages and illustrated info pages, usually containing excerpted art from previously published stories but sometimes featuring original illustrations by thennewcomer Pat Broderick. (Levitz, who would later become B&B’s editor before ascending up DC’s corporate ladder to ultimately become its president and publisher, also served as Boltinoff’s assistant editor on #120, a Giant issue.)

Strong sales elevated B&B’s publication status from bimonthly to eight times a year with issue #118 (Apr. 1975), yet another Batman/ Wildcat team-up, this time co-starring the Joker. “B&B eight times a year?” penned an enthusiastic reader in issue #121’s “Mailbag.” “That’s the first step towards monthly publication” (which would eventually occur).

The creative team stepped outside of their comfort zone for a handful of first-time team-ups during the next few issues. B&B #119 combined Batman and Man-Bat, the Masked Manhunter’s wannabe analog created

by Frank Robbins and Neal Adams, who had been enjoying a growing profile in editor Schwartz’s Detective Comics and Batman. Another Jack Kirby character, Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth, appeared in a team-up with Batman in the Giant Brave and Bold #120, with Haney stretching credibility by transporting the Masked Manhunter to Kamandi’s future, ravaged timeline via a shaman’s manipulation of a then-ancient Batman comic book (B&B #118, no less!). A Batman/Swamp Thing team-up enlivened issue #122, and Aparo’s creepy interpretation of DC’s muck monster rivaled that of Swampy’s co-creator, artist Bernie Wrightson.

Haney and Aparo: B&B’s Team Supreme

With Murray Boltinoff standing proudly behind his writer and artist, B&B barreled ahead with team-up after team-up, paying little heed to events in DC’s other titles. Haney and Aparo formed an alliance more durable than any Batman partnership, lasting through most of the 1970s. “Bob was a good writer,” Aparo said to me in 2004. “I enjoyed him very much.”

Despite their creative compatibility, Haney and Aparo met in person only once or twice, and rarely even spoke on the phone, communicating mostly through their editor.

Murray Boltinoff.

Bob Haney’s ability to plot a © DC Comics. cohesive and unique tale each issue was uncanny. His Batman was an adaptable jack-of-all-trades, a globetrotting James Bond in a cowl. Haney’s Batman fought enemy spies and soldiers, terrorists, kidnappers, voodoo priests, demons, supervillains, and

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

Jack C. Harris became Murray Boltinoff’s assistant editor with issue #122 (Oct. 1975), the Batman/Swamp Thing issue. Harris took over the “B&B Mailbag” and began running longer missives than his boss had, signing his responses “JCH.” But Harris jumped on board the B&B ship at a time it was taking on water. “In 1974, after graduating from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and after a series of correspondence and phone calls with then-DC vice president Sol Harrison, I was hired as Murray Boltinoff’s assistant editor,” Harris said in Back Issue #7. “It was a dream come true… almost. Murray was a ‘story man.’ He didn’t care about continuity and trivia. The story-at-hand was paramount.” That mentality would soon cause problems for The Brave and the Bold.

“As a member of comics’ First Fandom, I was a fan of Flash, Green Lantern, Hawkman, The Atom, and Justice League of America, books crammed with crossovers, editorial asides, and trivia,” Harris said. “Murray’s books had none of that, even my favorite, the Batman team-up title, The Brave and the Bold. The teams were never based on ‘fan favorites,’ but on sales. This is why Wildcat and Sgt. Rock appeared often in the B&B pages (while totally ignoring the multiple Earths theory running rampant throughout other titles).”

One of those sales-predicated Sgt. Rock team-ups occurred shortly after Harris took his seat as assistant editor. Bob Haney scripted “The Small War of the Super-Rifles” for issue #124 (Jan. 1976), another current-day team-up between Batman and Rock, where Brave and Bold’s creative team—artist Aparo, writer Haney, and editor Boltinoff—made appearances, with Aparo being the central figure on the cover! Haney didn’t merely break the fourth wall—he obliterated it as hooded terrorists attempted to influence the story’s outcome by holding the artist at gunpoint.

Mike W. Barr, observing the story as a fan, remembered, “Continuity buffs made themselves nuts.”

By this point, the editor and writer’s reliance upon familiarity and past sales successes for team-ups rather than originality was becoming tiresome. Criticisms dotted letters columns. The Batman/Green Arrow team, once cheered for by readers (#71), had become too commonplace (#86, 100, 106, and 129 and 130… with Batman/GA team-ups in #136 and 144 yet to come). Sgt. Rock, Wildcat, and the Metal Men were similarly wearing out their welcome. And despite Aparo’s consistent brilliance, some readers were growing bored with the same artist illustrating issue after issue.

Not all fans groused about B&B’s proven formula, however.

In issue #131, one reader defended the magazine and its creative team: “Lately, in your letters page, I’ve been seeing comments that I can’t believe. People are saying (or writing) that Jim Aparo’s art gets tiring and that artists should be rotated. Don’t you dare listen to them! Besides being the best darn artist DC ever had, having one constant artist is the best way to bring justice to the comic and its star!” That fan ended his missive with the postscript, “Don’t switch Bob Haney around either!” That same lettercol included a communiqué from a neophyte B&B reader who was enchanted by some of the same characters that were beginning to bore others to tears.

Nonetheless, the editorial mindset at DC Comics was that change was needed, and editor Boltinoff was reassigned to other titles, his last B&B being #131. The Batman/Wonder Woman team resurfaced that issue—although the Amazing Amazon was back in her star-spangled suit by this point, her powers having been restored a few years earlier—with Catwoman featured as the villain.

Enter the Dragon

Denny O’Neil took over for a brief editorial stint in early 1977, becoming Brave and Bold’s “story editor.” This designation was part of an initiative implemented by DC’s new publisher Jenette Kahn, who replaced Carmine Infantino in early 1976. Kahn’s plan was to have “story editors” work under the overall line direction of managing editor Joe Orlando and art director Vince Colletta.

O’Neil brought along his Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter character for a team-up with Batman in his first issue, #132 (Feb. 1977), by the Haney/ Aparo team. Under O’Neil’s guidance, Haney aptly characterized Dragon, and Aparo’s fight scenes were exciting.

O’Neil employed a heavier hand in working with Haney to invigorate the author’s tales, although the scribe continued to mine familiar territory, bringing back Deadman, Green Lantern, the Metal Men, and Green Arrow.

O’Neil’s assistant editor, Cary Burkett, would soon contribute scripts to the series. “Bob

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TM & © DC Comics.

rebellious youth. His adventures whisked him away to landscapes urban, occult, exotic, undersea, and extraterrestrial. He bounded from rooftops, careened his Batmobile, and if necessary, he skied, rode camels or horses, and even piloted spaceships. And were Batman’s cape and cowl not needed, Haney’s Bruce Wayne could be called upon to serve as a senator, an international ambassador, and even a disco dancer. Yet Haney’s interpretation of Batman ran counter to the more stoic, mystery-focused Masked Manhunter as characterized by Denny O’Neil and other writers in editor Julius Schwartz’s Batman franchise. Haney’s Batman was no longer the wisecracker he was during the late 1960s, but he maintained a lighter side throughout the 1970s as a “Bat-buddy” to his various teammates.

Jim Aparo’s ability to expertly render almost any member of the DC Universe—from Aquaman to Zatanna—was awe-inspiring, earning him a loyal fan following. He was able to ground largerthan-life Jack Kirby creations like the Demon into Batman’s more realistic realm. The artist admitted to using comics or photocopies of comics as reference for many of the guest-stars traipsing through B&B’s pages. With some characters, his reliance upon other artists’ interpretations was obvious: Aparo’s Green Lantern and Green Arrow, Joker, and Deadman borrowed from Neal Adams or even Mike Grell, and his Sgt. Rock from Joe Kubert. At times even his Batman closely mirrored Adams’ version, with some readers initially regarding Aparo as a Neal Adams clone. This was an unfair and inaccurate assessment.

Aparo instead acknowledged Adams’ interpretation of Batman as DC’s house style for the character at the time, gentlemanly asking Adams’ permission to draw the Gotham Guardian in a similar vein. Aparo’s storytelling was always inventive, with shifting camera angles briskly moving the reader from panel to panel.

He was a triple threat in B&B, penciling, inking, and lettering his work. During the mid-1970s, Aparo had reached his prime, and his work on The Brave and the Bold sparkled as some of the most dynamic art appearing in DC’s titles during that era.

Occasionally, a figure from the real world would sneak into B&B’s pages for a cameo, added for fun by artist Aparo, such as Peter Falk as TV detective Columbo on page 3, panel 3 of B&B #109’s Batman/Demon team-up. The artist also enjoyed peppering his art with subtle sight gags featuring one or more of the creative team’s names, such as a truck with a “Haney” logo; he continued this name-dropping throughout his long run on Brave and Bold.

[Haney], of course, is the one who was faced with the real adjustments in a new editorial direction,” Burkett revealed in Back Issue #7. “One day Bob turned in a script that Denny had problems with. I don’t recall what they were, only that they were such that Denny felt the last two-thirds of the script needed to be completely rewritten. Somehow, the task fell to me, as an eager editorial assistant in the DC offices.

I jumped at the opportunity, and agreed to rewrite about 12 pages of a 17-page script overnight, based off new plot angles that Denny dictated to me in a brief conversation. I had my first chance to actually write dialogue for the Batman, and it was a thrill for me, even though I wouldn’t be credited for it.”

Burkett also took over the “B&B Mailbag.” Some readers continued to write to suggest that changes were needed in the series.

In issue #133 Burkett printed a fan’s request that the title “go back to the old B&B format. Have two heroes teamed up each month,” with rotating writers and artists but allowing an annual Haney/Aparo– produced Batman team-up to cycle through. While Burkett responded that such changes had been considered, “Most readers WANT Batman to stay in B&B, and when he’s absent, sales drop considerably.”

Issue #137 (Oct. 1977) did provide a brief departure from the norm. Jack Kirby’s creation the Demon, last seen in #109, returned as Batman’s teammate, and writer Haney also resurrected from the B&B vault his magician villain Shahn-Zi, from way back in #75. The interior story was drawn by guest artists John Calnan and Bob McLeod, and the cover was penciled by Rich Buckler, although despite this “freshening” of talent, Jim Aparo provided a level of artistic consistency in his inking of Buckler’s cover. The Haney/ Aparo team was back in #138 as Kirby’s Mister Miracle returned for his third B&B outing (he was last seen in #128).

Fresh Faces

But by issue #139 (Jan.–Feb. 1978), O’Neil had segued off the title and Paul Levitz had signed on, even taking over the lettercol from Cary Burkett (who wouldn’t stray far from B&B, however). Levitz, also the editor of Batman and Detective Comics, stated in #139’s “Mailbag,” “And our first editorial statement of intent is that Bob [Haney] and Jim [Aparo] will go off B&B only over our dead body, since they’ve been doing a brilliant job on this mag for more issues than we can count.”

The title reverted to a bimonthly schedule at this time.

Hawkman, unseen in Brave and Bold for a decade, fluttered in for a return team-up in Levitz’s first issue, #139, by Haney and Aparo. Under the editor’s direction, that issue’s story was also more directly connected to the overall Bat-mythos via its emphasis upon a secret from Commissioner Gordon’s past resurfacing to plague him today. Aparo’s interpretation of Hawkman was Kubert-esque and breathtaking.

Levitz was saddled with a special project right out the gate that exemplified the staleness of the Boltinoff/Haney era of B&B. Going on sale two weeks after B&B #139 was The Brave and the Bold Special, published as DC Special Series #8 (Feb. 1978). This giant-sized edition featured an all-new, 34-page, multi-character Batman team-up. Sound exciting? In theory it did, but its offbeat three-way hook-up between Batman and B&B frequent fliers Deadman and Sgt. Rock was familiar terrain for its writer, Bob Haney, despite its inclusion of a surprise guest-star. (Spoiler alert: It was Sherlock Holmes. Yes, Sherlock Holmes.) Even Jim Aparo, its cover artist, seemed unenthused, turning in one of his weaker cover efforts. Interior art was by Ric Estrada and Dick Giordano.

Editor Levitz instituted changes in an effort to reenergize the regular B&B title. Issues #142 and 143 featured a rare two-parter, with the innovative twist of a different Bat-co-star in each of the two chapters (Aquaman and the Creeper, respectively). “The Human Target,” formerly seen in Action Comics, was revived as the backup series in B&B #143 and 144. This was part of the DC Explosion, an aggressive 1978 line-wide expansion of page count (adding backups) and new titles. Several market factors including inclement

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The Team-Up Companion

winter weather that adversely affected comic-book distribution and an overburdened marketplace shortly spawned the “DC Implosion” (chronicled in scintillating depth in Keith Dallas and John Wells’ oral history collection, TwoMorrows’ 2019 book, Comic Book Implosion), leading the publisher to eliminate numerous titles and staff, as well as most of the line’s backup features. “Human Target” tales commissioned for B&B #145–148 were slotted into issues of Detective Comics (#483, 484, 486, and 493).

With issue #145 (Dec. 1978), a Batman/Phantom Stranger team-up, The Brave and the Bold was at last promoted to monthly status.

Paul also maintained an active and enthusiastic presence in the “B&B Mailbag,” even sponsoring a team-up poll, inviting readers to vote for their favorite potential Batman teammate.

While some returning co-stars appeared alongside Batman, new ones were featured, too. Old warhorse Bob Haney’s team-up in #146 between Batman and Haney’s co-creation the Unknown Soldier, the mummy-faced battle star that was quite popular at the time, was a World War II–set story, taking place on Earth-Two and involving that world’s Caped Crusader. While Aparo illustrated its cover, the Batman/Unknown Soldier story itself was penciled by Romeo Tanghal and inked by Frank McLaughlin.

“At last! The team you’ve been begging to see!” proclaimed a burst on the cover of The Brave and the Bold #147 (Feb. 1979), a team-up between Batman and Supergirl. As the comic’s house ads revealed, a Superman promotional blitz was underway in conjunction with the December 1978 premiere of Superman: The Movie, and this Batman/Supergirl pairing basked in its glow.

“Death-Scream from the Sky!” involved the Children of Light, a group of terrorists (a recurring threat in Bronze Age B&Bs) that threatened global destruction from above via a satellite-mounted “laser-cannon.” With the Justice League off world on a mission, Batman called upon Supergirl for aid. Although the Maid of Might’s

It’s Team-Up Time, Sherlock!

In addition to meeting Batman in 1978’s B&B Special, in recent years Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated sleuth has swapped clues with literary investigators and real-world adventurers in short-story collections published by Moonstone. Lawrence of Arabia, Calamity Jane, Harry Houdini, Mark Twain, and Loveday Brooke, Lady Detective are among Holmes’ partners. © The Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.

powers were mysteriously fading off and on, together she and Batman stopped the terrorists and revealed the supervillain behind their malevolence and her fluctuating super-abilities.

The Batman/Supergirl team-up was drawn by Jim Aparo, who handled the Last Daughter of Krypton as deftly as any of the other guest-stars who ventured through the series. B&B #147 was not written by Bob Haney, but instead by Cary Burkett, upon whom editor Levitz had relied for continuity “script doctoring” of Haney scripts, as Cary had done earlier for editor O’Neil. Levitz was fundamental in bringing in Supergirl as a teammate. “Paul wanted to expand the co-stars in the book, bring in some who had never appeared before,” Burkett revealed. “In a letters column, Paul had asked for readers to vote on who they would like to see Batman team up with. The result was Supergirl. I don’t know all the details, but Paul gave me the assignment. I don’t know if Haney wasn’t interested or if Paul just thought it wasn’t a good fit for him. Maybe he was trying to send Haney a message.” According to Levitz, “I don’t have any specific memory of the Supergirl story, but Cary’s description sounds plausible. Bob wasn’t a fan of doing research, and by that time we were arguing about the necessity of it, so I imagine he’d avoid a new character like the plague.”

In the next two issues, Haney teamed Batman with old allies Plastic Man (#148) and the Teen Titans (#149). The Titans appearance was significant as the team’s last story before their overhaul at the hands of writer Marv Wolfman and artist George Pérez in the 1980 launch of what would become DC’s top-selling book, The New Teen Titans.

TM & © DC Comics.

The World’s Finest Sesquicentennial

“Fantastic 150th Anniversary Issue!” touted the copy above B&B #150’s (May 1979) logo, tantalizing fans with an Aparo-drawn Batman, challenging the reader to guess the identity of his co-star in a team-up billed as “Batman and ?” Behind the Gotham Guardian was a quartet of significant B&B covers (in red): issue #59, his first B&B team-up (with Green Lantern); #85, debuting co-star Green Arrow’s new look; anniversary edition #100; and #111, featuring the popular Batman/Joker team-up. With this cover, editor Levitz offered a wistful nod to DC anniversary-edition cover montages of the past, including Batman #200. Other editorially added touches made this issue truly special, from the splash page’s use of The Brave and the Bold’s original “waving flag” logo to the Levitz-penned lettercol, boasting a history of the title and comprehensive index of all B&B #50–150, including creative-team credits. #150’s tale featured the kidnapping of Bruce Wayne by hooded terrorists (not the same ones who had snatched Jim Aparo in #124), with a brawny keeper named Karns assigned to watch over the playboy. Karns exhibited atypical abilities that stymied Wayne, until he deduced that his warden was secretly his World’s Finest Comics crony Superman in disguise, undercover. This exciting adventure was the Man of Steel’s only B&B team-up (outside of his guest-star role in #63’s Supergirl/ Wonder Woman tale and a few fleeting cameos), and fans were treated to a rare glimpse of Aparo’s powerful rendition of the hero.

A gaffe in the story irked many readers, as Haney’s script gave Karns (Superman) the superpower of walking through a wall (it would have been more in character to have shown Karns punching through

bricks). While Superman had phased through a wall once in the 1950s on an episode of TV’s Adventures of Superman, that wasn’t an ability of the comic-book version of the hero. A fan whose letter was printed in B&B #155 took issue with this, and editor Levitz explained in print that Superman used his super-speed to “slip into the room unnoticed.”

But the art clearly showed Karns/Superman materializing through the wall, prompting Bruce Wayne to remark, “Incredible! He came through the silo wall like some phantom…” Levitz admitted to me many years later, “Ooops… clearly not a careful editorial day… or I was channeling the wonderful old George Reeves moment when he manipulates his molecules to walk through a wall…”

Bob Haney boomeranged back to old B&B combos with the next two issues, co-starring the Flash (#151) and the Atom (#152). To shake up the title, Levitz recruited Haney script doctor Cary Burkett to write—fully credited—the Batman/Red Tornado team-up in issue #153 (Aug. 1979), drawn by guest artists Don Newton and Bob Smith under an Aparo cover. Haney’s next script, for #154, teamed Batman and Metamorpho—and while “Metamaniacs” enjoyed seeing the dormant Element Man, around the office the team-up was yet another ho-hum Haney/Aparo saunter down memory lane.

Mike W. Barr joined the DC staff as proofreader in late 1977 and for a while shared an office with assistant editor Cary Burkett, observing through Cary some of the B&B drama surrounding Haney’s diminishing star status. Levitz continued to enforce adherence to continuity in B&B, and its compliance with the existing Bat-mythos of the day. According to Barr, “I, as Paul’s assistant after Cary left staff, did major rewrites on two B&B scripts, issue #155 (Batman/ Green Lantern) and 157 (Batman/Kamandi). Paul, knowing my interest was in writing, would cock an eyebrow and a mischievous grin at me over lunch and say, ‘I’ve got a 17-page Brave and Bold script that needs a total rewrite by 5 PM. Interested?’ I would get myself a couple of cans of Coke and lock myself in my office, hang a sign reading ‘Do Not Disturb! Working for Paul!’ on my door, then try to shoehorn aspects of other Batman stories into Bob’s scripts that didn’t belong, causing one fan to exclaim that he didn’t even know Bob Haney knew about the Mystery Analysts of Gotham City.”

Regular readers could not help but notice B&B’s stagnancy. In the “Mailbag” in issue #157 (Dec. 1979), a fan lamented: “I’m sorry to say that your plots are getting thin. They may be spectacular or fascinating, but without any real substance. Heroes go in, heroes go out, and nothing changes. Change something, please.” Editor Levitz’s reply: “Brave and Bold has been [in] a fairly successful rut for a while, and some of the stories in the past few months have shown that more than we would have wished. So with our appreciation for a job well done for many years, Bob Haney is moving on to other assignments and we’re shifting to a system of rotating writers on B&B. Hopefully this infusion of new blood will be the change we need.”

After that issue’s Batman/Kamandi reunion, Bob Haney was no longer the writer of The Brave and the Bold. Haney presented his side of the story in The Comics Journal #278, claiming that after years of never missing a deadline, he was given a short window to produce “under terrific pressure” what became his final three published B&B scripts. For months he had been warring with his new editor over pressure to team Batman with different characters. “I make a real study of this,” he claimed to have said to Levitz. “I only team up what works.

I don’t team up just any underwear character…” At the time of his dismissal, Haney had written one additional B&B script assigned to him

by Levitz, a Batman/Mera team-up that was not illustrated.

“Times were changing,” Mike W. Barr reflected in Back Issue #7. “Bob Haney just wasn’t giving editors—or at least, the B&B editor—what he wanted. To be fair, at least some of this was Bob’s own fault; it seemed he rarely read the books to see what the characters he teamed with Batman were like in their own books. A prime example of this was a scene in his original draft of the script for B&B #155. Green Lantern, meeting a number of other GLs on the planet Oa, is spoken of by them with contempt. I wondered

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where this came from, when I realized Bob was probably trying to write what he conceived of as a modern scene, a Marvel-style scene, circa 1963. But this was 1979.”

“I was proud of the work I did on Brave and Bold because I was a journeyman writer and I was churning out the stuff and they were solid stories,” Haney reflected in 1997. “Those plots were tight and the dialogue was good and I worked hard on them. There [were] a lot of twists and turns in them and creativity—and it sold.”

What’s in the Spiegle Catalog?

B&B A.H. (After Haney)

The first of editor Paul Levitz’s rotating writers was Gerry Conway, penning a Batman/Wonder Woman team-up in B&B #158 (Jan. 1980), followed by Denny O’Neil, teaming Batman with an adversary— Ra’s al Ghul—in #159. Levitz kept the versatile Jim Aparo on board to maintain artistic consistency.

Meanwhile, according to DC historian John Wells, The Comic Reader #176 (Jan. 1980) announced another Batman/Demon B&B team-up, an issue that did not materialize, from writer Marv Wolfman and artist Jim Starlin. TCR’s blurb described the story-we-didn’t-see as “Batman in England vying with the menace of the Arthurian legends.”

The Batman/Supergirl combo in #147 was popular enough to warrant a sequel, in B&B #160 (Mar. 1980). “With Supergirl, Batman had to direct her a bit more, as he does with most heroes anyway,” Burkett reflected to me of the partnership between the more seasoned Masked Manhunter and Superman’s less experienced cousin.

Next, Conway produced #161’s Batman/Adam Strange team-up, a much more traditional, sciencefiction–oriented use of the Masked Manhunter’s space-spanning co-star than the idiosyncratic Haneypenned team-up between the two in B&B #90. Bill Kelley scripted an Earth-Two-set, WWII Batman/ Sgt. Rock tale for #162, in which Levitz, via a simple editorial footnote, relegated the continuity-confounding original Batman/Rock adventure to Earth-Two: “They met before in B&B #84, trivia fans! – Paul.” “Bill Kelley” was a pseudonym for Murray Boltinoff, the B&B editor who first green-lighted the Batman/Rock team-ups. Both #161 and 162 featured Aparo covers and interiors.

Aparo continued as cover artist for the next spate of issues that featured rotating illustrators as well as writers: #163’s Batman/Black Lightning team-up by Paul Kupperberg and Dick Giordano, #164’s Batman/Hawkman tale by J. M. DeMatteis and José Luis GarcíaLópez, and #165’s Batman/Man-Bat adventure by Marty Pasko and Don Newton, where Pasko furthered Man-Bat’s ongoing continuity.

In June 1980, as DC published The Brave and the Bold #166 (cover-dated Sept. 1980), the company introduced a price jump from 40 cents to 50 cents per copy for each 32-page comic book. Several ad pages were jettisoned to create room for the addition of eight pages of all-new material, adding a backup feature to each title’s 17-page lead story. Most backups spotlighted traditional DC characters currently in limbo (Adam Strange in Green Lantern, Firestorm in The Flash, OMAC in The Warlord), but B&B’s backup slot instead premiered a brand-new character—one that wasn’t a superhero.

Editor Levitz was looking for “a non-costumed hero for the backup, a character who would be both a contrast and a complement to Batman,” Cary Burkett explained. “I got the chance to create a backup series for the book.” The result was Nemesis, in reality the crime-crushing master of disguise Tom Tresser, “The Man Who Sets Out to Balance the Scales of Justice,” as described in a DC house ad.

“Paul, of course, had a lot of input into the creation of Nemesis, and even came up with the name,” Burkett added.

Artistically, the “Nemesis” feature was in the capable hands of Dan Spiegle, a talented illustrator of unbelievable versatility. Spiegle had drawn Westerns (including a Hopalong Cassidy newspaper strip), TV

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Just about everything! In the early 1950s, “Nemesis” artist Dan Spiegle, a Chouinard Art Institute graduate, developed a fan following by illustrating the Hopalong Cassidy newspaper strip, based upon the likeness of actor William Boyd. He followed this feature with a bounty of comic-book work in different genres, but for some, “Hoppy” remained his signature character.

Hopalong Cassidy © William Boyd Enterprises.

adaptations in different genres (Maverick, The Green Hornet, Space Ghost, Scooby-Doo), and sci-fi (Gold Key’s Space Family Robinson).

Spiegle’s fluency for hard-boiled action made him perfect for Burkett’s gritty backup, which would maintain its berth in in B&B’s back pages for most of the title’s remaining issues. Nemesis even scored two team-ups with Batman, both scripted by Burkett and drawn by Aparo, in #170 and 193, the latter being the character’s last appearance in the title. The character of Nemesis was later revived by others and even called into service in the post-Crisis version of the Suicide Squad, indirectly coming full circle to his Brave and Bold roots by joining that B&B-born team. Outside of the two Batman/Nemesis team-ups, Dan Spiegle drew all of B&B’s “Nemesis” appearances. The artist would follow “Nemesis” with two celebrated 1980s collaborations with writer Mark Evanier, on DC’s 1982–1984 revival of the World War II–based battle book Blackhawk and their creator-owned, Hollywood-set crime series from Eclipse Comics, Crossfire.

The team-up train chugged along in Brave and Bold each month, with Levitz as its conductor. Readers saw Batman pair off with old allies (Black Canary, Green Arrow, Green Lantern), first-time co-stars (Firestorm, Lois Lane), and unusual guests (Scalphunter,

TM & © DC Comics.

Guardians of the Universe). Continuity matters were clearly addressed during Levitz’s run: Earth-Two’s Doctor Fate was drawn to Earth-One by an extra-dimensional threat, and a Batman/Blackhawk tale was set on Earth-Two during the Golden Age. Writers continued to rotate in and out, as did artists, with Aparo appearing in each issue in some fashion, mostly on covers when he didn’t draw interiors (although issue #176’s Batman/Swamp Thing team-up featured a cover by Michael Kaluta).

Mike W. Barr got his first shot at solo-writing a Batman tale with B&B #169’s “Angel of Mercy, Angel of Death!”— teaming the Masked Manhunter with the Justice League’s magician, Zatanna, illustrated by Aparo. “Looking back on the first Batman story I ever wrote,” Barr reflected, “it’s okay and owes, oddly enough, much to Haney’s style of plotting and pacing.”

After favorable fan response to issue #150’s Batman/Superman team-up, under Levitz’s watch another Superman family member met the Caped Crusader in issue #175 (June 1981): Lois Lane. Writer Paul Kupperberg also brought in the Man of Steel’s kryptonite-powered foe, Metallo, as the villain of the issue. “Once I had Lois in the mix,” Kupperberg explained to me in Back Issue #87 (Apr. 2016), “I thought it would be fun to pit Batman against a Superman villain. Not only would it give Lois a reason to be in Gotham City, but it also took Batman out of his ‘comfort zone,’ more superhero than Darknight Detective.” The issue also gave Aparo another chance at drawing a Superman character— something he usually did only on the occasional World’s Finest cover—which apparently stuck with the artist. Kupperberg remembered, “About 15 years after B&B #175 was published, I met and spoke with the artist, Jim Aparo—who drew my all-time favorite rendition of Batman during his 1970s run on B&B—for the first time in my career at a Chicago ComicCon. I introduced myself and said that I had long ago written an issue of B&B and without missing a beat, Jim said, ‘Right, the Lois Lane story. I had a lot of fun with that one.’

The fanboy inside of me did a little happy dance.”

Despite these changes, B&B still suffered from predictability. Some diehards felt comfortable with the series, such as the commentator who wrote in #170’s “Mailbag,” “Most fans never hesitate when [B&B] shows up on the stands; if they liked it last month, they’ll like it again this month.” Yet there was no inducement for new readers to pick up an issue, and sales sagged as a result.

Meanwhile…

Beginning with The Brave and the Bold #177, a new editor took over the series: Dick Giordano.

“When I was hired at DC in 1981, it was as editor of the Batman line (Batman, Detective, and Brave and Bold) and special projects editor [of a new line of Atari in-pack comic books],” Giordano said in 2004. “My predecessor was the super-organized Paul Levitz, who was moving up the company ladder and leaving editorial chores behind. He actually had three issues of each series either in the drawer or on the way in! I didn’t have much to do at first except closing Paul’s issues and planning the issues following Paul’s stuff.”

Giordano implemented interwoven continued stories between Batman and Detective, in essence creating a biweekly storyline alternating between the two, and added a fondly recalled “Easter egg” feature to B&B. “I remember planting clues in each issue of Brave and Bold for sharp-eyed fans to find out who the next issue’s guest-star would be.” Those next-issue teasers were illustrated clues identifying Batman’s upcoming co-star, such as the unmistakable shadow of the rooftop-lurking Creeper, Robin’s insignia on a bus billboard, and the Legion of Super-Heroes’ star-cruiser silhouetted against a full moon (readers expecting a Batman/Star Trek team-up in the next issue were no doubt disappointed).

Writer Mike W. Barr, again teamed with Jim Aparo, returned to B&B

The star of writer Cary Burkett and artist Dan Spiegle’s “Nemesis” backup feature graduated to co-star status with issue #170. Detail from its cover

by Jim Aparo.

TM & © DC Comics.

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The Silver Age Nemesis Preceding Cary Burkett and Dan Spiegle’s Nemesis was a superhero of the same name from American Comics Group. ACG’s other costumed hero, Magicman, tangled with Nemesis in Forbidden Worlds #136 (July 1966). Art by Kurt Schaffenberger.

TM & © Roger Broughton.

for Giordano’s first issue, #177, featuring a long-overdue B&B team-up of Batman and the Elongated Man—reprising an occasional team from the pages of the Silver Age Detective Comics. Combining the Darknight Detective and Ductile Detective was “a seeming natural,” Barr contended, “but it had never before been done in B&B. But then, sales of the issues of Detective Comics in which the characters had teamed were among the lower-selling issues of the run.”

Giordano also assigned a trio of Batman team-ups to celebrated television writer and novelist Alan Brennert.

Brennert and Giordano had recently worked together—under Paul Levitz’s editorship—as writer and artist on “To Kill a Legend,” their new take on the oft-told tale of Batman’s origin, in the anniversary issue Detective Comics #500 (Mar. 1981). “When Dick Giordano became editor of THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD and asked if I’d like to write some stories, I didn’t hesitate,” the scribe enthusiastically penned in his introduction to the 2016 DC collected edition, Tales of the Batman: Alan Brennert. Brennert’s first two team-ups—Batman and the Creeper (B&B #178) and Batman and the Hawk and the Dove (#181)—paired the Masked Manhunter with two Steve Ditko creations… which were, coincidentally, Dick Giordano. edited by Giordano during his © Marvel. earlier DC editorial stint.

As Brennert told interviewer Rob Kelly in Back Issue #84 (Oct. 2015), “I was trying to recreate that Charlton experience, or at least that late 1960s experience when Dick moved to DC and edited Ditko’s books. …It was my idea to do the Creeper. It was certainly my idea to do the Hawk and the Dove.”

Brennert’s Batman/Hawk and Dove team-up featured Hank and Don Hall, erstwhile Teen Titans, as adults, making them older than their Titans contemporaries.

“By that time they had been completely forgotten by everybody at DC,” Brennert said, “which is why I decided to age them out of sync with the rest of the DC Universe. … If these characters are sort

32

The Team-Up Companion

of stuck in the ’60s, let’s make them literally stuck in the ’60s in that they have not matured the way they should have. They’ve aged but not matured.”

Most readers applauded Brennert’s thought-provoking study of anachronistic ideals and fractured relationships, but continuity buffs’ “fanboy sense” tingled with Peter Parker gusto. In B&B #186’s “Mailbag,” editor Giordano cheerily addressed the “incredible avalanche” of mail about the Batman/Hawk and Dove tale, writing, “The decision to publish ‘Time, See What’s Become of Me’ was not an easy one. Chronology is important in our DC universe and I was painfully aware of the fact that I was messing with it. But as the original editor of THE HAWK AND THE DOVE back in the ’60s I also felt an emotional obligation to write finis to the pair that were a product of their time. Alan’s excellent script allowed me to do this with class.”

Brennert’s third Brave and Bold script for Giordano was the Earth-One Batman/Earth-Two Robin team-up in #182, “Interlude on Earth-Two.” In the Back Issue #84 interview, Brennert revealed his original, unrealized plan for the story that became the Batman/Robin “the Ex-Boy Wonder” team-up.

“Brave and Bold #182 I had originally conceived as Batman teaming with the JSA,” Brennert said, but with Roy Thomas then controlling the Earth-Two characters for his new All-Star Squadron series, the Justice Society characters were off-limits. After some reflection, Brennert substituted members of the Batman family of Earth-Two. “I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a Batwoman of Earth-Two?’ That was partly in response to the fact that she was unceremoniously bumped off on Earth-One.” Batwoman, a construct of the early Silver Age and therefore an Earth-One character, had recently been killed in Batman Family, giving Brennert’s story the emotional reactions of the Earth-One Batman to teaming with a person he knew as dead—which in kind was Robin’s and Batwoman’s reaction to Batman, since the Earth-Two Batman was similarly deceased.

There were other gems during Giordano’s days helming B&B, among them: another long-overdue team-up (Batman/Legion of Super-Heroes, in #179), the reunion of “Wrath of the Spectre” team Michael Fleisher and Jim Aparo (Batman/Spectre, #180), another Earth-One/Earth-Two crossover (Batman/Huntress, #184), and a Batman/Rose and the Thorn two-parter (#188, 189), among the later writing credits of one-time DC heavy-hitter Robert Kanigher. Renowned for his ability to mold new talent, Dick gave B&B assignments to new DC writers like Don Krarr (Batman/Riddler, #183, and Batman/Green Arrow, #185), and the Dan Mishkin/Gary Cohn duo (Batman/Hawkman, #186, and Batman/Joker, #191).

Another new writer, Charlie Boatner, reactivated one-time B&B co-stars the Metal Men for a Batman team-up in #187.

Gone was the playful derision from Batman toward his robot allies in the previous Bob Haney Batman/MM stories, replaced with a reverence not only for the original Men concept, but even for their most seemingly insignificant member. As Boatner explained in an interview later in this volume, he had long been puzzled by the disappearance of “Nameless,” the robotic girlfriend of the metal band’s resident tin man, Tin, and constructed a Batman/Metal Men mystery to explore the matter. Boatner’s nostalgic script, which allowed Jim Aparo another chance to illustrate the Metal Men, also featured flashbacks to several of the Metal Men’s rogues’ gallery—including the giant robot B.O.L.T.S., a last-minute substitution added in a production patch over the towering menace originally scripted and drawn, Chemo, a villain currently in use elsewhere. Once again, Giordano’s “Mailbag” was brimming with positive letters over this heartwarming story.

Another treat was released for B&B fans in 1982. Issue #26 (July 1982) of The Best of DC, one of the company’s 100-page

digest-sized reprint titles, featured a Brave and the Bold edition, with selections curated by digest editor Mike W. Barr. Under a Batman-centric, multi-character, all-new cover by Jim Aparo, the digest featured issue #86’s second Batman/Deadman team-up, plus non-team-up tales culled from earlier B&Bs, starring Robin Hood, the Suicide Squad, the Viking Prince, the Silent Knight, and Cave Carson. Barr wrote three comic pages to introduce the material, an opening Batman splash illustrated by Aparo, followed by two pages of dossiers of the issue’s other stars, with spot illos by Trevor Von Eeden and Larry Mahlstedt.

Soup-erhero Team-Up

‘Wein-ing’ Himself from B&B

In late 1982, Dick Giordano followed his B&B predecessor’s footsteps into DC management. Len Wein became the editor of the Batman titles, assuming the reins of B&B with issue #192 (Nov. 1982). “You Can Take the Boy Out of Smallville…,” written by Mike W. Barr and illustrated by Jim Aparo, teamed Batman and Superboy—Superman as a teenager—in a clever tale where DC supervillain I.Q. time-swaps the Man and Boy of Steel (allowing Aparo to once again draw Superman, in shadows, in a few panels). As Burkett previously did in B&B with Batman playing the role of elder to Supergirl, here Barr similarly characterized the Boy of Steel as… a boy. “To some writers, this would be no different than a team-up with Superman,” Barr informed me, “but I immediately saw the possibilities of Superboy—here maybe 14 or 15—as a well-meaning but cocksure young juggernaut, not yet secure in the use of his powers and often with no proper idea how to use his subtler abilities, thinking brute force can solve everything.”

By this juncture Barr had become the “main” Brave and Bold writer (in the final team-up tally, Barr wrote ten issues, second only to Bob Haney), but confessed, “Over the years, B&B had developed a reputation as something of a dinosaur amongst the DC stable.” The comics market of the early 1980s was changing dramatically, and The Brave and the Bold, that sturdy old stalwart from the Silver Age, had grown stale.

In the lettercol of B&B #195, Wein announced, in response to a letter writer’s query about a rumor circulating over the title’s cancellation, “Much though we hate to admit it, at this point in time it does indeed appear as if Brave and Bold #200 will be the last issue of the mag in its current incarnation.

Sales simply have not been sufficient enough to continue B&B as we know and love it.”

But B&B did not go out with a whimper. Its final issues each had merit, and several were exceptional.

B&B #193 (Dec. 1982) was the series’ second Batman/Nemesis team-up,

by Burkett and Aparo, and featured the death (for a while, at least) of Burkett’s one-time backup star. Barr’s Batman/Flash team-up in #194 brought back the penciler of B&B #67’s first Batman/Flash pairing, Carmine Infantino. Barr and Aparo united two bat-men in #195’s Batman/I… Vampire team-up, co-starring Andrew Bennett, the gothic headliner from DC’s House of Mystery. “Batman and the supernatural (as opposed to science fiction) can be a good match, depending upon the approach, and I think this one worked pretty well,” Barr told Don Vaughan in Back Issue #95 (Apr. 2017). “Such stories force Batman to reconsider his rationalistic view of the universe.” The writer was pleased with the artistic interpretation of his B&B script. “Artist Jim Aparo was not familiar with Bennett, but from the masterful job he did, you’d think he’d been drawing Bennett his entire career.” According to Barr, “I was told that Marc DeMatteis, creator of ‘I… Vampire,’ very much liked the approach I took with the character in #195.”

Robert Kanigher fans were happy to see him back to script #196’s Aparodrawn Batman/Ragman tale.

Alan Brennert returned for another Earth-Two story, collaborating with artists Joe Staton and George Freeman on Brave and Bold #197’s team-up

“Mmmmm… weird!” This energy conservation custom comic teaming the Star-Spangled Sentinel and Campbell Soup’s cherubic spokespersons was produced by Marvel Comics in 1980. Cover art by John Romita, Sr. Captain America TM & © Marvel. Campbell Kids © Campbell Soup.

Television writer and novelist Alan Brennert wrote several highly acclaimed B&Bs, including #197’s romance between the Golden Age Batman and Catwoman.

TM & © DC Comics.

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

33

between the Golden Age Batman and Catwoman, a Kid’s Columbia Pictures for permission to use the poignant love story that has become a fan-favorite character’s name). Things weren’t quite so exciting and has been reprinted multiple times. The story was for the Ghostly Guardian, who appeared in the conceived at post–San Diego Comic-Con pool party penultimate B&B, #199, yet the team of Barr, at Mark Evanier’s home, where Brennert and B&B Andru, and Hoberg delivered one last appearance editor Wein were chatting while in the pool. “The of the crowd-pleasing Batman/Spectre duo. thing I’m most proud of in that story is the origin I B&B’s final issue, the double-sized, squaregave Selina Kyle, which sort of became the canon bound #200 (July 1983), featured a 40-page tale for the Golden Age Catwoman for the brief time she scripted by Barr “teaming” Batman with his Golden had left,” Brennert said in Back Issue #84.

Age counterpart in parallel stories set in two Barr penned the final three issues of The Brave different eras. “The Earth-Two Batman story and the Bold. In #198 (May 1983), Batman teamed was set in 1955 because B&B debuted in 1955,” up with the time-hopping Karate Kid of the 30th Barr said. The issue was wonderfully drawn in Century super-team the Legion of Super-Heroes. alternating modern and Dick Sprang–influenced The Batman/Karate Kid issue, drawn by newclassic styles by Dave Gibbons, inked by Gary comers Chuck Patton and Rick Hoberg, tied up Martin on the 1955 chapter. loose ends—including a romantic subplot—left “Smell of Brimstone, Stench of Death!” opened Mike W. Barr. dangling from Karate Kid’s 20th Century–based with a prologue explaining DC’s multiverse and solo series published during the kung-fu craze of introducing readers to a villain named Brimstone, the ’70s. On the high-kicking heels of this team-up, “that modern Mephistopholes” Nicholas Lucien Karate Kid went back to the future, married of Earth-Two, and his counterpart on Earth-One. Barr’s cleverPrincess Projectra, and was killed in combat by a Legion creator ly constructed story crossed over the Batmen of two worlds and (Keith Giffen) who disliked him. Soon he saw his name eras while never actually having them encounter each other. appropriated for a film franchise that launched with the June “The fact that the two Batmen never meet was deliberate, and 22, 1984 release of director John G. Avidsen’s The Karate Kid, contrasted by the concept of the two Brimstones meeting, after starring Ralph Macchio as a disenfranchised teen who learns a fashion,” said the writer. This anniversary issue adroitly sahonor and discipline from mentor Pat Morita (DC Comics’ parent luted the Batman of yesteryear without falling prey to camp or company Warner Bros. worked out an agreement with The Karate sentimentalism, and anchored that nostalgia in a contemporary context. This was one of the best Batman stories of the 1980s.

According to Barr, “After #200 was published, I told Len I had also considered the idea of telling the ‘true’ story behind the death of the Earth-Two Batman, as both of us considered that story, as published, to be extremely unsatisfying. Len said we should have told that story, but for obvious reasons it would have opened up a political can of worms, a nuisance I didn’t need.”

Batman/Batman was not the team-up Barr originally had in mind for the Brave and Bold conclusion, however. “I had suggested the team of ‘Batman and Ellery Queen,’ as a longtime EQ fan, but knew that was a non-starter,” he revealed. “That would have required making some phone calls, and editor Len Wein had no interest in dealing with that.”

Also in issue #200, Mike W. Barr and Jim Aparo united for a special 16-page preview of their B&B follow-up series, Batman and the Outsiders, and cartoonist Stephen DeStefano included a one-page strip, “Bat-Mite Speaks His Mind.”

Unfortunately, space limitations in The Brave and the Bold #200 crowded out a farewell “Mailbag” (with one last “B&B seeing Novelist Keith R. A. DeCandido’s two-part Star Trek: you”); however, the Caped Crusader’s words on the last page of The Brave and the Bold, published by Pocket Books the Batman/Batman tale provided the perfect appraisal of his long in 2002 and 2003, was the Star Trek franchise’s first and illustrious run in this classic series: official story to bridge Enterprise captains and crews of “…I’ve faced my greatest challenge… and I won.”

different generations.

Star Trek © CBS Studios, Inc.

34

The Team-Up Companion

Portions of this essay appeared in article form in Back Issue #7 (Dec. 2004) and have been edited and expanded for publication in The Team-Up Companion.

TM & © DC Comics.

Bravely and Boldly Going…

What If B&B Wasn’t Cancelled?

TM & © DC Comics.

…and lived on to feature the Earth-Two Batman teaming with obscure Golden Age heroes? That’s the conceit of this selection of fantasy covers by artist Bambos Georgiou, commissioned by and courtesy of John Joshua.

These “lost” B&Bs are adapted from (in order) Marvel Team-Up #72 (B&B #201); Marvel Two-in-One #52 (B&B #202); Captain America #282 (B&B #203); MTU #57 (B&B #204); Cap #217 (B&B #205); MTIO #87 (B&B #206); MTU #103 (B&B #207); and Heroes for Hire #3 (B&B #208).

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

35

B&B CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: BOB HANEY The Batman of Earth-B and Comics’ Most Outrageous Writer

Other Earths were created during the Silver and Bronze Ages to showcase topsy-turvy realities (such as Earth-Three, where supervillains ruled) or to house characters previously owned by other publishers and acquired by DC (like Earth-X, home of Quality Comics’ heroes including Uncle Sam and the Phantom Lady, or Earth-S, home “When all else has faded and been forgotten in the vast cave of of Fawcett Comics’ original Captain Marvel and family). time, one thing alone survives—brave men doing bold deeds!

And then there was Earth-B, a world of stories written by Bob Haney.

This alone endures!”

There were no disclaimers in Earth-B comic books warning readers Caption by writer Bob Haney in “Hell Is for Heroes” that they were about to experience an imaginary story or witness The Brave and the Bold Special (DC Special Series) #8 (1978) events occurring on a parallel world. When you picked up, say, 1971’s The Brave and the Bold #98, co-starring Batman and the Phantom So, you’re a fan of the Bronze Age Batman, are you? Which one?

Stranger, you were being sold a comic that looked and felt like DC’s If you read comic books edited by Julius Schwartz, your Batman was other Earth-One titles—heck, that one was even drawn by Jim Aparo, “The Batman”—a grim but often gabby detective, a shadowy outsider the former Aquaman and regular Phantom Stranger artist (who was who still managed to be one of DC soon to become the main B&B artist as well). Then, Comics’ most active team players. on page one, you realized that this wasn’t quite the If you watched Saturday same Gotham Guardian you knew from Batman, morning animated cartoons, Detective Comics, and Justice League of America: your Batman was reminiscent of This Batman paid a visit to a dying civilian friend the Caped Crusader popularized and was the godfather to his during the mid-1960s on TV’s friend’s son (Batman, family guy?). live-action Batman camp-fest In the next issue, a creepy Batman/ (which was still in wide Flash team-up drawn by Bob syndication during the 1970s)— Brown and Nick Cardy, the Darka tongue-in-cheek do-gooder and night Detective rummaged through surrogate father figure that was the “Wayne family summer home,” quick to administer public-service reminiscing about his childhood announcements at the drop of as Bruce Wayne… then, “stifling a a cowl. sob,” he surveyed an inscribed urn And if you read comics written containing his parents’ cremated

by Bob Haney (1926–2004), the remains. But, wait a minute— father of the superhero team-up Thomas and Martha Wayne were comic book, your Batman was buried, as we’ve seen in countless a courageous crimebuster who flashbacks to Batman’s origin, sometimes flew off the handle; where a vengeful young Bruce, went camel-riding and scubafreshly orphaned, swears by their diving in pursuit of bad guys; graveside to dedicate his life to survived demon- and Atomeradicating crime! Are you sure Author Hannibal Kingsley, from the Batman/Wildcat possession; mutated into a Batthis is the same Batman from other team-up in B&B #127 (June 1976), was drawn by Jim Aparo Hulk and a Man-Bat; sustained DC titles?? to be the spitting image of Bob Haney, shown in the inset grave gunshot wounds (only to The Batman of Earth-B was in a passport photo. be miraculously healed by the deputized by the Gotham Police TM & © DC Comics. next issue); and had a serial-killer Department and carried a badge brother and a Super-Son! This (B&B #102), and was so chummy “Bat-guy” (as he was nicknamed with Gotham’s top cop that he by his brave-and-bold buddies Green Arrow, Deadman, and called his colleague Jim Gordon “Commish.” He started many a Metamorpho) flapped his scalloped batwings into the faces of the Brave and Bold adventure working alongside the police—as one of Darknight Detective’s other writers and editors, yet headlined some of the boys in blue (and in his case, gray)—instead of being Bat-signaled the hero’s bestselling adventures of the day. in for special cases. This Batman would brashly admonish street punks Holy continuity aversion! Who was this Batman of “Earth-B”?? and at times show emotional extremes: When trapped in a well in the Sgt. Rock team-up in #108, Batman “sold his soul” to the Devil (or What on Earth? (Or… On What Earth?) was it Adolf Hitler?) to escape after shrieking an impassioned “Batman During the 1970s, most of DC Comics’ heroes existed on what editor wants to live!!” plea, and in an uncharacteristic burst of blood-curdling Julie Schwartz called Earth-One, home of the Justice League of rage vowed to take the life of the Clown Prince of Crime in the oftAmerica. Their predecessors, DC’s Golden Age characters, resided reprinted Batman/Joker team-up in B&B #111: “By God, Joker— on Earth-Two, home of the Justice Society of America. The JSA you’ve done your last criminal act! I swear this time to hunt you down returned annually in a summer crossover with the JLA, and occasionally and destroy you like the mad dog you are!!” The Batman seen in other Earth-Two heroes received their own series, such as the Spectre in DC titles would never evoke such an oath, nor would he threaten to kill Adventure Comics and the “Super-Squad”—the rebranded Justice anyone, even his worst enemy.

Society, augmented by young protégés—in All-Star Comics.

36

The Team-Up Companion

A Contagion of Craziness

This Batman of The Brave and the Bold was not alone in turning a blind eye to DC’s norms—many B&B teammates followed suit, in sizzling tales churned from Haney’s smoking typewriter. Some examples: • Haney’s characterization of superheroines often ran counter to the emerging feminist culture of the 1960s and 1970s. In issue #63 Haney’s Supergirl and Wonder Woman were derelict in their super-duties by becoming obsessed by the fashion world. In #78 he portrayed Wonder Woman and Batgirl as cat-fighters totally ga-ga over Batman. In #100 he had Black Canary (a brunette, by the way, who wears a blonde wig when fighting crime) miss a call into action because she was nested under a noisy beauty-shop hairdryer!

• Haney explained in the backstory of frequent B&B teammates Batman and Sgt. Rock that as a young man, Bruce Wayne met Easy Company’s grizzled top-kick shortly before D-Day (June 6, 1944), as shown in their initial pairing in 1969’s issue #84. But how could that be, since the Earth-One Batman was a mere 30-ish in the early-to-mid-1970s when “the Rock” continued to battle alongside “the Cowl”? Do the math with me: Were Wayne, let’s say, 22 years of age in 1944, by the time Rock showed up in “current” times (1971) for their second team-up in B&B #96, Batman should have been pushing 50!

• Wildcat routinely stopped by the pages of B&B to pair off with the Caped Crusader. But fans knew that Wildcat lived on Earth-Two and was a member of the Justice Society, not on Earth-One with the JLA’s Batman! (The same confusion surrounded the JSA’s Ghostly Guardian, the Spectre, an occasional B&B Batman co-star.)

• In two issues roughly one year apart, Haney twice misfired with Green Arrow continuity. In issue #100, the archer—with absolutely no compunction—twanged a shaft into the chest of a drug runner, ho-humming away the murder with a cavalier “One dead… one got away” remark; and when Green Arrow returned as a Bat-ally in B&B #106, his alter ego of Oliver Queen was portrayed as a millionaire.

GA’s execution-with-an-arrow occurred at a time when no DC hero would dream of taking a life, and readers of JLA and GL/GA knew that Ollie had lost his fortune in recent years… but in Haney’s world, Queen was still a platinum card-carrying member of the 1%.

• In #131, the non-lethal thief Catwoman committed homicide and renounced her U.S. citizenship. A few issues later, in #134, Green Lantern similarly turned his back on America and allied with a rogue nation.

Bob Haney never let DC legend obstruct a good yarn. Silver Age Superman editor Mort Weisinger frequently published stories where the Man of Steel had a son, or a daughter, and occasionally did the same with the Caped Crusader in Superman/Batman adventures

Haney’s Batman of Earth-B kept his parents’ ashes (B&B #97), made a deal with the Devil (#108), and often teamed with Earth-Two’s Wildcat (#110 and other issues).

TM & © DC Comics.

in World’s Finest Comics—but these were billed as “imaginary stories,” exercises in make-believe that temporarily tossed aside the established rules, only to revert to status quo with the story that followed. When Bob Haney took over as World’s Finest scribe in 1972 with issue #215, he brought with him Superman, Jr. and Batman, Jr.—the teenage “Super-Sons” of Superman and Batman.

And the writer insolently declared, “It is not imaginary, not fantasy, but the way it happened,” contending that these stories were “real,” merely an aspect of our heroes’ lives that was only now being revealed. Pretty ballsy, Bob! While charitable fans might forgive Haney for jettisoning DC lore to advance his wild plots, the writer cast the Waynes’ ashes to the wind in 1974’s World’s Finest #223, when Superman, Batman, and co-star Deadman met Thomas Wayne, Jr., Bruce Wayne’s older brother. Nowhere in hundreds of DC stories had this Wayne sibling been previously mentioned. Yet Haney barreled the plot past his editor, Murray Boltinoff (who most likely hid it from Batman editor Julie Schwartz), revealing that Bruce’s brother at a young age had sustained a personality-altering brain injury and was institutionalized.

When readers were introduced to Thomas, Jr. in WFC #223, he was the prime suspect in a murder investigation conducted by the World’s Finest duo. In that tale’s sequel, in issue #227, he was a host for the body-jumping Deadman (who performed an aerial act in an Iowa circus as Red “Daredevil” Devlin, donning a crimson costume very similar to a certain Man without Fear’s), until sacrificing himself to save his Bat-brother. Now, if DC had published What If? and passed off Haney’s two-part tale as “What If Bruce Wayne Had a Brother?,” no one would’ve flinched. But Haney considered it as canonical as any of his other tales—or Denny O’Neil’s or Len Wein’s, for that matter. They’re just stories, right? Why sweat the small stuff?

The Batman of Earth-B

Readers reacted to these continuity detours in two ways.

First, they complained. The “Brave and the Bold Mailbag” letters column often featured grievances about these goofs, with Boltinoff, Haney’s editor on both B&B and WFC, or sometimes Haney himself defending the stories, often glibly or defiantly. Mike W. Barr, who started at DC as a proofreader during Haney’s Brave and Bold tenure and would one day take over the title as writer, recalled, “One former fan, now a comics pro, told me he once wrote former

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publisher Carmine Infantino a 12-page, single-spaced, double-sided letter detailing the continuity errors in a single issue of Haney’s B&B. You know that got read.”

Second, they bought lots of comics. Despite the protestations of DC’s most nitpicky fans, during the early 1970s Haney’s stories sold well. Carmine Infantino stated that during the heyday of the Haney/Aparo duo, The Brave and the Bold was DC’s bestselling Batman title. And the fanzine The Comic Reader reported that the Super-Sons stories outsold the World’s Finest non-Batman team-ups that preceded them.

Behind the scenes, Bob Haney’s editor Murray Boltinoff may not have been the continuity-be-damned buttress he appeared to be in B&B lettercols. In an interview with Michael Catron conducted in 1997 but published in The Comics Journal #276 and 278 in 2006, Haney, a bearded, towering, and effusive figure, characterized his editor as timid and lacking imagination. “I’d try to throw something a little more way out at him and he’d get very nervous about it,” Haney told Catron. “He wouldn’t want to do it. When I brought up the Super-Sons, he almost sh*t a brick.” Haney also claimed to be the de facto editor of the comics he produced for Boltinoff, stating that his editor offered virtually no story input and was unable to stand up to the “front office” for fear of being fired. Haney gave the impression that he bullied his stories past Boltinoff, and told Catron that he took credit for their successes and failures.

And they were both. Most of Bob Haney’s Batman team-ups were successes when viewed as standalones. Each one, even his most absurd concepts, was tightly plotted, briskly paced, and enormously enjoyable.

Most of his Brave and Bolds—particularly his late-1960s run illustrated by Neal Adams—have been reprinted numerous times.

Haney’s stories failed, however, when consolidated into the broader tapestry of DC’s then-unfolding continuity. From head-scratching team-ups like Batman and Wildcat to radical departures like Thomas Wayne, Jr., these yarns could only be explained away by placing them in another reality.

Earth-B. The term “Earth-B” was apparently coined by a fan who would become known as an authority on Marvel Comics: Mark Gruenwald (see the Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Two-in-One chapters for more information about this influential writer-editor). In his fanzine Omniverse #1 (Fall 1977), Gruenwald wrote, “‘Earth-B’ [is] a realm where the deliberate inconsistencies of maverick writers need not be incorporated into the mainstream mythos. Consignment to Earth-B should only be used as a last resort, when conventional reinterpretation would have to be used extensively to save a story’s verisimilitude.”

No DC scribe at the time was more “maverick” than buckin’ bronco Bob Haney, and some of the DC editors bandied about the Earth-B “explanation” for Haney’s non-canonical stories. Chief among them was fan-turned-pro Bob Rozakis, an assistant editor and freelance writer for DC during the last few years Haney was writing B&B. “I do not recall the first time I referred to ‘Earth-B’ in print,” Rozakis pondered in Back Issue #66, but admitted to using the term “around the office for quite awhile. I think it was more likely that I used it in print in an ‘Answer Man’ column [which appeared as part of DC’s “Daily Planet” promo pages], no doubt answering a question about how Batman and Wildcat (or some other Earth-Two character) could team up.” Specifically, Rozakis made the first of several Earth-B references in a “Daily Planet” published in several DC titles (including Batman Family #17 and Secret Society of Super-Villains #14) published in January 1978. Responding to a reader query about the names of DC’s various parallel Earths, in addition to the Earths commonly seen in DC’s books

From a Wonder Woman/Batgirl catfight for Batman’s heart (B&B #78) to a Bat-slap from a lovesick Black Canary (#91) to hairdryer dereliction of duty (#100), Haney’s super-“chicks” seemed more at home in DC’s romance titles than in Brave and Bold.

TM & © DC Comics.

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of the era (Earths-Prime, One, Two, Three, X, and S), the Answer Man concluded his list with “Earth-B, where everything we can’t fit elsewhere takes place!” Depending upon whom you asked, the “B” in Earth-B either stood for Brave and Bold, Bob Haney, or Murray Boltinoff.

Continuity conundrums aside, Rozakis appreciated Haney’s B&Bs. “I enjoyed the team-ups with Sgt. Rock and other offbeat characters with whom you would never expect Batman to join forces. Overall, I enjoyed most of them because they were not tied to continuity and Haney would do pretty much anything he wanted in order to come up with an entertaining tale.”

And that, my friends, summarizes the magic of Haney’s Batman in The Brave and the Bold: Bob Haney wrote memorable, sometimes mind-blowing, stories.

The Ultimate Done-in-One Scripter

Google “Bob Haney” and you’ll find blogs attacking or mocking “Zany Haney” for his excesses or his blunders. (His Teen Titans stories are also a snark magnet for internet armchair critics that rail on the TTs’ lingo, Daddio. As Haney told interviewer Michael Catron, however, his Titans-speak was inspired by his ear for dialogue among the bohemian citizens of Woodstock, New York, where he lived, including his “ex-hippie” barber: “I used to go get a haircut and I’d come back and type in all his dialogue that he’d given me in my ear while he was cutting my hair,” he laughed.) But while numerous Batman tales crafted by other writers of his era may have marched in step with continuity, many of those stories have faded from memory. Haney’s B&B tales grabbed

Fans and pros alike screamed bloody murder when Haney’s B&B #100 script (drawn by Jim Aparo) called for Green Arrow’s execution of a drug dealer. Amid the controversy—which lasted for years—the wordsmith remained unapologetic.

TM & © DC Comics.

you by the throat and commanded that you pay attention—and decades later, their stranglehold has tightened.

Haney never snuck a reader into a yarn. Instead, he pommeled a gong, he shoved the pedal to the metal so hard the pages almost turned themselves. When rendered by the astonishing Jim Aparo, a human cinematographer whose splash pages told a story so vividly that his pencil-pushing peers couldn’t help but drop their jaws in awe, Haney’s stories didn’t simply begin… they exploded.

There were no subtle characters on Haney’s stage. Emotions were not only worn on their sleeves, they threatened to rip those sleeves from their threading. Brave and Bold’s two chief figures, crime-scene observers Batman and Commissioner Gordon, looked like grown men as they appraised carnage or poised to storm a building under criminal siege, but they responded with adolescent shock, rage, hubris, or even fear—the same reactions their youthful readers would have were they faced with the same scenarios.

Same with Haney’s guest-stars and supporting cast characters.

His stories were populated by a cattle call of Norma Desmonds, pacing off-panel and waiting for their close-ups. Once they arrived, they commanded the stage, even if they disappeared after the next panel’s word balloon. Even milquetoasts, such as Professor Ray Palmer, the labcoat-wearing alter ego of the World’s Smallest Superhero, couldn’t quietly sneak onto a Haney-written page; when Batman and Palmer ran into each other in B&B #152, the scientist was greeted with Batman’s boisterous remark, “Ray Palmer? What’s Ivy U’s top egghead doing here?” Now any reader unfamiliar with Palmer instantly knew who he was, and within moments he’d be prancing from panel as the Atom, chasing down whatever over-the-top menace Haney and Aparo could throw at him.

Batman’s, Commissioner Gordon’s, and the co-stars’ dialogue— or at times, Haney’s captions—would mince no words in describing the remarkable situations unfolding before them. Characters were inclined to utter slack-jawed exclamations such as “Fantastic!” and “Incredible!”

Haney’s Batman of Earth-B adventures remain infinitely re-readable—and are my personal favorite comic-book stories of all time. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve read B&B #79’s “Track of the Hook,” #83’s “Punish Not My Evil Son,” and #108’s “The Night Batman Sold His Soul.” I don’t remember all of the B&B story titles (luckily, they appear for the reader’s reference in this volume’s index), but I do recall the one where Batman met an amnesiac, down-and-out Plastic Man, or when Batman’s clinically dead body was controlled by the fantastic-voyaging Atom, or when Batman’s mystery co-star, after the dropping of a few clues, turned out to be the one-and-only Superman. Haney’s B&Bs are the comic-book equivalent of a rollercoaster ride—you can’t wait to hop on board again. It may be impossible to relegate these Earth-B stories to Batman continuity, but they have earned a spot in two special places: my bookshelf and my heart.

And I’m not alone in my reverence to this much-maligned Bat-scribe.

Back in 2003, in his Batman Illustrated by Neal Adams vol.

1 introduction, Neal Adams observed of his Brave and Bold collaborator, “Though they have not gotten the recognition they deserve, Bob Haney’s stories are classics in good old comicbook drama, and dense in plot, incident, and twists. Haney will never be paid enough in money and honor in his lifetime for his contributions.”

True, that. Although Haney was bestowed an Inkpot Award at the 1997 San Diego Comic-Con, earned reprint fees for many of his golden oldies, and scored a few nostalgic writing gigs late in his life (“Superman, Jr. Is No More” in 1999’s Elseworlds 80-Page Giant #1, a Batman/Metal Men team-up in 2000’s Silver Age: The Brave and the Bold #1, and the postmortem 2008 publication of his Teen Titans Lost Annual #1), it has been after his 2004 passing

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that an unofficial Bob Haney Appreciation Society has evolved, including his 2011 posthumous receipt of Comic-Con’s prestigious Bill Finger Award.

But his stories, and his audacious manner of telling them, have cultivated an audience, largely fueled by fans, creators, and even filmmakers who grew up on his Brave and Bolds and other comics.

Haney’s once-maligned Teen Titans tales are now considered charming, even retro cool. In 2012 Batman writer Scott Snyder resurrected Haney’s most controversial character, Thomas Wayne, Jr., in his popular “The Court of Owls” storyline. And Haney’s unchecked imagination and tower of team-ups inspired the three seasons of the Cartoon Network’s delightful Batman: The Brave and the Bold, the 2008–2011 animated series where Batman paired off with just about every character DC had to offer: Blue Beetle, Green Arrow, Enemy Ace, Booster Gold, Hawkman, Jonah Hex, the Demon, Space Ghost (!), OMAC… and Bob Haney himself.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold’s rendition of Aquaman, hilariously voiced by John DiMaggio, was a bearded, braveand-bold adventurer bristling with bombast, who punctuated the exploits he shared with the Caped Crusader with his catchphrase, “Outrageous!” He was no stranger to mood swings and emotional outbursts, and brazenly bragged of adventures past—“Did I ever tell you about the time I saved the whole planet on Earth Day? I call the story, ‘The Tale of the Earth Day When Aquaman Saved the Entire Planet!’”—to just-concluded escapades—“We shall call this adventure, ‘The One Where Larger-Than-Life Heroes Come in Small Packages!’”

Sound familiar?

Mr. Haney from Hooverville

Who was this colossus behind the typewriter? Thanks to information gleaned from Ancestry.com, minibios published in DC lettercols, and Haney’s own recollections, which he candidly shared in his 1997 interview with Michael Catron, whom Bob had met in 1977 during Mike’s employment at DC Comics, a portrait comes into focus that explains much about the Brave and Bold writer’s imagination and tenacity.

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 1926, Robert Gilbert Haney, Jr. was the fourth and final child born to Robert, Sr., a Scots-Irish decorated WWI vet, and Marguerite M. Stocker Haney, who Young Bob Haney, hailed from a large, economically from a 1943 school challenged Pennsylvania Dutch yearbook. family. His eldest sibling, a brother, Ancestry.com. died during infancy, and Bob grew up with his two older sisters. He was large from birth, weighing in at a whopping 11 pounds. Haney joked to Catron that he was so huge as a newborn the maternity nurses did not tie an I.D. to his toe, instead saying to Mrs. Haney, “Oh, he’s the biggest baby here. We know him” amid the rows of other infants in the ward.

When Bob was a baby, the senior Robert Haney was a salesman who pursued an engineering degree in G.I. Bill–provided night classes. Then the Great Depression derailed them, as it did so many millions of Americans. The family resided on a farm just outside of Philadelphia in a makeshift shantytown that Haney pejoratively called a “Hooverville,” after U.S. President Herbert Hoover, in office during the advent of the economic downturn that rocked the nation. “My father was selling vegetables in the

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backstreets of Philadelphia,” he told Catron. “We lived on vegetables. There was no other food.” Hobos and fortune-hunters hopped off nearby freight trains and shambled through. The preschool lad saw firsthand both their desperation and their drive, and listened intently to their “hard-luck stories.” When Bob was six, his father’s education allowed them to begin a slow climb out of poverty when a major insurance company hired Robert, Sr. as a contractor and engineer to repair foreclosed homes for resale. Haney described to Catron his family’s departure from their Hooverville in what sounded like a scene from The Grapes of Wrath: “I can still see the image of the people standing their by their tents and old jalopies waving goodbye to us.”

Haney’s grade school years were spent in transit, as his father hustled from job to job, and the family from residence to residence.

During these tumultuous transitions young Bob was anchored by his growing love for reading. “I could come home and devour a 250-page book in a long afternoon,” he said. He devoured children’s lit like Jack London novels, Big Little Books including the Tailspin Tommy series, and the funnies’ Prince Valiant and Flash Gordon, and listened to radio’s The Shadow, his young psyche shaped by dashing daredevils who wielded weapons and faced insurmountable odds. Once he turned eight, Bob began working after school and on weekends to bring in extra money, going door-to-door selling newspapers and magazines. As he aged, he continued to work when not in school—at a service station, in a grocery store, at a Philly department store, “all sorts of things to help the family.” During what little free time he had, his reading tastes matured into subject matter that few of his peers appreciated such as socio-political treatises and biographies of military leaders.

By the time Bob reached junior high and high school age, the Haneys settled into a home at 9 Powell Lane in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia suburbs. He began to enjoy a stable education, although he was often distracted by his father’s job and personal instabilities, at times having to step up as the man of the house when Haney, Sr. would disappear from the home.

Haney’s accelerated reading ability helped him graduate high school early. “I went to college at 17, barely 17,” he told Catron, to the Quaker liberal arts school Swarthmore College. “I worked my way through. I got a scholarship.” He toiled “seven nights a week, the graveyard shift,” working as a ship builder at the Sun Shipyard on the Delaware River, a breakneck occupation (docks would populate several Brave and Bold team-ups, with issue #109’s Batman/Demon story’s menace originating from one). “I almost was killed twice.”

Bob hailed from a family line with a long military history stretching back to ancestors who fought during the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War, his “rugged son-of-a-bitch” paternal great-uncle nicknamed “Two-Gun Haney” was a “bounty jumper.” According to WarHistoryOnline.com, a bounty jumper was someone who “tried to make a quick buck” by enlisting “in the place of someone who did not want to enlist—for a fee. Having received the money, these con men would then desert and enlist again somewhere else to receive another bounty payment”… just the colorful, scandalous type of character Bob would later write about in many of his DC stories.

With World War II raging, Haney, at age 18, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in an officer’s training program called the V-12. His poor math skills (“I’m no mathematician,” the wordsmith said in his Comics Journal interview) led him to flunk out of the training program, so he spent a year on a ship in the shark-infested waters of the Pacific, which provided him with a worldly education of seafaring and combat.

As revealed by editors Murray Boltinoff and George Kashdan in the letters page of 1963’s The Brave and the Bold #50—the first team-up issue—Haney piloted landing craft during his Navy years. He was honorably discharged from the Navy on June 17, 1946. After the service, Haney moved to New York and obtained his Master’s degree in French history from Columbia University.

(top left) “Second Steinbeck?” Haney’s aspirations as a writer were apparent to his classmates. (top right) Haney’s military service would prime the future writer for lots of battle comics—including Batman/ Sgt. Rock team-ups! (bottom) Original art page from Haney’s first known published comics script, from Black Cat #9 (Jan. 1948). Art by Lee Elias.

Yearbook and enlistment card courtesy of Ancestry.com. Black Cat © Classic Media LLC.

The ‘Good Old Whizbang Corona’

Bob broke into the comics biz in late 1947, motivated not by any love of the medium but by economics. “I needed money,” he told Michael Catron. An ad agency employee by the name of Ted Bratton who lived in Haney’s Manhattan apartment building told Bob that he had heard there was money to be made in comics; and after briefly partnering with Bratton, Haney was soon on his own, pounding the pavement looking for jobs and pounding his keyboard cranking out scripts, compensating for the industry’s low rates by generating a tremendous volume of work.

In an autobiography published in Brave and Bold #83, Haney introduced himself—quite shamelessly, in the third person!—as having written battle and crime short stories for “Fawcett, Harvey, St. John, Timely, Thrilling, Hillman, and many other big publishing houses in the field” during those sweatshop years of crank-’em-out funnybooks. His first known published work was the story “College for Murder,” appearing in Harvey Comics’ Black Cat #9 (Jan. 1948), illustrated by Lee Elias. The Black Cat was secretly Linda Turner, a Hollywood starlet who offset boredom by becoming a masked crimefighter, kicking and karate-chopping mobsters and enemy agents while zipping around Tinseltown on her motorcycle. Haney worked with Elias on several Black Cat stories and would later reunite with the artist at DC. “It was kind of fun,” the writer told Catron of the Black Cat assignment.

After a few years of hammering out scripts for the smaller publishers, Haney tried the big leagues—DC— arranging a meeting with editor Murray Boltinoff, with whom he would eventually work. “He and I didn’t seem to hit it off,” Haney recalled of their initial meeting, which didn’t net any assignments. In 1954, the door at DC finally opened for him as editor Robert Kanigher, who was also scripting the stories in the titles he was editing, had to bring in other writers at the insistence of DC’s higher-ups. “He didn’t want to take on a writer,” Haney recalled, “but the publisher forced him to.” Bob scored a war story that would become his first published DC work. The six-page “Frogman’s Secret!,” penciled by Jerry Grandenetti and inked by Bernard Sachs, which saw print in All-American Men of War #17 (Jan. 1955), bore Haney’s hallmark: it opened full-steam-ahead, in its very first panel showing its star, sailor Harry Brown, captured

by Nazis, with a luger pointed toward his skull!

Haney, on his “good old whizbang Corona portable, circa 1948,” as he described his typewriter in his B&B

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#83 bio, fired off an endless barrage of battle scripts for all of DC’s war mags—Our Fighting Forces, Star Spangled War Stories, Our Army at War, you name ’em, soldier—melding his extensive imagination and real-life combat perspective. “War on Wheels,” “The Ghost Raider,” “The Phantom Sergeant,” “The G.I. Who Replaced Himself,” “One-Man Task Force,” “Breaking Point,” and “The Brainwashed Jet” were among his captivating story titles that might have doubled for titles of dime-store paperback novels (knowing Haney’s prodigiousness, perhaps they did).

Amid his procession of fictional G.I.s and swabbies, of flyboys and grunts, it wasn’t long before editor Bob Kanigher tapped Haney to script men of a different type of war. The Brave and the Bold, under Kanigher’s watch (although it bore the customary “Whitney Ellsworth, Editor” credit of its day, a nod to the company’s executive editor), was in its original “high adventure” format when Haney—primed by the stunningly rendered Hal Foster Prince Valiant stories that widened his teenage eyes— penned his first swashbuckler story. Haney’s “The Winning Warriors,” a Joe Kubert–illustrated Viking Prince adventure, appeared in issue #4 (Feb.–Mar. 1956). Two issues later, Haney was back in B&B, again paired with Kubert, for #6’s Robin Hood tale, and in a premise that displayed the writer’s flair for the… well, outrageous. The introductory caption commanded the reader to “follow [Robin Hood] in his boldest adventure” as he took to the air in “The Battle of the Kites!”

Haney made his first splash as a DC superhero writer on an Aquaman six-pager for Adventure Comics #228 (Sept. 1956). This was no random tale of DC’s muscular mariner: “The Floating Hall of Fame” involved antiquities in transit, a familiar theme he’d revisit in Brave and Bold team-ups, and it paired him with his later B&B and Metamorpho collaborator, Ramona Fradon, one of the few female artists to infiltrate the He-Man Woman’s Haters Club of comics of the 1950s and 1960s.

He’s Chevy Chase’s Uncle, and You’re Not

Bob Haney’s 1960 marriage to Nancy Chase Elliot made the comic scribe the uncle of future Saturday Night Live breakout actor and movie star Chevy Chase.

(If you knew that before reading The Team-Up Companion, you’ve earned a trip to Wally World!)

National Lampoon’s Vacation © Warner Bros. Autographed lobby card courtesy of Heritage.

Fires sweep across the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Franklin shortly after a direct hit from a Japanese dive-bomber during World War II. Battles like this one imprinted young Navy man Bob Haney, who later penned no end of battle yarns featuring sailors and soldiers, even in the superhero comic The Brave and the Bold!

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

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On and on hammered Haney at his keyboard, his bounty of war and adventure scripts joined by cowboys (Hopalong Cassidy, the Trigger Twins and Johnny Thunder in All-Star Western) and even canine capers in The Adventures of Rex, the Wonder Dog! Haney spent most of 1958 gallivanting throughout Europe, coercing Kanigher to send his DC assignments and paychecks there.

“I had a French mistress and it was a great year,” he told Catron. By the end of the year he had returned to New York, but rapidly grew tired of Manhattan’s hustle-bustle and relocated to Woodstock, New York, in the Catskills, his former skiing getaway.

Bob was still unpacking and settling into his new digs when mutual friends in Woodstock introduced him to Nancy Penrose Chase Elliott, “a young, beautiful divorcée with two little children.”

Nancy Chase, born in New York on June 17, 1927, hailed from a prestigious family. Her father, Edward Leigh Chase, was a renowned illustrator who helped transform Woodstock into a fabled art colony.

Her brother, Edward Tinsley “Ned” Chase, was a Princeton-educated Stanford professor-turned-successful Manhattan book editor and the father of comedian Chevy Chase. Bob Haney and Nancy Chase Elliot were married in 1960.

TM & © DC Comics.

Bat-Skills from the Catskills

While Bob was courting Nancy in 1959, professionally he received a pair of assignments linked to his two favorite B&B Batman teammates.

With artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, Bob rolled out DC’s grizzled combat hero Sgt. Rock in “The Rock of Easy Company” in Our Army at War #81 (Apr. 1959). “I brought this one in,” Haney told Catron in the Comics Journal interview. Editor Robert Kanigher “didn’t change much of it, as I recall, hardly any of it. I’ve been officially credited by the company with it.” Two issues later, in issue #83, OAAW editor and chief writer Kanigher, with artist Joe Kubert, “took that story and ran with it,” Haney groused. Kanigher wrote the many Sgt. Rock stories that followed. Haney remained possessive of the character and reveled in teaming an older, graying Rock with Batman in a string of 1970s B&Bs. Kanigher, however, disavowed those stories. “I don’t believe in, and never wrote a Rock/Batman team-up for Brave & Bold,” Kanigher contended in the “Take Ten” lettercol of Sgt. Rock (the retitled Our Army at War) #316 (May 1978). “Regardless of editor or reader demand, Rock’s and Easy Company’s hold on readership for more than fifteen years has been utter realism. And as the creator, only I know whether Rock or Easy survived the war.

The chances are very much against it. Rock belongs in WW-2.

I did a tale once where he appeared from the Revolutionary War onwards. But that was solely due to his having a concussion from a nearby exploding shell and imaging this. Otherwise, Rock lives and probably is killed in action in WW-2.” Kanigher refused to let the matter die, often echoing this in later lettercols and emphatically declaring, in Sgt. Rock #340, “[1945] is the year Rock is killed in action. On the last day, in the last hour, in the last minute—in a place he never should have been. And only because Rock is Rock with his last breath.” Haney would come to regard Kanigher as a “whacko” tyrant.

Also in 1959, after taking aim at the archer of Sherwood Forest by scripting numerous Robin Hood tales, Haney penned his first Green Arrow (and Speedy) adventure in World’s Finest Comics #103

Haney’s Metamorpho was a modest hit for DC in the 1960s. The Element Man, who premiered in B&B, teamed with the Metal Men in issue #66 in 1966. Decades later, its artist, Ramona Fradon, illustrated this undated recreation of its cover.

TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage.

(Aug. 1959). “The Challenge of the Phantom Bandit,” drawn by regular GA artist and Bob’s former Black Cat crony Lee Elias, opened with a patented Haney grabber as a sedan drives right through a thief who’s mocking the Battling Bowman!

That same comic, WFC #103, contained another connection to a future Haney classic. Its lead Superman/Batman adventure, written

by Bill Finger and drawn by Dick Sprang and Sheldon Moldoff, featured two curio dealers who go power-mad after obtaining artifacts once in a magician’s possession. One of the adversaries in “The Secret of the Sorcerer’s Treasure” was named Bork—like Carl Bork, from B&B #81’s Haney/Neal Adams classic “But Bork Can Hurt You!”—and as Haney’s Bork’s inexplicable invulnerability repelled the attacks of co-stars Batman and Flash, Finger’s Bork’s magic prism bounced away the flying Superman like a rubber ball.

Coincidence? We’ll never know.

Superheroes seized the comic-book world in the 1960s in what Haney called “the revolution,” and the writer, his assignments diminishing as war comics began a slow fade, transitioned with the market change. First he scribed characters that straddled the line

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© Ballantine Books.

between superheroes and high-adventure, such as the Sea Devils and Cave Carson. This fluency with multiple genres, combined with his ability to, like the indefatigable Rock of Easy Company, always deliver when needed, made him perfect for penning the team-ups in The Brave and the Bold which began in 1963 under co-editors George Kashdan and Murray Boltinoff.

Haney also co-created unconventional superheroes that were vastly different from DC’s buttoned-down, largely interchangeable super-people. One was Eclipso, the “Hero and Villain in One Man,” in House of Secrets. Even though he teamed Eclipso with Batman in B&B #64, the character was one on which Haney felt he did “a mediocre job.” Haney also developed the freakish-buthilarious Metamorpho, the Element Man, and the Enchantress, sort of Bewitched-meets-Wonder Woman. He was even involved with writer Arnold Drake’s creation of the Doom Patrol, a group so unusual that DC originally intended to call them “The Legion of the Strange.” Throughout the decade, he was one of DC’s busiest writers, with Aquaman, Teen Titans, more war stories, and even scripts for romance comics added to his resume.

Despite this mushrooming volume of DC work, the scribe looked down upon the comic-book medium. “It’s kid’s junk,” he remarked to interviewer Catron of comics’ addictiveness. “Kid’s poison. Adults have their junk. Whether it’s booze or sex or whatever.” During this superhero boom Haney found employment scripting animation, for Filmation’s TV adaptations of DC properties such as Aquaman and Superman, and regarded this as a positive step forward for his career.

“Though sometimes despairing of the animation field, and the unjust prejudice against it, Bob sincerely feels its important and true golden age is yet to come,” Haney wrote of his own ambitions in Brave and Bold #83.

As the 1960s drew to a close, most of DC’s seasoned writers were put out to pasture, some even being blacklisted for daring to lobby for benefits. Haney was one of the few who maintained a berth at the company, and as explored in depth earlier in this chapter, his Batman team-ups for The Brave and the Bold were among the hottest sellers for the publisher.

In the 1970s, when teamed with artist Jim Aparo, Haney’s B&B became unbeatable, and soon editor Murray Boltinoff brought Bob on board to inject new verve to the ho-hum Superman/Batman team in World’s Finest. And so, the B&B (and WFC) beat went on, and on, and on.

Haney, a rugged individualist, boater, skier, and outdoorsman, had a rich life in Woodstock outside of his work as a comic-book scribe. He was a homebuilder and constructed a dozen houses in his community, “houses for friends, mainly, around here,” he told interviewer Catron. Bob built his own rustic cabin, which became a “character” in the classic, fourth-wall-breaking Batman/ Sgt. Rock team-up in The Brave and the Bold #124. He combined his worlds of words and wood in the 1974 Random House–published Woodstock Handmade Houses, “a photo book of funky Woodstock houses” co-produced with writer David Ballantine and photographer Jonathan Elliot.

“It sold 150,000 copies in paperback.” Haney allied with fellow citizens Robert “Robin” DeLisio, Ed Sanders, and Murray Prosky as one of the “Friends of Woodstock,” environmentalists that stood up against ecological pillaging during the development of the Woodstock Estates Community (sounds like a plot from a Batman/Teen Titans B&B, doesn’t it?).

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The Team-Up Companion

The Four ‘S’s of Haney’s Characters

In Bob Haney’s comic-book stories, four recurring character types dictate virtually all of his work. Be they in fatigues, denim and boots, jodhpurs, a cowl and cape, or the hottest imported fashion, Haney’s protagonists, the heroes and hellions that lived and breathed, loved and backstabbed, in his tales’ sweltering jungles and naked cities, were one of the following: 1. A Soldier 2. A Swashbuckler 3. A Sailor 4. A Sinner Like so many of his contemporaries who fought on the frontlines of World War II, Bob Haney was compelled to tell comic-book stories about soldiers. Part therapy, part bravado, soldiers were his bread and butter during his early DC years. Even many of his superhero stories involved soldiers, from Batman’s frequent ally Sgt. Rock to the military personnel that propelled several Batman team-ups to Batman himself serving the metaphorical role of soldier, either at the call of top-cop Commissioner Gordon or even the U.S. president. Military weaponry would occasionally be employed in his stories, such as the use of WWI biplanes in the wonky Spectre/Flash team-up in B&B #72.

Having personally piloted aircraft during his WWII Navy days, Haney relived those high-flying experiences vicariously through Batman in many of the Caped Crusader’s early B&Bs (including #59, 69, 76, and 77) with the hero ascending into the Gotham skies in his Whirly-Bat, a device that was rarely being used elsewhere at the time.

Swashbucklers had mesmerized Haney from childhood, when his young eyes pored over every ink line and Ben-day-dot-colored Hal Foster Prince Valiant panel. He fancied himself a swashbuckler, as evidenced by his lifestyle—he often remarked that he got his story ideas while on ski lifts or while fishing for marlin—and felt at home with the sword-wielders and bowmen of the early Brave and Bolds. Many of his team-up characters, from his mercurially tempered Batman to his swaggering Green Arrow, were cut from that same cloth. Haney also revisited old-guard knights and Camelot-isms in his B&B team-ups, from Merlin’s appearance in #109’s Batman/Demon tale to a modernera medieval excursion in #144’s Batman/GA adventure.

From the high seas of a Viking Prince epic to the briny depths of Aquaman’s domed undersea city of Atlantis, Haney’s stories were drowning with sailors. While Batman lurked among the marble gargoyles of Gotham skyscrapers in most DC books, in Haney’s Brave and Bold he was all wet, and quite often. Batman, in scubagear, fought Nazi frogmen in B&B #126’s Aquaman team-up… hopped both a tugboat and a tanker (and punched a shark) in #127’s Wildcat team-up… and rode a helicopter-submarine (yes, you read that right) to infiltrate the undersea lair of Granny Goodness in #128’s Batman/Mister Miracle team-up.

And in Haney’s “calmer” city settings, sinners were in great abundance, especially in The Brave and the Bold. Haney’s Gotham City was a destination for no end of bank robbers, gangsters, hit men, child kidnappers, heiress snatchers, ruthless businessmen, ruthless businesswomen (Ruby Ryder, anyone?), domestic terrorists, international terrorists, rioters, shamans, and smugglers. Once in a while, a supervillain or alien conqueror would make the scene. And when Batman had the occasion to get out of town in a Haney tale, there was always a banana-republic despot, Mexican bandit, or Far Eastern assassin poised to remove the hero’s cowl—and head.

Many fans, especially late discoverers of Haney’s Brave and Bolds, have allowed the writer’s excesses to distract them from his stories’ real-world roots. Not reader Mark Dooley, who defended Haney’s hot-tempered Batman when opining in B&B #121’s “Mailbag,” “With two pros like Bob and Jim [Aparo], the emphasis is on more realism than in the regular Batman comic. So Batman can be allowed to blow up and show his temper more than he does in other mags.”

A product of the Great Depression, as a youth Haney was no stranger to tough times, living with his family in a ramshackle village outside of Philadelphia. Shown here is such a Depression-era community, called a “Hooverville,” in New York City, in 1935.

Haney’s ear for the “hard-luck stories” of wanderers inspired his down-and-out portrayals of B&B co-stars Wildcat and Plastic Man. Photo by Berenice Abbott, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.

Haney’s Brave and Bold plots were often imprinted by the novels, films, and headlines of his day: examples include a cult that worships a demon-child (Rosemary’s Baby) in #98’s Batman/Phantom Stranger shocker; a power-mad sentient computer (2001: A Space Odyssey) in #103’s Batman/Metal Men team-up; ancient alien visitations (Chariots of the Gods?) in #112’s Batman/Mister Miracle tale; the Atom’s body invasion of Batman’s brain (Fantastic Voyage) in #115; a misfit squadron of WWII vets (The Dirty Dozen) possessed by an evil goddess in #116’s Batman/ Spectre story; and a prescient 1979 Batman/Atom adventure in #152 that featured computer hacking.

Haney made his corner of the DC Universe familiar to any reader paying attention to what was happening outside of the comic spin-rack. And when the Bermuda Triangle, the mysterious North Atlantic waterway that supposedly swallowed ships and planes that dared defy its waters, captivated the public attention in the mid-1970s, Haney responded with the “Dead Man’s Quadrangle” in B&B #127’s Batman/Wildcat teamup… a story that featured an audacious “man’s man” author, Hannibal Kingsley, drawn by Aparo to be the spitting image of Haney himself.

Haney not only imagined himself as the virile Hemingway of funnybooks, but others perceived him that way as well. “The joke around the office—Bob laughed at this as heartily as anyone—was that Bob was the guy you wanted to have pose for the picture on the dust jacket of your novel,” said Mike W. Barr. “Tall, ruggedly handsome, and bearded, Bob was the idealization of the novelist come to life.”

Meanwhile, in Hooterville

Hard-Luck Hero

Two of Batman’s frequent Brave and Bold buddies, Golden Age expats Wildcat and Plastic Man, were reimagined to reflect the tales of woe Bob witnessed firsthand as a child of the Depression. In B&B #88, former heavyweight Ted Grant, who moonlighted as the costumed crimefighter Wildcat, was now a morose has-been long past his glory days who needed an ego-boost from Batman. In #95, Plastic Man, chagrined after becoming a rubbery laughing-stock, had slipped out of the limelight to become a disheveled, lovesick drifter. (Curiously, DC’s actual hard-luck hero of the Bronze Age, Green Arrow, the former millionaire reduced to living in hovels and considering a can of chili beans to be gourmet dining, had money to burn in Haney’s stories.) Haney’s scripts would rescue Wildcat and Plas from rock bottom in what might have been the writer’s vicarious attempts to provide happy endings for the itinerants who drifted through the shantytown Bob grew up in.

Two of CBS’s 1960s country comedies, Petticoat Junction and Green Acres, were set in the same rural hamlet called Hooterville and featured crossover characters. The network’s sitcom juggernaut, The Beverly Hillbillies, took place in the same universe, with its characters occasionally visiting Hooterville. Shown here is such an example, a team-up of Granny and Uncle Joe in the Petticoat Junction episode “Granny, the Baby Expert,” first airing on November 2, 1968. © CBS Studios, Inc.

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The ultimate hard-luck hero in the Bob Haney saga was the writer himself. Even during his most fruitful years, his stay at DC was fraught with conflicts with editors, which, to be fair, were sometimes incited by Bob’s own bluster. By the late 1970s he was perceived by DC’s fresh, young editors as stuck in his old habits. One by one, his superhero books were reassigned to other writers: first World’s Finest in 1978, then B&B in 1979.

On his last remaining regular assignment, the battle comic The Unknown Soldier (US), Haney found a sympathetic ally in its young editor, Mike Barr. “When I became editor of Unknown Soldier, a World War II title featuring a character that I believe Bob co-created, I was told I could use a different writer. I preferred to talk to Bob about updating his approach, believing he certainly deserved that opportunity for his years of service. His US scripts for me required an occasional slight rewriting, but nothing drastic. When I attempted to expand the editorial appeal of the book in its last days, Bob wrote a swell three-part ‘Tomahawk’ story for me, leading me to believe that Bob was most comfortable with assignments that stood alone, without having to account for their protagonists’ appearances in simultaneous exploits elsewhere. But management had decreed that the day of the anthology books at DC was over, despite how well they might have been doing, though most of them probably weren’t doing very well.” Editor Len Wein was assigned the final two issues of Unknown Soldier, and Haney instantly caught a whiff of his impending doom when Wein purportedly asked him during an early meeting, “What are you still doing in this business?” The book died with issue #268 (Oct. 1982), headlined by Haney’s swan song story aptly titled “A Farewell to War.” Just over a year later, the onceprolific wordsmith’s byline was given a reprieve for one last hurrah in a DC comic. His story “War Without End” appeared in G.I. Combat #260 (Dec. 1983), a “bizarre battle tale” TM & © DC Comics. that bustled with patented Haney unorthodoxy. Its protagonist was a World War II soldier who was inexplicably tossed by a bomb blast into the future. It was a rather ignoble end to the DC career of the one-time father of the team-up comic book, however, since its artists (Pat Broderick, inker, and Dick Ayers, penciler) were promoted on the cover, but Haney wasn’t. On the story’s opening page, Haney’s writer credit received lukewarm fanfare, eclipsed by a larger box with the artists’ names in bold font. Since “War Without End” bore a DC job number of a much earlier numerical sequence than the issue’s other stories, it was probably a story that had been collecting dust in inventory—no doubt written for Weird War Tales, considering its sci-fi subject matter— but yanked from mothballs to capitalize on the rising stardom of artist Broderick. Ironically, the editor of G.I. Combat was another old-timer whose editorship of the title, his sole remaining assignment, was essentially a table scrap hurled his way as a pat on the noggin for years of loyalty: Bob’s former B&B boss, Murray Boltinoff.

Haney had more stories to tell, though. During the mid-1980s, Rankin/Bass Productions, which had formerly produced stop-motion holiday television specials like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, was producing traditionally animated adventure cartoons for the syndicated TV market and gave Bob some of his last scripting

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work. Haney wrote stories for the popular ThunderCats, as well as SilverHawks. He plied his Metamorpho-hewed humor-writing chops on Karate Kat, a Hong Kong Phooey clone that was one of four segments (joining the similarly derivative Street Frogs, The Mini-Monsters, and TigerSharks) in a Rankin/Bass syndicated package called The Comic Strip. Haney’s second foray into scripting for animation didn’t last long, and to complicate the poor guy’s life, after 31 years of marriage he and his wife Nancy divorced, on January 4, 1991. It seemed that no one wanted Bob Haney any more.

He had shorn his prominent beard by the time the comics industry finally offered him a round of applause during the San Diego Comic-Con of 1997, when Haney received his Inkpot Award. But although he regaled his old chum Michael Catron that year in the aforementioned lengthy interview, Haney’s vigorous recollections of personal, professional, and even sexual conquests were tempered by an undercurrent of sadness—laments that he had rejected an offer from Stan Lee to write for Marvel, that he never received commensurate appreciation for the Adams-drawn darkening of Batman, and that when he turned in his final Unknown Soldier script, “Nobody even said, ‘You want a cup of coffee?’ It was like you didn’t exist.”

Bob Haney needed a clean break, and at the suggestion of his sister Margaret relocated from Woodstock, New York, to San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico, in 1998.

Goodbye, snowy winters, hello, sunny sand.

For his final years, Haney stumbled into the role of lovable curmudgeon among the San Felipe shopkeepers. With a stoop to his step, in a crumpled ensemble that might very well have doubled as the previous night’s sleepwear, Bob, always appearing a day or three behind in his shaving, shuffled each day from haunt to haunt. He would saunter from the coffeehouse to the deli to the bookstore, poring over the events of the day on store TVs or in news mags while woefully unaware that, his 1997 Inkpot Award aside, back home in the States there was a mounting appreciation for his work.

In the spring of 2004 I intended to personally tell Mr. Haney how much his stories meant to me, and to so many others, by conducting via telephone a Back Issue magazine “Pro2Pro” interview between Bob and his B&B partner Jim Aparo. I tracked him to San Felipe but was heartbroken to discover that he had just taken seriously ill and was receiving hospice care. He passed away on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 2004, at age 78. That was a tough year for me, as three of my other personal heroes—editor Julius Schwartz, Superman actor Christopher Reeve, and my amazing, hilarious, unselfish father—died as well.

I never had the opportunity to meet Bob Haney in person, or speak with him on the phone. But I feel like I knew him.

Throughout my childhood and adolescence, he was there guiding me, piquing my own imagination and providing me with enough story entertainment to last a lifetime. One day, on the other side, I’ll get a chance to thank Bob Haney face-to-face, or spirit-tospirit, for those wonderful stories. And what an outrageous moment that will be!

Portions of this essay appeared as an editorial in Back Issue #66 and have been edited and expanded for The Team-Up Companion.

B&B CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: JIM APARO Batman’s Bravest and Boldest Ally

Pop quiz for the B&B booster: Who appeared most frequently with Batman in The Brave and the Bold?

Green Arrow? No, you missed the mark.

Wildcat? Think again, tiger!

The Metal Men? What, have you blown a circuit?

Appearing more with Batman in Brave and Bold was artist Jim Aparo, whose versatility with drawing a host of heroic co-stars dazzled B&B readers for almost 100 issues. For many who read DC comics during the 1970s and 1980s, Aparo was the Batman artist, following B&B’s 1983 cancellation with memorable runs on Batman and the Outsiders and the main Batman title, as well as issues of Detective Comics and other Bat-projects and covers. He was also known for his popular runs on DC’s Aquaman, The Phantom Stranger, and the critically acclaimed “Spectre” saga in Adventure Comics, and before that, several features at Charlton Comics, including The Phantom.

As stated in the previous essay, my original goal was to conduct a “Pro2Pro” interview between Jim Aparo and writer Bob Haney, B&B’s team supreme, about their collaboration on the long-running team-up title, for publication in the magazine I edit, Back Issue. However, those plans were scuttled once Mr. Haney suffered an illness during the spring of 2004 from which he did not recover. He passed away on November 25, 2004.

But a solo chat with the amiable Mr. Aparo was far from settling for second best. I am honored to have been able to do so—particularly when considering that just over a year after this conversation was conducted, he died, on July 19, 2005, making this one of the, if not the, final interviews conducted with the bravest and boldest of artists. So read on as one of Batman’s premier illustrators shares his recollections on his unparalleled tenure as the tsar of team-ups.

This interview was conducted by telephone on May 24, 2004 and transcribed by Brian K. Morris. It was originally published in Back Jim Aparo.

Issue #7 (Dec. 2004) and has been Courtesy of Eric Nolen-Weathington. edited for presentation in The Team-Up Companion.

MICHAEL EURY: You came to DC Comics at the invitation of Dick Giordano, who was your editor at Charlton Comics before he was hired by DC. JIM APARO: Dick was a really good friend of mine. He still is.

He hired me at Charlton. We’re about the same age, we had the same amount of children—two daughters and a son; we were duplicate copies, you know?

EURY: Your first issue of The Brave and the Bold was #98, teaming Batman with a character whose book you were drawing at the time: the Phantom Stranger. But you didn’t draw the next issue of B&B. Was the Phantom Stranger team-up originally a one-time event, or did editor Murray Boltinoff have you in mind to permanently take over the strip?

APARO: I believe it was just for that one issue. But I liked drawing Batman and Murray was satisfied with the work I did, and brought me back permanently [beginning with issue #100].

EURY: What approach did you bring to Batman that was different from that of Neal Adams, Dick Giordano, Irv Novick, and the other Bat-artists of the day?

APARO: Not much. Neal, of course, was one of the big stars of Batman.

I know we all looked at him on how to draw Batman.

Yeah, Neal was quite a help. Not personally, but his style of art.

Now he’s in advertising, I think.

EURY: That’s true.

APARO: I was in advertising before I got into comics. I worked in an outfit in West Hartford, Connecticut. I was one of the artists on the advertising staff.

EURY: What types of accounts did you work on?

APARO: Oh, local stuff, either stores or factory-type things.

EURY: Fashion illustration?

APARO: No, it had nothing to do with that. I’d make posters, ads for sales presentations, drawing things like toasters.

EURY: I don’t remember any toasters appearing in Brave and Bold team-ups. But if Batman needed a toaster in the Batcave, you knew how to draw one, right? [laughs] APARO: [laughs] Yeah, that’s right.

EURY: In The Brave and the Bold, did the editors of the guest-star characters have any approval rights over your team-ups?

APARO: Not really. Murray was the guy.

EURY: I find that surprising, because today, using another editor’s characters involves layers of approvals.

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So no other editors ever reviewed, or even disapproved of, your interpretations of their characters? You were never asked to redraw, say, Wonder Woman or Green Lantern?

APARO: Yeah, that happened occasionally, Michael, but I didn’t mind, you know? Although most of the time, I was on the money. They must have enjoyed what I was doing. But I really had no interference.

EURY: Was Murray Boltinoff a hands-on editor?

APARO: Murray let me do what I had to do. He believed that I could handle it. You know, he was always constantly changing this what-not or that what-not, “You didn’t do this the way I wanted you to do it.”

The competition was always there between our artists and Murray.

And that’s true of Julie Schwartz, too, but it worked out okay.

But when changes needed to be made, [Boltinoff] would just call me on the phone and tell me, “Now, Jim, I want you to do this thing.

I’ll send you some pages back and correct them,” or whatever, and I’d send them back in.

Murray was a good man. Carmine [Infantino], he was in charge of DC at the moment. I got along with him, too. They were great guys.

They really were, once you got to know them.

I got along with Murray, although a lot of people complained about him. I got along with a lot of people at DC. But the reason was because I was not there all the time, I wasn’t down there in New York.

I was in my own studio in Connecticut. [laughs] And that helps, because normally, when you’re working together, it’s kind of hard.

EURY: How often did you actually go into the city?

APARO: Oh, not that much. In case they really needed me to come down, for whatever reason, I would make the trip. And then every once in a while, I would come down on my own to see everybody, to see what they were doing. But they left me alone.

You’re left alone, you’re doing your thing, you sent it down there.

I could send stuff down, pages at a time, because I would make copies of my pages here so I would know what I drew and then I would send the originals down by mail. They would deal with it; do the color, do the lettering, whatever they had to do.

When you’re down there, you can be doing something else and somebody will ask you, “Well, what about this?” “What about that?”

You’d blow a whole day, just answering!

EURY: You worked for a long time on Brave and Bold with Bob Haney. Tell me about Bob.

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Infamous to some, admired by others, the Batman/Sgt. Rock tale in B&B #124 guest-starred artist Aparo, writer Bob Haney, and editor Murray Boltinoff. (opposite page) Terrorists force the artist to draw their desired outcome in the fourth-wall-breaking Brave and Bold #124 (Jan. 1976). Original cover art by Aparo.

TM & © DC Comics. Original art scan courtesy of Heritage.

APARO: Bob was a good writer. I enjoyed him very much.

I only met him once or twice, but we got along well. We talked a lot on the phone when I needed help. “What did you mean by this?” and “What did you mean by that?” We never had any problems.

EURY: Were Haney’s Brave and Bold scripts detailed, with specific panel directions, or did he give you leeway to interpret the stories?

APARO: In Bob’s scripts, he would say, “Batman is going to be doing this, but you can do it at any angle you want.” Some other writers would say, “No, I want you to draw him straight-on.”

Haney would give you the idea of what’s supposed to be in the panel, and it would be up to you as the artist to put it down the way you think it should be and what angle it’s going to be at, looking up, looking down, sideways, upside-down, whatever. Most writers that I worked with gave me leeway.

EURY: I’m sure when you were encouraged to put more of your own storytelling there, it made you put more of yourself into the stories as well.

APARO: Right, yeah.

EURY: Many of Haney’s scripts called for Batman doing some pretty peculiar things: riding a camel in the desert [in B&B #112’s Mister Miracle team-up] and leading an army of gorilla soldiers [in B&B #120’s Kamandi team-up]. Do you recall ever reading a Haney script and thinking, “Now this is kind of outlandish for Batman”?

APARO: No, because I was going along with it.

But, Michael, it was an education for me. I would go to my local library—I knew the librarian there—and she used to give me books for reference, so I would know what these things looked like because I never went overseas to, say, the Middle East, you know? It was for me, really, an education.

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EURY: I’ll bet it was. You usually think of writers being the ones spending time at the library.

APARO: Yeah, I guess Haney was a library man. His scripts definitely depended on that reference. But I had to consult books with photos in them—what the buildings looked like, and the towers, and this and that, and how the people looked.

I liked drawing him, the new version of him. I’ve got [a Green Arrow drawing] tacked on the wall over here. He looked better with the beard than he did before.

EURY: Were you aware that it was actually in The Brave and the Bold that Green Arrow was updated? In one of the issues that Neal Adams did [#85], a year or two before you came on to the book?

APARO: I remember that now, now that you bring that up.

EURY: What type of art reference did you receive from DC for drawing Batman’s co-stars? Were there company model sheets for the characters?

APARO: Most of the artists got comic books that came in the mail.

EURY: Comp copies.

APARO: Yeah. They used to send me the books anyway, so I’d hang onto them. What was the book where a whole bunch of them were together?

EURY: You’re probably thinking of Justice League.

APARO: Right. There were two versions of the Justice League, weren’t there?

EURY: Well, there’s the Justice Society.

APARO: Right. So that’s how I got the reference for the characters.

EURY: Exclusively from the comics.

APARO: I never had to bother [DC] about it unless I had to draw somebody that I hadn’t seen in a long time. They would send me a copy of a book, or whatever.

EURY: Did you ever find it intimidating to draw so many different characters?

APARO: No, I had a lot of fun doing it.

And it was a challenge to do all these different things. I mean, it wasn’t work… well, it was work, physically, but mentally, I enjoyed it.

EURY: You were a jack-of-all-trades on many of your B&Bs: pencils, inks, and even your own lettering. Did you submit lettered penciled pages to Murray Boltinoff for editorial review, or did you have a different method?

APARO: They used to go in full—fully completed pages. Most artists didn’t want to do lettering. They just wanted to draw and that’s it. But I always loved lettering.

EURY: That also gave you more freedom in panel composition—you could even control how sound effects worked with your art.

APARO: Yeah, that’s right.

EURY: Let’s discuss your recollections of some of the characters you drew in Brave and Bold. What about Green Arrow?

APARO: He was a very frequent guest-star.

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Really, was there any character in the DC Universe that the amazing Mr. Aparo couldn’t draw?

TM & © DC Comics.

EURY: What about Deadman?

APARO: Deadman… he’s standing there, people are walking by him, they don’t see him. That was quite a character, fun to draw.

EURY: How about the Metal Men? APARO: They were quite a problem. Yeah, they were tough to do, since they kept changing shape, but I enjoyed them.

The Shadow and the Bat

EURY: You had a knack for drawing beautiful women. Your Wonder Woman is fondly remembered.

APARO: The first time I drew her [B&B #105], she was in regular clothing.

EURY: Right. That was during the period she’d lost her powers and was wearing a white jumpsuit—definitely inspired by Diana Rigg, “Mrs. Peel” from the TV show The Avengers.

APARO: You know, I thought it was a great idea. It didn’t last long before they put her back in the original outfit.

EURY: The star-spangled bathing suit. . . .

APARO: Yeah, and they beefed it up a little bit.

EURY: Ohhh, yeah, they did. [laughter] Now, you drew Sgt. Rock quite a few times.

APARO: I was never a military-type artist. I had to depend on Joe Kubert—what a great war artist. Sometimes I would show up in New York and talk to Joe about drawing Sgt. Rock. He said, “Oh, you’re doing great, don’t worry about it.” He was quite a guy, Joe. I really liked him. Before I got into comics, I used to read his stuff.

EURY: So the Batman/Sgt. Rock team-ups were the only time you ever really drew any war stories?

APARO: I think those are the only ones, really.

EURY: Do you remember much about Wildcat? He was a Golden Age character who appeared with Batman a lot in B&B. APARO: Yeah, I drew him a couple of times.

EURY: Were you aware of the controversy surrounding Wildcat’s appearances? The Spectre’s, too?

APARO: No, not really. What controversy?

EURY: Wildcat and the Spectre were, at the time, on DC’s Earth-Two, while Batman was on Earth-One. So each time Wildcat and Spectre appeared with Batman, it drove the readers who followed continuity crazy.

APARO: We didn’t keep up much with that.

EURY: You even got to draw Superman in one issue of The Brave and the Bold [#150]. He was a surprise guest-star.

APARO: Yeah, I enjoyed drawing that.

EURY: A few DC heroes of the day curiously never teamed up with Batman in Brave and Bold, like Martian Manhunter, the Doom Patrol, Jimmy Olsen, Challengers of the Unknown, and Captain Marvel. Were there any heroes you wished you had a chance to draw in B&B? APARO: I used to read Captain Marvel, Jr. when I was a kid. I loved that character….

EURY: You appeared on the cover of B&B #124, coerced by terrorists to draw Batman’s death. You also appeared in the story itself, with along with Haney and Boltinoff. What are your recollections of this tale?

APARO: Haney’s script had me doing the artwork from my basement studio. These guys wearing masks—hoods—came down

A licensing arrangement in the early 1970s allowed DC Comics to publish The Shadow as well as two Batman/Shadow team-ups, this one in Batman #253 (Nov. 1973) and a follow-up a year later, in Batman #259. Who knows what magic writer Bob Haney and artist Jim Aparo might have provided if the contract had allowed them to do a Batman/Shadow team-up in B&B? Only The Shadow knows… the rest of us will have to just imagine.

Batman TM & © DC Comics. The Shadow TM & © Condé Nast.

and forced me to draw. I escaped through the window. I have a window, of course. [chuckles] EURY: Glad you were able to get away safely! [laughs] So, you not only were drawing comic books, but with Brave and Bold #124 you were starring in a comic book. Did your family get a kick out of that particular issue?

APARO: Sure. But my kids never got too excited about my job.

They just accepted it as what I did. They would occasionally read an issue, but they weren’t big comics fans.

EURY: You sometimes drew celebrity cameos in B&B, from Columbo to Sammy Davis, Jr. Did you ever sneak one in that no one’s ever called you on?

APARO: I don’t think so, no. But I used to leave clues in the artwork, as a hint to the reader for the next issue’s guest star. Like when I knew I was going to draw Green Arrow next issue, I’d leave an arrow.

EURY: You drew almost every issue of The Brave and the Bold from 1971 to 1983. What was the secret to your longevity?

APARO: There were a lot of characters I ended up drawing, which, to me, I enjoyed. How many artists get a chance to do something like that?

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B&B CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: CHARLIE BOATNER “Whatever Happened to What’s’ername?”

Writer Charlie Boatner Discusses His Batman/ Metal Men Team-Up When The Brave and the Bold #187 (June 1982) hit the stands, teaming Batman and the Metal Men, it had been a while since readers had seen DC’s robot team… and even longer since Tin’s girlfriend, Nameless (a.k.a. “Beautiful”), had made an appearance. Writer Charlie Boatner, who had recently made his first sale to DC with the story “Viewpoints” in Mystery in Space #111 (Sept. 1980) and only had a few other scripts under his belt, posed the question “Whatever Happened to What’s’ername?” in this clever Batman/Metal Men whodunit remembered by many as one of the Charlie Boatner. most poignant B&B tales ever.

This interview was conducted via email in October 2013 and originally appeared in Back Issue #72 (May 2014). It has been edited for presentation in The Team-Up Companion.

MICHAEL EURY: B&B #187 displays your acute knowledge of Metal Men lore. When did you first discover the Metal Men? CHARLIE BOATNER: I was at my local drugstore, looking for the latest Top Cat or Snooper and Blabber, or some other Gold Key title, and stumbled across Metal Men #4 (Oct.–Nov. 1963). Tin’s giant face took up much of the cover and reminded me of W. W. Denslow’s illustrations of the Tin Woodman in the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Murray Ward wrote an article for Comic Book Marketplace where he perceptively described Metal Men as his bridge between funny animals and superheroes.

EURY: What about the group appealed to you as a reader?

BOATNER: Wow, I have many answers to that! Many boys like robots because they can’t be hurt.

Mercury was appealing because he was constantly losing his temper, yet his friends stuck by him.

I saw Doc Magnus, the brilliant scientist, as an idealized version of my father, who was an engineer at a subatomic research project.

Every issue had strange creatures or weird transformations: a half-pterodactyl, half-biplane, an oozy brain floating through

The Team-Up Companion

EURY: Describe how you pitched this story to B&B editor Dick Giordano…

BOATNER: I typed up a detailed plot synopsis.

My idea (although this wasn’t in my pitch) was that I wanted to do a Metal Men story in The Worst Way. Not having a book, they could only appear in B&B, which meant I had to include Batman in the plot. What kind of mystery involving the Metal Men could Batman solve? For me, the most interesting mystery was the unspoken question, beginning with MM #33, “Whatever happened to What’s’ername?”

EURY: Was the story fully developed at the time of your pitch, or did Dick help you with its plotting?

BOATNER: The plot was fully developed, but Dick suggested many changes for the better. What impressed me about Dick’s editing was that he didn’t make specific changes, just evocative suggestions. He explained how to better portray Batman and encouraged me to emphasize the haunting idea of a forgotten, nameless character.

For example, most of the old villains weren’t in my first draft (which was sort of linear and flat), but Dick said I needed to increase the drama. Again, no specifics. That inspired me to kill the team, one-by-one, Agatha Christie–style, which in turn required more villains.

EURY: How many comics stories had you written at the time of this sale?

BOATNER: I had made four sales to DC, and one to Marvel. The business being unpredictable as it is, only two of those were ever drawn and printed.

EURY: At that stage of your career, you were drawing layouts for your artists rather than typing a standard script or plot. Did Jim Aparo have any objections to working from your drawings?

BOATNER: Mr. Aparo was gracious and gave it a try.

EURY: Did you have any direct contact with Aparo during the issue’s production?

BOATNER: No. I phoned him afterward to ask for some original art. We chatted about his working from my layouts. He had begun, thinking he could ignore my treatment and create his own camera angles, etc., but ended up finding it difficult to get my visuals out of his head.

EURY: Your Batman treated the Metal Men as friends and allies, whereas writer Bob Haney sometimes characterized Batman as dismissive of the robots, especially in their very first team-up in 1967’s B&B #74. Was this your take on Batman, or the character’s growth in his

TM & © DC Comics.

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space, the team melting into one hero, then that thing mutating into a monster…

acceptance of Doc Magnus’ robots as “people”?

BOATNER: I figured that, after their several team-ups, Batman would have “gotten with the program” and respected their personalities.

EURY: Several of the Metal Men’s old foes made cameos in the story, including B.O.L.T.S., who tangles with Batman on page 13. But this was scripted and originally drawn as Batman fighting Chemo. Why was Chemo replaced with B.O.L.T.S.?

BOATNER: Superman #370 came out the same year with Chemo as the villain. I guess the B&B staff wasn’t aware of the Superman story and someone noticed the conflict only at the last second.

Still, Lead’s destruction by acid makes more sense if Chemo did it.

Batman’s battle in the cavern is more fun if he creates an avalanche of soil rich in basic minerals to neutralize Chemo’s acid.

EURY: Your story was well received by readers of the day; B&B #192’s lettercol was packed with praise for your issue.

Was there ever any discussion of your writing either another Metal Men story or a Metal Men series?

BOATNER: No, they still had no stage. Their last series had been cancelled as recently as four years before, and The Brave and the Bold changed direction only a year later.

Speaking of the great feedback, I’ve been asked about the anonymous robot Tin called his “wife” in B&B #103 (Oct. 1972).

I could explain that away, but it wasn’t worth the panel space.

(left) Jim Aparo’s original art for page 13 showing Chemo, who was altered into a different Metal Men rogue, B.O.L.T.S. (right), in the published version.

TM & © DC Comics. Aparo art photocopy courtesy of Jim Kingman.

EURY: Were you aware that Ehapa reprinted your story for the European market? It was published in German in Batman Sonderheft #27. (In German, “What’s’ername” is “Tausendschön,” and “Nameless” is “Namenlos.”

BOATNER: That’s excellent!

EURY: I understand that B&B #187 wasn’t the only robot story you wrote for comics…

BOATNER: My first sale was the story of a robot from the future meeting a prehistoric man. I wrote it for DC’s Time Warp but it appeared in the first issue of a relaunched Mystery in Space. I also wrote about the android NoMan for JC Comics and Archie Comics. Those stories were drawn by Marshall Rogers and Steve Ditko. Add Jim Aparo, and it’s obvious that I’ve been very lucky with artists!

EURY: What do you do for a living today?

BOATNER: I support computer systems for the Social Security Administration. One of my machines stutters and another keeps trying to hug me!

Chapter 1: The Brave and the Bold

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Batman bows out of World’s Finest Comics (sort of) to allow Superman to team up with other heroes, starting with the Fastest Man Alive. Cover to issue #198 (Nov. 1970) by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson.

TM & © DC Comics.

Historically, Superman usually had the jump on his World’s Finest pal, Batman—unsurprising for a hero who can leap tall buildings in a single bound. Superman premiered first, and was first out the gate to get his own radio show, newspaper comic strip, animated theatrical cartoons, merchandising deals, live-action television series, and Saturday morning cartoon show, with Batman’s scalloped cape flapping from the gusts kicked up by his super-friend’s successes. (The Caped Crusader did beat the Man of Steel to the punch as the star of a live-action movie serial, however, debuting on the Silver Screen in 1943, five years before Superman’s 1948 live-action serial.)

As the Silver Age of Comics began in the late 1950s, Superman was the bestselling title at National Periodical Publications (DC Comics), partially due to the hero’s television presence in the George Reeves– starring Adventures of Superman. Yet it was the iron grip not of the Man of Tomorrow but instead his editor, Mort Weisinger, that made a hit out of any book featuring the Big Red “S”—even TV show–inspired titles starring Superman’s girlfriend and pal. From his my-way-or-the-highway editorial orchestration of a vast mythology that included faraway planets, super-science, monsters, robots, super-pets, doppelgangers, and a Superman family, Mort made Superman DC’s gold standard. Batman, whose original gothic tone had been softened by the addition of a boy sidekick and the implementation of a content-controlling Comics Code, could only slam the Batmobile’s pedal to the metal to try to keep up.

By the 1960s, Batman’s editor, the erudite but line-toeing Jack Schiff, was following Weisinger’s blustery lead, adding faraway planets, super-science, monsters, robots, super-pets, doppelgangers, and a Batman family to the Bat-series. Whereas a teenage Supergirl, loyal Krypto the Superdog, mischievous pixie Mr. Mxyzptlk, and surrogate supermen were quite at home in Superman’s amazing world, their analogs Bat-Girl, Ace the Bat-Hound, Bat-Mite, and the Rainbow Batman (or Zebra Batman, or Robot Batman, or…) seemed out of place on the sinister streets of Gotham City, yet they populated the franchise’s pages for several years (although they have attracted a nostalgic appeal in more recent times). Sales of Batman and Detective Comics dropped.

As comics legend has often told us, in 1963 DC editorial director Irwin Donenfeld assigned editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz and artist Carmine Infantino the task of giving Batman’s world a makeover (as revealed in detail in my 2009 TwoMorrows book, The Batcave Companion, co-produced by Michael Kronenberg). Gone were the imprudent inclusion of aliens and extended family members (except for Robin, the Boy Wonder), replaced by a sleek, dynamic “New Look” that revolutionized Batman and Detective. Before long, the Adam West–starring Batman followed, a campy, colorful, twice-weekly program that instantly became television’s hottest show. As a result, Batman’s DC comic-book sales nudged past Superman’s. Batman, the idol of millions, also took over as the star of the team-up book The Brave and the Bold—where Batman finally got the jump on Superman. The Weisinger-edited World’s Finest Comics, long the home of Superman/Batman adventures, shrunk its blocky WORLD’S FINEST logo to allow its co-stars’ personal logos to appear—with Batman getting top billing.

Even though Superman was still holding his own during the Batmania of the 1960s due to Weisinger’s inflexible control of the character, the Man of Steel was off-limits for B&B team-ups (outside of a cameo in the Supergirl/Wonder Woman team-up in B&B #63). B&B scribe Bob Haney was able, but Weisinger was far from willing. One can only imagine the Silver Age Superman team-ups we might have seen had Mort allowed the Action Ace to appear in Brave and Bold: Superman and Green Lantern, drawn by Gil Kane and Murphy Anderson… Superman and Adam Strange, drawn by Carmine Infantino and Sid Greene… or Superman and Wonder Woman, drawn by Curt Swan and George Klein. (And if it had been a time-traveling Superman, instead of a continuity-bending young Bruce Wayne, that had the World War II meeting with Sgt. Rock in what became Brave and Bold #84, a lot of fan headaches would have been quelled.) Not only did the Action Ace miss out on team-ups during the pre-Batman, anything-goes B&B format, so did readers.

CHAPTER 2

The Bronze Age Makeover into ‘Superman’s Brave & Bold’

‘A Reasonable Scale of Superpowers’

After the Batman TV show had run its course and was cancelled in 1968, the Caped Crusader got yet another Schwartz-guided reboot in comic books, largely influenced by the atmospheric, photorealistic artwork of Neal Adams. By the end of the decade, Batman had returned to his original gothic roots, once again a creature of the night as he was initially conceived.

Weisinger’s take on Superman, conversely, was starting to buckle under its own weight. His faraway planets, super-science, monsters, robots, super-pets, doppelgangers, and Superman family were falling out of favor with a maturing comic audience.

What a perfect time for Mort to retire.

And that’s just what the stalwart Superman editor did, in 1970 (although it’s said that his retirement was actually a bitter pill he was forced to swallow after he unsuccessfully played the “pay me more or I’ll quit” card in contract negotiations that year). The Superman franchise was dispersed across several DC editorial offices: Murray Boltinoff picked up Action Comics, Superboy, and Jimmy Olsen; Lois Lane went to Mort’s long-suffering assistant editor, E. Nelson Bridwell, who also assisted on several of the other Super-books; Mike Sekowsky took over Adventure Comics, where he wrote and drew a continuity-blind take on Supergirl; and Julie Schwartz, DC’s “fix it” man, was assigned the franchise’s anchor title, Superman, and the subject of this essay, World’s Finest Comics.

Editor Schwartz, no fan of the Man of Steel, wanted to do something different with the character—and tapped as the writer of Superman the same scribe responsible for DC’s recent revitalizations of Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Lantern/ Green Arrow: Dennis “Denny” O’Neil.

According to Schwartz, writing in his autobiography, “Now, like myself, Denny was never a great Superman fan and was not really ch[a]mping at the bit to take over the ‘man of steel’ writing duties for the title… but after a bit of coaxing, pleading, bargaining, and co-plotting, he agreed to sign on for a short while.”

O’Neil recalled to me in a 2006 Denny O’Neil. interview for The Krypton Companion © DC Comics. that despite his and Julie’s reputations for character re-dos, Superman “was still the flagship character, and I don’t remember the guys in the corner office thinking that he was particularly broken.”

Schwartz agreed, stating there was corporate reluctance to shake up the status quo. “…The higher-ups were a little worried, not wanting me to interfere too much with a proven commodity.”

Without changing the fundamental personality or basic tenets of Superman, the editor-writer duo still took the hero into new directions (that were sometimes sidestepped by the franchise’s other editors and writers): O’Neil had the idea to eliminate Superman’s primary weakness, kryptonite, but also to considerably de-power the near-omnipotent, planet-pushing Man of Tomorrow. (Schwartz also claimed that these were his ideas.)

“The problem with Superman will always be that he’s too powerful, that he’s a god,” O’Neil said. “To give myself the possibility of giving Superman stories with real conflict I decided to scale him back to a reasonable scale of superpowers.”

Schwartz and O’Neil also elected to eliminate a Weisinger-era plot device that made it “too easy” (in Julie’s words) to allow Clark Kent and Superman to appear in the same place at the same time: the Superman robots.

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Schwartz, acknowledging the ascendance of television journalism and the boob tube’s popularity, reassigned Superman’s alter ego, reporter Clark Kent, from the newspaper offices of the Daily Planet to the newsroom of WGBS-TV, where Clark would be both an on-air anchor and roving TV newsman. No longer could Kent sneak away to a Planet cloakroom when an emergency became a “job for Superman”— now he had to concoct an escape plan to become Superman while broadcasting live as Clark Kent! Kent’s wardrobe was also jazzed up from the staid navy suit he had worn forever (and would later don again as his signature look) to a hipper wardrobe, which even earned a spotlight feature in the men’s fashion magazine, GQ. With Julie’s World’s Finest Comics, the decision was made to break up the long-running Superman/Batman team—although the duo would reunite every few issues—to allow WFC to become “Superman’s Brave and Bold,” as it’s known among fans. The Man of Steel would pair off with other DC headliners.

These editorial changes to Superman and his family were teased by a two-page “New Beginning” house ad citing the new directions coming to the Superman titles in 1971. Superman was announced as teaming up with the Flash, Robin, Green Lantern, “and others” in World’s Finest.

Off to the Races

Julie Schwartz’s first World’s Finest Comics issue was #198, which went on sale September 10, 1970, with a November cover date. With its cover layout, World’s Finest now parroted editor Murray Boltinoff’s The Brave and the Bold, with the comic’s logo stretching as a banner across the top of the cover, the co-stars’ individual logos side-by-side, underneath—in this case, Superman and the Flash. Beginning with WFC #198, both of DC’s team-up titles adopted a similar graphics layout, with encircled figures of its stars in both upper corners, allowing for easier character identification when displayed in a crowded spinner rack. The next month, Brave and Bold #93, the first B&B to be published in the wake of WFC’s revamp, repeated that layout with corner figures for its Batman/House of Mystery team-up. (Line-wide format changes would make this compatible design between the two books short-lived.)

This was no mere team-up between Superman and the Flash in #198—it was a race between DC’s fastest crimefighters, the third such competition in three years; they had previously raced in

For a brief period, DC’s two team-up books shared similar cover graphics. Covers to B&B #93 and WFC #199

by Neal Adams.

TM & © DC Comics.

Superman #199 (Aug. 1967) and The Flash #175 (Dec. 1967).

Denny O’Neil actually made his debut as the new Super-scribe here, as WFC #198 predated by almost two months his debut on Superman with issue #233, the landmark “Kryptonite Nevermore” tale. Its Curt Swan/Murphy Anderson cover, possibly laid out by then-DC cover editor Carmine Infantino, offered a slight wink to Carmine’s iconic (and oft-imitated) Superman #199 cover (inked by Anderson)—and among its throng of cheering spectators, front and center, stood WFC’s recently ousted Batman, not only lending the super-racers his moral support (by flashing a “V for victory” hand signal, no doubt interpreted at the time by readers as the “peace sign”) but more importantly catering to the reader who bought World’s Finest because they expected the Caped Crusader to appear therein.

The fingerprints of editor Schwartz, known both for his fondness for science fiction and plotting stories with his writers, were evident on #198’s “mind-staggering” story. It upped the ante from the previous Superman/Flash contests by being a “Race to Save the Universe!”— the kind of bigger-than-life story O’Neil disfavored—and a two-parter.

Despite his preference for urban-based storytelling, Denny was no stranger to sci-fi and handled the milieu quite well, his credits also including his penning of Green Lantern and Justice League of America.

O’Neil rose to the occasion here, bringing in a familiar face—a Guardian of the Universe, from his own Green Lantern—as the catalyst that lured our heroes into this space jam, to thwart an alien threat.

Issue #198’s letters column further conveyed the series’ changes.

“Cape and Cowl Comments,” which for six years had topped the WFC lettercols (usually illustrated with a Swan/Klein–drawn Superman cape and Batman cowl), was gone. It was replaced with the title “World’s Finest Fanmail,” the comic’s title incorporated into a close-up of the globe of the Daily Planet skyscraper (which looked to be drawn by Anderson). Clearly, this was now Superman’s magazine—although editor Schwartz, in his lettercol intro, promised, “Don’t worry. The World’s Finest team is not kaput! Batman will be back in these pages from time to time!”

The Superman/Flash race concluded in World’s Finest #199 (Dec. 1970), its Neal Adams cover featuring another Batman cameo (where the Caped Crusader actually loomed larger than the sprinting Superman and Flash). The previous Superman/Flash races ended in draws, so as not to disappoint either hero’s readership, but this third race actually had a victor, which will not be revealed here out of respect for readers who have yet to encounter this oft-reprinted tale.

Penciler Dick Dillin often drew facsimiles of heroes’ logos into the interior artwork of both World’s Finest and Justice League of America. From WFC #199.

TM & © DC Comics.

The Durable Duo, Dick Dillin and Joe Giella

In addition to their harmonious cover layouts and team-up concepts, Schwartz’s World’s Finest and Boltinoff’s Brave and Bold shared another kinship: each book had its own distinctive art style, with a consistent artist in residence.

Brave and Bold at the time was being drawn by Nick Cardy, aside from Neal Adams’ guest issue on the aforementioned B&B #93. Penciler Dick Dillin and inker Joe Giella were the regular artists of this era of World’s Finest (Dillin, later inked by Murphy Anderson and others, would stay on the title after its Superman team-up phase). Editor Schwartz was comfortable with both, having worked with them on Justice League and elsewhere; Giella, in particular, had long been in Schwartz’s stable. Dillin and Giella were old pros, competently and reliably producing their pages like clockwork, to the satisfaction of their grumbly editor known for keeping the “trains” running on time in a deadline-driven business where unforeseen circumstances created trickle-down problems.

Writers rotated in and out of World’s Finest, as did Superman’s guest-stars, but readers could count on the book looking the same from issue to issue, thanks to its Dillin/Giella duo.

Dick Dillin was a masterful storyteller, cleanly staging scenes and smoothly moving the story sequentially. He was adept at drawing the Metropolis skyscrapers, WGBS-TV newsroom, fantastical aliens, and fearsome beasts that populated this series. His artwork was never flashy, but was accessible and crowdpleasing, making World’s Finest an inviting gateway comic for Superman readers to discover other members of the DC Universe.

“I spend my time hunched over a drawing board in a small room with a single light bulb until the wee hours of the morning,” Dillin revealed in an autobiography on a Dick Dillin. text page in World’s Finest #216, © DC Comics. “living in constant fear of the telephone ringing and the hot breath of editors as the deadline draws near.” A Depression-era baby and native of Watertown, New York, as a teen Dillin delivered groceries after school to afford private art lessons at Watertown’s Carlos Art Academy. After an Army stint during World War II, he furthered his artistic training at the School of Fine Arts at Syracuse University. After two years of training there, Dillin, influenced by comic-strip artists Milton Caniff, Hal Foster, and Alex Raymond, began “pounding a lot of pavement” in 1951. He scored a handful of assignments for war stories including Quality Comics’ military team Blackhawk, drawing “The Red Raiders vs. the Blackhawks” in issue #40 (May 1951), his first published work. Shortly, with Blackhawk #64 (May 1953), he became that series’ regular artist (with inker Chuck Cuidera) and stayed with the monthly title for years, drawing multiple stories per issue.

He transitioned from working for Quality Comics to DC Comics when Quality sold its comic-book properties to DC in the mid-1950s.

Blackhawk became a DC title beginning with issue #108 (Jan. 1957).

Under editor George Kashdan, Blackhawk increasingly adopted more and more superhero and sci-fi elements to its stories, which groomed Dillin for future work drawing giant beasts, outlandish aliens, high-tech weapons, and supervillains. Dillin officially became a superhero artist in 1966 when the Justice League of America guest-starred in Blackhawk #228 (Jan. 1967), the first issue of the title’s notorious, Bob Haney–scripted caped-crusader phase as “Junk-Heap Heroes.” Dillin would soon be assigned

Chapter 2: World’s Finest Comics

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Hawkman, then JLA itself, where he stayed for an extraordinary run from 1968 until his unexpected death in 1980.

Joe Giella, an occasional penciler, had a distinctive inking style, particularly on character faces, that was clearly his, sometimes threatening to overpower the pencils underneath. A native of New York City, he studied at the School of Industrial Art and the Art Students’ League before his “first professional sale” in the mid-1940s, as he described in a 1981 DC bio. “I sold four cartoons to a newspaper called The Hobo News for $2.00 apiece—a whopping $8.00, total.”

His earliest work in comic books was for Hillman Comics’ SpongeBob SquarePants–like “The Adventures of Captain Codfish” in Punch and Judy Comics; his first story there may have been in issue #10 (May 1946). After a couple of years drawing for Marvel, then known as Timely Comics, he began his long affiliation with DC Comics in 1947, inking “Johnny Thunder” in Flash Comics and other features.

As trends came and went through the medium, Giella remained crouched over his art table, dabbing his brush into his inkwell to produce hundreds of pages of material for DC’s Western, romance, crime, adventure, war, and sci-fi anthologies. It was on the latter that he cemented his professional bond with editor Julie Schwartz, often inking Schwartz’s The Flash and Green Lantern Silver Age reboots, followed by Batman and Detective Comics after Schwartz implemented the Caped Crusader’s famous “New Look” in 1964.

Together, Dillin and Giella had a “look” that pleased their editor, and most readers.

Not all readers were happy with the art team, however. In issue #201’s lettercol, Martin “Pesky” Pasko, a frequent letterhack who would soon become a Superman writer—including, coincidentally, Superman’s next team-up title, DC Comics Presents, the subject of a later chapter in this book—wrote to commend #198’s story and new direction but to also criticize the artwork: “Dillin’s pencils aren’t bad, but Giella seems to do something to them I can’t describe.” In issue #208, Tom Peyer, who later would become a comics editor and writer, called the art by Dillin and Giella “stiff and awkward.” Another fan, in issue #209, wrote that the art team “did a pretty nice job” but remarked, “I still can’t stomach their Superman, and I plead for an artist change—at least for an issue or two.”

Not Just Another B&B

While World’s Finest impersonated Brave and Bold’s format and had a consistent art style each issue, their similarities ended there.

With devil-may-care scribe Bob Haney writing B&B, Batman’s team-ups reflected whatever story itch he had to scratch that issue, ranging from tales of espionage to supernatural shockers.

Batman would sometimes pair off with recurring co-stars but would also venture outside of the norm for quirky team-ups with folks as different as Adam Strange and Plastic Man. But it was the editor, not the writer, that charted Superman’s path in World’s Finest. In addition to the Dillin/Giella team, readers could expect science fiction each issue, and a “safe” co-star culled from Schwartz’s own editorial stable.

Next up as Superman’s co-star, in WFC #200 (Feb. 1971), was Robin, the Teen (nee Boy) Wonder, from the Batman franchise that was also under Schwartz’s editorial watch. The Batman/ Robin team had recently split up in Batman, with Dick (Robin) Grayson heading off to college—Hudson University—and a series of solo stories as Batman and Detective Comics backups, often written by a new, young writer in Schwartz’s camp, Mike Friedrich. And thus the editor tapped Friedrich to pen WFC #200’s Superman/Robin tale.

Friedrich’s “Prisoners of the Immortal World!” started out as a “relevance” story so popular at DC during the early 1970s. Newsman Clark Kent was reporting live from Hudson University about campus unrest there related to anti-war protests—a scene inspired by the infamous Kent State University “massacre” of May 1970—while Robin, Hudson’s local superhero, interceded between two brothers butting

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heads in a hawk-and-dove argument about America’s involvement in the Vietnam War. On page 4 the story brusquely shifted gears from relevance to sci-fi. Superman, Robin, and the bickering brothers were teleported to another planet by cantaloupe-skinned aliens. The aliens captured Superman and siphoned his super-energy to rejuvenate their race, a premise advertised on the issue’s Neal Adams–drawn cover, while the teens were left alone to navigate a hostile world. Decades later, writer Friedrich didn’t recall whether this tonal shift was his idea or editorially mandated, telling me, “I suspect that the abrupt plot changes were probably my responsibility, but also it’s possible that editor Julie Schwartz made a suggestion or two that I incorporated.”

With Superman and Robin separated for most of the story, there was little interaction between them, but the end result was a quickly pulsed sci-fi page-turner and an early spotlight for Robin outside of the shadow of Batman or the Teen Titans. This being the bicentennial edition of World’s Finest, Batman was included in a text feature scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell, where in a “dialogue” Superman, Batman, and Robin reminisced about “200 Issues of the World’s Finest Comics!”

JLA Roll Call

After Robin, editor Schwartz worked down a checklist of characters from another title he edited, Justice League of America, in his choice of co-stars for Superman.

World’s Finest Comics #201 (Mar. 1971) pitted the Man of Steel against Green Lantern in an O’Neil-scribed outer-space gladiator clash to determine who would protect the Earth. The issue featured a guest-star, Doctor Fate of Earth-Two’s Justice Society… or did it?

(See the index for details.)

O’Neil returned with issue #202’s (May 1971) team-up of Superman and Batman, the first of three appearances (not counting a reprint Giant) that Batman would make during this incarnation of the title.

Its cover is controversial among fandom for two reasons. First, it’s a weaker effort by the usually superb combo of penciler Neal Adams and inker Dick Giordano, but here the inker’s facial reconstruction of Superman made it difficult to identify this as an Adams cover. Second, it depicted Superman, under the thrall of a mummy with a glowing orb head, commanding the Man of Steel to throttle the Masked Manhunter—arguably a riveting cover scene. What interfered was the editor’s insertion of a cover blurb insisting that “This is NOT an IMAGINARY fight scene! Nor a symbolic picture! Nor any other sort of COP-OUT!” True, a mad Superman nearly choked Batman to death inside the Dillin/Giella–drawn tale. But (spoiler alert!) the cover was indeed a “cop-out,” as this wasn’t really Superman but instead a rogue Superman robot. (In retrospect, Schwartz should have simply omitted the hyperbolic cover burst.) This story became significant within the revitalized Superman canon as writer O’Neil used it to eliminate Superman’s robots. The automatons were now malfunctioning due to contamination from environmental pollution and radiation, a clever way for the writer to make a “relevant” statement within the context of a sci-fi adventure.

The ink was barely dry on the recently cancelled Aquaman—which was deep-sixed with issue #56 (Mar.–Apr. 1971)—when the Sea King got another moment in the spotlight as Superman’s co-star in World’s Finest #203 (June 1971). “Who’s Minding the Earth?” by Steve Skeates, the recently deposed Aquaman scribe, adeptly gave equal weight to both co-stars in an adventure featuring a race of dolphin-men that threatened all humans on Earth—surface-dwellers Steve Skeates. and underwater denizens.

Torn from the Headlines

This peaceful image of Ohio’s Kent State University, taken on May 26, 1971, belies the horror that occurred there one year earlier, on May 4, 1970, when National Guardsmen fired into a group of student protestors, resulting in casualties that shocked the nation. The tragic event inspired the opening protest scene in Mike Friedrich’s script for World’s Finest #200’s Superman/Robin team-up. Many of the young writer’s DC stories during this era placed their heroes in socially relevant situations reflective of the changing culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s.

World’s Finest Comics #204 (Aug. 1971) was published in June 1971, the month the entire DC line underwent a format change. Gone was the traditional page count of 32, each issue now “Bigger & Better” (according to a cover graphic) at 48 pages—52, counting inside and outside covers—with an increase in price from 15 to 25 cents. Each DC title generally featured a new 22-page lead story (or a slightly shorter lead feature and a shorter backup), with the rest of the issue fleshed out by reprints from DC’s vast library. This move was made to produce a wider profit margin for DC’s books for its news dealers, but it burdened the pocketbooks of DC’s mostly young readership. Within a few months Marvel and Harvey Comics mimicked the format, with DC’s chief competitor Marvel quickly sucker-punching DC first by mostly publishing all-new material in their 48-page books, then quickly reversing the line back to the 32-page format with all-new material, undercutting DC by pricing their books at 20 cents. Soon, the 20-cent, 32-page format became the industry standard and DC’s books stood out like a sore (and expensive) thumb. In less than a year, DC abandoned its initiative and its books returned to 32 pages, at the 20-cent price.

Content-wise, Superman and Wonder Woman joined forces in #204 in another relevance-meets-science-fiction tale published during Wonder Woman’s powerless, “Diana Prince” phase. Denny O’Neil returned to the (former) Amazon Princess by scripting this issue, having started the storyline in the character’s own title but being replaced on Wonder Woman as writer by its artist, Mike Sekowsky.

Here, Superman and Wonder Woman encountered a super-computer… and a unique opportunity to help thwart a dystopian future timeline.

Writer Steve Skeates returned for issue #205, teaming Superman with the stars of another book he had written, Teen Titans. This issue placed the Titans in a town whose entire population was under the grip of a computer that had turned the community into a regressive throwback to a segregated time of Jim Crow–inspired behavior.

World’s Finest #206 was a giant (at 35 cents) reprinting classic Superman/Batman tales, while #207 reunited the Superman/Batman team for a new team-up. Len Wein stepped in as scribe in this moody mystery where Batman had to help Superman solve his inexplicable

blackouts. The story included a surprise guest-supervillain, although an earlier lettercol blabbed about the bad guy’s then-forthcoming reappearance.

Wein returned in issue #208 (Dec. 1971) to team Superman and Doctor Fate, and picked up on a subplot from his previous issue with the Man of Steel concerned about his vulnerability to magic. Superman traveled to Earth-Two to seek advice from its Mighty Mage, Doctor Fate.

Unlike the Haney-scripted Brave and Bolds that eschewed an explanation of DC’s multiverse, WFC #208 clarified the premise in a carefully worded caption (but would you expect anything less from the editor who defined the parallel world concept?). This issue included a super-feat that disregarded Denny O’Neil’s de-powering of Superman, as both the Neal Adams–drawn cover and the story’s climax depicted the Man of Tomorrow—supported by Fate’s magic— pulling an imperiled Earth. “Tales are told of the labors of Hercules— twelve impossible tasks that only someone more god than human could perform,” penned Wein in a caption as Superman, like Atlas, bore the weight of the world upon his massive shoulders. It’s an astounding visual that nonetheless exposed Schwartz’s inability to police a broader continuity, as “planet-pushing” (or here, “pulling”) was one of O’Neil’s chief criticisms of Superman’s earlier omnipotence.

Mike Friedrich was back with issue #209’s pairing of Superman and Hawkman, an appreciated outing for the Winged Wonder during a time he received very little exposure. Therein, a persuasive troublemaker fittingly named the Tempter manipulated the heroes’ egos.

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TM & © DC Comics.

Photo by Thomas J. O’Halloran, Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. Superman, Robin, and World’s Finest TM & © DC Comics.

TM & © DC Comics.

What Can One Writer Do?

Superman and Green Arrow teamed up in WFC #210 (Mar. 1972), penned by Elliot S! Maggin, the letterhack from Brandeis University who had recently made a splash by scripting the soul-searching Green Arrow solo tale “What Can One Man Do?” in Green Lantern #87 (Dec. 1971), where Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen considered running for public office. Maggin was in the process of becoming one of editor Schwartz’s rotating writers on the Superman titles, and did not see eye-to-eye with either Julie or Denny with their “de-powering” approach to the character.

“I disagreed with it, and still do, down to the ground,” Maggin told me in an interview for my book, The Krypton Companion. “Every time since that anyone’s gotten the chance to redefine Superman—and there’ve been more than just a few of these chances since 1970—the first thing they’ve thought to do was ‘de-power’ him. Julie said, at the time, that he can’t juggle planets any more, but he can juggle buildings.

I didn’t and don’t see the point. It’s been my point of view that Superman stories are not about power. They’re about moral and ethical choices. Each one asks the question: What does a good person do in a given situation if he’s got all the power in the world?” Maggin applied that logic to World’s Finest #210’s “World of Faceless Slaves!” when the co-starring heroes were transported to a medieval kingdom in Earth’s past that was subjugated by a mage, Effron (named after Mark Effron, Maggin’s college chum). Issue #210 was also significant as it was the last issue in WFC’s Superman team-up phase to feature each co-star’s individual logo on the cover.

Batman was back in World’s Finest #211 (May 1972)—and so was the blocky WORLD’S FINEST cover logo, the Brave and Bold– like side-by-side hero logos being no more. Instead, the logo layout reverted to an updated version of how the magazine looked just prior to Schwartz’s takeover, with full figures of the issue’s co-stars—this issue being Superman and Batman—flanking the title logo. Its story, penned

by O’Neil, reunited the World’s Finest team to assist policemen from another world who had ventured to Earth in search of an escaped felon.

Nick Cardy took over from Neal Adams (and the occasional Curt Swan; see index for issueby-issue art credits) as the World’s Finest cover artist with issue #212, an exciting team-up for DC fans as it resurrected from limbo J’onn J’onzz, the Martian Manhunter. Not unlike issue #210, it was a sequel to an earlier Schwartz-edited story, this time with Denny O’Neil picking up on the whereabouts of the war-torn Martian race, last seen in Justice League of America #71 (May 1969) when JLA scribe O’Neil removed the Manhunter from the team.

The Atom co-starred with Superman in issue #213 (Aug.– Sept. 1972) in a Maggin-written team-up where the Tiny Titan, trapped in a subatomic nightmare world, called upon the Man of Steel for assistance. Regular readers were disappointed in World’s Finest’s demotion in publishing frequency this issue, as the title went from nine issues a year to bimonthly.

In issue #214 (Oct.–Nov. 1972), the Earth-One Vigilante, the cowboy-superhero that was getting some traction in DC books at the time, teamed up with Superman. The story also featured a partnership of sorts between writers Denny O’Neil and Steve Skeates.

By this point O’Neil had become weary of writing Superman and reluctantly accepted his editor’s offer to script this story only if he could write the Vigilante portions while someone else wrote the

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Superman portions. Skeates had enjoyed writing Superman in his previous Aquaman and Teen Titans team-ups and took on the scripting challenge. In “A Beast Stalks the Badlands,” Superman and the Vigilante crossed paths with a werewolf, a supernatural menace that gave the Man of Steel—in his O’Neil-imagined de-powered state in this tale—a run for his money. This unorthodox merger of the scripts of O’Neil and Skeates was seamless to the reader, but when re-reading the story with this backstory in mind, it becomes obvious that the story featured dual Superman and Vigilante adventures that dovetailed with the climax.

Schwartz’s ‘Secrets’ Revealed!

In the pre-internet era of the early 1970s, when advance notices of comics’ content was primarily limited to house ads, internal hype columns, and a fistful of fanzines, readers wondered which DC star would team up with Superman in World’s Finest #215. Would it be Black Canary, a JLA-er who had yet to appear? Maybe Metamorpho, who had been getting some exposure lately? Or perhaps a spooky teammate, like the Phantom Stranger or Deadman?

Imagine their surprise when issue #215 once again teamed Superman and Batman. And sons.

Yes, sons.

With this issue, Julie Schwartz was missing as editor, as was the “World’s Finest Fanmail” lettercol. Murray Boltinoff, the caretaker of Batman team-ups in The Brave and the Bold, was now the World’s Finest editor. Murray brought with him B&B scribe Bob Haney, who had written a few Superman/Batman stories for editor Mort Weisinger during the earlier editorial regime.

One would expect that the man responsible for scripting almost every B&B team-up to date would be the perfect writer to continue to make World’s Finest “Superman’s Brave and Bold.” But Haney had something else in mind, penning in a text feature in issue #215, “We promise all loyal DC readers not just more team-ups with characters in different-colored underwear; rather, we will attempt to spark the WF pages with new and fresh concepts, and intriguing story quality.”

And thus Haney introduced to readers Superman, Jr. and Batman, Jr., the teenage sons of the World’s Finest team, contending, rather belligerently, that this and several Super-Sons stories that would follow were “not imaginary, not fantasy, but real, the way it happened,” merely “previously undisclosed” details of the heroes’ much-chronicled lives. The Super-Sons would become such a continuity conundrum that another writer—coincidentally, Denny O’Neil—would later have to clean up this continuity mess. With issue #215’s shocking turn of events, DC editorial reassignments brought World’s Finest Comics’ “Superman’s Brave and Bold” phase to an unexpected and crashing halt.

Some fans were unhappy with the change. Issue #219’s lettercol included three writers’ requests for Superman team-ups with a range of characters including new DC additions Swamp Thing and the original Captain Marvel, prompting editor Boltinoff to flippantly admonish, “You forgot Sugar and Spike!” Murray went on to proclaim, “We don’t want to make WORLD’S FINEST a carbon copy of Brave and Bold, which we also edit.”

What the editor failed to understand was that despite the “Superman’s Brave and Bold” designation used by some to describe WFC under Schwartz, beyond the conceptual comparison Julius Schwartz’s World’s Finest Comics had little in common with Murray Boltinoff’s The Brave and the Bold. Boltinoff and Haney may have rejected the rotating guest-star format that preceded their stint, but from occasional WFC drop-ins from Haney B&B favorites Metamorpho and Deadman to the writer’s reckless abandon with continuity, they actually did make World’s Finest a “carbon copy” of B&B. Schwartz, however, made World’s Finest a carbon copy of most of his other science-inspired superhero books. Their covers bore witness to that, plying dictums from Julie’s “Secrets of Successful Comic Book Covers,” which were revealed in his 2000 autobiography to be:

Superman’s Early TV Team-Ups From Batman and other superheroes in World’s Finest to his membership in the Justice League of America (and, as Superboy, in the Legion of Super-Heroes), Superman spent so much time in the company of others during the Silver and Bronze Ages, it’s a wonder he ever had time to fly “Up, Up and Away!” on solo missions.

Yet the Man of Steel wasn’t content simply being part of the JLA or a World’s Finest partnership. Along the way he raced to the aid of TV stars ranging from a crazy redhead to three girls with hair of gold.

Season 6/Episode 13, original airdate January 14, 1957 Lucy promises Little Ricky that the Man of Steel will attend his birthday party, and masquerades as Superman in a foolhardy attempt to fulfill her promise to her son. She runs into trouble when attempting to make a dramatic entrance through a window. Luckily, the “real” Superman, in the form of Adventures of Superman TV Action Ace George Reeves, arrives to save the day, getting the last laugh on Lucy.

© CBS.

I LOVE LUCY: “Lucy and Superman”

ABC SATURDAY MORNING SNEAK PEAK: Burns and Schreiber Meet Superman and Batman

Original airdate Friday, September 7, 1973 This first-ever live-action meeting of the Man of Steel and the Masked Manhunter (sorry, Cavill and Affleck!) occurred in a vignette on this primetime special promoting ABC’s 1973 Fall season of Saturday morning kids programming. It was hosted by the comedy team of Burns and Schreiber. Sneak Peak featured clips from new shows including Super Friends, which began its long run with its premiere the very next day, Saturday, September 8. An unknown actor played Batman, but future Love Connection host Chuck Woolery played Superman!

1. Show the planet Earth in danger 2. Show duplicate superheroes 3. Show superheroes fighting each other in competition 4. Command the reader 5. A gorilla on the cover doing something un-gorillalike will surely sell

Re Rule 1, in Schwartz’s WFCs, Earth was imperiled, starting with issue #198’s “Race to Save the Universe!” and including issues #199, 201, 203, 204, and 208. The planet Earth itself was depicted on Neal Adams’ covers for issues #201 and 208, covers that, with character modifications, could have also been substituted for Julie’s sci-fi anthology books like Strange Adventures.

Re Rule 2, while there were no duplicate superheroes fighting Superman, none were needed, as there were multiple superheroes on view in the form of guest-stars.

Re Rule 3, Julie pitted Superman against Flash in #198 and 199, GL in #201, Batman in #202, Green Arrow (in an argument) in #210, and Martian Manhunter in #212.

Re Rule 4, Julie’s WFC cover copy occasionally commanded the reader to learn more about the shocking contents inside. Issue #198 warned that with this third Superman/Flash race, “This time there MUST be a winner!” “NOW IT CAN BE TOLD!” screamed issue #201’s blurb revealing the “secret story” of the Superman/Green Lantern match-up. As Superman appeared to choke Batman to death on #202’s cover, the cover burst dared the reader to pick up the

© ABC.

Season 1/Episode 5, original airdate October 7, 1972 In this animated Brady Bunch spinoff from Filmation, Cindy Brady (voiced by Susan Olsen) enlists reporter Clark Kent to assist with a citywide building beautification campaign. Trouble ensues with bank robbers become involved, prompting Clark’s intervention in his guise of Superman. Superman and Clark are voiced by Lennie Weinrib.

(Another Brady Kids episode teamed Wonder Woman and Jan Brady!)

© Paramount Television.

THE BRADY KIDS: “Cindy’s Super Friend”

issue by stating, “This is NOT an IMAGINARY fight scene!” With Earth’s future timeline threatened in #204, Schwartz’s cover copy commanded, “We challenge YOU to guess the ONE—the ONLY— way to prevent this terrible tragedy!”

Re Rule 5, there were no gorillas on any of the World’s Finest covers! Superman did go ape upon occasion during the Bronze Age, though, with gorilla covers appearing on Action Comics #400 (May 1971) and 424 (June 1973).

Lastly, when comparing Julie’s World’s Finests against his list of cover “secrets,” a sixth secret emerged: 6. Show the star superhero in a weakened state

Superman seemed anything but super on the cover of World’s Finest #200, where he was being drained of his energy. Similarly, he was blind on #203’s cover, in the grip of a dragon on #205’s cover, magically incapacitated on #207’s cover, trapped in hellfire on #209’s cover, faceless on #210’s cover, powerless and falling from the sky on #211’s cover, getting his nose bloodied by J’onn J’onzz on #212’s cover, and at the mercy of a werewolf on #214’s cover.

Julius Schwartz may have been pulling from his playbook for his Superman team-ups, but the end result was a brief but exciting run of stories that rescued World’s Finest Comics from a slump of predictability. His editorial run on the title was collected in the 2020 hardcover, World’s Finest: Guardians of Earth.

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The team-up title that started as a buddy book: Spidey and the Torch headline Marvel Team-Up #1 (Mar. 1972). Cover by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia.

TM & © Marvel.

In this era of franchises, it’s easy to forget that during the 1960s, when Spider-Man was a new character, Marvel’s nascent superheroes—even the more popular ones—had only one title each. Some of them didn’t have even that. A few of Marvel’s former mystery/monster anthologies evolved into “split books,” with half of the title’s pages devoted to one character and half to another: Iron Man and Captain America in Tales of Suspense, Sub-Mariner and the Incredible Hulk in Tales to Astonish, and Doctor Strange and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. in Strange Tales. To the uninitiated reader, split books resembled team-up books since their covers featured two characters’ logos. Except upon the occasion when the stars would cross over into one story—always trumpeted with great Marvel fanfare by hyperbolic cover blurbs, carnival barker Stan Lee’s megaphone to warm up his audience—the split books were two solo comics in one.

Independent News, the company that distributed Marvel’s comic books into the network of newsstands, drug stores, and a handful of supermarkets, limited the size of Marvel’s 1960s line to a small number of releases each month. Independent News was a subsidiary of National Periodical Publications, the corporation that owned DC Comics, so in essence Mighty Marvel’s Distinguished Competition yanked a tight leash around the neck of this mongrel of a comics company that was enjoying a creative renaissance.

Yet no distribution chokehold could restrict the Marvelmania that was mushrooming among the college crowd and comics-reading thrillseekers who had outgrown the regimented, gimmick-based yarns that DC peddled. Marvel fans demanded more of these vigorous new characters, and crossovers became common.

King-size Annuals popped up, as did reprint anthologies, allowing popular new heroes like the Fantastic Four and Spider-Man to appear in more than one book without creating an undue burden upon Marvel’s relatively small pool of creative talent. Still, one Marvel hero—and an unlikely one at that—managed to graduate into a second monthly comic with all-new stories. Nick Fury, who headlined the World War II– based battle book Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos, was turned into Mighty Marvel’s own James Bond in the 1960s-set “Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.” attraction that Lee and Kirby introduced in 1965 in the pages of Strange Tales, creating the company’s first franchise of the burgeoning Marvel Age. (Before Fantastic Four and the superhero titles that followed, in the early Silver Age Marvel franchised its popular series marketed to girls, as Millie the Model was accompanied by other Millie titles and Patsy Walker alternated months with Patsy and Hedy. Similarly, Marvel Western heroes were prone to appear in more than one series, such as Kid Colt Outlaw, whose star also appeared in Gunsmoke Western.)

The Spider’s Web

The shared universe was one of the hallmarks of the developing Marvel Age. Character crossovers actually gave The Incredible Hulk, an early Marvel casualty that was canned after only six issues, a new lease on life as the Green Goliath plodded his way through different Marvel books not necessarily as a villain but as an annoyance that required the entire X-Men or Avengers or FF to corral… the latter creating the popular Hulk vs. Thing trope, a premise that ultimately launched the Thing’s own team-up title, Marvel Two-in-One (originally Marvel Feature).

But it was the sociable, sassy Web-Slinger who was in demand as a guest-star. He was popping into other heroes’ mags—or they guest-starred in his—with increasing frequency, crossing paths with the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, the Hulk, the Avengers, the Human Torch, the X-Men, and Giant-Man and the Wasp early in his wall-crawling career. Once the Grantray-Lawrence cartoon Spider-Man became a hit on ABC-TV on Saturday mornings beginning in the fall of 1967, Spider-Man dominated the covers of the anthology book Marvel Tales, and his goofy counterpart, Spidey-Man, was frequently seen in Marvel’s hilarious self-parody, Not Brand Echh. It was only a matter of time

CHAPTER 3

Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends

From 1968, two early attempts to spin off Spidey: Marvel Super-Heroes #1 and the black-and-white magazine The Spectacular Spider-Man. TM & © Marvel.

before Marvel publisher Martin Goodman rolled out another Spider-Man title.

Goodman let loose a trial balloon on February 8, 1968, with the publication of Marvel Super-Heroes #14 (May 1968). That double-sized title began its life as Fantasy Masterpieces, a reprint giant. With issue #12 it was retitled Marvel Super-Heroes (MSH) and began a new format as a tryout title, heralding an all-new feature in its lead spot and filling out its back pages with oldies (see the Marvel Two-in-One chapter for more details).

Marvel Super-Heroes #14’s bold logo was top-lined with the proclamation “The Amazing Spider-Man in this month’s spotlight!”

And the spotlight he literally received, as its simple yet arresting cover art featured a vulnerable Spidey, backlit by a white circle (spotlight) to make him stand out against a stark black background, as two new supervillains closed in on him. Numerous cover blurbs broadcasted the popular Web-Slinger’s appearance, including a burst that declared, “A NEW Artist!” That artist was a DC Comics mainstay, the moonlighting Ross Andru, sticking a speculative toe into Marvel’s waters. According to the Marvel Super-Heroes Wiki, MSH #14 featured an inventoried Amazing Spider-Man fill-in story quickly hammered out by Stan Lee when regular Amazing Spider-Man artist John Romita, Sr. sustained a wrist injury. Despite his mishap, the rocket-fast Romita was able to stay on the monthly Spidey book after all, so Lee’s fill-in, with Andru’s pencils inked by Marvel veteran Bill Everett, saw print here. This easy-to-overlook Spider-Man appearance is noteworthy as both an early attempt to exploit the hero’s popularity but also as the first appearance of Andru as a Spider-Man artist.

Marvel Super-Heroes #14 was merely the opening salvo in Mighty Marvel’s 1968 franchising of Spider-Man. A bigger, bolder project would quickly follow…

I remember peddling my bicycle to Pike’s Drug Store after school one random April afternoon in 1968. My pocket was jingling with change, and as a chubby ten-year-old I waddled toward the snack bar at the back of my neighborhood drugstore with a Cherry Lemon Sun-drop and order of French fries on my mind— first detouring past the magazine shelf.

That was the day my spider-sense tingled. The wall-crawling hero I had recently discovered on a Saturday morning cartoon, the one whose life was a great big bang-up, jumped off the magazine shelf at me. He wasn’t cohabitating on the crowded

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funnybook rack with the usual suspects like Green Lantern, The Three Stooges, Hot Stuff, and Life with Archie. Instead he was poised alongside grownup magazines with content of no interest to me, periodicals with names like Esquire, Ebony, and Ladies’ Home Journal. My tastes were too unsophisticated at the time to realize that my eye had been attracted by a painted cover image, and I recall being puzzled when picking up this comic book that looked like a magazine and finding no color inside, instead page after page of black-and-white comics with a special effect I would later learn was a washtone. Still, it starred your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! I passed on the French fries to afford its hefty 35-cent cover price… and spent the afternoon poring over what at the time was the longest comic-book story I had ever read—52 whopping pages!

Little did I know that I had purchased a moment in Mighty Marvel’s history. The Amazing Spider-Man wasn’t Marvel’s flagship title—that distinction belonged to “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine,” The Fantastic Four. But Spidey, the unlikely everyman-superhero, was the company’s undisputed breakout star.

This magazine I had purchased, The Spectacular Spider-Man #1, was Marvel’s first major attempt to franchise one of its new superheroes. Not long before, Marvel had experimented with new formats in new markets: mini-comics sold in plastic eggs in gumball machines, and black-and-white reprint Lancer paperbacks marketed toward the college crowd and older readers smitten by campy superhero mania. But Spectacular Spider-Man was published in a format that would expand the title character’s burgeoning profile into a market of mature magazine readers; issue #1’s back cover advertisement for a men’s aftershave proved the publisher was attempting to branch out toward an older readership. Four months later, The Spectacular Spider-Man #2 appeared—this time in full color—and it would be the series’ last issue. But Spider-Man’s career as a franchise-friendly star was only beginning.

This magazine was only part of Marvel’s vast expansion in 1968, the year publisher Goodman freed his company from the limiting constrictions of its distribution deal that stretched back to a 1957 agreement forged when the company—then called Atlas Comics— was small, hungry, and desperate. Now, with Marvel selling millions of copies of comic books, Goodman and editor Stan Lee unleashed a salvo of new titles, not only liberating such characters as Captain America from the limitations of the split books but aggressively challenging Archie Comics with a proliferating teen comic line— even spinning off the long-running Millie the Model series into a Mad About Millie title that could have easily been mistaken for an issue of Betty and Veronica by an inattentive parent picking up an “Archie funnybook” for their kid.

This expansion continued into the 1970s, as Mighty Marvel marched into the position of industry leader—confounding DC Comics’ editorial staff, a literary bunch who had refused to acknowledge this oncoming juggernaut through the wafts of smoke billowing from their professorial pipes and smugness that clouded their offices. But DC’s stuffy editors and executives could no longer dismiss what they had regarded the primitive fare from Marvel.

The Amazing Spider-Man was a top-seller. And Marvel realized that Peter Parker possessed not only the powers of an irradiated spider, but also those of a cash cow.

Spider-Man, Superstar

“Nobody was as popular as Spidey in those days, not even the entire FF,” Marvel Comics superstar writer-editor Roy Thomas told Jonathan Miller in Back Issue #44 (Oct. 2010).

Spidey seemed to be everywhere throughout the 1970s!

Spider-Man Comics Weekly launched in the U.K. in 1973, and a live-action “Spidey Super Stories” segment debuted in 1974 on the Children’s Television Workshop show The Electric Company, accompanied by Marvel’s comic-book counterpart, Spidey Super

Stories. There was the bestselling Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man tabloid-sized one-shot of early 1976 and a new, ongoing monthly, Peter Parker: The Spectacular Spider-Man, premiering from Marvel later that year. In 1977, the Amazing Spider-Man syndicated newspaper strip began its 40-year-plus run, and Nicholas Hammond, eldest of the singing Von Trapp children in the 1965 film adaptation of the stage musical The Sound of Music, brought Peter Parker and his alter ego to life on CBS primetime beginning in The Amazing Spider-Man. Spidey even starred in his own 1978 live-action television show in Japan, where he used his webs against giant monsters and mecha-menaces! Plus there was a Spider-Man rock album; Spidey cover features on Creem and Pizzazz magazines; endless TV reruns of the Spider-Man TV cartoon; Spider-Man children’s records; Mego and Remco Spider-Man action figures in multiple sizes; and a steady stream of Spider-Man toys including Corgi vehicles; Colorforms; playsets; and coloring books… plus wannabe-Spider-Man wear including a Halloween costume, web-shooter, and utility belt.

“You’ll find the Spider-Man,” indeed—clearly, Marvel learned how to franchise the Amazing Spider-Man in the 1970s!

But it all started here, with Marvel Team-Up (MTU) #1, coverdated March 1972 and going on sale on December 21, 1971. “ALL NEW! Two of Marvel’s Mightiest—in one mind-staggering mag!!” cried its cover blurb, just the type of hootin’ and hollerin’ you’d expect from Smilin’ Stan Lee, who was in his last year in the editor’s chair when MTU was rolled out.

The issue was released during a period of Marvel history spanning August 1971 through September 1972 (on-sale dates) where all of Marvel’s covers shared a uniform “frame” layout, the cover artwork confined within a box top-bordered by the logo and trade dress graphics and bottom-bordered with a cover blurb. Yet no box frame could confine the raw energy of this cover illustration by Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia. It offered a worm’s-eye-view upward, with the sinister Sandman atop a water tower, wielding his fist, which he had shaped into a sandy sledgehammer, into the tower.

His blow released a gushing torrent that doused the flames of Spider-Man’s co-star, the Human Torch, and threatened to topple Spidey himself, who dominated the cover in the foreground. The artist chose an uncharacteristic approach—especially for a first issue—of showing the heroes from behind as they scurried up toward their enemy. Yet Kane’s cinematic staging, despite being trapped within the mandated cover frame, created the illusion of movement… and if any reader didn’t recognize the co-stars from their backsides, they were shown in miniature from the front alongside their logos, employing Marvel’s longtime standard of displaying an image of a book’s star(s) beside the logo for easy identification on the crowded newsstands and spin racks.

Spidey and the Human Torch teamed up in a holiday tale titled “Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas.” “I had always liked Christmas stories in comics, including Batman and the like,” Roy Thomas reminisced to Jonathan Rikard Brown in Back Issue #85 (Dec. 2015). “So when Stan asked me to write at least the first issue of Marvel Team-Up to get it started, and I realized that the issue would be out around December, I used that as an excuse to humanize Sandman, one of my favorite Spidey villains.”

Yes, Sandman—beefy, brawny Flint Marko, who could morph his body or his limbs into soft or hard Roy Thomas. sand—was indeed originally one

Fly Man and His Amazing Super-Buddies

Archie Comics lacked a team-up title during its 1960s revival of its Golden Age heroes, but its characters began to make crossover appearances, not unlike Marvel’s series. This mash-up from Fly Man #33 (Sept. 1965) was quickly followed by the premiere of Archie’s super-team title, The Mighty Crusaders.

Cover by Paul Reinman. © Archie Comics Publications, Inc.

of the Web-Slinger’s rogues, having premiered in Amazing Spider-Man #4 (Sept. 1963). Yet when Spidey stumbled across him in the early pages of Marvel Team-Up #1, the Wall-Crawler— or writer Thomas—experienced a memory lapse, instead regarding Sandman as the Fantastic Four’s foe. “Sandman isn’t my enemy,” Spidey remarked. “I just tackled him once—and that was a looonnnng time ago.” Actually, prior to MTU #1, Spidey had two additional clashes with Sandy: in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #1 (1964), where Sandman was part of the Sinister Six, and a return bout in ASM #18 (Nov. 1964).

But Roy can be forgiven for that oversight, as his story exemplified both the excitement of a team-up adventure, with the oft-squabbling Spidey/Torch duo working well together, and a Dickensian twist readers would expect from a Christmas story, as the heroes cut Sandman some slack upon discovering that the villain was on a gift-giving mission for a loved one. “I’ve been pleased to see Sandman’s gradual redemption, whose seeds perhaps I helped plant in that story,” Thomas said in Back Issue #44, referring to the Sandman’s eventual rehabilitation, much of which occurred in the pages of Marvel Two-in-One, explored elsewhere in this volume.

“He just seemed to me like a character who might have that in him… and it even came out in the third Spider-Man movie”

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[director Sam Raimi’s 2007 Spider-Man 3, with Thomas Haden Church as Sandman]. Marvel Team-Up #1 even ended on a heartwarming note, with the Torch flame-writing into the nighttime Manhattan sky the message, “Peace on Earth, goodwill to men.”

Sandman had shifted back to his old tricks in MTU #2 (May 1972) in a reunion of the Frightful Four, enemies of the Fantastic Four, rejoining his fellow supervillains the Wizard and the Trapster.

Replacing Medusa, the evil FF’s original fourth member that had since freed herself from such devilish entanglements, was SpiderMan. You read that right: Spider-Man, member of the Frightful Four—and thereby the enemy of issue #2’s co-star, Johnny Storm, the returning Human Torch. Spidey and Johnny had an ongoing rivalry in their earlier encounters—sort of the Marvel Universe’s equivalent of Archie Comics’ Archie and Reggie—but the two weren’t enemies… until now. Yet Spider-Man wasn’t himself, instead being mentally manipulated by the wily Wizard. “Guys that age have a lot of testosterone, and both characters were definitely alpha males, so friction was inevitable,” said new MTU scribe Gerry Conway of the traditional Spidey/Torch dynamic in Back Issue #44 .

Spider-Man and the Human Torch were together again in issue #3 of MTU, once again written by Conway. This time the duo was in pursuit of Morbius the Living Vampire, a recent addition to the Marvel pantheon who made his third appearance in this story. “I liked the way [Morbius] looked, and liked the idea of a vampire ‘supervillain.’ And it seemed like he’d be fun to write,” recalled Gerry Conway to Bruce Buchanan in Back Issue #36 (Oct. 2009)… so much fun that Gerry allowed Morbius to slip through Spidey and Torch’s fingers at the end of MTU #3 so that the Living Vampire could appear in the next issue.

Before our exploration shifts to Marvel Team-Up #4, however, mention must be made of the artist of issues #1–3: Ross Andru, who had previously drawn Spider-Man in a fill-in that became the aforementioned Marvel Super-Heroes #14. A DC Comics veteran with long stints on Wonder Woman and The Metal Men, Andru transitioned to Marvel in 1971, his last major work at DC being the new “Rose and the Thorn” backup feature in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane. As a resident of the House of Ideas, Andru began drawing Sub-Mariner, the Defenders in Marvel Feature, and two new books, Doc Savage and Shanna the She-Devil.

The three Spider-Man/Human Torch team-ups marked the longtime artist’s official premiere into Spider-dom, where he would soon become the regular artist of The Amazing Spider-Man beginning with issue #125 (Oct. 1973), a title he would draw for many years to come. Andru’s off-kilter camera angles made him perfect for Spider-Man’s topsy-turvy world, and his dynamic presence in the first three issues of Marvel Team-Up was crucial to their success.

Flame Off!

TM & © Marvel.

Major changes had recently transpired at Marvel Comics by the time Marvel Team-Up #4 (cover-dated Sept. 1972) hit the stands on June 20, 1972. Editor Stan Lee had become Marvel’s publisher, with Roy Thomas taking over as editor-in-chief— and as editor of MTU. Spidey’s co-star had changed as well.

“Because Johnny Storm and Spider-Man were both young adults, and had shown some chemistry playing off each other in the past, Roy probably felt this would be an interesting team,” MTU writer Gerry

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Conway remarked in Back Issue #44 of the editorially mandated team-up partners that initially accompanied his assignment of the series. “But the limits of the setup became obvious pretty quickly, so we moved on to the alternating-hero idea, and then ultimately, to the team-up-of-the-month formula.”

The “alternating-hero idea” was that Spider-Man would occasionally vacate MTU for an issue to allow his original co-star, the Human Torch, to take the lead and be paired with a different co-star. This did not begin, however, until issue #18. For the time being, Marvel Team-Up was Spider-Man’s book.

Spider-Man teamed with a bunch of losers in issue #4: the X-Men. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s racism parable, The X-Men, initially was not the uncanny hit it later became. After fluctuating creative teams in the late 1960s (including an outstanding but brief collaboration between Roy Thomas and Neal Adams), The X-Men #66 (Mar. 1970) featured the series’ final new story. The title limped along as a shelf-filling reprint book, and its mutant heroes occasionally dropped in for appearances elsewhere, the most prominent being the Beast’s brief run as a solo star in Amazing Adventures #11 (Mar. 1972)–17 (Mar. 1973). So the X-Men’s appearance as a team—albeit out of uniform, and the absence of solo star Beast— alongside Spider-Man was a rare treat at the time for X-fans.

Conway’s villain from issue #3’s Spidey/Torch tale, Morbius the Living Vampire, was back in #4, with a connection to X-Men leader Professor Charles Xavier that led to Professor X’s, and his band of mutants’, involvement. The writer excelled at threading strings from the Marvel Universe’s broader tapestry into the pages of MTU. In his earlier issues, Conway introduced subplots tying in directly to the pages of Amazing Spider-Man, with Peter Parker developing an illness related to his recent metamorphosis into the six-armed Spidey and soap-opera friction between Peter and his roommate Harry Osborn. From Conway’s first issue of MTU (#2), it was clear to the reader that Marvel Team-Up was a companion book to The Amazing Spider-Man, not a self-contained entity separate from the host’s title’s continuity as other team-up books often were. This cross-pollination soon became easy for the writer to coordinate once Gerry became the Amazing Spider-Man scribe beginning with #111 (Aug. 1972).

Artist Gil Kane, who had recently enjoyed a stint as the illustrator of Amazing Spider-Man, became the MTU artist with issue #4, returning him not only to the Web-Slinger’s adventures but also to Morbius the Living Vampire, a character he co-created with writer Roy Thomas in Amazing Spider-Man #101 (Oct. 1971). Kane’s flair for exaggerated anatomical rendering and extreme camera angles made him a good match for the sinewy, always-inmotion Wall-Crawler. “After doing a few stories with him in my usual, loosely plotted style, I began giving him tighter plots, indicating where the story had to be by such-and-such Gil Kane. page,” Conway said of Kane in Back Issue #36. “He seemed to prefer this, too, and I’m generally happier with the later stories we did together than the first few.”

Conway and Kane teamed Spider-Man and the Vision in MTU #5 (Nov. 1972), Marvel’s first outing of its Astonishing Android not in the accompaniment of at least one fellow member of the Avengers.

Its cover was also the first to prominently use a “Vision” logo.

A Spider-Man/Thing team-up appeared in issue #6, from the Conway/Kane combo. Two villains were on hand: the Puppet

Flame On!

Iron Man’s incapacitation by the Tomorrow Man and Kang led Spidey to seek aid from his pal, the Human Torch, in Marvel Team-Up #10 (June 1973). This strategically chosen team-up was published during an attempt by Marvel to capitalize upon Johnny Storm’s popularity within Fantastic Four. When Spider-Man approached his frenemy at the Baxter Building, Johnny was wearing his new red FF uniform, a stark contrast to the traditional blue garb worn by the rest of the FF (even the Thing’s trunks).

“I felt the FF looked a bit dull,” Fantastic Four scribe Roy Thomas recounted to Jonathan Rickard Brown in Back Issue #74

(Aug. 2014). “Rather than bring the original [red-costumed, Golden Age] Torch into the present, I preferred to make Johnny Storm look more like him, since Johnny had been a comics fan.” The Torch first donned the red suit in FF #132 (Mar. 1973) and wore it through #159 (June 1975). During this period, he starred in an eight-issue Human Torch solo series, #1 (Sept. 1974)–8 (Nov. 1975), which reprinted early Silver Age Torch stories from Strange Tales. He also headlined several MTU issues, which will be examined shortly.

Spidey’s time travels next led him to Attilan, the hidden Himalayan home of the Inhumans, in issue #11. Its Romita-drawn cover showed the Inhumans’ leader, the mute-by-necessity Black Bolt, unleashing the unfathomable power of his voice. The artist conveyed sound in the silent medium of comics through concentric circles emanating from Black Bolt’s open mouth, plus a mix of motion lines and debris bursting away from the “sound.” What truly communicated the sonic assault was Romita’s rendering of those within earshot: the book’s headliner Spider-Man, flailing helplessly but cleverly placed front and center on the cover for maximum commerciality, and Inhumans Gorgon, Triton, and Karnak, clutching their ears in a futile attempt to protect themselves from the deafening volume. While the initial tussle that occurred when the quipping Wall-Crawler violated the sanctity of the Inhumans’ royal palace didn’t quite warrant the hyperbolic “Most LongAwaited BATTLE in the History of Comicdom” cover copy (had any Marvel fan really been pacing the floor wondering when a Spidey/ Inhumans clash would take place?), Romita produced here one of the finest covers to grace MTU during its long run. Len Wein was credited with scripting Gerry Conway’s plot in #11, signaling to the astute reader that a writer’s change was in the wind.

The Conway (plot)/Wein (script) credit returned in MTU #12, co-starring Spider-Man and the Werewolf. Jack Russell, the cursed young man who sprouted fur and fangs in Marvel’s Werewolf by Night (WBN), was a relative newcomer in the Marvel firmament, part of the company’s growing line of monster comics released in the wake of the Comics Code Authority’s relaxation of its former prohibitions against the undead and other horrific creatures. The character had recently premiered in Marvel Spotlight #2 (Feb. 1972) and quickly spun off into his own title. WBN #8 (Aug. 1973) went on sale the same day as MTU #12, May 29, 1973.

The Werewolf’s meeting with Spidey wasn’t as far-fetched as it might have appeared. “From the outset,” Roy Thomas wrote in his 2012 introduction to Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up vol. 2, “I had conceived Jack Russell as sort of a horror-movie equivalent of Spider-Man (with his own teenage angst and super-powers), so it would be interesting to see them interact.”

As co-stars, Spidey and the Werewolf clashed during most of the story, beginning with a setup on the opening splash, taking place atop the Golden Gate Bridge… as in San Francisco, California, a continental divide away from Spidey’s stomping grounds of Manhattan and Queens, New York.

“I had just come back from spending a month in Los Angeles and staying at Harlan Ellison’s place and I thought L.A. was… phenomenal to set things in,” revealed writer Gerry Conway when relating the development of the Werewolf by Night series to Dan Johnson in Back Issue #15 (Apr. 2006). “I had also spent two

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TM & © Marvel.

Master, whose origin was retold—along with his tearful confession that he was responsible for the blinding of his stepdaughter, the Thing’s girlfriend Alicia Masters—and the Mad Thinker. While Kane’s layouts were lively as always, his rendition of the Thing was stiff, with puffy facial features uncharacteristic of the craggy hero, and the Thing often seemed disproportionate to the confines of the panels into which he was drawn.

In the lettercol of MTU #6, a fan pondered, “While Spider-Man is the obvious choice to draw readers, I hope he won’t be a permanent feature in MTU. Think, if you will, upon the delightful stories which could be weaved around such heroes as Thor and Hercules, the Scarlet Witch and Dr. Strange, Hawkeye and the Black Widow (play it again, Sam), Nick Fury and Luke Cage, Reed Richards and Dr. Doom, the Hulk and Millie the Model (well, maybe not).” While the title would never stray too far from Spider-Man during its 150-issue run, what Gerry Conway called the “alternating-hero” format would soon begin, albeit much more limited than what that letter writer proposed.

Marvel Team-Up was a hit for Marvel, and promoted to monthly publication status with issue #7 (Mar. 1973). Writer Conway was joined by returning penciler Ross Andru in this issue, which teamed Spider-Man and Thor against a vengeful rock-troll named Kryllk, who had a mad-on against Thor’s father, Odin.

Spider-Man’s marquee value was called upon for issue #8’s team-up with the Cat, a new Marvel heroine whose title, The Cat (a.k.a. Claws of the Cat), had recently been launched along with Shanna the She-Devil and Night Nurse. “They were hoping to capture female readers,” Cat co-creator/artist Marie Severin told Dewey Cassell in Back Issue #17 (Aug. 2006). “After all, fifty percent of the population is female.” MTU #8 was released three weeks after The Cat #3 went on sale. The added exposure failed to boost The Cat’s sales, as the series was cancelled with issue #4, although an unpublished issue #5 was in production at the time. The heroine would not lie dormant for long, with writer Tony Isabella transforming her into Tigra the Were-Woman in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974).

Feminism was one of The Cat’s conceits. While Roy Thomas and other male creators were involved with the heroine’s creation and her exploits, the title was written by Linda Fite, with Marie Severin drawing the first two issues and Paty Cockrum laying out the third (Ramona Fradon was the artist of the unpublished fifth issue). Conversely, the all-male team of Gerry Conway and Jim Mooney produced the Spider-Man/Cat team-up, which introduced a rather butch villainess named Man-Killer who some readers found offensive at worst, stereotypical at best. Mooney, no stranger to the Wall-Crawler from his work on previous Spider-Man stories, handled both heroes well. Detail-oriented fans noticed the return of Spidey’s oft-forgotten underarm webbing via Mooney’s pencil and brush; however, the webbing came and went throughout the story.

Next up: Iron Man as Spidey’s co-star, in MTU #9, as Conway began “The Tomorrow War.” This thrilling three-parter forced the Wall-Crawler and co-stars to bounce through the timeline, to thwart a struggle between two of Marvel’s chronal criminals, Zarrko the Tomorrow Man and Kang the Conqueror, to gain control over the future of Earth.

TM & © Marvel.

weeks in San Francisco and it was out of this that I came up with the notion of bringing Daredevil to San Francisco.” Daredevil, at the time a buddy book with the logo Daredevil and the Black Widow, was set in that scenic locale in the early 1970s. Once again, Conway linked the broader Marvel Universe to MTU by having Peter Parker assigned by the Daily Bugle to San Francisco to photograph DD and BW, a thread that would continue with Spidey following MTU #12 with a guestappearance in Daredevil #103.

But Parker’s true motivation for the San Francisco getaway was to literally get away, with Peter in emotional turmoil from his inadvertent role in the tragic death of his girlfriend Gwen Stacy in the Conway-scripted landmark issues Amazing Spider-Man #121 and 122, which had been published only a few months earlier. Jack Russell, the Werewolf, who normally roamed Los Angeles, was also in San Francisco to lick his wounds from a recent harrowing full-moon experience. Conway subtly linked these two tormented souls despite their enmity throughout the tale’s action, and wordsmith Wein’s lively dialogue added the perfect pizzazz.

Recent MTUs had ping-ponged between artists Ross Andru and Jim Mooney, and Andru was back for the Spidey/Werewolf issue. His inker, Don Perlin, had an artistic legacy at Marvel that dated back to 1952 on the company’s mystery titles. Perlin was a smooth partner to Andru’s patented cockeyed layouts, and added the appropriate moodiness to the depictions of the Werewolf through an effective use of blacks that accentuated the monster’s fur. A few months after inking MTU #12, Perlin, who at the time was drawing random jobs for DC Comics editor Murray Boltinoff on books like Weird War Tales, received a phone call from Marvel editor Roy Thomas with the offer of a choice between two assignments.

“One was Werewolf by Night and the other was Morbius the Living Vampire [in Adventures into Fear],” Perlin said in Back Issue #15.

The artist opted for WBN, a monthly book, over the bimonthly Morbius feature, taking over with WBN #12 (Dec. 1973) and ultimately becoming a monster-hero fan-favorite for the character— making Marvel Team-Up #12 noteworthy for featuring the first Werewolf by Night artwork by Don Perlin.

With the next month, MTU would no longer be Marvel’s sole team-up comic. On June 19, 1973, the tryout title Marvel Feature devoted issue #12 (Sept. 1973) to a Thing/Hulk team-up, launching a “solo” series for the Fantastic Four’s big orange curmudgeon.

After two issues of Marvel Feature the Thing team-up series shifted to the newly created title Marvel Two-in-One (see its essay elsewhere in this volume).

Meanwhile, in Marvel Team-Up, Len Wein took over as solo scripter, with the return of artist Gil Kane, for a Spider-Man/Captain America team-up in MTU #13 (Sept. 1973), a solid but standard story that pitted the duo against the Grey Gargoyle and A.I.M. Regarding the Grey Gargoyle—normally a Thor rogue—battling Spidey and Cap, the story’s editor Roy Thomas quipped in the second MTU Marvel Masterworks edition, “If you’re gonna mix-and-match your heroes, you might as well do the same with your villains.”

Another routine yarn was the same creative team’s Spider-Man/ Sub-Mariner team-up in #14. “We were trying to goose sales of Namor’s mag after the untimely passing of creator-writer-artist Bill Everett in February of ’73,” Roy Thomas wrote in his Masterworks

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vol. 2 introduction. In the team-up, Spidey chanced across a determined Subby in Manhattan and was hooked into the Scion of the Sea’s mission to topple the latest machinations of his undersea foes Tiger Shark and Dr. Dorcas, who were now assisted by grotesque mutations called the Men-Fish. Credit must be given to MTU #14’s jazzy cover burst, juxtaposed against a Spidey-vs.-Subby brawl scene: “2 free-swinging super-stars for the price of one!”

MTU #15 (Nov. 1973) featured the first meeting of Spider-Man and the hellfire-powered motorcyclist Ghost Rider in their clash with the Orb, with a stunt show as the backdrop. Wein’s script ended on a comical note as the Wall-Crawler realized that his new partner’s blazing skull wasn’t a mask.

Ross Andru penciled this issue, and his tilt-a-whirl perspectives created the illusion of motion for the Ghost Rider’s frenetic cycle movements. It was Andru’s last MTU, though, as editor Roy Thomas announced on the “Mail It to Team-Up” page, “Jim Mooney and Gil Kane will be alternating on the artistic chores of TEAM-UP henceforth, while Ross Andru has found his niche as regular penciler of the solo SPIDER-MAN book.” (Andru was not done with Spider-Man team-ups, however, and had a few giant-sized ones in his near future.)

“I’m always a little embarrassed by the Orb, this tale’s villain,” editor Thomas admitted in his Masterworks vol. 2 introduction, “because, with Jim Mooney. his helmet shaped like a human Courtesy of Alter Ego. eyeball, he was so similar to the Eye, a fan-hero created by a friend of mine, Biljo White.”

Readers got both of MTU’s alternating artists in issue #16 as Mooney inked Kane in its Spider-Man/Captain Marvel story.

This issue introduced the serpentine supervillain with the deadly eye blasts, the Basilisk, its cover containing a footnote that defined “basilisk.” (Who says this wasn’t the Marvel Age of Vocabulary Building?) The villain was a transformed thief, empowered by the Alpha Stone, a gem of Kree origin. This began a two-parter—a rarity for Wein’s MTU, as the scribe preferred what editor Thomas called “complete-in-one-issue stories.” The conclusion in MTU #17 teamed Spidey and Mister Fantastic as the Basilisk/Captain Marvel storyline shifted underground to the Mole Man’s subterranean world.

MTU Gets Torched

Marvel Team-Up #18 (Feb. 1974) opened per usual, with an actionpacked splash page yanking the reader into the issue’s proceedings.

But instead of the wiry Wall-Crawler webbing his way over Manhattan’s skyline and inevitably into a mash-up with another of Marvel’s mightiest, readers witnessed the Human Torch blazing across the Catskill Mountains, with his buddy Wyatt Wingfoot zipping behind him on an FF sky-cycle. “No, tiger—we haven’t forgotten the star of this mag,” assured a caption to the puzzled reader. “Just thought we’d give a certain Web-Slinger some time off after his monumental battle with the Mole Man and the Basilisk these two issues past. Rest assured, tho’—Spider-Man’ll be back for our next go-round.” And thus commenced the “alternating-hero idea” previously mentioned by Gerry Conway, as the Torch temporarily supplanted Spidey as MTU’s lead hero.

Delightfully drawn by Gil Kane, MTU #18 was a fun, done-inone romp, with writer Len Wein deftly characterizing the hot-headed Johnny Storm and the wordsmith’s favorite Marvel character to

In the tradition of the fire vs. water motif of the classic original Human Torch vs. the Sub-Mariner mix-it-ups of the Golden Age, fire vs. ice was the theme of the Human Torch/Iceman tale in Johnny Storm’s next shot as MTU’s star, in issue #24 (July 1974).

Dominating the splash page was a familiar form—Spider-Man— in a sky-flyer on loan from the Fantastic Four, with a caption directing the reader to the first issue of Marvel Team-Up’s new companion mag, Giant-Size Spider-Man. The story’s star, the Torch, was relegated to a tiny aerial shot in the background of the splash page. The issue included an extended flashback scene starring the Wall-Crawler, once again signaling to the devoted Spider-Man fan that even when the Torch took center stage, this was still Spidey’s arena. The story itself, though, another Wein/ Kane collaboration, was a lively tale where the Torch was tricked into tangling with Iceman, until the two joined forces to battle their common foe, Equinox, who possessed both their powers.

By the Human Torch’s third headlining appearance, his team-up with Thor in MTU #26 (Oct. 1974), writer Wein and editor Thomas seemed more confident in their sizzling pinch-hitter. Spider-Man was relegated to the letters column (an excerpt panel from a previous issue), but this story, penciled by Jim Mooney, gave the Torch his due as the lead.

Once his encounter with the temperate Lava Man ended with the villain’s appeal for help in reaching Thor, the Torch contacted the Thunder God by writing an aerial message to Thor using his flame trail. Torch and Thor joined Lava Man on an underground journey against an army of Lava Men, where the heroes were aided by unlikely allies, the Mole Man’s Moloids. Despite the Torch’s lead status, Thor’s well-intentioned references to Johnny as “the youthful Torch” and “lad” undermined Torch’s star power and cast him in the light of being the issue’s junior partner.

Gerry Conway had returned as Marvel TeamUp’s writer by the time the fourth Torch-starring issue, #29 (Jan. 1975), was published. In its Human Torch/Iron Man story, the Armored Avenger was visibly disappointed when young Johnny Storm, a “half-grown teenager,” answered Tony Stark’s summons for FF assistance instead of super-scientist Reed Richards. “Shove it, tin man!” snapped the impulsive Torch. The two mended ways to battle Infinitus the Reincarnated Man, who claimed to have been reborn from the 11th Century. Conway used Iron Man’s ongoing derogatory age-related swipes at the Torch as “applied psychology” to goad the youth into living up to his potential, and Johnny Storm actually cracked the mystery linking Infinitus to the problems at Stark’s facility. Yet by making an issue out of Johnny’s youth, Conway inadvertently exposed that the Torch might not be up to snuff to deserve a starring role. Not helping matters with this particular issue were Vince Colletta’s hasty inks, which marred Jim Mooney’s layouts.

Iron Man’s caustic remarks were addressed in issue #32’s “Mail It to Team-Up” page by then-fan Jo Duffy, who would, before long, After donning a hot new red suit in FF #132 (Mar. 1973), the Torch headlined jump to the pros as a member of Marvel’s a few MTUs and even got a short-lived solo title (of reprints). editorial staff and as a writer. Duffy wrote, TM & © Marvel.

“MARVEL TEAM-UP #29, from Iron Man’s

write, the Incredible Hulk, this issue’s co-star. But the Human Torch seemed doomed as Spider-Man’s surrogate from the get-go, with a subtly veiled apologetic tone permeating the issue beyond the page-one caption. In one scene, an extinguished Johnny Storm tumbled from the sky and plopped into Hulk’s arms. The Green Goliath dismissively quipped after catching Johnny, “Bah! Is not enemy after all—is only dumb Torch. Wasted Hulk’s time!” (You know you’ve been disrespected when the dimwitted Hulk calls you “dumb”!) And in an editorial reply in the lettercol to a reader’s “keep Spidey in MARVEL TEAM-UP” plea, it was assured, “We do plan to keep Spidey as the regular star of M.T.U.—and any of you others who panicked when you noticed the Web-Slinger missing from this ish—but we will try a few experiments from time to time, like this Hulk/Human Torch extravaganza, just for variety’s sake.”

(Sheesh, poor Torchy got second billing in that remark.)

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first out-of-character smug thought, was a joy. What more could a sociology/psychology major ask for in a comic?”

Illustrating the growing team-up mania among fans, #29’s lettercol featured a fan’s request for a Supernatural TeamUp title, featuring characters such as “Dr. Strange, Dracula, Morbius, Tigra, Son of Satan, Man-Wolf, etc.” Despite an editorial “anything’s possible at understaffed, overworked, maniacal Marvel” remark, a Supernatural Team-Up book did not happen… although Ghost Rider, Morbius, Man-Thing, and the Werewolf by Night joined forces as the super-team Legion of Monsters in Marvel Premiere #28 (Feb. 1976), and most of Marvel’s creepiest characters made appearances as co-stars with Spidey in MTU and the Thing in Marvel Two-in-One. One might suspect that Marvel took that Supernatural Team-Up suggestion to heart when spying the Human Torch/ Son of Satan pairing in Marvel Team-Up #32 (Apr. 1975).

Besides its co-stars, the story opened with Johnny Storm’s FF pal, the Thing, still spooked over the metaphysical events of Marvel Two-in-One #8, his Ghost Rider team-up. Issue #32’s story involved the demonic possession of Wyatt Wingfoot and members of his Native-American tribe. The Torch enlisted exorcist Daimon Hellstrom—a.k.a. the Son of Satan—to help free Wyatt and his people.

Hellfire and brimstone were back in the next Torchheadlining issue, #35, teaming the Torch and Doctor Strange.

In investigating the whereabouts of his missing fellow Defender, the Valkyrie—last seen in a team-up with SpiderMan in MTU #34—Strange reached out to Spidey’s bud, Johnny Storm, for aid, and the two were drawn into an encounter with a religious cult led by a superpowered figure.

The Torch/Doctor Strange team-up was the final issue of MTU to feature the Torch as the lead character… although the flaming FFer would return as Spider-Man’s co-star in future issues. Yet one reader had a broader format for Marvel Team-Up in mind in MTU #39’s lettercol: “Are you ever going to have an issue of MTU without the Human Torch or Spider-Man? Why don’t you try it for just one issue, and then collect the comments and opinions of your readership?” The editor’s response: “When all Marveldom Assembled cries CHANGE then maybe it’ll be loud enough for us to hear. But the letters we get seem to indicate that Spidey, at least, should continue as MTU’s host in future issues.”

“I’m pretty sure there was a substantial difference in sales between issues that featured the Torch and issues that featured Spider-Man,” Gerry Conway remembered in Back Issue #44, “so that undoubtedly affected the decision. I enjoyed writing both characters, though of course I’ve always found Peter Parker to be a richer and more developed personality than Johnny Storm.”

Roy Thomas, in Back Issue #74, also weighed in on the Torch’s failure to ignite reader engagement outside of the pages of Fantastic Four. “I think there are a couple of reasons. Perhaps the most important is that, in the Marvel Age, it was characters with great physical power who succeeded the most strongly… the Fantastic Four (with the Thing as the powerhouse), the Hulk (after a slow start), Iron Man, Thor. The Human Torch’s power over fire worked well in a group, but didn’t excite ’60s kids as it had those in the ’40s. And I don’t think, somehow, that he ever established enough of an identity beyond the FF book.”

Nonetheless, Marvel tested Torch’s star power one last time in the 1970s in Captain America #216 (Dec. 1977), which interrupted Cap’s long-running partnership with the Falcon for an issue whose team-up–like dual logos co-billed Captain America versus the Human Torch. It was a fill-in with a new cover, the interior contents reprinting 1963’s Strange Tales #114, during the Torch’s solo series in that book.

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Giant-Size Spider-Man

Marvelites suffering from Spider-Man Separation Anxiety during the Human Torch–starring issues of MTU were placated by Spider-Man team-ups in a new, quarterly title published during the months (often on the same day) as the non-Spidey MTUs: Giant-Size Spider-Man. DC Comics’ 100-Page Super Spectaculars of the early 1970s had reimagined the “Giant” format for double-sized editions. By 1974, DC’s “Super Specs” had morphed from all-reprint editions to a mix of new and (mostly) old stories.

Marvel introduced its “Giant-Size” initiative that same year, a line of quarterly, 64-page titles retailing for 50 cents and featuring an extra-length lead story with backup reprints. With a few all-reprint one-shots as exceptions, the Giant-Size books were generally companions to popular monthly series, such as The Defenders and its companion, Giant-Size Defenders. As Roy Thomas told Lex Carson in Back Issue #86 (Feb. 2016), publisher Stan Lee concocted the Giant-Size line “to increase revenue. … It seemed to make sense to try to produce more of the Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Conan, and other top-selling characters and genres.”

Marvel Team-Up’s extra-length companion mag, Giant-Size Spider-Man, co-starred the Lord of the Vampires in its inaugural edition (July 1974). Cover by John Romita, Sr. TM & © Marvel.

The Giant-Size format was schizophrenic at first, as Marvel scrambled to establish a consistent page count. Originally Marvel announced a line of 52-page, 35-cent Giant-Size books, with Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 (May 1974) featuring the Fantastic Four and Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1 (June 1974) featuring Spider-Man first out the gate. Then three 100-page “Super-Giant” mags, selling for 60 cents, were trumpeted in a “Bullpen Bulletins” item: Super-Giant Avengers, Super-Giant Conan, and Super-Giant Spider-Man, the latter being, according to “Bullpen Bulletins,” “a bouncin’ big brother to our regular-size MARVEL TEAM-UP hit!”

Marvel’s number-crunchers soon realized that these editorial plans had splintered the line into too many different, and potentially retailerconfusing, cover prices: the regular 25-cent comic line, 35-cent Giant-Size books, 60-cent Super-Giants, plus Marvel’s 75-cent blackand-white magazines and $1.50 Treasury Editions. After the release of a handful of 35-cent Giant-Size books, the Super-Giant format was abandoned before any titles saw print, and a halfway point between the 35-cent and 60-cent editions was chosen, the aforementioned 64-page, 50-cent format, all bearing the Giant-Size brand.

And so Super-Giant Spider-Man #1 became Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 (July 1974). Its co-star for Spidey remained the same as was initially announced for the 100-page version: Count Dracula.

Yes, Spider-Man and Dracula, “the story you virtually dared us to print,” as “Bullpen Bulletins” claimed.

That was no mere hype. Marvel Team-Up #16’s lettercol included a reader’s missive asking for Spider-Man to team up with the Lord of Vampires, the star of Marvel’s cult hit, Tomb of Dracula. Editor Roy Thomas remarked in response, “Drac’s fans seem to generally oppose the idea, and we haven’t yet heard from Spidey’s contingent of Marveldom on the subject.”

At that time, Marv Wolfman, the writer most associated with Marvel’s Tomb of Dracula series, had recently taken its reins, starting with issue #7 (Mar. 1973). “To me, all the horror books were outside of the Marvel Universe,” Wolfman told Glenn Greenberg in Back Issue #116 (Oct. 2019). “It was a hard enough problem creating mood, tension, and suspense in a comic book… [b]ut to then have to worry about superheroes or supervillains at the same time—I didn’t think that would work.”

Once Spidey’s fans spoke up, Tomb of Dracula’s hesitant readers and team-up–resistant writer lost out. According to Roy Thomas’ editorial in Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, an outpouring of letters, both pro and con, flooded the Marvel editorial offices, with some Drac fans warning, “a non-negotiable curse would descend upon our heads if we dared cross the line…”

Bolstered by this feverish response, Thomas and Stan Lee decided to run with the Spidey/Dracula team-up, and as editor Roy offered the assignment to Tomb of Dracula’s Marv Wolfman. “I turned it down,” Wolfman said in Back Issue #116. “They had someone else write it because I wouldn’t do it.” Tapped for the assignment was Len Wein, Marv’s longtime friend.

Giant-Size Spider-Man #1, headlined by a 30-page epic co-starring Spider-Man and Dracula and backed up by a Spider-Man reprint, went on sale April 23, 1974—the same day Marvel Team-Up #23, the second of six Torch-starring issues.

Issue #1’s splash, by artists Ross Andru and Don Heck, opened with Spidey swinging into action to interrupt a jewelry store heist in progress. In the foreground, to convey the windy chill of the Manhattan night, was a littered edition of the Daily Bugle, its headline bleating, “FLU EPIDEMIC STRIKES NEW YORK,” in this case a fictional virus that writer Wein transmitted as the catalyst for events that would place Peter Parker on a path toward his encounter with the Lord of Vampires. After an obligatory Spidey opening action scene and an encounter with a shadowy thief who easily eluded the Wall-Crawler, Peter Parker discovered that his Aunt May was critically ill. For those who grew up on Silver or Bronze Age Amazing Spider-Man stories, this was certainly not a new devel-

Famous Monsters Face Off

Shortly before the Lord of the Vampires met Spidey, he battled the most famous of movie monsters in 1971’s Dracula vs. Frankenstein. Directing was Al Adamson, known for low-budget made for Web-spinning vs. martialschlock-fests arts! Originalquickly Ross Andru/ the drive-in movie circuit.

Al Milgrom art to the Spidey/Shang-Chi clash in Giant-Size © Independent-International Corp. Movie poster courtesy of Heritage.

Spider-Man #2 (Oct.Picture 1974).

TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Heritage.

opment, as May’s frailty had routinely fed the series with weepy medical subplots worthy of an afternoon soap opera. May had contracted an illness that could only be cured by a vaccine concocted by a fear-of-flying scientist who was slow-boating the cure to the States on a ship. Thanks to guest-star Human Torch’s transportation loan, Spidey hopped the ship and hobnobbed as Peter, searching for the elusive physician and May’s miracle cure. Also on the trail of the doctor: mobsters looking to profit from the vaccine and a certain vampire with poor social graces.

On page 11, Peter accidentally bumped into Dracula on board the ship. “Dolt! Are you blind? Watch where you walk!” snapped Drac. After apologizing, Peter thought to himself, “Man, what a grouch that guy is!”

That three-panel sequence was the only “team up” between the co-stars. Yet their journeys unfolded in parallel storytelling that concluded with a surprise twist regarding the doctor’s identity.

Since this title was named Giant-Size Spider-Man instead of Giant-Size Marvel Team-Up, the story, “Ship of Fiends!,” was essentially a Spidey tale from top to bottom, with Count Dracula inserted into the mix. While eerier than your average issue of Amazing Spider-Man, the gothic atmosphere of Wolfman’s Tomb of

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TM & © Marvel. Doc Savage © Condé Nast.

Dracula—much of which was the result of the ethereal renderings by mood master Gene Colan—was nowhere to be seen. Still, Len’s portrayal of the Lord of the Vampires was consistent with Marv’s.

Not that Wolfman would know. “I never read it,” he told Greenberg in Back Issue #116. “I saw no reason to.”

Wein and Andru returned with a Spidey/Master of Kung Fu team-up in Giant-Size Spider-Man #2 (Oct. 1974)—strategically released with the Torch-starring MTU #26 in the same week’s bundle, going on sale July 23, 1974. Once again, the wordsmith merged Spidey’s life-is-a-great-big-hang-up world with Shang-Chi’s more reality-based, yet equally fantastic, realm of diabolical masterminds and martial artists. Novelist Sax Rohmer’s fictional Asian crimelord Fu Manchu—Shang-Chi’s father in the original Master of Kung Fu comic books—was in Manhattan, with a sinister plot to dominate the masses, as were Shang-Chi’s fellow cast members Denis Nayland Smith and Black Jack Tarr. The highlight of the issue was a six-page Spidey-vs.-Shang-Chi battle, with Spider-Man’s athleticism put to the test against Shang-Chi’s mastery of personal combat.

Another out-of-the-ordinary team-up took place in Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 (Jan. 1975)— which hit the stands on October 17, 1974, one week before the Torch/Iron Man pairing in MTU #29: Spider-Man and Doc Savage. The legendary Man of Bronze who originated in pulp magazines and starred in a series of popular novels was licensed

by Marvel from publisher Condé Nast between 1972 and 1977.

Doc’s comic-book adventures had been dormant for just over a year, however, when this teamup was published, with Marvel’s Doc Savage color comic being cancelled with issue #8 (Jan. 1974). Writer Gerry Conway scripted this issue, bridging the four decades dividing the Man of Bronze’s 1934 setting and Spidey’s current 1974 setting with analogous storylines that dovetailed into a time-jumping final chapter in a story titled “The Yesterday Connection!” Ross Andru was back as penciler, a fortunate selection since the artist was fluent with both characters, having drawn all but the final issue of Marvel’s color Doc Savage series. Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 warmed up audiences for the Man of Bronze’s eventual comeback at the House of Ideas: In June 1975, in conjunction with the release of producer George Pal’s Doc Savage movie starring former TV Tarzan Ron Ely, Marvel launched a new Doc Savage series in its black-and-white magazine format. (Curiously, this second Marvel incarnation ran only eight issues, like the first.)

How could Marvel possibly top Spider-Man team-ups with a vampire, a kung-fu fighter, and a pulp hero from yesteryear? By pairing the Web-Slinger with “gangland’s executioner,” the Punisher, in Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 (Apr. 1975), on sale on January 21, 1975, one week before the release of the latest Torch team-up in MTU #32. This issue marked the third appearance of Marvel’s thennew assassin-antihero, who was introduced as a sympathetic villain in Amazing Spider-Man #129 (Feb. 1974) and promptly made a return appearance in issues #134–135 (July–Aug. 1974). With the Punisher’s co-creators Conway and Andru at the helm, Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 adroitly positioned its black-clad co-star in more of a heroic light as Spidey’s ally in breaking up a ring of weapons manufacturers, paving the way for future development of the character.

One week before the April 22, 1975 release of Marvel Team-Up #35—the final issue to headline the Human Torch—came Giant-Size

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The Team-Up Companion

Spider-Man #5 (July 1975), teaming Spider-Man and Man-Thing.

Of all the stories in this Giant-Size companion title, Conway and Andru’s “Beware the Path of the Monster!” seemed the most ordinary. Nevertheless it delivered the tropes over which any card-carrying Spidey-ophile would salivate: Peter Parker on assignment for the Daily Bugle, an appearance by the clone of the recently murdered Gwen Stacy, and the return of Dr. Curt Connors as the lethal Lizard.

There was one remaining issue of Giant-Size Spider-Man: issue #6, an all-reprint edition that trickled out in late September 1975, the same month as the release of Marvel Team-Up #40. By that point, Marvel’s Giant-Size titles were coming to an end.

Prior to the drawing of the series’ final curtain, a Spider-Man/ Silver Surfer team-up was planned for Giant-Size Spider-Man, as announced in the newszine The Comic Reader #114 (Jan. 1975).

This was during a period when the Surfer, who premiered around a decade earlier in Fantastic Four #48–50, had lost his own magazine (as of Silver Surfer #18, Sept. 1970) and had been relegated to the role of seldom-seen (but always appreciated) guest-star, with occasional fly-bys mainly in The Defenders, FF, and Thor. When asked in a September 29, 2021 email about the intended plot for the Silver Surfer team-up with the Wall-Crawler, Giant-Size Spider-Man scribe Gerry Conway could recall no details, understandable given the ensuing decades and project’s incompletion. Before long, the Surfer’s star status would be rebooted with the Stan Lee/ Jack Kirby–produced Silver Surfer graphic novel of 1978, after which time the Sentinel of the Spaceways starred in infrequently published special projects before finally ascending to his own ongoing title again in 1987.

Discounting the rack-filling final issue of reprints, Giant-Size Spider-Man should be regarded as a success upon the merit of its quality storytelling, quirky combos, and creative-team consistency.

Each of Giant-Size Spider-Man’s new stories opened with a Spidey splash page with a wonky but alluring Andru camera angle, a link to the Wall-Crawler’s regular adventures in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man. This is a series worthy of a collected edition.

Mention should be made of a different type of “giant-size” Marvel publication that provided an occasional home for reprints from Marvel Team-Up and other team-up stories: Marvel Treasury Edition (MTE). This tabloid-sized, full-color format (see this volume’s DC-Marvel section) that was popular from the mid-1970s through the early 1980s reprinted tales from MTU in the following editions: Marvel Treasury Special: Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag (1974), MTE #5 (Giant Superhero Team-Up, 1975), MTE #13 (Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag, 1976), MTE #18 (The Astonishing Spider-Man, 1978), MTE #22 (The Sensational Spider-Man, 1979), MTE #25 (the all-new Spider-Man vs. the Hulk At the Winter Olympics, 1979), and MTE #27 (The Sensational Spider-Man, 1980).

Our Pal Sal Signs On

Outside of the Torch issues, the popular Peter Parker continued to do whatever a spider can in Marvel Team-Up. Issue #19 (Mar. 1974) was a Spider-Man/Ka-Zar team-up, with Spidey dispatched to the Savage Land by his mentor, Dr. Curt Connors, a.k.a. the Lizard, to stop another scientist-turned-monster, Stegron the Dinosaur Man. Artist Gil Kane drew Spidey’s previous (and first) foray into Ka-Zar’s prehistoric kingdom, in Amazing Spider-Man #103–104 (Dec. 1971–Jan. 1972), and in MTU

Sal Buscema. © Marvel.

#19 was in fine form with the realm’s primordial terrors, displayed in “widescreen” in a two-page spread with stampeding dinosaurs thundering toward the heroic duo. Were Spidey’s pairing with one pelt-dressed savage not enough, that issue’s lettercol included a plea for Spider-Man to team up with some of the literary-licensed barbarians of Marvel’s sword-and-sorcery titles: Kull, Conan, and Thongor. With editor Roy Thomas being the chief adaptor of said characters to comics, that missive sparked his reply, “Offhand, we’ve gotta say we don’t think it would work. And we’ve got a sneaking hunch that just about every Hyborian/Lemurian/Thurian fanatic out there in Marvel-land would tend to agree. But… we’ll put it up for a vote, okay? Let’s hear what your fellow readers think.”

A Spider-Man/Black Panther team-up appeared in MTU #20, picking up on the Stegron story from the previous issue, featuring dinosaurs running amok through the claustrophobic concrete jungle of New York City. Like #19, it included a two-page spread, this time depicting prehistoric monsters charging toward a panicked populace.

The artist in question, however, was not Gil Kane (outside of Kane’s cover), but Sal Buscema, in his first of what would become many issues of Marvel Team-Up. The Brooklyn-born son of an Italian immigrant barber and the baby brother of Marvel mainstay artist John Buscema, Sal Buscema was, like so many of his generation, influenced by the artistry of Hal Foster’s Prince Valiant comic strip, as well as Colliers Magazine artist Robert Fawcett, Norman Rockwell, Peter Rubens, and his own

brother, “Big” John. He broke into comics in the 1950s as an inker after his graduation from Manhattan’s High School of Music and Art, an institution that later gained pop-culture acclaim as the setting for the movie and TV series Fame.

“It was my desire to do comics initially, but when I was ready to do comics, the comic-book industry was pretty much dead,” Buscema told Bryan D. Stroud in June 5, 2019 interview for NerdTeam30.com, referencing the ideological witch-hunt of the mid-1950s that crippled the comics business and forced the implementation of the content watchdog organization, the Comics Code Authority. The shortage of available comic-book work led him to employment at an ad agency. Then he was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he drew training filmstrips. After the service, Buscema was employed as an illustrator for the U.S. government in Washington, D.C., before circling back to New York City for more advertising art and, ultimately, a return to comic books. In 1968, Sal landed at Marvel Comics, initially working as an inker but quickly establishing himself as a penciler, his works including Sub-Mariner, Captain America, The Defenders, The Avengers, and The Incredible Hulk. As of this writing in late September 2021, Buscema, at age 85, continues to work in comic books, including The Heroes Union from Binge Books.

His background in commercial art “was wonderful, wonderful training for me,” Buscema told Stroud. While his crisp artwork may not mirror his brother John’s illustrative finesse, the junior Buscema became one of the best storytellers in the business—the perfect artist for a team-up book that demanded illustrative fluency in everything from wall-crawling superheroes to preternatural dimensions. Throughout the 1970s, Buscema’s style was second only to John Romita’s in epitomizing the “look” of Marvel Comics.

The rapid-fire pulse of the Marvel Bullpen didn’t always guarantee Buscema an inker that would adequately delineate his work, but even on rush jobs Sal’s style remained immutable. His Black Panther was majestic, his Doctor Strange (MTU #21) eerie, and his Hawkeye (#22) cocky, all deceptively simple in their renderings but nuanced by gestures and movements that brought them to life.

After a three-issue opening salvo of Spider-Man team-ups, Sal Buscema’s artistry was needed elsewhere… although he would soon return to Marvel Team-Up.

Bad Juju

Provocative covers like Marvel Team-Up #24 (Aug. 1974), teaming Spider-Man and Brother Voodoo, ignited a firestorm of controversy among conservative readers.

Original art by Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr. TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Heritage.

Artist Gil Kane’s Human Torch–starring MTU #23 was followed by a spate of Jim Mooney– drawn tales, starting with the contentious issue #24 (Aug. 1974). It combined Spider-Man with Brother Voodoo, the black, Bayoubased supernatural superhero whose shortlived solo series in Strange Tales (#169, Sept.

1973, through 173, Apr. 1974) had recently been cancelled. Those stories were written by MTU scribe Len Wein, who was affectionate about the occult hero: “[John] Romita and I designed the character. We talked about the sense of the character. I designed the ‘V’ in the

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circle on the forehead in John’s office,” Wein told Michael Aushenker in Back Issue #71 (Apr. 2017). He regarded a Spider-Man team-up the perfect vehicle to keep Brother Voodoo in the public eye. Wein had invested great energy into differentiating the supernatural world of Brother Voodoo from that of Doctor Strange. “I started to do research on voodoo back when you had to buy books [before the internet],” the writer revealed in Back Issue #71.

The trouble was, the occult was a subject that was akin to jabbing pins into some readers. Further inviting controversy was MTU #24’s cover art by Kane and Romita, dominated by a curvaceous woman in a tattered skin-tight dress, endangered by a fiendish voodoo master poised to thrust a curved blade into his victim’s heart, with Spidey and Brother Voodoo racing to her aid. While not as salacious as the EC Comics horror covers of the 1950s that ignited the U.S. Senate’s indictment of the comics industry, Marvel’s covers during the early 1970s at times relished their newfound freedom from the Comics Code Authority’s former vise grip. The “Mail It to Team-Up” page for months was jammed with letters decrying what some readers considered to be an unacceptable level of sexual suggestiveness and sensationalized violence on covers and in stories.

The lettercol also became a hotbed for criticizing the caliber of Marvel Team-Up’s stories themselves. As Wein and Mooney marched forward, teaming Spidey with Daredevil (#25) and the Hulk (#27), the “done-in-one” (or “one-and-done”) format was wearing thin among some of MTU’s more vocal readers. Then a personnel change opened the door for yet another lettercol brouhaha. Gerry Conway returned as writer with issue #28, and with #30, Len Wein succeeded Roy Thomas as Marvel’s editorin-chief—and MTU’s editor.

The Conway-written Marvel Team-Up #28 (Dec. 1974), teaming Spider-Man and Hercules, invited more criticism than even Herc’s bulging biceps could bear. Its story involved robots and ne’er-do-wells called the City Stealers that were physically dragging away Manhattan Island and holding it ransom. Were that not a stretching of disbelief to its limits, the mighty Hercules performed a labor reminiscent of the Silver Age Superman’s planet-pushing by towing the chain-anchored New York City back to where it belonged! The story ended with a furious mayor lambasting the heroes for the infrastructural damage to “our sterling bridges… our meticulous tunnels.” Roy Thomas even had a hard time swallowing this tall tale, adding a concluding disclaimer, “So that’s exactly the way that Merry Gerry told it to us, friend! And, quite frankly, we’re not sure if we believe it, either!” While half-heartedly defending Marvel’s man-god’s herculean act, in MTU #31’s lettercol Ralph Macchio—who would soon begin his long run as a Marvel editor and writer (see the Marvel Two-in-One section)—shrugged, “But for all our sakes, Ger, please don’t have it done again.” Decades later, when penning his intro for MTU’s Marvel Masterworks vol.

2, Roy Thomas was still shaking his head over what he called Conway’s “nutty climax.”

So by the time Len Wein settled into the editor’s chair with MTU #30, his desk was littered with letters of criticism, some of which stretched back to his typewriter as the book’s previous scribe. His first three issues as editor featured standalone stories

by Conway: Spidey teaming with the Falcon (#30) and Iron Fist (#31), and a Human Torch headliner (#32). Issue #32 included a diatribe that prodded, “I agree with those who wrote in to say that TEAM-UP hasn’t been a very good magazine. The stories have featured terribly shallow characterizations and badly flawed logic. In addition, there has been no continuity between Spider-Man’s own magazine and his stories in TEAM-UP.” The letter when on to criticize Gerry Conway’s scripts, which earned Wein’s editorial response, “The members of FOOM [the Friends of Ol’ Marvel fan club] voted Gerry the best writer of 1973. We

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What’s a Team-Up, Doc?

What could be weirder than MTU #28’s Hercules towing Manhattan Island? This wacky late-1970s stage show teamed Bugs Bunny and company with Batman, Robin, Wonder Woman, and Batman’s rogues in a revue of comedy and song-and-dance routines.

TM & © Warner Bros. and DC Comics.

don’t want to play favorites, but it was an award we were proud to give to Kid Conway.”

But the gripes continued, such as this letter writer’s remark in #34: “Get going on better character development and better plots and it will improve your mag.” The editorial reply: “Len and Gerry have promised to sit down and work out things on the book so that it contains more continuity, more involved plotlines, and more ‘real’ reasons for the team-ups.” This subject continued to dominate reader discussion. A fan commented in issue #35’s lettercol that while Gerry Conway was “one of Marvel’s very best” writers, “MTU, Mr. Conway, needs to be more in sync with the AMAZING SPIDER-MAN.” The reader suggested multi-part stories that better connected to broader Marvel continuity and more involved plots instead of stories whose co-stars “simply bump into each other on the street.” Len Wein’s editorial response promised, “we’re going to be featuring a lot more involved stories in these pages.” Wein and Conway lived up to that pledge with course-correction for the title. The next three issues guest-starred characters from The Defenders—Spidey and Nighthawk (#33), Spidey and Valkyrie (#34), and the Torch and Doctor Strange (#35)—and were threaded together by an interconnected plot and villains. With Sal Buscema’s return with issue #32, Marvel Team-Up was showing signs of stability.

A New Man(tlo) for the Job

Marvelites searching for where monsters roam looked no further than MTU #36 and 37, a two-parter teaming Spidey with the Frankenstein Monster and Man-Wolf. The former was the star of his own series, The Frankenstein Monster (originally The Monster of Frankenstein), created in the wake of Tomb of Dracula’s success but gasping for its last breath by the time he co-starred with the Web-Slinger (Frankenstein’s final issue, #18, was published one week after MTU #36’s release). Similarly, Man-Wolf, actually the chisel-jawed astronaut son of Spidey’s arch-pest J. Jonah Jameson turned into a werewolf by exposure to a radioactive Moon rock, was losing his solo series, his headlining feature in Creatures on the Loose being axed with issue #37, which was released one week before Team-Up #37. Their MTU exposure did little to defibrillate interest in the characters, as Marvel’s monster craze was dying down by this period.

This two-parter jolted Spider-Man into Gerry Conway’s pastiche of old Universal horror movies, set at a Balkan castle where a mad scientist, villain-of-the-month the Monster Maker, was doing what his appellation suggested. Conway clearly had a blast with this story, even giving the bad guy a name worthy of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein: Baron Ludwig von Shtupf.

“Hurray for MTU #33!” rooted a fan letter in #37’s “Mail It to Team-Up” column. “I was really getting tired of the shallow plots of the last few issues and was more than pleased to see the beginnings of some longer, more involved stories.” Another reader opined, “Gerry has turned in his first Marvel-worthy script since his return to MTU.” As of issue #37, helming the series was Marvel’s new editor-in-chief, Marv Wolfman, replacing Wein after Len’s short stint in the post. (Feel free to insert your own pun about Man-Wolf being in Wolfman’s first MTU issue.)

Writer Conway departed Marvel Team-Up with issue #37, replaced by newbie Bill Mantlo beginning with #38 (Oct. 1975), a Spider-Man/Beast match-up. This provided exposure for the Beast at a new phase of ascendancy of popularity for the former X-Man. His solo series in Amazing Adventures had ceased over two years earlier, in issue #17 (Mar. 1973), but the blue-furred acrobat had recently found a new home in The Avengers, starting with issue #137 (July 1975).

Bill Mantlo was a relatively new name to Marvelites at the time.

He had been toiling in the Marvel Bullpen for around a year, doing paste-ups and coloring random stories (including MTU #28), and occasionally scripting Sons of the Tiger short stories for the black-andwhite Marvel mag Deadly Hands of Kung Fu. Being in the Bullpen allowed Mantlo to keep his ear to the ground about where quick writing jobs were needed, and he soon picked up the Morbius writing assignment (in the pages of Fear), as well as the final issue of The Frankenstein Monster. Just before his Spidey/Beast team-up, Mantlo Bill Mantlo. had snagged his first superhero © Marvel. writing credit when Roy Thomas’ busy schedule wouldn’t allow him to jump onto Marvel Two-in-One as planned. Mantlo’s fill-in Thing/Golem team-up in MTIO #11 (Sept. 1975) was a turning point for the burgeoning writer. Almost instantly, he seemed to be everywhere at Mighty Marvel, writing monster comics (Living Mummy, Morbius) and more superhero fill-ins (Iron Man, Power Man, Thor). (His wife, Karen Popock Mantlo, could also be found

in Marvel’s credits at the time as a letterer.) Bill Mantlo would ultimately become one of Marvel’s most prolific scribes, making hits out of the licensed titles The Micronauts and ROM: Spaceknight, introducing the duo of Cloak and Dagger and the breakout star Rocket Raccoon, and commanding enviable runs on The Spectacular Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk—plus he’d be no stranger to Marvel Team-Up or its Thing-starring counterpart, Marvel Two-inOne. His prodigious contributions were tragically halted in 1992 when a hit-and-run driver left him with a critical brain injury, and he has required extensive medical care ever since.

A revitalization of the artwork also began in Marvel Team-Up #38. The credits cited Sal Buscema for “breakdowns” and Mike Esposito for “finished art,” signifying what Sal regarded as one of his greatest assets. “I was able to crank out stories at a pretty good rate of speed,” Buscema told Bryan Stroud in their interview. “In order to expedite things and to get the stories done faster I would do what they called breakdowns, where pretty much everything was there. My breakdowns were fairly tight. The only thing that was lacking were the blacks, and if you’ve got a good inker they know where to put the blacks and they would follow my stuff pretty well.”

With an eager new writer and Esposito re-energizing Buscema’s art, the verve of MTU had been resuscitated. Familiar face Johnny Storm was back in #39. There, Mantlo demonstrated his fluency with Marvel lore by constructing a sequel to Amazing Spider-Man #19 (Dec. 1964), where Spidey and the Torch tangled with the Sandman and underworld supervillains the Enforcers, Big Man, and Crime-Master. Mantlo deftly interjected contemporary realism into what could have simply been a nostalgic lark by involving New York’s Hispanic community.

This story concluded in MTU #40, with Spidey and Torch being assisted by the kung-fu stars of Mantlo’s first writing assignment, the Sons of the Tiger.

Next, the Mantlo/Buscema/Esposito team unleashed a multi-issue time-travel storyline that ratcheted up reader excitement with each installment. It started with MTU #41 (Jan. 1976), a Spider-Man/Scarlet Witch team-up. Wanda, the Avengers’ resident sorceress and wife of the Vision, was snatched by a “Witch-Slayer” from real-life American history, Cotton Mather, and taken via Doctor Doom’s time platform to 1692 Salem, Massachusetts. The Vision joined Spidey in #42 as they ventured into the past to rescue her, complicated by the involvement of a malevolent force called the Dark Rider— who had a beef against Doctor Doom, Spidey’s co-star in #43.

This multi-character tour-deforce concluded in #44 with the intervention of the Avengers’ telepathic would-be-goddess Moondragon.

Mantlo weaved into this The first book written four-part storyline a subplot by 17th Century witchabout the witch-hunts of 17th hunter Cotton Mather— Century Salem, Massachusetts, the Puritan minister with the writer and artist turned into a supervillain Buscema referring to their

by Bill Mantlo—remains opus as the “Salem Quartet” in print. (according to issue #48’s © 2005 Dover Publications. lettercol). The villain, Cotton Mather (1663–1728), was an

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autocratic real-world Puritan minister and author of Christian texts as well as being a driving force behind the iniquitous Salem witch trials. Also included was a subplot involving John Proctor. Historically, Proctor (1594–1672) was a landowner and farmer tried for witchcraft. His story became famous in Arthur Miller’s 1953 play The Crucible, which was adapted to film.

Mantlo, in MTU #46’s lettercol, cited not The Crucible but The Devil in Massachusetts, a 1949 book by Marion L. Starkey, as his primary reference source.

Mantlo continued the Wall-Crawler’s time-displacement for two bonus issues, with Doom’s time platform misdirecting Spidey into different dystopian futures (actually, alternate timelines), Killraven’s in #45 and Deathlok’s in #46. Spidey’s journeys brought him home but also into a two-part team-up with the Thing and a crossover with MTU’s sister series, Marvel Two-in-One, with MTU #46 being continued in MTIO #17 and concluding in MTU #47, both titles written by Mantlo.

From his initial Spider-Man/Beast single-issue story, neo-scribe Bill Mantlo had transformed Marvel Team-Up from a done-in-one formulaic title to a high-stakes multi-character epic. Would the readers that had demanded a change in MTU be happy?

The improvements upon MTU were applauded in its letters column. In issue #45, future comics publisher Dean Mullaney wrote directly to Bill Mantlo, offering constructive criticism but giving the young scribe kudos for MTU #41: “It’s clearly evident that you are taking the book out of the catatonic state… it was in.” Another reader commented, “I am writing to congratulate you on a wonderful job. Sal’s artwork is perfect on MTU.” Yet another reader stated, “MTU #41 had me applauding. There’s continuation. There’s a plot.” The following issue, most letter writers continued the praise, with comments like, “MTU is really shaping up, and Bill Mantlo is turning out some good scripts.”

That tone resumed in future letters pages such as #48’s, where a fan remarked, “Whenever I used to discuss MARVEL TEAM-UP with a fellow fan, I would humorously refer to it as ‘Marvel Throw-Up.’ …

Bill Mantlo has totally outdated one of my best lines.” While the offbeat Killraven and Deathlok team-ups raised a few readers’ eyebrows, others enjoyed Spidey’s time romps: “MTU is really shaping up and the time-stuff is turning out to be a good storyline, past and future,” contended a reader in #50.

The Mantlo/Buscema/Esposito team revved forward with another four-part storyline, mostly an extended Spider-Man/ Iron Man team-up (in issues #48, 49, and 51), with the Spidey/ Doctor Strange duo headlining issue #50 (Oct. 1976). The storyline was significant for its introduction of a new supporting cast member to the Spider-mythos, hard-boiled Captain Jean DeWolff, the tough-talking, chain-smoking female police detective who could have easily stepped out of the pages of a Mickey Spillane hardboiled mystery. DeWolff, who had no trouble quipping and roughhousing her way out of the shadow cast by her now-retired cop father, would become a major figure in Spider-Man stories for the foreseeable future.

Other changes were afoot at Mighty Marvel. With MTU #49 (Sept. 1976), Archie Goodwin became the book’s editor when he succeeded Marv Wolfman as editor-in-chief.

Bill Mantlo took an issue off with MTU #52 (Dec. 1976), guest-written and guest-edited by Gerry Conway, a one-off Spidey/Captain America story picking up where writer-artist Jack Kirby’s Captain America #201–203 left off. And on the same day issue #51 was released, September 28, 1976, a new monthly Spider-book premiered: Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (cover-dated Dec. 1976), written

by Conway. Its art team was the same that had recently brought consistency to Marvel Team-Up: penciler Sal Buscema and inker Mike Esposito. Would this affect their ability to keep up with MTU?

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Peter Parker’s Most X-Cellent Adventures

Three weeks after the release of MTU #52, the Mantlo/Buscema/ Esposito team was back—and it was evident why the book had needed a fill-in. The project was the double-sized Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, cover-dated 1976, with an on-sale date of October 19, 1976. Marvel’s king-sized Annuals had been in limbo for a while, supplanted by the (mostly) quarterly Giant-Size books, but returned with gusto during America’s Bicentennial year.

MTU Annual #1 featured a Spider-Man/X-Men team-up. Much had changed since MTU #4’s X-Men appearance, a charitable bone chucked at the exposure-ravenous mutants. By combining mutants old, new, and borrowed, starting with 1975’s Giant-Size X-Men #1 the new X-Men had become what its original editor, Roy Thomas, perceived as Marvel’s answer to the Golden Age’s international, multicultural Blackhawks. X-Men had been rebooted and, as a bimonthly written by Chris Claremont, had methodically cultivated a rabid audience through its stories’ exotic locales and the evolving soap opera of its compelling characters, as well as fan-favorite Dave Cockrum’s extraordinary artwork. X-Men #102 (Dec. 1976) was the current issue at the time of MTU Annual #1’s release.

With Annual #1’s “The Lords of Light and Darkness!,” Bill Mantlo dovetailed the paths of Peter Parker and Professor Charles Xavier at a

The new X-Men got a Spidey spotlight by teaming with the Wall-Crawler in 1976’s Marvel Team-Up Annual #1.

Original art by Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito.

TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Heritage.

mutation-themed science conference. When technicians at a research facility began metamorphosing into supervillain analogs of Hindu deities, Professor X’s students and Spidey became involved. If the X-Men devotee could forgive the misspelling of Jean Grey’s surname as “Gray,” Mantlo and company did a serviceable job interpreting the personalities that Claremont was so vividly bringing to life every other month. MTU Annual #1 was also energized by a Cockrum cover.

Mantlo returned to Marvel Team-Up with issue #53’s (Jan. 1977) Spider-Man/Hulk team-up, but the book’s durable artistic duo, Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito, had moved on (for the time being, at least). A dynamic new artist made a mark on the series with #53, and would stick around for many issues to come: John Byrne.

Byrne, a Canadian born in England, had yet to achieve superstar status at the time he penciled this tale that dropped Spidey and the Hulk—and bonus co-star Woodgod, the Pan-like “Man-Brute” Mantlo had recently introduced in Marvel Premiere #31 (Aug. 1976)—into a New Mexico ghost town that was the site of top-secret experiments, but he was well on his way. After attracting attention cartooning for the fanzine CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Fanzine), he had burst onto the scene at Charlton Comics in 1975, honing his talents on TV tie-in titles like Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, based upon a Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon. Before long he landed a regular Marvel assignment: Iron Fist, beginning with the kung-fu superhero’s final tryout appearance in Marvel Premiere #25 (Oct. 1975), which was quickly followed by Iron Fist #1 (Nov. 1975). Byrne continued his Charlton output with a title of his own creation, the futuristic Doomsday + 1, plus Charlton’s adaptations of two then-popular live-action television programs, Emergency! and Space: 1999. It didn’t take long for Marvel to snatch him up full-time, and in 1976 Byrne leapfrogged through a handful of fill-ins—Marvel Chillers #6 (starring Tigra), Daredevil #138, and Ghost Rider #20—before landing MTU and, on its heels, the super-team book The Champions, as regular assignments. Buscema’s MTU had comfortably conformed Spidey and his co-stars to the Mighty Marvel house style. Conversely, Byrne, Marvel’s Next Big Thing, revitalized a book that wasn’t necessarily in need of revitalization with his style that uncannily mixed photorealism with Kirby-esque bombast. His art in the Spidey/Hulk/Woodgod teamup was good, and with each issue he got better and better. In Back Issue #66, Iron Fist writer Chris Claremont recalled of Byrne’s evolution, “You can see him perfecting his craft… It was measurable.”

Claremont’s assessment was dead-on. After the two-issue Spidey/Hulk team-up, with the Mantlo-written Spider-Man/Warlock adventure in MTU #55 (Mar. 1977), Byrne’s style had sharpened and he wowed readers with his fluency in the cosmic terrain of Jim Starlin. There was a slow burn, if you’ll forgive the pun, of reader acknowledgment of Byrne’s art in MTU’s lettercol. Issue #58’s letters page mostly addressed Mantlo’s Spidey/Hulk/Woodgod story, although there were random remarks of praise for the book’s new artist: “John Byrne did an excellent job,” said one reader. Another opined, “the Hulk looked better in MTU than I’ve ever seen him drawn in his own mag.” With #59’s lettercol, fans became more vociferous in their praise for the book’s new artist and his work on the Spidey/Warlock issue. “I hereby cast my one and only voluptuous vote for the pulsating pencils of John Byrne, artist supreme, to grace the pages of my favorite Spidey-Mag!” beamed one reader, with another chiming, “Look at the beautiful flow in those panels, the imagination in those layouts, the humor in Spidey’s battle with the Stranger! … John Byrne, I am in love with your art!”

Byrne was spelled by the returning Sal Buscema for the next three issues, teaming the Web-Slinger with Daredevil (#56), Black Widow (#57), and Ghost Rider (#58). Other changes transpired within those issues as well. The “Mail It to Team-Up” lettercol header was retired, replaced beginning in issue #58 by “Web-Zingers,” a title suggested by reader H. Hadley of Rochester, New York. (“Web-Zingers” was actually the runner-up in a name-the-lettercol contest for Spidey’s new monthly, Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man.) The main change in those

A Team Up of Heroes and Artists

Before he became a Marvel star, John Byrne inked Steve Ditko on a Captain Atom/Nightshade tale appearing in 1975 in the prozine Charlton Bullseye #2. A decade later, those heroes were acquired by DC Comics and absorbed into the DC Universe.

Captain Atom and Nightshade TM & © DC Comics.

issues, however, was writer Bill Mantlo’s departure with #56. Mantlo was transitioning to the new Spectacular Spider-Man title, and was certainly busy elsewhere at Marvel, at that time writing The Champions, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, and Super-Villain Team-Up, plus preparing the launches of two new Marvel titles, the stuntman comic The Human Fly and the TV tie-in The Man from Atlantis.

Replacing Mantlo as the new Marvel Team-Up scribe was Chris Claremont. “The fun part [about MTU] was coming up with a terse, powerful, memorable story,” Claremont recalled to Michael Aushenker in Back Issue #66. “You didn’t have the luxury of stringing it out for three years. You either did it in one issue or two.”

With his first issue, #57’s Spidey/Black Widow team-up, Claremont not only recruited the sultry super-spy who was the erstwhile partner of Daredevil, but he resurrected a minor villain introduced by writer Steve Gerber in Daredevil #111 (July 1974)— the sword-wielding Silver Samurai—and upgraded him to a more formidable foe. Claremont would continue to develop the Silver Samurai, having him return in more MTUs as well as Spider-Woman, The New Mutants, and The Uncanny X-Men. The villain’s Japanese heritage blended comfortably with the Land of the Rising Sun’s importance in Claremont’s X-Men saga.

Claremont’s second issue, the Spider-Man/Ghost Rider team-up in MTU #58 (June 1977), was a fun, by-the-numbers page-turner where the heroes squared off against a mutual villain. The writer himself wasn’t happy with the end result, however, remarking in Back Issue #66, “It was one of those stories where the story was not ideal, the time was not ideal. It just didn’t mesh. It didn’t matter because the books have to come down. As Archie Goodwin would say, you sit down, you swallow your pride, and you do the next issue.” Speaking of editor Archie Goodwin, he offered a hint at the title’s greatnessto-come with his bouncy blurb concluding the lettercol: “Next issue: It’s Claremont and Byrne together again. Yes, the IRON FIST team supreme sets up shop as the new MTU creative force…”

Chapter 3: Marvel Team-Up

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Claremont and Byrne, the Team Supreme

“It was four years ago, in the spring of 1973, when Roy Thomas (then Marvel’s editor-in-chief) called me up and said that he had a DAREDEVIL book all penciled and ready to go, in desperate need of a scripter who could write the thing literally overnight,” Chris Claremont penned in the lettercol of MTU #59 (July 1977), explaining his reason for dedicating the issue to Roy. “I wasn’t even a year out of college, and trying my darnedest to break into the comic book field as—you guessed it—a writer. I took the job, wrote the issue (DD #102), and was on my way down the road that’s led me—four-odd years later— to the scripting assignment on one of Marvel’s top books (not to mention X-MEN, IRON FIST & MS. MARVEL).” At the time Claremont wrote that tribute to Thomas, his and Cockrum’s X-Men was picking up steam, but was still published bimonthly and not yet regarded by the writer (or by Marvel) as a “top book” assignment like Marvel Team-Up. That would soon change, especially once Claremont’s Iron Fist John Byrne. partner, John Byrne, joined him on © and courtesy of Eliot R. Brown.

X-Men with issue #108 (Dec. 1977) and the title went monthly, propelling

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New MTU artist John Byrne penciled this X-Men cameo in issue #53… and would soon sign on to X-Men as its artist. Inks by Frank Giacoia.

TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Heritage.

X-Men and its creators to fan-favorite status. But it was on MTU that Claremont and Byrne unleashed the magic they had wielded on a lower-tier kung-fu superhero book upon the larger Marvel Universe, with exciting two-part stories whose compelling cliffhangers virtually commanded the reader to return next ish for more.

Artist Byrne was back with Team-Up #59, where Claremont enlisted two Avengers as Spidey’s co-stars—Yellowjacket and the Wasp—for a two-parter with the villain Equinox that concluded in issue #60. An artifact unearthed during a battle in #60 led Spidey to seek the Human Torch’s help in #61, which was followed by a battle with Super-Skrull (providing an early opportunity for Byrne to play in the Fantastic Four sandbox) and #62’s concluding Spider-Man/ Ms. Marvel team-up.

Issue #63 reunited Spidey and Iron Fist, the latter of whom brought his girlfriend, martial artist-detective Misty Knight, along for the ride. This issue allowed the creative team to conclude a storyline left dangling by the recent cancellation of Iron Fist, which was axed with issue #15 (Sept. 1977). “We had this subplot with Misty undercover, and we wanted to bring that to an end,” Claremont told Franck Martini in Back Issue #105 (July 2018). Steel Serpent’s quest to obtain the power of Danny Rand’s iron fist needed a conclusion, “and Team-Up seemed an altogether logical place to

TM & © Marvel.

bring it all to a resolution.” Claremont gave Spidey and Misty some shared history, establishing that she was the mugging target rescued by the Wall-Crawler way back in Thomas and Andru’s Marvel Team-Up #1! The gutsy Ms. Knight didn’t need much rescuing in MTU #64, however, as she and kung-fu partner Colleen Wing—the Daughters of the Dragon—teamed with Spidey to save Iron Fist.

“We did Team-Up monthly and, at the beginning, X-Men was still bimonthly,” Claremont recalled in Back Issue #66. “It was a very free-floating environment.” That “floating” included a border-crossing collaboration, as MTU’s writer lived in the New York metro area and its artist resided in northern neighbor Canada. “I flew up to Canada a couple of times and we hung out,” Claremont said. “But mostly, we talked a lot on the phone. Essentially I’d write as we talked. What we were doing was fresh to both of us and there was a tremendous amount of excitement. I had access to an artist who could visualize anything Chris Claremont.

I thought of, whether it was people TM & © Marvel. at a coffee shop or starships in the heavens.” Claremont and Byrne famously developed a give-and-take relationship, especially on X-Men, and Byrne began to assume a larger role with the plotting— but on MTU, “for the most part, he stuck to the plots.”

Globetrotting played in important theme in Claremont and Byrne’s two-parter in MTU #65 and 66, where Spider-Man teamed up with London’s resident superhero, Captain Britain. It was the American debut of a character that Claremont, who was born in England but raised in the United States, had created with artist Herb Trimpe for Marvel’s U.K. division. As the writer explained in Back Issue #66, “Stan [Lee] wanted to try an exploratory foray into overseas markets, so he set up in Southcoast, England.

Marvel wanted to try a book to see if there was an overseas market.” The result, Captain Britain, had a brief run in England. The hero’s two-part team-up with Spider-Man was Marvel’s attempt to give him exposure Stateside.

It is best remembered for its introduction of the villain Arcade, who forced Spidey and Captain Britain into a full-tilt tussle for their lives inside a gigantic pinball game called “Murder World.”

MTU #67 (Mar. 1978) was a standalone story, a Spider-Man/ Tigra team-up, that Claremont tied in to one of his earlier works, the Tigra feature in Marvel Chillers #4 (Apr. 1976), which featured Spider-rogue Kraven the Hunter. Issue #67 was the last issue inked

by Dave Hunt, who added both polished line weight and visual consistency to Byrne’s layouts on these Team-Up issues. Hunt, a New Jersey native, transitioned into the university study of fine arts after originally majoring in biochemistry. His skills were honed in the 1960s as a publishing art designer, but his lifelong love of comic books pointed him to the Marvel Bullpen beginning in 1973, where he colored and lettered hundreds of pages before picking up

Saturday Morning Team-Up

The original Captain Marvel (actor John Davey, following Jackson Bostwick in the role) and the Mighty Isis (JoAnna Cameron) were Saturday morning superstars, starring in Filmation Associates’ Shazam! and The Secrets of Isis live-action series in the mid-1970s.

They teamed up in each other’s program on several occasions, as well as in DC Comics’ Shazam! #25. © Filmation. Shazam! TM & © DC Comics.

random inking jobs. Mentored by stalwart inkers Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito, Hunt soon received solo inking assignments, often coloring the stories he would ink. His style perfectly complemented Byrne’s, sparking one fan to comment in issue #69’s lettercol, “No other person, with the notable exception of Terry Austin, can ink John’s layouts like you, Dave!” Hunt’s contributions to these Claremont/ Byrne issues should not be overlooked.

Issue #68’s Spidey/Man-Thing story was another done-in-one tale. Bob Wiacek was Byrne’s inker, as Dave Hunt was moving on to DC Comics, where he would work for years, largely with editor Julius Schwartz (sometimes returning to the team-up genre by inking issues of DC Comics Presents, the Superman team-up title that launched in 1978).

The Claremont/Byrne duo revisited the two-part story format with issue #69, Spider-Man/Havok (Alex Summers, the occasional X-Man), and #70, Spider-Man/Thor, both tales involving the menace of the skyscraper-sized Egyptian pharaoh, the Living Monolith. Fans responded positively to the creators’ partnership, and editor Archie Goodwin assured readers in issue #69’s “Web-Zingers” column that “as far as Chris and John are concerned, neither of them have any plans for leaving TEAM-UP in the foreseeable future.” Unfortunately, none of the personnel involved consulted a crystal ball, as major changes lurked.

Issue #70 was peppered with references to Claremont and Byrne’s other title—X-Men—going monthly. That announcement may have motivated fans of Mighty Marvel’s mutants, but it derailed the momentum the writer and artist had constructed in Team-Up, as they had to take off a few issues to move X-Men forward. Also, a 1978 Marvel Team-Up Annual, announced in issue #69’s lettercol as a Spider-Man/Defenders team-up guest-starring Ms. Marvel, never materialized.

Chapter 3: Marvel Team-Up

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Another change was in the wind at Marvel at the time, with Jim Shooter beginning his long, influential, and often controversial stint as Marvel’s new editor-in-chief, replacing Archie Goodwin. Shooter edited MTU #70 and 71, with editor Bob Hall briefly taking over with #72, and an editorial revolving door soon occurring.

And thus Marvel Team-Up settled back into an anything-goes mode, each issue’s creative team changing along with Spider-Man’s co-stars. It was Spider-Man/Falcon in #71, Spider-Man/Iron Man in #72, and Spider-Man/Daredevil in #73, all serviceable but easily forgettable stories, lacking the verve provided by Claremont and Byrne. Yet Claremont was working toward his MTU comeback, with a special issue featuring the wildest, craziest Spider-Man team-up to date.

Live from New York, It’s… Stan Lee??

Since its premiere in the fall of 1975, NBC-TV’s late-night juggernaut Saturday Night Live (SNL) has become an institution, over the decades producing many of Hollywood’s top comedic talents.

In the fall of 1977, however, SNL was beginning its third season. Still novel and cutting edge, it fueled Monday morning college-campus and water-cooler chatter with bad Roseanne Roseannadanna impressions and chuckles over the latest “Weekend Update” gag, “Coneheads” installment, or TV commercial parody (“Bass-o-matic,” anyone?). Its time slot of 11:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.

Eastern Time was formerly the province of night owls and insomniacs, but now early risers were staying up late on Saturdays to watch the unpredictable sketch show.

It was during a meeting where Chris Claremont was discussing Marvel Team-Up possibilities with editor Jim Shooter that Spidey’s most offbeat team-up was brainstormed. Claremont recalled in Back Issue #66, “Shooter and I were spitballing, ‘What would be really cool is if we could do SNL!’” The writer encouraged the editor to phone SNL producer Lorne Michaels, whose office promptly returned the call. The SNL camp approved the idea and an agreement was quickly inked— an upcoming issue of MTU would team Spidey and SNL’s Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players. “It was agreed that it would only be done once,” Claremont explained. “I still have the signatures.”

The issue, scripted by Claremont, took over nine months to produce, considerably longer than the whirlwind pace that whisked the average Marvel comic book through its creative and production stages. Initially, the two participating parties, Marvel Comics and NBC, got to know each other, with two SNL staffers, Kathy Minkowsky and Cherie Fortis (named in MTU #80’s lettercol), as liaisons. “We went to two or three [SNL] dress rehearsals,” Claremont recalled. “I was just trying to catch the right flavor for the show in terms of plotting and scripting because, I would be the first one to tell you, comedy was not my strength. This was comedy measured against some of the most brilliant comedy of the era.”

Claremont’s story, appropriately titled “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!” (the introductory line that has appeared in each SNL episode’s opening skit since the show’s premiere), was originally planned for Marvel Team-Up #71 but actually published three months later, in #74 (cover-dated Oct. 1978). The story setup was brilliantly simple: New Yorkers Peter Parker and gal pal Mary Jane Watson scored tickets to NBC’s Saturday Night Live, at the network’s Rockefeller Center studio. A supervillain (Silver Samurai, MTU’s house villain during Claremont’s tenure) appeared, Peter slipped away to change to Spidey (caught by SNL’s audience-member-spotlight-cam with a graphic quipping, “Super-hero in his spare time!”), and zaniness ensued, with hero-vs.-villain dramatics occurring during SNL’s “the show must go on” live performances. Silver Samurai was not looking for stage time, but instead a mystical

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ring mistakenly sent to comic actor John Belushi. The NotReady-for-Prime-Time Players each played a role, often in costume, highlighted by appearances by Laraine Newman as Ms. Marvel and Garrett Morris as the Mighty Thor, as well as the episode’s guest host… …Stan Lee. When considering its vintage, MTU #74, which went on sale on July 25, 1978, presaged an era when Stan “The Man” Lee would be embraced by the public at large. At the time of its publication, however, Stan’s stature was mostly limited to comic-book readers.

Lee’s mission as Marvel’s publisher, the role he assumed in 1972, was to exploit Marvel’s properties in other media. He had recently, in the fall of 1977, helped develop The Amazing Spider-Man and The Incredible Hulk as live-action television series for CBS, and within a few years would be recognizable as the voice—literally, as narrator—of Marvel Comics in Saturday morning animated series including The Incredible Hulk and Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. But Stan’s omnipresent cameos in Marvel Studios movies were several decades in the future at the time MTU’s “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!” trotted out Smilin’ Stan before a

The wild and crazy MTU #74 (Oct. 1978), teaming Spider-Man and the cast of NBC-TV’s Saturday Night Live.

Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up TM & © Marvel. Saturday Night Live © NBC.

The Final Claremont Issues

Chris Claremont was, as the editor promised in MTU #69’s lettercol, back, as was John Byrne, for #75’s Spider-Man/ Power Man team-up, plotted by Claremont and scripted by Ralph Macchio. In a reversal of tone from the madcap Saturday Night Live lark, MTU #75 was a somber tale pitting its co-stars against

arsonists, with the story being dedicated to “New York’s bravest,” the city’s Fire Department. It hit the stands on August 22, 1978, coincidentally just after a horrific real-world fire made the news, particularly in the New York market. On August 2, 1978, six FDNY firefighters perished while battling the Waldbaum’s Supermarket blaze in Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay district.

MTU #81’s lettercol contained letters praising issue #75 and its depiction of firefighting heroism. Issue #75’s cover was also the first of several MTU covers to feature a “Marvel’s TV Sensation!” blurb, hoping to snatch readers tuning into Spidey’s live-action television series.

Claremont was joined by artist Howard Chaykin for an occult two-parter in #76 (Spidey/Doctor Strange) and 77 (Spidey/Ms. Marvel). With #77, Al Milgrom became MTU editor and slated a fill-in Spider-Man/Wonder Man story in issue #78.

With #79 (Mar. 1979), the Claremont/Byrne combo was back—this time with Byrne terrifically inked by Terry Austin—for one of the series’ most unusual team-ups, Spider-Man and Red Sonja.

Instead of using time travel to bring together the Web-Slinger and blade-swinger, “Sword of the She-Devil” featured an enchanted weapon that allowed Red Sonja’s spirit to occupy the body of Mary Jane Watson.

Eagle-eyed readers spotted a surprise guest attending the Daily Bugle’s Christmas party in this tale: Clark Kent, a cameo snuck in by Byrne, some seven years before he would revamp the Superman franchise for rival DC Comics. Marvel Team-Up #79 would be, unfortunately, the final Claremont/Byrne collaboration on the title (almost—keep reading). Incidentally, the Spider-Man/ Red Sonja team-up was included in 1983’s Mighty Marvel Team-Up Thrillers. This trade paperback from Fireside Books, continuing the Stan Lee–generated Origins of Marvel Comics line, reprinted several superhero crossover tales from participating heroes’ series. The Spidey/Sonja story was the only Marvel Team-Up issue actually reprinted in the mix despite the volume’s appropriation of MTU’s name in its title.

Claremont’s tenure on Marvel Team-Up was coming to an end.

He penned another occult two-parter, illustrated by Mike Vosburg, in #80 (Spidey/Doctor Strange and Clea) and 81 (Spidey/Satana), with the Master of the Mystic Arts being the issue’s “villain” after being supernaturally transformed into a werewolf.

Claremont recalled in Back Issue #66, “The most involved story arc I did was a four-parter with Black Widow,” MTU #82–85 (June–Sept. 1979), with an amnesiac Widow being pursued by S.H.I.E.L.D. It involved the agency’s head honcho, Nick Fury, and the Master of Kung Fu, Shang-Chi. Some of Claremont’s storyline was appropriated by Marvel Studios in the plot of 2010’s Iron Man 2, which introduced Black Widow to the Marvel movie franchise. Sal Buscema returned to Team-Up to lay out the story arc, with finished art on all four issues

by Steve Leialoha, who up to that point had usually lent his intricate inking linework to illustrators of Marvel’s slightly off-kilter titles including Warlock and Howard the Duck. “Sal Buscema was a really solid, underrated artist, a solid blast to ink over,” Leialoha remarked in Back Issue #44. “Sal did the layout and was responsible for the figure work, and I added the lighting while doing the finished art, which I enjoyed.”

Chapter 3: Marvel Team-Up

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Spider-Man and Marvel Team-Up TM & © Marvel. Red Sonja © Red Sonja, LLC.

(make-believe) broadcast audience. (SNL’s musical guest in this Stan-hosted episode was former Hulk sidekick Rick Jones, although Rick did not actually appear in the story.)

Visually bringing to life the Spider-Man/Not-Ready-for-PrimeTime Players team-up was penciler Bob Hall, who also edited the issue (and the series at the time). Hall, who had recently attracted attention at Marvel with his breakout art assignment Super-Villain Team-Up (see this volume’s SVTU chapter for more information), deftly handled the story’s superheroic action and its celebrity likenesses, inked by Mirthful Marie Severin. Reportedly, the SNL cast was happy with their portrayals in this once-in-a-lifetime Marvel issue. “We gave a page of art to everyone in the cast,” according to Claremont.

While each of the cast members got his or her due, the story orbited around the stellar presence of John Belushi, much like the show itself did. Belushi was transitioning to superstardom at the time of MTU #74’s publication. His first major movie role, in the raucous 1960s-set college-frat comedy National Lampoon’s Animal House, was happening that very week, as Animal House premiered on July 28, 1978, a mere three days after the comic—which coverfeatured Belushi in his TV samurai role—debuted. Big-hearted Belushi took the Marvelites under his wing at that time, at first inviting Claremont and company to the movie’s world premiere.

When it was discovered the screening was sold out and the invitation had to be reneged, a consolation prize was offered: “Would you like to go to the cast party instead?”

Despite its detour from the norm, the Spider-Man/Not-Readyfor-Prime-Time Players team-up was a hit with most Marvel readers, who “got the joke.” Issue #80’s lettercol bristled with praise, including a Claremont-penned “review” of MTU #74 written “by” Weekend Update consumer reporter Roseanne Roseannadanna. Only one “negative” remark was published, actually an anonymous fan’s deployment of one of Weekend Update’s running gags: “My only regret is that I could not appear in it myself, but unfortunately, as you know, I am dead.” So wrote “Generalissimo Francisco Franco.”

Soon after MTU #74’s release, Belushi made a surprise visit to the Marvel Comics offices. Claremont received a phone call from Jim Shooter informing him that Belushi would be dropping

by Marvel in 40 minutes. The writer raced across town to get there in time, with only a few minutes to spare. “We hung out for a half hour,” Claremont said, confessing, “I made a complete and utter dork of myself. He felt the script was brilliant. I said, ‘Thank God! You have no idea how hard it is to write comedy!’

Jim [Shooter] patted me on the head and said, ‘Don’t worry, John, we only let him out on opposite days.’” Former MTU letter writer Jo Duffy, by this point a Marvel assistant editor (on titles including Marvel Team-Up), was still beaming over Belushi’s Marvel visit decades later, gushing in Back Issue #66, “That was one of the most wonderful experiences in my life.”

Jo Duffy.

TM & © Marvel.

For MTU #86, co-starring Spider-Man and the Guardians of the Galaxy, Claremont scripted a plot by Allen Brodsky, a sign to the astute reader that the busy scribe’s commitment to the book was in jeopardy. His byline next appeared in Marvel Team-Up Annual #2, cover-dated 1979 and going on sale September 18, 1979, a Spidey/ Hulk story pairing Marvel’s two big stars of television. It was a dramatically paced “No Nukes” tale with the heroes rushing to stop the threat of a nuclear holocaust, although it contained now-dated references to the U.S.S.R., including the Russian villains the Soviet Super Soldiers. This was followed by Claremont’s final two MTU issues: #88, a Spidey/Invisible Girl team-up featuring Sue Richards in mama bear mode as she and the Wall-Crawler liberated her kidnapped child, Franklin, and #89 (Jan. 1980), a reunion of Spider-Man and Nightcrawler (they first met in Amazing Spider-Man #162, Nov. 1976, and then again in MTU Annual #1), with the teleporting mutant rushing to stop a hired assassin’s plot to kill the Web-Slinger.

Claremont had another Team-Up serial in the works that was derailed… then appeared in another title!

This four-parter began with a Spider-Man/Angel team-up written by Claremont and drawn by Michael Golden. “It was a great opportunity to put me and Michael together after our work on the Avengers Annual” [issue #10, the 1981 edition that introduced Rogue], Claremont told John Kirk in Back Issue #96 (June 2017). The storyline took the heroes to the Savage Land, with Ka-Zar and the X-Men becoming involved. Golden’s detail-drenched artwork and elaborate architecture and landscapes had made him a fan-favorite, but producing work of that quality proceeded at a pace contrary to the hustle-bustle required for MTU’s monthly grind. “My run [on Team-Up] ended before Michael finished the story,” Claremont said, and the project briefly stalled.

Soon, editor-in-chief Jim Shooter brainstormed the concept of a deluxe, ad-free Marvel series that evolved into Marvel Fanfare, which was assigned to Al Milgrom. “They gave me the go-ahead, and suddenly, I had to produce, so I co-opted that Michael Golden and Chris Claremont Marvel Team-Up story,” Milgrom told interviewer Shaun Clancy in Back Issue #96. “The trick was… the story was never finished,” so Milgrom brought in artist Dave Cockrum for the third installment and newcomer Paul Smith for the fourth, the end result being Marvel Fanfare #1 (Mar. 1982)–4 (Sept. 1982)— the Marvel Team-Up issues that found a new home.

Chris Claremont maintained a presence in Team-Up for several more issues by answering letters about his stories in the “Web-Zingers” column. In issue #94’s lettercol, a fan complaining of the title’s recent artist instability begged, “Let’s get the art together.”

Claremont replied, “That’s in part due to the nature of a team-up format book. The structure works against the same sort of issueto-issue plot/character continuity you might find in SPIDER-MAN or the X-MEN”—an ironic assessment given that Claremont was one of the few MTU writers to successfully interject a modicum of continuity to the book. Even his final issue, the Spider-Man/ Nightcrawler team-up, was a sequel of sorts to his earlier Spidey/ Man-Thing story in #68, with the same adversary returning to wreak vengeance upon the Wall-Crawler.

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MTU Receives a Grant

Steven Grant was not the next “regular” writer of Marvel Team-Up, despite evidence to the contrary. His first published script in the comics business was the Thing/Moon Knight team-up in Marvel Two-in-One #52 (June 1979), a fill-in issue.

He quickly followed with fill-ins on other books, including Marvel Team-Up. Grant’s inaugural MTU outing was a Spidey/Black Panther story in #87, published near the end of Chris Claremont’s tenure. Three issues later, Grant immediately followed Claremont with six consecutive issues of Spider-Man team-ups: #90 (the Beast), 91 (Ghost Rider), 92 (Hawkeye), 93 (Werewolf by Night), 94 (the Shroud), and 95 (the introduction of Mockingbird).

Yet by his own admission, in the “Web-Zingers” lettercol of MTU #99, he was not in permanent residence: “My six-issue stint from MTU #90–95 was actually a number of fill-ins that happened to be in production around the time that the book shifted editorial teams,” Grant wrote. “As fate would have it, these six were the books that came into the house first, and so they were published in a row, giving the impression that I was replacing Chris as scripter of the book.”

In a November 12, 2021 email, Steven Grant kindly shared with me his recollections about what he called his “Marvel Team-Ups and Downs.” His first MTU, issue #87 (Nov. 1979), teaming Spider-Man and the Black Panther, “was, I think, the third Marvel assignment I had, after my debut in Marvel Two-inOne #52 and a Defenders fill-in that wasn’t published for another decade or so. Al Milgrom was the editor; I think he took pity on me. I really had no idea what I was doing.

“Overall I’d call it a pretty average team-up story.” It featured a common superhero trope, a hero gone “bad” (in this case, the Black Panther), with the customary altercation between Spidey and the Panther before the Panther’s innocence was proven and the heroes reconciled. Grant could not recall whether he or Milgrom selected T’Challa as Spidey’s teammate, but surmised, “if it was me, since I had no special feeling about the Black Panther one way or the other, it would’ve been to serve the story I had in mind, about evil corporation Roxxon trying to smear the Panther and destabilize Wakanda politically so they could get their hands on that nation’s coveted vibranium.”

Being a fill-in, Grant’s story wasn’t intended to ruffle any feathers—but its conclusion had the opposite effect. The entire team-up “was all really just a setup for the message I wanted to get across, in the coda, where Roxxon isn’t especially upset that they lost that bout, because a lot of people will still believe the Black Panther is a bad man and they’ll either never hear the correction or they’ll think it’s a cover-up. So Roxxon feels they’ve made progress in any case.

“I got chewed out for that ending. Not by Al. He didn’t have any problem with it that I recall. Further up the chain felt I should’ve had a more conclusive ending where all was made well again, instead of leaving dangling plot threads. It likely didn’t help my status up there any.”

Gene Colan penciled the Spider-Man/Black Panther team-up.

While the prospect of having his first published Spidey tale illustrated by one of comics’ greats was exciting to the fledgling scribe, Grant “had no idea who’d draw it when I wrote the plot.

So I had worked out a lot of action, mainly to make the action functional in terms of Spider-Man’s powers, especially one particular scene in the Wakandan embassy where he’s fighting the Panther, who has to take him down when he’s standing on the ceiling. I’d worked out an elaborate scene where the Panther dislodges Spider-Man from a ceiling where he’s anchored.

Gene simply threw out all my action breakdowns and drew it as a three-panel page where the Panther tackles Spider-Man off the ceiling, which shouldn’t be possible given Spider-Man’s

Denny O’Neil Steps in… Or Does He?

Nautical Team-Up The spinachpowered seafarer met (and fought) Sinbad the Sailor—not to be confused with “Sindbad” of 1936 Popeye cartoon fame—in a story by Bill Pearson and George Wildman in Popeye #166 (Feb. 1982). © King Features Syndicate, Inc.

powers, for several reasons. I did bring this up with Al, who eyed me scornfully and said, ‘Do you REALLY think you’re going to tell Gene Colan how to draw?’ I got the message and took it to heart thereafter, but a small part of me has always thought of somebody reading that issue and thinking, ‘This writer doesn’t even know how Spider-Man’s powers work.’”

Regarding the issue’s villain, Grant also admitted that he got “rolled eyes over the throwaway villain Hellrazor, a name I’d come up with in my fan days. I admit he was not especially well-conceived.” (Horror writer-director Clive Barker, creator of the popular Hellraiser franchise, might disagree.)

The second of Grant’s team-ups, the Spider-Man/Beast fill-in in #90 (Feb. 1980), featured a combo the writer suspected may have been editor Milgrom’s recommendation due to his indifference to the blue-furred X-Man-turned-Avenger. “There isn’t much to the story,” Grant said, “aside from bringing Killer Shrike and the Modular Man into color comics continuity from Marvel’s black-and-white magazines,” in this case The Rampaging Hulk. “In my head it mainly became a tool for Beast character stuff, him sitting on rooftops musing in Latin, that sort of thing.”

In the comic, the Modular Man expanded to leviathan size after exposure to microwaves. “The ‘science’ in the book was laughable in the most comic-booky way, but microwaves were still a new concept in public consciousness then, so you could get away with playing them like Stan Lee played ‘radiation’ in 1962,” Grant reminisced. While the microwave oven was patented in 1945, starting in the mid-1970s prices were lowered on the formerly expensive technology and the devices became the rage in American kitchens. Microwave radiation became a common story device in comic books, including writer Cary Bates’ introduction of the now-forgotten Superman villain the Microwave Man in Action Comics #487 (Sept. 1978). In recalling his Spidey/Beast team-up, Grant remarked, “Funny thing was, the next month, to all intents and purposes, the same story was published in Spectacular Spider-Man,” a reference to writer Tom DeFalco’s tale in issue #41 (Apr. 1980) of that SpiderMan title where the Wall-Crawler and guest-star Giant-Man (Bill Foster, the former Black Goliath) battled Meteor Man, who grew to skyscraper proportions.

Replacing Al Milgrom as MTU editor with issue #91 (Mar. 1980) was Denny O’Neil, returning to Marvel (he had dabbled in the Marvel Universe in the 1960s, early in his career), after a successful decade-plus stint at DC as arguably the publisher’s most influential writer—the gothic revitalization of Batman, the Joker’s return to his homicidal roots, the introduction of Ra’s al Ghul and Talia, the headlines-making Green Lantern/Green Arrow series, The Shadow, revamps of Wonder Woman, Superman, and the original Captain Marvel (in Shazam!), and many more achievements—and as an editor. “I had a pretty good reputation in the business,” O’Neil explained to Franck Martini in Back Issue #110 (Feb. 2019). “Jim Shooter offered me this job and for two years was the best boss I ever had. For these two years, I was put in charge of the Spider-Man franchise. That meant I edited the books, except for Amazing SpiderMan, which I wrote.” Mark Gruenwald was O’Neil’s assistant editor, and his deep knowledge of and enthusiasm for Marvel lore were beneficial to Denny—and crucial to Marvel Team-Up, which Gruenwald essentially managed under O’Neil’s oversight.

Issue #91’s Spider-Man/Ghost Rider team-up, another Steven Grant fill-in, bore O’Neil’s editorial credit in print but was actually commissioned by his predecessor, Al Milgrom. “There was a lot of editorial juggling at the time,” Grant recollected in his email. “They were buying a lot of fill-ins then because Jim Shooter had fairly recently become editor-in-chief, partly on the promise to avoid late issues, which cost the company big at the printers, or reprint issues, which almost always led to crap sales that cost the company in the back end. So if you were primarily a fill-in writer, which I was, it made it a lot easier to earn something you could kid yourself into thinking might almost be a living.”

As with the previous issues’ co-stars, Grant had little if any interest in Ghost Rider, but found a different motivation for the selection of that issue’s co-star. At the time, Grant was “crashing on Roger Stern’s couch,” and “hanging out a lot with Mark Gruenwald,” a fellow transplant from Wisconsin, and the trio enjoyed “discussing weird Marvel arcana. I think at some point I’d made a joke about the ’40s character the Blazing Skull, who shared the motif with the much later Ghost Rider, and got the notion of Ghost Rider being mistaken for the Blazing Skull and somehow massaged it into a freak show concept—Ghost Rider appearing in a freak show as the Blazing Skull—and the story foamed up out of that.” He added other human oddities to the sleazy carnival, including rip-offs of the six-armed Spider-Man (from Amazing Spider-Man #100) and Man-Thing.

Attending the carnival as Peter Parker, Spider-Man entered the story after suspecting the sideshow Blazing Skull’s real identity.

“The hardest thing about doing Team-Up stories was figuring out reasons for Spider-Man to get involved, and having him insulted by a cheap knockoff leading to curiosity about why the Ghost Rider’s hanging out in a rundown freak show turned out to be a good way to do it,” Grant revealed. Moondark the Magician, the villain previously seen in issue #12’s Spidey/Werewolf team-up, was the issue’s bad guy, suggested by assistant editor Gruenwald after Grant initially proposed a “throwaway villain” in his place. It was penciled by Pat Broderick, who had recently made a name for himself at the House of Ideas as the artist of Captain Marvel. “Pat Broderick did a great job bringing a horror tone to the art,” Grant said, describing Marvel Team-Up #91 as “much more of a horror story than a superhero story, and arguably the most successful of my Team-Up stories.

But I also got to unleash a bit more sense of humor in it than was common back then.”

An unexpected later use of his sideshow characters bemused the writer. “Imagine my surprise, more than ten years later, when [co-writers] Scott Lobdell and Dan Slott resurrected my little band of carny freaks, proving there’s nothing that can’t come back to haunt you.” The story in question, the five-pager “Freaks,” drawn

Chapter 3: Marvel Team-Up

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by Mark Pacella and Dan Panosian, appeared in Marvel Tales #256 (Dec. 1991), backing up a reprint of MTU #91.

Grant’s friendship with MTU assistant editor Gruenwald led to the next team-up, Spider-Man and Hawkeye, in #92. “Marvel, in response to word that DC was getting ready to institute a royalty system, had just introduced an ‘incentive’ plan that paid an extra—I think it was $250, which considering page rates at the time wasn’t extravagant, but it wasn’t insignificant either—if you completed six consecutive issues of a title and they all came out on time,” Grant explained in his 2021 email. “Mark decided to work the system to my benefit if I worked it to his. We were both still looking to carve out our own niches at the time, so rather than officially assign the title he gave me consecutive fill-in assignments. We’d collaborated on our short Avengers plotting stint by then, and I’d written a Hawkeye solo issue of the book that spun him off into a new job, and Hawkeye I liked, so I suggested the Hawkeye issue, #92, to carry on that storyline.”

The story introduced Alan Fagan, the nephew of Daredevil’s adversary, Mister Fear. “I always liked the look and name of Mister Fear,” Grant said, “and it was my attempt to resurrect the character.

I named his secret identity for an old friend of mine.” In this tale, the terror-inducing Mister Fear reduced the Archer Avenger into a quivering bowman not far removed from the Inferior Five’s White Feather. Grant attempted to add more depth to Hawkeye through his affinity for the music of Johnny Burnette and His Rock-and-Roll Trio, à la Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes. “I had this notion that characters could be illuminated by their tastes in music, and thought rockabilly was perfect for Hawkeye and still do, so that part I think I got right.” By Grant’s own admission, this was one of his weaker efforts, a generic tale that might have easily substituted as a Batman/Green Arrow vs. the Scarecrow issue of DC’s The Brave and the Bold. “I don’t think it was very good,” Grant confessed. “I remember getting yelled at for that issue too, but I don’t remember why. Maybe because there wasn’t really a story there.”

The 1970s Marvel Monster craze was all but forgotten by the time Jack Russell, the Werewolf (a.k.a. Werewolf by Night), clawed his way back into MTU in issue #93. But Team-Up’s assistant editor had certainly not forgotten Marvel’s one-time headlining lycanthrope. “#93 was where Mark’s influence really kicked in,” Grant explained.

“He’d recently been replaced on Spider-Woman, where he’d been building his own little turf, including at that point ‘forgotten’ characters like Werewolf by Night and the Shroud, who coincidentally appears in #94, so my end of the bargain was to help him continue that fiefdom.” According to Grant, Gruenwald also suggested the use of the issue’s villain, the sewer-dwelling Tatterdemalion, created by Gerry Conway and Tom Sutton in Werewolf by Night #9 (June 1973).

Carmine Infantino illustrated the Hawkeye and Werewolf stories.

After his ignominious firing from DC Comics’ top editorial post in January of 1976, the veteran artist had been drawing for Marvel since 1977, his most notable Marvel works being Nova, Spider-Woman, and Star Wars. Infantino was no stranger to team-ups, having penciled a few issues of DC’s The Brave and the Bold during the previous decade (including one of B&B’s standouts, issue #67’s Batman/Flash tale), and was right at home in MTU. He was inked on the Hawkeye issue by Pablo Marcos and by Jim Mooney on the Werewolf story. John Kirk reported in Back Issue #110 (Apr. 2019) that Infantino was pleased with the embellishers assigned by Marvel to his work. “Overall, I’d say I had superior inkers at Marvel than I did at DC,” the artist reflected. “I think they respected my penciling more than the DC inkers.”

Fill-in writer Steven Grant teamed the mysterious Shroud with Spidey. Detail from Al Milgrom’s cover to issue #94 (June 1980).

TM & © Marvel.

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At assistant editor Gruenwald’s direction, Marvel Team-Up #93–95 were an interlocking storyline, and with these issues writer Steven Grant hit his stride. “In #94, I tried to claim the Shroud for my own,” Grant revealed. “I’d liked the character since Steve Englehart introduced him in Super-Villain Team-Up [see this volume’s SuperVillain Team-Up essay for more details], but no one was very interested in him. Mark used him in Spider-Woman, unaware I’d come up with a whole mythology for the character that I’ve never had a chance to use. Between Spider-Woman and this, Mark and I had collaborated on a Shroud story with Steve Ditko in Marvel Preview #21, where I’d introduced his new shtick as an apparent (but fake) criminal operating out of a jazz club with two criminal associates. #94 gave me the opportunity to at least stick my toe into the mythology, as well as to work with Mike Zeck.”

Zeck had recently been making a name for himself on Master of Kung Fu, and not long after Marvel Team-Up #94 would begin a popular run on Captain America, followed by even greater heights, including the bestselling crossover Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars. Grant was so impressed with Zeck’s Spider-Man/Shroud issue that he thought, “Boy, I’d like to work with that guy again,” as he told Jerry Smith in Back Issue #132 (Dec. 2021). A few years later, once Secret Wars was coming to a close, Grant got his chance. His wife at the time, Linda Grant, was a Marvel assistant editor and told Steven that Zeck was looking for a post–Secret Wars project.

Grant called Zeck and asked if he’d be interested in drawing a Punisher limited series he was writing. “After doing a slew of costumed characters doing goofy superhero stuff, an action hero was really where his interests lay in comics,” Grant said. And thus MTU #94’s Spidey/Shroud team-up by Grant and Zeck inspired the reunion of the creative team that revolutionized the Punisher.

In their 1985–1986 Punisher limited series, Grant and Zeck successfully transformed the one-time Spidey “villain” into a viable solo character and signaled a grittier tonal shift for the publisher that would dominate comic books of the 1990s.

In his 2021 email, Grant declared that his Spider-Man/Shroud team-up was “my favorite of the run,” despite the fact that “I got called on the carpet in this story too, for having Spider-Man ‘run out on a fight.’” In the story, after a battle with his co-starring “Master of Darkness,” Spider-Man was left holding the Shroud’s empty cloak and opted against pursuing him, as he was pressed for time by another commitment. “My retort was that the Spider-Man I’d grown up reading would run out on fights if he had something better to do, but I kept it to myself. There’s no point in arguing these things. What I’d wanted to do was already published, so what would I’ve been fighting for?”

Listen to the Mockingbird

“Introducing Marvel’s newest sensation—Mockingbird,” touted Team-Up #95’s cover. And while it was indeed the first appearance of the superheroine and future Avengers member, the athletic blonde behind her black mask was no newbie to the Marvel Universe. She had previously been introduced as the adventurous Dr. Barbara “Bobbi” Morse in the “Ka-Zar” feature running in Astonishing Tales in the early 1970s. Morse became an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. and eventually—in one appearance only—a costumed crimefighter, the Huntress, in the black-and-white magazine Marvel Super Action #1 (Jan. 1976).

Morse’s Mockingbird identity was created by Mark Gruenwald—a fan of DC’s Justice League of America—as Marvel’s analog for Black Canary. In a text explanation he penned for MTU #95, Gruenwald revealed that he had envisioned Bobbi Morse’s Mockingbird guise as an adversary for Spider-Woman, but he moved on from that title before realizing his plans.

For The Team-Up Companion, Steven Grant revealed much more about the genesis of the Spider-Man/Mockingbird issue.

“Back in 1976, at a convention in New York City, I’d ended up in a hotel room with Steve Gerber and Tony Isabella, among others.

At the time the House was investigating illegal CIA activities, so in conversation we started discussing how S.H.I.E.L.D. must similarly be riddled with suspect behavior, and that was a topic I’d wanted to address ever since. S.H.I.E.L.D. by then was a crutch concept; it was pretty much only a taxi/library service to get a hero somewhere or provide them with information, or otherwise involve them in a story. I wanted TM & © Marvel. to do something with that, and suggested using Bobbi Morse, who’d appeared in a ’70s black-and-white for one issue as the Huntress. But by then DC had a character called the Huntress, so we had to figure out a new identity for her.” DC’s much better known Huntress, originally the daughter of the Earth-Two Batman and Catwoman, premiered in a one-two punch of issues, her introduction as a member of the Justice Society of America in AllStar Comics #69 and her origin story in DC Super-Stars #17 (both cover-dated Nov.–Dec. 1977 and released in late August of that year). Predating her in DC lore was Paula Brooks, the supervillainess Huntress, a foe of Wildcat first seen in Sensation Comics #68 (Aug. 1947).

As Grant recalled, “Mark used to have these binders filled with character designs, and among them was a Black Canary knockoff called Mockingbird. (Which, technically, was also a by then long fallow DC character, though not one who had technically ever appeared in print, so I figured let’s give it a shot until someone tells us no, which they never did.)” DC’s Mockingbird was the codename for the mysterious leader of the espionage team the Secret Six, first

introduced in The Secret Six #1 (Apr.–May 1968). “I massaged the character to the concept I wanted—she has uncovered deep corruption in S.H.I.E.L.D. and has set about to expose it, no matter what the cost—and plotted out the story. (Prior to this, I’d pitched a Nick Fury vs. S.H.I.E.L.D. miniseries to absolutely no reception whatsoever, so I was also trying to use this issue to jumpstart that.)”

An unexpected—and short-lived—editorial reassignment, according to Grant, occurred while he was plotting the story, with Marvel Team-Up being reassigned to its previous editor, Al Milgrom. “He liked the story but didn’t like Mark’s character design at all,” Grant said, “so he called me in one day so he, [cover designer] Ed Hannigan, and I could brainstorm a new costume for her. All I really cared about was that they kept the two-staves weapon gimmick, which was completely mine; I had all kinds of bits I wanted to do with that. I honestly don’t recall what that version looked like anymore, expect that the costume was more skintight, without the buccaneer boots.”

Enter artist Jim (Jimmy) Janes. After a smattering of art credits in the mid-1970s, mostly on short stories for Warren Publications’ magazines, in 1979–1980 Janes was making a concerted effort to establish himself in the comics business; perhaps his most noteworthy project of that era was the three-issue DC Comics miniseries, Secrets of the Legion of Super-Heroes, which bowed in late 1980.

As Grant explained it, Al Milgrom “wanted to try out a kid named Jimmy Janes” on issue #95, but “somewhere between there and print there was another editorial reassignment, and the book went back to Denny and Mark—and by the time it hit press, somehow Mockingbird was back in her original costume.”

In the meantime, Marvel’s superstar artist Frank Miller had been assigned and penciled MTU #95’s cover. “This led to an interesting conversation with Mark where I asked him how that could be, and he stammered that SOMEhow, SOMEone had ‘inadvertently’ sent the wrong reference to Frank for the cover and they didn’t realize it until the penciled cover came back in and you DON’T ask FRANK MILLER to redraw a cover, so they redrew all the figures inside instead. It’s still one of the most laughable conversations I’ve ever had. Frank and I were relatively close at the time, I doubt he’d’ve felt it the slightest imposition to correct the figure. Of course, the real answer was that Mark wanted his original design used and was in a position to achieve that. I wasn’t bothered by it; it tickled me to no end that he couldn’t just say that. (Though there’s a possibility the company would’ve taken a dim view of such behavior had they known about it, so maybe his excuse was self-defense.)”

Mockingbird’s debut in MTU #95 didn’t exactly set the comics world on fire. “The main response to Mockingbird was fury from lots of readers who were offended the book was being used to introduce new characters instead of teaming up Spider-Man with familiar faces,” Grant said. Yet Mark Gruenwald soon reclaimed the character and boosted her profile, mainly as the partner of Hawkeye—another of Gru’s sly winks to the Justice League, with Hawkeye and Mockingbird standing in for DC’s team of JLA lovebirds, Green Arrow and Black Canary. She had legs for Grant as well. The writer told Jarrod Buttery in Back Issue #56 (May 2012), “In some ways, she was a dry run for my own character, Whisper,” referring to his female ninja character of 1980s independent comic acclaim.

Chapter 3: Marvel Team-Up

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Spidey Quacks Up

Spider-Man met Howard the Duck in Marvel Team-Up #96—and this time, it wasn’t a dream, as Spidey had thought his previous encounter with the foul-tempered fowl, in Howard the Duck #1 (Jan. 1976), had been. MTU #96, which featured an anti-fad demagogue calling himself Status Quo, was a tour de force by Alan Kupperberg, who wrote and illustrated the story. At the time, the irascible duck was both “trapped in a world he never made” in the comics but also in a legal battle in the real world. Howard’s creator, writer Steve Gerber, was suing Marvel Comics over ownership of the character in a highly publicized case that involved many creators choosing sides. Kupperberg had taken over as the artist of the Howard the Duck syndicated newspaper strip in 1978 and saw the matter differently than Gerber. “Steve Gerber was still writing the strip when I started,” Kupperberg recalled to Lex Carson in Back Issue #29 (Apr. 2010). “He wrote me, saying, ‘You should quit too. You should support my lawsuit.’ I did not understand that. When I created a character for Marvel, I understood what I was doing. I was giving it to them. They owned it.” This courtroom drama aside, the Spidey/Howard team-up was tremendous fun, with Kupperberg in fine form both as a superhero artist and as a comedy cartoonist.

There was at least one additional Marvel Team-Up issue Kupperberg had hoped to write and illustrate, a Spider-Man/Thor inventory story he plotted and penciled around this same time. Titled “Chudda’s Revenge,” it resurrected the extraterrestrial scientist Chuda (spelled with two “d”s in Kupperberg’s story), creator of the battlebot Replicus, as told in Thor #141 (June 1967) by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, and Vince Colletta. The story went unfinished and unpublished, and an unknown inker later completed a smattering of its panels as the pages wended their way into the art collectors’ circuit in 2018.

All-Time Greatest Team-Ups (which reprinted MTU #27). Were that not enough gamma radiation for one month, Hulk’s cousin was ripped and roaring in the pages of The Savage She-Hulk #8.

But with MTU #97, it became clear that despite his star power, the Hulk did not play well with others. Only dropping Hulk in for a single issue at a time limited a writer’s ability to develop a storyline of substance with the intellectually challenged, bellicose Hulk, reducing him to smash-first/never-ask-questions scenarios where his co-star did the thinking. Here, Spider-Woman was on the prowl for a mad Dr. Moreau type who was making monsters— which Hulk got to fight. Carmine Infantino’s artwork in that issue didn’t help. His graceful sketching line was perfect for Spider-Woman’s elegance, but lacked the

Hulk—Not Necessarily a Smash

Letter writers had occasionally lobbied for non-Spider-Man stories in MTU to allow for other character combos. Beginning with issue #97 (Sept. 1980), they got their wish as the series’ final non-Spidey star began a brief, sporadic run as its headliner: the Incredible Hulk.

The Incredible Hulk live-action television series, starring the likeable Bill Bixby as troubled scientist/everyman David (Bruce) Banner and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno in heavy green makeup as the Hulk, was winding down the third of its five-season run on June 24, 1980 when Marvel Team-Up #97 gave Spider-Man an issue off. The comic didn’t stray too far from the web, though, as the Hulk was paired with Spider-Woman.

At the time, Spider-Woman was a Saturday morning animated cartoon from animation house DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and Marvel Productions. Joan Van Ark, from the cast of the nighttime soap opera Knots Landing, voiced the lead role and alter ego Jessica Drew.

A wave of Hulkmania (with apologies to wrestler Hulk Hogan) was sweeping America, with the TV series’ success spawning no end of Hulk merchandising: Hulk action figures in virtually every imaginable size and format (including stretchable ones), Hulk vehicles, Hulk View-Master reels and viewer cartridges, a Hulk Colorforms set, Hulk plastic banks, and more. Marvel fed the craze by rolling off the printing presses as much Hulk product as possible. Sharing rack space with MTU #97 in June 1980 were Incredible Hulk #251, Hulk Annual #9, the Marvel magazine Hulk! #22, and the Hulk reprint title Marvel Super-Heroes #91. That month the Hulk also appeared with the Thing in Marvel Two-inOne Annual #5, with his “non-team” allies in The Defenders #87, battling the Thing in Marvel’s Greatest Comics #92 (which reprinted Fantastic Four #112), and in combat with Spidey on the cover of Marvel Treasury Edition #27 starring The Sensational Spider-Man:

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Here’s why nobody wanted to “team up” with the Hulk.

Detail from the Frank Miller/Joe Rubinstein cover of Marvel Team-Up Annual #3 (1980), co-starring the Hulk and Power Man and Iron Fist.

TM & © Marvel.

rawness to convey the Hulk’s ferocity (surprising, since Infantino had, in the mid-1960s, designed and drawn DC’s Hulk-like Blockbuster, a Batman villain, in Detective Comics).

Scripting the story—the last of his MTU fill-ins—was Steven Grant. “Denny asked me to do a Hulk/Spider-Woman team-up, and I came up with a couple ideas I liked—primarily the idea of someone deciding to end the threat of the Hulk by lobotomizing Bruce Banner (the sort of thing you’d think someone would’ve thought of years before)—that I pitched verbally,” Grant recalled. “To this day I’m not sure what happened. All I remember is that by the time I left Denny’s office the story involved mad scientists and weird monsters and other things I wasn’t really interested in writing. I somehow doubt it was exactly what Denny wanted either.”

Recalling MTU #97 left Steven feeling green—not with envy, but with nausea. “Let’s face it, it was a mess,” Grant said. “I remember rolling my eyes a lot while dialoguing it, and to keep myself entertained I named all the characters, who I knew no one would ever use again, after characters from William Burroughs novels.

This is nothing against Carmine, who drew it, and for all I know there are people out there who list it as their favorite comics story of all time, and more power to them, but I can’t really think of it even now without shuddering.”

In surveying the entirety of his Team-Up run, Steven Grant admitted, “it accomplished exactly nothing that I’d hoped it would.

Good experience overall, though, and it certainly was fun in the short run. The difference in editorial styles was interesting. Al was much more hands-on than Denny, but both—unlike some editors in the business—preferred to trust the talent to get it right (and to correct it quickly if wrong) than to micromanage or use them as proxies. I learned a lot about what counted as professionalism, though I doubt I was ever as professional as I should’ve been.”

Hulk’s second MTU appearance took place in 1980’s Annual #3, where he “teamed” with Power Man and Iron Fist, along with guest-star Machine Man. This was a stronger story for the Hulk, bolstered by the Annual’s expanded page count that allowed scribe Roger Stern more character development. Having Incredible Hulk artist Herb Trimpe on board kept the Green Goliath on-model. Still, the story largely relegated the Hulk to puppet status, duped by the villainess Nightshade into conflict with the issue’s other stars.

Hulk was more in his element in his team-up with Ka-Zar in MTU #104 (Apr. 1981), starting with its raucous Al Milgrom cover pitting the savage co-stars against raging dinosaurs. With MODOK sticking his big head into the proceedings, this issue, largely a fight-fest scripted by Roger McKenzie, seemed more Hulkappropriate than the character’s earlier lead appearances.

Hulk’s final starring role took place in the very next issue, #105, once again with co-stars Power Man and Iron Fist, who mixed it up with mean-spirited mountain men. Scripting this issue for a rare Marvel credit was Mike W. Barr, much better known as a DC writer, including several memorable Batman team-ups in The Brave and the Bold. (See page 102 for Barr’s personal recollections of his Marvel Team-Up contributions.)

Barr’s Hulk/Power Man and Iron Fist tale in #105 ran 17 pages, followed by a Barr-scripted Power Man and Iron Fist/Daughters of the Dragon five-page team-up set at a fashion show. Carmine Infantino and Mike Esposito illustrated both of Barr’s stories.

Issue #105’s lettercol featured an editorial question about straying from Spider-Man or Hulk as the stars of Marvel Team-Up. Responses came in issue #111… and they didn’t bode well for a certain gamma-irradiated superstar. “I don’t think the Hulk goes too well in this magazine,” wrote a reader who added, “His brutal demeanor and attitudes don’t exactly encourage other heroes to join him in some cause…” Another fan complained, “I don’t like the Hulk, because he doesn’t have the intellect to team up with anyone,” a sentiment echoed in the next letter: “Hulk does not work in MARVEL TEAM-UP. He does not ‘team up’ with anyone. (Just ask

the Defenders!)” The issue’s final letter chimed in: “The Hulk may be a big favorite, but he sure isn’t much of a team partner!”

And so the Hulk lost his lead berth in Marvel Team-Up after #105, which squashed the publication of an issue that would have co-starred him with MTU’s original “other” star. “I did a Marvel Team-Up that [Steve Ditko] drew that was the Hulk and Human Torch teaming up that never saw the light of day,” Jack C. Harris, most famously a DC Comics editor and writer, told comics historian Bryan D. Stroud in a 2012 online interview. On this and a handful of other Marvel fill-ins of the 1980s, Harris stepped outside of his comfort zone of DC’s script-first method to work in the “Marvel method” of plot-first.

Ditko—no stranger to the Green Goliath, having followed original series artist Jack Kirby on the initial 1962 six-issue run of The Incredible Hulk—penciled the plot before the plug was pulled on the issue, without Harris receiving the chance to dialogue his story.

This “lost” MTU issue was eventually published, not long before Stroud’s interview with Harris was posted, as the one-shot The Incredible Hulk and the Human Torch: From the Marvel Vault #1 (Aug. 2011, on sale June 29, 2011). Editor Tom Brevoort tapped writer-inker Karl Kesel to complete the tale. Kesel scripted Harris’ dense plot, which was conceived in an era prior to the post-Watchmen decompression of comics storytelling, and inked (and contemporized) Ditko’s pencils.

Made for Each Other

Television superheroes Steve Austin and Jaime Sommers occasionally teamed up during their popular 1970s series, The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman. Artist Jack Thurston painted this illo of the pair and their boss, Oscar Goldman, for the cover of Starlog #4 (1977).

Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman © NBCUniversal. Courtesy of Heritage.

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TM & © Marvel.

In mid-1980, a price increase occurred at Marvel that affected page counts. Up until then, Marvel’s regular titles featured a 17-page new story in a 32-page package that retailed for 40 cents. Beginning with Marvel’s September 1980 cover-dated issues, the price jumped to 50 cents per copy. With the November and December 1980 cover-dated issues, Marvel’s regular titles now featured 22 new story pages. Most continuity-driven titles smoothly transitioned by producing stories that were five pages longer. A problem occurred with fill-in stories that were either sitting in inventory or currently being illustrated, as they were produced at the previous 17-page length. Marvel editors commissioned a spate of five-page (or, in a few cases, six-page) backups that could be inserted into issues once their 17-page inventory stories were scheduled to flesh out the page count to 22 new pages of material. Since fill-ins largely comprised O’Neil’s Marvel Team-Up when he first took over, several MTUs in the early 1980s included backup stories.

(One of these Marvel backups was noteworthy for team-up fans—although it didn’t appear in Marvel Team-Up. Remember the Wolverine/Hercules team-up of 1980? You’re forgiven if you missed it. This six-page tale, written by Jo Duffy, penciled by Ken Landgraf, and inked by George Pérez, was squirreled away in the back pages of one of Marvel’s last tabloid-sized comics, 1980’s Marvel Treasury Edition #26, starring The Rampaging Hulk.)

In addition to its Hulk drop-ins, for the immediate period Marvel Team-Up kept running on fill-ins, with Spider-Man at the wheel. Spidey teamed with Black Widow in #98 and Machine Man in #99, the latter being ably written by Tom DeFalco, who would soon become a major player on the title. Its cover, by rising sensation Frank Miller, was perhaps the issue’s greatest highlight.

“For a while—and I’m not sure if Frank would agree with this—but he was virtually another son,” editor Denny O’Neil said of his relationship with Miller in Back Issue #110.

“We’d have lunch two or three times a week and talk about how the story would work; how would we make it turn out?”

While their relationship was largely relegated to Miller’s groundbreaking work on Daredevil, which Denny edited, O’Neil brought in Miller to draw several MTU covers, including Annual #3.

Miller’s biggest splash on Marvel Team-Up occurred with its centennial edition. Chris Claremont returned to script #100’s Spider-Man/Fantastic Four team-up, which introduced Xi’an Coy Manh, the Vietnamese telepath known as Karma, a character who would soon be absorbed into the X-Men universe as part of The New Mutants, which launched in 1982’s Marvel Graphic Novel #4. Frank Miller penciled Claremont’s story. With that double-sized issue, the Claremont/John Byrne team was reunited for a ten-page backup story teaming Storm and the Black Panther. This comic’s celebrity power makes MTU #100 one of the most collectible issues in the series’ run.

The book spun through several more fill-in issues before stabilizing. MTU #101 paired Spidey and Nighthawk in a tale written by J. M. DeMatteis, a team-up that shortly would lead the

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writer to being assigned Nighthawk’s home series, The Defenders.

That issue featured a five-page Nighthawk backup story, written by Mike W. Barr and drawn by Steve Ditko.

Barr returned the next issue, #102, teaming Spider-Man and Doc Samson, the lime-locked, gamma-irradiated he-man from the pages of The Incredible Hulk, in a battle against the Rhino. As he discussed in the accompanying sidebar, contrary to publication order Barr’s script for MTU #105 (Hulk/Power Man and Iron Fist) was written before issue #102’s story.

In MTU #103’s SpiderMan/Ant-Man team-up, writer David Michelinie introduced into the developing Scott Lang/ Ant-Man canon Scott’s daughter Cassie’s taste for bizarre culinary combos.

“Most kids like weird food, and seem to take joy in liking things that would shock adults: Garbage Pail Kids, Gummy Guts, etc.,” Michelinie explained to Jarrod Buttery in Back Issue #126 (Apr. 2021). “So giving Cassie odd tastes in kitchen fare felt both believable and fun.” The issue is better known as being the second appearance of the supreme combatant Taskmaster, whom Michelinie introduced in The Avengers #195–196 (May–June 1980).

After back-to-back Hulk-starring issues, the Wall-Crawler resumed the MTU lead position with issue #106 (June 1981), a Spider-Man/Captain America team-up. It was a hopeful issue for the book’s regular readers, as it appeared that a new, “permanent” creative team was in residence: writer Tom DeFalco, penciler Herb Trimpe, and inker Mike Esposito, the latter of whom maintained a long run on the title. Trimpe, like Sal Buscema earlier, was an excellent choice to become MTU’s regular artist. After military service in the Vietnam War and studies at Manhattan’s School of Visual Arts, Trimpe had been a Marvel mainstay since 1967. He graduated from his humble beginnings as a Bullpen production artist to illustrating Kid Colt Outlaw and a few other random Marvel gigs before landing his most notable assignment, The Incredible Hulk. By the time he had wended his way to Team-Up, Herb had been working on outof-the-ordinary titles like the eccentric Defenders and licensing tie-ins Godzilla and Shogun Warriors. Marvel Team-Up was a return to the mainstream for the artist.

Yet with the next issue, #107’s Spidey/She-Hulk team-up, a shake-up was already in progress as DeFalco only plotted the issue, with Jim Shooter scripting. It would be Denny O’Neil’s last MTU as editor.

Spider-Man “was not my best work,” O’Neil confessed in Back Issue #110, “and suddenly I was fired off [Amazing] Spider-Man without explanation because I wasn’t doing good work. That was a quick hit in the head, because I’d been fired off editorial jobs, but never off a writing job!” O’Neil was also relieved of his editorial duties on the other Spider-Man titles including Marvel Team-Up but continued to edit Daredevil and other series at Marvel. He went on to write the popular “Fall of Tony Stark” Iron Man storyline and would later write Daredevil.

Tom DeFalco, MTU’s new writer, was chosen by editorin-chief Shooter to take over from O’Neil as the editor of the Spider-Man books. His first Team-Up issue as editor was #108

TM & © Marvel.

Editorial Transition

(Aug. 1981), which paired Spidey with Paladin, the costumed mercenary that debuted in Daredevil #150 (Jan. 1978). It was the first part of a two-parter concluded by a Spider-Man/Dazzler story in #109. DeFalco had plotted both issues before being appointed the book’s editor, and brought in David Michelinie and David Anthony Kraft, respectively, to script the Paladin and Dazzler issues.

In “A Web-Stained Word from the New Editor,” an introductory text box that opened Marvel Team-Up #111’s lettercol and appeared in Marvel’s other current Spider-Man books, DeFalco greeted his readers. “I’ve been lured away from the frolicking freelancer’s life [Dazzler, Machine Man, Marvel Team-Up, and Marvel Two-in-One] by an offer too good to refuse—that of becoming the newest editor in MIGHTY MARVEL’s star-studded stable. Into my eager hands has passed the choicest of assignments, the editorship of all four of the Spider-Man titles. … That’s right, at long last all of the [S] pider-books are united under a single guiding hand!” DeFalco’s “guiding hand” promptly took charge of the Spider-Man titles after a few fill-ins and continuations of works-in-progress from the Denny O’Neil days (including 1981’s stupendous Amazing Spider-Man Annual #15 written by O’Neil, illustrated

by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson, and featuring Spidey battling the Punisher and Doctor Octopus). Among his editorial achievements as Spider-editor was the pairing of the writerartist team of Roger Stern and John Romita, Jr. for Amazing Spider-Man; their heralded run included important storylines involving the Black Cat, the introduction of Monica Rambeau as the new Captain Marvel, and an ongoing mystery involving the identity of a new villain, Hobgoblin.

It was all hands on deck on Team-Up as a flurry of different creators produced the next few issues while DeFalco assembled a regular creative team for the title. Artist Trimpe co-plotted a few (#110, 111, 112, and 114), and DeFalco’s assistant editor, Mark Gruenwald, wrote #113 and brought in Quasar from Marvel Two-in-One’s Project Pegasus saga. Meanwhile, Annual #4 (1981) was a standout, with writer Frank Miller taking Spidey to the streets in an unflinching crime story involving a gang war between the Kingpin and the Purple Man, co-starring Moon Knight, Power Man and Iron Fist, and Daredevil, with guest-stars Misty Knight and Colleen Wing, the Daughters of the Dragon.

Also in 1981, S. Q. Publications produced the Marvel Team-Up Portfolio, Set One. This six-plate portfolio of black-and-white specially commissioned portraits featured Spider-Man going shoulder-to-shoulder with the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Power Man and Iron Fist, the Defenders, and others. Artists included John Byrne, Kerry Gammill, Michael Golden, Frank Miller, and Walt Simonson. MTU Portfolio, Set Two followed in 1982 depicting Spidey alongside Doctor Strange and other heroes.

Byrne and Miller were back, this time joined by additional all-stars including George Pérez, P. Craig Russell, and Bill Sienkiewicz.

an adaptation of the disco-fantasy movie Xanadu starring songstress Olivia Newton-John, which appeared in the summer of 1980 in the color magazine Marvel Super Special #17.

Yet in a few short years the wordsmith had displayed a flair for writing different genres—and an enviable talent at blending them.

Someone at home in the worlds of superheroes, horror, and science fiction was the perfect choice to handle Marvel Team-Up. Reflecting upon his work on The Defenders, which he transformed into a horror-superhero title, DeMatteis remarked in Back Issue #65 (July 2013), “The

Herb Trimpe. © Marvel.

Spider-Man’s Weirdo Friends

Writer J. M. (Marc) DeMatteis, who had produced #101’s Spidey/ Nighthawk fill-in, was one of the scribes DeFalco called upon as the editor began his course correction on Marvel Team-Up. DeMatteis had been an up-and-coming force in the industry since 1978, where his earliest credits—like many other creators of his era—were in various DC anthology books, including Weird War Tales, House of Mystery, and the short-lived sci-fi series Time Warp. At DC he had also written numerous short stories for its superhero anthologies, with characters including Hawkman, Aquaman, Black Lightning, and even Batman under his belt.

DeMatteis’ debut at the House of Ideas was an unusual assignment:

Under writer J. M. DeMatteis, things started to get weird in MTU, like this team-up with Devil-Slayer, also featuring his comrades, the Defenders. Original cover art by Herb Trimpe and Mike Esposito.

TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Heritage.

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That same reader concluded his missive by pondering, “[W]hat is DeMatteis going to do when he has to write a ‘normal’ Spider-Man team-up with a ‘normal’ Marvel co-star?

I’m anxious to find out!” He didn’t have to wait long, as after Mark Gruenwald’s Spidey/Quasar fill-in in #113, DeMatteis teamed the Web-Slinger with the Falcon in MTU #114 (Feb. 1982), an urban tale involving a youthful gang patrolling Harlem’s seedier neighborhoods. He followed this up with a two-parter in #115 and 116 teaming Spidey with Thor and the Valkyrie, but DeMatteis seasoned his superhero saga with a sprinkling of eccentricity, with visitations from the peculiar Defenders and the use of a shape-changing menace.

Despite occasionally wading into conventional waters (Spidey/Torch in #121, Spidey/Daredevil in #124), strangeness was indeed DeMatteis’ main gift to Marvel Team-Up. Even more traditional team-ups like Spider-Man and emerging star Wolverine in #117 detoured into a twilight zone as the heroes’ foes weren’t one of Spidey’s vengeful rogues or the X-Men’s evil mutants but instead Roman centurions. With editor Tom DeFalco keeping a tight rein on the solidarity between his various Spider-Man titles, Marvel Team-Up under Marc DeMatteis was the franchise’s wild card, alternately delivering chills, pathos, and laughs—traits the writer would display a few years later when joining plotter-layout artist Keith Giffen on DC Comics’ 1986 “Bwah-ha-ha” reboot of Justice League as a dramatic superhero book that did not take itself too seriously.

Eschewing Marvel’s target audience of children and adolescents, DeMatteis courageously penned back-to-back stories exploring elderly characters. MTU #119 (July 1982) teamed Spider-Man and the Gargoyle, the small-town leader cursed to live in a demonspawned form. Via a parallel story structure, DeMatteis’ mismatched heroes helped two distraught seniors who were Writer J. M. DeMatteis favored unconvinced that their long unlikely Spider-Man co-stars lives held value. for MTU, including Robert E. One issue later, Spider-Man Howard’s sword-and-sorcery teamed with Dominic Fortune, a costumed swashbuckler from king, Kull. In 1973, siblings yesteryear now relegated to a Marie and John Severin released banal fate in a nursing home. this second of two Kull Fortune had a curious backstory, portfolios. one not unlike Devil-Slayer in © Conan Properties International. that he got his start as a character Courtesy of Heritage. published by the competition.

In 1975, writer-artist Howard Chaykin was hired by Atlas/ Seaboard Comics to produce The Scorpion, “a 1930s type pulp character along the lines of The Shadow,” Chaykin told Philip Schweier in Back Issue #47 (Apr. 2011). Chaykin produced the first two of three Scorpion issues before being replaced on the third and final issue for what the company said was the creator’s deadline tardiness. Chaykin later resurrected the basic tenets of the pulpish Scorpion when creating for Marvel the character of Dominic Fortune, with alterations: Fortune was “a jazzy, funny, glib

dark fantasy characters are also natural vehicles for exploring the kinds of spiritual, philosophical, and psychological issues that obsess me.”

That preference was on display in DeMatteis’ MTU #111 and 112, both co-plotted by artist Trimpe and co-starring characters with atypical pedigrees. Issue #111 featured the Defenders’ Devil-Slayer, the cloaked teleporter created as Demon Hunter by Rich Buckler and David Anthony Kraft for Atlas/Seaboard Comics in 1975 and later retrofitted into the Marvel Universe. Spidey and Devil-Slayer’s adversaries, the Serpent-Men—spawns of the J. M. DeMatteis. snake-god Set—were plucked from the pages of one of Marvel’s swordand-sorcery titles of the 1970s, Kull the Conqueror, adventure novelist Robert E. Howard’s barbarian monarch. King Kull himself was Spider-Man’s co-star in the two-parter’s conclusion in #112. Such off-the-wall team-ups might have driven the purist batty, but DeMatteis’ deftness at genremixing smoothly adapted Spider-Man to these weird worlds.

Readers noticed: “[Marvel Team-Up’s] scripts just haven’t been up to scratch. Until #111,” commented one reader in issue #118’s lettercol. In that same column, another fan, reflecting on both #111 and 112, wrote, “If nothing else, J. M. DeMatteis’s work on MARVEL TEAM-UP will be remembered because of the bizarre nature of his team-ups.”

Doesn’t Play Well with Others

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sort of character, as opposed to a grim, earnest one.” Chaykin’s “laughing, cavalier crimefighter” appeared in a smattering of short stories in Marvel’s 1980s magazines and received a more mainstream spotlight in a one-shot tale in Marvel Premiere #56 (Oct. 1980)—just the type of little-known character the Marvel Team-Up scribe found intriguing. In DeMatteis’ hands, Dominic Fortune rose above adversity—and the confines of a feeble body—for another moment in the sun.

“My philosophy [for Marvel Team-Up] was: the more obscure the better!” Marc DeMatteis explained in Back Issue #44. “I was always attracted to the more obscure characters, mainly because they were ripe for exploration. You could crack them open and really develop them. … I just looked at these fringe characters as more inviting than the mainstream, more established characters… I wanted room to play and those characters gave me all the room I wanted.

“And let’s face it, our lead character was as mainstream as you can get; so the obscure ones made for a nice contrast.”

(top left) An Infantino salute by Hannigan and Milgrom on #121’s cover. (top right) Comic-relief character Frog-Man leaps into #131. Cover by Paul Smith. (bottom left) Issue #126’s Spidey/Hulk short story was a reprint of a tale produced for (bottom right) this newspaper giveaway custom comic.

TM & © Marvel.

DeMatteis populated his MTU issues with characters culled from his own corner of the Marvel Universe and the books he was writing at the time, mainly The Defenders and Captain America.

His villains were often sympathetic, and resurfaced in later stories.

One such rogue was Professor Power, who tried to coerce Spidey’s co-star Charles Xavier (Professor X) to use his mutant psionic abilities to restore his son Matthew Powers’ sanity in MTU #118.

A few issues later, in #124, a spiteful Powers was back, seeking revenge against Xavier through his mutants, in this case SpiderMan’s co-star the Beast, described by DeMatteis in Back Issue #29 (Aug. 2008) as “a big, blue, furry guy who was fun to have around. But he’s also a very complex character.”

Villains introduced by DeMatteis in his other books would return to fight Spidey and his guest of the month in MTU, such as Turner D. Century (first seen in Spider-Woman #33, a DeMatteis fill-in) in Team-Up #120, Ian Fate (from Defenders #104) in Team-Up #122, the “Man-Rat” Vermin (from Captain America #272 and elsewhere) in Team-Up #128, and “defender of the common man” Every-Man (from Captain America #267) in Team-Up #132 and 133. From the cosmic voyeur the Watcher playing a Dickensian role in #127’s Christmas fable to the hubby-and-wife team Vision and Scarlet Witch meeting android duplicates of Dostoyevsky, Lincoln, Socrates, and Einstein in #129 and 130, Marvel Team-Up under Marc DeMatteis was the company’s most unpredictable title.

After drawing a single issue, the Spidey/Daredevil team-up in #73 (Sept. 1978), his very first credit in the comics biz, Texas-born artist Kerry Gammill became DeMatteis’ partner and the regular MTU artist beginning with #119 (July 1982), the Gargoyle issue. He had recently earned his Marvel creds as the illustrator of Power Man and Iron Fist. A monster fan during his youth, Gammill excelled at drawing beasts and making them acceptable within a more realistically rendered superhero world— the perfect artistic complement to the writer who effortlessly mixed caped crusaders and creepy crawlers.

“Spider-Man was my favorite Marvel character as a fan,” Gammill told me in a December 6, 2021 email, “so I was really excited about getting to draw one of the Spider-Man books.

Doing Marvel Team-Up meant I’d get the chance to draw a lot of other Marvel heroes, too. The only problem was that just as I’d think I was getting the right feel for drawing the guest hero, the story would end and I’d have to start over with a new character the next issue.”

As Gammill revealed to The Team-Up Companion, “I think my favorite issue was the one with the Watcher [MTU #127]. It was a Christmas story that was very touching. Marc DeMatteis was great at writing stories with elements of emotion and humanity.”

Issues #126 and 128 were exceptions to the norm. MTU #126 (Feb. 1983) featured a split cover touting two team-ups in the issue: Spider-Man/Hulk and Power Man/Son of Satan.

The latter, a 12-pager by DeMatteis with artist Bob Hall, actually led off the issue and continued one of the writer’s Defenders threads involving Daimon Hellstrom. It was backed up by a ten-page Spidey/Hulk tale by Jim Shooter and Tomoyuki Takenaka that repurposed the story from Special Edition: Spider-Man and the Hulk #1, a giveaway comic book inserted as a supplement into the Chicago Tribune in June 1980. MTU #128 featured a photo cover by Eliot R. Brown featuring Marvel’s Jack Morelli as Spidey and artist Joe Jusko as Captain America (see Brown’s comments on page 103 for more details).

With few interruptions, Gammill would be nicely at home in Marvel Team-Up until his last issue, #131 (July 1983), when he went on to other projects including Marvel’s The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones and X-Men spinoff Fallen Angels, followed by DC’s Superman and Action Comics, as

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well as a successful career designing characters and monsters for TV and movie science fiction. Issue #131 was one of DeMatteis’ wildest—a team-up of Spider-Man and… Frog-Man. “Frog-Man—who was Leap Frog’s wannabe superhero son— became an all-time favorite of mine,” DeMatteis said in Back Issue #44. DeMatteis and Gammill introduced Eugene Padillo, the klutzy teenage offspring of one of Daredevil’s lowerechelon rogues, as a comic-relief supporting cast member in MTU #121 (Sept. 1982). Chagrined by his father’s felonious reputation, Eugene claimed his dad’s Leap Frog ensemble, outfitted its flippers with coils that allowed him to vault to new heights, and attempted to fight crime as “the Fabulous Frog-Man.” Ten issues later, Frog-Man had made it to co-billing in Team-Up in “The Best Things in Life Are Free… But Everything Else Costs Money!,” a spoof of Alice in Wonderland with its villainess, the White Rabbit. After that issue, Frog-Man hopped into a few sporadic appearances elsewhere, most recently, as of this writing, joining War Machine, Hellcat, Gargoyle, and other heroes as the Space Friends in Iron Man vol. 6 #13 (Dec. 2021).

In his 2021 email, Gammill shared with me a sartorial matter regarding Marvel’s friendly neighborhood Web-Spinner. “During my run on the book they decided to bring back the webs under Spider-Man’s arms. Tom DeFalco told me to add them to the story I was working on, but when the issue came out I noticed they were gone. Turns out [inker] Mike Esposito hadn’t been told the webs were back. He thought I had just decided to add them on my own, so he didn’t ink them.”

DeMatteis vacated the book two issues after Gammill, after a twoparter featuring Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic in #132 and Spidey Mike Esposito. and the Fantastic Four in #133. As Photo by Jack C. Harris. © DC Comics. was the pattern with Marvel Team-Up, more changes were forthcoming.

Marvel Mop-Up

The defection of DeMatteis and Gammill also signaled the end of the title’s last regular creative team… and when viewed through the lens of history, their partnership can be perceived as the book’s last big hurrah.

Danny Fingeroth took over as MTU’s editor with issue #134, transitionally co-editing his first two issues with outgoing editor Tom DeFalco.

The done-in-one story formula with revolving-door creators returned and dominated the series for the remainder of its run.

Writers including returnees Bill Mantlo, David Michelinie, Tony Isabella, and DeFalco himself, as well as newer scribes like DC Comics transplant Cary Burkett, graced the credit boxes. Most of the issues were nicely illustrated, courtesy of talented illustrators such as Team-Up stalwart Sal Buscema and newer talent like emerging Marvel stars Ron Frenz and Greg LaRocque. Fresh faces were added as Spidey’s co-stars—the Jack of Hearts (#134), Kitty Pryde (#135), Starfox (#143), Nomad (#146), and Alpha Flight (Annual #7). But frequently seen characters like Black Widow (#140), Daredevil (#141), and the title’s original co-star, the Human Torch (#147) evoked more of a “You again?” shoulder shrug from fatigued readers than an enthusiastic “Welcome back!” The crossover series Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars was infusing new energy throughout the company’s line, but even the related

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(left) The wacky Assistant Editors’ Month issue, #137 (Jan. 1984). Cover by Greg LaRocque. (right) Spidey’s black costume, in #141 (May 1984). Cover by Arthur Adams and Mike Mignola.

TM & © Marvel.

appearance of Spider-Man in his Secret Wars black costume, starting in issue #141, wasn’t sufficient to defibrillate the anemic, long-running Marvel Team-Up. “If I remember correctly, we took a hard look at the sales of Marvel Team-Up and discovered that they jumped or fell based solely on the popularity of the guest-star,” Tom DeFalco reflected in Back Issue #44. “We realized it was a book that readers would only buy if they liked the guest-star. Anyway, we figured the readers would prefer an all-Spider-Man book that had team-ups to a team-up book that starred Spider-Man.” Neo-MTU editor Danny Fingeroth concurred: “Editor-in-chief Jim Shooter thought that team-ups should occur as needed in whatever Spider-Man title as dictated by story or commercial needs.”

And thus it was decided to pull the plug on Marvel Team-Up with its sesquicentennial issue, #150.

There were a few high points during the series’ final days, including the Spider-Man/Sandman team-up in #138 (Feb. 1984), part of writer Tom DeFalco’s ongoing saga of Sandman’s reformation.

It was James “Rhodey” Rhodes in the Iron Man armor, not Tony Stark, in #145, a new twist on an old theme. The commerciality of Marvel’s mutants was exploited in the book’s final two issues, with popular scribe and former X-Men editor Louise Jones Simonson writing team-ups of Spider-Man and the New Mutants’ Cannonball (#149) and Spider-Man and the X-Men (#150).

And then there was the time when the inmates ran the asylum…

No story appearing in Marvel Team-Up was as zany as #137, headlined by co-stars Aunt May and Franklin Richards, an issue featuring a cover blurb guaranteeing that it was “Not a hoax! Not a What If! Not an imaginary story!” The cover bore an additional stamp, branding it as part of Marvel’s “Assistant Editors’ Month,” the initiative in Marvel’s January 1984 cover-dated books where the assistants filled in for the editors when their mentors were attending conventions during the summer of 1983. It was a line-wide funfest that netted such results as a Fred Hembeck–drawn issue of Spectacular Spider-Man, John Byrne’s background-free “Snowblind” issue of Alpha Flight set during a blizzard, and an Avengers issue with the World’s Mightiest Heroes appearing on Late Night with David Letterman.

Kerry Gammill original art to the unpublished seventh issue of The Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up. The series was published in the mid-1980s but discontinued with issue #6.

TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Kerry Gammill.

Bob DeNatale, assistant editor to MTU’s Danny Fingeroth, told John Trumbull in Back Issue #103 (Apr. 2018), “For years before I worked for Marvel, I had always wanted to do a parody of those old Hostess ads where a villain is somehow defeated by the hero using Hostess cakes.” DeNatale concocted the premise that assembled “the least likely of teams” to face Marvel’s most powerful villain, the planet-devouring Galactus. With Peter Parker’s elderly aunt transformed into the cosmically powered Silver Surfer pastiche Golden Oldie, she, while babysitting Reed and Sue Richards’ young son, vanquished Galactus’ insatiable appetite with “Twinkles,” Marvel’s alternative to Hostess’ trademarked Twinkies. “My only regret was that I was not able to write the story,” DeNatale confessed, as it was against Marvel policy at the time for an editor to write for a series he or she edited. “So I turned the writing over to Mike Carlin, who did a great job of fleshing out my idea into a full story.”

No tasty “Twinkles” pastry could stave off the appetite of cancellation, however. “The LAST Marvel Team-Up” read the

top-lining logo of issue #150 (cover-dated Feb. 1985), a 48-page special issue that went on sale November 13, 1984. In its corner box, Spider-Man, head bowed, shuffled off stage. Its cover, drawn by fan-favorite Barry Windsor-Smith, cast a somber pall over the stoically posed Spidey and X-Men, with copy lamenting, “And now, a moment’s silence… before the action begins—” The first ongoing Spider-Man spinoff title had come to an end.

“This might be the beginning of a whole new career!” smiled Daily Bugle managing editor Robbie Robertson to Peter Parker in the closing panel of Marvel Team-Up #150. That was true for MTU’s final creative team, as writer Louise Simonson and penciler Greg LaRocque segued to the new Spider-book, Web of Spider-Man #1 (Apr. 1985).

“We replaced MTU with Web of Spider-Man,” editor Danny Fingeroth said in Back Issue #44. “It wasn’t really cancelled.”

How true. The Official Marvel Index to Marvel Team-Up, a six-issue series indexing in detail the contents of MTU, followed in 1986. Since 1995, Marvel Team-Up has been revived multiple times, including variations such as Spider-Man Team-Up, Superior Spider-Man Team-Up, and Ultimate Team-Up. From key individual issues to chronological runs, many issues from the original run of Marvel Team-Up, particularly the Spider-Man teamups, have been reprinted by Marvel in multiple formats, including, at this writing, six Marvel Masterworks and four Essential Marvel editions. Like its affable, web-spinning star’s tenacity, Marvel TeamUp remains the comic book that just won’t quit.

Chapter 3: Marvel Team-Up

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Marvel Team-Up and Me (a brief affair)

by Mike W. Barr

Though I am known—if I am known at all—as a writer for DC Comics, I wrote a good deal of my early scripts for Marvel, particularly in the year 1980. One would drift from editor’s office to editor’s office, inquiring about possible assignments, usually receiving polite rebuffs. But sometimes you’d click. An editor would need an assignment churned out quickly, or s/he was buying scripts and you’d come up with an idea that was too good to turn down.

It may be true that I got onto the radar of editor Denny O’Neil because of our personal friendship, but I wouldn’t have stayed there long if I had turned in inferior work. In those days Marvel Team-Up was primarily a Spider-Man title, though it occasionally featured other characters. The title—like most of the Marvel line, I assume— had recently risen in price from 40 to 50 cents with #97 (Sept. 1980), with the page count pumped from 17 to 22 pages with #99 (Nov. 1980). (#100, which was produced by the pantheon of Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, and John Byrne, was a special-length exception, costing 75 cents.)

The page increase called for some additional material to be generated for 17-page issues that were already in the pipe. I was recruited to supply a five-page Nighthawk backup to fill out MTU #101 (Jan. 1981), which, in those impoverished days, I was happy to do. (Historical perspective: A couple of years later, when I was a staff editor at DC, Roger Slifer turned down the monthly eight-page assignment of Green Arrow, commenting: “It’s not worth my time.” Kids.)

This assignment pushed a number of my specialized buttons. I liked the character of Nighthawk, who had unique powers I could capitalize on in the story, as capsulized in the title: “Don’t Let the Sun Come Up On Me!” And I loved writing short stories.

So I wrote the plot which, to my delight, went to Steve Ditko, one of my favorite artists, whom I had worked with a little at DC. Steve was never quite sure what to make of me. I spoke fluent Objectivism, the philosophy developed by his favorite writer, Ayn Rand, but I hadn’t bought into it 100% as he had. He liked the plot as well as he liked anything he hadn’t written himself, I guess, but criticized me for having the splash page show nothing but Nighthawk flying, which he claimed was not dramatic. (He was probably right.) Too, when I had no idea who would draw the plot I included Spider-Man in a short flashback which, of course, never made it to the page.

My next published MTU was the next issue, #102, but that couldn’t have been the next issue I wrote. #102 was 22 pages in length, while my last MTU, #105 (May 1981), had a 17-page lead with a five-page backup, like #101. I do not know how I was handed the “team-up” of the Hulk, Power Man, and Iron Fist to wrangle, but I do recall being asked by Denny for a five-page backup several weeks after scripting the lead, so #105 must have been commissioned before the book was expanded to 22 pages.

The Claremont/Byrne Iron Fist series is among my favorites, so I was glad to have a crack at the characters. I was quite pleased with the plot for #105’s lead, “A Small Circle of Hate!,” whose title was taken from the 1980 film A Small Circle of Friends, of which I was and am very fond. The major plot hinge of the tale was Power Man being mistaken for the Hulk by a

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bunch of rednecks who had never actually seen the Hulk. But I made a major rookie error in the process. I added a minor character from the lead to the cast without asking Jo Duffy, regular PM/IF writer, and good friend, if this was okay. I’m not even sure if Jo ever read the story. (Of course, editor O’Neil should also have caught this faux pas.)

Both stories were drawn by Carmine Infantino and inked by Mike Esposito. But enough time had passed between the generation of the lead and the backup that Carmine needed reference again on the characters. I supplied some swipes and, when the pencils came in, was dismayed to find Carmine had transposed Power Man and Iron Fist, having forgotten which was which! I told Denny I could probably work around the error, but Denny was determined, with a little more delight than was perhaps called for, to have Carmine redraw it, and I recalled that, when publisher of DC, Carmine had wronged a lot of people he was now dependent on for work. “Treat well the people you meet on the way up…”

The team-up of Spider-Man and Doc Samson in MTU #102 (Feb. 1981) was entirely my idea, as I had always liked Doc Samson. When invited I pitched teams to Denny at a furious rate and, when bringing up Samson, a first-time MTUer, assistant editor Mark Gruenwald grinned and said, “Yeah!” This made it okay with Denny, leading me to realize Mark was far more than Denny’s assistant.

The plot worked out well and was given to penciler Frank Springer, an artist I had collaborated with before (on Captain America #241), whose work I had always liked. But another gremlin popped up. A letter-writer commented, months later, that MTU #101 and 102 had essentially the same premise, the guest-team member being tormented by an ex-lover. (My version was inevitably called “Samson and Delilah!”) The correspondent, a Rick Horton of Wichita, Kansas, even wondered if #101’s scripter J. M. DeMatteis and Yours Truly were the same person! Lettercol scribe Tom DeFalco, who took over writing the title with the next issue, assured him we were not (though Tom has never seen both of us together in the same room).

All four of my stories in these MTUs were the best work I could do at the time. All four of these stories are structurally sound, but are loaded down with overwrought copy, much of which explains to the reader the artwork he is looking at.

Freud wrote: “One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.” I’m not sure I’d want to relive those days of four decades ago when I had no money and fewer prospects, but there was an exhilaration about them, about the daily hustle for work and the satisfaction of being able to live for a month on the pay for a single issue of Marvel Team-Up, when I was sure each tomorrow would be better than today.

TM & © Marvel.

MTU CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: MIKE W. BARR

MTU CREATOR SPOTLIGHT: ELIOT R. BROWN Marvel Team-Up #128 Cover Memories

by Eliot R. Brown

could be this one—after her departure from the “new” offices.

Then she was paid real money; prior, it was all folded into her on-staff duties.

The accompanying pic shows the wall the boys were standing on, which Jack pretended to fall off of in front of Tom. From here, we can see that Jack “fell” onto a simple tar roof. Tom was standing to the rear of Joe and Jack and saw Jack do his wonderful bit of “clawing at the air” acting. Tom let out a yelp of horror that still warms the heart of this assistant editor of his. Tom was envisioning getting interrogated (—again) by the cops for Murder 1 (—again).

Tom really did swear a lot at Jack.

Finally, Joe and Jack met again at a special event hosted by the town of Saugherties to honor legend Joe Sinnott. It may surprise everyone that Joe had time for anything other than inking the some 20–25,000 pages of Marvel comics he did.

Thus he was honored for all the baseball and kid hospital stuff he did. August 18, 2019 was Joe Sinnott Day in Saugherties, New York.

Sure, we all know this sterling example of Marvel’s amazing photo covers (full disclosure: I took this picture; in fact, I took almost all of them). But what we don’t know is all the heartache and struggle it took to stuff Joe Jusko into his Cap suit.

In my online blog about my photo-backed history of Marvel, I cover quite a bit of the struggle to make a photo-cover. There, at eliotrbrown.com, I focus in tightly on all the dithering, obstruction, and so-called creativity that the Team-Up editor, Tom DeFalco, brought to bear on this rare outdoor shoot.

But when my TwoMorrows Eliot R. Brown. comrades-at-comics ask © Jack Morelli. for juicy new, heretofore undisclosed details, I must spill my guts. I got paid $75 for this, not including my cost for the roll of film plus the processing ($18 total, I used a pro film processing house not too far from the 387 Park [Avenue] offices, the late, lamented New York Filmworks—then open 24 hours a day… which is hard to believe nowadays, such was the NYC need for full-service high-tech film processing).

It’s not obvious from my blog/confessional that Jack [Morelli, who posed as Spider-Man] worked on staff and we had to “borrow” him from under everyone’s noses (y’know, sneak him out under some pretense—more of that Editorial creativity). Joe, as a busy, working freelancer, freely gave of his own personal time to (a) come into town (from his painter’s aery loft, Jusko’s Jungle—he did so much Tarzan art even then); (b) ignominiously stuff himself into the aging and careworn Cap costume from Marketing (the last person to wear that suit? None other than Jonathan Frakes—then a rascally, blue-eyed hungry (top) Jack Morelli as actor, picking up a quick c-note for cavorting at comicSpidey and Joe Jusko as shop and supermarket openings in same costume—of Cap on a rooftop in a course, now we know Mr. Frakes best as Commander photo shoot by Eliot R. Riker of the Starship Enterprise during the Star Trek: Brown that ultimately The Next Generation days); and (c) accept a “promise” scored (inset) MTU #128’s to be taken out for food at some undefined point in the photo cover. (middle) The future by Tom as a “thank you” for this act of generosity. heroes unmasked! Joe Jack, of course, would not be taken out to lunch; Tom Jusko and Jack Morelli flex, was always mindful of the “Do Not Feed Or Annoy The in 2021. (bottom) Morelli Animals” sign posted on the Bullpen wall. (center, kneeling) and That Cap shield was hand-painted by Paty Cockrum, Marvel legend Joe Sinnott, legendary she-production person, doyenne, and know2021. it-all, plus married to late, still great, Dave Cockrum.

TM & © Marvel. Photos © Eliot R. Brown.

She made several for Marketing throughout the ’70s.

I also believe that she made at least one more shield—

Chapter 3: Marvel Team-Up

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Title card cel for the Scooby-Doo/Josie team-up installment of the Saturday morning series, The New Scooby-Doo Movies.

Scooby-Doo © Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Josie and the Pussycats © Archie Comics Publications, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

Under other circumstances, one could never imagine a kinship between Saturday morning’s grooviest Great Dane, Scooby-Doo, and primetime’s hippest husband-and-wife pop duo, Sonny and Cher, outside of their respective series’ listings in the same edition of TV Guide. Nor would anyone ever expect cartoons’ coolest coward, Shaggy, to run into 1970s’ TV’s perkiest funny face, Sandy Duncan. But beginning on September 9, 1972, the gang from what ultimately would become Hanna-Barbera Productions’ most popular and enduring franchise starred in its own version of The Brave and the Bold, when The New Scooby-Doo Movies became the second installment in the Scooby saga, following the original Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, which premiered in the fall of 1969. Unlike the original half-hour series, The New Scooby-Doo Movies was one hour in length, explaining its otherwise peculiar “Movies” appellation, and ran on CBS from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Eastern.

I was in my late junior high to early high school years when The New Scooby-Doo Movies was aired, and had mostly aged out of watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. My younger brother, eight years my junior, was the perfect age for the children’s equivalent of television’s primetime. His symbiotic melding with the tube began each Saturday at 8:00 a.m. with H. R. Pufnstuf and continued for the next five hours or so, through The Jackson 5ive, The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, and Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids. Most of those shows would be not be re-broadcast today due to their now-offensive cultural and gender stereotypes or their affiliations with later-disgraced celebrities… and then there are allegations of drug-culture references in, ahem, H. R. Pufnstuf. So, in retrospect, an hour-long “Scooby-Doo Team-Up” cartoon co-starring everyone from Speed Buggy to good ol’ boy Jerry Reed now seems like the sanest, safest thing Saturday morning TV had to offer back then.

It was the utter weirdness of the concept that lured the teenage me away from Saturday morning trombone practice and homework to the couch next to my little brother. Animators Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera were famous (some might say infamous) for their audacious appropriations of classic adult sitcoms (The Honeymooners, Sgt. Bilko, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis) as kid and family vid (The Flintstones, Top Cat, Scooby-Doo).

But you’ve got to give them and their talented writers and animators kudos for the originality of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, a crazy when-worlds-collide concept where classic comedians (some dead, mind you), fellow Hanna-Barbera characters, and television’s most familiar real-world faces could share adventures with a bunch of teenagers and a dog who cruised for mysteries in their van. I freely admit that the primitive comic book I wrote and drew back then, Eury Team-Up, which I described in my introduction, may have borrowed its title from Marvel Team-Up, but it was The New Scooby-Doo Movies that truly inspired me to go for such bizarre combos as Super-Redneck teaming with the animated versions of Laurel and Hardy.

The conceit of The New Scooby-Doo Movies was that the world of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy, and Scooby—rife with no end of haunted houses, movie sets, castles, ghost towns, and islands, as well as evil land developers with a penchant for rubber masks and horror-show theatrics—was not the exclusive domain of the meddling kids of Mystery, Inc. Mama Cass and the Harlem Globetrotters also lived in that world. So did Saturday morning’s Jeannie and Josie and the Pussycats. Batman and Robin, too—and the Joker and Penguin.

While this was a “team-up” show, make no mistake about it, it wasn’t an “equal footing” crossover concept like the DC and Marvel team-ups, or even the film version of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, where Disney and Warner Bros. counterparts’ Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny, and Donald Duck and Daffy Duck, were contractually bound to share the exact amount of screen time, down to the nanosecond. It was a Scooby-Doo show, featuring guest-stars. A typical episode could have substituted its guest-stars with original characters and passed for new installments of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!

CHAPTER 4

Those Meddling Kids and Their Celebrity Team-Ups

Yet the guest-stars weren’t mere walk-ons—they were integral to their respective stories, and portrayed exactly how kids recognized them from their appearances on other Saturday morning cartoons, or from kid-friendly television and movie appearances.

Take, for example, Barney Fife, the bumbling deputy of America’s most beloved small town, Mayberry, from the 1960s classic sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. No, there wasn’t a Scooby-Doo/Barney Fife team-up, at least not billed as such. But it sure seemed like ol’ Barn was the shakiest cop in toonland when guest-star Don Knotts, in uniform, pulled over the gang’s van in “The Spooky Fog of Juneberry.” The gang followed him into the nearby hamlet that was, as the title claimed, engulfed by a mysterious mist. Juneberry was also plagued by a shadowy skeleton, sparking comical eye-pops from cartoon Don, and quivers from TV’s favorite scaredy-cat dog. The combo of Mystery, Inc. and Don Knotts discovered that the fog and skeleton were (spoiler alert!) ruses of a cattle rustler.

And he would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for… oh, you know.

As with team-up comic books, it took a special talent to ensure that the guest-stars maintained their identities without being subsumed by the Scooby universe. The New Scooby Doo Movies succeeded, thanks to its writers, who deftly managed to straddle the worlds of Scooby and the guest-stars. Many of the cartoon’s writers had impressive pedigrees. Norman Maurer was for years the chief visionary for the Three Stooges—not surprisingly, since he was married to Moe Howard’s daughter Joan. Maurer oversaw the Stooges’ film, cartoon, and comic-book enterprises of the 1960s and 1970s, and created Hanna-Barbera’s 1978 The Three Robonic Stooges. Fred Frieberger was the producer of Season Three of the original Star Trek and had TV scriptwriting credits including Ben Casey and The Wild, Wild West.

Harry Winkler had an Emmy® on his mantel from The George Gobel Show. Winkler was also involved with the development of The Flintstones and the groundbreaking sitcom Julia, and had lots of other television credits including The Brady Bunch. Ruth Flippen earned a 1968 Emmy® nomination for an episode of That Girl; she was the screenwriter for several films including Gidget comedies and, post-Scooby-Doo, wrote for soap operas. Jack Mendelson was a creative jack-of-all-trades, known for his comic strip Jacky’s Diary; writing for TV cartoons including Beetle Bailey, The Beatles, and George of the Jungle; and for television comedies including Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In and Three’s Company. And there were more talented folk writing episodes. The New Scooby-Doo Movies was in good hands.

Behind the mic, the original voice actors from Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! reprised their roles. The guest-stars in most cases were not impersonations, as Don Knotts, Jonathan Winters, Phyllis Diller, Davy Jones, Don Adams, Dick Van Dyke, Sonny and Cher, et al. voiced themselves. The stars of television’s The Addams Family—John Astin (Gomez), Carolyn Jones (Morticia), Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester), and Ted Cassidy (Lurch)— reunited for Scooby, while Batman and Robin were portrayed by the voice actors most famous for the roles on animated TV at the time, Olan Soule as the Caped Crusader and Casey Kasem as the Boy Wonder. In the cases of comedians from the previous generation, the elderly Three Stooges Moe, Larry, and Curly Joe were still alive but unable to participate, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were deceased. Bringing them to life in animation were Pat Harrington (Moe), Daws Butler (Larry and Curly Joe), Laurel and Hardy rep Larry Harmon (Laurel), and Jim MacGeorge (Hardy). (Hey, where were Abbott and Costello?)

Season One of The New Scooby-Doo Movies featured 16 episodes: 1. “Ghastly Ghost Town” / guest-star(s): The Three Stooges / original airdate: September 9, 1972 2. “The Dynamic Scooby-Doo Affair” / guest-star(s): Batman and Robin (with the Joker and the Penguin) / original airdate: September 16, 1972 3. “Wednesday is Missing” / guest-star(s): The Addams Family / original airdate: September 23, 1972 4. “The Frickert Fracas” / guest-star(s): Jonathan Winters / original airdate: September 30, 1972 5. “Guess Who’s Knott Coming to Dinner” / guest-star(s): Don Knotts / original airdate: October 7, 1972 6. “A Good Medium is Rare” / guest-star(s): Phyllis Diller / original airdate: October 14, 1972 7. “Sandy Duncan’s Jekyll and Hyde” / guest-star(s): Sandy Duncan / original airdate: October 21, 1972 8. “The Secret of Shark Island” / guest-star(s): Sonny and Cher / original airdate: October 28, 1972 9. “The Spooky Fog of Juneberry” / guest-star(s): Don Knotts / original airdate: November 4, 1972 10. “The Ghost of Bigfoot” / guest-star(s): Laurel and Hardy / original airdate: November 11, 1972 11. “The Ghost of the Red Baron” / guest-star(s): The Three Stooges / original airdate: November 18, 1972

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(top) The beat goes on—into animation!

Hanna-Barbera model sheet for gueststars Sonny and Cher. (middle) Popular Scooby teammates Batman and Robin, in the setup cel for their episode’s title card. (bottom) Cel from “The Ghost of Bigfoot,” the Season One episode teaming Scooby-Doo with Laurel and Hardy. © Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Batman and Robin TM & © DC Comics.

Laurel and Hardy © Larry Harmon Productions. Courtesy of Heritage.

12. “The Ghostly Creep from the Deep” / guest-star(s): The Harlem Globetrotters / original airdate: November 25, 1972 13. “The Haunted Horseman of Hagglethorn Hall” / guest-star(s): Davy Jones / original airdate: December 2, 1972 14. “The Phantom of the Country Music Hall” / guest-star(s): Jerry Reed / original airdate: December 9, 1972 15. “The Caped Crusader Caper” / guest-star(s): Batman and Robin (with the Joker and the Penguin) / original airdate: December 16, 1972 16. “The Loch Ness Mess” / guest-star(s): The Harlem Globetrotters / original airdate: December 23, 1972

Season Two featured eight new episodes: “The Mystery of Haunted Island” / guest-star(s): The Harlem Globetrotters / original airdate: September 8, 1973 2. “The Haunted Showboat” / guest-star(s): Josie and the Pussycats / original airdate: September 15, 1973 3. “Mystery in Persia” / guest-star(s): Jeannie (H-B cartoon loosely based upon I Dream of Jeannie) / original airdate: September 22, 1973 4. “The Spirit-Spooked Sports Show” / guest-star(s): Tim Conway / original airdate: September 29, 1973 5. “The Exterminator” / guest-star(s): Don Adams / original airdate: October 6, 1973 6. “The Weird Winds of Winona” / guest-star(s): Speedy Buggy / original airdate: October 13, 1973 7. “The Haunted Candy Factory” / guest-star(s): Mama Cass Elliott / original airdate: October 20, 1973 8. “The Haunted Carnival” / guest-star(s): Dick Van Dyke / original airdate: October 27, 1973 1.

It’s unfortunate that more episodes of this series weren’t produced, and that Hanna-Barbera didn’t stretch beyond the Harlem Globetrotters, whom they had developed into a popular Saturday morning cartoon (and singing group, thanks to record producer Don Kirschner), for more guest-stars of color. Comedian Flip Wilson would have been a riot—just imagine an animated Flip explaining a “demon’s” actions to an incredulous Velma by explaining, “The devil made him do it!” Heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali was emerging from his public fall from grace at this time (and a few years away from a highly publicized comic-book fight with Superman, which is explored elsewhere in this volume) and would have been a fun guest-star, although Standards and Practices certainly wouldn’t allow him to punch any bad guy disguised as a monster, no matter how much they might have deserved it. How about a haunted baseball stadium episode where ghosts tried to intimidate Hank Aaron from chasing down Babe Ruth’s home run record?

The fabulous Fifth Dimension could have been counted among kid-friendly music acts like Davy Jones and Mama Cass to score a guest spot. Hanna-Barbera’s own The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan, a sleuthing, singing Asian-American family, would have easily lent itself to a Scooby-Doo team-up.

Other missed opportunities for The New Scooby-Doo Movies guest-stars included 1970s celebs Charo, Jim Nabors, Glen Campbell, and another of H-B’s many clones of its own Scooby-Doo, Goober and the Ghost Chasers (although it aired on a rival network, which would have probably made it ineligible). And since I’m playing “fantasy team-ups” here, a Hawaii-set adventure featuring Hawaii Five-0’s Steve McGarrett would have provided the writers with an exotic location and imagery for haunting—a hula dance, terrifying Easter Island–sized tikis—and can’t you just hear Jack Lord’s McGarrett ending the episode with a “Book ’em, Scoob-o” command? (“Right, Reve!”)

After the first two seasons of The New Scooby-Doo Movies, its 24 episodes stuck around in reruns for another two seasons on CBS Saturday mornings and eventually made it into the syndication

Cartoonist and animator Jack Manning produced this 1973 magazine illustration promoting the cartoon’s second season, showing Scoob and guest-stars Mama Cass, Don Adams, and Dick Van Dyke. © Hanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. Courtesy of Heritage.

circuit. The Scooby-Doo/Batman episodes were a staple on VHS, and later on DVD. In 2019, the entire series—except for the Addams Family episode, disallowed due to rights issues—was released on DVD and Blu-ray.

But in the meantime, Scooby-Doo had grown into a multimedia juggernaut, with incarnation after incarnation in animation, as well as live-action films and videogames. The world of comic books has provided a home for Mystery, Inc. during much of Scooby’s history, with DC Comics, part of the Warner Bros. empire that also owns the Hanna-Barbera properties, publishing Scooby-Doo comics since 1997. DC resurrected the spirit of The New Scooby-Doo Movies with the much more aptly titled Scooby-Doo Team-Up comic book, which ran for an impressive 50 issues from 2014–2019. Scooby-Doo Team-Up enlisted guest-stars from both the DC Universe (including the Teen Titans, the Flash, Harley Quinn, Plastic Man, the Doom Patrol, and, of course, Batman) and the world of Hanna-Barbera (Jonny Quest, Secret Squirrel, Frankenstein, Jr., the Flintstones, etc.).

It was followed in 2021 by a reboot titled The Batman & Scooby-Doo Mysteries. The only thing missing from the DC Scooby-Doo team-up comic books was real-world celebrities… …who could be found on an animated spinoff that premiered in 2019 and is, at this writing, still appearing on the Boomerang network, sporting the brilliant title Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? Episodes of that series have featured Scooby and the gang hobnobbing with the likes of the Funky Phantom, comedienne Wanda Sykes, Wonder Woman, magicians Penn and Teller, singer Halsey, Mark Hamill, and Scooby’s bravest and boldest co-star, Batman, placing Scooby-Doo in the top five Silver and Bronze Age era’s most durable and versatile team-up stars, alongside Batman, Spider-Man, Superman, and the Thing. Looks like somebody deserves a Scooby snack!

Chapter 4: The New Scooby-Doo Movies

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Marvel Two-in-One #1 (Jan. 1974) was actually the third issue of the new Thing team-up series. Cover by Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr. TM & © Marvel.

Face it—the first time you discovered The Fantastic Four, right off the bat you knew the Thing was the main attraction. Part monster, part Muppet, the anything-but-bashful Benjamin J. Grimm has always been the series’ can’t-take-your-eyes-off-him star.

The first time anyone saw the FF—issue #1 (Nov. 1961) of their title, Marvel Comics’ attempt to parrot the recent success of DC Comics’ hot, new Justice League of America by introducing a superteam all its own—the lumbering, lumpy Thing appeared on the lower left corner of the cover, where the Western eye starts its left-to-right scan when reading. Sure, the big orange walking pile of rocks’ mile-wide shoulders demanded more real estate than his teammates’, but it was as if when laying out this cover the FF’s co-creator, the prickly but lovable, cigar-chomping Jack Kirby, instinctively recognized that this prickly but lovable, cigar-chomping monster-hero was the character readers really wanted to see, no matter how flashy the airborne Human Torch’s plume of fire looked. The FF’s other co-creator, Stan “The Man” Lee, said it himself in a Fantastic Four Roundtable conducted by Peter Sanderson in Back Issue #7 (Dec. 2004): “To me, they were all equally important. But I always felt the Thing was the most colorful and the most appealing.”

The Rocky Road to Stardom

But it was Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, who was the first member of the FF to become a solo act.

The eyes of Mighty Marvel’s publisher, Martin Goodman, were distracted by the Torch’s flickering flame. Goodman’s long tenure at Marvel dated back to the Golden Age, when a different Human Torch, a combustible android with a blazing sidekick named Toro, was a Marvel headliner. The Human Torch was published throughout the 1940s, with a short-lived 1954 revival following. In an attempt to reignite that past success, it was decreed that the solo adventures of the new Human Torch oust Strange Tales’ monster-of-the-month formula, beginning with issue #101 (Oct. 1962).

Fantastic Four’s creative team of Lee and Kirby were on hand for the Torch’s earliest solo stories, with Lee’s brother Larry Lieber dialoguing Stan’s plots. The series borrowed FF bad guys like the Wizard while creating new, rather lame villains for the Torch, including Asbestos Man (insert your own mesothelioma TV lawsuit gag here). Later issues would feature the contributions of artist Dick Ayers and scripter Jerry Siegel (the latter escaping the vengeful eye of his bullying boss, Superman editor Mort Weisinger, by moonlighting under the pseudonym Joe Carter). There was no shortage of gueststars in the Torch’s tales, including Sub-Mariner (a “rematch” of sorts of the classic original Torch vs.

Subby scuffles from the Golden Age), Captain America (another Golden Age oldie revisited), and an inevitable elemental pairing with Iceman. For fans of Millie the Model and Archie comic books, the Torch’s solo series included no end of teenage romance and lightheartedness, with Johnny’s pert and pretty gal-pal Dorrie Evans involved in subplots. But the Human Torch’s solo series seemed to, excuse the pun, misfire. The frequent drop-ins by guest-stars and Johnny’s FF family showed that the Torch really couldn’t fly on his own. It was like comedian Bud Abbott doing the “Who’s on First?” routine as a solo act. The Torch needed a Lou Costello.

And he had one, each and every month in the pages of The Fantastic Four… the Thing. The Thing was one of those guest heroes parading through the Torch tales, clobbering his way into Strange Tales #116 (Nov. 1963), and with issue #123 the magazine’s Torch feature now co-starred the Thing. Yet the damage from those earlier lackluster Torch adventures had been done. Even a cover-clamored cameo by the Beatles in issue #130 (Mar. 1965)—showing the Torch and the Thing

CHAPTER 5

The Thing Goes ‘Solo’… with a Little Help from His Friends

#14, Medusa in #15, the World War I flying ace Phantom in Beatles wigs!—couldn’t save the strip, and Eagle in #16, Black Knight in #17, the premiere of the Strange Tales #134 (Aug. 1965) featured original Guardians of the Galaxy in #18, Ka-Zar in the final Torch/Thing story. The boys #19, and FF foe Doctor Doom in #20. These new were sent packing back to FF, replaced adventures were backed up by Marvel reprints, in Strange Tales #135 by a new serial and beginning with issue #21, MSH shifted to an capitalizing on the spy craze that was all-reprint format. Most of MSH’s eclectic array sweeping the world: Nick Fury, Agent of tryouts sparked graduations into regular of S.H.I.E.L.D. series, although Mar-Vell’s was the only Meanwhile, Marvel was noticing what immediate continuation, MSH #13 being followed Kirby teased on his epic FF #1 cover: Audiences two months later by Captain Marvel #1. Medusa related to the Thing. A Thing vs. Hulk smackwould be seen in a new Inhumans feature beginning down—the latest in an ongoing rivalry—dominated with Amazing Adventures #1 (Aug. 1970), a split book FF #25 (Apr. 1964). In 1965, the Thing was the focal point that also featured Black Widow, and would soon fill of a three-issue story arc commencing with issue #41’s Sue Richards’ spot as a member of the Fantastic “The Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grimm.”

Four. Ka-Zar and Doctor Doom both appeared in Fantastic Four #51 (June 1966) was home to a the split book Astonishing Tales beginning with #1 poignant Thing story that many fans consider to (also Aug. 1970). The Guardians’ series debut did be the all-time best FF tale: “The Man… This not occur until Marvel Presents: The Guardians Monster!” of the Galaxy #3 (Feb. 1976), but along the way The Thing continued to be the “face” of the they would receive a little help from the Thing, Fantastic Four. In the mid-1960s, as Marvelmania as you’ll read shortly. expanded beyond the four-color page into other An aggressive expansion of the Marvel line media, the Thing was there. Bashful Benjy in the early 1970s in a war with DC for newsappeared with the FF in Lancer paperback stand shelf space led to the creation of a handful of reprints, jigsaw puzzles, and a Big Little Book, tryout titles, as well as the aforementioned new and took the solo spotlight in a Ben Cooper split books. “Stan [Lee] wanted to do a bunch of Halloween costume, a Marx bicycle license plate, them: Marvel Premiere, Marvel Feature, Marvel a Topps Marvel Flyer, and a rubber figurine sold Spotlight,” Roy Thomas told Dewey Cassell in in gumball machines. Paul Frees gave him a gruff Back Issue #71 (Apr. 2014). “They were all his voice in the Hanna-Barbera–produced Fantastic ideas, all his titles.” Of the trio, Marvel Feature Four cartoons that premiered on Saturday is our focus here, as it would eventually become mornings in the fall of 1967. For the next few the home, albeit short-lived, for Thing team-ups. years it was clear that the Thing was the most The Defenders—the “non-team” of misfit Marvel popular member of the Fantastic Four, and by heroes Hulk, Sub-Mariner, and Doctor Strange— the early 1970s, when Marvel had ventured appeared in Marvel Feature #1–3 in 1971–1972 into the genre of team-up comics with the then spun off into the long-running Defenders title.

Spider-Man–starring hit Marvel Team-Up, it was Following in Marvel Feature #4 was Hank Pym, the decided that it was finally time to give the Thing Astonishing Ant-Man, who stood tall as a solo star his own feature, a team-up book of his own. from 1972–1973 through issue #10, a run that is mostly “It probably won’t surprise anybody much when I TM & © Marvel. remembered for its Herb Trimpe artwork. And then, beginning with say that launching a team-up title starring the ever-lovin’, Marvel Feature #11 (Sept. 1973), the so-called idol of millions, the blue-eyed Thing was the brainchild of Marvel publisher Stan Lee,” Thing, was tagged to become the book’s star. “At last in his own former editor-in-chief Roy Thomas wrote in his 2013 introduction smash series” touted an arrow-shaped cover blurb pointing to the to Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Two-in-One vol. 1. But Thomas Thing’s spiffy, brick-textured logo. confessed his hesitancy to the idea—from “pure selfishness,” a The problem for Bashful Benjy was, that cover blurb was hype. territorial stake in the character since he had hoped to one day True, this was now the Thing’s series, but not exactly his “own.” return to Fantastic Four as its scribe. Roy kept that to himself, With issue #11, Marvel Feature aped not DC’s Showcase, but its but did argue with Stan that he “felt the Thing functioned best as a The Brave and the Bold, by becoming a team-up title anchored by a member of the Fantastic Four. popular headliner—the Thing—joined each issue by a different, and “But Stan was not to be dissuaded.” And Roy Thomas had a new often unlikely, co-star. editorial assignment.

Marvel Team-Up, which had launched in late 1971, starred Marvel’s most popular character, Spider-Man, the web-slinging, Big Orange Creature in Marvel Feature quick-quipping Average Joe. But in Spidey’s most offbeat MTUs, The tryout format was a staple at rival DC Comics—its Showcase when his friendly neighborhood sensibilities were violated by the series launched the successful Silver Age revivals of revamped intrusion of monsters, sorcerers, or extraterrestrials, he seemed, to versions of Golden Age heroes including the Flash and Green borrow the tagline from one of his teammates, Howard the Duck, Lantern, and introduced newer characters such as the Challengers of “trapped in a world he never made.” Spider-Man uncomfortably but the Unknown and the Metal Men. heroically stood up to all manner of menaces because of his Day In late 1967, Marvel made its first attempt at a tryout series with One Dictum: “With great power comes great responsibility.” the giant-sized title Marvel Super-Heroes (MSH), a retitling of the The Thing, on the other hand, possessed the likability of former Fantasy Masterpieces reprint book. MSH #12 (Dec. 1967) Spidey, but was, appearances to the contrary, a more adaptable premiered Captain Marvel in the company’s copyright grab of the character for a team-up mag. Space stories? Ben Grimm was an character’s name, and the Kree warrior Mar-Vell became the first astronaut, for cryin’ out loud, whose vise-grip hands steered of several characters to wear that moniker. After a second Captain civilian Reed Richards’ experimental spacecraft into the cosmos— Marvel appearance in #13, MSH featured one-time-only headliners and cosmic radiation—before Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos were in all-new stories: Spider-Man (see the Marvel Team-Up chapter) in

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even born. Streetwise stories? Ben grew up on the rough-andtumble Yancy Street, and scrapped with gangs and other troublemakers during his youth. Sci-fi stories? Thing, like his fellow FFers, was a challenger of the unknown, exploring microverses and negative zones. Scary stories? Have you taken a good look at the Thing? His gruesome puss is a mug only his Aunt Petunia, or a blind sculptress, could love. While some of Spidey’s Marvel Team-Up partners were shoehorned into a one-issue alliance for exposure, the Thing was at home hobnobbing with everyone from super-scientists to golems, from cybernetic terminators to thunder gods. No matter his teammate or wherever their adventure might take him, one thing would never change: Ben’s personality.

Thanks to the genius of Lee and Kirby, the Thing’s response to menaces from the heavens, hell, or high waters was always the same: “It’s clobberin’ time!”

Marvel Two-in-One #0.1 and 0.2

Still, it was the Thing’s star power that made this new team-up series possible. And what better co-star for his “first issue” than his frequent sparring partner, the Incredible Hulk?

Marvel Feature #11 (Sept. 1973)—which you might regard as Marvel Two-in-One #0.1—was a summer release, going on sale June 19, 1973. “Cry: Monster!” was its story title, and it opened with its hot-tempered headliner rampaging through the Fantastic Four’s headquarters, the Baxter Building, trashing a contraption his egghead buddy Reed Richards had built to revert Thing to his human form as Ben Grimm. FF teammates Reed and Johnny were stymied by Ben’s actions, to which the Thing replied, “Maybe I like being a big orange freak! Or maybe I just couldn’t stand the thought of another failure!”—a perfect introduction to the character in a move that suggested Marvel Feature was indeed Thing’s “own smash series” after all. Thing’s pity party, catered for the reader by scribe Len Wein, a master of superhero drama and dialogue, included a flashback to his (and the FF’s) origin.

Kurrgo, “the Master of Planet X,” an alien with a butter-hued complexion and the disposition of a boiling kettle, witnessed via remote spy video the Thing’s temper tantrum. Editor Roy Thomas’ footnote caption awarded a “geriatric No-Prize” to any reader who recalled this early rogue whose sole previous appearance dated back to Fantastic Four #7 (Oct. 1962), in the early days of FF when Lee and Kirby were still transitioning from old habits picked up during their years of creating sci-fi and monster comics. Kurrgo, in competition with the avocado-hued, big-brained Hulk foe the Leader, teleported the story’s co-stars to a ghost town in the Western U.S. for a knock-down, drag-out fight.

Like a seasoned chess master, Wein deftly arranged these players for a showdown in the Mighty Marvel manner, but it was penciler Jim Starlin who made this first issue truly special. A U.S. Navy and Vietnam War vet and graduate from a stint as a Marvel Bullpen artist, Starlin had only been producing comics for roughly a year at this time but had essentially detonated onto the scene, most notably with a few issues of Iron Man that had led to his fanJim Starlin. favorite revamping of Captain Marvel.

His early output would earn him the “Outstanding New Talent” Shazam Award for 1973, a tie with fellow newcomer Walter Simonson. “Besides drawing Ben Grimm with the right combination of drama and humor,” Roy Thomas wrote in his Masterworks intro of his choice of Starlin, “I knew Jim

would be able to handle virtually any of the Marvel heroes that Len called on him to draw.”

Starlin’s staging of the Thing vs.

Hulk battle was nothing short of superb, with Wein’s punchy dialogue providing its pulse. Editor Thomas tapped stalwart FF inker Joe Sinnott to embellish the new book (“Talk about stacking the deck!” Roy wrote in Masterworks), seasoning Starlin’s pencils with a Marvel flavor that some appreciated and others disliked. Nonetheless, the results were a powerful premiere for the new Thing team-up book. “…I gave him really light breakdowns, and he did what he wanted on them,” Starlin said in an interview in Comic Book Artist #1 of Sinnott’s

Joe Sinnott.

Big-Screen Monster Mash-Up

Readers of Marvel Feature #11 weren’t the only fans to “Cry: Monster!”: at the box office in 1973, it was clobberin’ time for Godzilla, the King of Monsters, and his super-sized sparring partner, Megalon. © Toho Co., Ltd. Courtesy of Heritage.

Chapter 5: Marvel Two -in-One

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Starlin had just introduced Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu, in finishes. “He was inking Fantastic Four over [John] Buscema at the Special Marvel Edition #15, and on the heels of Marvel Two-intime, so it looked like the FF, which is what they wanted.”

One’s launch the Punisher debuted in Amazing Spider-Man #129 Jim Starlin was back (with Sinnott as inker) in Marvel Feature and Luke Cage’s Hero for Hire book was rebranded Power Man. #12 (Nov. 1973)—or Marvel Two-in-One #0.2—which teamed the It was an exciting period for the House of Ideas.

Thing with Iron Man. The issue was a continuation of Iron Man #55 Despite technically being the third Thing team-up, tonally MTIO (Feb. 1973), the landmark issue that introduced the mad god Thanos #1 felt fresh due to the arrival of its new, permanent (as “permanent” and his bitter enemy Drax the Destroyer. as anything could be in the volatile world of deadlines and artistic Issue #12 was written by Starlin’s roommate, Mike Friedrich, a temperaments) scribe, Steve Gerber, “whom I’d known since he was fan-turned-pro who several years earlier had graduated to the major in junior high school back in our mutual home state of Missouri,” leagues and was writing for both Marvel and DC; Friedrich would Roy Thomas penned in his MTIO Masterworks introduction. soon become a pioneer in creator-owned and independent comics Gerber, like his Thing team-up predecessor Jim with his legendary Star*Reach title. “We were sharing an apartment Starlin, didn’t merely arrive at Marvel, he burst out in Staten Island at the onto the scene. His first Marvel credits appeared time,” Starlin told Peter in August 1972, as he took over the Man-Thing Sanderson in Back feature with Fear #11 and co-wrote the new Shanna Issue #9 (Apr. 2005), the She-Devil title with its first issue. Before and Friedrich, who you knew it, his byline was everywhere: was spreading himself with stints of varying lengths, Gerber thin scripting several was soon writing Iron Man, titles including Iron Man, Sub-Mariner, and Dareasked his roomie for devil, and the Living help. “I got these Mummy in Supernatural characters,” Starlin Thrillers, plus humor pitched to Friedrich, stories in Spoof and and soon the Thanos horror stories for saga—which would Marvel’s black-andultimately evolve into white magazines major Marvel Comics storyincluding Tales of the lines as well as the lifeblood of the Zombie. He was fluent Marvel Studios movie franchise— in different genres, but began, jumping from Iron Man to also relished blurring Captain Marvel. Its continuation the lines between in this second Thing team-up them, with such suggests that penciler Starlin outlandish ideas as played an uncredited role introducing into the in the story’s plotting.

Man-Thing saga a wizard, “I’m not an evil person, a barbarian, and a talking myself,” Starlin assured duck! Re the latter, Gerber Sanderson of his passion for had just introduced Howard Thanos. “I enjoy [Thanos’] the Duck into Fear #19’s evilness. I enjoy writing evil.”

Man-Thing tale when he took In issue #12, while the Thing over the Thing team-ups, and with the lumbered through the desert after concurrent first-issue releases of his his Hulk battle in the previous Joe Sinnott’s inks FF-ized Jim Starlin’s MTIO #1 and Man-Thing #1, Steve issue, Iron Man blazed by, headed pencils. From Marvel Feature #11.

“Baby” Gerber was one of Marvel’s to the site of his earlier encounter TM & © Marvel. hottest new stars. with Thanos. Wielding the infinitely The conceit of MTIO #1’s “Vengeance of the powerful Cosmic Cube, Thanos Molecule Man!” was Ben Grimm’s. His ego. Left dispatched his minions, the twin behind in the desert after his previous tussles in Marvel Feature juggernauts called the Blood Brothers, to stop the Armored Avenger’s #11 and 12, Ben spotted a newspaper article about sightings of the meddling. The hapless Thing found himself embroiled in a cosmic “Man-Thing” in the Florida Everglades, and growled this gruff conflict in the battle-heavy issue. protestation: “Like it ain’t bad enuff just bein’ the Thing—! This bug-eyed mudball’s gotta come along an’ rip off my name!” So A Big Baby Moves In the Thing bought a bus ticket to Florida and headed to a Thing vs.

“Don’t ask us why—’cause honestly, we don’t know—but for some Man-Thing showdown, with Gerber working into the mix an old reason, we were required to change the title and begin the numbering FF villain, the Molecule Man (actually, the son of the original). anew,” explained editor Roy Thomas in the “Ever-Lovin’ Blue-Eyed With dynamic art by Gil Kane, replacing Starlin, and the returning Letters Page” of Marvel Two-in-One (MTIO) #1 (Jan. 1974), Joe Sinnott providing Mighty Marvel consistency, MTIO #1 was a published like clockwork two months after the release of Marvel great “relaunch.”

Feature #12, MF’s final issue.

Issue #1’s letters page, containing fan mail about the Thing/Hulk The “some reason” was a continuing expansion of Marvel’s line. story in Marvel Feature #11, also included reader suggestions for MTIO #1 premiered on October 9, 1973—the same day Man-Thing future Thing co-stars, a staple in almost any team-up book’s lettercol. #1 was released, with its muck-monster graduating into his titular Among the team-ups requested: the Thing and the Silver Surfer, series after headlining Fear (a.k.a. Adventure into Fear) for a while.

Sub-Mariner, Hawkeye, Vision, Captain Marvel, Valkyrie, Daredevil, Similarly, two weeks earlier, Ka-Zar had graduated from the split Brother Voodoo, Son of Satan, Doctor Strange, Luke Cage, Thor, book Astonishing Tales into the first issue of his own series. Jim

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Preposition or Proposition?

If you consider Giant-Size Man-Thing to be Marvel’s most unintentionally suggestive series title, you’ve got another thing coming.

In the trade dress topping MTIO #1’s cover, the comic’s title was listed as… “Marvel Two-on-One.” (And you thought Ben Grimm was “bashful”…)

Was this an unfortunate typo or some 11th hour gag snuck in by a Bullpen prankster? When contacted in January 2022 about this goof, its editor, Roy Thomas, had no recollection of the matter. Nine years after its publication, the “Two-onOne” error had earned a spot in Marvel’s hall of infamy, as it was included in editor Larry Hama’s grab-bag of goofs, the one-shot The Marvel No-Prize Book #1 (Jan. 1983).

Whatever its origin, the cover copy was corrected to “Marvel Two-in-One” with the second issue.

TM & © Marvel.

Black Panther, the Cat, Shanna, and Warlock, the latter with a “but handle it carefully” disclaimer. Most of those team-ups would materialize over the series’ 100-issue run.

One reader penned an incisive letter about the potential of a Thing team-up book, imploring, “Another innovation I hope we’ll see in MARVEL FEATURE is some kind of continuing sub-plot. I realize that most of the Thing’s character developments are rightfully the domain of the FANTASTIC FOUR mag, but, still… something?”

To that end, that fan couldn’t have hoped for a better new writer for the Thing team-ups than Steve Gerber.

Gerber’s Marvel books were a microcosm, a “Gerberverse,” if you will, within the larger Marvel Universe. The characters populating his corner of the Marvel firmament would cross over between his titles, and sometimes a subplot started in one book would continue in another. Case in point: In Marvel Two-in-One #2 (Mar. 1974), Gerber teamed the Thing with the star of another book he was Steve Gerber. writing, Sub-Mariner, with the Kane/ Courtesy of Alan Light.

Sinnott art team back again.

Yet it was a guest-star in issue #2 that would initiate MTIO’s first subplot (discounting the desert locale that connected the two MF tales and bridged into MTIO #1). Wundarr, the long-haired, red-and-blue-clad man of steel introduced by Gerber in the Man-Thing story Fear #17 (Oct. 1973), fell—literally—into MTIO #2 in its opening panels, plunging terrified from the skies, unable to control his superpowers. He splashed into the ocean depths within eyeshot of Hydrobase, the “floating fortress” of Sub-Mariner’s Atlantean allies. In a scene humorously lifted from an old Johnny Weismuller Tarzan movie, Wundarr was rescued by Subby’s curvaceous cousin, Namorita. She attempted to communicate with the befuddled he-man who had yet to learn how to speak. “Nay-yum?” he replied to Namorita’s identification request. “Nita,” she introduced herself, which Wundarr aped, “Nee-tah!”

Gerber recapped Wundarr’s backstory through the recollections of two aliens, observing from Earth’s orbit, who hailed from the

The Thing clobbers Superm—um, Wundarr, in their first encounter in MTIO #2 (Mar. 1974).

TM & © Marvel.

Chapter 5: Marvel Two -in-One

105

Bashful, Blue-Eyed Babysitter

At the end of MTIO #2, the Thing became the reluctant caretaker for the man-child Wundarr. And Wundarr’s creator became the caretaker of controversy.

In the lettercol “Mail-Things!” in Man-Thing #1, Nancy A. Collins, who would go on to become a popular novelist and comics scribe (including, coincidentally, a run on DC’s Swamp Thing), remarked, “I love you to pieces! Wundarr was a masterpiece!”

Another reader commented, “The ‘Superman’ rip-off was so obvious I almost fell out of my chair,” while yet another penned, “It was hardly an original plot. You know what it was taken from.

We all know. But you made it beautiful.” Editor Roy Thomas responded, “As expected, the introduction of Wundarr in FEAR #17 stirred up a storm—nay, hurricane!—of controversy.” Thomas added that “Only a very few Marvelites, apparently [whose letters were excerpted above], picked up on what we were really trying to do. Briefly stated, Steve’s aim with the story was to introduce a wholly original character—a total innocent, a psychological babe-in-arms who just happened to be powerful enough to rip cities apart—while at the same time satirizing one of the competition’s more colorful characters.”

“What I had intended as parody, DC saw as plagiarism,” Gerber himself said in The Krypton Companion of DC Comics’ reaction to Wundarr. Stan Lee was apparently caught in the crossfire and was incensed over the Wundarr matter. “I’m sure Roy [Thomas] must have conveyed to me Stan’s displeasure with the incident,” Gerber said. “Under the circumstances, of course, Stan had every right to be displeased. I’m still amazed, though, that DC took it so seriously.”

Roy Thomas elaborated in his 2013 Marvel Masterworks introduction: “Wundarr, the superhero-from-another-planet who earlier appeared in a Gerber Man-Thing story had led to an angry letter from DC Comics and an even angrier Stan Lee, who’d come with an ace of firing Steve—and who’d had some understandably unkind words for me, as well, for not watching him more closely.”

“From what I was told, there were angry words exchanged, but it never got anywhere near a courtroom,” Gerber recalled. “Marvel agreed to do another Wundarr story that would set him drastically apart from Superman—which is what I had always intended—and that was that.”

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Marvel Two-in-One #3 (May 1974) began with Thing’s FF teammate Reed Richards cobbling together “a new costume for Wundarr—to contain his explosive power.” This navy and “silver” ensemble, with a 1970s open-chest shirt that Welsh crooner Tom Jones would covet, also restrained the “explosive power” of Wundarr’s original Superman-like clothing. The Thing as Wundarr’s babysitter would provide some levity to this issue and the next, but ultimately it would be other writers that would diverge Wundarr’s trajectory from that of Superman’s, as will be revealed shortly.

Daredevil was the Thing’s teammate in issue #3, with DD’s partner from his own series, Black Widow, added for good measure, in a continuation of a Gerber-scripted Daredevil storyline involving the crime cult the Black Spectre and the villainous Mandrill. This story ended on a cliffhanger, feeding directly into Daredevil #110. While this type of cross-series crossover connected the broader Marvel continuity and encouraged sales of Daredevil, the end result was dissatisfying, as the general reader lured to MTIO #3 by the Thing but unable or unwilling to purchase DD #110 was cheated out of a resolution.

Marvel Two-in-One #3 featured the pencil art of Sal Buscema, the first of several issues of the series he would illustrate. Buscema was a reliable draftsman who could render any character thrown his way by a writer’s imagination, making him the perfect artist for a team-up book. Editor-in-chief Roy Thomas felt that way, too, as Sal was simultaneously drawing Marvel Team-Up during this period.

Joe Sinnott once again provided inks and some semblance of artistic stability in a comic that changed some member of its creative personnel each issue.

Another Marvel stalwart, Frank Giacoia, inked Buscema on MTIO #4, a Thing/Captain America team-up. Wundarr was on hand at the beginning of the tale, taken to the zoo by a grumpy Ben Grimm, called “Unca Ben-Jee” by the developing superhuman. “Ta think—me, the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed idol o’ millions—stuck playin’ nursemaid to a teenage infant from outer space!” groused Grimm.

Gerber must have felt the Thing’s pain, because he shied away from Wundarr after this issue’s opening scene, whisking the reader into a time-travel tale with Ben and Captain America attempting to liberate Earth of the future from the dominance of the grotesque lizard-men, the Brotherhood of Badoon. Issue #5, by Gerber, Buscema, and durable inker Mike Esposito, continued #4’s tale but reintroduced the Guardians of the Galaxy in a battle to free future Earth. (Gerber, Marvel’s master of overlapping plot lines, continued the Guardians’ saga in Giant-Size Defenders #5 and The Defenders #26–29 before launching the new Guardians feature in the pages of Marvel Presents #3.)

Another Gerber-scripted connect-the-dots continuation appeared in Marvel Two-in-One #6 (Nov. 1974) and 7, co-starring Doctor Strange and the Valkyrie, respectively. The story involved an extraordinary “Celestia” harmonica whose music had supernatural properties, with the Enchantress and other magical menaces being involved. MTIO #7 was continued in the pages of The Defenders #20 (Feb. 1975), the first Defenders issue written by Gerber.

Editorial changes were afoot that month, as Roy Thomas resigned from the editor’s position at Marvel to focus on writing, and Len Wein took over as editor-in-chief, turning over Defenders, a book he was writing, to Gerber.

TM & © Marvel.

strongman’s home world of Dakkam. Wundarr was the offspring of Dakkam astronomer Hektu and his wife Soja. Hektu predicted that his world’s sun was about to go super-nova, ending life on Dakkam.

He and Soja rocketed their infant son to planet Earth, to escape his planet’s destruction and begin a new life.

Sound familiar?

Gerber was cribbing from Superman lore, just for fun. Only things didn’t go quite as Hektu had predicted at this point in the origin story.

“Wundarr’s home planet never exploded,” Gerber told me in early 2006 in an interview conducted for The Krypton Companion.

“His father was the alarmist the Krypton elders supposed Jor-El to be.” Another detour from the Superman mythos was that Gerber’s surrogate “Kents” were too fearful to investigate Wundarr’s spaceship as it landed, leading the infant to spend his first 22 years inside the confinement of his rocket, with no interaction with others, until the Man-Thing happened across the ship in Fear #17.

Wundarr was inspired, in Gerber’s own words, by the writer’s “love of the Superman character and my desire to do a little parody/ homage.” Wundarr’s innocence and immaturity in essence made Gerber’s character a takeoff of Superbaby, but in “Superman’s” body. The frightened, yet powerful Wundarr ran amok through Manhattan in MTIO #2, leading to the Thing mixing it up with him, which then invited a protective Sub-Mariner into the fray to stop the Thing—a punches-flying “team-up” in the Mighty Marvel Manner (with lots of collateral damage to show for it)!

Gerber teamed the Ghost Rider—Johnny Blaze—with the Thing in MTIO #8 (Mar. 1975) a yuletide tale riffing off of the Christian Christmas story and the Bethlehem birth of Jesus.

Wundarr made a brief appearance at a Fantastic Four Christmas party, playing on the floor with toddler (and intellectual peer) Franklin Richards. Unlike Steve’s previous MTIOs, this was a self-contained story unconnected to the writer’s other works—“what the Brits call a ‘one-off,” wrote Roy Thomas in Masterworks. “[A]nd maybe, amid all the continued stories bouncing back and forth between titles, it was time for that.”

Teaming Up for Fitness

Claremont Steps In, Gerber Steps Away

Issue #9’s lettercol included this announcement: “let’s hear it for Chris Claremont, our fill-in scripter on this issue! Chris volunteered (with a big, big grin) to handle the writing chores on this issue and next of MT-I-O in order to give Steve G. a chance to duck the Dreaded Deadline Doom on DEFENDERS and MAN-THING, and we think he’s done a masterful job. Agree?”

Gerber was indeed buckling under deadline pressures.

Previously, his other books were assigned to different writers.

His popular Defenders and In 1969, actors (and a dog!) portraying young heroes from DC Comics and Man-Thing monthly titles now folklore appeared in this public-service ad touting the President’s All America had quarterly Giant-Size editions requiring more of the writer’s Physical Fitness program. attention, and in the latter he was Robin, Superboy, Supergirl, and Krypto TM & © DC Comics. transitioning its breakout star, Howard the Duck, into a backup series in Giant-Size Man-Thing writing. Part of that was doing whatever fill-ins came available, that would soon give way to a Howard the Duck series… and a mainly because I was there and the issues were usually on killer corporate battle for character ownership that would brand Gerber a deadline. Remember, there was no fax or email back then, which troublemaker in the eyes of company men. Gerber’s sharp wit had meant that actual physical proximity was a significant asset. I could also landed him the editorship of Marvel’s MAD knockoff, Crazy take home the pages on Friday and turn in the finished script magazine, which he began editing—and writing for—in early 1975.

Monday morning.” When Gerber slipped behind on MTIO #9, Complicating the scribe’s life was a sleep disorder. Something had Claremont was eager to take on the script, which had been hastily to give, and at the time, it was Marvel Two-in-One. penciled by Herb Trimpe, for a quick turnaround. “The fun was Gerber plotted the Thing/Thor team-up in MTIO #9 (May 1975), having a chance to work off Herb’s pencils and play with not only which featured the machinations of the Puppet Master (drawn to the FF but also Thor,” Claremont recalled. DC mainstay Joe Giella look like a life-sized Howdy Doody, the famed marionette TV star inked Trimpe in a rare Marvel assignment. of 1950s kid-vid); the birth of the villain Radion, the Atomic Man; At the time, editor Wein still considered MTIO to be Gerber’s, and appearances by the entire Fantastic Four as well as Steve’s and for the book’s resident big baby, Wundarr, to be a supporting MTIO supporting players Wundarr, Namorita, and Nita’s gal pal player. “Wundarr plays a major role this time around and he’ll be Ann Christopher. With so many characters crammed into a single popping up more frequently again in the future,” Len promised in story, a fill-in scripter would have to be nuts to take over the issue. #9’s lettercol.

Or hungry.

That wasn’t to be. Marvel Two-in-One #10 (July 1975) featured “I was working as associate editor in those days,” Chris Claremont a Thing/Black Widow team-up solo-scripted by Chris Claremont. recounted to Jamie Ewbank in Back Issue #66. “It wasn’t great Writing Bashful Benjy into a spy thriller was another joyful assignment pay, which is why I supplemented that base income with freelance

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for the young scribe. “I loved writing the Widow in James Bond mode with her as Bond and Ben as the gorgeous romantic interest,” Claremont commented in Back Issue #66. “It was part Bond, part Mrs. Peel and Steed, hence the clink of champagne in the last panel; you can fill in the [British TV show] Avengers theme yourself.”

The Thing/Black Widow team-up was beautifully illustrated by Bob Brown, an artist transplanted from rival DC who had recently re-established himself at Marvel on The Avengers and Daredevil, and inker Klaus Janson.

Claremont’s star was in ascendance at the time and he was professionally maturing from grabbing available fill-ins to writing ongoing series that would earn him a reputation as a master storyteller. At this time he had several issues of the title War is Hell under his belt, an unusual horror-battle book hybrid which told the adventures of John Kowalski, a combat casualty who, á la DC’s Deadman, could inhabit the bodies of others. At the time MTIO #10 was on the stands, Claremont assumed the writing duties of the Iron Fist feature in Marvel Premiere, and would soon transition that martial-arts superhero into his own title. He was also about to script the newly revived X-Men #94 (Aug. 1975) over Len Wein’s plot, and would quickly take over that title and help transform it into a Marvel legend.

By this point it was clear that Steve Gerber lacked the time to return to Marvel Two-in-One. In issue #10’s lettercol, editor Wein had to back-pedal the previous issue’s announcement and bade farewell to Gerber. In his sendoff, Wein said of Gerber’s MTIO that it was “a mag he really enjoyed writing and one which—if plaudits of pleased perusers are any indication—Marvelites greatly enjoyed reading.” He also announced that Roy Thomas would be coming onto the book as writer.

Gerber’s departure also left the Wundarr subplot in limbo. Readers asked about Wundarr’s absence, prompting an announcement by Wein in MTIO #14’s lettercol that the hero was being prepped for a Marvel Premiere solo issue, another plan that never materialized.

It was a nostalgic Chris Claremont, who described Wundarr in his MTIO #9 script as “a starborn superhuman with the mind of an infant,” who gave the character his next exposure, a brief guestappearance in Ms. Marvel #15 (Mar. 1978). Before long, as will be revealed shortly, Wundarr would return to MTIO’s pages.

Similarly, Gerber himself was gone but not forgotten from Marvel Two-in-One. Over the course of several issues, a growing chorus of readers demanded a Thing/Howard the Duck team-up.

“Well, that’s something we’d ALL like to see,” editor Wein admitted in #14’s lettercol, “but Howard is Steve’s [Gerber] duck and he ought to be given the chance to do it, now that our fearless fowl has his very own mag.”

Round Robin Writers

“The Thing Goes South!” was the title of MTIO #11’s (Sept. 1975) team-up co-starring the Thing and the Golem, the monster-hero realization of an old Hebrew fable who had recently concluded a short-lived run as the star of Strange Tales. Also going south was editor Wein’s plan to bring Roy Thomas onto the title, as #11 was plotted, but not dialogued, by Roy. In the lettercol, Wein explained, “once the time rolled around to do the actual scripting, the Rascally One discovered that, as much as he would have liked to, he just didn’t have the time to devote to everyone’s favorite pile of orange rocks.”

Thomas was “aided and abetted by pinch hitter Bill Mantlo, who stepped in to handle the scripting chores.” The issue was the second in a row penciled by Bob Brown, this time inked by Jack Abel.

Wein announced in #11 his plan to have Tony Isabella become the new MTIO scribe, but Bill Mantlo was back in #12 penning its Thing/ Iron Man team-up. This time it was Christian, not Hebrew, legends that shaped the team-up, with the co-stars going up against the old FF foe Prester John, the mythical warrior who, as a Marvel bad guy, wielded a power-stone that brought the Thing to his rocky knees.

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Prester John didn’t rise to Marvel’s A-list with this issue, but its penciler, Ron Wilson, certainly did. Wilson, who grew up in the Canarsie Projects of Brooklyn, New York, had struggled to snag a couple of random Marvel assignments in 1972 and 1973, then toiled in Marvel’s production department, where he learned firsthand by closely observing the original art pages that passed through his hands. In those early days, he even received some pointers from Stan Lee himself. “[Stan] would sit me down and lecture me on storytelling and on various pros like Jack Kirby and John Buscema,” Wilson wrote Ron Wilson. in his 2018 introduction to Marvel © Marvel.

Masterworks: Marvel Two-in-One vol. 3. “He always called me the poor man’s Jack Kirby.”

By 1974 Wilson was finding regular work on Master of Kung Fu and Power Man, and before long was an in-demand cover artist for both Marvel’s U.S. and U.K. divisions. MTIO #12 was his first shot at drawing the Thing, and his ability to evoke both the energy of Jack Kirby and the character dynamism of John Buscema made him a natural for the rockencrusted hero. “In the beginning [on MTIO] it was Jim Starlin, Gil Kane, Joe Sinnott,” Wilson reflected in an interview with Michael Aushenker in Back Issue #28 (June 2008). “So I tried to keep the fun going when the baton was passed to me.

It was a dream come true to do the Thing, one of the Fantastic Four, in Marvel Two-in-One.” Wilson would become indelibly linked to Ben Grimm, drawing oodles of Two-in-Ones in the years to come, then transitioning to The Thing, the character’s post-MTIO continuation series that launched in 1983.

Len Wein wasn’t long for the Marvel editor-in-chief post. By the time Marvel Two-in-One #13 (Jan. 1976) hit, teaming the Thing and Power Man, Len’s longtime pal Marv Wolfman was editor-inchief. MTIO continued to be without a regular writer, as Wolfman himself plotted Detail from the Ron Wilson/ Frank Giacoia cover to MTIO #13 (Jan. 1976), teaming the Thing with Power Man. TM & © Marvel.

#13, in which an absentminded bio-geneticist inadvertently created a rapidly growing leviathan called Braggadoom. Roger Slifer and Len Wein both dialogued the issue, the second Thing team-up penciled

by Ron Wilson. This was also the second issue in a row where Wilson illustrated a enthralling double-page spread, in this case showing the issue’s “mountain that walks like a man” towering at an astounding 300 feet and ripping into a bridge.

Creator credits in MTIO continued to change each issue along with Ben Grimm’s teammates. Bill Mantlo was back with issue #14’s Thing/Son of Satan team-up that pitted the mismatched duo against Jedediah Ravenstorm, a soul-snatching ghost that bedeviled the Western town he founded. Regular Son of Satan and one-time Western comics artist Herb Trimpe deftly penciled the story, redeeming himself from the speedily drawn Thing/Thor tale a few issues earlier.

That issue’s lettercol reiterated the editor’s earlier pledge that Roy Thomas would be taking over the title in the near future… but for the short-term, Marvel Two-in-One was Bill Mantlo’s book.

Marvel’s 1970s monster-hero craze inspired Mantlo’s Thing/ Morbius team-up in issue #15 (May 1975), as the Living Vampire, eyeing Ben’s sculptress girlfriend Alicia Masters for a bloodlust snack, was interrupted by the timely intervention of her not-sobashful boyfriend. “He wasn’t afraid to take a chance, Bill Mantlo wasn’t,” Roy Thomas reflected of the writer in his 2017 introduction to Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Two-in-One vol. 2. “You had to be a bit of a daredevil to do a story with the Living Eraser”—the villain in #15’s Thing/Morbius odd coupling—since “Ol’ Eraser-Head hadn’t exactly proven one of the more memorable Marvel villains to date.” Ron Wilson was initially slated to draw the story and penciled its splash page but got yanked away for service elsewhere, with Arvell (credited as “Arv”) Jones picking up the penciling with page 2. Dick Giordano snagged a rare Marvel assignment by inking the issue, although some of the work suggests that he was aided by at least one uncredited assistant.

With issue #15, MTIO was promoted from bimonthly to monthly frequency. While a Thing teamup-a-month excited Marvelites, Two-in-One’s avoidance of Fantastic Four continuity did not. The Thing teamups had usually offered a cheerier alternative to the host FF mag—especially early on, when Marvel Feature/Two-in-One’s donein-one punch-’em-ups took readers’ minds off of headier FF subplots such as the separation of Reed and Sue Richards and the endangerment of young Franklin Richards. But by the time ol’ blueeyes went toe-to-toe with the “bargain-basement Dracula” in #15, over in the pages of Fantastic Four writer Roy Thomas— who was back on the book—had temporarily reverted the Thing to

his human Ben Grimm form and replaced him in the FF with Luke Cage, Power Man. Editor Marv Wolfman came clean in MTIO #15’s lettercol, explaining that production on #15 and other issues of Two-in-One was so far along by the time it was realized that Thomas had de-Thinged the Thing that “it was just impossible to correlate the two books with any kind of consistency and… well, we just didn’t even try. Maybe this is a flimsy excuse, but it’s the truth!”

The matter reared its head again on issue #19’s letters page, as one reader appealed, “How about clearing up the continuity between MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE and the FANTASTIC FOUR. Don’t you feel that continuity is an important part of a successful strip?” In an answer echoing the candor of MTIO #15’s lettercol, it was revealed that the Thing’s most consistent partner in Marvel Two-in-One was the Dreaded Deadline Doom. “While Bill Mantlo has been writing nearly every issue since #10, the editors at the Mighty M hadn’t made up their minds as to who would be the permanent scripter of everybody’s favorite orange gargoyle.” A volley of the assignment between Thomas and Mantlo was described, the loser being any consistency to MTIO’s tone.

Suspicious Minds

On December 21, 1970, a real-world team-up occurred that was more bizarre than anything MTIO’s Steve Gerber could have come up with when entertainment superstar Elvis Presley arrived without notice at the White House! Being “royalty” (he was the King of Rock and Roll, after all), Elvis was permitted to meet with President Richard M. Nixon, to whom he offered his services to help the Nixon Administration in its war on drugs. This extraordinary confab inspired two films, a 1997 mockumentary and a 2016 comedy-drama.

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Mantlo and Wilson were reunited with #16 (June 1975), a Thing/ Ka-Zar team-up that dumped Ben into the primitive Savage Land and offered readers, and the artist, no end of exciting Thing-vs.-dinosaur fights. Dan Adkins was tapped to ink Ron Wilson with this issue, the results being much slicker than that slapdash inks provided by Vince Colletta on Wilson’s earlier issues. The issue was one of Ron Wilson’s favorites to draw. “They called me ‘Power Man,’” the artist said in Back Issue #28, “because I always handled the big, powerful characters”—and big, powerful threats, like dinosaurs.

Next up was a two-part crossover between Marvel’s two team-up books, both written by Bill Mantlo. It started with MTIO #17’s Thing/Spider-Man encounter, pairing the heroes in a skirmish with the eye-beam–blasting Basilisk, which concluded in Marvel Team-Up #47’s Spider-Man/Thing adventure. The books’ “regular” art teams swapped titles for the two-parter, with Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito illustrating MTIO and Ron Wilson and Dan Adkins drawing MTU. Scott Edelman co-plotted issue #18, teaming the Thing and the Scarecrow, Edelman’s “Fearsome Night-Prowler” who had two previous appearances, in Dead of Night #11 (Aug. 1975) and Marvel Spotlight #26 (Feb. 1986); Bill Mantlo co-plotted and scripted and Wilson penciled. As the Thing encountered a fire-demon brought forth by Kalumai, the occult arch-foe of the Scarecrow, Mantlo provided internal continuity by characterizing the usually unflappable Thing as unnerved by yet another supernatural encounter so quickly on the heels of his Son of Satan team-up in #14.

The Were-Woman Tigra, formerly the superheroine the Cat, dropped in for the Thing’s aid in fighting the villainous Cougar in MTIO #19 in a story plotted by Tony Isabella, writer of Tigra’s solo tales in Marvel Chillers, and scripted by Mantlo. While the stripe-furred, spicy Tigra was a relatively new face at Marvel, this issue was illustrated by some of the company’s most familiar figures: penciler Sal Buscema and inker Don Heck, with a cover by Jack Kirby and Frank Giacoia. At this time Archie Goodwin became the new Marvel Two-in-One editor, and Marvel’s editor-in-chief.

He followed Gerry Conway, who occupied the editor-in-chief post for roughly six weeks in beginning in March 1976 after Marv Wolfman resigned the position.

TM & © Marvel.

Big Things Ahead

Next to hit the stands—going on sale June 22, 1976—was the series’ first extra-sized issue, Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1. If Marvel’s original plans had held, this would have been Giant-Size Marvel-Two-in-One #1, as was announced in the “Bullpen Bulletins” column of Marvel’s September 1976 cover-dated books. But Marvel’s Giant-Size imprint—quarterly, double-sized companion comics to many of the publisher’s most popular series—had just ended and the story intended to be MTIO’s Giant-Size issue #1 instead became the first of seven Annuals the title would enjoy.

And with it came Roy Thomas, who had earlier been promised as the MTIO scribe.

In MTIO Annual #1, Roy, comics’ celebrated fan-turnedpro and devotee of the Golden Age of Comics, teamed Bashful Benjy with the Liberty Legion, billed as “America’s homefront superheroes of World War II.” In mid-1975 Thomas had

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launched The Invaders, a World War II–set Marvel super-team title co-starring Captain America, the original Human Torch, and Sub-Mariner. Response to that book was positive, so the scribe further mined Marvel’s Golden Age pantheon by introducing a second WWII super-team that repurposed a name he had come up with when he was around 12 years of age, in the early 1950s, for a homemade comic book he wrote and drew. “It was very crude stuff,” Thomas told Dewey Cassell in Back Issue #106 (Aug. 2018), “but it told a story called the Liberty Legion. It was mostly made-up characters.” A few years later, young Roy created another fan comic that he also called Liberty Legion, this time combining “the surviving heroes of comics,” characters still in print in the mid-1950s, after the heyday of the Golden Age. This “Liberty Legion” featured Marvel’s Sub-Mariner; DC’s Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman; Quality’s Plastic Man and Blackhawk (solo, without his aerial team); and a few others including Blue Beetle and Crimebuster. Two decades later, when the adult “Roy the Boy” had made a hit of The Invaders, he was in the position to bring the Liberty Legion to life.

The team originally appeared in a two-parter in Invaders #5 (Mar. 1976) and 6. The Liberty Legion gathered, as did Roy’s childhood concept, the stragglers of the early days of Marvel: the not-quite Captain America named the Patriot; the wonder woman called Miss America; the winged bird-man Red Raven; the pliable superhero with the Dashiell Hammett–inspired name, the Thin Man; the bulletproof tough guy Blue Diamond; Marvel’s original iceman, Jack Frost; and the super-speedster with the unfortunate name of the Whizzer. Immediately following the Invaders appearances, the Liberty Legion starred in two issues of Marvel Premiere, starting with #29 (Apr. 1976), both penciled by Don Heck, with Jack Kirby covers. Then Thomas was at it again with another Liberty Legion double-header, this time relying upon Marvel’s punchiest star-maker, the Thing, for added exposure.

First up was the aforementioned Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1, a 35-page Thing/Liberty Legion story written by Thomas, penciled by Sal Buscema, and tag-team-inked by Sam Grainger, John Tartaglione, and George Roussos. It was a continuation of Fantastic Four Annual #11’s tale pitting the FF against the Invaders. The MTIO Annual featured Vibranium, the Marvel Universe’s miracle metal, in the hands of the Nazis, leading the Thing to travel to World War II to retrieve it, crossing paths with the Liberty Legion along the way. The Thing/Liberty Legion team-up continued two weeks later in the Thomas/ Buscema/Grainger–produced MTIO #20, with the heroes in combat with Nazi supervillains. Plans for a Liberty Legion comic stalled, perhaps the result of readers’ lukewarm reception to the assemblage of such lower-tier characters. In addition to writing the two-part Thing/Liberty Legion team-up, Thomas also edited the issues, as editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin, more a proponent of talent encouragement than editorial management, allowed seasoned scribes to work as writer-editors on their projects.

MTIO #21 (Nov. 1976) paired the Thing with a hero of yesteryear: pulp star Doc Savage, the legendary Man of Bronze, a team-up suggested by Marv Wolfman. Returning creative team Bill Mantlo and Ron Wilson (the latter beautifully inked

by Pablo Marcos) offered a smartly constructed parallel story set 40 years apart, told via bisected pages, starring the Thing (and the Torch) in 1976 and Doc Savage in 1936. Both plots involved members of the same family, and dovetailed into a time-crossing team-up that pitted the Thing and Doc Savage against Blacksun, a villain with the ability to manipulate black holes.

Blacksun’s fate transitioned the reader into the next issue, #22, where the Thing and the Torch rushed the critically ill villain to the hospital… the same facility where Dr. Don Blake, a.k.a. Thor,

worked. A vengeful attack from the evil god Seth united the Thing and Thor, beginning a two-part adventure that concluded in MTIO #23, where Seth’s malevolence was compounded by the death-god’s inability to control his dangerous ally, the Devourer. Bill Mantlo scripted the first six pages, with Jim Shooter completing the story, for the art team of Wilson and Marcos.

Mantlo and Shooter co-scripted the Thing/Black Goliath team-up in issue #24, illustrated by Sal Buscema and Pablo Marcos, bringing to a close Bill Mantlo’s “fill-in” run on Marvel Two-in-One. Issue #24’s letters page acknowledged that he was leaving “to devote more time to CHAMPIONS, SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP, and whatever else he’s writing this month.” In reflecting on his collaborations with Mantlo, artist Ron Wilson, in Back Issue #28, deemed him a “very fast writer” who was “very specific in what he wanted. If you deviated, he would try to bring you back on track.”

Who would take “Boisterous” Bill Mantlo’s place on Marvel Two-in-One? The “Marvelous One” whose MTIO role was first name-dropped in issue #21’s lettercol: Marv Wolfman!

Not a Fan of Team-Up Titles

“I don’t like regular team-ups because they force you to alter your characters,” Marv Wolfman told Jamie Ewbank in Back Issue #66. “I don’t remember why I got the title or how, but suddenly I had it. MTIO was not a book I wanted to do. Nothing is stupider than having to have [The Brave and the Bold’s] Batman work alongside someone every month; he’s a loner with a small group. Ben [Grimm] isn’t that, but I find those kinds of books ring false to me.”

Nonetheless, Wolfman began a 14-issue run as the writer-editor of Marvel Two-in-One beginning with issue #25 (Mar. 1977). It was a coup to snatch up Marv for the Marv Wolfman. book, which maintained Ron Wilson © Marvel. as its penciler. In addition to having recently edited the title in his role as Marvel’s editor-in-chief, Wolfman’s star status by this point had been cemented for several years. In the late Silver Age he was one of a new generation of comics professionals who approached the medium from roots in fandom. His first credit came in 1968 when veteran Bob Haney scripted Marv’s plot for DC’s Blackhawk #242.

A flurry of short stories quickly followed, mostly for DC. In the early to mid-1970s, Marv cultivated a Marvel fan base of his own with a versatile body of work that included Tomb of Dracula, Crazy magazine, Skull the Slayer, Daredevil, and his creation Nova.

If Wolfman was reluctant to accept the MTIO assignment, his readers never had a clue as his stories expertly characterized Bashful Benjy and his Marvel compatriots. Although issue #24’s lettercol promised a Thing/Nick Fury team-up in Marv’s first issue, that combo, that commenced a multi-part storyline, was pushed back to #26. Marvel Two-in-One #25 instead featured a Thing/Iron Fist team-up. Wolfman tacitly acknowledged the ludicrousness of a pairing of the FF’s loveable curmudgeon and Marvel’s “Living Weapon” by literally yanking Ben out of a crowded Shea Stadium, where he was attending a Jets game, with a grappling hook from a Goodyear blimp that was floating overhead!

Grimm was more in his element alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. agents and fellow veterans Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan in MTIO #26.

Bad guys the Fixer and Mentallo infiltrated the spy agency’s HQ and abducted the Thing, as they needed his Baxter Building access to obtain Doctor Doom’s time platform. With that device they

Deathlok’s target for termination: U.S. President Jimmy Carter! From MTIO #27, by Wolfman, Wilson, and Pablo Marcos.

TM & © Marvel.

brought into the present Deathlok the Demolisher, Rich Buckler’s futuristic, pre-Terminator assassin-cyborg first seen in Astonishing Tales #25 (Aug. 1974).

MTIO #27, a Thing-vs.-Deathlok tale guest-starring the Fantastic Four, revealed the Fixer and Mentallo’s plan: reprogramming Deathlok to assassinate new U.S. President Jimmy Carter. After Ben and the FF thwarted that plot, Wolfman pushed the narrative forward in #28 by having the Thing fly an unconscious Deathlok to Europe for help from a medical specialist, but while in transit over the ocean he encountered the Sub-Mariner and mixed it up with Subby’s sharp-toothed aquatic adversary, Piranha.

And yes, the 1970s hit song was correct: everybody was kung-fu fighting, even the Thing. The 1970s martial-arts craze inspired yet another offbeat team-up as issue #29 paired the Thing and Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu. They crossed paths in London as Ben learned of Hydra’s kidnapping of the doctor who was to treat Deathlok.

Planting tongue firmly in cheek when combining this disparate duo, Wolfman adroitly addressed their differences through their characterizations. When first spying the Thing, Shang-Chi regarded him as “an orange-shelled monster,” while Ben made a reference to television’s Kung Fu when he quipped, “Who the heck are ya, besides bein’ Davy Carradine’s stand-in?”

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as well as the New York area, to work at the Ralph Bakshi animation studio in southern California, at which time he was also drawing “Darklon” stories for Warren Publishing.

But in 1977 “I threw all my possessions into a truck,” Starlin told Shaun Clancy in Back Issue #48 (May 2011), “and [artist] Al Weiss and I drove back across country together.”

At a party in New York City, Starlin chanced across Marvel editor-in-chief Archie Goodwin, who “asked me if I wanted to do the Avengers and Marvel Two-in-One Annuals.” Starlin’s earlier departure from Marvel

Starlin Returns

Jim Starlin, the artist who launched the Thing team-ups, was back in a big way with Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2 (1977), published between MTIO #36 and 37. Throughout the mid-1970s, as a writerartist Starlin rocketed to the top of the Marvel firmament as the king of its “cosmic” comics, revitalizing its Captain Marvel and Warlock series into fan-favorite hits. He had taken a break from Marvel,

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Writer-artist Jim Starlin thrust the Thing and Spidey into an intergalactic conflict with Thanos in MTIO Annual #2.

Finishes by Joe Rubinstein.

TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Heritage.

TM & © Marvel.

Hydra’s manipulation of the newly created Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) placed her into conflict with the Thing in MTIO #30.

“Don’t tell me, lady—yer Webhead’s sister!” remarked Ben when he first spied the character recently introduced in Marvel Spotlight #32 (Feb. 1977). This issue featured a beautiful guest-penciling job by John Buscema, tapped to help regular artist Ron Wilson manage his deadlines; Wilson returned the next issue.

Hydra continued to compel the narrative in MTIO #31 by mutating Alicia Masters into a spider-creature, the “Mystery Menace” that clashed with guest-star Spider-Woman, who now was working with instead of against Ben. This continued into #32, a Thing/Invisible Girl team-up. In #33, the Thing was still in Europe, and a visit to Stonehenge led to a Modred the Mystic team-up and a battle with elemental demons. Deathlok was finally reprogrammed and remanded into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody in #34 as the Thing and Nighthawk of the Defenders fought an alien monster plaguing London.

Through these overlapping story components Wolfman nimbly created individual issues that were satisfying reads on their own merit but also part of a larger tapestry. “I hate the fake constraints of a team-up title, so I decided that to make it fun I’d do a continued story where the characters would have reasons to keep meeting,” he revealed in Back Issue #66. “That’s why I plugged it into the Marvel Universe more than it had been.”

Not all readers approved of this method, however, and one fan objected in #32’s letters page, likening it to another offbeat team-up title, the recently discontinued Giant-Size Spider-Man: “The overall impression to long-time readers is that the book is a bunch of team-ups with cancelled, two-bit, or just plain weird guys. …

All you get is dissonance and cacophony.” An editorial rebuttal argued, “Consider the plight of a certain jade-jawed giant when his mag was cancelled. If Stan [Lee] hadn’t used him over and over again in other mags, building up his popularity until he is now one of our best-selling and most-loved characters, there could possibly be no INCREDIBLE HULK for our readers. Or what about the Silver Surfer?”

Almost as if in direct defiance of that letter writer’s appeal, Wolfman in Marvel Two-in-One #35 (Jan. 1978) teamed the Thing with Skull the Slayer, Marv’s own creation. As was established in the Skull the Slayer series, which had been axed with its eighth issue (Nov. 1976), Skull was actually former Vietnam pilot Jim Scully, a modern man whose plane entered a time warp that displaced him into a prehistoric realm. Wolfman’s concept was eerily similar to DC Comics’ much more successful counterpart, writer-artist Mike Grell’s The Warlord, launched in 1st Issue Special #8 (Nov. 1975), which premiered shortly after Marvel’s Skull #1 (Aug. 1975) and concerned Travis Morgan, a military pilot lost in a primitive culture at the Earth’s core; however, Grell’s concept had been in the pipeline longer as he had made earlier attempts to get it into print.

MTIO #35 used the Bermuda Triangle, which was a newsmaker at the time as part of a late-1970s wave of interest in paranormal activities, as the conduit for combining the Thing and Skull, and Ben’s stretchable FF teammate Mr. Fantastic was pulled into the storyline in issue #36. Wolfman used the two-issue story to resolve dangling plotlines from the Skull series; in the latter he stated in a footnote that this team-up took place before current issues of writer Roy Thomas’ Fantastic Four, wherein Reed Richards was losing his superpowers. Issues #35 and 36 featured covers and interior artwork by guest-artist Ernie Chan.

Orange Is the New Black

Our hero with the orange hide found himself in jail in MTIO #38 (inset). Since the Golden Age, comic books have occasionally slapped their stars into the slammer, with Batman, Captain America, Green Lantern, She-Hulk, Flash, H.A.R.D. Corps, Lois Lane, Spider-Man, Batgirl, Vampirella, and the characters shown here being among them.

Thing © Marvel. Superman, Batman, and World’s Finest © DC Comics. Jon Sable, Freelance © Mike Grell. Zorro © Zorro Properties, Inc.

had left behind unresolved storylines involving Warlock and Captain Marvel’s nemesis Thanos, and Goodwin proposed he write and draw both summer-published Annuals, pitching, as Starlin recalled, “You left all this stuff dangling. Don’t you want to finish it?”

Not having any other assignments at the time, Starlin took on the labor-intensive projects, both with expanded page counts, but approached them with no game plan. “I used to work spontaneously,” Starlin said. “I would have a plot in my head and halfway through a story it might change.”

In addition to writing and penciling Avengers Annual #7, which led into Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2, Starlin also began inking the project… until deadline management forced the recruitment of help, in the form of inker-finisher Joe Rubinstein.

“The Avengers Annual was all tight pencils, and I inked a lot of that,” Starlin recalled in Back Issue #48. “Joe inked about the last five pages or something. Then I did the layouts for the Twoin-One Annual for him to tighten up.”

Rubinstein, relatively new to the comics business at the time, recalled in a November 12, 2021 email, “I barely knew Jim, so when he asked me at a party if I was interested in inking/finishing his Avengers Annual, I was thrilled and overjoyed, because while I had been working at DC for the past two years, I would now have the door opened to potentially inking greats like Buscema, Colan, Kane, etc.—and Starlin, of course. Later, when I was informed that there was second Annual finishing the story arc, I knew I had hit the jackpot at the ‘mature’ age of 19.”

Jailhouse Rock

Back in the regular series, in MTIO #37 the regular creative team of Wolfman, Wilson, and Marcos co-starred the Thing, on trial for destruction to property he caused during a battle, and his defense attorney, Matt Murdock, known to Marvel readers as the alter ego of Daredevil, who did not appear in costume in the issue. The cover’s Thing/Matt Murdock co-star logos were accompanied by a blurb that, when considering Murdock’s blindness, was an inappropriate play on words: “The team-up you never thought you’d see!”

Murdock lost the trial and the Thing was put behind bars. There he was befriended by a streetwise, wisecracking African-American youth named Eugene “The Kid” Everett, similar to the rough-andtumble teen characters for which Jack Kirby was famous. For the next few issues Eugene shadowed his new pal he called “Rocky.” Issue #37 read more like a Thing solo story with a guest-star than a traditional team-up, and in the lettercol an editorial poll was launched asking readers if they would prefer more Thing team-ups or Thing solo stories—a prescient query considering that MTIO’s 100-issue run would ultimately be followed by the solo adventures of The Thing. But despite the editorial poll, for the immediate future fans wanted to see a Thing team-up mag.

In the following issue, #38, a Thing/Daredevil team-up, Murdock at last donned his crimson togs to investigate his suspicions behind the charges against his client, which revealed the involvement of the Mad Thinker. MTIO #38 was Wolfman’s final issue (sort of), a story he co-plotted with scripter Roger Slifer.

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Slifer was the solo-writer of issue #39, a Thing/Vision team-up, where the Mad Thinker manipulated Ben and carryover guest Daredevil into snaring the Avengers’ resident android so that the Thinker could duplicate Vision’s density powers into an army of Vision robots.

Young Eugene, while snooping around after his orange-skinned buddy, uttered a phrase that Marvelites thought was the exclusive domain of Luke Cage: “Sweet Christmas!” The issue also featured an uncharacteristic extended battle sequence with Yellowjacket in combat wearing only his mask and underwear.

Marvel Two-in-One #40 (June 1978) was released at the time of a milestone in Mighty Marvel history, as Jim Shooter was promoted from associate editor to editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, taking over from Archie Goodwin, who stepped down from the position. Shooter edited #40’s Thing/Black Panther team-up, which was plotted by Roger Slifer for the Wilson/ Marcos art team. “While they were waiting for the artwork to come in on those jobs, they ran into a deadline thing with the Two-in-One job and asked me if I could dialogue it,” remembered Tom DeFalco, new to Marvel at the time, in Back Issue #66. “Ben Grimm has always been one of my favorite characters, so I leaped at the opportunity.”

Slifer’s involvement with the next issue’s continuation of his storyline was demoted to a “Special thanks to: Roger Slifer for the spiffy scenario” acknowledgment at the end of #41’s credits, with David Anthony Kraft picking up the scripter’s baton, at the direction of editor Shooter. The eerie dum-dum-dum sound of drumbeats unnerved the normally imperturbable Thing as Jericho Drumm, the shaman known as Brother Voodoo, materialized in a preternatural mist to enlist Ben’s aid in tracking down the mastermind behind the previous issue’s abduction of prominent people of color—a villain whose creation was inspired by a night at the movies.

Both Slifer and Kraft “went to see the movie Idi Amin Dada and were kinda freaked out by it, and we talked about doing something about it,” Kraft said in Back Issue #66. Amin, the tyrannical president of the nation of Uganda from 1971 through 1979, dominated news headlines during the decade and was the subject of French filmmaker Barbet Schroeder’s 1974 documentary, General Idi Amin Dada: A Self Portrait, released to U.S. theaters in August 1976. And thus Slifer and Kraft fictionalized the David Anthony Kraft. real-world despot into the role of Marvel Courtesy of Heritage Auctions. villain in MTIO #41. “I think I even kidded that we might get in trouble over this, because [Amin] was still in power, killing people left and right,” Kraft recalled. “When we were doing the story I was thinking, ‘Boy, I hope he doesn’t have a long arm.’ You take that risk when you take living people who are merciless and put them in stories.”

The fact that issues #40 and 41 featured back-to-back black co-stars was not lost upon artist Ron Wilson, who is African American. “Any time you had ethnic characters, I loved it,” he said in Back Issue #28.

“Basically, it was good to have them, but [ultimately] they were just another superhero.”

MTIO #41 marked the temporary departure of Wilson from the title, as the artist shifted to Marvel’s new color Hulk magazine, a slick upgrade of its black-and-white Rampaging Hulk.

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This documentary film inspired a “comic masterpiece” of sorts as writer David Anthony Kraft made real-world dictator Idi Amin a villain in MTIO #41’s Thing/Brother Voodoo story.

Idi Amin Dada © Tinc Productions Corp. Poster courtesy of Heritage Marvel Two-in-One TM & © Marvel.

Marvel Done-in-One

Ralph Macchio made an impressive debut as a Marvel writer with Marvel Two-in-One #42 (Aug. 1978), with editor-in-chief Jim Shooter assigning MTIO to a new editor, Roger Stern. Macchio would soon graduate to writing Doctor Strange and before long become one of Marvel’s most influential editors, being involved with many of the publisher’s most important storylines in an impressive 35-year stint at the House of Ideas.

Stern, who had started working in Marvel’s editorial department in 1976, similarly anchored himself to Marvel for many years as both editor and scribe, his writing stints on Roger Stern.

Captain America, both Spectacular © and courtesy of Eliot R. Brown. and Amazing Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Avengers being among his many, many credits there, with Superman, Power of the Atom, and Starman following at DC. Macchio’s Thing/Captain America team-up in issue #42 introduced an important component of Marvel lore: the high-tech research facility Project Pegasus (or P.E.G.A.S.U.S., for Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/United States), sequestered in the Adirondacks. There, the Thing was reunited with Wundarr, and joined Cap in pursuit of the Cosmic Cube, which was pilfered by former Ka-Zar foe Victorius, the rogue scientist enhanced by a Super-Soldier Serum replication.

In an August 30, 2021 email, Macchio reflected upon his creation of what would become an integral facility in Marvel lore.

“I recall when Roger Stern asked me to come up with an idea or two over the weekend for the Two-in-One title he was editing.

At first I was just thinking of a filler issue or two. Then it occurred to me that I could create something that would leave my footprint in the Marvel Universe; a place characters could go in the future and have adventures there.

I was a big fan of Kirby’s DNA Project from his run on Jimmy Olsen and I thought along those Ralph Macchio. lines, but not in terms of genetics. © and courtesy of Eliot R. Brown.

1979 was a time of energy shortages and gasoline lines, so I conceived of a place that would investigate alternative energy sources. I recalled the underground nature of Project Wildfire from The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton and based the design of the place roughly on that. And I liked the image of the winged steed Pegasus denoting movement, energy, etc., as the visual trademark. So I called my creation Project: Pegasus. I wrote up a two-part story synopsis over the weekend and presented it to Roger on Monday. He was enthusiastic about it and asked me for a full plot, and we were off to the races. What had been just a fill-in assignment turned out to be something much more, and I’m very proud to say the Project is still being used to this day in various Marvel titles, exactly as I’d hoped.”

This story carried over into issue #43, with Man-Thing’s involvement, in the first MTIO drawn by Marvel’s latest superstar, John Byrne.

Editor Roger Stern and artist John Byrne’s relationship stretched back several years, to their fandom roots. They first met in person during “the July 4th weekend of 1974,” at a gathering related to the ’74 Phil Seuling Comic-Con in New York City, Stern told Jon B. Cooke in a 2001 interview for Comic Book Artist #12. “John and I had corresponded prior to that, and I think we might have even chatted on the phone once or twice, but that was our first face-to-face meeting.” The duo had already formed a working relationship, however, on the Rog-2000 (a.k.a. ROG-2000) comic strip starring a plucky robot created by Byrne, in CPL (Contemporary Pictorial Fanzine), a fan publication Stern and pal Bob Layton started in Indiana in the early 1970s. A number of soon-to-be comics pros cut their teeth on CPL features and became known as the CPL Gang—including the aforementioned Roger Slifer, a “Rog,” along with Stern, who inspired Rog-2000’s name. Connections made at that convention led to Byrne finding Charlton Comics assignments before quickly segueing to Marvel. By the time he illustrated the Thing/Man-Thing/Captain America team-up in MTIO #43, Byrne had already made his mark at Marvel on Iron Fist, Marvel Team-Up, and Champions, and was early into his X-Men collaboration with writer Chris Claremont. Although Byrne’s first stab at drawing the Thing in MTIO #43 seemed a bit rushed, with the art credit attributed to “John Byrne and Friends” (those “friends” unidentified), he would return to MTIO with the celebrated #50, and later make history as the writer-artist of Fantastic Four on a long run of stories that many rate as second only to the original Lee/Kirby efforts.

Macchio’s two-issue outing showed great promise, but was cut short after #43. “Nothing would have pleased the Reliable One more than to have been able to stay with TWO-IN-ONE for the long haul from #42 onward,” it was reported in MTIO #48’s lettercol, which explained Ralph’s commitments to Marvel’s new Special Projects Department as the reason he abruptly left the title. The lettercol further teased, “Ralph had intended Project Pegasus for far greater things”—and promised that Project Pegasus, and Macchio, would return to the book as of issue #51.

With Ralph Macchio’s temporary departure, Marvel Two-in-One briefly teetered into a phase of rotating creative teams and quickie stories that provided entertaining diversions but little substance.

Marv Wolfman had a couple more Thing team-ups in him, released one week apart in early July 1978.

First, he was the writer-editor of 1978’s Marvel Two-in-One Annual #3, a 34-page, Sal Buscema–drawn tale co-starring Marv’s teen-hero creation, Nova. Annual #3 concerned a stoic, skyscraper-sized extraterrestrial invader of New York City that “ignores the panicking humans as if they were insects not worth noticing,” pursued by a formidable, benevolent alien who stood in opposition. When read today, one cannot ignore the parallels between Wolfman’s Thing/Nova team-up and his 1985–1986 DC Comics opus, Crisis on Infinite Earths. The towering interloper from another world is one of the Monitors, a race whose “self-proclaimed mission,” in the words of Milandra, an armored amazon in hot pursuit, “is to seek out worlds—to test these worlds… and to judge if these worlds are fit to survive!”

Crisis, DC’s 50th anniversary crossover “housecleaning” event, featured a cosmic spectator—the Monitor—who observed DC’s parallel Earths and an impending disaster that was obliterating them and their inhabitants. Furthermore, the blonde Milandra, who later revived her dormant sisters Kalara and Askare for assistance, can be viewed as an analog for Harbinger, a similarly garbed blonde who worked alongside, not against, DC’s Monitor.

When asked by Jamie Ewbank in Back Issue #66 if he was

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comic portraitist Joe Jusko, cameos by Howard the Duck and the cast of TV’s M*A*S*H, and a proposed Ben Grimm–starring sitcom, Thing in the Family, with the Thing as the left-wing “Meathead” opposite a right-wing “Archie Bunker.”

Scribe Bill Mantlo returned to MTIO for back-to-back issues that transformed one-time Daredevil bad guy Starr Saxon into the formidable foe Machinesmith in Thing team-ups with the Yancy Street Gang (#47) and the Jack of Hearts (#48). Writer Jo Duffy’s Dark Shadows pastiche in #49 placed Ben and Doctor Strange in a weirdo family’s haunted home. The excitement prompted by the title’s earlier overlapping storylines had faded. Could anyone rescue Marvel Two-in-One from the doldrums?

A Couple of Things to Consider

A “coincidental crossover”? In 1978’s Marvel Team-Up Annual #3, writer Marv Wolfman introduced the invading Monitors, while a different character named the Monitor (and the Anti-Monitor) was behind the 1985 DC mega-event Crisis on Infinite Earths.

“In my own head, Marvel Two-in-One and Marvel Team-Up were fake books,” admitted John Byrne in a discussion with Tom DeFalco in Comics Creators on Fantastic Four, a 2005 book of FF creator interviews. Byrne’s rationalization eased the enormous task presented to him as the writer and penciler of Marvel Two-in-One #50 (Apr. 1979).

“I was drawing the Thing, but I wasn’t really drawing the Thing.

It kind of took the edge off a little bit.”

MTIO, Thing, and Nova TM & © Marvel. Crisis and related characters TM & © DC Comics.

“rehearsing later themes,” Wolfman noted that the similarities between the two was merely a coincidence and that any intentional connection was a reader’s “wishful thinking as I don’t remember why I did that story. But I do remember liking it.”

Second, Wolfman was the guest writer-editor, overseen by “Consulting Editor” Jim Shooter, for MTIO #44, a Thing/Hercules team-up illustrated by Bob Hall and Frank Giacoia. Ben Grimm once again played big brother—not to Wundarr or “The Kid,” but instead to a group of boys at Camp Run-A-Mok (a wink at the title of a short-lived, mid-1960s TV sitcom, Camp Runamuck)—and regaled the rambunctious kids with a campfire tale where he and Herc braved nightmarish beasts and a torrential “Watergate” to rescue the enslaved god-king Zeus from the grip of the bestial Manduu the Merciless.

One-upping Wolfman’s pun-fest was Alan Kupperberg, the Marvel journeyman, Crazy magazine cartoonist, and creator of Obnoxio the Clown, who illustrated the next two MTIOs and riddled them with sight gags. Issue #45 was written by Peter B. Gillis, a newcomer who had a single published script—a fill-in, Captain America #224 (Aug. 1974)—under his belt when he penned this Thing/Captain Marvel team-up that pitted Ben against an old FF foe patterned after a Prohibition mob boss; Gillis would go on to write issues of Super-Villain Team-Up, What If?, Black Panther, and First Comics’ Warp. Kupperberg’s art for MTIO #45 featured jokes including a Thing-dating-Farrah FawcettMajors newspaper headline and Mar-Vell reading Marvel’s “Close Encounter[s]” movie adaptation. Kupperberg wrote and penciled (as well as colored) MTIO #46’s Thing/Hulk team-up— make that clash—a lampoon of the live-action Incredible Hulk TV show. Seen therein were a Hollywood agent named after

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(inset) While George Pérez penciled this classic Thing/ Thing cover for MTIO #50 (Apr. 1979), the story inside (above) was a John Byrne production. Inks by Joe Sinnott.

TM & © Marvel.

Exciting New Things to Come

Despite issue #48’s promise of the coming of the “Project Pegasus” storyline in #51 (May 1979), that issue was instead written by Peter Gillis and featured the Thing with four guest-stars: the Beast, Ms. Marvel, S.H.I.E.L.D.’s head honcho Nick Fury, and the moviestar Avenger, Wonder Man. A fun, unlikely premise gathered this gaggle of do-gooders: a poker game. This being the Marvel Universe, however, poker nights, like wedding days, were magnets for trouble… and in this case a rogue military officer with a mad-on at S.H.I.E.L.D. was the antagonist who was not quite playing with a full deck.

TM & © Marvel.

Actually, Byrne was drawing two Things, as the “team-up” in the anniversary issue MTIO #50 was instead a conflict: “The Thing Battles the Thing.” Byrne, in what would be his first opportunity writing Ben Grimm as well as Reed Richards, delivered one of the best issues of the series.

The superhero-fighting-himself trope is a staple of the medium.

You would be hard-pressed to find a long-running series that didn’t feature at least one cover depicting the hero in combat with a doppelganger, often with a “Will the real (hero’s name here) please stand up?” challenge to the reader.

Less common, but still popular, is the gimmick employed here

by Byrne, where a hero time-travels to the past to encounter himself.

This is related to a rhetorical question that many have pondered: “If you could go into your own past, what advice would you give your younger self?”

In Marvel Two-in-One #50, it was not advice but a rebirth that the Thing administered. The briskly plotted story began with bigbrain Reed Richards’ creation of a serum that would restore the Thing’s human form, but Ben Grimm’s body, after years of being conditioned to gradual mutations from “something akin to dinosaur hide” to “its present rock-like state,” rejected the procedure. Then Ben had a brainstorm: to use Doctor Doom’s time platform—in the Fantastic Four’s HQ for safekeeping and perpetual plot springboards—to journey back in time, to apply Reed’s formula to “himself” before his body metamorphosed to its current rocky state.

And on page 3 the Thing was on his way to yesterday!

He arrived at a time just before the FF acquired its home base in the Baxter Building Manhattan skyscraper, circa 1961’s Fantastic Four #3, and tracked down the lumpy version of the Thing that captivated readers in those wild, but primitive, early issues of Lee and Kirby’s FF—the morose, woe-is-me Thing that had yet to accept fate’s cruelty, the brooding bellyacher that hid behind a trench coat and a crumpled fedora. The often-gruff contemporary Thing seemed like a jovial Santa Claus when contrasted against this self-pitying prototype, and Byrne wasted little time in pitting the two Things against each other: “the Thing does not talk… he acts!” snarled the past-Thing as he clobbered the present-Thing after barely drawing a breath once they locked eyes.

Issue #50 was, more or less, an extended fight scene, but since conflict is the main ingredient in the magic Marvel formula, it was perfectly executed by Byrne, whose art—a much more confident interpretation of the Thing than in his Thing/Man-Thing team-up a few issues earlier—was splendidly delineated by stalwart inker Joe Sinnott. The cover’s blurb—“…And Only One Shall Survive!”— was no hyperbole, as present-Thing won the brawl and force-fed Reed’s potion to past-Thing… who reverted to Ben Grimm, permanently. Present-Thing expected to be restored to normal once he stepped off of Doc Doom’s device into this own time, but remained his famous, orange-skinned self. You can’t change the past, he learned. He had instead created an alternate timeline, and a version of Ben Grimm that Byrne, as writer, would revisit in a Thing/Ben Grimm team-up in the final issue of Marvel Two-in-One, #100. Still, with one thrilling issue, John Byrne had successfully defibrillated MTIO.

Any reader disappointed by the absence of the anticipated Project Pegasus storyline was satisfied by issue #51’s extraordinary, night-based artwork by Frank Miller, with Bob McLeod inks. Twoin-One #51 went on sale January 30, 1979, the same day Daredevil #158 shipped—Miller’s first as DD artist. Before long, he would take over as Daredevil’s writer, for a revolutionary run on the title.

The story and Miller’s art were crowd-pleasers, as letters of praise about #51 filled issue #56’s lettercol—including a missive from future comics writer Kurt Busiek, who described MTIO #51 as “Sheer, unadulterated fun, from start to finish.”

MTIO #51’s letters page ended with a big next-issue plug (above) for… no, not Project Pegasus—that was now slated for #53, it was announced. Issue #52 would team the Thing and the “mysterious” Moon Knight in a story, as the blurb proclaimed, “by Steven Grant (yes, that’s his real name!), Jim Craig, and Pablo Marcos!” Moon Knight, Marvel’s nocturnal crimefighter that premiered in Werewolf

by Night #32 (Aug. 1975) and began a slow boil toward stardom throughout scattered late-1970s appearances, was actually a mercenary named Marc Spector with multiple personalities: cabbie Jake Lockley and socialite… Steven Grant.

The real Steven Grant, a Wisconsin native, was an unknown at the time. “When people get asked how they broke into the business, I upset everyone by saying I was asked in, but it’s true,” Grant revealed to me a November 12, 2021 email. “I’d known Roger Stern a few years. We’d met, and ran into each other regularly at this comics swap meet/mini-con that was held one Sunday per month at the YMCA in downtown Chicago. He came in from Indianapolis with Bob Layton and others, and I came in from Madison. So I started working on his fanzines, CPL and The Charlton Bullseye, and when he got a job in ’77 as an assistant editor at Marvel, I’d use his place as a crash pad on occasional trips to NYC, just to get out of Madison. But one thing he and I agreed on is that maybe my mindset didn’t line up all that well with Marvel Comics, and by the time he was raised to editor when Jim Shooter became editor-in-chief in 1978, I was veering in other directions.

“So it came as a bit of a shock when I asked if I could crash with him over Easter week in 1978, and he said only if I was ready to do an issue of Marvel Two-in-One when I got there. Seems when he’d been given the book to edit, it was (his words, not mine) ‘18 months late.’ My best guess is that was hyperbole, but I did the Two-in-One issue, as a lark, very quickly on the Monday morning when I got there, and figured that was the only Marvel story I’d ever do. It wasn’t until I get the paycheck on the script a couple months later that I thought maybe I’d been handed an opportunity I shouldn’t be all that hasty to pass up, and I moved to New York City on a wing and a prayer and, with my foot almost literally in the door to keep it from closing, started scrounging for more work from Marvel while also pursuing other things.”

Not only was the fledgling storyteller being asked to write a Marvel comic book, he was also allowed to make his own choice for the Thing’s teammate. “Roger told me to pick any Marvel character,” Grant revealed in his email. “I wasn’t a big Moon Knight fan, but it tweaked my sense of humor to include the character and narrate the story in the first person.” Grant checked his ego at the door, though, with Moon Knight appearing in his Spector and Lockley identities— and not as Steven Grant. “Roger thought I was daft, but he also figured it was a one-off thing and he needed an issue, so he let me do it.”

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MTIO #52 was his first published comic script. Grant’s penchant for street-smart characters in crime scenarios was evident in this freshman outing as he introduced ex-CIA agent William Cross—a former colleague of Marc Spector—who became the artificially enhanced mercenary Crossfire, tangling with the Thing and Moon Knight. The neo-writer subtly passed commentary on MTIO’s propensity toward spotlighting new characters via the Thing’s dismissive quip to Moon Knight, “I’m tired of all you Johnnycome-lately superheroes hornin’ in on my act! So beat it, Junior!”

Before long, Grant would write no end of scripts for Marvel, for most of its major characters. But it was on the grittier characters that he established his creative voice: the Punisher, Whisper, X, and 2 Guns, the latter of which was made into a major motion picture.

Canadian-born artist Jim Craig was the next newcomer to get a shot at drawing the Thing, paired with Grant on MTIO #52. In the mid-1970s, “I tried for months to get into Marvel,” Craig recalled to interviewer Marc Buxton in Back Issue #105 (July 2018). “And they’d say, ‘No, we don’t [have any assignments for you]. Come back in a week.’”

After being swatted away from Marvel one particular day, he tried his luck at nearby Atlas (Seaboard) Comics, a company created with clench-fisted animosity by former Marvel publisher Martin Goodman that flooded the market with Marvel knockoff titles that paid talent-stealing, higher page rates. Craig lucked into his first penciling assignment, the one-and-only issue of Atlas’ The Hands of the Dragon. His ability to render sinuous figures in energetic action poses made him a natural for superheroes, and soon Jim was snatched up by Marvel writer-editor Roy Thomas for the landmark What If? #1 (Feb. 1977), whose double-length first issue pondered, “What If Spider-Man Joined the Fantastic Four?” More Marvel work quickly followed, including Master of Kung Fu and the 3-D Man in Marvel Premiere. Editor Roger Stern assigned him the Thing/Moon Knight team-up in Marvel Two-in-One #52, followed by 1979’s double-length MTIO Annual #4, teaming the Thing and Black Bolt, the mute superman of the Inhumans.

The issue and Grant’s writing debut were well received by readers, as evidenced in #59’s letters page, where one reader presumed that “Steven Grant” was a pseudonym. According to Grant, “Steve Gerber was apparently a prime suspect, though I’ve no idea how someone could have read one of Steve’s stories and ever thought mine sprang from the same source. It’s like drinking a Mountain Dew and thinking it must be champagne in disguise.” That lettercol also featured at missive from a fan with the same name as #52’s villain: William Cross.

one. When a letter writer queried the editor in #54’s lettercol about their co-writing method, instead of an explanation he received a comically dismissive reply, “all we could get out of them was that a typewriter was involved!”

Conversely, for The Team-Up Companion Macchio was forthcoming with the mechanics of his writing partnership with Gruenwald. “Mark and I knew where we were going with the six-part storyline that followed my two-part creation of Project Pegasus right from the start,” he wrote in his 2021 email. “Mark had liked my brainchild so much that he roughed out a six-part storyline. We would then get together and verbally work out the plot for each issue in detail. Then, taking turns, we’d switch off writing the plot every other issue. When it came to the actual scripting, we switched off on different sequences. Mark wrote most of the Wundarr material, and I scripted most of the Thundra stuff. We’d get together on the other sequences and some I would write, some Mark would write. Then, we’d edit each other’s work before turning in a final script to the Two-in-One editor. It was great fun and we fed off each other’s ideas. And never was there a harsh word or ego-driven moment between us.”

Think Tank

At Last… Project Pegasus!

“When are Gruenwald, Macchio, Byrne, and Sinnott taking over?” sighed one impatient reader in the letters column of MTIO #54, who wrote to complain about issue #49 and beg for the creative team that had been promised in earlier lettercols. “I’m getting desperate.”

“Project Pegasus,” one of the crown jewels of the Marvel Twoin-One run, was a densely plotted six-part saga featuring a climactic confluence of several overlapping subplots. Previous MTIO scribe Ralph Macchio’s introduction of the New York State scientific facility/ supervillain prison P.E.G.A.S.U.S. in issue #42 caught the eye of his fellow Marvelite Mark Gruenwald, the House of Ideas’ beloved prankster and company cheerleader who was, like Macchio, early in what would become a long and distinguished career at the company as both a writer and editor—plus, he was an artist as well. Just a few of the innumerable Gruenwald achievements that would follow included his writing and penciling of a Hawkeye limited series, his scripting of the heralded Squadron Supreme 12-issue maxiseries, the conception and editorship of the encyclopedic Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe, and the longest run ever of any writer on Captain America. Gruenwald teamed with Macchio to continue the Pegasus story, their visions and voices perfectly blending into

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Michael Crichton’s bestselling novel The Andromeda Strain’s Project Wildfire inspired Ralph Macchio to create Marvel’s Project Pegasus. Crichton’s novel was adapted into this 1971 sci-fi movie shocker. © Universal Pictures. Movie poster courtesy of Heritage.

“Project Pegasus” (officially titled “The Pegasus Project” on each issue’s credits page) launched with Marvel Two-in-One #53’s (July 1979) Thing/Quasar team-up, drawn, as promised, by fanfavorite John Byrne and Marvel legend Joe Sinnott. The Thing arrived at the facility to check on Wundarr, whose uncontrollable superpowers were being studied. Ben encountered Quasar, a reimagining of the 1950s hero Marvel Boy and the new wielder of the star-siphoning Quantum Bands, as well as Dr. Thomas Lightner, the distrustful scientist last seen in MTIO #31 who clearly was up to no good. In a subplot that initially seemed inserted for comic relief but would develop into importance, Fantastic Four’s fire-haired man-basher Thundra was recruited into the wrestling circuit by a diminutive huckster named Herkimer J. Oglethorpe. The issue’s cliffhanger ending showed the cyborg combatant Deathlok lurking at Pegasus. The creative team bobbed and weaved between these diverse elements with the grace of a seasoned prizefighter, and while this inaugural issue did little beyond setting what would be an elaborate stage, its punchy dialogue and extraordinarily detailed artwork allowed Marvelites to savor each page.

The pace accelerated with Part Two, in MTIO’s #54 Thing/ Deathlok team-up, with the co-billed characters in combat, where the Thing actually bled, his rocky hide injured by Deathlok’s ray blast.

Dr. Bill (Black Goliath) Foster, erstwhile ally of original Avenger Dr. Henry (Ant-Man/Giant-Man/Yellowjacket) Pym, was revealed to be working at Pegasus, and Dr. Lightner, secretly reporting to the mysterious organization called the Nth Command, made trouble behind the scenes by setting into motion the amplification of supervillain Nuklo’s powers. Meanwhile, Thundra found herself in the wrestling ring with a quartet of wonder women called the Grapplers.

Given Gruenwald’s passion for Marvel analogs of DC characters, the Grapplers—Titania, Poundcakes, Screaming Mimi, and Letha— might be mistaken for counterparts of DC’s Female Furies—Bernadeth, Stompa, Mad Harriet, and Lashina—introduced by writer-artist Jack Kirby in DC’s Mister Miracle #6 (Jan.–Feb. 1972). According to Ralph Macchio, however, these lady wrestlers had a different origin.

“That was a joint creation, though I don’t recall who had the actual first spark of creativity there. It might have been me because I was writing the Thundra sequences and I wanted her to invade the Project with other lethal ladies, but I can’t say for certain.

“What I can state for sure is that Mark and I based every Grappler on women who were then working in the Marvel offices.

We took their personalities, character traits, and sometimes physical features and gave the reader Titania, Letha, Poundcakes, etc. I’ve rarely had so much fun writing characters as I did that crew. And that concept got picked up on later when Mike Carlin was writing what Two-in-One changed into, The Thing. We really wanted a totally unexpected enemy to invade the Project, and we got them with the Grapplers. I would’ve had a ball writing those tough gals on a monthly basis.”

When asked if the female Marvel employees knew that they had inspired these characters, Macchio laughed, “No, none of the women on staff knew they were becoming members of the Grapplers. If they had, Mark and I probably wouldn’t have been around to finish the six-part story! And yes, Poundcakes is a woman who only has a bad side, so you didn’t want to get on any side of her.”

Issue #55 is best known today as the first appearance of Bill Foster’s new identity of Giant-Man. While the Gruenwald/Macchio writing team gets the actual credit for rechristening the character from his unfortunate original name of Black Goliath, they let Ben have the honors as the Thing remarked to his towering co-star, “It’s pretty obvious you’re black—and, if I remember my Sunday School lessons, Goliath was a bad guy.”

Ben Grimm was clobbered, instead of being the clobberer, on the John Byrne/Terry Austin cover of MTIO #56 (Oct. 1979), billed as a “The Thing Battles Thundra” issue, with Thundra being duped into the foray. Byrne was nowhere to be seen in the interior pages,

(top) The Grapplers (seen here in MTIO #56) may seem like counterparts of (bottom) DC’s Female Furies (from Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle #10), but according to Ralph Macchio they were instead based upon fabulous and feisty femmes on the Marvel Comics staff.

Grapplers TM & © Marvel. Female Furies TM & © DC Comics.

however. It was announced in the previous issue’s lettercol that Byrne was leaving Two-in-One and the “Project Pegasus” saga mid-story to become the new Fantastic Four penciler. With George “Pacesetter” Pérez taking over “Pegasus” with MTIO #56, embellished by his inker of choice, Gene Day, the artwork maintained its elegance—and if anything, became more detailed with Pérez’s penchant for jam-packed imagery.

Part Five was issue #57’s Thing/Wundarr team-up, a bit of a branding cheat as Wundarr was barely involved in the issue and only appeared on the cover in an obligatory box in the lower right corner (this was addressed in #65’s lettercol, which noted that the “Two-in-One” concept sometimes referred to shared stories rather than team-ups). All of the storyline’s elements in this penultimate chapter accelerated full steam ahead, with Lightner’s machinations now involving the release of villains Klaw and Solarr, and the deeper involvement of Thundra and the Grapplers.

By the time “Project Pegasus” reached its exhilarating conclusion in Marvel Two-in-One #58, the former big-baby Wundarr had evolved, through the Cosmic Cube, into “Marvel’s latest, greatest super-star,” the Aquarian. “I am the star-child Wundarr no longer,” Aquarian maturely enunciated to his befuddled orange-skinned mentor he once called “Unca Ben.” “I have been reborn, my friend.”

All hell had broken loose by this point, with Dr. Lightner, once known as the MTIO supervillain Blacksun, now having

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metamorphosed into the living black hole called Nth Man who threatened all who encountered him, most particularly Giant-Man. The storyline’s conclusion will not be revealed here to preserve its surprises for readers who have yet to discover it. But with “Project Pegasus,” the Gruenwald/Macchio writing duo, abetted by the Byrne/ Sinnott and Pérez/Day art teams, produced an early prototype of what would later become known as the superhero “event” comics.

More from the Two-in-One ‘Twins’

Nearing the end of his stay at Marvel and headed to rival DC, Marv Wolfman plotted a slice-of-life Thing/Human Torch team-up for Marvel Two-in-One #59 (Jan. 1980), foreshadowing the “A Day in the Life” classic he would soon pen for the competition’s rebooted The New Teen Titans. With dialogue by Ralph Macchio and art by oldtimer Chic Stone and newcomer Al Gordon, #59’s tale featured Ben and Johnny meeting a fellow with a bucket list of breakneck activities he raced to accomplish before turning 30. Unfortunately, the setting of the World Trade Center casts a pall over the issue in the post-9/11 world where those twin towers and thousands of people inside were casualties to terrorism, including its now-ghoulish cover blurb, “The World Trade Center—ablaze! This is the big one!”

Thundra gets punchy! Detail from the cover of MTIO #56 (Oct. 1979). Art by John Byrne and Terry Austin.

TM & © Marvel.

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The creative team behind “Project Pegasus,” co-writers Gruenwald and Macchio and artists Pérez and Day, returned in #60 for an amusing one-issue Thing/Impossible Man team-up. Readers knew it was going to be a bad day for grumpy Mr. Grimm when the mischievous shape-changer from the planet Poppup literally popped into Ben’s life at the worst possible time— in the shower—and accompanied (disguised as his often-morphing top hat) a tuxedoed Ben when the Thing escorted his sculptress girlfriend Alicia to a gallery exhibit of her statues of FF villains… statues Mark Gruenwald. that became animated and wreaked © and courtesy of Eliot R. Brown. more havoc than the Impossible Man ever could. This issue was Roger Stern’s last as editor; his assistant editor, Jim Salicrup, took over as editor with MTIO #61.

Gruenwald solo-scripted Marvel Two-in-One #61–63, a three-parter teaming the Thing with Starhawk, Moondragon, and Warlock, respectively. In #61 (Mar. 1980), Gruenwald offered a Bride of Frankenstein–ish take on Fantastic Four #67 (Oct. 1967) with “The Coming of Her!” (a.k.a. HER), as a golden-hued beauty emerged from a cosmic cocoon in the same way “Him”—who would become known as Adam Warlock—did in that 1967 Lee and Kirby classic. Her’s emergence was significant enough an event to attract Starhawk, the ally of the future’s Guardians of the Galaxy, to Ben’s time. With Warlock having perished in Jim Starlin’s equally cosmic MTIO Annual #2, Her’s quest to resurrect her “man” did not net the results she had envisioned.

This Warlock trilogy featured the pencils of Jerry Bingham, who would soon score 1980s successes with First Comics’ Warp, followed by two critically acclaimed graphic novels, an adaptation of the epic poem Beowulf, also for First, and DC Comics’ bestselling Batman: Son of the Demon, which featured the then-controversial birth of Batman’s illegitimate child, who would later grow into fan-favorite Damian Wayne, to Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter, Talia. By the time this MTIO three-parter was published, Bingham’s art had progressed considerably beyond these sometimes-stiff pencils that were sturdied by MTIO’s inker-in-residence, Gene Day, as these issues had collected dust in the editor’s drawer for some time before publication. “The HER Trilogy was the first thing I ever plotted for Marvel, way back in April of ’78,” Mark Gruenwald penned in the letters page of MTIO #69. “When Ralph [Macchio] and I became the regular writing team for MTIO, we decided to do the Pegasus Saga first so the world would get an idea of what our joint efforts were like (and also to avoid having two space epics appear simultaneously in MTIO and FF). So… the HER story sat on the shelves for a year and a half before we decided to work it into our continuity, and give George [Pérez] a head start on the Serpent Crown Affair. Since it was all my story, we TWO-IN-ONE [T]wins decided to let me script it by my lonesome.”

The “Two-in-One Twins’” “Serpent Crown Affair!” appeared in MTIO #64–66. It began with issue #64’s Thing/Stingray team-up, with Ben being dispatched by Mister Fantastic to Hydrobase to investigate why its scientists were being mutated into amphibianmen. The storyline introduced a new Serpent Squad and their quest for the Serpent Crown, the ancient Lemurian helmet of power from Sub-Mariner and Avengers continuity. Triton of the Inhumans joined

Yabba Dabba Duo

Long before 1979’s unusual Saturday morning combo cartoon Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, celebrity guest-stars sometimes dropped in on The Flintstones. Among them was actress Ann-Margret, as Ann-Margrock, on the episode premiering on September 19, 1963. © Hanna-Barbera Productions. Cel courtesy of Heritage.

the storyline in the second installment. A mystical assist from FF supporting cast member Agatha Harkness brought in the Scarlet Witch, who had previous involvement with the Serpent Crown in Avengers. With Roxxon Oil President Hugh Jones wearing the Serpent Crown in the final installment, the U.S. Congress fell under the crown’s sinister sway in a story cover-billed as “Deadlier than Watergate! More shocking than ABSCAM!” Of all his Marvel Two-in-One contributions, “The Serpent Crown Affair!” is the favorite of writer Ralph Macchio, as it “featured a favorite superhero of mine, Stingray, and for baddies, the Serpent Squad. I loved all three parts, especially the last part in which the Thing and the Scarlet Witch have to contend with the Serpent Crown and Set himself in the halls of Congress. We went from oil derricks in the ocean to truly cosmic craziness in that final issue.

And artist Jerry Bingham did a superb job following George Pérez on that last part. Walter Newell, Stingray, was an unlikely hero and I had a blast writing his dialogue. And I always dug his visual.”

Leave it to snakes to inject venom between the writing partners.

“I think in that arc Mark and I had about the only disagreement I could recall,” Macchio said. “He wanted Anaconda to be a male, and I thought it would be cooler if she was a female, and he went along with my wishes there.”

With its compact storyline, “The Serpent Crown Affair!” proved a more satisfying saga than the protracted “Project Pegasus” storyline, which some readers felt meandered due to its enormous cast and multiple plots. One reader, in fact, remarked in the letters column of Marvel Two-in-One #66, “For all its hoopla, for all its bravado, for all its pretentious eventfulness, Project Pegasus STUNK. Peeeeeee-yoooooo!”

Artist George Pérez’s work in “The Serpent Crown Affair!” was extraordinary. He was unable to complete the tale’s conclusion, in issue #66, with returning MTIO penciler Jerry Bingham filling in. Here, Bingham’s work, inspired by Pérez’s cinematic, multi-paneled layouts and unified by the embellishments of Gene Day, excelled as well.

Ron Wilson returned to Marvel Two-in-One with issue #67 (Sept. 1980), and was well suited for its slugfest between the

Thing and Hyperion, with thundering Thundra being at the center of things. If the newer Marvel reader was unaware of Hyperion’s ancestry as a Superman clone, having originated as one of the JLA analogs the Squadron Sinister (later, the Squadron Supreme), co-writers Gruenwald and Macchio intimated that inspiration when the barrel-chested man of steel boasted to Thundra, “I’m faster than a speeding bullet!”

Readers seeking a done-in-one Thing team-up got it in the form of MTIO Annual #5, a Thing/Hulk issue written and penciled by Alan Kupperberg, with Pablo Marcos inks, which went on sale one week after MTIO #67. The Stranger and Pluto were its villains.

The Thing—in a white suit and black dress shirt apparently ordered from the Marvel Universe’s big-and-tall men’s tailor—put on his boogie shoes like Saturday Night Fever’s John Travolta on the splash page to MTIO #68, by the team of Gruenwald, Macchio, and Wilson. Dragged there by Johnny Storm, Ben felt as out of place at a Manhattan disco as “Don Knotts at a Weight Watchers meeting,” but the trendy nightspot provided a topical environment (Travolta’s disco film was nearly three years old by this point, but still ripe for parody, as seen in a hilarious flashback scene the 1980 movie Airplane!— coincidentally released the day after MTIO #68 went on sale) for Ben to cross paths with socialite Warren Worthington III, a.k.a. X-Man/ Champion the Angel. This Thing/Angel team-up involved the villain Toad-King, née the Toad of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Ben was in combat with his co-stars, one-time allies the Guardians of the Galaxy, in issue #69, enticed by time-traveler Starhawk to investigate Vance Astro’s disappearance. This story of Astro’s attempt to change his fate by altering his past was co-writers Gruenwald and Macchio’s nod to John Byrne’s similar attempt by the Thing in the landmark issue #50.

Gruenwald and Macchio brought back bargain-basement villains Shellshock and Live Wire, former flunkies of the Psycho-Man, in #70, cover-billed as a mystery team-up: the Thing and “?!” This was essentially a solo Thing story, with the Yancy Street Gang providing some off-panel assistance to their rocky-skinned frenemy… as well as a “The Thing is a butt-head” graffiti gag to conclude the story.

Perhaps the issue’s most significant development in the Thing’s ongoing saga was its resolution of a subplot started in issue #64, where Ben broke up with Alicia Masters to protect her from attacks from his foes; after several issues of bellyaching over his lost love, in #70 the Thing reconciled with his sweetheart and moved her into the safeguarded Baxter Building.

The swan song of the “Two-in-One Twins” appeared as a two-part follow-up to “The Serpent Crown Affair!” in Marvel Two-in-One #71 (Jan. 1981) and 72. The opening chapter, a Thing/Mister Fantastic team-up, had Reed Richards and scientists from Attilan, home of the Inhumans, working together to find a cure for the mutations taking place on Hydrobase. The conclusion, a Thing/Inhumans team-up, featured the return of Stingray, from the earlier saga. Ralph Macchio solo-scripted #73’s Thing/Quasar team-up, a mop-up of Project Pegasus story bits, while Mark Gruenwald wrote the doublesized #74, a “Special X-Mas Issue” with the Thing and Puppet Master combatting toy soldiers altered into deadly weapons.

Mark and Ralph, who had collectively answered readers’ queries on the letters pages during their run, said goodbye at the conclusion of #74’s lettercol. While their collaboration at times may have been too continuity-driven for the tastes of the casual reader, they indisputably imprinted Marvel Two-in-One and crafted serials with long-lasting implications within the broader Marvel Universe, particularly Project Pegasus, which has played a role in several of the Marvel Studios film adaptations.

“My greatest joy was seeing the positive response we were getting on the book,” Macchio confessed in his 2021 email to The Team-Up Companion. “Suddenly, Two-in-One was no longer a second-string title. The sales picked up and we’d developed a nice readership looking forward to what we were doing next.

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DeFalco Has a Few Things to Share

After a Marvel Two-in-One drop-in when dialoguing issue #40, writer Tom DeFalco signed on as the series’ new writer beginning with issue #75 (May 1981).

There was an initial tonal shift in DeFalco’s Marvel Two-in-One away from the gravity of the Gruenwald/ Macchio era. At face value his first issue, a double-sized edition, suggested another character-heavy serio-saga as it teamed the Thing and the Avengers. But DeFalco’s MTIO employed levity instead of urgency to springboard the Thing and company into action. “The creative challenge on a series is to understand the characters and twist the rules, restrictions, and Tom DeFalco. contrivances to your advantage,” © Marvel.

DeFalco remarked in Back Issue #66, and he did so in MTIO #75 by using a previously introduced story construct—bettin’ Benjy Grimm at a superhero poker game—as the mechanism to assemble its players.

Even after thrusting the Thing and the Avengers into the perilous Negative Zone and into conflict with the terrible trio of Annihilus, Blastaar, and the Super-Adaptoid, DeFalco’s script spoke in a playful voice that recalibrated the plot to mirror the Thing’s personality rather than, as other writers had done before him, played the Thing off the weirdness into which he was placed. From the Thing hand-clapping a sonic boom to silence the quarreling Avengers to literally laughing in the face of danger (“I’m just terrified… that I gotta listen ta another cornball crow about how gosh-darn wonderful he is!”), DeFalco’s MTIO #75 was a lark.

Issue #76 was a Thing/Iceman team-up—with Giant-Man stepping in as a third co-star—that was as fun as a day at the circus, which was its setting as its villain was perpetual Marvel loser the Ringmaster, once again under the big top with his clumsy Circus of Crime. Issue #77 certainly had its serious moments, as the Thing faced death—and the macabre Man-Thing—after a plane crash into the swamp, but its B-story—a flashback to a rollicking World War II meeting between young Ben Grimm and Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos—added good, old-fashioned “Wah-hoo!” buoyancy to the proceedings. Issue #78, a Thing/Wonder Man team-up, featured a comically cranky Ben tearing through Hollywood, perturbed that his ugly mug was appropriated for a kids superhero TV show called Monster Man. While the Thing’s teammate in #79—a

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73-year-old retired and crabby Blue Diamond, formerly of the Liberty Legion—wasn’t played for laughs, the issue’s menace, a disco-era lady Silver Surfer named Shanga, kept the story from taking itself too seriously. Even the darker-edged Thing vs. Ghost Rider MTIO #80 yarn flashed a smile at the reader with its cover depicting the flame-skulled motorcyclist racing the Thing on an FF Sky-Cycle. Tom DeFalco, occasionally accompanied by co-writer David Michelinie, was having a blast with Two-in-One. Sandwiched between MTIO #78 and 79 was MTIO Annual #6, scripted by Doug Moench, which introduced a Native-American superhero named American Eagle in a tale of tribal conflict that also involved guest-star Ka-Zar and sonic supervillain Klaw. Readers applauded the addition of what seemed to be a major character that was an American Indian, a meagerly represented culture in the Marvel Universe. “The American Eagle is a great new character!” beamed a fan letter in MTIO #87. “Maybe you could

The Partner Rides Solo

Native-American superheroes like American Eagle were predated by indigenous characters that were mostly relegated to adversarial roles in Western (cowboy) comics, although a few graduated to their own features or titles.

Despite his series’ branding as “The Lone Ranger’s Companion,” Tonto proved a capable—and popular— solo star, headlining several issues of Dell Comics’ Four Color as well as 31 issues of his own title. © Universal Studios.

TM & © Marvel.

“My biggest challenge in writing Two-in-One was to make sure that what we’d conceived in our plot sessions and were so enthusiastic about made it to the printed page as close to what Mark and I intended as possible. Luckily, we were working with some of the better pencilers in the business, Sal Buscema, George Pérez, John Byrne, and Jerry Bingham. Titans all, and they contributed enormously to bringing our vision for the series to life. And we were always challenged to ensure that the climax of each arc, the payoff, was really spectacular and satisfying. Sometimes writers will have a fine buildup to an epic’s finale and then fail to deliver in that last part. We weren’t going to let that happen on Two-in-One. “To be fair, writers such as Marv Wolfman and Bill Mantlo had done terrific multi-part sagas before us on the book and thereby raised the bar. Mark and I were determined to clear that bar and really make the series our own. We were there for the long haul. And, as it was the Thing’s book and he was a member of the Fantastic Four, we were determined to make Two-in-One every bit the equal of its parent title, Fantastic Four.”

(above) Two guys in a bar? Cover to MTIO #86 (Apr. 1982)

by Ron Wilson and Chic Stone. (below) Cover blurb from #85.

TM & © Marvel.

TM & © Marvel.

give the Eagle his own mag!” Another reader added, “He is a great achievement, and Ron Wilson should be applauded for creating him.” (Wilson, credited for envisioning the American Eagle, would later infuse more multi-ethnicity into Marvel Comics with the streetgang heroes of Wolfpack.) Despite this triumphant debut, Marvel rarely used American Eagle after his inaugural Thing team-up.

Ron Wilson, back at the MTIO drawing board, was an integral component to the success of the Tom DeFalco–written Thing teamups. Providing Kirby “krackle” to his pencils was regular inker Chic Stone, “whom I remember from the THORs of my long-departed youth” reminisced one long-time Marvel reader in #81’s lettercol.

In his late 50s at the time of his Two-in-One contributions, Stone had apprenticed in the biz back in the early Golden Age and worked steadily throughout the 1940s, leaving the flock in the 1950s to work in magazines, advertising, and television. He returned to comics during the Marvel Age boom of the 1960s, when his assignments included long stints inking Jack Kirby on Fantastic Four and the aforementioned Thor.

As DeFalco forged forward, Two-in-One’s tone darkened, in part due to the weight of inherited subplots. Project Pegasus’ Dr. Bill Foster—Giant-Man—had become a supporting cast member, and was revealed during “Project Pegasus” to be suffering from cancer attributed to radiation poisoning. DeFalco “worked out a way to resolve it over a number of issues,” he explained in Back Issue #66.

“Jim Salicrup—who was my editor—supported the idea and we sold it to [editor-in-chief Jim] Shooter.” Foster’s subplot progressed through Thing team-ups with Sub-Mariner (#81), Captain America (#82), Sasquatch (#83), and Alpha Flight (#84), climaxing with his recovery from cancer in #85. In that concluding issue, the Thing’s co-star Spider-Woman magnanimously forfeited her superpower of immunity to provide Foster’s cure. While the sparing of Giant-Man was applauded by most readers, as the lettercol of MTIO #90 showed, one reader argued a different viewpoint: “Nothing personal; I mean, I like Bill Foster and I’ve always had a weakness for size-changing characters, BUT YOU SHOULD HAVE LET GIANTMAN DIE,” contending that Foster’s passing would have added realism to Marvel’s comics. This afforded the editor an opportunity to plug the new Marvel graphic novel, The Death of Captain Marvel, where the mighty Mar-Vell succumbed to cancer.

Issue #86 (Apr. 1982) co-starred the Thing and his longtime enemy the Sandman, who had traditionally fought the Fantastic Four both as a member of the Frightful Four and as a solo villain. “I remember wanting to bring back the Sandman—who had become part of a mud monster in his last appearance,” DeFalco reminisced in Back Issue #66, citing writer Denny O’Neil’s Amazing Spider-Man #217–218 (June–July 1981), which merged supervillains Sandman

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and Hydro-Man into a single menace, the Mud-Thing. “The more I looked at the Sandman, the more I saw the similarities to Ben Grimm. It eventually struck me that these two would have, could have been friends under different circumstances.” And that’s what DeFalco deftly established in MTIO #85 as the Thing and Sandman threw back beers instead of throwing punches, with resident artists Wilson and Stone appropriately muting their normally boisterous art to accommodate the story. “I remember Shooter looking at me and saying, ‘You want to do a story about the Thing and the Sandman sitting in a bar?’ I told him it was a crazy idea, but I thought I could pull it off. Instantly seeing the creative challenge, Shooter told me to take a shot at it.” “Time Run Likes Sand” was writer DeFalco’s most critically acclaimed contribution to Marvel Two-in-One and is largely acknowledged as one of the single best issues of the series.

DeFalco’s consecutive run on MTIO ended with #87, wherein new Ant-Man Scott Lang was recruited to fetch a missing Ben Grimm from a subatomic world. Tom DeFalco wasn’t done with Thing team-ups, however, and nor was penciler Ron Wilson, but as Marvel Two-in-One marched toward its conclusion, editor Jim Salicrup lined up other writers and artists to chronicle the Thing’s adventures.

A Few Other Things Along the Way

David Anthony Kraft was the next writer to arrive, and in Marvel Two-in-One #88 (June 1982), he was accompanied by She-Hulk.

In a pink Cadillac.

The “Savage” She-Hulk drove her pink Caddy into a Thing team-up in issue #88 (June 1982). Detail from the cover by Alan Kupperberg and Frank Giacoia.

TM & © Marvel.

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Kraft had just laid to rest the Incredible Hulk’s cousin’s own series, having followed Stan Lee, who wrote issue #1 of The Savage She-Hulk, as the writer of the Green Giantess’ title from issue #2 until its conclusion with issue #25 (Feb. 1982). “I was trying to compress to into my She-Hulk run where she would have evolved to if she’d come about in the ’60s,” Kraft explained in Back Issue #66, “and when I’d finally got to where I wanted to be, they cancelled it … aaaargh!” Instead of banishing She-Hulk to limbo, however, Marvel was transitioning her from solo star to team player, and her team-up with the Thing in #88 was a stop along a road that would soon stretch to The Avengers (and later, The Fantastic Four). As he had done with his previous foray into Two-in-One with issue #41’s appearance of Idi Amin, Kraft once again borrowed from real world headlines in #88. “I’ve been trying to warn people about nuclear power for as long as I’ve been doing comics,” Kraft recalled. “I did it more than once, I also did it in The Defenders, and so that She-Hulk and Thing story was also serving another purpose”—a twist on the near-miss nuclear accident at Three Mile Island, with the Thing and She-Hulk stopping a supervillain from wiping out Southern California by detonating the Diablo reactor.

Issue #88 is also remembered by many fans for She-Hulk’s wheels in the issue—a 1957 pink Cadillac, her compensation for starring in a television commercial for Wacky Willie’s Used Cars, which promised “deals that are super-hero sweet!” The pink Cadillac became iconic in popular culture in 1955 when megastar Elvis Presley bought his first of a reported three pink Cadillacs, a white-topped Cadillac Fleetwood that became a favorite among paparazzi. Post-Elvis, the pink Cadillac continued to inspire artisans: both Bruce Springsteen (“Pink Cadillac,” 1984) and Aretha Franklin (“Freeway of Love [in a Pink Cadillac],” 1985) sang about the classic car, and director Clint Eastwood lionized it in the 1989 film, Pink Cadillac. Pink Caddies have also become status symbols coveted by competitive Mary Kay cosmetic salespersons.

Kraft was back in MTIO #89, a Thing/Human Torch team-up, where the scribe once again borrowed from the pages of his lamented Savage She-Hulk book—this time repurposing two villains, the smooth-talking demagogue called the Word, and his mighty daughter, Ultima.

Next Jan Strnad wrote a standalone issue of MTIO, #90’s Thing/Spider-Man team-up set at a Renaissance fair where two actual sorcerers were engaged in supernatural combat. Strnad had only a few comics scripts to his credit at this time, mostly horror tales for Warren Publishing, but would follow up Two-in-One with DC’s Sword of the Atom, Marvel’s Stalkers, Dark Horse’s Star Wars, and a lengthy stint as an animation writer.

An unofficial Marvel/DC crossover occurred in MTIO #91, as Batman co-starred with the Thing.

Not really, but that’s what the ingenious cover led readers to believe, as Ben Grimm faced an off-panel opponent who cast a familiar pointy-eared shadow. That shadow belonged to the Sphinx, the Egyptian-inspired supervillain, in what was, more or less, a solo Thing story. Writer Tom DeFalco returned to the title with this issue, and was back with #92 and 93, a two-part story teaming the Thing, the robotic Avenger Jocasta, and Machine Man in a clash with the resurrected metal menace Ultron. Dave Kraft dropped back in for MTIO #94, where he teamed the Thing with Marvel’s Heroes for Hire, Power Man and Iron Fist, in a story that embraced the newly emerging trend of arcade video games. Issue #95 was an offbeat pairing of the Thing and the Living Mummy, with Ben’s girlfriend Alicia donning an ancient Egyptian headpiece and being possessed by its dark powers.

TM & © Marvel.

Marvel Two-in-One was showing its age at this late stage of its life. Writers were rotating in and out as routinely as were the Thing’s co-stars, and regular artist Ron Wilson was often spelled by fill-in penciler Alan Kupperberg. A succession of inkers, sometimes multiple ones in a single issue, robbed the book of its previous periods of consistency. MTIO transitioned between editors as well, tossed like a hot potato from Jim Salicrup to Tom DeFalco to Linda Grant to Al Milgrom in its final issues.

Luckily, writer Tom DeFalco and penciler Ron Wilson were in the Thing’s corner for a one-two punch that proved to be MTIO’s penultimate hurrah. First came 1982’s Marvel Two-inOne Annual #7, which starred the Thing accompanied by a fistful of Marvel’s heaviest hitters—Thor, Doc Samson, the Hulk, Colossus, Sub-Mariner, Sasquatch, and Wonder Man—in a tale reminiscent of DC Comics’ landmark Superman vs. Muhammad Ali one-shot. “The Rocky movies were all the rage and boxing was on everyone’s mind,” DeFalco recalled in Back Issue #66.

“For a brief moment, everyone thought they had what it took to go the distance. As someone who has often struggled to find the finish line, I decided to do a story about the mind and determination of a true jock.”

In this double-length tale, an interplanetary boxing promoter named Proja recruited Ben Grimm and his aforementioned co-stars off-world to see which hero had the eye of the tiger to last in the ring with a powerful pugilist aptly named Champion.

Like the movies’ punch-drunk Rocky Balboa, who refused to stand down in the ring against more seasoned opponents, the Thing’s unconquerable resolve helped him go the distance in splendidly rendered fight scenes. “Jim Shooter, Ralph Macchio, and I used to box, hang out, and watch boxing matches at Ralph Macchio’s house,” artist Ron Wilson recalled in Back Issue #28. On the heels of this Annual, DeFalco and Wilson reunited for a lighter-toned follow-up. In Marvel Two-in-One #96’s (Feb. 1983) “Visiting Hours,” the hospitalized Thing, licking his wounds from his fight with Champion, couldn’t get a moment’s rest due to interruptions from well-meaning superhero visitors and a steady stream of super-foes eager to strike Ben while he was down.

David Micheline wrote issue #97’s Thing/Iron Man team-up, a sequel to the Hollywood-based Wonder Man story in issue #78, as well as #98’s Thing/Franklin Richards tale—sold to the reader by a cover solo-featuring the Thing—that once again used video games as its subject. Bill Mantlo was back at his typewriter for issue #99’s team-up of the Thing and ROM: Spaceknight, star of the toy tie-in comic that Mantlo had turned into a fan-favorite title for Marvel.

Each story was an enjoyable diversion, but their creativeteam instability made MTIO feel like Marvel’s Tired Inventory Outings.

John Byrne, as writer, brought Marvel Two-in-One to a satisfying end with issue #100 (June 1983), teaming the Thing with the Ben Grimm of the alternate timeline created

by Thing’s visit to his past in 1979’s issue #50. The Red Skull and his Nazi army had overtaken that alternate world, and many of its superheroes had become freedom fighters. Despite its inclusion of numerous

Who’s the Co-Star Here?

While the Thing dominated his MTIO team-ups, Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny commanded the exact same amount of screen time in their unforgettable meeting in 1988’s live actionanimation hybrid and box-office smash, Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Free-falling with them is Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant.

Mickey Mouse and Roger Rabbit © Disney. Bugs Bunny © Warner Bros.

Cel courtesy of Heritage.

guest-stars, both from the Thing’s world and Ben Grimm’s grim dystopia, issue #100, nicely illustrated by Ron Wilson, was, like several other MTIOs before it, a Thing solo story featuring co-stars. The character’s next lease on life, charted by scribe Byrne, followed #100 one month later with the premiere of The Thing #1 (July 1983), an actual solo series.

Yet before long, Byrne ran into trouble on The Thing, and he later blogged the confession, “it was hard to come up with a good Thing story which was not, by definition, a good FF story.” Unlike The Brave and the Bold’s star Batman, who began as a solo figure and later became a team player in Justice League of America and Batman and the Outsiders, the Thing was inseparably tethered to Marvel’s first “family,” the Fantastic Four. Almost every issue of Marvel Two-in-One featured a cameo by at least one of the FF, most frequently Mister Fantastic. The Thing rarely had the opportunity to stand on his own.

Nevertheless, Marvel Two-in-One was responsible for some of the Bronze Age’s most enjoyable diversions, and its lumpy but loveable star made it a gateway series for many new Marvelites.

When drawing convention sketches and commissions today, fans “all want the Thing,” Ron Wilson laughed in Back Issue #28. “‘Do the Thing, do the Thing!’ But it’s nice. People come up to me all the time and say, ‘Hey, you made my childhood!’”

Ralph Macchio remains similarly affectionate about the book, saying in 2021, “[Mark Gruenwald and I] always kept in mind that this was Ben Grimm’s series, so no matter how outrageous a storyline got, the Thing was at the heart of the action and would always play a pivotal role in the story’s outcome. And with his gruff demeanor and sense of humor, who’s more fun to write than Benjamin J. Grimm?”

Chapter 5: Marvel Two -in-One

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The first—and only—“fast-shooting issue” of Western Team-Up, #1 (Nov. 1973).

Cover by Larry Lieber (with a John Romita, Sr. facial alteration on the Dakota Kid).

TM & © Marvel.

The wild, wild West was never wilder than it was at Marvel Comics! The publisher’s posse of Western comic books prospered in the 1950s, filled with gunslingers that were throwbacks to the cowboy shoot-’em-ups from the movie houses and radio airwaves of the 1930s and 1940s. With pure hearts and lightning-fast trigger fingers, these Old West heroes—a few of whom were masked—often found themselves wrongly accused of crimes and wanted, dead or alive: Kid Colt Outlaw, the Rawhide Kid, the Two-Gun Kid, the Outlaw Kid, the Ringo Kid, the Western Kid… even the Apache Kid (“Indian or White Man?” asked its covers). No, I’m not done yet. Marvel also had the Prairie Kid, the Gunsmoke Kid, the Texas Kid, the Arizona Kid, the Yahoo Kid, and—no kidding—the Hair-Trigger Kid. And when Mighty Marvel wasn’t “Kid”ding around, they published the adventures of the Black Rider, Gunhawk, Arrowhead, Matt Slade, the coonskin-capped Davy Crocket rip-off Billy Buckskin, and Wyatt Earp and Annie Oakley, too.

In the 1960s, with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby producing many of Marvel’s Western tales while simultaneously building their superhero universe, some of the tropes of the emerging Marvel Age could be spied in the pages of books like Kid Colt Outlaw and The Rawhide Kid. Thanks to the monster mania of the late 1950s and early 1960s, creatures were on the loose in Mighty Marvel’s Westerns. Ghosts scared up trouble in its towns and valleys (although despite terrifying depictions on the covers they were usually bedsheet-draped malcontents trying to spook someone away from their territory, prescient of a Scooby-Doo villain), and badlands beasts like Warroo the Witch Doctor and the Terrible Totem trudged forth. The bank robbers, bounty hunters, stagecoach bandits, bushwhackers, fast-draw wannabes, and cattle rustlers that routinely blasted at Marvel’s cowboys were soon joined by Western-era Marvel supervillains, disguised desperados like the Doctor Doom–ish Iron Mask, the Bat, the Fat Man, the Rattler, Doctor Danger, the Invisible Gunman, the Purple Phantom, and felons with well-traveled Marvel appellations such as the Circus of Crime, the Panther, Goliath, and the Scorpion. There was even a flying, winged Red Raven and a super-gorilla, the Ape! A few of Marvel’s cowboys, mainly the tall, scrappy, blond-locked Kid Colt Outlaw and the short, scrappy, red-headed Rawhide Kid, would occasionally unite, establishing that Marvel’s Old West was a shared universe like its modern world of the Fantastic Four and Iron Man. And when the rights lapsed to a Golden Age character originally published by Magazine Enterprises, Marvel added to its stable Ghost Rider #1 (Feb. 1967). “The World’s Most Mysterious Western Hero,” this ghostly gunslinger blended its Old West setting with supernatural superheroics in the spirit of DC’s the Spectre.

The Old West Becomes the New West

As the 1960s ended, Westerns fell out of favor among the American public. Cowboy movies were becoming rare, and the ones that were produced reflected the changing mores of contemporary culture, with conflicted antiheroes (Clint Eastwood’s grizzled “The Man with No Name” in director Sergio Leone’s Italian-produced “spaghetti Westerns”; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and ultra-violence (The Wild Bunch) supplanting the interchangeable, white-hatted good guy and bloodless gun battles of the traditional “oater.” Television, which had once embraced the Old West, now aimed its sights on hip, metropolitan-set programming, with only the long-running Gunsmoke and Bonanza surviving, and the occasional modern-tinged newbie like Alias Smith and Jones and Kung Fu galloping in for short runs.

CHAPTER 6

Two Kids are Better Than One

Network execs even turned tail and skedaddled away from any non-urban show with a cast member in dungarees, with CBS axing its spate of popular rural-set comedies (The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry R.F.D., etc.) in its infamous “Great Rural Purge.” For the young’uns, superheroes, martial arts, and science fiction now captured their imaginations, and hardly any boy played “Cowboys and Indians” any more.

Marvel’s Western line endured throughout the early 1970s, although its titles were neutered to reprint books—Kid Colt Outlaw, The Rawhide Kid, Two-Gun Kid, The Outlaw Kid, The Ringo Kid, the anthologies The Mighty Marvel Western and Western Gunfighters, and a few other flash-in-the-pans—that were shelf-fillers in the publisher’s high-noon market showdown with DC Comics and other competitors to crowd the racks with as much product as possible.

These comics often merely reprinted the original source’s 1950s or 1960s cover art, albeit newly recolored. Some of the duller cover images from yesteryear were jazzed up under the art direction of John Romita, Sr., who commissioned dynamic new cover art more

With trailblazers like Dell’s Lobo, Marvel’s Gunhawks, DC’s gritty Jonah Hex, and Charlton’s Kung Fu–contemporary Yang, comic books of the late Silver and early Bronze Ages began to reimagine the traditional Western story.

Gunhawks TM & © Marvel. Jonah Hex and Weird Western Tales TM & © DC Comics.

Western Team-Up TM & © Marvel. Original art courtesy of Heritage.

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in tune with the company’s superhero line, from seasoned superhero artists like Herb Trimpe and Gil Kane. Further blurring the demarcation between Marvel’s superhero comics and its cowboy comics was the “In the Style of a Western SPIDER-MAN” blurb plastered beside the logo of 1972 issues of The Outlaw Kid, which had recently been revived as a reprint title.

Despite Marvel’s repackaging of yesterday’s pistol-packers, there were attempts to contemporize the genre. The aforementioned Western Gunfighters—which reused a 1950s Marvel series’ name—started as a 25-cent, 64-page book, its first issue cover-dated August 1970, that mixed new and reprinted tales.

The new features in issue #1 took risks with subject matter uncommon to the standard stories found in Marvel’s other cowboy books: the eerie frontier-fighter Ghost Rider; Gunhawk, a no-nonsense, ebon-clad hired gun billed as “a new breed of Western hero from Mighty Marvel”; “Tales of Fort Rango,” post–Civil War U.S. Cavalry shoot-’em-ups; and the Renegades, a quartet of cutthroats and losers branded as traitors but secretly working for the government to defend the Alamo. Reprints promptly began to edge out the new stories, and issue #7 (Jan. 1972) was the last to include new tales of Ghost Rider and Gunhawk, the book switching entirely to reprints with issue #8 until the end of its run, #33 (Nov. 1975). After issue #7’s appearance of Ghost Rider, incidentally, Marvel would appropriate that character’s name for its new monster-hero, the fiery-skulled, motorcycling Spirit of Vengeance, who blazed into print in Marvel Spotlight #5 (Aug. 1972) and soon spun off into his own popular book. The Western Ghost Rider would be renamed Night Rider.

Roy Thomas introduced Red Wolf, an American-Indian “superhero,” into The Avengers #80 (Sept. 1970), with artists John Buscema and Tom Palmer. “Native Americans’ rights and protests were in the news, so I thought it was time,” Thomas recalled to John Schwirian in Back Issue #42 (Aug. 2010). Red Wolf, sporting a ceremonial wolf headdress, was a Native-American twist on the Phantom, with different Red Wolfs appearing throughout history.

An Old West version was soon introduced in Marvel Spotlight #1 (Nov. 1971), followed by a Red Wolf solo series.

Then there was Marvel’s new title Gunhawks (no relation to the Gunhawk from Western Gunfighters). Writer Gary Friedrich’s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid-meets-Brian’s Song mash-up co-starred Kid Cassidy, a white cowboy, and Reno Jones, an AfricanAmerican range-rider and freed slave, “two young orphans of the War Between the States.” With its final issue, #7 (Oct. 1973), Kid Cassidy got the boot and the title became Reno Jones, Gunhawk, making it an early comic book with a headliner of color, filling the spurred boots vacated by Dell Comics’ ambitious 1965–1966 Western Lobo, by D. J. Arneson and Tony Tallarico, historically noted as the first comic to solo-star a black hero (biographical adaptations aside).

Similarly, competitor DC Comics was reinventing its Westerns.

Its late-1960s entry Bat Lash, featuring extraordinary art by Nick Cardy, starred a nuanced trouble-prone protagonist. It was followed in the early 1970s by a reimagined All-Star Western series, which premiered the features “El Diablo,” an eerie take on Zorro, and “Outlaw,” a bandit son pursued by a lawman father. With its tenth issue, All-Star Western debuted John Albano and Tony DeZuniga’s brutal bounty hunter Jonah Hex, a scarred, sympathetic character cut more from the cloth of director Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch than the 1952 classic High Noon. Jonah Hex would go on to become a long-running hit. Even also-ran publisher Charlton Comics, known more for its cookie-cutter–produced rip-offs than for its originality, added two innovative new Westerns—Geronimo Jones, starring a vengeful nomad, and Yang, an inventive martial-arts Western— alongside its old-time cowboy books Billy the Kid and The Cheyenne Kid.

Rescue from Inventory Gulch

It was into this climate in comics’ early Bronze Age that Marvel introduced Western Team-Up (WTU) #1 (Nov. 1973). Instead of parroting the emerging trend of realistic, gritty cowboys, WTU instead hitched a ride on the superhero wagon. An unabashed Marvel Team-Up clone, even down to its logo design, WTU #1 premiered in the same month that saw the releases of Marvel Team-Up #15 and the second installment of the new Thing team-up series in Marvel Feature #12. The Brave and the Bold was also performing very well for Marvel’s top competitor, DC. Team-up comic books were hot.

“I’m afraid I have no memory whatever of Western Team-Up,” the comic’s editor, Roy Thomas, also Marvel’s editor-in-chief at the time, admitted in a September 6, 2021 email. “It was almost certainly a comic Stan put on the schedule after he became publisher-president, a way of hopefully generating just a little bit of coin to help pay for the new ‘infrastructure’ Marvel would need as it became a separate company from Magazine Management.”

Western Team-Up #1 paired the longtime headliner Rawhide Kid with a newcomer called the Dakota Kid (real name: Cliff Morgan), no relation to Dakota Thompson, from a Stan Lee/Dick Ayers story in Two-Gun Kid #74 (Mar. 1965) that had recently been reprinted in Two-Gun Kid #107 (Nov. 1972). This latest of Marvel’s revolvingsaloon-door of “Kids” was a brand-new gunslinger with the roughshod look of an 1870s frontiersman but the brash attitude of a 1970s protestor. On the Larry Lieber/Vince Colletta cover, the Dakota Kid stood side-by-side—although a good head size taller—with the plucky Rawhide Kid as pistol-blazing pursuers encircled them. Both characters were dynamically posed in shots that could have easily been lifted for reuse on a 7-Eleven Slurpee cup. But Dakota’s pessimistic word balloon belied his confident posture and the stoic, chisel-jawed features of a face unmistakably redrawn by Marvel art director John Romita, Sr.: “We’re surrounded, Kid! We’ve had it!”

The Dakota Kid was right—this Larry Lieber. was the end of the line for him. No © Marvel. (spoiler alert!), Dakota wasn’t shot to pieces in the scene depicted on the cover, but his tryout as the co-star of one of Mighty Marvel’s most popular Western stars went nowhere. WTU #1’s “Ride the Lawless Land,” written and penciled by Lieber and inked by Colletta, was a routine tale, one you had read or seen a hundred times, about a young hothead who got into trouble when trying to avenge his brother’s murder. It was only 14 pages long, with a reprint fleshing out the rest of the book—a lackluster launch by superhero-comic readers’ standards.

The Dakota Kid never really had a chance. Neither did Western Team-Up, which was quickly cancelled after its first—and only— issue. “Stan must’ve decided very quickly, though, that, based on projected sales of other Westerns, the comic wouldn’t work, so he killed it,” according to Roy Thomas.

The first thing working against Western Team-Up was that Marvel basically snuck the first issue onto the stands with zero fanfare, outside of a “FIRST Fast-Shooting Issue!” cover blurb. There was no house ad or teaser in other Marvel books. Marvel’s sole announcement for it appeared in the Mighty Marvel Checklist on the “Bullpen Bulletins” page in the company’s November 1973 cover-dated releases. There, buried within a tightly squeezed list of upcoming books, was “WESTERN TEAM-UP #1 (a newie co-starring the Rawhide Kid and—guess who!).” (It might be argued that the “guess

TV Western Team-Up

In the late 1950s–early 1960s, crossovers were common between Warner Bros.’ Western television series, prompting this promotional shot of the studio’s popular gunslingers. (left to right) Will Hutchins (Sugarfoot), Peter Brown (Lawman), Jack Kelly (Maverick), Ty Hardin (Bronco), James Garner (Maverick), Wayde Preston (Colt .45), and John Russell (Lawman). © Warner Bros.

who” quip backfired, since it implied that Rawhide Kid would team with a previously established Western character… so how could a Marvel maniac “guess” a character that had never before been seen??)

There were precious few fanzines during the day, and among them appeared the sole mention of WTU #1 outside of the easy-tomiss Mighty Marvel Checklist item. “There wasn’t much there,” according to comics historian John Wells, who kindly perused his collection of 1973 fanzines for The Team-Up Companion in search of Western Team-Up notices. “Comixscene and (surprisingly) Marvel’s own FOOM didn’t discuss Westerns at all!” But Wells found the following report in June 1973’s The Comic Reader #98: “Western Team-Up will feature the Rawhide Kid and rotating partners. The Gunhawk mess will be solved in this one. #1 features Rawhide and the Dakota Kid… it’s an inventory story from before RK went all-reprint. Larry Lieber script & art.” This blurb was penned by future DC Comics head honcho and writer Paul Levitz, at the time a teenaged fanzine editor who routinely received information on upcoming comic releases direct from the publishers themselves.

Levitz’s 1973 discovery of what was then one of numerous news items for the approximate 3,000 readers of The Comic Reader today provides valuable insight into the rapid premiere of Western Team-Up. At the time of WTU #1’s release, The Rawhide Kid had recently switched to an all-reprint format, having previously featured an all-new lead story and reprint backups—the new tales being 14 pages, like WTU #1’s “Ride the Lawless Land.” George Roussos was the regular inker of writer-penciler Lieber’s new tales in The Rawhide Kid #115 (Sept. 1973), which was not quite two months old when Western Team-Up #1 arrived (issue #115 featured the book’s last new story, appropriately titled “The Last Gunfight”).

WTU #1’s “Ride the Lawless Land” was fetched from its dusty shelf

Chapter 6: Western Team-Up

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Hi-yo, Hair of Gold!

for a fun Kung Fu pastiche in a Rawhide Kid/Master of Kung Fu team-up. Imagine a multi-part storyline featuring Marvel’s chronal criminal Kang the Conqueror, threading through several issues and involving a range of time-displaced heroes in the Old West… or taking the Rawhide Kid into contemporary times, or to the Savage Land in a Rawhide Kid/Ka-Zar team-up. And had Western Team-Up opened up its roster to rotate its lead spot beyond the Rawhide Kid, not only could Marvel have played “mix and match” with its Old West stars (Kid Colt Outlaw/Outlaw Kid, or a Lone Rangerand-Tonto nod with a Two-Gun Kid/Red Wolf team-up), but occasionally involved them with the “future” Marvel Universe, with Night Rider/Ghost Rider being an obvious duo.

Not long after WTU’s cancellation, Marvel—or at least scribe Steve Englehart— realized the appeal of superheroes meeting cowboys.

Englehart penned “Go West, Young Gods” in The Avengers #142 (Dec. 1975), which took superhero-deities Thor and Moondragon—and ultimately their Avengers teammates—to the Old West for a showdown with Mighty Marvel’s assembled gunfighters: Two-Gun Kid, Rawhide Kid, Kid Colt Outlaw, the Ringo Kid, and Night Rider. Emerging from this George Pérez/Vince Colletta–drawn issue was an ongoing storyline involving the partnership between Marvel’s masked man, the Two-Gun Kid, and the Avengers’ amazing archer, Hawkeye, which led to the Two-Gun Kid having some “modern day” adventures alongside his arrow-slinging buddy including a bonus story that appeared in 1978’s Marvel Tales #100.

Western Team-Up, however, has earned a spot in comics history mainly as a cross-genre oddity. Its co-star, the Dakota Kid, was lassoed into limbo, save for a single encyclopedic entry in Marvel’s 2006 one-shot, Marvel Westerns: Outlaw Files.

Shoot-Out at Giant-Size Gulch

Superman and Wonder Woman weren’t the only heroes dropping in on the Saturday morning cartoon, The Brady Kids (see Chapter 2). In the episode “Long Gone Silver” (original airdate September 30, 1972), the Lone Ranger and Tonto teamed with the groovy young Bradys. © Paramount Television. The Lone Ranger © Universal Studios.

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Stan Lee may have instantly put Western Team-Up out of its misery, but editor Roy Thomas’ affection for prairie-partnerships led to a Kid Colt Outlaw/Rawhide Kid team-up published around a year later. The source was Giant-Size Kid Colt #1 (Jan. 1975), part of Marvel’s “Giant-Size” initiative of double-sized books that is explained in this volume’s Giant-Size Spider-Man exploration in the Marvel Team-Up chapter.

WTU #1’s Lieber/Colletta creative team was responsible for the Kid Colt/Rawhide Kid team-up that headlined Giant-Size Kid Colt (GSKC) #1, a story titled “Meet the Manhunter!” Since Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid are both outlaw heroes, the adventure’s “villain” was a good guy, a recently retired detective named Sam Murdock, who opted for bounty hunting instead of fishing as his silver-years hobby, going after the co-star Kids. Weighing in at only 15 pages (the rest of the issue was reprints), “Meet the Manhunter!” was a comparable length to the other previously unpublished tales that had earlier gone into inventory when the Marvel Westerns transitioned to all-reprint status. Several online commentators have theorized that the story was conceived for the pre-reprint Kid Colt Outlaw book, and others have guessed that it was intended for the aborted Western Team-Up. The comic’s editor, Roy Thomas, confessed to The Team-Up Companion that he had “no memory” of this long-ago book, but that “it might very well have been” an inventory story that finally saw print. “But I couldn’t swear to it.”

TM & © Marvel.

in Marvel’s inventory, and instead of being written off as a loss for The Rawhide Kid it rode off into the sunset as WTU’s single issue.

While it might have been a fast-draw attempt to pass off an inventory story as something new to make a quick buck, evidence suggests that there was a little thought put into the continuation of Western Team-Up beyond its Rawhide Kid/Dakota Kid premiere.

The Comic Reader #98’s remark about the “Gunhawk mess” referred to the aforementioned Gunhawk #7, which was abruptly cancelled mid-story, its final page leaving neo-headliner Reno Jones in the pokey, slated for the hangman’s noose. This stillunresolved cliffhanger was punctuated by an end blurb that promised, “And if you bronco busters out there wanna know how this all turns out—pick up Western Teamup [sic]—’cause pretty soon that’s where our hero will meet up with… the Rawhide Kid! ’Til then, adios!” With WTU’s quick cancellation, the Rawhide Kid/ Reno Jones issue of Western Team-Up was a broken promise.

“Too bad…” lamented WTU editor Roy Thomas in his email.

“I always loved the idea of teaming up Marvel’s various Western heroes, even if the less-timely modes of transportation at the time made it more difficult than in Marvel Team-Up.” Had circumstances allowed more tender loving care to be administered, the superhero-ish branding of Western Team-Up might have provided a sorely needed shot in the arm for Marvel’s ailin’ cowboy comics. Even if the Rawhide Kid had remained the title’s “SpiderMan,” ongoing WTU story arcs in the spirit of Marvel-Two-in-One’s “Project Pegasus” might have enticed readers to stick around.

There was also untapped potential to tie into the larger Marvel Universe. Characters prone to time travel—the Fantastic Four, Doctor Doom, Deathlok—could have dropped in for an Old West tale, or Shang-Chi’s discovery of a time portal would have allowed

GSKC #2, like issue #1, featured a mix of stories new and old, but featured no team-up.

That changed with issue #3 (July 1975), whose main attraction was a Kid Colt/Night Rider team-up packaged under an exciting Gil Kane cover. As with WTU #1’s cover, GSKC #3’s cover featured its stars surrounded by encroaching gunmen. While Lieber and Colletta’s WTU cover was classically staged, with its heroes facing front, Kane’s GSKC cover cleverly created the illusion of motion. From Kid Colt in the foreground, firing off-panel to the right at unseen but intimated adversaries, to the action of the horseback-riding Night Rider in the mid-ground, daringly barreling ahead as his foes shot at him from the receding background, Kane’s cover elevated the reader’s pulse with an unbridled splash of Mighty Marvel action.

Further upping the ante was the cover copy: The Dakota Kid was ready to throw in the towel on WTU #1’s cover, but here, the “Spook-man” (as Kid Colt called him) pledged, in an eerily lettered word balloon, “Then our only way out of here is to SHOOT our way out!” Writer Gary Friedrich’s story, “Death Duel with Dack Derringer,” similarly enthralled, with a relentless Night Rider pursuing the desperado who shot and wounded Kid Colt. This Kid Colt/Night Rider team-up finally lived up to the potential of what Western Team-Up could have been… …but it came too late. Soon thereafter, Marvel abandoned its Giant-Size line, with Giant-Size Kid Colt #3 rounding up that series’ short run.

On its heels rode Kid Colt Outlaw #201 (Dec. 1975), which broke its tradition of representing Western stories of yesterday with an all-new 20-page story guest-starring the Rawhide Kid, teaming

Kid Colt “pardnered” up with his old frenemy the Rawhide Kid and the eerie Night Rider in issues #1 (Jan. 1975) and 3 (July 1975) of Giant-Size Kid Colt. Covers by Lieber and Colletta and Gil Kane, respectively.

TM & © Marvel.

up the two popular co-stars once again. Given the story’s page length and its creative team of Gary Friedrich, writer, and Dick Ayers, artist—the same collaborators on the Kid Colt/Night Rider team-up—it is very likely this story was produced for Giant-Size Kid Colt #4, which was never published. The fact that this Kid Colt/Rawhide Kid story so quickly followed the publication of that same duo in the Giant-Size series’ first issue suggests that GSKD #1’s story was a Rawhide Kid inventory tale—it was the same length (14 pages) and by the same writer-penciler (Larry Lieber) of The Rawhide Kid’s all-new lead stories, and it seems unlikely that Roy Thomas or subsequent editor Len Wein would commission two new Kid Colt/Rawhide Kid team-ups in such short order.

By the late 1970s, science fiction was the new successful subgenre in Marvel’s lineup. With licensed books like Star Wars and Battlestar Galactica added to the company’s burgeoning schedule, keeping the underperforming Westerns alive would have been, if you’ll forgive the pun, like beating a dead horse.

By 1979 all of the longtime Westerns had been cancelled. Marvel has dabbled with the Old West off and on in subsequent decades, but historically, the mid-1970s was when the Rawhide Kid and his “pardners” rode off into the sunset.

Chapter 6: Western Team-Up

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You call this a team-up? Doom and Namor are at odds in Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (Aug. 1975), the series’ second #1! Cover by John Buscema and Frank Giacoia.

TM & © Marvel.

By today’s standards, Marvel Comics’ Super-Villain Team-Up series doesn’t seem like an imprudent idea.

Marvel and DC rogues and rabble-rousers have starred in their own films, including two Venom and Suicide Squad movies, and both Joaquin Phoenix and the late Heath Ledger have been awarded Oscars® for portraying the Joker in cinema. At your friendly neighborhood comic shop, Kang the Conqueror and Black Manta are among the series starring supervillains being published at the time of this writing.

That was not the world of late 1974, however. History may deem the mid-1970s as part of the Bronze Age of Comics, but regarding the industry’s rules and practices, it was still within the “Comics Code Age.” The Comics Code Authority—the watchdog board of busybodies foisted upon funnybooks in the 1950s after a priggish psychologist named Frederic Wertham tried to pin the supposed waywardness of a generation upon Bruce and Dick’s palatial cohabitation and the gruesomeness of horror comics—placed comic books’ content under a strict protocol. It was decreed that villains must clearly pay a price for their wayward behavior, which tightened a noose around their use in serialized storytelling. Besides, Nobody wants to read a book starring bad guys, proclaimed the prevailing wisdom. Villains don’t play well with others. They’re notoriously egocentric, and as a result often paranoid, untrustworthy, and duplicitous—the guys you boo and hiss at each issue. They’re simply not the protagonists.

So the very notion of a book called “Super-Villain Team-Up” seemed as half-cocked as the machinations of whatever armored despot or lunatic in a lab coat might concoct in the latest four-color edition of Your Favorite Superhero’s Name Here.

Then again, some might have thought it mad to make a Mr. Hyde superhero out of a gamma-irradiated Dr. Jekyll, or a web-slinging superhero patterned after a creepy crawler that made most people jump out of their skins.

Super-Villain Team-Up “was Stan Lee’s idea. At least that’s the way I remember it,” Marvel’s editor-inchief at the time of the book’s launch, Roy Thomas, recalled to Lex Carson in Back Issue #66. “Stan picked [original series stars Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom] because they were both stars in their own right who might carry a title. So why not team them up?”

Namor and Doom were indeed troublemakers with marquee value: Sub-Mariner was the very first super“hero” of Marvel’s Golden Age who headlined his own series for many years. Victor von Doom, sworn foe of the Fantastic Four, was, bar none, the premier villain of the Marvel Age of Comics. During the infancy of the Marvel Age—the 1960s—Subby and Doom were the first bad guys to join forces against a common enemy, in Fantastic Four #6 (Sept. 1962). Both were arrogant monarchs, Namor of the sunken aquatic world of Atlantis, and Doctor Doom, the lord of the nation of Latveria. Their paths continued to cross upon occasion, with tempers flaring and sparks flying. When Stan got the notion to pair them off in Super-Villain Team-Up, both were homeless: Doctor Doom, an early Bronze Age headliner in his own short-lived feature that began in Astonishing Tales #1 (Aug. 1970), was squeezed out of that mag after eight issues by his co-feature, Ka-Zar, who took over the entirety of the book. The Sub-Mariner had recently been cancelled with issue #72 (Sept. 1974), and with the addition of Nighthawk to The Defenders, founding Defender Namor was deep-sixed from that super-team title as well.

So Stan the Man wanted a new comic that combined the two hottest heads of the Marvel Universe (notwithstanding the Human Torch). An ongoing “team-up” between Doctor Doom and Sub-Mariner would immediately prime the reader for conflict… and isn’t that what the Marvel Age of Comics was all about, from its quarrelsome good guys to its backstabbing bad guys? Maybe Super-Villain Team-Up wasn’t such an imprudent idea after all!

CHAPTER 7

Marvel Brings on the Bad Guys—Side-by-Side

Giant-Sized Headache

The new series launched as one of an initiative of “Giant-Size” Marvel titles that debuted in 1974. As explored in detail in this volume’s Marvel Team-Up essay, most of Marvel’s Giant-Size books were quarterly, double-length companions to the company’s most popular monthly series, but there were a handful of Giant-Size reprint one-shots plus the launch of all-new series in the format.

Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up reflected the latter, and was rushed into production. As Roy Thomas recalled in Back Issue #66, “When #1 was on the schedule, there was not time to do a new story—it had to be basically a reprint with a few new pages. I don’t think that was a good idea… but it was necessary.”

Thomas was, like his mentor Stan Lee before him, a continuity maestro adept at orchestrating seamless plot transitions, complete with flashback panels offering footnoted clarifications. At the time Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 hit the stands on December 3, 1974 with a March 1975 cover date, Doctor Doom was concurrently involved in a three-part storyline in Fantastic Four #155–157 and had previously been seen in FF #144 (Mar. 1974). Flashbacks in the new sequence in Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 brought readers up to speed by proclaiming, “This is the story of what happened in between!”

The issue’s ten-page brand-new framing sequence—beautifully drawn by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott—opened with gusto, with Doom literally falling from the sky, having survived an explosion of his spaceship in Fantastic Four #144.

Luckily he splashed down into the ocean, where the watchful Namor fished him out of the brine. “We are natural allies,” Subby remarked to a hesitant Doom. “You are a king in your own land… while I am lord of the trackless depths,” said Namor, setting up the deadlineenforced reprints that fleshed out the debut issue: Sub-Mariner #20 (Dec. 1969), which guest-starred Doom, and the Doctor Doom solo story from Marvel Super-Heroes #20 (May 1969), which provided a window into the arch-villain’s past. In the final pages of the all-new bookend story, Doom rejected Namor’s offer: “If we were allies, either you would betray me one day— or else I would betray you,” Doom grimly retorted. “Being as we are, there could be no third alternative.” Were his rejection not enough, the monarch of Latveria lashed out at Namor, and departed after a brief scuffle. Yet like a jilted but determined suitor, the Sub-Mariner remained committed to forging a union, raging to the heavens in issue #1’s final panel, “The Sub-Mariner and Dr. Doom shall fight again, side by side—and they shall topple the world!!”

The page was bottom-lined by a blurb promising: “Next: TITANS TOGETHER!” It might have been a hastily prepared package, but Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 was a satisfying one, priming the reader for more excitement to come.

Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #2 resumed with a 32-page, all-new adventure. While three months had passed between issues in publication time, in Marvel time only a few weeks had clocked by, and Doctor Doom had reconsidered the notion of allying with the Sub-Mariner. Instead of, say, picking up the phone and calling Namor, with Machiavellian bravado Doom instead announced his intentions by staging a faux attack on the undersea kingdom of Atlantis to lure Subby out into the open. Doom then welcomed the Scion of the Sea to his own realm, Latveria, where he unveiled his plans of world domination through his creation of an army of androids. Before Doom’s scenery chewing could leave his castle

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It all started here—Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (Mar. 1975)! Cover by Ron Wilson and Frank Giacoia. (inset) The menacing monarchs patched things up (for the moment) in issue #2 and used this seal to show their partnership.

TM & © Marvel.

threadbare, his Latverian lair fell under attack from a vengeful old foe, and Doom and Namor defended it as allies. Writer Roy Thomas fluently handled both blustery characters, never letting either Alpha Male fully dominate the other’s screen time.

Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up’s sophomore issue was an artistic letdown, however, a rigid art job by one-time Justice League of America penciler Mike Sekowsky, inked by Sam Grainger, that paled in comparison to the lyrical Buscema/Sinnott masterwork in the first issue. Further deflating the promise of this new series was the departure of its writer. “I probably intended to write the series longer, but there were other things that I preferred to do,” Thomas remarked in Back Issue #66. Broader changes were in the wind, as Roy was in the process of segueing out of the editor-in-chief role at Marvel to focus on writing and editing his own projects rather than directing the entire Marvel line.

Further complicating matters was the fact that #2 was the final issue of Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up! But the series, like the delusions of grandeur of Victor von Doom himself, would not be silenced.

Roiling Waters

By this point, Marvel was discontinuing its Giant-Size line. Two months after the publication of Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #2, the saga of Doctor Doom and the Sub-Mariner continued in Super-Villain Team-Up (SVTU) #1, a downsizing to the traditional 32-page format but upgrading from quarterly to bimonthly frequency.

Leave it to the cunning lord of Latveria to trick Marvel readers into buying two first issues of the same series in half a year’s time!

Roy Thomas felt comfortable turning over the creative reins of the book to Tony Isabella, who after only a few short years at Marvel had already become one of its most prolific scribes on books including Power Man, Daredevil, and Ghost Rider. “I don’t know if Roy and I ever talked about a purpose, direction, or motif for the series when he asked me to take over the writing,” Isabella recalled in Back Issue #66. “Roy might have been a bit more plot-oriented in his approach to superhero comics. I might have been a bit more characteroriented, but the two of us were definitely on the same page when it came to the basics of superheroes Tony Isabella. and, especially, Marvel superheroes.” © Marvel.

Isabella’s initial focus was on Namor, with a terrible trio of Subby’s rogues—Attuma, Tiger Shark, and Doctor Dorcas—teaming up to tackle their old enemy. In the second issue, cover-dated October 1975, Isabella shocked readers by having Dorcas murder Namor’s girlfriend from the Golden Age, Betty Dean—now Betty Dean Prentiss—driving the Scion of the Sea into a vengeful fury. Isabella took this bold step not necessarily to shock readers, but to cement the bond between the book’s two stars. “I needed to have a reason for Namor to ally with Doctor Doom,” Isabella explained in Back Issue #66. “I teamed up villains who had killed people dear to Namor and upped the ante by having Betty sacrifice her life for Namor. Though I didn’t write the finale of this storyline, the plan was to have Doom help Namor get the vengeance Namor could not achieve on his own. This would leave Namor feeling indebted to Doom.” His burgeoning schedule did not allow the scribe to remain indebted to Super-Villain Team-Up, though. After its second issue, Isabella was busy with the premieres of The Champions, Black Goliath, and the “Tigra the Were-Woman” feature in Marvel Chillers, among other assignments, and he left the title.

Incidentally, when Thomas first passed the SVTU torch to Isabella, the book’s conversion from Giant-Size to traditional format had yet to be decided. As Lex Carson reported in Back Issue #86 (Feb. 2016), once the transition between writers was first announced in Marvel’s housezine F.O.O.M. #9 (Mar. 1975), Isabella revealed his plans to revive an obscure Ant-Man foe called the Voice, a radio shock jock-turned-supervillain, into Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up and reprint his original outing from Tales to Astonish #42 (Apr. 1963) in the book’s back pages. The appeal of the villain to the writer becomes obvious when considering the title of his first story: “The Man with the Voice of Doom!” In fact, the Voice, actually Jason Cragg, was also known as the Voice of Doom and would later, in the hands of different writers, be revived.

With issue #3, Jim Shooter replaced Tony Isabella to resolve the matter of Namor’s retribution against his enemies. With issue #4 (Feb. 1976), Bill Mantlo was now the scribe and pitted Doom and Namor in conflict while introducing a new villain, the Symbiotic Man, a storyline the writer concluded in a Sub-Mariner solo outing in Marvel Spotlight #27 (Apr. 1976).

Despite the talents of writers Isabella, Shooter, and Mantlo, after a mere four issues SVTU suffered from a lack of identity, a problem compounded by an ever-changing roster of artists marching in and out with each installment. George Tuska, Bill Everett, and George Evans penciled issue #1, with Sal Buscema drawing #2, Evans returning in #3, and Herb Trimpe penciling #4; inkers similarly came and went. Super-Villain Team-Up was in dire need of a stable creative team as well as a consistent tone and direction.

The Dark Detective

Its new writer also believed the book would benefit from an anchor hero, a good guy readers could follow amid the diabolical doings of its co-starring firebrands: “I needed such a character because there had to be something to break up the rather deadly dynamic of ‘Doom and Subby hatch plan, and lose, every time.’ If I were going to develop the series, I needed a third force, unrelated to the heroes and villains.” It wasn’t the first time this rationale had been employed—agent Jimmy Woo persistently dogged “The Most Dangerous Man of All Time” in an earlier attempt by Marvel to star

Bonnie and Clyde

Perhaps the most notorious “super-villain team-up” of the real world was between Depression-era bandits Clyde Barrow and his companion, Bonnie Parker, whose multi-state crime spree included bank robbery and murder. After an extensive manhunt, they were ambushed by officers and shot to death in Louisiana on May 23, 1934. Their story was brought to film in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde, starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. Shortly after the movie’s release, the diabolical duo appeared in the pages of DC Comics’ Superboy #149!

FBI.gov.

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TM & © Marvel.

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that mutated Namor’s ability to breathe both air and water. The real reason for the change, however, was Marvel Comics’ decision to make its naked-est star, who since his Golden Age debut pranced about in nothing but scaly green Speedos plus a gold belt and amulets, look more like the other superheroes in the Marvel firmament. Jazzy John Romita designed for Namor a new costume of a black-leather sleeveless tunic and leggings, a wrestler’s-width gold belt with a trident-insignia buckle, and gold underarm “fins” reminiscent of Spider-Man’s underarm webbing. The costume was striking, and had Prince Namor been introduced rather than redressed in 1973, this look might have been permanent. If you were to believe Sub-Mariner’s letters column in issue #70, response to the new look was “about 80% favorable.” Yet those who disapproved did so loudly: “Black Bolt is gonna be very sore when he sees what you’ve done to that spare uniform of his,” snarked one reader. The new look, and a rebranding (as of issue #65) as “The Savage Sub-Mariner,” failed to keep the book afloat. Growing disapproval of Namor’s leathers— today derided by fans as his “disco costume”—led Marvel to closet the black suit by SVTU #6, with Subby returning to his classic, leaving-littleto-the-imagination trunks.

Englehart’s transformative issues were exciting, but inadvertently exposed a fatal flaw with the series’ concept: the limitations of pairing the same two “super-villains” issue after issue. The scribe relied upon the Shroud to further the narrative, plus guest-stars—including the FF, the Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime, and even U.S. Secretary of State

(left) Steve Englehart introduced the “Dark Avenger” the Shroud as the protagonist of SVTU. Issue #7’s (Aug. 1976) cover by Rich Buckler and Klaus Janson. (right) Similarly, DC resurrected Captain Comet as the house hero in its bad-guy book, Secret Society of Super-Villains. SSOSV #2 (July–Aug. 1976) cover by Dick Giordano.

Super-Villain Team-Up and related characters TM & © Marvel. Secret Society of Super-Villains and related characters TM & © DC.

TM & © Marvel.

a villain in his own book, The Yellow Claw, which ran four issues from late 1956 through early 1957. Similar thinking would also be applied to another bad-guy book that debuted in 1976 from rival DC Comics, the super-team title Secret Society of Super-Villains, which with its second issue added an ongoing plotline about the mutant superhero Captain Comet.

Beginning with Super-Villain TeamUp #5 (Apr. 1976), Steve Englehart was that new writer in residence, a coup for the series as he was one of Marvel’s white-hot talents, with Defenders, Avengers, Incredible Hulk, and Captain America and the Falcon among his hit books. Hulk artist extraordinaire Herb Trimpe returned for his second back-to-back SVTU issue, providing much-needed visual continuity. Englehart relished the opportunity to partner with Trimpe again. “When I went to work at Marvel, in the Bullpen, I sat next to Herb Trimpe and John Romita,” he reminisced in Back Issue #66. “I liked hanging with them, and when I got the chance to work with Steve Englehart.

Herb on [Super-Villain] Team-Up I was Photo by and courtesy of Alan Light. thrilled, because he was a great comic artist and because he was my friend.”

With his pal Herb, in SVTU #5 Steve introduced the Shroud, a midnight-cloaked rooftop-dweller who was determined to kill Doctor Doom. “The Shroud was my chance to write someone Batman-like and Shadow-like, because I loved Batman and thought, as a Marvel writer, that I’d never get a chance to write the real guy,” Englehart confessed in Back Issue #66. Issue #5 ended with the brooding Shroud slinking into the darkness in pursuit of Doctor Doom, and Englehart’s telltale caption made little attempt to hide his affection for the Distinguished Competition’s Caped Crusader: “Thus, the stage is set for the classic confrontation of good and evil—and yet… this time, there’s a joker in the deck!” Over the course of four issues (#5–8), the writer would define the enigmatic Shroud’s past and his enmity toward von Doom, making him more than a surrogate Dark Knight. “I treated the Shroud as a real character in his own right,” Englehart said.

Englehart’s other big contribution to SVTU was the dissolution of its co-stars’ federation. From the beginning of his first issue he evoked the reader’s sympathy for antihero Sub-Mariner when Namor turned to guest-stars Reed Richards and the Fantastic Four for assistance. Having realized the folly of his “super-villain team-up,” Subby lamented to the FF, “For weeks [Doom] has bedeviled me, while I have spurned his offer of unholy alliance!” Sub-Mariner was in dire straits, with Doom keeping him at bay by threatening Atlantis and damaging his life-preserving wetsuit.

Regarding Subby’s ’70s threads, in the waning days of The Sub-Mariner’s run, writer Steve Gerber, in issue #67 (Nov. 1973) of that title, made Namor dependent upon a protective wet-suit of brainiac Reed Richards’ design. The story attributed the sartorial change to nerve-gas exposure

A Hero/Villain Team-Up?

Batman and Robin teamed up with supposed underworld figures the Green Hornet and Kato in the 1967 Batman TV episodes “A Piece of the Action” and “Batman’s Satisfaction.” Of course, Gotham’s Guardians soon learned what viewers already knew: the Hornet and his high-kicking ally were actually good guys!

Batman and Robin TM & © DC Comics. Green Hornet and Kato © The Green Hornet, Inc.

Henry Kissinger (right), on a détente mission with the lord of Latveria— proving that Doom and Subby couldn’t wing it on their own.

Trimpe left SVTU with #7, and issue #8 was Englehart’s last, as he was moving on to other assignments: “I gave it as much energy as anything else I did, and I was pretty excited about where it would go.”

Before long, DC Comics publisher Jenette Kahn lured Englehart away from Marvel to revitalize its signature super-team, and Steve began a popular run on Justice League of America beginning with issue #139 (Feb. 1977). His other DC work at that time included a revival of Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle and, most famously, his chance to finally write “the real guy”: Englehart began a short but illustrious run on Batman starting with Detective Comics #469 (May 1977), ultimately pairing with artist Marshall Rogers for a series of stories that deeply influenced director Tim Burton’s cinematic Batman of 1989.

Avengers Assemble

A prankish Bullpen production artist could have slapped an “Avengers” logo onto the cover of SVTU #9 (Dec. 1976) and no one would have been the wiser. It featured a “final conflict” between the Armored Avenger, Iron Man, and the Armored Antagonist, Doctor Doom, with Iron Man’s Avengers teammates licking their wounds in the foreground. The book’s billed costar, Sub-Mariner, was nowhere to be found on the energetic Gil Kane/Dan Adkins–drawn cover art despite Namor’s headshot appearing in the corner box.

Inside, Bill Mantlo returned to SVTU as its new writer, inheriting Englehart’s Doom/Namor breakup but also the erstwhile scribe’s realization that the series needed superheroes to survive. This realization stretched to Marvel as a whole, as SVTU #9 was shoehorned into a story arc involving undersea bad guy and SVTU alum Attuma that ran from Avengers #154 (Dec. 1976) through 156 and guest-starred both Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom in Avengers’ pages. Mantlo did his best to continue Englehart’s subplot with the Shroud, but with the Avengers, Attuma, Subby, and two Doctor Dooms (the second being Prince Rudolfo, the rightful king of Latveria) on hand, his typewriter seemed overwhelmed by the issue’s obligations

and the cumbersome story fell flat, its perfunctory art (laid out

by Jim Shooter and finished by Sal Trapani) not helping.

Doom was duking it out with a different superhero—Captain America—on the Gil Kane/Ernie Chan–illo’ed cover to issue #10 (Feb. 1977). For the second issue in a row, co-star Namor was reduced to top-line billing only, absent from the actual cover image which instead was dominated by a new addition to the book: the Red Skull, the sinister super-Nazi and Captain America foe since World War II. Issue #10 opened with the promise of “A dynamic new direction brought to you by…” prefix to its credits. Mantlo was joined by the new art team of Bob Hall, penciler, and Don Perlin, inker.

“Dynamic,” indeed, as the pinup-worthy splash page reveled in its depiction of the Star-Spangled Avenger, the athletic Cap streamrolling through a gauntlet of defensive blasts as he stormed into New York City’s Latverian Embassy with the flamboyant staging of a John Buscema–orchestrated layout.

Artist Bob Hall instantly revitalized Super-Villain Team-Up with his spirited style. Hall had started in the business in 1974 drawing random spooky stories for Charlton, but had the door at Marvel opened for him by Big John Buscema after taking one of the master illustrator’s art classes. He only had three issues of The Champions under his belt when he was assigned SVTU. “I was a lowly beginner when I did SVTU, very afraid of losing my job,” Hall admitted in Back Issue #66. “Most artists who faded out their first year did so because [they] couldn’t make deadlines, and yet everything seemed rushed and crude when I tried to make deadlines. All of my opinions on the series need to be seen through the perception of someone who was trying to keep a low profile while he learned the job and proved his competence.” Hall’s premiere in issue #10 started with great promise, and in the two issues that followed his skills sharpened right before the reader’s eyes. He survived his freshman year at Marvel and went on to illustrate Tarzan, The Avengers, and West Coast Avengers, plus Valiant’s Shadowman, among other features.

In issue #10, Mantlo, reinforced by a steady art team, detoured from the Englehart era and continued to push Sub-Mariner into the background, although he found the Shroud a valuable character and preserved his enmity toward Doom. The addition of the Red Skull to the cast added a new threat to Doom’s domain, as the Skull invaded Latveria and pledged, “Soon all men shall raise their hands to a new order! A Fourth Reich! And proclaim the Red Skull Fuehrer over all!!”

Sub-Mariner had fully disappeared from the covers as SVTU #11 and 12 co-billed Doctor Doom and the Red Skull. Captain America and the Shroud continued to appear while Doom and the Skull battled for global dominance, their conflict concluding in #12 with a battle on the Moon! “Bill Mantlo was a good guy to work with,” Hall reminisced. “He looked out for me a bit and told me when I was making beginner mistakes before things got to the editor.

I always appreciated his patience.”

The End of the World As We Know It

With the Red Skull story arc resolved, writer Mantlo returned to status quo in SVTU #13 (Aug. 1977) as Doctor Doom teamed with his original co-star the Sub-Mariner to free Atlantis from enslavement by the Warlord Krang. Keith Giffen co-plotted and penciled its story.

Bob Hall returned in issue #14, joined by Captain America and the Avengers… plus the X-Men… and the Champions, too!

On its dramatic John Byrne/Terry Austin poster-perfect cover, Doctor Doom smugly loomed large in the center stage, encircled by many of Marvel’s mightiest superheroes—on their knees, bowing before “Doom Supreme!” In the accompanying story by Bill Mantlo, “A World for the Winning!,” Doctor Doom achieved his ultimate wish—global domination—via a neuro-toxin that subconsciously bent Earth’s entire population to his will, without their awareness of his control. “I rule a world—yet none know of it,” Doom lamented of his unsatisfying dark dominion. “My conquest has a bitter taste! My victory remains hollow—and Doom is bored!”

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Herein evolved the team-up aspect of the story—“team-up” meaning “conflict” in SVTU’s lexicon—as the issue’s co-star, Magneto, arch-foe of the X-Men, boasted the audacity to propose to Doom an alliance. Doom responded by wielding his unconscious neuro-control over Magneto, even manipulating the mutant’s powers of magnetism… then immunizing Magneto from his mental grasp with a challenge to attempt to topple his global monarchy. Doom pronounced, “And the board is set—the battle begun!”

As Bob Hall explained in Back Issue #66, the concept of a single person imposing his or her will upon others started with an ordinary item on Jim Shooter’s desk at Marvel Comics. Hall recalled Shooter holding a rubber eraser while posing the question to some of his colleagues, “Suppose this eraser had the power to make everyone on Earth obey you, without question? What would you do? Would you be satisfied to be obeyed without a struggle? What are the philosophical implications?” According to Hall, Shooter’s “Cosmic Eraser” concept inspired Mantlo’s Doom/Magneto story. “I liked Doom and Magneto together,” Hall beamed. “There were few villains with the power or the personalities to take on Doom.”

Yet their struggle was restricted by #14’s cast-heavy story.

“The battle between the two did seem a bit rushed to me,” admitted Hall. “Part of that was the writing. Very few writers left enough room for good battles.”

Another reason was a ticking clock. The recent revitalizations came too late to save the series, and Marvel cancelled SVTU with issue #14. Bill Mantlo said goodbye in its “Bad Tidings” letters column, and finished the congested story with a cliffhanger, directing the reader to the pages of The Champions #16 for the conclusion.

Jim Shooter’s “Cosmic Eraser” concept was not rubbed out with Super-Villain Team-Up’s cancellation. “Then about five years later we tackled the same thing in a Moondragon arc in The Avengers,” Bob Hall recalled. In Avengers #219–220 (May–June 1982), written

by Shooter and illustrated by Hall, would-be goddess Moondragon telepathically controlled the war-ravaged world of Ba-Bani and enforced an artificial peace, then mind-controlled Thor and forced him to oppose his fellow Avengers.

Hall wasn’t yet done with the “Cosmic Eraser” idea… or with Doctor Doom. “Then, five years later, David Michelinie, I presume at Jim’s suggestion, did the same concept in the Emperor Doom graphic novel,” Hall said. Hall illustrated 1987’s Marvel Graphic Novel: Emperor Doom—Starring the Mighty Avengers, scripted by Michelinie, with story suggestions from Mark Gruenwald and Jim Shooter. In this 62-page epic, Doom, by amplifying the mindmanipulation powers of the Purple Man, converted most of Earth’s population into his puppets, bringing about global peace by sacrificing individual liberty. The graphic novel also served as a sequel of sorts to Super-Villain Team-Up, as Doom’s sergeant-at-arms was none other than the Sub-Mariner, who corralled those among the populace who were able to resist the Purple Man’s control.

The Return(s) of SVTU

As of the July 5, 1977 release of issue #14, Super-Villain Team-Up was no more.

Until the following year.

It seemed like business as usual for the comic reader during the first week of August 1978, as familiar titles dotted the newsstand shelves and convenience store spin racks: DC’s Batman #305, and the latest issue of the new Superman team-up book, DC Comics Presents #3 (co-starring Adam Strange); Archie Comics’ Jughead #281 and Archie’s Pals ’n’ Gals #127; Harvey’s Richie Rich Zillionz #12; and Gold Key’s Tom and Jerry #311 were among the week’s new releases, as was Charlton Comics’ last-gasp attempt to milk Marvel superstar John Byrne’s earlier work, Doomsday + 1 #9.

Marvel’s new releases of the week included Daredevil #155 and Godzilla #16. “Same ol’ same ol’ funnybooks,” the bored news dealer might have sighed under his breath when clipping the string binding

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this week’s bundle, more concerned about how many pennies of profit could be squeezed out of their 35-cent or 50-cent cover prices.

Among that week’s new releases was a comic no one saw coming: Super-Villain Team-Up #15, cover-dated November 1978, sneaking onto the stands with the stealth of a master cat burglar.

That month’s “Bullpen Bulletins” peppering Marvel’s titles made no mention of it, instead touting Jim Shooter’s controversial ten-part Avengers story arc, the anniversary edition Fantastic Four #200, David Michelinie’s return to Marvel on Iron Man, and a new book from Bill Mantlo and Michael Golden, The Micronauts. Yet there it was, with Doctor Doom and the Red Skull going at it on a powerful George Pérez/Joe Sinnott cover, pretending as if only two, not 13, months had lapsed since the previous issue.

A True Believer whose pulse pounded over the un-trumpeted revival of SVTU was no doubt disappointed upon closer examination: “Re-presenting the first battle between Marvel’s mad monarchs!” read a cover burst. Inside was a two-chapter Doom story, gueststarring the Red Skull, curated by “reprint editor” Jim Salicrup from Astonishing Tales #4 and 5, stories barely seven years old.

Sharp-sighted Marvelites pored over the fine print at the bottom of page 1, the indicia, which claimed the series was published quarterly and even offered subscriptions!

Three months later, the next “quarterly” edition of SVTU did not appear. Nearly seven months later, Super-Villain Team-Up #16 (coverdated May 1979) showed up… now published “annually”… and featuring an all-new story! This title’s frequency seemed as unstable as the behavior of its stars… what was going on?

“As editor Jim Salicrup explained to me, the revival and annual publication of SVTU was part of the legal maneuvering on Marvel’s part to keep DC from trademarking the term ‘Super Villain’ as in ‘Secret Society of,’” explained Peter Gillis—SuperVillain Team-Up’s final writer—in Back Issue #66. “For that, annual publication was enough, and by the second year, the legal tussle was resolved.” (So was DC’s Secret Society of Super-Villains title, which ceased publication with issue #15, which went on sale March 23, 1978 with a cover date of June–July 1978.)

Ironically, the illustrator of Gillis’ story in SVTU #16 was working at Peter Gillis.

Marvel due to a different type of © Marvel. discord with rival DC Comics.

Legendary Flash artist Carmine Infantino had started freelancing as a penciler for Marvel after being unceremoniously fired from his position as DC’s publisher on a fateful morning in early January 1976.

Back in the 1960s, Stan Lee had made an attempt to recruit him to Marvel, although by the time Carmine took up residence at the House of Ideas a decade later it was under new management, with Jim Shooter as its editor-in-chief. Doctor Doom had vacated the title with SVTU #16, and writer Gillis teamed the Red Skull with the FF foe the Hate Monger (Hate-Monger).

“When I got offered the book,” Gillis recalled, “my first thought was to team up villains that made sense. And believe it or not, no one had written the story of the ultimate Nazi creation, the Red Skull, [joining forces with] a character that was supposed to be Hitler himself.” Yes, Adolf Hitler, the real world’s ultimate villain, whose leering likeness had invaded covers and stories since World War II, most famously on the cover of 1941’s Captain America Comics #1.

Bedecked in a plum-hued pointed hood that evoked the unsettling iconography of Ku Klux Klan robes, the Hate Monger, a construct of

The Joker: DC’s ‘Super-Villain Team-Up’

TM & © Marvel.

Writer Denny O’Neil and artist Neal Adams returned DC Comics’ Clown Prince of Crime to his original homicidal roots in the landmark story “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge” in Batman #251 (Sept. 1973). What followed was a new wave of popularity for the villain that included numerous guest-appearances in The Brave and the Bold and elsewhere, as well as the launch of a solo series, The Joker, published at roughly the same time as Marvel’s Super-Villain Team-Up. The Joker suffered from the Comics Code Authority’s restrictions on villains’ behavior, resulting in a succession of done-in-one tales with limited character development and no continuing storylines. At no time in his “solo” series did the Joker operate alone, each issue either teaming with another villain or encountering a superhero guest-star.

The Joker “teamed up” with the following characters during the short life of his series: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby that first appeared in Fantastic Four #21 (Dec. 1963), was a clone of Hitler, created by Nazi mad scientist Arnim Zola.

Gillis wasted no time refreshing the series, commencing from the opening splash drawn by Infantino and inker Bruce Patterson, where, after sharing a repast fit for a king, the Hate Monger toasted his fiendish, crimson-crowned ally: “To the new era, then, my dear Skull?” Gone was the former default emotion of rancor that had dominated SVTU’s quarrels between Doctor Doom and Prince Namor, and Doom and the Red Skull. Issue #16’s villains conspired harmoniously, with a sinister objective: the re-creation of the omnipotent power source, the wish-fulfilling Cosmic Cube.

“I’ve had a longstanding gripe about a technological creation which only gets done once,” Gillis contended of the ultimate weapon that originated in 1960s Captain America stories. “If a Cosmic Cube was made once, why couldn’t it be made again?”

Such an ambitious mission could not be confined to the pages of a single 17-page story, and Gillis’ team-up of the Red Skull and Hate Monger resumed in Super-Villain Team-Up #17 (June 1980), this time drawn

by Arvell Jones and Bruce Patterson. The 13-month delay between the releases of the issues may have blunted the momentum of #16’s cliffhanger ending, but Gillis proceeded fullsteam-ahead, upping the ante by including a third co-star, Arnim Zola. Zola was a relatively new character at the time, having recently been introduced by writer-artist Jack Kirby in the pages of Captain America #208 (Apr. 1977). Kirby’s Armin Zola exemplified every nightmarish experiment concocted in the sadistic laboratories of the Hitler regime.

Originally a slight-of-stature Nazi biochemist (widely seen in 2011’s blockbuster Captain America: The First Avenger, played by Toby Jones), Zola transferred his mind and essence to a misbegotten robotic body with a mind-controlling ESP Box where its head should be.

Zola’s sneering human visage remained projected within a monitor dominating his robotic torso, a visual that might have been ridiculous

The Joker

#1 (May 1975): Two-Face #2 (July 1975): Willy the Weeper #3 (Sept.–Oct. 1975): The Creeper #4 (Nov.–Dec. 1975): Green Arrow and Black Canary #5 (Jan.–Feb. 1976): The Royal Flush Gang #6 (Mar.–Apr. 1976): Sherlock Holmes #7 (May–June 1976): Lex Luthor #8 (July–Aug. 1976): The Scarecrow #9 (Sept.–Oct. 1976): The Catwoman An unpublished issue #10 would have co-starred the Joker and the Justice League of America. This story finally saw print in 2019’s The Joker: The Bronze Age Omnibus.

TM & © DC Comics.

had it not been designed by the King of comics, a master of bringing bizarros to life on the page. The goal of the Red Skull/Hate Monger/ Arnim Zola team-up extended beyond the “mere” re-creation of the Cosmic Cube. Wielding mind-transference technology, the Adolf Hitler clone that was actually Hate Monger pledged, in his own villainously shrieked words: “I shall become the Cosmic Cube itself!”

Fortunately, the agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. halted their plot.

SVTU #17, incidentally, introduced Dr. George Clinton, a scientist for A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics, one of the Marvel Universe’s principal sources of high-tech weapons… including the Cosmic Cube).

Yes, as in that George Clinton, the musician known as the Mothership-summoning Dr. Funkenstein. “I’ve been a Parliament/Funkadelic fan since forever,” Peter Gillis commented, “and this was a chance to add some Supergroovealisticprosfunkstication to the Marvel Universe!”

It was also the final issue of Super-Villain Team-Up. No further annual editions followed.

Unrealized Potential

Although the title engenders nostalgia among Marvelites who grew up with it, Super-Villain Team-Up was, unfortunately, a bit of a mess. There were moments of brilliance dotting the run, but without an unswerving creative vision, the end result was that of a spontaneous prison breakout with no one clearly in charge. Even the iron grip of Victor von Doom wavered when controlled by so many different creators. “Unfortunately, it did bounce around among creators both before me and after me, and so it never got to be all that it could have been,” Steve Englehart bemoaned.

One can only imagine how this book might have evolved if Stan the Man had the Super-Villain Team-Up idea a few years earlier and it remained under the steady control of Roy Thomas during his Marvel editorship, or if one of the “regular” writers who followed Roy had the luxury of nurturing a protracted storyline.

Or, conversely, imagine that the book followed the cue of its namesake, Marvel Team-Up, and instead offered one-issue outings that paired villains from different heroes’ rogues’ galleries. Even if Doctor Doom had been the designated lead, changing his co-star each issue would have created no end of story possibilities: just imagine the ego clashes between Doom and the Green Goblin, Loki, the Kingpin, the Mandarin, Mysterio, Kang, Mephisto, and Ultron.

Or an occasional team-up with a hero.

Yet this is conjecture, a bunch of what ifs. But every comic-book story, like every supervillain’s malevolent plot, starts with a dream, so what’s the harm in imagining a SVTU that might have been?

Chapter 7: Super-Villain Team-Up

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Super-Team Family’s “first” issue for new team-ups, #2 (Dec. 1975–Jan. 1976).

Creeper/Wildcat cover art by Dick Giordano.

TM & © DC Comics.

Of all the titles surveyed in this book, DC Comics’ Super-Team Family was the most unfocused. Was it a team-up series? A super-team series? A crossover series? Was it a reprint Giant, or a double-length traditional comic book? The answer is “All of the above,” as Super-Team Family’s format changed repeatedly throughout its 15-issue lifespan, which lasted just under three years in the mid-1970s. Yet when viewed through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, the series’ eccentricity becomes part of its charm.

Most readers first caught wind of the project in a full-page house ad running in DC books, which asked, “WHERE CAN YOU FIND exciting super-heroes, savage jungle action, brand-new team-up and quality?

You can find it all… IN THE DC FAMILY!” “Family” was a DC brand that started in 1973 when concepts from the 1950s collided with a changing market of the 1970s. For much of the ’50s, the live-action television series Adventures of Superman, starring the likeable but cursed George Reeves as the Man of Steel and his thinly disguised alter ego Clark Kent, was a hit with children, whose parents often watched the show alongside them on the living room couch.

Co-stars Jack Larson and Noel Neill as Kent’s perpetually jeopardized Daily Planet friends became breakout stars at DC Comics, which launched the long-running Superman’s Pal, Jimmy Olsen and Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane books, both bestsellers during Superman’s Silver Age market dominance. Kal-El’s Kryptonian cousin Supergirl joined the clan in 1959, becoming the backup feature in Action Comics before she was awarded the lead spot in Adventure Comics in the late 1960s and eventually her own short-lived title in the early 1970s. By then, the Metropolis Marvel’s first family had become commercially dysfunctional, each of the Superman spinoffs showing their age and scrambling to find their identities in a changing market. In 1973 the titles went away, one by one, starting with Lois Lane’s cancellation with issue #136 and Supergirl’s with issue #9 (although bonus issues of both snuck onto stands the following June), and the axing of Jimmy Olsen that November with issue #163. DC merged the three books into one, picking up on the Olsen numbering and launching The Superman Family #164 (Apr.–May 1974) on January 24, 1974, published in its popular 100-Page Super Spectacular format. The Superman Family featured one all-new lead story—starring either Jimmy, Supergirl, or Lois, in rotation—accompanied by a selection of Superman family reprints culled from DC’s vault. The title’s 50-cent price tag offered the retailer a wider profit margin, and since reprints comprised most of Superman Family’s (and other DC Super Specs’) contents, it was an affordable formula for its publisher. Although it changed format throughout its run, this “blended family” concept succeeded for DC and Superman Family ran a respectable 59 issues, ending in 1982.

Backtracking to 1975, DC’s 100-Page Super Spectaculars were gone, replaced by 64-page Giants at the half-a-buck price, when the “DC Family” house ad premiered. Joining The Superman Family were upstarts Batman Family (headlined by Batgirl/Robin team-ups or solo stories starring the pair, plus random Batmanrelated reprints), Tarzan Family (a continuation of the numbering of the failing Korak, Son of Tarzan series, merged with short stories starring other Edgar Rice Burroughs characters from DC’s Weird Worlds title, plus Tarzan reprints), and Super-Team Family.

CHAPTER 8

DC’s Oddest Couples in Its Oddest Team-Up Title

Unpredictable Contents

As a former comic-book editor, I can state from experience that sometimes a new series is placed on a publication schedule to fill a commercial need before its editor has had the chance to fully nurture the project. Super-Team Family #1 (Oct.–Nov. 1975) was one of those series. “There was always the intention to do original stories,” editor Gerry Conway told Dan Johnson in Back Issue #66, but the first issue was exclusively reprints: artist Neal Adams’ Superman/Batman story from 1968’s World’s Finest Comics #175, a Teen Titans adventure from late 1968 (issue #19), and a supervillain team-up between climate-criminals Captain Cold and Heat Wave, from 1966’s The Flash #166.

What made Super-Team Family #1 special—in addition to its Dick Giordano–drawn cover featuring a flying Superman leading a running-at-you procession of the issue’s stars—was Conway’s onepage editorial, presented in the book’s “Team Talk” lettercol. Conway wrote a short history of comic-book super-teams, culminating with The Brave and the Bold. In describing B&B’s transformation from random team-ups to Batman team-ups, Conway wrote of Batman’s hijacking of the title, “And while it was a good solid idea, it limited the range of B&B, and no new mag came along to replace it.

“Until now.”

Most readers first caught wind of Super-Team Family in this 1975 “DC Family” house ad.

TM & © DC Comics, except Tarzan, Korak, and related characters © Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.

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Conway promised both new teamups and new stories starring dormant super-teams, with Creeper/Wildcat in #2 and the Metal Men in #3, with scripts by Denny O’Neil, Steve Gerber, Paul Levitz, and Conway himself in the works.

Super-Team Family #2 (Dec. 1975–Jan. 1976) delivered its all-new Creeper/Wildcat team-up, as promised, an unusual combo that had some fans scratching their heads in bewilderment. “The less sense it makes, the better,” Conway explained in Back Issue #66. “I was going back to the original Brave and the Bold mash-ups where they would team up Gerry Conway. these random characters.”

One would be hard-pressed to find two DC characters more random than the Silver Age (Earth-One) Creeper, the Steve Ditko–conceived antihero posing as a public menace, and the Golden Age (Earth-Two) Wildcat, the paunchy pugilist from the Justice Society. According to Conway, “Wildcat was a very down-to-Earth, gritty, street-level character, and Creeper was more of an ‘in your mind’ character, where he is playing mind games, but he was certainly using athleticism, too, which was the tie between the two of them. The Creeper just had a much more intellectual approach.”

Providing that “intellectual approach” was writer Denny O’Neil.

Earlier, O’Neil was the scripter over Ditko’s late-1960s Beware the Creeper plots, then the writer of the post-Ditko Creeper issues and Creeper guest-appearances in Justice League of America #70, Detective Comics #418 (with Batman), and The Joker #3. Artists Ric Estrada and Bill Draut offered a crisp, accessible story involving Creeper foe Proteus’ kidnapping of a boxer and a Marvel-worthy clash between the two co-stars. O’Neil’s assignment to pen the Creeper/ Wildcat script was ironic when considering Denny’s objection to Wildcat devotee Bob Haney’s handling of Green Arrow in B&B #100.

One might argue he got his “revenge” via his “fixing” of Wildcat’s personality. O’Neil’s confident Wildcat was more reflective of the hero’s traditional characterization that would soon be on play in the pages of the revived All-Star Comics—which took place on EarthTwo—instead of the insecure has-been former champ who needed pep talks from Batman in his frequent Brave and Bold team-ups.

O’Neil’s “Showdown in San Lorenzo!” was not conceived for Super-Team Family, but instead, as reported in the “Direct Currents” column in The Amazing World of DC Comics #6 (May 1975), was planned by editor Conway for the experimental 1st Issue Special (FIS). AWODCC #6 also announced that the Metal Men story Conway mentioned in STF #1 and promised for issue #3 was initially slated for FIS, but once Super-Team Family was launched, Conway “decided they would fit better here.”

The Creeper/Wildcat team-up initially was to receive the full cover treatment, and Dick Giordano produced an exciting illustration of a leaping Creeper throttling the neck of Wildcat and nearly knocking the poor guy off his motorcycle. What a stunning cover of 1st Issue Special (or Super-Team Family) that would have made! By the time the story was published, STF’s Giant format and hesitations about the noncommercial Creeper/Wildcat team truncated Giordano’s artwork into a slender vertical box whose position was trumped by a box featuring a top-lined Neal Adams–drawn Batman/Deadman image—from a B&B reprint! Perhaps the Creeper/Wildcat combo should have been saved for a later issue, once the book had established its legs, instead of as the launch of a new team-up series… and since this “launch” took place in issue #2 instead of #1, Super-Team Family was already showing signs of shakiness.

Nor did the book seem any steadier when the Metal Men failed to materialize in issue #3, as promised in both AWODCC #6 and STF #1. That worked out better for DC’s team of robots in the long run, as the Metal Men title itself was instead revived with issue #45 (Apr.–May 1976) for a short-lived but fondly remembered run initiated by writer Steve Gerber.

What instead appeared in Super-Team Family #3 (Feb.–Mar. 1976) was a Flash/Hawkman team-up, certainly a more saleable offering than the previous issue’s—and topping it off was a gorilla cover, a tried-and-true popular cover gimmick from the playbook of DC editor Julie Schwartz. Issue #3’s team was selected with an eye toward commerciality, recalled the team-up’s author, Steve Skeates, to Dan Johnson in Back Issue #66. “I was asked by editor Gerry Conway and his assistant, Paul Levitz, if I’d like to write a 20-some-page team-up of Hawkman and the Flash,” Skeates said. “When either Gerry or Paul mentioned that they wanted Gorilla Grodd to be the villain of the piece, there was no holding me back!”

The cover for STF #3, artist Frank Brunner’s only DC Comics work, was a standout. Brunner was a fan-favorite from his work on Marvel’s Doctor Strange, and it was a sheer joy seeing his rendition of DC heroes. It’s unfortunate that Brunner didn’t do more DC work during this era, but as he told interviewer Jon B. Cooke in Comic Book Artist #6, he preferred Marvel’s plot-first method, contending that DC’s full-script method “felt like a prison, because they’d map out every panel.”

However, Brunner was restricted to panels on this cover, given the multi-image layout of the Giant format’s covers. The main image featured Hawkman—turned into a gorilla!—crushing the Fastest Man Alive in a back-breaking grip, echoing the 1967 classic, “Grodd Puts the Squeeze on Flash,” from The Flash #172. Brunner also drew cover panels featuring STF #3’s reprint stars, Batman and Superman, and headshots of Green Arrow and Aquaman.

Skeates’ script for the Flash/Hawkman team-up was a lot of fun, turning, as the cover promised, the Winged Warrior into a great ape as a machination of Gorilla Grodd. The wit of Skeates—whose other funny comics included Abbott and Costello, Underdog, Plastic Man, and Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham—was on display with the story’s pun-titled chapters: “Gorilla My Dreams,” “Six and Seven Apes,” and “Planned it for the Apes.”

Ric Estrada was back as penciler for the Flash/Hawkman team-up, inked this time by the legendary Wally Wood. “My goal as an editor at DC was to try and bring in artists who weren’t seen as DC superhero artists,” Conway reflected in BI #66. “Using Ric was, in my mind, a way to break that mold. As far as Wally Wood goes… He was a wonderful artist, obviously, and as a fan he was someone I had wanted an opportunity to work with, and having that opportunity was delightful.”

Conway’s letters columns in Super-Team Family #2 and 3 were lively. Issue #2 offered dossiers on the Creeper and Wildcat, for the benefit of readers unfamiliar with either or both heroes; announced the Metal Men’s graduation from its planned STF #3 appearance to its own title; and touted the premiere of a new super-team series, The Freedom Fighters (as well as a plug for the forthcoming Doctor Fate issue of FIS).

In issue #2’s lettercol, one reader wrote favorably of STF’s potential, sharing a list of suggested team-ups. Among them: Metamorpho/Swamp Thing, Teen Titans/Legion of Super-Heroes, the Spectre/the Phantom Stranger, The Shadow/Black Orchid, and a team-up that would soon happen at DC, and happen again and

Doctor Strange and Howard the Duck artist Frank Brunner’s sole Bronze Age DC cover, for Super-Team Family #3 (Feb.–Mar. 1976), featuring the team-up of the Flash and Hawkman.

TM & © DC Comics. Photo © Marvel.

again, Superman/Shazam! (the original Captain Marvel). This eager fan billed the latter team-up as “the battle of the century,” the tagline used for that era’s epic Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man tabloid (covered elsewhere in this book). The editor concluded #2’s lettercol with snippets, à la B&B’s Murray Boltinoff, from other readers’ missives (Plastic Man/Batgirl, anyone?).

Issue #3’s lettercol portended of the concept’s eventual doom.

It opened with two critical letters. First was a missive praising the other books in Conway’s editorial corner as well as a “SuperTeams” book, but complaining of its “Family” branding and hefty price tag. The second letter appreciated STF’s “hot concept” but cautioned that it could easily get boring if weak sales forced a format change. Suggested team-ups included Sandman/Dr. Mid-Nite, Viglante/Green Arrow, and Robin/Jimmy Olsen. The column concluded with a Conway sign-off, as Gerry announced he was leaving the book for his new Secret Society of Super-Villains title, and that “economic conditions have forced us to eliminate new material” from Super-Team Family. Starting with issue #4, it would be an all-reprint book.

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Do You Dare Enter… the House of History?

The indisputable keeper of DC lore, E. Nelson Bridwell, took over as editor with #4 (Apr.–May 1976) and dug deeper into DC’s vault than had his editorial predecessor by reprinting a Golden Age Justice Society adventure from 1947 as the issue’s headlining feature.

Issues #4 and 5 ran lettercols with mail commenting upon the previous editions’ Creeper/Wildcat and Flash/Hawkman team-ups.

Reactions to the “extremely bizarre choice of teammates” in issue #2 were mixed, as were reactions to issue #3’s Flash/Hawkman team-up (“The two appeared together in 8 of 95 [panels],” wrote one fan; “This you call a team-up?”).

In theory, a Super-Team Family Giant series helmed by E.N.B. held promise, its awkward title aside. This format ran for four bimonthly issues, with Bridwell following Conway’s vision by mixing reprints of superteams with superhero team-ups. In execution, however, the series faltered, suffering from an over-reliance upon Superman/Batman World’s Finest stories and a general malaise that could been attributed to DC’s oversaturation of the market with Bridwellcurated reprint books throughout the 1970s. Weak cover art didn’t help, with Ernie Chan, normally an exciting cover portraitist, being restrained by the Giant format’s blocky layout. Issue E. Nelson Bridwell. #7, published during a period when © DC Comics.

Vince Colletta had taken over as DC’s art director, featured an embarrassingly weak cover penciled by Jack Sparling and inked by Colletta. STF needed a shot in the arm, and needed it immediately.

Beginning with Super-Team Family #8 (Dec. 1976–Jan. 1977), all-new lead stories became the series’ norm—but with a superteam, not team-ups, starring in the title. The Challengers of the Unknown, produced by the creative team of writer Steve Skeates, penciler James Sherman, and inker Jack Abel, headlined issues #8–10, with several editors traipsing through. The Challs continued beyond their third STF, with Challengers of the Unknown being revived (for a while) with issue #81.

But Super-Team Family was about to return to its roots… with a little twist.

STF’s Atomic Age

Paul Levitz became story editor of Super-Team Family with issue #11 (June–July 1977). Gerry Conway circled back onto the book, as writer, bringing with him new team-ups of random DC characters.

First out the gate was Flash/Supergirl. Historically, the Sultan of Speed and Maid of Might share interesting parallels. The Barry Allen version of Flash, under editor Julius Schwartz, is widely acknowledged as the launching point of DC’s Silver Age in 1956 with his Showcase #4 debut (although it can be argued that the Silver Age started a year earlier with the Martian Manhunter’s premiere in Detective Comics #225). The Kara Zor-El Supergirl was one of the earliest innovations of her cousin Superman’s newly emerging Silver Age when she landed on Earth in 1959 in editor Mort Weisinger’s Action Comics #252. A generation later, the Flash and Supergirl— once beacons of hope for a new DC pantheon of revitalized characters—were deemed old news and selected as the two main sacrificial lambs in the company’s epic 1985 Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries (and line-wide crossover). Supergirl died in Crisis #7, and Flash in issue #8—signaling the birth of a new DC Universe. And yet another generation later, after the live-action television series Arrow bravely and boldly inaugurated the CW

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Marvel Scream-Up

Rivaling STF’s Creeper/Wildcat and Flash/Hawkgorilla team-ups for oddness was the House of Ideas’ Marvel Premiere #28 (Feb. 1976), which corralled a quartet of Marvel’s creepiest characters into an alliance as the Legion of Monsters! Of note to DC fans is its cover art by Nick Cardy, best known for his DC work including The Brave and the Bold. This was one of several Marvel covers Cardy drew during the mid-1970s.

TM & © Marvel.

network’s universe of DC Comics–related programming, the first two new series to follow were… The Flash and Supergirl.

Most of that history had yet to play out when Conway paired the Flash/Supergirl duo in STF #11. Nor was this merely a two-hero team-up—with help from a smaller co-star, it had larger implications within the DC line.

The Atom, the World’s Smallest Super-Hero, became the temporary “star” of Super-Team Family in an ongoing plotline that would involve team-ups of two additional heroes each issue. “The characters appearing in SUPER-TEAM FAMILY are chosen because they are popular with our readers,” announced series editor Paul Levitz in the lettercol of STF #13, in response to readers’ positive feedback to issue #11. “For instance, the Atom was picked to ‘star’ in S-TF

because he proved the most popular with fans polled over the DC Direct Currents hotline several months ago.”

The fans’ selection of the Tiny Titan pleased Super-Team Family’s wordsmith. “The Atom didn’t have his own title or series [at the time],” Conway explained in Back Issue #66. “And I always loved the Atom, even during the silliest periods of his early career. This was sort of away to write a continuing series and also allow me to do something with the Atom. … I could focus attention on the Atom and do character development on him.”

Conway drew inspiration from a Silver Age gimmick, the introduction of DC’s Maid of Magic, Zatanna. In a slowly evolving serial penned by Gardner Fox, Zatanna searched for her missing father, Zatara the Magician. Her quest began in Hawkman #4, where she was introduced. The story continued indirectly in the Batman and Robin tale in Detective Comics #336. Then Zatanna reemerged and became a “drop-in” teammate to other heroes who aided her pursuit, appearing in The Atom #19, Green Lantern #42, and the Elongated Man backup in Detective #355. The saga’s climax took place in Justice League of America #51, which guest-starred not-yet-JLAers Zatanna and the Elongated Man. The storyline played out between

1964 and 1966 in books edited by Julie Schwartz. Conway’s Atom storyline would occur in a much faster manner than Zatanna’s protracted passage—four consecutive issues of Super-Team Family.

Issue #11 featured another deviation from the norm, jettisoning its backup reprints. Instead, the book, now a 52-page double-sized title, featured a 34-page all-new story. The logo was also redesigned, dropping the blocky style that was compatible to the logos of Superman Family and Batman Family, replaced by a Brave and Bold–imitating title strip across the top of the cover, with the team-up stars’ individual logos underneath, side-by-side. Super-Team Family might have benefitted from eliminating its connection to DC’s dwindling “Family” franchise, as Tarzan Family was no more; the Lord of the Jungle had just swung over to a new life at Marvel Comics, with Marvel’s Tarzan #1 published a mere week before Super-Team Family #11. While it’s uncertain if a retitled “SuperTeams” or “DC Super-Teams” book would have lasted longer than “Super-Team Family,” its affiliation to the “Family” brand was no longer of importance. (In issue #12, reader and future comic-book artist Jeff Albrecht groused in a letter about the comic’s name: “Ugh! I hate that title. You guys have got to do something about it!”)

Conway’s Super-Team Family story arc may have featured the Atom, but its catalyst was Jean Loring, the girlfriend of the Atom’s alter ego, Ray Palmer. The Flash was a logical and commercial star to fast-track this new multi-part adventure, and since he “liked Supergirl as a character,” Conway added her to the mix (a year earlier he had guest-starred Supergirl in JLA #133, which he also wrote).

Pulling together these three heroes was longtime JLA foe T. O. Morrow, who was behind the abduction of Loring, Flash’s wife

Tarzan Team-Up

Hot pants and hot art by Alan Weiss and Joe Rubinstein enlivened the Flash/Supergirl/Atom team-up in Super-Team Family #11 (June–July 1977).

TM & © DC Comics.

Writer Gaylord DuBois and artist Doug Wildey began a three-issue adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ novel Tarzan at the Earth’s Core in Gold Key Comics’ Tarzan #179 (Sept. 1968). In the classic crossover tale, the Jungle Lord ventures to Pellucidar, the subterranean primitive world featured in a different franchise of Burroughs books. Cover painting by George Wilson.

TM & © ERB, Inc.

Chapter 8: Super-Team Family

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Iris West Allen, and Linda (Supergirl) Danvers from a Women’s Symposium. The male heroes raced to the rescue—although it was clear that the very liberated ’70s Supergirl could take care of herself and her new gal pals—and all parties converged on a living planet.

At story’s end Jean Loring disappeared into another dimension, propelling the Tiny Titan into the next leg of his journey.

Many fans remember STF #11 for its artwork, a collaboration between penciler Alan Weiss and inker Josef Rubinstein. Weiss was rapidly becoming a fan-favorite, having recently garnered attention as the artist of DC’s “Pellucidar” backups in the Tarzan franchise, a Dracula story in Dracula Lives! #1, and a pair of “Solomon Kane” stories in Kull and the Barbarians; Weiss would follow up STF #11 with Marvel’s first—and extremely hot—KISS comic magazine, and would soon return to the Maid of Might by penciling the Supergirl adventure in Superman Family #186. Rubinstein was very early in his career as one of the medium’s most in-demand embellishers, coming off of a pair of Mike Netzer–drawn issues of DC’s Kobra and inking Rich Buckler on a Captain Comet-vs.-dinosaurs story in DC Special #27. The Weiss/Rubinstein combo produced magical results, with exciting layouts and beautifully rendered figures, particularly their coquettish Supergirl, sporting an era-specific Farrah flip hairstyle and her costume du jour of hot pants and a puffy-sleeve shirt.

For Super-Team Family #12 (Aug.–Sept. 1977), Conway teamed Green Lantern and Hawkman as the next players in the Atom’s search for his missing sweetheart. The issue wasted no time in hooking the reader, with the trio of Justice Leaguers racing, beginning on the first page, through “the cold, alien depths of hyperspace, that peculiar dimension between universes, where nothing may travel less than the speed of light.” Their quest took them to two different worlds and

Pulp Hero Pair-Off

culminated in a gladiator battle between a sword-wielding GL and a barbarian, the overall effect coming off like an issue of Justice League of America with a smaller roll call—not a bad thing. Arvell Jones, a recent Marvel expatriate who was known for his work on both Iron Man and “Iron Fist” in Marvel Premiere, nicely transitioned to DC characters with his pencils for this team-up, and inker Bill Draut, an industry stalwart since the late 1940s, brought to Jones’ energetic, Marvel-like layouts a polish indicative of DC’s Silver Age house style. At story’s end, Jean Loring ping-ponged to another reality.

In issue #13, Aquaman—whose magazine was concurrently being revived—teamed with Captain Comet and guest-star Atom.

The storyline—and Jean herself—teetered into madness as Loring, who had earlier suffered a nervous breakdown, experienced a psychotic seizure, her insanity manifesting itself as environmental catastrophes that jeopardized Earth. Captain Comet, the house hero of Conway’s criminal-crammed Secret Society of Super-Villains, brought along SSOSV guest-hero Kid Flash for a cameo, and the three co-billed headliners battled parallel crises involving the machinations of the calamitous villain Wind Pirate and their connections to Jean’s abnormal mental state. Weighted down by a legion of super-guest-stars, Super-Team Family #13 felt less like a team-up and more like a crossover event. Arvell Jones returned as penciler, doing an admirable job with so many characters and their disparate environments, but the absence of Bill Draut’s sophisticated inking line harmed the overall effectiveness of the artwork, which was inked here by Romeo Tanghal.

The “Team Talk” lettercol of issue #13 reflected overwhelmingly positive reactions to issue #11’s Flash/Supergirl/Atom team-up, with comments including: “The new team-up format in SUPER-TEAM FAMILY is a resounding success…”; “SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #11 was really exciting”; and “with SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #11 you’ve made one impressive comeback.” Unsurprisingly, artist Alan Weiss also attracted fan praise.

Jones and Tanghal were back—and much better solidified as a team in their second STF outing—in the final installment of the Atom/Jean Loring saga, Super-Team Family #14 (Dec. 1977–Jan. 1978), where the Atom graduated from “plus-one” to an actual co-star in this Wonder Woman/Atom team-up. The story regained its footing from its overburdened third chapter, as Conway amplified the threat of one of the previous issue’s members of the Secret Society of Super-Villains, actually teamed up Wonder Woman and the Atom instead of separating them on separate subplots, and resolved (for the time being) Jean Loring’s insanity, culminating in a happy ending with Jean becoming engaged to Ray Palmer.

“I really didn’t intend to do that from the get-go,” Conway admitted of their engagement. “To be perfectly honest, I just come up with generalized situations that offer conflicts and then see where they take me.” Conway would soon walk Ray and Jean down the aisle in Justice League of America #157 (Aug. 1978), but a quartercentury later, the bestselling JLA miniseries Identity Crisis, written by novelist Brad Meltzer, would revive the Jean Loring–insanity storyline in controversial and disturbing directions.

The Gods Must Be Crazy

Condé Nast Publications’ mystery men—The Shadow and Justice, Inc.’s The Avenger—crossed paths in 1975 in The Shadow #11, the penultimate issue of that title when DC Comics had the Shadow license. Cover by Michael Wm. Kaluta.

TM & © Condé Nast Publications, Inc.

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Super-Team Family #14 ended with a full-page pinup by Arvell Jones and Romeo Tanghal depicting the next issue’s team-up: the Flash, zipping through outer space (not the first time DC fans had seen the Fastest Man Alive race through the universe, including his Superman team-ups in World’s Finest Comics #198 and 199), and the New Gods (Orion, Lightray, and Metron). Jack Kirby’s Fourth World linchpins had recently been revived by writer Conway in Return of the New Gods, whose star, Darkseid’s son Orion, had been redressed in a flashy superhero costume that might have made “King” Kirby choke on his stogie.

At face value, issue #15’s (Mar.–Apr. 1978) Flash/New Gods team-up seemed like an unnatural combo, but between Barry

TM & © DC Comics.

Allen’s proletarian personality and the super-science world in which he operated, the Flash was as adaptable a teammate as Mighty Marvel’s Spider-Man. In the vein of The Brave and the Bold #65, which teamed the Flash and the Doom Patrol, Super-Team Family #15 once again witnessed the Sultan of Speed being tapped by an unusual super-group to assist with an endangered member, in this case Orion, who had been enlarged into a comatose Promethean giant.

Conway efficiently directed Flash into the wild realms of the New Gods without allowing the DC headliner to be lost in the enormity of it all. Overall, this was an enjoyable and effective team-up.

In a response to a reader’s request for a Green Arrow/Hawkman gettogether, editor Levitz commented in #15’s letters page, “Occasionally we indulge ourselves, and go outside your expressed preferences for something we think will turn you on. Next issue is typical of that, as we feature Supergirl with the new Doom Patrol.” Levitz cited the forthcoming team-up as a means to keep the DP, newly revitalized by writer Paul Kupperberg and artist Joe Staton in a three-issue Showcase tryout, in the public eye. The Supergirl/Doom Patrol team-up was produced by writer Gerry Conway and the duo that had now become the regular Super-Team Family art team, penciler Arvell Jones and inker Romeo Tanghal.

There would be no Super-Team Family #16, however, as the title was abruptly cancelled after the publication of issue #15. Its Supergirl/Doom Patrol tale was serialized into three consecutives issues of Superman Family—which had also switched to all-new material, dumping its backup reprints—in the title’s Supergirl slot in issues #191–193 (Oct. 1978–Feb. 1979). Scott Edelman dialogued Conway’s plot in the third installment, in #193. Writer Paul Kupperberg would later pick up the Conway-scribed Supergirl/Doom Patrol connection by guest-starring his DP in issues #8–10 of his Daring New Adventures of Supergirl series in 1983.

Another planned STF feature fell by the wayside. In the aforementioned “Team Talk” letters column of issue #11, after crediting the DC Hotline poll in the Atom’s selection for participation, editor Levitz wrote, “And, after the conclusion of the current series next issue, the Martian Manhunter takes over the lead place for a series revolving around his adventures!” The fanzine The Comic Reader #145 (July 1977) offered more information, naming Green Arrow and Black Canary as guest-stars in the storyline.

Instead, the Manhunter from Mars appeared in a different serial: a trilogy in Adventure Comics #449 (Jan.–Feb. 1977)–451 (May–June 1977), which included Supergirl in its second chapter and Hawkman and Hawkgirl in its third, followed by a conclusion alongside the Superman/Batman team in World’s Finest Comics #245 (June-–July 1977).

Shortly after Super-Team Family’s discontinuation, DC Comics Presents (see its chapter elsewhere), a Superman team-up title, premiered with a July–August 1978 cover-dated first issue, co-starring Superman and the hero that helped close out STF, the always-eager-for-a-team-up Flash.

The cancelled series’ lamentable title was not lost upon the editor-writer best associated with the comic. “It’s sort of funny that you would go from a title that has ‘Super’ in the title and has team-ups with characters other than Superman to a book called DC Comics Presents, which doesn’t have ‘Superman’ in the title,” Gerry Conway observed.

“I think that probably would have been a better title for SuperTeam Family.”

Perhaps a better-defined series name and consistent team-up concept from its conception would have spared Super-Team Family from its short lifespan and relative obscurity today. But then again, there are worse things in the world of comic books than being remembered as the home of Hawk-gorilla.

Super-Team Family The Lost Issues Ross Pearsall, like most of you reading this book, grew up a fan of team-up comics, fantasizing about “imaginary” team-ups in B&B, MTU, etc. Today, he does more than stare out the window, dreaming of “the greatest team-ups that never happened… but should have!” Ross makes them come true— digitally, in his Super-Team Family… The Lost Issues blog (https://braveandboldlost.blogspot.com).

Each day Ross creates a new fantasy cover combining Marvel and DC characters, or mixing them with characters from other companies or sources, like the examples below. It’s a must-stop site for you brave and bold ones!

Characters © their respective copyright holders.

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And they said it could never be done… The iconic cover of Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. Art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano (and friends).

Superman TM & © DC Comics. Spider-Man TM & © Marvel.

From ‘The Battle of the Century’ to ‘Apokolips… Now’ You had to be there to fully “get” it.

No matter the depth of your empathy, or the hyperactivity of your fan gland, unless you were a comics reader in January 1976, at ground zero to personally witness the detonation of what forever shall remain comicdom’s biggest bombshell, your appreciation of just how exciting the release of Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man truly was will merely be your VR simulation, your sip of decaf coffee or near beer…

You had to be there, pure and simple.

I’m old enough to have been, and was in my late teens at the time, and trust me, recalling that feeling as I type these words tingles not my Spider-sense but my arm hairs. I’m as giddy as I was as an adolescent just thinking about this.

Before Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, a meeting of a DC superhero and a Marvel superhero was merely a fan’s dream, some kid’s pencil sketch on a ruled sheet of notebook paper. It simply couldn’t happen.

The Men Behind the Curtain

In the 1960s, even though their Manhattan offices were just across town from each other, National Comics, or National Periodical Publications, what DC was called back then, and Marvel Comics existed in two different, and segregated, publishing universes. Sure, an artist from one company might moonlight at the other, but would do so under a pseudonym like “George Bell,” “Adam Austin,” or “Mickey Demeo.” Then there was Roy Thomas, who started his storied career toiling oh, so briefly as the assistant of authoritarian Superman editor Mort Weisinger before high-tailing it to Marvel on his lunch hour to take the writer’s test and apply for a job. If you crane your ear toward midtown you may still hear Mort’s livid shrieks reverberating between high-rises, lo these many decades hence.

DC and Marvel were fierce rivals. Legend tells us that in the early 1960s, Marvel’s Fantastic Four was a direct response to DC’s Justice League of America after DC’s publisher boasted to Marvel’s head honcho about the nascent JLA’s success. What immediately followed was a period where the Marvel Age was tethered by DC’s distribution chokehold, and where DC’s stuffy, professorial purveyors of kids’ lit blindly underestimated the appeal of the wild and unsophisticated “House of Ideas.” By the 1970s, Mighty Marvel had been unfettered from those distribution shackles and had overtaken the marketplace to make National, which had formerly emblazoned a “World’s Best-Selling Comics Magazine!” boast on its Superman covers, instead the Number Two with a (DC) Bullet publisher.

Sure, in the ’60s the publishers traded impish barbs about “the Distinguished Competition” and “Brand Echh,” and there were occasional spoofs like DC’s green-skinned “Man-Mountain” (Showcase #63’s Inferior Five story) and Marvel’s “Stuporman” (Not Brand Echh #7). In the ’70s, there were creative people at both companies who conspired on “secret” crossovers, the most famous of which was Roy Thomas’ DC analogs the Squadron Sinister in The Avengers, which ultimately blossomed into Mark Gruenwald’s JLA homage the Squadron Supreme. But there was no way, say, that Clark Kent could ever run into Peter Parker, even though they were both in the newspaper biz. Professionally and culturally, DC and Marvel were as divided as North and South Korea. That was my childhood as a comics fan; maybe it was yours, too.

“Before Stan [Lee] became Marvel’s publisher, you had people like Martin Goodman and his son Chip who were the ultimate business people there, and who would tend to hold a grudge,” Gerry Conway, the miracle worker who eventually penned the Greatest Superhero Team-Up of All Time, told Glenn Greenberg in Back Issue

CHAPTER 9

TEAM-UPS

and movie.” Lee and Infantino extended to each other a mutual olive branch and opted for a co-publishing venture for Oz, with Marvel handling the production chores. The end result was the tabloid-sized MGM’s Marvelous Wizard of Oz #1, published on August 19, 1975, with a “Marvel and DC Present…” banner stretching atop its logo. This was an adaptation of the classic 1939 movie, scripted by Thomas, penciled

by John Buscema, and inked by Tony DeZuniga and some friends dubbed “the Tribe,” with John Romita, Sr. skipping down the yellow brick road as cover artist.

It wasn’t quite a meeting of superheroes, but at least Stan and Carmine showed that Marvel and DC could play nice long enough to put out a book together.

Funny “funnybooks” like The Inferior Five and Not Brand Echh took playful swipes at their competition’s characters in the Silver Age. Showcase and the Inferior Five TM & © DC Comics. Not Brand Echh TM & © Marvel.

#61 (Dec. 2012). “And at DC, you had [publisher] Carmine Infantino, who also tended to hold a grudge! So this was not a good mix.”

To his credit, however, Infantino was a publisher who would throw anything against the wall to see what would stick. In the late 1960s he had transitioned from artist (The Flash, Adam Strange, Batman in Detective Comics) to DC’s art director, enlivening the company’s covers and encouraging its artists to… well, draw comics the Marvel way. Carmine was one of the few at DC that understood what was happening in the marketplace.

“Marvel was kicking the hell out of DC,” Infantino wrote in an “Off My Chest” editorial in Back Issue #1 (Dec. 2003). “DC needed a kick in the rump. And they brought me on board to do it.” He became DC’s editorial director and later, its publisher, hiring new editors— most of whom were artists themselves—and all of a sudden, DC was taking chances with new material and new directions for its longer-running titles. The revamping of its mystery titles, Jack Kirby’s defection to DC, an infusion of new talent, the addition of licensed properties, the development of new formats, and an aggressive expansion of output occurred under Infantino’s watch.

DC was changing, but Carmine still enjoyed sticking it to the competition, as he did by luring “King” Kirby to create New Gods and his massive Fourth World, followed by The Demon and Kamandi.

One innovation of the Infantino DC era was the tabloid-format comic book, a super-sized edition of reprints branded Limited Collectors’ Edition that presented more visibility on the newsstand and, with its higher price tag, more profitability for the news dealer whose shelf space was limited. Marvel had a compatible format they called the Marvel Treasury Edition. While mostly a reprint venue, the format was beginning to be used for new material, a boon to aficionados of comic-book illustrations since the publication size of the books, at 10" wide by 13.5" tall, was closer to the 11" x 17" approximate dimensions of a page of original art.

Stan Lee took over as Marvel publisher from Martin Goodman in 1972. Circa 1974, “Stan and I came up with the joint notion to adapt L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz as a new entry in Marvel’s brandnew tabloid line of comics,” Roy Thomas told Jack Abramowitz in Back Issue #61. “Stan learned that DC was just beginning work on its own adaptation, which, I’ve learned since, was being done by Shelly Mayer of Sugar and Spike fame. By some weird coincidence, Marvel and DC were poised to launch dueling Wizard of Oz adaptations, book

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At Last! The Greatest Team-Up of All Time!

The warm-up act for Believe it or not, you can thank DC-Marvel crossovers was President Richard Nixon for the the 1975 co-publication détente that led to Supie meeting of this tabloid-sized Spidey. Not that Tricky Dick adaptation of the classic could tell the super-guys apart, film, The Wizard of Oz. but the media furor surrounding Cover by John Romita, Sr. the scandal that toppled Nixon’s © MGM. presidency, Watergate, circuitously opened the door between DC and Marvel.

“Around 1973 or ’74, the writers Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein… wrote All the President’s Men,” Gerry Conway related in Back Issue #61. “They were actually approached to write that book by a New York agent named David Obst. He then set it up with a Hollywood studio and he was the toast of the town, seen as this incredibly smart agent.”

Stan Lee, wanting to branch out beyond writing and editing Marvel’s comics, met with Obst over lunch. “Obst… was someone who knew the comic-book business in a general sense [and] asked why there had never been a crossover or team-up between [Marvel] and DC,” according to Conway. “And Stan said that Marvel would be happy to do it, but those guys [at DC] would never do it! And Obst said to him, ‘Look, if I could set it up, would you be willing?’ And Stan said, ‘Sure.’

“So Obst then went to DC… and he offered to negotiate between DC and Marvel, and that’s how it happened.”

“When Superman vs. Spider-Man was proposed,” Infantino remembered in Back Issue #1, “I was opposed to it. …They called me upstairs and said, ‘We want it done.’ I thought we’d be enhancing the Marvel line by bridging them with DC, but since I had no choice, I insisted, ‘Let us do it properly.’”

And so Infantino worked with Stan Lee, with David Obst as liaison, hammering out the agreement between companies. It was decided that DC would select the writer and Marvel, the artist, and that each company’s characters featured in this team-up—their big kahunas, Superman and Spider-Man—would carry equal weight.

Here’s where Gerry Conway officially entered the picture. He had recently relocated from high-profile assignments at Marvel to a new gig on DC’s staff as an editor, with writing assignments on the side. “As I said, Carmine was a guy who had this kind of tendency to carry grudges and liked to poke people in the eye,” Conway remarked in Back Issue #61. “He was really proud of the fact I had left Marvel and come over to DC, where I was writing things like Superman stories for Julie Schwartz and so on. So he told Marvel he

was going to put me on as the writer, which was kind of like a poke at Marvel, because I had just left Marvel! And I had just left writing Spider-Man! But, from a practical point of view, it actually made perfect sense. I was a guy who knew both sets of characters.”

As artist, Marvel selected penciler Ross Andru, with whom Conway had worked on Amazing Spider-Man—a wise pick since Andru had also drawn Superman a few years earlier. Whether his memory was playing tricks on him or he was also directly involved with the artist selection, Infantino claimed in Back Issue #1, “I picked the artist I wanted, Ross Andru.”

Andru was indeed the perfect choice. Having begun his long career as a comic-book artist in the early 1950s, during that decade, before an impassible chasm divided the companies, Andru—frequently paired with inker Mike Esposito, with whom he would work for much Ross Andru. of his career—was grabbing gigs at Photo by Jack C. Harris. © DC Comics. both DC and Marvel, churning out page after page of pencils for their respective titles, mostly on war, cowboy, and mystery books. By the early 1960s he was entrenched as a DC artist, most famously on long stints on Wonder Woman and his co-creations The Metal Men (which launched in Showcase) and “The Suicide Squad” (which launched in The Brave and the Bold), all with writereditor Robert Kanigher. On a few rare occasions in the ’60s he dropped in at Marvel to pencil a random story, including a battle between the “Marble Comics” spoof heroes the Human Scorch and Sunk-Mariner in Marvel’s zany Not Brand Echh #1 (Aug. 1967) in a story coincidentally bearing the same title as Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man: “The Battle of the Century!” By the late 1960s, “Big Mike” Sekowsky had taken over both Wonder Woman and Metal Men, and Andru shifted over to drawing for editors Mort Weisinger, Julie Schwartz, and Murray Boltinoff, on various stories in Superman and Action Comics (his “Virus X” multi-part Superman saga in Action is well-remembered), a stint on The Flash, Batman team-ups in Brave and Bold, and Superman/ Batman tales in World’s Finest Comics. At this stage Ross’ work displayed a new energy, as he was one of DC’s artists clearly following Carmine’s art direction to draw “the Marvel way,” Andru’s layouts emphasizing action and exaggerated character movement. In 1970 he departed DC, illustrating a few horror tales for Skywald’s black-and-white magazines before starting a run on Sub-Mariner, beginning with issue #37 (May 1971). At Marvel in the early 1970s he was the first artist of the Defenders when that “non-team” debuted in Marvel Feature and also launched the Spider-Man team-up title Marvel Team-Up; his other memorable early ’70s Marvel work included Doc Savage and Shanna the She-Devil, two features for which he was well-suited. Andru followed Gil Kane to become the regular artist of The Amazing Spider-Man beginning with issue #124 (Sept. 1973), a book he would continue to pencil, with few interruptions, through issue #185 (Oct. 1978), making him the Spider-Man artist to a generation of readers who came up during the Bronze Age. Gerry Conway, as previously noted, was the Amazing Spider-Man scribe when Ross Andru signed on to the book in 1973; among the creative duo’s most noteworthy collaborations was their introduction of the Punisher to the Marvel mythos beginning with ASM #129.

Certainly a superstar artist could have been chosen for Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, comicdom’s highestprofile project to date, but with this book’s meaty page count—

a 92-page story!—that might have delayed its completion, or allowed the project to stall or even slip into a creative morass that doomed it from ever seeing the light of day. Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man needed an artist who knew both companies’ characters and could deliver the project on time.

Ross Andru was the man.

As Lee and Infantino were huddled together in negotiations, curious eyes widened and prying ears cupped toward closed doors, with whispers circulating throughout the New York– centric biz. Some doubted a DC-Marvel co-publication could be done. It was tough enough for a single publisher to produce one comic book, juggling its litany of responsibilities, from story conception to distribution challenges. “They had to be crazy to undertake such a ridiculouslygrueling task,” wrote Tom DeFalco, then-Marvel editor-in-chief, in 1991 for his introduction to the trade paperback Crossover Classics: The Marvel/DC Collection.

Luckily for the industry, which needed a boost to combat a shrinking marketplace in those days before the proliferation of comic shops, those “crazy” creators stuck with it, producing this epic one-shot. By the time what few low-budget rags that existed as the fan press spread the word that Superman vs. Spider-Man was happening, readers shared a collective gasp; fingers were crossed that nothing bad would occur to derail the project. When a one-page house ad featuring the cover and an order form made it into print in late 1975, the only copy it required was two bursts screaming, “This…” “says it all!!” Fandom’s ultimate fantasy was becoming a reality.

Welcome to Earth-Crossover

The same kids that dreamed of the meeting of a DC and a Marvel superhero might, when pondering how to bridge their worlds, have imagined Reed Richards discovering a dimensional portal to the Earth-One realm of the Justice League or the Flash’s Cosmic Treadmill misdirecting the Fastest Man Alive into Professor X’s Danger Room on what editor Julie Schwartz would have most likely deemed Earth-M. Gerry Conway opted against any such story constructs, and the separation of the DC and Marvel Universes that mirrored the professional and political polarization that had previously divided the two companies. “In my mind, this was not the Marvel Universe and it was not the DC Universe,” Conway remarked in Back Issue #61. “It never was intended to fit in [with continuity]. This was a story just for the fans. It needed to reflect the continuities of both companies, and it needed to be true to those continuities, but it’s a world in which Clark Kent knows about the Daily Bugle and Spider-Man knows about Clark Kent and the Daily Planet and there’s a certain rivalry between these two newspapers from these two big cities that in all likelihood are the same place!”

And that’s where our heroes crossed paths. After prologues introducing Superman (battling Lex Luthor) and Spider-Man (tangling with Doctor Octopus), then a third prologue showing Luthor and Doc Ock forming an unholy alliance after meeting in prison, Conway and Andru were off to the races with a two-page spread at New York City’s World News Conference, where readers spied members of the staffs of New York’s Daily Bugle and Metropolis’ Daily Planet. The off-stage trickery of Lex and Ock soon put Spidey and Supie at odds, and they squared off in a double-page spread where the Web-Slinger, blown away by finally seeing Big Blue in the Kryptonian flesh, gasped, “Faaaaaaaar out, it’s really you… SUPERMAN!” I was as blown away as Spidey when my teenage eyes first spied that iconic image… and I’ve got to admit, today my age-ravaged eyes still get a kick out of it. After a clash of titans, the heroes realized they’d been duped and the book’s “vs.” became an “and.” It continued its frenetic pace until its climax, where Luthor and Doctor Octopus

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didn’t allow for full figure shots of the stars. He next opted for an angled view of Superman flying toward a crouching Spider-Man, which unfairly spotlighted the Man of Steel, before settling on a primitive version of the flying Superman vs. battle-posturing Spider-Man composition.

Artists Seen and Secret

The team-up’s super-sized format allowed for full-page “money shots” like this one. Original art by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano, with Neal Adams and Terry Austin.

Superman TM & © DC Comics. Spider-Man TM & © Marvel.

got what was coming to ’em, just like the many, many readers who felt the unprecedented (for the time) two bucks they invested in this mega-comic was worth every penny.

“My goal was to hit it out of the ballpark,” Conway said.

“I really wanted it to be the best thing I had done up to that point.

I certainly tried to put everything I knew about writing comic books into that story.” Mission accomplished, sir.

The balance between the two stars, and their supporting casts and villains, was uncanny. Never once did it tip into becoming an expanded issue of Superman guest-starring Spider-Man or a special edition of Marvel Team-Up co-starring Superman. It was Superman’s story and Spider-Man’s story. It even ended with a multi-paneled, one-page epilogue that afforded equal exposure to the heroes’ alter egos and respective casts, concluding with a final shot of Peter Parker, Mary Jane Watson, Clark Kent, and Lois Lane, everyone smiling, with arms locked, strolling toward a celebratory dinner sprung for by their skinflint bosses J. Jonah Jameson and Morgan Edge. Conway is to be commended for leveling those scales with his script, and Andru’s familiar artwork made this look like it could have been a DC comic or a Marvel comic.

The balance between co-stars was evident from its iconic cover.

“I created and designed the cover,” contended Carmine Infantino, and the process was delineated in a “How This Famous Cover Was Born” one-page feature inside, revealing the artist’s cover roughs.

He started with a shot showing the two heroes racing toward each other, a layout he had earlier popularized with his oft-imitated JLA vs. JSA cover for Justice League of America #56 (Sept. 1967). This

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The Team-Up Companion

Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man was not only a team-up between DC and Marvel, between Stan the Man and Cantankerous Carmine, and between Conway and Andru—it featured editorial kibitzing by editors at both companies and the inks of one (actually, plus-one) of the industry’s greats: Dick Giordano.

As a very young illustrator, Giordano got his start toiling on the assembly lines of the comics sweatshops of the late Golden Age. By the mid- to late 1950s he was finding work inking, or penciling, or penciling and inking, short stories, mostly romances and Westerns, for both Marvel and one of its competitors, Charlton Comics.

Charlton was the go-getting publisher headquartered in Derby, Connecticut, whose founding—like the villains’ mission in Superman vs. Spider-Man—was conceived in prison, where the two parties responsible for launching the company met, one behind bars for grinding out unauthorized song-lyrics mags. Charlton’s expansive warehouse held every aspect of its publishing enterprise, including its own printing press that chugged and clanked 24 hours a day, seven days a week, spewing out cheap magazines like the bestselling Hit Parader as well as coloring books and comic books. Giordano honed his chops at Charlton, mastering the finesse of his clean, accessible linework and his flair for two subjects Dick loved to draw: cars (he drew no end of hot-rod titles for Charlton) and pretty girls. It was on Charlton’s spy series Sarge Steel that Giordano distinguished himself, and soon he began to make his mark as an editor, overseeing Charlton’s “Action Hero” line (Captain Atom, Blue Beetle, et al., characters later purchased by DC; they were templates for the cast of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ Watchmen), before becoming one of those artist-editors hired by Carmine Infantino to perk up DC’s anemic line in the late 1960s. By the 1970s he was perhaps the industry’s top inker, climbing to that pinnacle after numerous fan-favorite projects (mostly starring Batman) over penciler Neal Adams.

When this DC-Marvel team-up landed on his lap, he and Adams were sharing space at their Continuity Associates studio, known for its advertising work as well as its comics. “When Ross Andru’s beautifully drawn pages reached my drawing board,” Giordano penned in his Crossover Classics introduction, “I was almost reluctant to ink them for fear of losing any of the wonderful, quirky, pleasingly distorted qualities Ross brings to his work.”

Those qualities, even Andru’s “pleasingly distorted” ones, had as noted earlier often been inked by Mike Esposito. While not quite scoring the ampersand link claimed by the Simon & Kirby team, Andru and Esposito was a partnership as well known in comicdom as Lennon and McCartney was in music. In Back Issue #11 (Aug. 2005), Esposito claimed in a guest editorial written by Andru-and-Esposito biographer Daniel Best, “I was supposed to ink the first Superman/Spider-Man crossover.” Then, as Esposito recalled, the assignment was rescinded as the companies co-producing it were “like they were trading ball players from one team to another”: its Marvel artist (Andru) needed a DC inker (Giordano). Esposito’s sting of losing the high-profile book was aggravated by the hefty royalties generated by the bestseller (Andru earned a purported $27,000 in residuals).

Many fans spotted a Neal Adams quality to some of the Superman renderings in the book, most notably the cover. Adams’ interpretation of the Man of Steel graced many DC covers during the day, and by the time of Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, Neal’s Superman had become the house standard, especially for merchandising.

While for years it had been assumed the Adams-esque Superman

A succession of Marvel house ads banged the drum for the sequel Superman and Spider-Man, although promises of release dates were amended as the book’s production slowed.

Superman, Wonder Woman, and related characters TM & © DC Comics.

Spider-Man, Hulk, and related characters TM & © Marvel.

in the DC-Marvel team-up was the result of Dick Giordano’s inks, the same guest editorial in Back Issue #11 revealed that Neal Adams discretely redrew some of Andru’s Superman figures in the book. While Giordano and Adams were studio partners at Continuity, Dick was the early riser, working there during the day, and Neal was the night owl. Superman/Spider-Man pages were on Giordano’s drawing board at night, waiting for Dick to ink them the next day. So Adams thought, “I’ll just sorta ink it with a pencil,” making alterations that Giordano noticed but quietly delineated. Further down the pike, yet another uncredited party got involved, with Marvel’s John Romita, Sr. doing alterations on some of the Spider-Man figures and Peter Parker faces.

In addition to the “secret” artists dropping in on the project, an additional illustrator was involved… but this one was there by invitation. “I was hired by Dick Giordano in the summer/early fall of 1974 when Klaus Janson vacated the position [of Giordano’s inking assistant],” Terry Austin wrote to me in a letter I published in Back Issue #66 (Aug. 2013). “I was Dick’s only background inker for every project that he worked on for the next three years that I was in his employ.” Austin’s contributions were vital to the book. From the intricacies of metropolitan architecture to the high-tech circuitry of computers in the villains’ lair, each background was exquisitely executed with detail that might have been diminished if Giordano not had the backup assistance. (Apparently, Austin owns businesses on Earth-Crossover, as background gags in the book include Terry’s Bar, Austin Bread, and a billboard for the Austin Watch.)

Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man was a tremendous success.

According to Carmine Infantino, “The book was a lot of hard work but it did very well.” Gerry Conway concurred: “It made a ton of money for both companies, so from a financial point of view if nothing else, it was really worth it.”

The Adventures Continue

Marv Wolfman has confessed in interviews that he generally did not enjoy writing team-up comics, although he was often assigned to script them. But when DC and Marvel decided several years after Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man to reunite for a sequel, Marv—who, like Gerry Conway before him, was no stranger to writing both heroes—was thrilled to get the assignment despite its daunting expectation “that the heroes of both companies be played equally.

“And frankly, I couldn’t wait,” he beamed in his Crossover Classics introduction to the sequel’s reprinting (which, word of warning, was sullied by the horrific mis-coloring of Superman’s costume as a muddy dark blue).

There’s no need to thumb through your back issues for Marvel Treasury Edition #28 (July 1981), co-starring Superman and Spider-Man, to factcheck its writer’s credit, as your memory is correct: It was Jim Shooter, not Marv Wolfman, who penned the super-sized follow-up, which was once again published in the tabloid format (albeit at 30 fewer story pages than the monstrous first outing).

Editorial and administrative changes had occurred at both publishing houses since the initial clash of titans in 1976.

Jim Shooter.

Shooter was appointed Marvel Photo by and courtesy of Alan Light.

Comics’ editor-in-chief in 1978, succeeding Archie Goodwin.

Shooter’s tenure in the post, which stretched to 1987, would be bustling with creative and commercial riches and fraught with controversial flare-ups with creators whose visions didn’t mirror his. Meanwhile, publisher Stan Lee had begun to pursue Hollywood deals for Marvel—such as the Incredible Hulk liveaction TV series starring Bill Bixby and Lou Ferrigno. Helming the company from their executive offices were president Jim Galton and vice president Michael Hobson.

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Across town at DC, on the heels of the success of 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, Carmine Infantino walked into his office one morning to be summoned upstairs, to an unceremonious and acrimonious dismissal as DC’s publisher. Appointed in his place was a rabbi’s daughter, Jenette Kahn, who hailed from the world of children’s magazine publishing. A dame, running DC?!, some of the old guard like Joe Orlando groused.

They came around. Kahn proved herself a competent and innovative leader and enjoyed a long career at DC. Helming the company from his executive office was president Sol Harrison, with managing editor Joe Orlando policing the line, Orlando’s “deputy” being his former assistant editor, editorial coordinator Paul Levitz.

In a fascinating five-part blog titled “The Secret Origin and Gooey Death of the Marvel/DC Crossovers,” posted July 18, 2011, Jim Shooter related that “one morning in mid-1980,” he received a lunch invitation from Jenette Kahn, and the two discussed the rebooting of DC-Marvel cross-company team-ups. What evolved, as Shooter recalled, was an ambitious plan to produce one team-up per year, starting with the obvious choice of a sequel to the 1976 Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man blockbuster. It was decided that “the companies would take turns producing the books,” starting with Marvel, with the other company editorially approving storylines and creators, and a post-expenses revenue split of 50/50. Contracts were inked and Marvel began its selection of the creative team.

“I picked Marv Wolfman to write the book for a number of reasons: he was a marquee name and deservedly so, he was in New York, conveniently, he was absolutely reliable, and most of all because he really, really wanted to do it,” Shooter explained. Marv began to plot the Superman and Spider-Man team-up, choosing the Machiavellian Doctor Doom as its villain—a more worthy adversary for the mega-powerful Man of Tomorrow than an obligatory selection from Spider-Man’s rogues’ gallery.

John Buscema got the nod to illustrate Superman and Spider-Man. With Mighty Marvel controlling this second team-up’s production, it’s unlikely any other artist outside of John Romita, Sr. could have been chosen to better represent the House of Ideas. “Big John,” as the man-mountain was lovingly called, had been drawing for Marvel since he started in the biz in 1948, doing cowboy and G-men comics. With few exceptions including a short, mid-1950s stint illustrating Nature Boy for Charlton and a handful of years away from comics in the early 1960s, Buscema was a Marvel John Buscema. mainstay. Beginning in the mid© Marvel.

1960s he was assigned superhero books—not his preference—but with the poise and energy he penciled onto each and every page, Marvelites never suspected that the artist who so dynamically drew The Avengers, Sub-Mariner, Silver Surfer, and Fantastic Four would have instead preferred drawing those cowboy and G-men comic books of yore. Buscema got his chance to be an illustrator of adventure stories in 1973 when he took over

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Superman, Marvelized! John Buscema provided the cover roughs and artwork that were (inset) finished by painter Bob Larkin to become the cover of Marvel Treasury Edition #28: Superman and Spider-Man. Superman and Parasite TM & © DC Comics. Spider-Man and Doctor Doom TM & © Marvel.

Marvel’s Conan the Barbarian from Barry Windsor-Smith.

For a generation he cleaved his way, usually teamed with writer Roy Thomas, through hundreds of pages of stories starring Robert E. Howard’s signature sword-wielder, with memorable 1970s stints on Marvel’s Ka-Zar, Frankenstein Monster, and Tarzan added for good measure. Big John would draw superheroes when asked (in particular he was adept at the mythic realm of Thor), but Conan had his heart.

Marvel assigned the Superman and Spider-Man inks to Joltin’ Joe Sinnott, one of the company’s top embellishers whose 1960s Fantastic Four work with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby had become the stuff of legend, and the creative team was set.

Until it wasn’t.

‘The World’s Greatest Fight is in the Works!’

While Superman and Spider-Man was being plotted, Marv Wolfman’s Marvel contract expired. A seasoned writer-editor and former Marvel editor-in-chief himself, Wolfman wanted to maintain editorial control of the Marvel books he was writing, which ran contrary to Shooter’s tightly governed editorial methodology. He and Shooter could not come to terms on a new agreement, and Marv accepted an offer to return to DC. His DC work would soon include his monumental revamp, The New Teen Titans, with George Pérez, although initially his announced projects were Green Lantern, Superman, and random stories for The Brave and the Bold, DC Comics Presents, and The Superman Family.

Here’s where the timeline for the Superman and Spider-Man project’s conception as related on Jim Shooter’s blog becomes fuzzy. Shooter cited “mid-1980” as the date of his lunch with Jenette Kahn and when negotiations began, yet by that date Wolfman’s earliest DC comics, starting with Green Lantern, were already coming out, suggesting that Superman and Spider-Man received the green light earlier than Shooter’s recollection, while Wolfman was still under Marvel contract. I asked for clarification from Marv Wolfman in a June 30, 2021 email, apologizing if I was reopening old wounds by doing so. “You’re not opening wounds at all,” Marv quickly and politely responded. “Nor my memory.

I have no idea. I tend to forget things that ultimately never happened.

If I could help I’d be happy to.”

In fanzines from the era (kindly provided to The Team-Up Companion by John Wells), news reports suggested a timeline that places the meeting between Jenette Kahn and Jim Shooter one year earlier than Shooter had remembered in his blog. The Comics Journal #51, with a cover date of November 1979, reported, “The second Marvel-DC team-up will appear next summer [1980].”

The news item confirmed some of the details that appeared in Jim Shooter’s “Secret Origin and Gooey Death…” blog, essentially, the creative team of Shooter, Buscema, and Sinnott (plus colorist Glynis Wein and letterer Jim Novak) and both companies alternating the team-ups, to be released annually.

But then, the report in TCJ #51 shared details that, at the time, illuminated plans for future team-ups as they apparently existed from the earliest talks between companies. “1981’s entry is thus scheduled to be put together by DC; current plans call for a team-

Musical Mergers

The music industry’s counterpart to the DC/Marvel team-ups was the superstar duet, and 1981 netted three such mega-hits: Diana Ross and Lionel Richie’s “Endless Love,” Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty’s “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around,” and David Bowie and Queen’s “Under Pressure.” © 1981 Motown Records.

up between Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk, but there is a strong chance that will change.” That did indeed change, as an entirely different DC hero teamed with the Hulk for the 1981 book.

“The third and fourth books,” The Comics Journal reported, “will chronicle the much-anticipated encounters between the X-Men and the Legion of Super-Heroes, and between the Justice League of America and the Avengers.”

Those team-ups made sound commercial sense. X-Men was in its glory days under writer Chris Claremont, who had over the previous few years risen from Marvel newbie to superstar.

Through his rich characterizations and evolving soap (and occasional space) operas, Claremont elevated the mutant-superhero book that at one time was a cancelled flop to a Mighty Marvel bestseller. With co-plotting by pencil artist John Byrne, who, like Wolverine, came from the Great White North and enlivened X-Men, and inks by Terry Austin, a fantastic illustrator in his own right who was also an in-demand inker from X-Men and other top-tier projects, X-Men had clawed its way to the top.

Legion of Super-Heroes, an outgrowth of the Superman mythos, was at that time being written by Gerry Conway and was, in 1979 when these team-ups were conceived, DC’s most X-Men-like book, a diverse team of young heroes and a book rife with… well, rich characterizations and evolving soap (and occasional space) operas.

No doubt another reason Legion was selected was that it was dear to Jim Shooter, since the Marvel editor-in-chief had started in the business as a teen in the mid- to late 1960s writing Legion stories in Adventure Comics as well as other Superman family tales, and he returned to script later Legion stories. (Within a few short years, Legion of Super-Heroes, under the creative guidance of writer Paul Levitz and plotter-penciler Keith Giffen, would become DC’s second-hottest seller, after The New Teen Titans.)

And really, the allure of a JLA/Avengers team-up needs no explanation.

The TCJ #51 report concluded that X-Men/Legion and JLA/ Avengers had yet to announce their creative teams, “but, according to Shooter, ‘John Byrne would kill to draw them…’” Some fans were hoping for Dave Cockrum, the artist who in the early to mid-1970s had popularized both the Legion and the new X-Men, to illustrate the planned meeting of those super-teams.

The Marvel-produced Superman and Spider-Man was in production at the time of Wolfman’s departure from the company.

“I had hoped, of course, that I could continue to write the team-up story,” Marv confessed in Crossover Classics, “but soon found that was impossible.” Wolfman was removed from the project, and this extremely high-profile book needed a new writer—yesterday.

After considering some top-name talents (Roy Thomas, Archie Goodwin), Jim Shooter took over the scripting assignment. “I was the only Marvel writer who had written both Superman and Spider-Man,” Shooter blogged. Shooter picked up on Wolfman’s initial plot involving Doctor Doom’s plan to control humankind through its energy sources—and what better DC villain to add to the mix than the Parasite, the energy-draining Superman rogue that young Jim Shooter had created in the pages of Action Comics in 1967? Also added to the mix were vignettes involving both publishers’ television stars of the hour, the Incredible Hulk and Wonder Woman, as Batman nudged out the Amazon Princess to go toe-to-tummy (keep reading) with the Green Goliath.

Superman and Spider-Man took place on the same out-ofcontinuity “Earth-Crossover” as Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. The first book, by Conway and Andru, straddled both companies by looking like it could have been a DC comic or a Marvel comic. In contrast, the new philosophy behind the alternating production of the DC-Marvel projects made Superman and Spider-Man clearly a Marvel comic that also featured Superman (and Wonder Woman), an unofficial issue of What If? titled “What If Superman Were A Marvel Comic?”

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Fans had long imagined a Man of Steel drawn by Buscema, and overall Big John did not disappoint. He delivered an immensely powerful interpretation of the hero, a super-man who chuckled as he effortlessly punched through a brick wall. Buscema’s Clark Kent and the rest of the Superman supporting cast were comfortably and naturally rendered. However, Buscema’s ramrod Superman flying poses lacked the fluency of the rest of his artwork. Also, regarding Superman’s co-star, Buscema tended to abnormally bulk up the wiry Wall-Crawler and hunch him over. Conversely, Buscema’s rendition of Wonder Woman was extraordinary—she maintained the beauty, grace, and vitality worthy of the Amazon Princess. It is unfortunate that DC was not able to attract him to the company to become the Wonder Woman artist—especially with his Thor-proven flair for drawing realms of the gods—as he might have made that long-suffering book a hit.

Buscema was purportedly dissatisfied with his work on Superman and Spider-Man. As Glenn Greenberg reported in Back Issue #66, Buscema remarked at a panel at the 1988 I-Con in Stony Brook, New York, “I hated every minute of it. I don’t like superheroes.

I don’t like drawing people wearing costumes and capes. I’m not interested in Superman. I was never comfortable drawing SpiderMan. The only thing I’m really interested in drawing is Conan.”

Sinnott’s inking of the main figures Marvelized the Man of Steel. The project’s multiple background inkers—there were nine inkers credited for backgrounds!—suggested a frantic production pace for Superman and Spider-Man. There were concerns from DC about the project’s timeliness, and Shooter himself blogged in 2011 a recollection about being blindsided by a related chewingout he had received from the Marvel powers-that-be, although the former Marvel editor-in-chief insisted that the book always maintained its production schedule.

The first of three full-page house ads for the one-shot, which appeared in April 1980–released comics including DC’s Superman #349 (cover-dated July 1980), was produced by Marvel and drawn by an unknown artist(s) instead of sampling any actual imagery from the project. It trumpeted a quickly approaching release: “Watch for it! This summer!” A second house ad followed several months later in 1980. Headlined “It’s Almost Ready!,” this ad showed, in cloudy black and white, the spectacular painted cover art for Superman and Spider-Man and promised, “On sale in September!”

Meanwhile, the fan press of the day confirmed that the book was experiencing delays. After teasing the project via a Buscemapenciled Superman/Spidey illo in Comics Feature #2, cover-dated May 1980, CF #4 (July–Aug. 1980) reported of Superman and Spider-Man’s release, “Originally the team-up was to go on sale this [1980] summer, and then in October.” January 20, 1981 was cited as its new release date. In the news item Marvel blamed the delays on the extra production time required for a second Superman and Spider-Man format to accompany the Marvel Treasury primary format, a 160-page paperback edition from Warner Books. Then, in 1981, in the comic books themselves, a third and final house ad confidently and effectively touted the project, including a burst featuring what became its actual release date: “On sale April 28! [1981]” Marvel Treasury Edition #28—Superman and Spider-Man—was indeed released on that date in 1981. My aforementioned critical assessments aside, from a fan’s perspective, Superman and SpiderMan was a sheer blast. It was exhilarating to see the Big Two together again, and the Superman vs. Hulk bonus battle was the type of timpani-thumping mega-moment that every fan hoped for.

This one-shot was, like its predecessor, a commercial hit.

When looking back at the rocky road of its oft-delayed production and the companies’ resulting frustrations, it could be argued that the very first house ad’s header—“The World’s Greatest Fight is in the Works!”—instead described the growing bitterness between DC and Marvel. Fortunately for fans, however, volcanic eruptions were temporarily quelled for the two team-ups that followed.

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Battling Bruces

Please indulge my inner fanboy for a moment: Hearing Hulk call Batman “pointy-ears” brings out the ten-year-old in me. It did for writer Len Wein as well, as he was tapped by his then-employer DC Comics to script the second installment of the rebooted DC-Marvel team-ups: Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk.

Batman vs. the Hulk??? That was fandom’s reaction when this head-scratching pairing was announced, as many readers felt that comics’ most famous non-super superhero and one of comics’ most-super superheroes were mismatched. What do they have in common? pondered the average reader.

Two things, actually: First, they had mass-market visibility from their respective TV series in the pre-Marvel Studios, pre–Big Bang Theory American culture of 1981.

Second—and most importantly, from a creative perspective— they had Len Wein.

Wein’s two favorite characters were Batman and the Hulk, and similar to Gerry Conway and Jim Shooter, both of whom spoke fluent Super-ese and Spider-ese, “I was somebody who had extensive experience writing both characters,” Len said in Back Issue #61.

And thus, on September 24, 1981, DC Special Series #27 (Fall 1981)—a.k.a. Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk—was released, a mere five months after the oftdelayed Superman and Spider-Man (what a year that was!). Like the two DC-Marvel books preceding it, it was published in the tabloid Len Wein. size, with DC taking its turn at © Marvel. managing its production.

If Superman and Spider-Man suggested, “I’m a Marvel comic,” Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk countered with the tacit claim, “How to Draw Hulk the DC Way.” Wein’s 64-page tale, “The Monster and the Madman,” seamlessly bridged the co-stars’ disparate worlds by bonding them with technology, using Batman’s Wayne Enterprises as the site of the development of a gamma-gun. Of course, matters involving gamma radiation tended to attract the alter ego of a certain jade-jawed Marvel hero.

In Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk, Dr. Robert Bruce Banner, in his Fugitive-inspired lonely-man-on-the-run interpretation from the live-action Incredible Hulk TV drama, was toiling undercover at the Wayne complex, hoping to find a cure for his affliction because, with apologies to Kermit the Frog, it wasn’t easy being green.

Following the pattern of using a DC villain and a Marvel villain, Wein employed the Joker as one of the two adversaries, who joined forces with… the Shaper of Worlds. Who? shrugged the ardent DC fan unfamiliar with Hulk lore. Even the most obedient Marvel Zombie may have been puzzled by this selection. Archie Goodwin and Herb Trimpe introduced the Shaper in The Incredible Hulk #155 (Sept. 1972), and a few years later, Wein made good use of him in Hulk #191. Although he looked rather bizarre in Batman’s reality— sort of a Skrull, MODOK, and Galactus tossed into a character blender—the Shaper of Worlds constructed realities based upon dreams, a milieu not unlike that of the fear-mongering Bat-rogue, Dr. Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow (who was among several bonus villains appearing in this story). With that in mind, it wasn’t much of a stretch for Wein to mix a madness-making Marvel villain with the maddest of DC villains. As Len remarked to Glenn Greenberg in Back Issue #61, “My feeling was, what happens if you take the Joker, who’s utterly insane, and let him do whatever he can possibly think of? I thought that would be fun.”

Master artist José Luis García-López, no stranger to team-ups with challenging concepts from his remarkable work on DC Comics Presents, was chosen by Dick Giordano, the project’s editor—also its inker—to pencil the book. What was challenging for José, however, was the Marvel Universe, even an Earth-Crossover approximation thereof. “It was another world, I knew nothing about it,” he said in Back Issue #61. “My only previous exposure to Marvel was John Romita’s Spider-Man and Conan drawn by Barry Windsor-Smith.”

Yet the art in Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk was astounding, although in a few places García-López’s Hulk was perhaps a bit too refined when compared to what was seen in the Green Goliath’s own series. Still, it’s unlikely anyone complained about this lyrical work.

Well, there was one bit of controversial business therein which made many fans see red. In their initial encounter, the Hulk was goaded by the Joker to “smash” Batman. The Masked Manhunter stopped the Marvel Man-Brute’s fury with a well-aimed kick to the solar plexus, followed by a cloud of sleeping gas. The Hulk had previously withstood the Rhino’s charges and the Abomination’s piledrivers, but was toppled by a boot to the belly? Disbelieving fans pestered poor Wein about this for decades. He insisted in Back Issue #61, “Trust me, someone punches you in the solar plexus, it’s an involuntary reaction—you gasp for breath.” That scene aside, Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk left DC and Marvel readers gasping in anticipation for another go-round between the Big Two.

The Caped Crusader’s in for the fight of his life in Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk (Fall 1981). Cover art by José Luis García-López.

Batman and Joker TM & © DC Comics. Hulk TM & © Marvel.

Super-Team Team-Up

“For me, stories often start with a visual image, a core element from which the rest of the tale organically grows,” wrote X-Men scribe Chris Claremont in his introduction in the 1991 Crossover Classics collection. In the case of the next (and sadly, final, at least for years) DC-Marvel team-up, the Marvel-produced The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans, that opening image was a mesmerizing splash page depicting “the vastness of the celestial stage, at the End of Everything, so far from what we consider space that what appear to be stars scattered few and very far between overhead are in reality whole galaxies.” Amid the mammoth Promethean Giants and boundless cosmos stood two figures from DC Comics that might have, under other circumstances, been created for Marvel: Darkseid and Metron.

Few artists could have effectively rendered this epic’s cosmic immensity—this was still an era when the traditional comic book’s vision of space was a splash of India ink punctuated by a Liquid Paper–dotted starfield—and it was the inclusion of its Jack Kirby– created villain that attracted the illustrator of X-Men/Teen Titans to the project. In Back Issue #66, writer Claremont related his verbal pitch for the team-up to his Marvel editor, Louise Jones (later Simonson), describing to “Weezie” the aforementioned opening scene. “As soon as I finished, Walter [Simonson], who was coincidentally walking by, stuck his head in and said, ‘Did somebody say Darkseid?’”

Simonson would, many years later, write and illustrate an Orion series for DC Comics starring the son of Darkseid and involving the elaborate Fourth World mythology created for DC by visionary Jack Kirby. But in 1981, Walter was winding down his first decade in the comics business. And what a decade it had been! Simonson broke into the field in late 1972 inking war stories for DC and had very few art jobs under his belt before writer-editor Archie Goodwin picked him to draw his 1973–1974 “Manhunter” backup for Detective Comics #437– 443. Simonson’s meticulously detailed but delicate linework was unlike anything else appearing on the stands at the time, and the artist whose stylized signature was shaped like a dinosaur very quickly became a fan-favorite. On Manhunter’s heels followed Doctor Fate (in 1st Issue Special #9), Metal Men, Savage Sword of Conan, Hercules Unbound, Rampaging Hulk, a prototypical Thor run, several standout Batman stories, “Captain Fear” DC backups, and some dynamite work on licensed titles Battlestar Galactica and Star Wars. Soon, he would return to Thor as writer-artist to revitalize the title by allowing the monstrous Beta Ray Bill to command the Thunder God’s mighty hammer. Walt Simonson was about as hot as any artist could be in 1981, just the type of illustrator you would attach to a high-profile project like The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans. Simonson was in, and Claremont was thrilled. Walter’s future wife Louise was on board as editor, and she brought along another superstar, Terry Austin, to embellish Simonson’s work. DC’s titans behind Titans, Marv Wolfman and George Pérez, plus their editor, Len Wein, sanctioned the creative team and plot, the latter trio intending to later produce a Titans/X-Men follow-up team-up all their own. Work commenced.

The market was changing during these early years of the 1980s.

The tabloid format that had shepherded the two Superman/SpiderMan and the Batman/Hulk books was out of fashion, as it was originally created to attract a wider newsstand audience to comic books. But the newsstand had long been falling out of love with the traditional comic book, shunting their creaky spin racks to the back of the store or dumping them completely. Declining profits and shelf-space competition were the reasons, and in response the comic shop evolved. Fan-skewed projects were tailor made for the new specialty market, and production values were increasing, particularly on prestigious efforts such as a Marvel-DC team-up.

Also, DC’s New Teen Titans had since premiered and become a sensation, usurping the coveted X-Men team-up honor from Legion of Super-Heroes. A new title was created—Marvel and DC Present (although presumably, the title billing would be swapped on the DC-produced issues)—and the one-shot, officially bearing

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It was once again DC’s turn to helm the cross-company team-up, and Batman/Hulk’s Len Wein was now the editor in charge of JLA/Avengers. Gerry Conway, no stranger to Earth-Crossover, was the then-current JLA scribe who had previously written Avengers and was tapped for JLA/ Avengers. The New Teen Titans’ George Pérez, the superstar artist also known for his distinguished runs on both The Avengers and JLA, was wisely selected for the penciling job and relished the team-up’s opportunity to combine DC’s and Marvel’s mightiest. Editorial executives overseeing the team-up were DC’s top editor, Dick Giordano, and across town, policing matters Marvel, were Giordano’s counterpart, Jim Shooter, abetted by Mark Gruenwald.

DC and Marvel Present featuring the Justice League of America and the Avengers was planned for a summer 1983 release, and between the stellar talent involved and their proposed union of comicdom’s two premier super-teams, fan anticipation was at a fever pitch not witnessed since that of the original Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man. In that original 1976 DC-Marvel team-up, Conway perfectly afforded equal time to the two co-stars and their environments. He was prepared to do the same with JLA/ Avengers, sweetening the pot by including skirmishes between DC and Marvel analogs or characters with similar powers—Superman vs. Thor, Batman vs. Captain America, “Did someone say Darkseid?” The wraparound cover to Marvel and Green Arrow vs. Hawkeye, Zatanna vs. the Scarlet Witch, DC Present the Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans. Art by Walter the Atom vs. Ant-Man, etc.—in first-time-ever match-ups Simonson and Terry Austin. guaranteed to pop the pimples of the nerdiest of nerds.

X-Men TM & © Marvel. Teen Titans and Darkseid TM & © DC Comics.

Conway’s original plot involved two chronal criminals, Marvel’s Kang the Conqueror and DC’s Lord of Time. the astonishingly long official title of Marvel and DC Present First seen as Rama-Tut in the pages of Lee and Kirby’s featuring The Uncanny X-Men and the New Teen Titans—arrived Fantastic Four #19 (Oct. 1963), the time-traveler dubbed Kang in at comic shops on August 10, 1982, just under a year after its Avengers #8 (Sept. 1964) would evolve into one of Marvel’s major predecessor, Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk. The 64-page, lavishly villains. The Lord of Time was DC’s lesser-known counterpart, colored comic was published in the deluxe format. although he premiered first—in JLA #10 (Mar. 1962)—and only Claremont’s story was colossal in scope in this era predating made a smattering of appearances over the decades in JLA and in such cosmic crossovers (Secret Wars/Crisis on Infinite Earths/ issues of Karate Kid and Kamandi. Conway’s plot involved a power Infinity Gauntlet, etc.), and an early use of Darkseid as a major villain stone that was slipping backwards into the timestream, leading the outside of Fourth World connectivity. The evil New God played two villains to puppet JLA and Avengers superheroes into clashes god, resurrecting the dead (Dark Phoenix) and flouting the Wall that for the gem. A familiar plot, granted, but also a simple recipe that protected Kirby’s omnipotent “Source.” Simonson and Austin’s art would allow multiple characters a chance to share screen time, was stupendous, with Walter designing several significant splash providing fan-pleasing moments, delightfully drawn by Pérez, along pages that were unforgettable “money shots,” including a quiet but the way. Who could possibly object? charming splash where the Teen Titans and X-Men met for the first Marvel, that’s who. time. Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk had raised the artistic bar for Marvel editor-in-chief Shooter rejected Conway’s plot, within DC-Marvel team-ups, and some might argue that The Uncanny his contractual rights under a stipulation that “Marvel and DC shall X-Men and the New Teen Titans raised it even higher. “The delight jointly agree to mutually acceptable modifications.” Letters fired with this concept was that we had moments of stark terror combined back and forth between Shooter and Giordano, starting with Shooter’s with a lot of moments of just sheer effervescent fun,” Claremont initial disapproval of, essentially, the story itself, then Giordano proclaimed in Back Issue #66. asking for clarifications. From DC’s perspective, Shooter’s list of Topping it off was the fact that the book was produced without objections (including the participation of former Avengers and a hitch. the pairing of some characters like the Flash and the much-slower The companies were happy with the buzz and the bucks. Fans Quicksilver) was long in coming, and some charged that he was were exhilarated. Prospects for future issues of Marvel and DC avoiding giving the project his attention in a ploy to kill it.

Present looked promising.

Complicating the matter was that DC editor Wein exuberantly, But all hell was about to break loose, and this time Darkseid, and in retrospect, prematurely, gave Pérez the green light to begin the Lord of Apokolips, had nothing to do with it. penciling JLA/Avengers from the original plot. Pérez had other work pending and was tiring over this political mire, and the fan-favorite No Justice artist was 21 pages into the story when the editorial stalemate The next DC-Marvel team-up was “The Real Battle of the Century,” brought him to a screeching halt. By this point, it became obvious DC and Marvel Present featuring Dick Giordano vs. Jim Shooter. that a summer 1983 release date would not happen.

Actually, the intended project for 1983 was DC and Marvel Having already invested into Pérez’s penciled pages, Giordano Present featuring the Justice League of America and the Avengers— and DC attempted to salvage them. Giordano recommended that or, simply, JLA/Avengers. And its pathway to oblivion was a highly Roy Thomas, who had recently segued from Marvel to DC and publicized, painful tale of woe for fandom, its publishers, and its whose crown sparkled with an impressive past stint on Avengers, creative team, particularly its artist. be brought in to rework the plot, with the goal of rescuing as many

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Pérez-illustrated pages as possible through dialogue. Conway threw up his hands in disgust and walked away from the project.

Negotiations limped along, with a discussion of rebooting it with a new script as well as a new artist, Don Heck, an industry workhorse who had also drawn both super-teams but who by no means was the caliber of superstar expected for such a project.

News of the discord spread throughout the industry, ultimately trickling into the fan press. Both companies attempted to save face by airing their grievances from their “He said/He said” perspectives, including Marvel’s self-published housezine, Marvel Age. Twenty years earlier, through his “Soapbox” editorials and the company’s “Bullpen Bulletins” news pages, Stan Lee had pulled back the veil at Marvel Comics to give readers an insider’s perspective of the mechanics of the company. But now fans were witness to, essentially, a messy divorce, something no one really wanted to see. The project was ultimately pulled off of its life support.

While fans were all the poorer for being deprived of this dream project, its non-publication caused both companies considerable financial losses and irreparable assaults to their images. To many, Jim Shooter was the villain of the story. “I was deluged with angry letters,” Shooter blogged in 2011. “Hate mail. At conventions, I was asked about it in an accusatory fashion incessantly. I endured a lot of venom.”

This sad saga’s biggest victim, however, was George Pérez, who poured heart and soul into pages that would never be published. As the artist admitted to Andy Mangels in Back Issue #1 (Nov. 2003), “I know now that there’s more than one person to blame, but to my knowledge at the time, I was blaming Jim [Shooter]. I know that Len Wein made a major mistake in having me go on and do the book before Marvel got a chance to see the final plot, and it just escalated. It was a lot of personalities just getting the better of a project. I was so upset because it was such a personal project to me, and since Jim was the most vocal of the combatants, and the one who had actually, by his anger, stopped the project—everybody else was saying, ‘No, let’s forget about it. Let’s just keep going.’ Whatever his decisions were, they seemed to be stopping the project.”

Missed Opportunities

The unfortunate implosion of JLA/Avengers killed more than the meeting of the World’s Greatest Superheroes and Earth’s Mightiest Heroes.

The intended New Teen Titans/X-Men sequel by Marv Wolfman and George Pérez was an immediate casualty. Due to the rancor between companies, the entire DC-Marvel team-up initiative was no more.

Let’s consider the industry’s top talents of the day and ponder some of the other team-ups that might have been possible: Superman/ Fantastic Four by John Byrne; X-Men/Legion of Super-Heroes by Chris Claremont and Dave Cockrum (with a follow-up by Paul Levitz and Keith Giffen); Batman/Daredevil by Frank Miller and Klaus Janson; Superman/Captain Marvel (Mar-Vell) by Jim Starlin; Iron Man/Batman by David Michelinie and Bob Layton; Batman/ Moon Knight by Doug Moench and Bill Sienkiewicz; All-Star Squadron/Invaders by Roy Thomas and Rich Buckler; Robin/ Spider-Man by Len Wein and John Romita Jr. and Sr.; Conan/ Warlord by Mike Grell; and Batman/Doctor Strange by Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers.

Calmer heads prevailed in the mid-1990s and Marvel and DC got together for another spate of team-ups, including Punisher/Batman, Incredible Hulk vs. Superman, Spider-Man/Batman, and a Marvel vs. DC miniseries, which spawned a combined Amalgam Universe that gave us such hero-hybrids as Spider-Boy (Spider-Man and Superboy), Dark Claw (Batman and Wolverine), and Lobo the Duck (Lobo and Howard!).

And other publishers jumped into the fray with intercompany crossovers, with a wild range of team-ups appearing over the years including Batman/Judge Dredd, Superman vs. Aliens, Punisher vs. Archie, Batman/Tarzan, Spider-Man/Gen 13, Savage Dragon/ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Batman ’66/The Man from

George Pérez’s pencil art for page 18 of the unpublished JLA/Avengers, featuring Batman, Captain America, and Zatanna.

Batman and Zatanna TM & © DC Comics. Captain America TM & © Marvel. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions.

U.N.C.L.E., The Shadow/Green Hornet, KISS/Vampirella, He-Man/ Thundercats, JLA/Witchblade, Green Lantern/Star Trek, and many, many, many more, with no end in sight.

George Pérez finally got to do JLA/Avengers in 2003, with writer Kurt Busiek, a big, bold, and beautiful work. But once that DC-Marvel miniseries concluded in 2004, the Big Two parted company again.

With Marvel since joining the Disney empire, it’s probably more likely that you’ll see an X-Men/Star Wars team-up comic than another mashup with a denizen of the Warner Bros.–controlled DC Universe.

Fan-turned-moviemaker James Gunn (Guardians of the Galaxy, The Suicide Squad) was hopeful about another DC-Marvel team-up, however, in a June 17, 2021 tweet: “I’ve casually talked to the powers-that-be at both Marvel & DC about it. I don’t think it’s likely, but I don’t think it’s an impossibility either.”

If it happens (Deadpool/Harley Quinn? Black Panther/Wonder Woman? Another Batman/Spider-Man?), it’ll certainly provide a boost to the comics business. But as Dick Giordano penned back in 1991 in Crossover Classics regarding the team-ups that followed 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, “none quite reached the excitement level… which I guess can be equated with one’s first love… a special time gone but never to be quite forgotten.”

Chapter 9: DC-Marvel Team-Ups

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Harvey Comics’ answer to World’s Finest, the buddy book Richie Rich and Casper #1 (Aug. 1974). Each issue teamed the Poor Little Rich Boy and the Friendly Ghost.

TM & © Classic Media LLC.

The Brave and Bold Adventures of Richie Rich and Casper The year was 1963, when the team-up comic book was officially born with the coupling of Green Arrow and the Manhunter from Mars in DC Comics’ The Brave and the Bold #50. DC’s superheroes were becoming more social, and upstart Marvel Comics’ neurotic heroes seemed to scrap with each other almost as much as they did with supervillains.

Meanwhile, in the world of Harvey Comics, purveyors of wholesome cartoon characters familiar to the masses through animated theatrical shorts and television programs, their characters, who generally flew solo, began to come together more regularly. According to Harvey historian Mark Arnold, Harvey’s “first team-up title was Nightmare and Casper in 1963, after Nightmare appeared as a solo title as part of Harvey Hits.” Nightmare, the Friendly Ghost’s horse, got top billing in Nightmare and Casper (a.k.a. Nightmare & Casper) #1 (Aug. 1963), but by issue #6 the characters’ names were swapped to emphasize the more famous of the duo. The title became Casper and Nightmare, retaining that name for the rest of its 46-issue run that concluded in 1974. While this is mentioned here for the historical record, technically Casper and Nightmare was a buddy book, not a team-up title, since the same co-stars appeared in each issue.

“Also in 1963, TV Casper and Company had the first real team-up of Casper, Little Audrey, Buzzy, Herman and Katnip, and Baby Huey,” Arnold noted. TV Casper and Company #1 (Aug. 1963) was an anthology book mostly of reprints that capitalized on its ensemble’s newfound success as television stars.

The covers depicted the characters together, although generally the interior contents were short solo stories. Issue #1 wasn’t the first time several Harvey characters shared space on a cover, however. “Richie Rich appeared with Little Lotta and Little Dot on the cover of Little Dot #6 (July 1954), even though they continued to have separate stories inside,” according to Arnold. Depicting multiple characters together on the cover of comics with varied contents (especially superhero anthology titles) was a common practice during the Golden Age of Comics.

In the 1970s, when DC’s The Brave and the Bold and Marvel’s Marvel Team-Up were hits for those companies, Harvey began to publish comics co-starring duos from its lineup, their logos emblazoned together on the covers and with team-up tales inside. As with Casper and Nightmare, however, these were actually buddy books, since the same stars cohabitated issue after issue.

The Friendly Ghost had no problem making friends. In 1972, three Casper buddy books debuted: Casper and Spooky (seven issues, 1972–1973), Casper and the Ghostly Trio (ten issues, 1972–1973, 1990), and Casper and Wendy (eight issues, 1972–1973). His most successful such title was Richie Rich and Casper, Harvey’s answer to DC’s World’s Finest Comics, with the partnering of its two biggest attractions; that series ran 45 issues, from 1974–1982.

According to Mark Arnold, “Richie Rich and Casper debuted in 1974 after appearing together in Friendly Ghost Casper issues with the Cub Scouts in 1974. Those Casper issues had Casper, Richie Rich, Spooky, Hot Stuff, Sad Sack, and Nap Sack.” Harvey published a team-up special edition during the United States’ Bicentennial Year to celebrate baseball’s centennial. “Richie Rich, Casper and Wendy – National League was a 1976 one-shot,” Arnold said.

CHAPTER 10

TEAM-UPS

TM & © Classic Media LLC.

Harvey’s Jackie Jokers, billed as “The World’s Funniest Kid” or “The Clown Prince of Show Biz,” premiered in Jackie Jokers #1 (Mar. 1972), but his title was discontinued after four issues (although he scored a cameo by President Richard Nixon in issue #2!).

“Richie Rich and Jackie Jokers debuted in 1973 after Jackie Jokers was cancelled that year,” Arnold said of the buddy book that followed Jackie’s flop as a solo star.

Richie Rich and Jackie Jokers enjoyed an impressive run that spanned close to a decade, from #1 (Nov. 1973) through 48 (Dec. 1982). (Nixon, disgraced after Watergate and his resignation from the nation’s highest office, was not invited back for a return engagement.)

While that series was technically a buddy book, it can be argued that Richie Rich & Dot #1 (Oct. 1974) was a team-up comic since it was a one-shot and since the majority of its interior contents featured Richie Rich and Little Dot together in short stories. Similarly, Richie Rich Meets Timmy Time #1 (Sept. 1977) was a team-up one-shot introducing “a new star on the horizon”… although the comic, produced by writerartist Ernie Colón, was envisioned to be something entirely different. As Mark Arnold reported in Back Issue #71 (Apr. 2014), Colón, inspired by cartoonist Herge’s series of Tin Tin adventure comics, created for Harvey Comics a time-traveler named Mark Time, intended to star in his own series. But corporate changes at Harvey altered Colón’s creation to the alliteratively renamed Timmy Time and truncated his concept to this oneshot with Richie Rich.

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TM & © Classic Media LLC.

Richie Rich and Professor Keenbean #1 (Oct. 1987) Richie Rich and Casper, the Friendly Ghost #2 (Dec. 1987) Richie Rich and Dollar, the Dog #3 (Mar. 1988) Richie Rich and Cadbury, the Perfect Butler #4 (July 1988) Richie Rich and Mayda Money, the Princess of Snob #5 (Nov. 1988) Richie Rich and Irona, the Robot Maid #6 (June 1989) Richie Rich and Little Dot #7 (Aug. 1989) Richie Rich and Professor Keenbean #8 (Sept. 1989) Richie Rich and Little Audrey #9 (Oct. 1989) Richie Rich and Mayda Money #10 (Nov. 1989) Richie Rich and Cadbury, the Perfect Butler #11 (May 1990)

Casper and the Ghostly Trio #1 (Nov. 1987) Casper and Spooky, the Tuff Little Ghost #2 (Feb. 1988) Casper and Wendy, the Good Little Witch #3 (Apr. 1988) Casper and Nightmare, the Galloping Ghost #4 (June 1988) Casper and the Ghostly Trio #5 (Aug. 1988) Casper and Spooky #6 (Oct. 1988) Casper and Wendy #7 (Dec. 1988) Casper and Hot Stuff, the Little Devil #8 (Aug. 1989) Casper and Baby Huey, the Baby Giant #9 (Oct. 1989) Casper and Wendy #10 (Feb. 1990) Casper and the Ghostly Trio #11 (Apr. 1990) Casper and Spooky #12 (June 1990)

TM & © Classic Media LLC.

Casper and…

Richie Rich and…

Throughout the Bronze Age of Comics, Harvey Comics struck gold with its Poor Little Rich Boy, and Richie Rich became one of the most heavily franchised characters on the stands. Rich relations abounded, with the following buddy books joining the aforementioned titles: Richie Rich and Cadbury (29 issues, 1977–1991), Richie Rich and Dollar, the Dog (24 issues, 1977–1982), Richie Rich and Gloria (25 issues, 1977–1982), Richie Rich and His Girlfriends (16 issues, 1979–1982), and Richie Rich and His Mean Cousin Reggie (29 issues, 1977–1991). The tradition continued in the early 1990s with Richie Rich and Professor Keenbean (two issues, 1990) and a crossover with one of pop music’s most popular bands, Richie Rich and the New Kids on the Block (three issues, 1991).

Amid all of these buddy books that looked like team-up titles, in 1987 Harvey Comics finally produced two actual team-up series: Richie Rich and… and Casper and…, each anchored by its respective superstar who was joined by a different co-star in each issue.

“Richie Rich and… had leftover unpublished material produced before 1982 until it went into reprints with issue #7,” according to Mark Arnold, who also explained that some of the issues featured new team-ups. “Casper and… was all reprints since [the series] Casper was mainly reprints after 1973, with a few exceptions.” (See the Team-Up Time-Out sidebar above for both series’ contents.)

Curiously, when these team-up books were launched in 1987, DC and Marvel’s team-up titles had temporarily fallen out of fashion.

Leave it to the Poor Little Rich Boy to realize the value of team-up comic books! (opposite page, top) Harvey launched Jackie Jokers in his own magazine, which quickly failed, but the buddy book Richie Rich and Jackie Jokers enjoyed a long run. (bottom) Richie Rich team-up one-shots.

TM & © Classic Media LLC.

Chapter 10: Harvey Team-Ups

163

DC Super-Stars #18 (Jan.–Feb. 1978), teaming Deadman and the Phantom Stranger. Cover by Jim Aparo.

TM & © DC Comics.

If you were a young comics reader like me during the Silver and Bronze Ages, comic books romanticized two real-world locations as must-see destinations.

The first was Palisades Park, an amusement park in New Jersey, which was promoted in no end of DC house ads and was endorsed by Superman himself! With its rides like a “Batman Slide,” what superheroloving kid didn’t want to attend? Easier said than done for those of us growing up in Anywhere, U.S.A., whose vacations were dictated by parental decree. Palisades Park was a destination most commonly frequented by those within the New York Metro area, and the rest of us settled for slapdash-assembled Tilt-A-Whirls and Ferris wheels that sprouted one week a year at our county fairs. (I finally vicariously “visited” Palisades Park in my 2017 TwoMorrows book, Hero-A-Go-Go: Campy Comic Books, Crimefighters, and Culture of the Swinging Sixties, in a photo-heavy history.)

And then there was Rutland, Vermont. As a kid living in faraway Concord, North Carolina, I’d never heard of Rutland—and had no appreciation for the state of Vermont, really—until I read one of the Bronze Age’s best Batman tales, the Denny O’Neil/Neal Adams classic “Night of the Reaper,” in Batman #237 (Dec. 1971). Therein, Batman—and Robin, the latter then a college student who at that time infrequently teamed with his cowled mentor—were in this gothic New England hamlet that hosted a Halloween parade that was a salute to superheroes. And in that comic I first “met” Tom Fagan (1931–2008), a real-life newspaperman who was Vermont’s answer to DC Comics’ human encyclopedia, E. Nelson Bridwell. Fagan was renowned for his colossal collection of comic books and paper Americana, and for his boundless knowledge of actor James Dean. He became the era’s most famous fan as an organizer of Rutland’s annual costume parade, which featured floats bustling with superhero and adventure hero cosplayers. Fagan was also the host of an annual Halloween costume shindig frequented by many of the comics biz’s writers and artists of the day—Roy Thomas, Steve Englehart, Gerry Conway, Len Wein, you name ’em, they were there!—who began a trend of using Rutland as the setting for spooky Halloween comics stories, with cameos by Fagan and by the artists and writers themselves! After I read Batman #237 I learned it wasn’t Rutland’s first comics appearance—Avengers #83, published by Marvel one year earlier, was—and it certainly wouldn’t be the last, with Rutland-based stories occurring time and time again over the years… including a Deadman/Phantom Stranger team-up that occurred in the last issue of a scattershot DC Giant series titled DC Super-Stars.

DC Super-Stars (DCSS) was published at roughly the same time of DC’s Super-Team Family (STF), and like STF its format changed during its lifespan. Under editor E. Nelson Bridwell, DCSS began as a reprint Giant during a period when DC was competing with Marvel and other publishers for spin rack space by cranking out more and more titles. DCSS jammed its pages with material from the vault, making it simple and cheap to produce, especially in those days before reprint royalties. After Teen Titans reprints in issue #1 (Mar. 1976), Bridwell launched the theme “DC Super-Stars of Space” in #2, an anthology of sci-fi oldies (an Adam Strange/Hawkman crossover, plus the Atomic Knights and the Knights of the Galaxy were #2’s offerings).

The “DC Super-Stars of Space” format alternated in even-numbered issues with reprints of established series in odd-numbered ones (Superboy and the Legion of Super-Heroes in #3, the Flash in #5, Aquaman in #7), until a “Man Behind the Gun” theme of weapons-related tales in #9 (a rather off-putting collection when considering that DC would produce an anti-firearms special, Batman: Seduction of the Gun, some 17 years later). A new “Strange Sports Stories” tale pitting the JLA against DC supervillains on the baseball diamond, plus a sci-fi reprint, appeared in #10, followed by Zatanna and Flash reprints in #11’s “DC Super-Stars of Magic.”

CHAPTER 11

From World War II to Rutland, Vermont, DC’s Home of Weird Team-Ups

Beginning with #12 and for the remainder of its run, DC SuperStars was a 48-page (as opposed to the traditional 32-page) comic with all-new stories (save for a bonus reprint as a backup in #12). Readers never knew what to expect in each issue. Issue #12 starred Superboy in his first all-new solo adventure in some time, #13 was a spotlight on MAD and Plop! cartoonist Sergio Aragonés, #14 featured a collection of all-new “Secret Origins of Super-Villains,” #16 headlined David Michelinie and Don Newton’s space opera “Star Hunters,” and #17 rolled out three all-new “Secret Paul Levitz.

Origins of Super-Heroes,” including © DC Comics. the premiere of the Paul Levitz and Joe Staton’s popular Huntress, the daughter of the Earth-Two Batman and Catwoman. Amid this Showcase/DC Special alternating structure were two issues utilizing yet another popular format, the team-up, à la The Brave and the Bold.

DC Super-Stars #15 (July–Aug. 1977) teamed DC’s two hottest combat stars of the day, Sgt. Rock, the grizzled top-kick of Easy Company, and the Unknown Soldier, the mummy-faced master of disguise, in a World War II adventure. Despite the cover’s co-billing of Rock and the Unknown Soldier, whose logos were linked in the B&B tradition, this was a three-way team-up co-starring “the Battle Doll of the French Underground,” Mademoiselle Marie. Back in those unintentionally chauvinistic days, with the majority of DC’s output targeting school-age boys (especially its war books), female characters rarely got the cover spotlight. Marie was shown on the cover and was named in a cover burst, but you had to turn to page one’s title billing to discover that she stood on equal footing with the Boys in Company DC, her logo stacked below Rock’s and the Soldier’s.

This issue’s dynamic Joe Kubert cover employed a time-honored trope usually reserved for superhero comic covers, with Sgt. Rock facing off against “himself”… but any reader familiar with the Unknown Soldier, the faceless fighter who spent more story pages disguised in bogus I.D.s than he did with his own bandaged face on view, it was no secret who the other Rock really was. The Sgt. Rock identity gimmick was cleverly portrayed in the story itself, written, of course, by DC’s chief combat scribe, Bob Kanigher. Penciler Lee Elias and inker Romeo Tanghal adopted frequent crosshatching to add Kubert grit to their art. This Sgt. Rock/Unknown Soldier/Mlle.

Marie team-up was a tautly crafted World War II thriller under the editorial control of Paul Levitz. (Levitz shepherded all of DC Super-Stars’ final run of new stories, save for the Joe Orlando– helmed “Star Hunters” issue, #16.)

One might be forgiven for mistaking DCSS #18 (Winter 1978) as an issue of Brave and Bold that gave Batman the night off. B&B’s resident artist Jim Aparo drew its cover, and its Deadman and Phantom Stranger logos, stacked here instead of side-by-side to accommodate Aparo’s layout, clearly conveyed that this was a team-up.

A few years earlier these two mystical not-quite-superheroes had formed a kinship, sort of a supernatural counterpart to DC’s buddy teams like Flash/Green Lantern and Atom/Hawkman. It began with with the tale “Deadman’s Bluff” in The Phantom Stranger #33 (Oct.–Nov. 1974). Therein, writer Arnold Drake conveniently ignored the trippy diversions of Neal Adams’ later Deadman tales with a straightforward story beautifully rendered by emerging superstar Mike Grell. It featured the late Boston “Deadman” Brand’s quest to find his murderer, crossing paths with the mysterious Stranger along the way. The Stranger’s

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Which Rock is which? The Sgt. Rock/Unknown Soldier/ Mlle. Marie team-up, in DC Super-Stars #15 (July–Aug. 1977). Cover by Joe Kubert.

TM & © DC Comics.

magazine wasn’t long for this world at that time, and in its final issues, The Phantom Stranger #39–41, published in late 1975, Deadman returned as a guest-star.

Levitz was the writer of those last three Phantom Strangers co-starring Deadman, and a couple years later, as the editor of DC Super-Stars, lobbied for their return in DC’s let’s-see-what-flies Giant.

Levitz, DC publisher Jenette Kahn, and managing editor Joe Orlando “were trying to settle on a theme for the then-current DC SUPER-STARS, and the idea of a Masters of Mystery theme [with the Phantom Stranger and Deadman] was suggested… and turned down,” Levitz explained in his “The Story Behind the Story” text page in DCSS #18. “Neither of the characters was deemed strong enough to support a 60¢ edition,” with both in limbo outside of a rare guest-shot. Given his affection for his scripts for The Phantom Stranger, among his earliest works as a writer, “the idea refused to die” with Levitz. Later in the editorial conference, when the “Halloween season release date” of #18 was considered, Levitz pitched the Phantom Stranger/Deadman combo again, flexing the muscle of the strong sales figures from The Brave and the Bold #133 (Apr. 1977), published earlier that year, which brought back Deadman as Batman’s

co-star. Second time around, the suggestion got the green light and the young editor went to work.

Levitz would not pen this meeting of the preternatural pair but instead turned to a teamup of two writers who contributed separate chapters that unfolded their shared narrative.

“Marty Pasko has been pining to do a Deadman series for about three years now, ever since we discussed running Boston Brand’s quest in the back of ADVENTURE COMICS,” Levitz revealed in “The Story Behind the Story” of the first scribe selected. “While a one-shot appearance didn’t fully satisfy that desire, it was still the fulfillment of one of his ambitions in comics.” It was Pasko’s idea to set the tale in Rutland, “a town that has a unique fame in comics,” as described by the issue’s editor.

Indeed. It was scribe Roy Thomas who brought Rutland to comics in the aforementioned Avengers #83 (Dec. 1970), an issue that also introduced the Valkyrie, followed by Denny O’Neil in 1971’s Batman #237, which had the town under siege by none other than a grim reaper. By blending the fannish appeal of superhero costuming (this was decades before the coining of the term “cosplay”) and a town that was a conduit for horrific happenings, comics’ fictionalized Rutland—always with pop-ins by host Tom Fagan—became anticipated among comics readers each Halloween.

Three writers offered Rutland stories for Halloween 1972: Steve Englehart’s solo Beast (of the X-Men) tale in Marvel’s Amazing At a Rutland gathering in DC Super-Stars #18, host Tom Fagan introduces the Adventures #16, Len Wein’s introduction of the “Ghostbreaker” Doctor Thirteen to the comic book’s creative team.

Phantom Stranger as an unofficial JLA member TM & © DC Comics. in Justice League of America #103, and Gerry Conway’s Tom Fagan guest-appearance in Thor #207. Englehart returned to Rutland in 1973, in Deadman alive when he ran a three-part story of the character in this time in Avengers #119. For Halloween 1974, Conway was at the AQUAMAN title he was editing in 1970.” This worthy entry in it again, in Thor #232. Bob Rozakis took the Freedom Fighters to the ongoing Rutland, Vermont, comics saga also featured cameos by Rutland in the Halloween 1976 issue of their title, #6. And Steve Marty Pasko, Gerry and then-wife Carla Conway, Romeo Tanghal, Englehart simply could not get enough of Vermont’s eeriest hamlet— and the tousle-topped Paul Levitz as guests of Tom Fagan. he couldn’t even wait for Halloween to arrive when authoring DC Super-Stars concluded its run with issue #18. Editor Levitz Justice League of America #145–146, which went on sale in the cited a drain upon the company’s talent pool for other projects as the late spring of 1977. Therein, Rutland was the site of a “Carnival reason the title was removed from the schedule. of Souls,” and a sinister supervillain named Count Crystal actually DC Super-Stars was concurrently (more or less) published succeeded in killing (temporarily) JLAers Superman, Hawkman, alongside Super-Team Family. While both titles produced some and Phantom Stranger in sacrifices to a demon! gems along the way, when regarded in their entirety both were also Now it was Martin Pasko’s turn, in DC Super-Stars #18. Pasko thematically schizophrenic. started the proceedings with gargoyles that invaded Rutland with It’s certainly easy for this author, decades later, to assess the plans to populate the town. Once these Vermont vexations attracted titles’ hits and misses without having been involved with the demands Deadman and the Phantom Stranger, editor Levitz’s second writer of producing these comic books back in their day. But in retrospect, for the issue picked up the baton and forged ahead. “This story DC’s mid-1970s attempts at a non-Batman team-up comic might marks two returns for Gerry Conway,” editor Levitz explained in have proved more successful if the company had eschewed its “The Story Behind the Story.” “First, a return to Rutland, which he cumbersome “DC Family” brand and “Super-Team Family” title and has visited before in four-color form, and a return to the Phantom instead employed the title “DC Super-Stars” for a team-up book, Stranger series, which was his first regular assignment in comics folding Conway’s STF team-ups and Levitz’s DCSS team-ups into some eight years ago.” Conway seamlessly continued the tale where one cohesive concept. We’ll never know for sure.

Pasko left off, involving ghost-debunker Doctor Thirteen, who In a September 27, 2021 email, Paul Levitz confirmed that DC was a guest of Tom Fagan’s, plus two villains: a demon controlling Super-Stars’ two offbeat team-ups “never had anything to do with residents from beyond and the Stranger’s seductive enemy, Tala.

Super-Team Family,” but instead were “just filling an issue on Romeo Tanghal, the Filipino artist best known as a DC inker, got the schedule with something that seemed special and interesting.” his start at DC illustrating DC’s mystery comics and penciled the Regardless of their genesis, the Sgt. Rock/Unknown Soldier and Deadman/Phantom Stranger team-up, with Dick Giordano inking Deadman/Phantom Stranger team-ups remain uncharacteristic but (assisted by, it was later revealed, Bob Layton). “For Dick this is also enjoyable issues worth a burrow through your long boxes or your a return engagement,” penned Levitz, “since he helped keep interest local comic shop’s back-issue bins.

Chapter 11: DC Super-Stars

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Celebrating the Man of Steel’s 40th birthday, DC Comics Presents #1 (July–Aug. 1978), featuring a new Superman/Flash race. Cover by José Luis García-López and Dan Adkins.

TM & © DC Comics.

It was as staggering a turn of events as a reader might find in a Bob Haney–penned Brave and Bold throat-grabber: Superman—the World’s Greatest Superhero, the Man of Tomorrow, DC Comics’ allegory for the prophet Moses or the messiah Jesus (take your pick), the selfless big blue Boy Scout who would suffer a gauntlet of inexorable Phantom Zone cutthroats to protect the meekest and weakest among us—trading the lives of Earth’s billions to pull his own fat out of the fire!

An extraterrestrial named Iylar was attempting to go back in time to stop a civil war between the Volkir and Zelkot alien cultures from ever starting in the first place. If he succeeded, an altered timeline would result in the explosion of the planet Krypton happening 30 years earlier… “And I will never have been born!” laments Superman. “I’ll cease to exist!!”

There was a price to pay in Superman choosing sides between these otherworldly Hatfields and McCoys— by protecting the timeline that would save his own life, Earth would die as a result.

“I don’t believe it,” thinks the Flash, the Fastest Man Alive and Superman’s Justice League ally, running against the Man of Steel in a chase—and a race—to the end of time. “Superman risking Earth to save his own lousy skin! He’s a hero, blast it—he should be willing to sacrifice himself…”

This, the fourth super-speed contest between Superman and the Flash, upped the ante from their previous competitions and wagered not a racing bet but the Man of Steel’s existence as the stakes. But that was the hallmark of DC Comics Presents (DCCP), a title often called by its creators simply “DC Presents,” that spanned 101 issues (when counting its Annuals) throughout the transformative final years of the Bronze Age of Comics. Sure, DCCP featured lots of done-in-one time-passers that were fun to read but forgotten as soon as their pages were closed. But along the way it also showcased extraordinary stories by extraordinary storytellers, mini-masterpieces that challenged readers’ preconceptions of the Big Red “S” during a period when many were simply marking time while waiting for writer-artist John Byrne to come and revamp him.

Superman Plus

The year was 1978, and a lot was going on in the world of the Metropolis Marvel as DC Comics observed the 40th birthday of Superman’s first appearance in Action Comics #1 (cover-dated June 1938, which actually went on sale in April of that year). In the first three months of 1978, DC published the anniversary edition World’s Finest Comics #250; released back-to-back super-sized tabloid editions pitting the Man of Steel against other bigger-than life heroes, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali and Superman vs. Shazam!; and walked the Golden Age Clark Kent and Lois Lane down the aisle in the 40th anniversary edition of Action Comics, #484. Throughout the year there would be a bounty of media tie-ins, including Superman paperback books, toys, records, bubble bath dispensers, trading cards, T-shirts, posters, and specialty magazines. On April 3, 1978, the Man of Steel returned to newspaper syndication in the form of the DC-produced, Supermancentric World’s Greatest Superheroes comic strip, appearing daily and on Sundays, with other DC heroes working alongside the Action Ace. DC’s year-long super-birthday milestone would culminate with the December 15, 1978 premiere of director Richard Donner’s blockbuster Superman: The Movie, which made a star out of Christopher Reeve and birthed the modern superhero motion picture.

And along the way, on April 4, 1978, came the release of DC Comics Presents #1 (cover-dated July–Aug. 1978), featuring Superman and the Flash in their aforementioned fourth fleet-footed match-up. For the first time since World’s Finest’s brief break-up with Batman that began in 1970, the Man of Steel had his own

CHAPTER 12

From Pesky Pasko to Baby Gerber, a Wild Ride of Superman Team-Ups

team-up title. Each issue of DCCP would feature Superman plus a guest-star from the DC pantheon.

Superman plus.

As writer Mike W. Barr recalled, that’s what they originally wanted to call the new comic book.

“The book was already on the schedule and in production by the time I came on staff in October 1977 as staff proofreader,” Barr told Jim Kingman in a DCCP history published in Back Issue #66, “though it was originally referred to as ‘Superman Plus.’ I don’t know who came up with the DCCP title.” Paul Levitz, at the time rising the executive ranks at DC, could not recall for The Team-Up Companion any discussion of the proposed “Superman Plus” title for DCCP. Barr, who would later be the final author of Batman team-ups in Brave and Bold and script a few DCCPs as well, did play a vital role in a different aspect of the book’s development, however. “My only creative contribution was to suggest, in a staff meeting, that the ‘DC bullet’ be lowered from its traditional position in the upper left corner of the cover to a little lower to incorporate it in the comic’s logo.”

Designing the logo was Eisner Award–winning letterer Todd Klein, who informed The Team-Up Companion that the DCCP logo was “one of my first for the company, and the first for an ongoing title.” Klein affixed the logo’s banner to the company’s icon, the DC bullet, which had been commissioned by new DC publisher Jenette Kahn from legendary graphic artist Milton Glaser, best known for his “I ♥ New York” logo.

With its fluttering flag effect, DC Comics Presents’ logo would appear to be a subtle salute to the original logo for The Brave and the Bold, which was shaped like a rippling battle guidon. According to Klein, any such homage was unintentional. “There was no conscious nod to the Brave and Bold logo,” Klein said. “I simply needed something that would work with the Milton Glaser studio DC bullet and begin at the same angle. The two-part banner was my solution.” The banner’s thick font for “COMICS PRESENTS” was chosen to be “like what they use on high school letter sweaters, block letters within a thin outline around the outside, though Glaser’s outline was so thin it often didn’t print well.

I matched it as closely as I could.”

Behind the editor’s desk of DC Comics Presents sat Julius Schwartz.

Julie was lessening his editorial load in 1978, tiptoeing his way toward his eventual semi-retirement which began in the mid-1980s. In 1978, his The Flash, Green Lantern, Justice League of America, Batman, and Detective Comics were reassigned, and his focus narrowed onto the Superman franchise, including the new DCCP, as well as the concurrently Julius Schwartz. launched World’s Greatest Superheroes newspaper strip.

No World’s Finest Revival

“Our last attempt at a Superman team-up magazine,” Schwartz stated of World’s Finest #198–214 in a text page in DC Comics Presents #2, “was discontinued before we had a chance to explore the possibilities of such a format to their fullest.”

Therein Schwartz also mentioned, “The sales figures showed that, while those issues of WF sold well, readers like the old Superman/Batman better, and so after 17 issues, the magazine reverted to its previous format.”

As noted in this volume’s World’s Finest Comics essay, in that title Schwartz relied almost exclusively upon the Justice League roster for Superman’s allies. Not so with DC Comics

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Presents, pledged its editor: “In addition to the occasional teaming of Superman and another member of the Justice League, you can look forward in the issues ahead to guestshots by such guest-stars as ADAM STRANGE, BLACK LIGHTNING and BATGIRL.” Schwartz also appealed to his readers to write in with team-up suggestions.

The editor made a different reader appeal in the first issue’s text page, titled “You, too, can team up with Superman!”

Schwartz announced a fan contest inviting readers to submit titles for the DCCP letters column. “If we decide to use your title-suggestion,” Julie explained, “writer Martin Pasko will devise a special storyline in which you will be one of the co-stars—right alongside Superman himself and the scheduled co-star of that issue!”

It was clear from that initial text page that editor Julie Schwartz intended for Martin “Marty” Pasko to be the DC Comics Presents scribe. Pasko was a fan-turnedpro who first attracted Schwartz’s attention by penning hyper-critical letters to the editor’s various titles, with Julie dubbing him “‘Pesky’ Pasko.” Before long, Pasko was penning short stories for Schwartz as backups in the Superman titles.

By the mid-1970s, Marty had become one of Julie’s main Superman writers. Under Pasko’s guidance, once comical villains such as the original Toyman, Bizarro, and Martin Pasko.

Titano were retooled into credible Photo by and courtesy of Bob Rozakis. threats, and new, dangerous menaces including the Atomic Skull were introduced.

Paired with Pasko as the DCCP artist was penciler José Luis García-López (“Praise be his name,” as his devoted fan base proclaims today in online forums). García-López’s lithe, realistic rendition of Superman enlivened the Man of Steel’s covers and interior pages during the mid- to late 1970s. Born in Spain but reared in Argentina, he relocated to the United States in 1975 to work in American comics. Being new to the United States at the time and unfamiliar with the conventions of the American comic-book business, García-López originally wasn’t a fan of superhero comics, nor was he aware of the increased responsibilities—mainly, fluency in drawing two more or different characters and their casts—required of a team-up book. “I took everything DC gave me. It was all new for me, and I was not aware it was a team-up book, or whatever you call it,” he told me in an interview for my book, The Krypton Companion.

García-López was also new to the English language, which in those early days occasionally posed challenges when collaborating with his colleagues in the U.S. “At that time, we believed José to be fluent in written English; he just didn’t speak it much,” Marty Pasko recalled to me in 2006. “But, despite a charismatic presence that made him look like he’d just stepped out of a Sergio Leone movie, he had a reputation for being one of the calmest, most easy-going people in the business. He patiently suffered many indignities from well-meaning but awkward colleagues trying to overcome the language barrier. Without realizing it, Julie had taken to speaking to him very loudly, as people sometimes do when insecure about whether they’ll be understood. It was the only time I heard José speak a sentence in perfect English. He took the cheroot from his mouth and quietly said, ‘Julie, I am Argentinean, not deaf.’”

To maintain the production schedule of an ongoing series, an inker would be necessary for DC Comics Presents. García-López’s inker of choice, Dick Giordano, wasn’t available, but the artist was pleased with editor Schwartz’s selection of inker Dan Adkins, whose smooth embellishment nicely enlivened his pencils. Pasko, GarcíaLópez, and Adkins were a dream team of talent. Leave it to the Dreaded Deadline Doom—thus named at Marvel but certainly no stranger to competitor DC—to rattle DCCP out of its dream state.

TM & © DC Comics.

An Immediate Shake-Up

Pasko’s Superman/Flash team-up was, like Denny O’Neil’s 1970 Superman/Flash team-up in World’s Finest, a two-issue affair.

His was a complex science-fiction story involving multiple timelines, characters, and alien landscapes, a laborious task for artist García-López, but one he completed with stunning results. The artwork on both issues, although crowded at times by exposition, was glorious. And Superman saved the day, the reader and his co-star discovering he wasn’t a planet-forsaking narcissist after all (“Guess I should’ve known better than to think he’d cop out on Earth!” thinks the Flash).

At the time, Pasko was writing both DCCP and the World’s Greatest Superheroes comic strip for editor Schwartz and found the workload to be more than he could handle.

After Pasko completed the scripts for DCCP #1 and 2, David Michelinie stepped in as guest-writer of DCCP #3 (Nov. 1978), which had, before Pasko’s departure, been planned as a Superman/Adam Strange team-up. Michelinie was a relative newcomer to the field but one who would become one of its most popular writers, most notably on Spider-Man, Iron Man, and, appropriately, Superman. “When the opportunity arose to write a new Adam Strange story, I jumped at it,” he said in Back Issue #66.

“That was also my first shot at writing Superman, one of the true icons of the medium, which made the assignment even more special.” García-López penciled and inked this issue’s 25-page tale.

Meanwhile, a line-wide format change called the DC Explosion occurred during the summer of 1978, where all DC books increased their page counts from 32 to 40 pages and their cover prices from 35 cents to 50 cents, adding eight new pages of story to each title.

DCCP #1’s first Superman/Flash chapter weighed in at 18 pages, with the next issue’s story expanded to 25 pages! Were the increased page count not enough, the series, which started as a bimonthly, was booted to a monthly frequency with issue #3.

Issue #3 also featured the magazine’s first letters column, reactions to issue #1. “Marty Pasko is definitely the best Superman writer in years,” averred DC mega-fan Rich Morrissey. The other letter writers similarly praised the script, plus the art and the series itself, with one asking for team-ups between Superman and Shade the Changing Man, the Demon, Doctor Fate, and the characters slated for the next issue, the Metal Men. Editor Schwartz announced that Len Wein would become the regular DCCP scribe with issue #4. With José Luis García-López remaining on art, DC Comics Presents appeared to be on a stable course.

“I love the Metal Men,” Wein admitted to me in 2006, making the wordsmith right at home in his first issue of DCCP, #4, a Superman/Metal Men team-up ignoring a Superman/Batman

tale in World’s Finest #239 (July 1976) that guest-starred Metal Men team leader Gold. Were one Man of Steel and six robots not enough, there were two villains—the Metal Men’s lethal leviathan Chemo and Hawkman’s rogue I.Q. The 23-page story also featured scenes at the Wein-created S.T.A.R. Labs with its respective players (S.T.A.R. and its director, the Jenette Kahn–inspired Dr. Jenette Klyburn, appeared regularly in the science-laden early issues of DCCP), plus a Hawkman and Hawkgirl flashback. With García-López once again both penciling and inking the issue, the enormity of the now-monthly DC Comics Presents was a burden that would crumple even the mighty Atlas’ broad, world-supporting shoulders.

And so, #4 became the artist’s final issue. “I just did a few [DCCPs] for the simple reason I couldn’t keep up with deadlines,” García-López said. (Fortunately for fans, he would occasionally return to the series.)

Wein’s Superman/Metal Men experience in issue #4 programmed the writer’s creative “responsometer” for future raiding of the robots’ rogues’ gallery. “I realized after doing that first story that here was a villain [Chemo] that was a physical match against Superman, so I kept bringing him back,” which he did, as the writer of Superman #342 (Dec. 1979) and 370 (Apr. 1982).

Despite being announced as the new DCCP regular scribe, Wein would not stick around long. He also plotted issue #5 (Jan. 1979), a Superman/Aquaman team-up that involved the squabbling underwater cities of Tritonis, home of one-time Superman girlfriend Lori Lemaris (a mermaid), and Aquaman’s realm of Poseidonis.

It was scripted by Paul Levitz and illustrated by Murphy Anderson.

“As was not unusual in Len’s career, he got behind and asked for help,” Levitz told me in a September 27, 2021 email. After turning in this plot, Wein moved on to other projects.

A Flurry of Fill-ins

There was another personnel change with DCCP #5: Ross Andru, who provided the issue’s dynamic cover pencils, was also the issue’s editor!

The title’s unexpected bump to monthly status with its third issue had caught Julie Schwartz, always one to keep the “trains” running on time, unawares (the bald editor might have been tempted to pull out his hair… if he had any!). Further complicating matters was DCCP’s expanded page count with issue #2, plus Schwartz’s additional management of the World’s Greatest Superheroes daily syndicated strip. The Comic Reader #156 (May 1978) announced that Andru would be taking over DCCP’s editorship with issue #5. Then came the DC Implosion, the abrupt market downturn where DC’s line shifted back to the standard 32-page format, reducing cover prices from 50 to 40 cents per copy. As a result, DC editors Larry Hama and Al Milgrom’s jobs were terminated. Editorial assignments were quickly readjusted and Schwartz resumed the editorial reins of DCCP with issue #6, with Joe Orlando taking over the WGSH strip. Matters were in such a state of flux that even the letters column—a standard in Schwartz’s fan-friendly books since the dawn of the Silver Age—was absent in DCCP #4 and Andru’s issue #5.

An abbreviated lettercol appeared in #6, opened by a sheepish apology by its flustered editor, Julie Schwartz; that page included a letter critical of Pasko’s issue #2, taking issue with its complex, “confoozing” storytelling and its outrageous use of Superman’s superpowers.

In issue #7’s lettercol, Schwartz explained his struggles to take control of DCCP’s volatile editorial reins: “when a mag jumps from 6-times-a-year (retroactively), your hard-pressed editor discovers that he must somehow ‘materialize’ 6 additional stories almost overnight!” He thanked Paul Levitz, Dick Dillin, and Curt Swan for their fill-in support during the transition: Levitz wrote both DCCP #6 (Superman/Green Lantern, penciled by Swan) and 7 (Superman/Red Tornado, penciled by Dillin). Issue #6 “was

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my first assignment from Julie, an editor I respected and got along with but hadn’t been an assistant to,” Levitz stated in 2021.

“When he asked if I had any ideas for a DCCP, I felt like I was really a writer. I recall saying something like, ‘No, Julie, but give me a few minutes,’ and returning to him shortly after with the cover idea for #6 as a hook.” (Issue #6’s cover, penciled by Ross Andru and inked by Dick Giordano, depicted a battle-weary Green Lantern tossing his power ring to his appointed successor…

Clark Kent!) Despite Levitz’s back-to-back solo-scripted issues, in issue #7’s lettercol Schwartz promised a regular DCCP creative team: Murphy Anderson, recently seen in #5, who would return next issue, #8, and a writer that had yet to be determined.

Issue #7’s lettercol also unveiled the column’s new name: “Pair Mail,” suggested by reader Marc Teichman, winner of the name-the-lettercol contest announced in issue #1. “As all of you who entered our contest know—lucky Marc will ‘team-up’ with Superman and another, as-yet-undecided co-star in a future issue,” editor Schwartz announced.

Murphy Anderson did a serviceable job with DCCP #8’s art, but his art style, which epitomized DC’s Silver Age look, seemed dated by the late 1970s, and his Swamp Thing lacked the fearsomeness that artists Bernie (originally Berni) Wrightson and Nestor Redondo had established earlier. In the lettercol, Schwartz touted next issue’s return of DCCP’s so-called regular scribe Marty Pasko, and plugged the Superman/Black Lightning team-up—first mentioned in issue #2’s lettercol—as coming up in #10.

Marty was indeed back for issue #9’s Superman/Wonder Woman team-up, but Murph was AWOL, with the Joe Staton/Jack Abel art team illustrating. This would be the first of many DCCP issues drawn by Staton—and for the immediate future it might appear that he was the “regular” artist of the book, since Staton and Abel, not Anderson, were back in #10, without Pasko, as frequent Superman scribe Cary Bates wrote the issue.

Another change with issue #10 was its team-up. Promised co-star Black Lightning was nowhere to be seen. The story instead was a Superman/Sgt. Rock time-travel adventure with an amnesiac Man of Steel, disguised as an unnamed private dubbed “Tag-A-Long,” assisting Easy Company during World War II. Unlike Bob Haney’s penchant for teaming Batman with Sgt. Rock in Brave and Bold, DC Comics had historically banished the infinitely powered Man of Steel from combat scenarios, outside of the poster-worthy of pro-war effort covers that marched through Action Comics, Superman, and World’s Finest during the 1940s. There were a handful of Superman-at-war exceptions published over the years, however, including Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster’s “What If Superman Ended the War?” in Look magazine (Feb. 27, 1940). Writer Bob Kanigher, along with interior artists Ross Andru and Mike Esposito and cover artist Joe Kubert, involved the Metropolis Marvel in the politically unpopular Vietnam War in “The Soldier of Steel” in Superman #216 (May 1969). Bates’ “The Miracle Man of Easy Company” in DC Comics Presents #10 stood proudly among them, a study of the superhuman resolve of the human soldier. Its Staton/Abel art subtly evoked the artistic spirit of battle illustrator Russ Heath.

DC Comics Presents #11 (July 1979) reunited Bates and Staton with a Superman/Hawkman team-up, this time with Frank Chiaramonte as inker. Amid this flurry of unpredictable content, the issue did deliver upon Julie Schwartz’s pledge from issue #1 and announcement in issue #7. “Pair Mail” lettercol title-coiner Marc Teichman co-starred in issue #11, although in a script by Cary Bates rather than the intended, and promised, Martin Pasko.

Teichman’s appearance was no mere obligatory walk-on: he was introduced by Lois Lane as the “first-prize winner of the Daily Planet’s charity lottery drawing” and played a significant role in the adventure, being flown around town by Superman (in scenes prescient of cinema’s upcoming Superman III’s poster of Christopher Reeve as Superman carrying Richard Pryor in flight), and even received an aerial escort home at story’s end by both the Man of Steel and Winged Wonder! (The lucky guest-star shares his recollections in an interview later in this chapter.)

The Superman/Hawkman/Marc Teichman team-up in #11 elicited spirited responses in issue #17’s lettercol from envious readers. “I am convinced that all us fans should send in our pictures to be used as supporting characters in your stories,” wrote one fan, who also said, “We’d all like to get close to Superman, you know.”

Another reader coveted, “Boy, if I had known how big a part lettercolumn winner Marc Teichman was going to have in DCCP #11, I would have entered the contest myself.”

That’s Some Hat Trick A time-displaced Superman met Sgt. Rock in DCCP #10, but a dozen years earlier a different super-man faced combat on the comic spin racks. The Vietnam-based Super Green Beret, created by Captain Marvel scribe Otto Binder, featured a boy named Tod Holton who became a super-soldier after donning a magic beret. Lightning Comics published two issues of the series.

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Something Different Every Issue

Despite Julie Schwartz’s original goal of employing a regular DCCP creative team, the magazine seemed to have a mind of its own, insisting that its ever-changing co-stars for Superman also include different writers and artists to spin those yarns. Soon, promises of a consistent creative team for the title faded from the editor’s “Pair Mail” remarks.

In retrospect, it can be argued that this was a positive turning point for the series, despite the artistic majesty of the first four issues so spectacularly illustrated by José Luis García-López (“Praise be his name”). Variety and unpredictability ruled DC Comics Presents in the issues, and years, that followed.

Issue #12 featured a Superman/ Mister Miracle team-up scripted by Steve Englehart, who had revived the Jack Kirby–created Super Escape Artist in 1977. Artists for the issue were Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano, fresh off their Superman vs. Shazam! 72-page epic in All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58. The chameleonic Buckler was thrilled to be illustrating the Man of José Luis García-López.

Steel, telling me in an interview in The Krypton Companion, “Superman was the first comic book I read, and for years he was my favorite character.

I loved the Curt Swan version of Superman and used to practice my drawing by tracing and copying all the Superman poses from the comics (I was around ten years old when I first started drawing). As I expanded my reading and collecting to include just about all of the DC and Marvel characters, Superman remained one of my absolute favorites.” DCCP #12 would not be Buckler’s last appearance in the title.

Paul Levitz, who soon would entrench himself into DC’s 30th Century for a long and influential run as the writer of Legion of SuperHeroes, penned a two-parter in DCCP #13 (Superman/Legion) and 14 (Superman/Superboy). In #13, four Legionnaires ventured from their time to Superman’s and intervened with the Man of Tomorrow’s protection of the planet Ngrvn from an interstellar war. History must play itself out, warned the Legion, so that an Earthboy held captive on the world may one day mature into a great hero. That lad—Jon Ross, previously introduced in Action Comics #457 (Mar. 1976)—was the son of Superman’s lifelong friend Pete Ross, who had secretly known the hero’s Clark Kent identity since their Smallville boyhoods, as shown in numerous Silver Age stories in Superboy. Ross, incensed, swore revenge, leading to issue #14—billed Superman vs. Superboy on its splash page—where Pete swapped minds with the Boy of Steel and used his superpowers— and kryptonite weapons—to attempt to execute Superman.

This two-parter was a lightning rod for controversy. The plight of poor Jon Ross, the dourness of the traditionally peppy Pete Ross, and Superman’s inability to “save the day” struck an emotional chord with readers.

In DCCP #19’s “Pair Mail” column, one letter writer accused Levitz and DC to be in violation of the Comics Code Authority’s provisions against the depiction of kidnapping. “Superman must come to the rescue or your whole purpose of super-heroes fighting crime will be destroyed,” the reader maintained. Editor Schwartz passed the buck to Levitz to respond to readers in the column. “Without debating minor points like Pete’s reaction to the kidnapping, I think I did show that Superman’s ultimate goal was the protection of Jon Ross,” Levitz contended. “He failed in fulfilling his task completely because even with all the power, inclination, intelligence, and luck in the universe—you can’t win all the time. It’s all the more painful a hurt when you lose one so important to you.” Levitz reminded readers that DCCP #13 was approved by the Comics Code Authority—and in 2021 told me that its conclusion, the Superman/ Superboy clash in #14, “was the bestselling issue of DCCP.”

DCCP’s Sophomore Stretch

In DC’s other team-up title, The Brave and the Bold, fan suggestions for future Batman co-stars were commonly grouped in a “Bits from the B&B Mailbag” cluster. In DC Comics Presents’ “Pair Mail” lettercol, they were grouped within a “Pair Mail Pairings” section, generally at the end of each column. Early team-up suggestions included Firestorm, Black Canary, the Freedom Fighters, the Phantom Stranger, Green Arrow, the Spectre, and Madame Xanadu— characters that would eventually find their way into the title’s co-star spot. DCCP parted ways with B&B in one crucial aspect: editor Julie Schwartz, at least initially, was reluctant to repeat an earlier “Superman plus” combo, where Brave and Bold editor Murray Boltinoff and writer Bob Haney notoriously relied upon a handful of returning Batman co-stars, in essence creating a B&B supporting cast.

Rounding out DCCP’s second dozen issues, beginning with issue #15, were co-stars the Atom, Black Lightning, Firestorm, Zatanna, Batgirl, Green Arrow, the Elongated Man, Captain Comet, Doctor Fate, and Deadman, respectively. While the co-star lineup kept changing, the creative personnel, however, became repetitive, as Schwartz ensconced himself into his

The all-time bestselling issue of DCCP, #14, written by Paul Levitz. Its dark portrayal of Pete Ross, Superboy’s childhood friend, excited many readers and enraged others. Cover by Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano.

TM & © DC Comics.

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Who’s This Super Goober?

Super Goof, Disney’s dimwitted “dawg” who gained superpowers after gulping Super Goobers peanuts, usually flew solo in his Gold Key Comics series, which ran from 1965–1984. In issue #35 (Sept. 1975), however, he crossed paths with a high-soaring competitor, Super Bird. Cover by Roger Armstrong.

TM & © Disney.

editorial “comfy chair,” generally relying upon his regular stable of writers and artists. Cary Bates, Gerry Conway, and Denny O’Neil cycled in and out with entertaining standalone stories, while Dick Dillin and Joe Staton, both of whom had proven their artistic versatility in rendering different characters and environments, often returned for issues, all nicely drawn. One newer talent, writer Mike W. Barr, scripted issue #22’s (June 1980) Superman/ Captain Comet outing, where DC’s mutant hero’s powers were flaming out. Some years later, in Back Issue #29 (Aug. 2009), the scribe looked back upon that tale with a critical eye. “I don’t think it was a very good story. Good idea, yes, but the execution was clunky; I was young. No matter how I feel about it now, it was the best story I could write [at the time].”

One of Schwartz’s ongoing editorial weaknesses was his selection of inkers. With his eye more focused upon meeting deadlines than artistic harmony, Julie sometimes mismatched artists by assigning whichever inker might be available to a penciling job whose distinctiveness would be severely damaged as a result. Bronze Age fans no doubt recall numerous Schwartz-

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Deadman possesses Superman’s body and struggles with the Man of Steel’s superpowers in the Len Wein/José Luis García-López–produced DCCP #24.

TM & © DC Comics.

edited Superman and Batman tales where a penciler’s style was immersed under an inker’s dictating brush.

A particularly egregious incident in this regard with DC Comics Presents was Schwartz’s assignment of inker Joe Giella, with whom he had worked for decades, to penciler José Luis García-López for the Superman/Green Arrow team-up in issue #20 (Apr. 1980).

Giella’s own illustration style often dominated the pencils of whomever he inked, especially on character faces, and at times that heavy-handedness enhanced looser pencil artwork like that of Carmine Infantino, a draftsman better known for his composition than his actual illustrations. García-López’s detailed graphite linework left little room for interpretation, and in the Superman/GA team-up Giella’s style criminally obstructed the penciler’s polish.

Conversely, inker Steve Mitchell nicely complemented GarcíaLópez’s pencils a few issues earlier in issue #17 in a Superman/ Firestorm team-up by writer Gerry Conway that revived Gerry’s Nuclear Man and set the stage for the young hero to join the Justice League of America. And speaking of José Luis García-López, editor Schwartz wisely left the artist alone to pencil and ink issue #24’s Superman/Deadman story, a stunning art job (and powerful story, by Len Wein) that remains one of the series’ hallmarks.

DC Comics Presents #25 (Sept. 1980) was an important issue, for two reasons.

First, its story was a sequel to issues #13 and 14, as writer Paul Levitz never intended to allow the Jon Ross plotline to linger for long. Joining Superman in this issue was the mysterious Phantom Stranger and the Stranger’s enemy Tala, in a metaphysical meeting with young Jon’s soul at stake.

Second, it was part of a line-wide initiative that increased DC’s comics’ page counts, with new backup features being added to titles across the board. DC Comics Presents’ backup series was a concept conceived by Julie Schwartz, who had overseen a wealth of titles and genres since becoming a company fixture during the Golden Age, and DCCP’s consulting editor E. Nelson Bridwell, the encyclopedia-minded fan who intimately knew every nook and cranny of company lore. Schwartz and Bridwell cooked up a concept that would provide the spotlight to a former headliner or B-lister from the DC pantheon in a rotating roster of eight-page stories under the series brand of “Whatever Happened to…?” Starring in issue #25’s backup was Hourman, a Golden Age superhero who, like most of his Justice Society teammates, had experienced very little action since the Justice Society of America’s heyday of the 1940s. “We were going for characters that hadn’t been seen in a while since that was what the name of the series implied,” recalled Bob Rozakis, the original writer of the backup, in John Wells’ “Whatever Happened to…?” history in Back Issue #64 (May 2013). “Whatever Happened to…?” ultimately lasted 17 installments (see index for characters), running off and on through DCCP #48 (Aug. 1982), although issue #36 borrowed the concept for its full-length team-up, “Whatever Happened to Starman?”

Stranger tale in DCCP #25). Wolfman and Pérez’s New Teen Titans #1 premiered the month after the DCCP preview, and after an initial struggle to find its audience it ultimately became DC’s bestselling title.

As a result, DC Comics Presents #26 is an in-demand back issue among collectors, commanding $185 for a 9.2 NM– copy according to the 2021–2022 Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide.

The Titans preview aside, DC Comics Presents #26’s Superman/ Green Lantern team-up was also one of the series’ most exciting adventures to date… although an argument could be made against it being branded a “team-up” since the story’s ultra-powerful pair spent much of the issue in conflict, starting with Starlin’s thrilling cover art depicting GL power-ringing a Green Kryptonite boulder over the cowering form of the Metropolis Marvel. Beyond the creative talent in the issue, a bit of Marvelization was present in its characterization of Superman himself, portrayed in a more bullish manner by Starlin and Wolfman (and by Len Wein and Starlin in the issues following) than what readers expected.

The next issue, #27, a Starlin-illustrated Superman/Manhunter from Mars team-up, is best known for its introduction of the DC Universe’s interstellar warlord, Mongul, a despot bustling with both brain and brawn. Given Mongul’s physical similarities to Thanos, many fans

Make Mine Marvel

DCCP #26 (Oct. 1980) was another important issue, and is the second most collectible single edition of the title’s 97-issue run.

The main story was the series’ first rematch—Superman and Green Lantern. If anyone was initially disappointed that Julie Schwartz, the editor who harped upon his writers to “Be Original,” was already retreading a team-up, once they saw the issue itself they undoubtedly changed their mind. Signing onboard DCCP for a brief but vital stint as penciler-cover artist was Jim Starlin, the Bronze Age’s king of cosmic storytelling, whose 1970s revitalizations of Marvel Comics’ Warlock and Captain Marvel books made him a fan-favorite and seeded the Marvel Universe with a rich intergalactic tapestry and a demigod—Thanos—that would later be exploited to tremendous success. Starlin plotted the Superman/Green Lantern tale, which was scripted by Marv Wolfman, who was also coming over to DC after a Marvel stint that had recently included writing the company’s flagship titles, Fantastic Four and Amazing Spider-Man, as well as the Tomb of Dracula magazine, Star Trek, and other series. Marv had just taken over as the writer of Green Lantern with issue #133, on sale the same month as DC Comics Presents #26. GL #133, incidentally, also featured a cover by Jim Starlin, the artist’s second on the series (he illustrated the cover for GL #129, June 1980). Wolfman’s final Marvel credit during this transitional period was a Spider-Man/ Black Widow story in Marvel Team-Up #98.

Also included in DCCP #26 was an eight-page backup, “Whatever Happened to Sargon the Sorcerer?” The issue’s highlight, however, was a 16-page, free bonus preview of The New Teen Titans, produced by writer Marv Wolfman, penciler George Pérez, and inker Dick Giordano.

Pérez, like his Titans collaborator Wolfman, was in the process of vacating the House of Ideas for its Distinguished Competition, after recent runs on The Avengers and Marvel-Two-in-One. George’s first DC work during that period was on the “Firestorm” backup in The Flash, starting with issue #289 (Sept. 1980). In addition to New Teen Titans, he would enthusiastically take over as penciler of Justice League of America after the March 1, 1980 passing of JLA’s longtime illustrator, Dick Dillin, who drew DC’s super-team title for an astounding 12 years (Dillin’s last Superman team-up was the Superman/Phantom

While DCCP #27 (Nov. 1980) is best known for its first appearance of the supervillain Mongul, it also delivers a Kal-El vs. J’onn J’onzz smackdown.

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have assumed that the character was conceived by Jim Starlin, and in an interview with Shaun Clancy in Back Issue #48 (May 2011), Starlin stated that Mongul “was my DC Thanos.” But Len Wein, who scripted DCCP #27, remembered it differently, contending in The Krypton Companion, “Well, [Mongul] had Starlin visuals, but he was my creation.” Artistically, Mongul’s massiveness, like the towering Thanos’, was influenced by Jack Kirby’s flair for drawing villains with mammoth proportions, like Darkseid. “Height is an impressive thing,” Starlin said.

The Wein/Starlin combo, and the Mongul storyline, would continue into issues #28 (Superman/Supergirl) and 29 (Superman/Spectre)… and Mongul would be absorbed into the larger DC Universe for repeated uses in the years to come, becoming DCCP’s breakaway supervillain. While Starlin was credited as a plotter for issue #26, Wein was credited by editor Schwartz as the writer of issues #27–29.

However, in his Back Issue #48 interview, Starlin recalled his involvement with the plotting all four of these issues, joking of his editor who was notorious for co-plotting with his writers, “it was like, ‘Okay, I’ll come in and tell you what the plot is.’ And I always lied to him about what the plot was. [laughter]” Starlin’s plans for the Superman/Spectre team-up in DCCP #29 harkened back to the religious allegories so prevalent in his Marvel Warlock series. “I was gonna have Superman meet God,” Starlin said, “and I don’t remember what I told [Schwartz] about that.” Starlin related that Wein’s reaction to #29’s proposed Superman/God meeting was, “We can’t turn this in.”

The actual story soft-pedaled the concept by having the Spectre as a gatekeeper of “barriers no mortal eye may be permitted to behold…”

Editor Schwartz assigned Romeo Tanghal to ink Starlin’s final two issues, the Supergirl and Spectre team-ups, and the results were magnificent. Even Starlin agreed, stating in his Back Issue interview that the finishes on his earlier issues “came out not too well. The Green Lantern one was particularly disappointing. So when they got Romeo, I was very pleased.”

Writer Gerry Conway scripted DCCP #30 (Feb. 1981), a Superman/ Black Canary team-up penciled

by Curt Swan that featured Black Canary’s nightmares of her dead husband from Earth-Two, Larry Lance. Conway was the credited Romeo Tanghal. writer for issue #31 (a circus adventure co-starring Superman and Robin) and #32 (a romance starring Superman and Wonder Woman), but he was assisted, uncredited, by Roy Thomas as scripter.

Thomas, the Marvel Comics super-star writer-editor, who had worked alongside Stan Lee for most of the Marvel Age of Comics and succeeded Stan the Man as Marvel’s first post-Lee editor-in-chief, was segueing to DC Comics with the late-1980 expiration of his Marvel contract, after long writing stints on Conan the Barbarian (although his byline continued to appear on Savage Sword of Conan for some time after his transition) and virtually every major Marvel title at one time or another, most recently Thor. Over the next few years, Thomas would revitalize DC’s Earth-Two pantheon in All-Star Squadron and its legacy spinoffs, Infinity, Inc. and Young All-Stars; reteam with former Marvel collaborator Gene Colan for short-lived Wonder Woman and Batman stints; co-create the sword-and-sorcery series Arak, Son of Thunder with artist Ernie Colón; and pen a variety of other series, often partnering with his wife and cowriter, Dann Thomas.

Roy Thomas’ byline would finally appear in the credits of DC Comics Presents with its next issue, #33 (May 1981), billed as a teamup of Superman and Shazam! (the original Captain Marvel). This was a logical DC “premiere” for Roy given his widely known passion for

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Rich Buckler skillfully rendered Superman and the Marvel Family—including Hoppy the Marvel Bunny—in DCCP #34 (June 1981), one of the first DC stories written by Roy Thomas after his departure from Marvel.

TM & © DC Comics. Courtesy of Heritage.

Golden Age heroes (he would go on to write Captain Marvel in issues of All-Star Squadron as well as in the 1987 miniseries, Shazam!: A New Beginning). The story, plotted by Gerry Conway and dialogued

by Thomas, featured Earth-S’s Captain Marvel and Earth-One’s Superman puzzlingly swapping places and uniforms. It featured the art of another illustrator often associated with Marvel Comics, Rich Buckler. Thomas returned as scripter the next issue (with a Conway plot assist) in a Superman/Shazam! Family team-up, bringing in the entire Marvel Family… including their funny-animal counterpart, Hoppy the Marvel Bunny! In his Krypton Companion interview, Buckler discussed the challenges of drawing the cartoony Captain Marvel Bunny in an otherwise realistically rooted story. “I’m not a ‘big foot’ type of cartoonist,” Buckler said. “Throw a funny-animal character into a story—Bugs Bunny, or Mickey Mouse—and a ‘little foot’ cartoonist like me is usually thrown for a loop.

“But after about a quarter of a million figures under my belt, I had developed the ability to sort of ‘think in 3-D’ and visualize just about anything. It was a slow start at first, but I managed to figure out as I went along how to make it work. It turned out to be the most fun part of drawing the story!” The Superman/Shazam! Family issue was indeed a tremendous amount of fun, providing much-needed levity in DCCP after more somber recent efforts.

The Team-Up Companion’s Favorite Toy Toy manufacturer Knickerbocker combined the stars of DC’s and Marvel’s top team-up titles (sans MTIO’s Thing) in this 1979 building construction set under its Fiddlesticks brand, a rare example of characters from both publishers appearing in a single product.

Winged Wonders

“My history with the [Man-Bat] character was what made Julie [Schwartz] think of me for the assignment,” writer Martin Pasko explained in Back Issue #87, “and, for all I know, he got the idea to put Man-Bat in DCCP from the B&B story I did—maybe he heard from management that there was some sort of sales bump on B&B #165… (Aug. 1980)?” That issue—DCCP #35 (June 1981)— featured a Pasko-written Superman/Man-Bat team-up drawn by Curt Swan and Vince Colletta, and allowed the scribe to continue story elements involving Man-Bat that he had initiated elsewhere. “I’d started writing the character for Gerry Conway [editor of the shortlived Man-Bat series of the 1970s] when it had its own title, picking up from Gerry’s first, ‘pilot’ issue.”

Pasko’s Man-Bat team-up continued what Wein’s Deadman team-up had also achieved in issue #24, defining yet another function of the DC Comics Presents series beyond its “Superman plus” premise: It became a de facto “Showcase” for cancelled DC characters’ languishing storylines, not a surprising function for a book that housed a backup titled “Whatever Happened to…?”

That function was on display with issue #36’s Superman/Starman team-up, with writer Paul Levitz returning to the cosmic version of the character, Prince Gavyn, that he had co-created in 1979 with artist Steve Ditko in the pages of Adventure Comics. And what better artist to illustrate Levitz’s full-length story “Whatever Happened to Starman?” than the king of cosmic comics, Jim Starlin?

“I don’t recall if I made the suggestion to editor Julie Schwartz or Jim Starlin did,” Levitz said in a Starman history in Back Issue #115 (Sept. 2019). “It certainly wasn’t the original plan, as I hoped the series would run longer.” This incarnation of Starman, a sci-fi saga on an epic, intergalactic scale, was launched in Adventure #467 (Jan. 1980), when that title was a “split book” sharing its pages with Plastic Man, who had recently become the star of a Saturday morning cartoon show from Ruby-Spears Productions.

Starman ran through Adventure #478, which concluded with a teaser for the upcoming DCCP appearance. By the time Starman rubbed shoulders with Superman, his Ditko-designed original costume of bright red and yellow had been replaced by a midnightblue, starfield-studded unitard with a broad golden star upon the chest, bearing more than a passing resemblance to the garb of a certain captain named Mar-Vell whose intergalactic missions occurred in the Marvel Universe. “All the visual changes in DC Comics Presents #36 are Jim’s,” said Levitz of Captain Marvel artist Starlin. “I think Julie was happy to have [Starlin] doing an occasional DCCP, and both of us deferred to him.”

Editor Schwartz was similarly pleased with the next issue, another standalone tale plotted and penciled by Jim Starlin, teaming Superman with Hawkgirl, the wife of Hawkman who had loyally, but quietly, flown by her hubby’s side since his Silver Age rebirth (and historically, alongside the Golden Age Hawkman a generation prior).

Just a few years earlier, thanks to writer Steve Englehart in Justice League of America #146 (Sept. 1977), Hawkgirl was finally admitted to the JLA after the occasional cameo with her spouse. At the time of DCCP #37’s Superman/Hawkgirl team-up, Hawkgirl was still a “plus-one” character. Starlin’s story elevated her to star status, and before long, in the “Hawkman” backup feature in World’s Finest Comics #272 (Oct. 1981), writer Bob Rozakis would finally rename the superheroine “Hawkwoman.” Starlin’s plot involved Var-El, Superman’s late Kryptonian great-grandfather, who would resurface in later issues.

Dialoguing the Superman/Hawkgirl tale was Roy Thomas, who told Marc Buxton in Back Issue #97 (July 2017), “I was just handed the already-plotted-and-drawn story and all I did was dialogue it. This was arranged by Jenette [Kahn], Paul [Levitz], and Joe [Orlando] so that I could hit the ground running when my Marvel contract expired in late 1980 and they could have stories out there very quickly with my name on them…”

Team-Ups Light and Dark

Writer Marty Pasko returned for back-to-back issues of DC Comics Presents. First came #38 (Oct. 1981), a Superman/Flash team-up.

Issue #38 included a centerspread of a “Superman and His Co-Stars!” two-page pinup drawn by George Pérez (who was also the issue’s cover artist), a beautiful portrait commissioned by Schwartz as a page-filler to compensate for a story-page shortage that had resulted in the line’s recent page-count expansion. Next from Pasko was #39, a Superman/Plastic Man team-up that featured not only the Toyman but also Dick Tracy villain pastiches named Dollface and Mr. Fliptop.

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TM & © DC Comics.

Superman and Batman TM & © DC. Hulk and Spider-Man TM & © Marvel.

Courtesy of Heritage.

Original DCCP writer Marty Pasko occasionally circled back to the series, with team-ups including Superman/ Man-Bat in #35 and Superman/Joker in #41.

TM & © DC Comics.

Gerry Conway scripted the next issue, #40, pairing Superman and Metamorpho, the Element Man. Pasko was back with DCCP #41 (Jan. 1982), teaming Superman with the Clown Prince of Crime, the Joker, in an off-the-wall issue. “I’d written the Joker in his own title, and Julie liked the way I had handled the character as an ‘anti-hero,’ for lack of a better term, so he turned to me for this admittedly odd team-up,” Pasko told me. His story, “The Terrible Tinseltown Treasure-Trap Treachery!,” was published shortly after Marty began working in television animation, and much of its action takes place in L.A. “I started casting about for some ‘less dark’ facet of the [Joker] character—something lighter than the rictusinducing nerve toxin or the Joker card left at the scene of a murder— as a linchpin for the story. I remembered that in the beginning of his tenure on Batman, Julie had done stories in which the Joker committed comedy-themed crimes (which seemed fun enough to the TV show’s producers to have used that idea in the series).” The story was John Broome’s “The Joker’s Comedy Capers” in Detective Comics #341 (July 1965), which was adapted to the Batman TV series as a Season One, two-part episode involving not the Joker, but the Riddler. Pasko continued, “I then thought it would be fun to do something tangentially involving famous movie comedies or comedians, and set the story in Hollywood, to leverage my familiarity with L.A. showbiz.”

Pasko’s Superman/Joker tale involved a fellow animation and comic-book writer most famously known as the creator of Howard the Duck. “I had decided that Superman would clash with the Joker over a search for a dead, notoriously eccentric movie comedian’s buried ‘treasure,’” Pasko explained. “I was having dinner with my old buddy Steve Gerber one night while I was plotting this out, and, as was our habit, we told each other what we were working on and whether we were stuck on anything, and we’d help each other out. It was Steve, who’d just been on Hollywood Boulevard that afternoon, who suggested that the McGuffin be buried under the comedian’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and from there, the rest of it fell into place. Julie promised me that he’d honor my request for a ‘shout-out’ to Steve in the text page for that issue (Steve didn’t want a credit on the story itself), but Julie forgot and it never happened.

The script was great fun to do once Julie bought my pitch that the dialogue, as well as a lot of the action, would be balls-out comedy.

We were greatly served by José Luis García-López’s pencils, which were dynamic and funny at the same time.”

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There were no laughs in Paul Levitz’s back-to-back return outings to DC Comics Presents. Issue #42 was a sober Superman/Unknown Soldier anti-nukes story featuring the Man of Steel’s frustration with Earth’s nuclear proliferation, a subject prescient of a movie that would appear several years later: Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. “I edited a stretch of Unknown Soldier and liked the character,” Levitz told The Team-Up Companion of his motivation behind this unusual character combo. In Levitz’s Superman/Legion of Super-Heroes team-up in DCCP #43, the vengeful Mongul returned and exacted revenge on the Man of Tomorrow by siccing on Earth the solarconsuming Sun-Eater of Legion (and death of Ferro Lad) fame.

Writer Bob Rozakis graduated from the title’s “Whatever Happened to…?” backups to a cover-featured team-up by plotting DC Comics Presents #44’s Superman/Dial “H” for Hero meeting, dialogued by E. Nelson Bridwell. This was not The House of Mystery’s original “Dial ‘H’ for Hero” principal Robby Reed, the boy with the alien rotary dial who would become a different superhero with each “H-E-R-O” spin of the device. Instead, Superman’s co-stars were the next-generation H-Dialers, teens Chris King and Vicki Grant, from the 1981 “Dial ‘H’ for Hero” reboot in Adventure Comics. In a move patterned after the reader-submitted fashions of comics’ Katy Keene, Chris and Vicki’s superhero alter egos were new characters created by fans (but owned by DC Comics, although hero “creators” were acknowledged in print and received a Dial “H” for Hero T-shirt).

Another young hero, Firestorm, returned for a Superman team-up in issue #45, a teaser appearance for the revival of the Nuclear Man the next month in the new series, The Fury of Firestorm. In this story, Clark Kent revealed his Superman identity to the flame-haired Firestorm, joking, “Try using your head for more than a campfire, son!” to the befuddled Nuclear Man as the young hero tried to process this revelation.

DCCP #46 (June 1982), scripted by E. Nelson Bridwell, was an ambitious issue, teaming Superman with the first-ever assemblage of the Global Guardians, international superheroes familiar to readers of Super Friends. Bridwell was also the scribe of Super Friends, a clever merger of existing Justice League and television-spawned Super Friends lore. Superman/Global Guardians was the first DCCP team-up to be penciled by Alex Saviuk, who would become a frequent contributor to the magazine’s Superman adventures.

“Editor Julius Schwartz handed me the script by E. Nelson Bridwell, who had a fondness for all of those characters, and told me to have fun with it,” Saviuk recalled in a Global Guardians history in Back Issue #83 (Sept. 2015). “I felt as if I was drawing a Justice League of America story in a way, with all the individual chapter team-ups and everyone gathering in the end to defeat the villain.” Bridwell’s story, which featured supernatural menaces across Earth attracting, then assembling, superheroes from different lands, had other JLA parallels that jazzed the first-time DCCP artist: “the [animated] Easter Island statues… reminded me of a story that appeared in JLA #14 [‘The Challenge of the Untouchable Aliens’] about 50 years ago that I bought from a newsstand!”

Issue #47 was one of DC Comics Presents’ great curiosities: a team-up between Superman and the Masters of the Universe—He-Man, the sword-wielding super-barbarian of television animation acclaim, and his archenemy, Skeletor. In a special arrangement with toymaker Mattel, this Paul Kupperberg–written issue used the Man of Steel to introduce He-Man to DC’s audience. It was Paul Kupperberg. followed by a Masters of the

Does Skeletor Know the Atomic Skull?

Toymaker Mattel tapped animation house Filmation— which, incidentally, made a name for itself in 1966 with its Superman TV cartoon—to produce its Masters of the Universe syndicated series as part of a multimedia rollout of its action-figure line. The saga of heroic He-Man, sinister Skeletor, and their respective allies continues to be told in various toy, animation, and comics platforms today.

The Ross Andru/Frank Giacoia cover for DCCP #47 (July 1982). Being He-Man’s first appearance in comics, this is DCCP’s nighest-priced back issue.

Superman TM & © DC Comics. Masters of the Universe © Mattel.

Universe 16-page preview comic that was inserted into random DC titles, then a MOTU miniseries.

Kupperberg revealed in Back Issue #130 that he and Dave Manak, editor of the Masters of the Universe DC comic, were given leeway in helping to shape the concept when preparing the DCCP issue and ensuing comics. “We received very little input from Mattel,” Kupperberg said. “Mark Ellis, then-Mattel’s Director of Marketing for Male Action Toys, came to DC with a big box of He-Man action figure prototypes and spent an hour or so with editor Dave Manak and me, sitting on the conference room floor, playing with the figures and Castle Grayskull and answering our questions about the characters and the MOTU backstory. His answers were mostly, ‘That’s a good question,’ ‘You guys figure that out,’ or ‘We were hoping you would have an idea.’ They really hadn’t developed much beyond character names and powers and some basic background information; the details were left up to us. No restrictions were given, and I don’t recall having to revise or redo anything we came up with because they were uncomfortable with it.” Another item of note regarding the issue: the Superman/He-Man team-up was edited by MOTU editor Dave Manak, with DCCP’s Julius Schwartz serving as consulting editor.

TM & © Mattel. Filmation animation cel courtesy of Heritage.

Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn, the writing duo making headway at DC who would soon score success with Blue Devil and Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, were assigned the Superman/ Aquaman team-up in DC Comics Presents #48 (Aug. 1982). Their story included a scene where a mind-controlled Sea King used his ocean-depths-enhanced super-strength to slug the mighty Man of Steel, as well as a clever use of Aquaman’s telepathy in his control of a disabled Superman. In Back Issue #108, Mishkin remarked of the issue, “My (and Gary’s) very first Superman story! My most vivid memory is having to call Julie Schwartz from a pay phone in the hospital where my first child had just been born (a couple of weeks early) to tell him that the script was going to be late.” (Julie apparently forgave him, since Dan and Gary co-scripted several other DCCPs.) Issue #49’s Superman/Shazam! team-up introduced the Billy Batson of Earth-One, who dreamed of becoming Captain Marvel, and pitted Superman against Black Adam, with whom the Man of Steel had developed enmity from the Superman vs. Shazam! tabloid.

Roy Thomas once again plotted this adventure, with Paul Kupperberg scripting. “I’d stepped in to help out on deadline crunches by dialoguing a few stories by Roy previously (a couple or three issues of All-Star, as I recall),” Kupperberg said in Back Issue #66. Rich Buckler penciled issue #49’s Superman/Shazam! rematch.

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The Buckler/Giordano cover for the Superman/ Superman team-up in 1982’s DC Comics Presents Annual #1 featured painted colors by award-winning letterer-logo designer Todd Klein.

TM & © DC Comics.

When Earths Collide

Were #49’s meeting of supermen not enough, Buckler illustrated a team-up between Superman and the Golden Age Superman for DC Comics Presents Annual #1, which went on sale June 17, 1982, two weeks after DCCP #49. “Crisis on Three Earths!” was penned by Marv Wolfman in an unofficial warm-up for his magnum opus of 1985, the continuityrevising 12-issue maxiseries Crisis on Infinite Earths. In the Annual, the bald, bad Lex Luthor of Earth-One traveled to Earth-Two to liberate his imprisoned, redheaded doppelganger Alexei Luthor. Yes, two Luthors were better—or, in this case, worse—than one, and a plot was hatched that took them to Earth-Three and threatened the worlds they left behind. This dimension-hopping 41-page epic also involved Earth-Three’s evil Superman counterpart Ultraman of the Crime Syndicate, “Earth-Three’s first super-hero” Alexander Luthor, and Lois Lanes of three Earths.

Buckler, who regarded Curt Swan’s Superman as the “definitive” version but was “knocked out” by Neal Adams’ treatment and “loved” Jack Kirby’s interpretation as well, ably illustrated the

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pairing of Supermen. Traditionally in DC stories of the Silver and Bronze Ages, the Superman of Earth-Two was illustrated with graying temples and an altered version of the “S” insignia, although some artists offered little if any distinctions between the Men of Steel of Two Worlds. When I asked Buckler, in an interview for my Krypton Companion book, about his approach to keeping each Superman unique, he responded, “What I do (and I am sure other comics artists use a similar technique) is internalize a lot—that is, in my imagination I will let a scene play as if the people in the story were real. What I ended up portraying was a ‘youthful’ Superman and a more ‘mature’ Superman. Both had the same personality—just different stages of personality development.”

Another distinction of DCCP Annual #1 was its cover art.

Penciler Buckler and inker Dick Giordano’s rendition of two flying Supermen, with the Golden Age Man of Tomorrow in a “leap tall buildings in a single bound” pose—with menacing floating heads of two Luthors looming overhead—featured painted colors, a coloring process virtually unheard of at DC at the time, when “flat” or color-separated hues were the norm for covers. Even stranger was the credit of the cover colorist: Todd Klein, the title’s logo designer and one of the industry’s most in-demand letterers.

In a September 17, 2018 Kleinletters.com blog, Todd related the story of how this assignment came to be. The Buckler/Giordano Annual #1 cover was apparently behind schedule when it arrived at DC’s production department during the 1977–1987 period Klein worked on staff at DC, primarily lettering and creating logos. “They wanted someone to do painted color, and probably overnight,” Klein wrote. “I volunteered, and they must have been desperate because they gave me the assignment, despite the fact that I had never colored a cover for DC, nor had Todd Klein.

I ever done painted color for the Courtesy of Heritage. company. I had done some on my own, but not for comics. A large [P]hotostat was made of the art, 11 by 16 inches with extra space at the top in case the proportions weren’t right and they needed extra room for the trade dress.”

Despite some challenges applying Dr. Martin dyes to the texture of the Photostat paper, Klein found the background— a starfield behind the two Supermen, flanked on top and bottom by two Earths—difficult to color. “I filled the space with purposely mottled purples, several shades, to give it depth, and used the uneven color application as a feature,” he blogged. “I then tried to paint the stars over the color with Pro-White paint, but the colors were hard to cover, and the stars were lavender rather than white. The only choice left was to cut them out, and that’s what I did.” Klein added the bursting stars through intricate Xacto knife work. The letterer-turned-temporary colorist remarked that once printed, “the colors came out different than I expected, particularly the Luthor heads, the blue costumes, and the stars, and some copies printed darker… so it was far from a huge success.” Despite Todd’s reservations, the end result was a bright, poster-worthy cover that stood out on the stands and was distinct from all of DC’s other covers of the era.

Outside of DCCP Annual #1’s cover colors, Klein was also involved with the cover’s graphics, having designed the trade dress for DC’s entire 1982 Annual line.

Fabulous 50th Issue

According to Martin Pasko, “The way Julie [Schwartz] approached DCCP was to decide what team-up he wanted to do, and then offer it as an assignment to whichever available writer in his stable he thought was the best fit.”

The editor, however, would occasionally entertain writers’ pitches for Superman team-ups. That occurred with the anniversary issue DC Comics Presents #50 (Oct. 1982), which featured Superman and an unexpected co-star… Clark Kent! Responsible for the story was the writing team of Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn. “The team-up (which was more of a ‘split-up’) with Clark Kent in DCCP #50 was probably our true start on Superman,” Mishkin revealed in Back Issue #66.

“Where the previous case had been one where Julie directed us to come up with an Aquaman story, this was one that Gary and I generated out of our own enthusiasms. It seemed like a cool idea to do a special 50th issue of the book with an outside-the-box pairing like that, and Julie agreed.” The tale, appropriately—and beautifully—drawn by Superman penciler Curt Swan and inker Kurt Schaffenberger, featured a Batman cameo and the Atomic Skull as the villain.

“One of the things I very much liked about doing this story was that we hit what I think is an important theme regarding Superman:

that’s it’s not just his alien powers but his humanity that makes him the hero he is,” Mishkin reflected. “It’s the values he learned from his adoptive parents, and (as so poignantly executed in the first Christopher Reeve movie) his understanding that those powers did not extend to staving off the deaths of those he loved.”

A bonus feature in this anniversary edition was a two-page pinup

by Alex Saviuk and Frank Giacoia starring Superman plus all 65 of his DC Comics Presents co-stars to date—including He-Man! Mishkin flew solo as the scribe of issue #51’s Superman/Atom team-up, “where Professor Hyatt’s Time Pool was a key feature,” Mishkin explained, “as was the carved-in-stone metaphysics of the DC Universe that said that a person traveling back in time could never encounter his or her past self.” That story resumed the Jim Starlin–generated story of Superman’s Kryptonian ancestor Var-El, from the Superman/Hawkgirl issue, #37.

The hands-on editor Schwartz made a script change that rubbed the writer the wrong way. “When the two heroes are tussling with a half-dozen bad guys,” Mishkin recalled, “the Atom punches out the first two and says, ‘Strike one!’ and then ‘Strike two!’ And when Superman sweeps the other four away handily, he says something like, ‘Strikes three through six taken care of.’ In my script, the Atom’s next line was, ‘Strike six? What planet are you from?!’ Maybe not the greatest joke ever, but in my opinion better than the additional baseball reference Julie came up with to replace it.” The Schwartzscripted Atom line was, “That’ll retire ’em for two innings!”

Ambushed!

You wouldn’t know from the Keith Giffen/Dick Giordano cover of DC Comics Presents #52 (Dec. 1982) that it contained anything beyond its Superman/New Doom Patrol team-up—an exciting concept on its own, with the DP’s Negative Woman’s powers running amok—but inside lurked a bad guy who later turned out not to be so bad after all: Ambush Bug. In case you’re unfamiliar with Ambush Bug, in the 1980s he was DC’s Deadpool before there was a Deadpool: a fourth wall–breaking

I’m So Mad At Myself…

Clark Kent to the rescue, as Superman is waylaid by the Atomic Skull in the anniversary issue, DC Comics Presents #50 (Oct. 1982). Cover by Rich Buckler and Frank Giacoia.

TM & © DC Comics.

The story trope of Superman and Clark Kent side-byside wasn’t just a comic-book gimmick. Moviegoers experienced it in 1983’s Superman III, when Superman (turned bad by synthetic kryptonite) battled his alter ego in a special-effects scene wonderfully acted

by Christopher Reeve. © Warner Bros.

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(left) DCCP #52 was a triple-threat issue, featuring the return of the new Doom Patrol, Keith Giffen’s Joe Shuster– inspired Superman, and the premiere of breakout character Ambush Bug, who returned in future issues and (right) spun off into adventures of his own.

TM & © DC Comics.

wise guy that “existed” within the superhero world but poked fun at it—and in the Bug’s case, at DC’s long history and some of its more embarrassing moments. In Back Issue #39 (Apr. 2010), Keith Giffen, the guy who “thought him up,” explained that Ambush Bug “sort of spits in the face of continuity.”

Giffen recalled, “Ambush Bug was created when I was sitting around in Julie Schwartz’s office. He was gassing on about a DC Comics Presents story he wanted me to do with Superman and the Doom Patrol. This was when Paul Kupperberg was writing Doom Patrol. And I just burped out the name ‘Ambush Bug,’ which had been rattling around in my head. After that, I just sort of made it up as I went along. I put him in the costume…

Paul Kupperberg provided the writing that issue. He dialogued my plot and pencils.”

Kupperberg related in Back Issue #66 that “DCCP #52 was definitely a collaborative effort between myself and Giffen. I had written the short-lived Doom Patrol revival in Showcase #94–96 about five years earlier, and they kind of lingered around the fringes of the DCU, but this was the first chance I had to do anything with them myself since then. Keith and I sat in Julie’s office and plotted out the story with him, using my DP and his idea for a new character, Ambush Bug, as the antagonist. I won’t say ‘villain,’ because Ambush Bug didn’t have any malicious intent, he was just wacky and out of control, kind of like Bugs Bunny with superpowers. We worked out some story beats, then I went home and wrote a script.” Kupperberg’s script was titled “Negative Woman Goes Berserk!”

Giffen’s rendition of Superman in the Doom Patrol team-up evoked the look of the Golden Age Superman as rendered by the hero’s co-creator Joe Shuster: an iron jaw, squinty eyes, and frequent leaping poses, an interpretation Keith had also employed when drawing the actual Golden Age Superman in the mid-1970s in Justice Society stories in the revived All-Star Comics. Giffen was inked in DCCP #52 by Sal Trapani, brother-in-law of the issue’s cover inker, Dick Giordano. Coincidentally, years earlier, the art team of Giordano and Trapani illustrated the original Doom Patrol’s sole team-up appearance, with the Flash, in The Brave and the Bold #65 (Apr.–May 1966), in a tale titled “Alias Negative Man!”

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Ambush Bug was “a throwaway character,” according to Giffen. “He was meant to be a villain in that one issue, and then I’d move on to something else.” But the cheeky, cheery DCCP #52 attracted a heavy volume of mail, which ran in issue #57’s “Pair Mail” column, now in the hands of Bob Rozakis. Future comic-book inker Andrew Pepoy called the Superman/Doom Patrol issue “TERRIBLE!” Rozakis replied, “You were in the very, VERY small minority, Andrew!” Other readers adored the non-traditional story, calling it a “fantastic, light-hearted issue” and “all I could have hoped for!” Giffen’s Shuster-ized Superman also garnered fan praise.

Schwartz wanted Giffen to bring back Ambush Bug, so Keith returned to DC Comics Presents with issue #59 (July 1983)— which went on sale the first week of April 1983, appropriately in time for April Fools’ Day. Giffen plotted and penciled the story “Ambush Bug II,” a team-up between Superman and the Legion of Substitute Heroes, those not-ready-for-primetime do-gooders who couldn’t quite make the cut with membership (with few exceptions) in the Legion of Super-Heroes. Joining the artist was his collaborator on Legion of Super-Heroes, writer Paul Levitz, who dialogued Keith’s plot, and inker Kurt Schaffenberger, whose slick line better delineated Giffen’s Shuster-isms with Superman than did Trapani’s in the previous Ambush Bug installment. No time was wasted with this story—it opened with Ambush Bug popping in with the intent purpose of pestering Superman, dogging the Action Ace as he time-traveled to the Legion’s 30th Century headquarters. The Bug wreaked havoc in future Metropolis, and with the Legion busy, the Subs had to step in to help. “Don’t ask when this fits into Legion continuity,” barbed a tongue-in-cheek footnote from “Keith and Paul.” This time out, Ambush Bug was the main attraction, not just a walk-on character, and the results were hilarious. “[W]hen the issue with the Legion of Substitute Heroes came out, the fan and reader response was such that Julie offered [Giffen an Ambush Bug series in] the back of Action Comics,” Giffen recalled. Before that happened, however, the other Paul— Kupperberg—guest-starred Ambush Bug in the Schwartz-edited Supergirl #16 (Feb. 1984), in a story penciled by Carmine Infantino and inked by Bob Oksner. Soon, Giffen partnered with Robert Loren Fleming as the Ambush Bug co-plotter and scripter, and the Bug began appearing sporadically in Action Comics beginning with issue #560 (Oct. 1984). Schwartz assigned Supergirl inker Bob Oksner to Keith’s pencils, and the regular Ambush Bug team of Giffen/Fleming/Oksner was born.

That creative team would bring the Bug into his third and final DCCP appearance, issue #81 (May 1985), an actual Superman/ Ambush Bug team-up. Theirs was the ultimate of partnerships, as Red Kryptonite swapped their minds into the other’s bodies… just in time for an encounter with the slithery overlord, Kobra. Giffen was no longer drawing in the Shuster style by the time of this third appearance of his one-time “throwaway” character. DCCP #81 was strategically planned to help launch the four-issue Ambush Bug miniseries, which premiered the next month; it was later followed by a Son of Ambush Bug miniseries.

Backtracking to DC Comics Presents #52, that issue also provided traction for the new Doom Patrol, who hadn’t been seen since 1979’s Superman Family #193 wrapped up the Supergirl/Doom Patrol story originally intended for Super-Team Family. At the time the DCCP issue was published, Robotman and the legacy of the original Doom Patrol and its arch-foes, the Brotherhood of Evil, had appeared in Wolfman and Pérez’s hot New Teen Titans book. After DCCP #52, Paul Kupperberg guest-starred the New Doom Patrol in three issues of Daring Adventures of Supergirl, starting with issue #8 (June 1983). In 1987, Kupperberg would launch a new, ongoing Doom Patrol series, initially drawn by Steve Lightle.

TM & © DC Comics.

New Talent Showcase

For his next wave of issues, editor Schwartz continued to assign Superman team-ups to newer writers.

DC Comics Presents raised Cain—caretaker of its House of Mystery anthology—as the co-star in issue #53’s (Jan. 1983) Superman in the House of Mystery team-up. “I’d written a bunch of House of Mystery stories with Cain narrating,” Dan Mishkin recalled in Back Issue #66, “so I liked the opportunity to play with him some more in the context of a superhero story.” The offbeat Halloween tale featured masquerading adults and children magically “becoming” their costumed characters— including Jimmy Olsen as Thor (no, not the Marvel version)—and a behind-the-scenes classic Superman foe portrayed with a twist.

“Any time you can do something even a little bit new with these old characters and situations, that’s a plus,” Mishkin reflected.

“My next DCCP appearance was in #54, featuring Green Arrow,” according to writer Paul Kupperberg, in Back Issue #66.

“It was probably Julie’s call to do a Green Arrow team-up, and since [GA] was DC’s bleedingheart liberal hero, I went with a bleeding-heart liberal theme, air pollution. I’ve described this issue as a regrettable script with gorgeous art by Don Newton and Dan Adkins.”

Newton, who at one time studied under C. C. Beck, the first artist of the original Captain Marvel, started his comics career in the late 1960s with artwork in various fanzines. In the mid-1970s he gained notice with his stunning, photorealistic illustrations on The Phantom, then published by Charlton Comics. Soon he was illustrating for both Marvel and DC. It was at the latter where Newton developed his widest acclaim, most notably through sometimes-brief stints on Aquaman, Star Hunters, and Batman, plus his favorite character, Captain Marvel, on the “Shazam!” series that appeared in Bronze Age issues of World’s Finest Comics and Adventure Comics. Kupperberg wasn’t alone in his awe of Newton’s artistry.

Upon Newton’s unexpected death in 1984 from a massive heart attack, DC Comics’ top editor Dick Giordano Don Newton. eulogized the late artist by remarking of his then-recent work in Green Lantern #181, “He showed us how to do it right.” Of DC Comics Presents #54, Paul Kupperberg commented that Newton’s “Superman was just amazing. Well, all of his work was, but he brought a great strength and nobility to the character and made his superheroics look effortless and his flying so elegant, like he was floating through the air and not hurtling.”

Bob Rozakis penned DCCP #55 (Mar. 1983), a Superman/Air Wave team-up, featuring the teenage, second-generation superhero who had been previously seen in Green Lantern and backups in Action Comics. The Parasite was the villain. A clever aspect of the story was its flashback to Superboy’s encounter with the original Air Wave, leading Rozakis to fondly recollect in Back Issue #66, “The Air Wave story was probably the [DCCP script] I enjoyed

E-Man Meets the F-Men

One-time Charlton Comics hero E-Man was poised for a revival at First Comics when Joe Staton pitted him against the X-Men spoof the F-Men for the cover of Amazing Heroes #19 (Jan. 1983).

E-Man © Joe Staton and Nick Cuti. Amazing Heroes © Fantagraphics.

most because I used both the original and ‘modern-day’ Air Wave in team-ups with Superboy and Superman.”

DC Comics Presents #56, illustrated by Curt Swan and Dave Hunt, introduced Maaldor the Darklord, a cross-dimensional oppressor who forced Earth-One’s Superman and Earth-Two’s Power Girl, heroes of two realities’ Kryptons, into combat. “I really liked a character Len Wein had created earlier in the DCCP run [DCCP #28], Mongul, and wanted to have my own massively powerful bad guy who could give Superman a run for his money,” said its writer, Paul Kupperberg. “The funny thing is, I always thought Curt Swan drew Maaldor to look a lot like Len—if Len were an infinitely powerful other-dimensional sword-wielding supervillain.”

DCCP #57 teamed Superman with the Atomic Knights, a John Broome/Murphy Anderson–created sci-fi construct that debuted in the Julie Schwartz–edited Strange Adventures #117 (June 1960). Its future dystopia depicted an Earth ravaged by World War III, a nuclear battle that occurred in the then-faraway October 1986.

Policing the devastated civilization were the Atomic Knights, armored crusaders led by Gardner Grayle, a character whose name was an amalgam of DC/science-fiction author Gardner Fox’s first name and the magical chalice of Arthurian legend. The Knights protected the populace from monsters and looters while riding not valiant steeds but instead mutated giant Dalmatians. DC’s Hercules Unbound #10 (May 1977) added the Knights to Hercules’ continuity,

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which also included connections to Jack Kirby’s alternate futures of Kamandi, the Last Boy on Earth and OMAC, One Man Army Corps.

With the Knights’ World War III date of 1986 rapidly approaching in the real world, Schwartz wanted to address the matter in a DC Comics Presents story. Having displayed their knowledge of DC lore in their earlier scripts, Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn got the Superman/ Atomic Knights assignment.

“Julie’s instructions were to come up with a story that would resolve the contradiction [of the WWIII date],” Mishkin said in Back Issue #66. “That led us to the idea that the earlier stories represented Gardner Grayle’s experience of a computer simulation that was looking at survivability in a nuclear-war scenario, which in turn allowed us to recast the pieces of the original storyline that were naively charming in 1960 but hard to swallow a quarter century later (giant Dalmatians!) as a soldier’s wishful fantasy.” A fandom fallout detonated with the issue’s publication.

According to Mishkin, “We were seen by some as attacking the original stories, which couldn’t be further from the truth—I loved those stories as a child and still love them, but we were charged with somehow fitting them into continuity in a way the contemporary audience would accept.” Mishkin later reintroduced Gardner Grayle as the Atomic Knight in Wonder Woman, which he was writing.

The writers later discovered that the controversy regarding their Superman/Atomic Knights team-up was deeper than a stack of negative letters. “What I didn’t know at the time is that Julie had been stung by the negative response to the story as much as Gary and I had,” Mishkin related. “I didn’t have an inkling, in fact, until years later when John Broome, who’d created the Knights with Murphy Anderson, was at a San Diego Comic-Con and I took an opportunity to ask Julie to introduce us. What he said was approximately, ‘John, meet the guy who ruined the Atomic Knights!’ It may have been the most mortifying experience of my professional life, and I sputtered something about how we’d responded to Julie’s request to make the story’s future world fit in the flow of actual history and how much I loved the original series.

And I should say that Broome was very gracious. But I realized in that moment that Julie must have been slammed for supposedly dissing the original stories as much as we were.”

DC Comics Presents #58 (June 1983) featured “a Triple-Threat Adventure!” co-starring Superman, Robin, and the Elongated Man, starting with an iconic Gil Kane cover of the three smiling teammates barreling toward the reader: Superman flying, Robin swinging on a Batrope, and the coiled Elongated Man springing into the frame like a human Slinky. The poster-worthy image was repurposed by DC in 2021 as the cover of a hardcover edition collecting random DCCP stories, Superman’s Greatest Team-Ups. According to Mike W. Barr, who scripted the story, initially this wasn’t envisioned as a three-character issue. “I seem to remember Julie [Schwartz] asking for a Superman/Robin team-up, and my talking him into adding the Elongated Man, since both E.M. and Robin have circus backgrounds,” Barr said in Back Issue #87. “And the Elongated Man is like chocolate, he makes everything better.”

In the adventure, WGBS reporter Clark Kent covered a big-top fundraiser headlined by the acrobatic showmanship of Robin, the Teen Wonder and the Ductile Detective, the Elongated Man. The performance was disrupted by a trio of phantom troublemakers, the Intangibles, drawing Kent into the action as Superman. The

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Intangibles’ use of special-effects tech led the heroes to Hollywood, the villains’ home, and an appearance by a George Lucas analog.

The Intangibles, garbed in 1980s high-tech uniforms that might have been borrowed from the wardrobe of the film Tron, had a different—and earlier—media favorite as their inspiration. “I had originally christened the villains—who could not be touched—the Untouchables; they were, of course, 1930s gangster-themed,” Barr revealed. The Untouchables was a 1959–1963 television series set in crime-torn Chicago during the Prohibition Era, starring Robert Stack as the no-nonsense, real-life federal agent Eliot Ness; a few years after this issue of DCCP, director Brian DePalma adapted The Untouchables as a 1987 movie with Kevin Costner in the Ness role. “Julie, for reasons never explained, hated this, so we gave them sci-fi costumes and named them the Intangibles. When I later used them in the ‘Looker’ backup in The Outsiders #2 and 3 (Dec. 1985 and Jan. 1986), I restored the name and theme. They also appeared in Hawk & Dove #4 (Sept. 1989), written there by my pals Barbara and Karl Kesel, and in the ‘Geo-Force’ solo stories in Showcase ’93, #4 and 5.” The Superman/Robin/Elongated Man team-up was penciled by Curt Swan, which at the time validated Barr: “In those days you weren’t a real comic-book writer until you’d written Superman for Curt Swan. Julie asked me if I would please give Curt a call to tell him how much I liked the job. Curt had, incredibly, on seeing the work of some of the younger hotshots, become uncertain of his talents and place in the business. To my praise, Curt responded: ‘Them’s sweet words, Mike!’”

The unusual team-up of Superman and the Guardians of the Universe, overseers of the Green Lantern Corps, took place in DC Comics Presents #60 (Aug. 1983), in a tale written by Cary Burkett.

The Guardians recruited the Man of Steel, whom they once considered as a possible Green Lantern, to help battle several rogue GLs who were being controlled by the Weapon-Master.

That’s the Weapon-Master, not to be confused with the Justice League foe the Weapons Master. “The Weapon-Master was an original creation,” Burkett related in Back Issue #87, “but inspired by the name of the JLA villain, Xotar, the Weapons Master.” The golden-armored Weapon-Master first appeared in a trio of Superman/ Batman tales penned by Burkett for World’s Finest Comics #272– 274. “I didn’t use Xotar because I wanted to avoid the idea of a villain from the future coming back to invade the past, a concept I never liked and which was pretty much identified with Marvel’s Kang,” explained the writer.

Around this time, a team-up was considered that would have involved a crossover between Earth-One and Earth-Two. Infinity, Inc., Roy and Dann Thomas’ Justice Society of America legacy concept, was planned to premiere alongside DC’s profile-building flagship hero in an issue of DC Comics Presents. Yet the Infinitors, as they were sometimes called, ultimately launched instead in All-Star Squadron #25 (Sept. 1983) before segueing into their own title several months later.

“It was only stuck first in an issue of [All-Star] Squadron because Julie Schwartz had no immediate room for it in DC Presents, which is what DC originally wanted,” commented Roy Thomas to Bryan Stroud in a Star-Spangled Kid history in Back Issue #133 (Feb. 2022).

Superwoman and Miracle Monday

On sale one week after the Superman/Legion of Substitute Heroes team-up in DCCP #59 was DC Comics Presents Annual #2. As he had presented the original Captain Marvel to DC readers in 1972 on the cover of Shazam! #1, on the Annual cover Superman welcomingly gestured toward a red-and-blue-garbed, cowled flying female, top-lined by logos unveiling, “Superman introduces Superwoman.”

Superwoman? Outside of random uses of the character name in the past, stretching back to Lois Lane in the Golden Age and a Crime Syndicate villainess in the Silver Age (see the index for more Superwomen), at the time there was no Superwoman… until now.

But who was she? That, dear reader, was the mystery.

TM & © DC Comics.

It was a mystery Kristin Wells was determined to solve.

A history professor from the 29th Century, Wells ventured into the past— Superman’s (and the reader’s) present— to uncover “The Last Secret Identity!,” the secret of just who was under the hood of the courageous Superwoman that appeared in the late 20th Century. Once Kristin showed up at the Daily Planet offices, the randy Jimmy Olsen, always a bit of an egotist (the so-called “Mr. Action” did at one time lord over his own fan club), was attracted to the red-haired, freckle-faced visitor (and the story’s conclusion revealed why Wells wisely refused his come-ons). As the story progressed, with a Jack Kirby–inspired space warlord named King Kosmos proving more than a match for the Justice League or for Superman alone, Wells unwittingly stepped into her own history, as she would learn that she herself was the mystery Superwoman.

Some readers experienced déjà vu when reading this time-hopping tale… even Clark Kent himself, when “meeting” Kristen Wells in the Daily Planet offices, recognized her from a past encounter. That previous adventure, as writer Elliot Maggin explained in the text page at the end of the Annual, was his 1981 novel, Superman: Miracle Monday (released as a Superman II tie-in, although it had no connection to the film’s story). In the novel, Wells traveled from the future to Superman’s present to learn the origin of the holiday Miracle Monday, the third Monday in May, an intergalactic celebration of unbridled happiness Elliot S! Maggin. and introspection, when people © DC Comics. reflect upon ways they can improve the world around them; Wells ended up a participant in the events that led up to the special day.

“For me, at least, Miracle Monday is a real holiday,” Maggin wrote in the DCCP Annual #2 text page. “As it happens, here in the real world, I received my first copy of Superman: Miracle Monday in the mail from my editor at Warner Books on May 18, the third Monday in the month of May, 1981. It was a special day, totally coincidental.” (Miracle Monday was Maggin’s second Superman novel. The first, Superman: Last Son of Krypton, was published in 1978, in conjunction with the release of Superman: The Movie. It also did not adapt the film but was Maggin’s reworking of his 1974 Superman movie treatment.)

Yet the Superman/Superwoman team-up had roots that ran deeper than Maggin’s 1981 novel. Miracle Monday was the scribe’s reworking of “The Miracle of Thirsty Thursday,” his story in DC’s Superman #293 (Nov. 1975), where Joann Jaime traveled from the 35th Century to fill in the gaps of incomplete historical records connected to a day when the city of Metropolis “was parched with thirst in the midst of water!” Despite its prototypes, DC Comics Presents Annual #2 was a fascinating time-travel tale with a villain that posed a rare physical threat to Superman.

Incidentally, the Annual was released on April 14, 1983, meaning it was still on the stands on Miracle Monday!

In a January 2006 interview for my Krypton Companion book, I asked Maggin how Miracle Monday is celebrated in his household.

“Normally, people send me an email to remind me of the day. I don’t usually need reminding,” he said. “Some of the more remarkable things that have happened in my life have happened on that day. I’d close on a house, or my wife and I would have a terrific dinner, or we’d find out she’s pregnant, or I’d meet somebody who’d be president five or six years later. That sort of thing.” As of the third Monday in May 2021, Maggin was receiving Happy Miracle Monday posts on Facebook.

Maggin brought back Superwoman for another adventure in 1985’s DC Comics Presents Annual #4, the series’ final Annual.

Illustrated by Eduardo Barreto and Jerry Ordway, this second Superman/ Superwoman team-up revolved around Luthorcon, a cosplayerpacked event connected to, as one would expect, an insidious anti-Superman plot by Lex Luthor. Maggin included Gregory Reed, the Hollywood Superman of Bronze Age comics lore, in the story.

In my Krypton Companion interview in 2006, it seemed unlikely that Kristin Wells–Superwoman would return. “I actually have a contract giving DC Comics and me joint rights to the original characters in Miracle Monday including Kristin Wells,” Maggin said. “I’d have to come up with some boffo idea for her and convince them to let me run with it, or they’d have to ask me about some boffo idea for her that someone else had and I’d have to think it was boffo too.” While Kristin Wells and Miracle Monday have been name-dropped in DC stories since that time, the concept of a Superwoman has been too appealing to be relegated to limbo. Lois Lane appeared as Superwoman in the alternate-continuity All Star Superman series of 2006, and as of this writing both Lucy Lane and Lana Lang have appeared as Superwoman, as did the most logical successor of the name, Supergirl, in the 2021 series Future State: Kara Zor-El, Superwoman.

The World That’s Coming

Leave it to Julie Schwartz, who began his career as an agent for science-fiction writers like Alfred Bester and Ray Bradbury, to publish an issue of DC Comics Presents featuring a Harlan Ellison story.

No… make that a James Cameron story.

Actually, neither of those SF visionaries penned a DCCP script, although when reading the team-up of Superman and the Jack Kirby construct OMAC, One Man Army Corps, in DC Comics Presents #61 (Sept. 1983), one might think otherwise.

DCCP #61 is a fan-favorite issue, mainly due to its spectacular cover and interior artwork by George Pérez (with Pablo Marcos on interior inks), hot as Kirby Krackle from The New Teen Titans, which by this time was a runaway success for DC, and its exciting script by Len Wein, the beloved wordsmith who had been writing far too few stories by that stage of his career and whose return was applauded by readers.

Its Superman/OMAC adventure, “The Once-and-Future-War!,” featured an executioner called Murdermek being sent by the oppressive Intercorp from “The World That’s Coming” to Superman’s present to assassinate Buddy Blank’s ancestor Norman Blank and thereby keep Buddy Blank—who became their enemy, OMAC—from being born.

Sound familiar?

On page 13 of Wein and Pérez’s DCCP #61, a frenetically paced 15-panel page that doesn’t feel the least bit cluttered (a Pérez specialty!), Murdermek bio-scanned commuters at a Metropolis terminal until zeroing in on an average schmuck with briefcase in tow. “Declaration: You-Are-My-Target-NormanBlank—” warned Murdermek in a staccato-speak robotic balloon.

“—And-It-Is-Time-For-You-To-Die!” “Is that thing talking to me?” muttered poor, quivering Norman, just before Murdermek discharged a salvo of rockets at his intended victim. Fortunately, a dashing Man of Tomorrow, clad in blue and red, burst in to save Blank’s bacon. And the battle raged on!

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Two episodes scripted by Ellison, one of sci-fi’s most innovative This page brings to mind one of the most famous scenes in and celebrated storytellers, that set the stage for both Wein’s Cameron’s movie, where Arnold Schwarzenegger as the android “The Once-and-Future-War!” and Cameron’s The Terminator. Both assassin the Terminator, sent from a dystopian, machine-ruled future episodes involved a time-traveler from the future visiting the Earth to the viewer’s present (1984), confronted his victim, Linda present, with someone on his heels.

Hamilton as a hapless young woman named Sarah Connor, whose The first was “Soldier,” Ellison’s adaptation of his own “Soldier only crime outside of her over-permed mullet was sharing a name with Out of Time” short story, originally aired as the September 19, 1964 other Sarah Connors in town who were turning up dead. Hamilton’s installment of The Outer Limits. Its plot involved a time-traveler Sarah Connor—the Terminator’s actual target, whose name was from the future battling an emotionless footsoldier from the future routinely intoned by the Terminator in Arnold’s Austrian-accented on the streets of today. Then, on the October 17, 1964 Outer Limits, robotic voice—was destined to give birth to John Connor, who Ellison’s “Demon with a Glass Hand” premiered. It featured a would grow up to become a human freedom fighter and sworn foe different messiah from tomorrow, one of the ruling machines. Making the with an artificial hand, who discovered dramatic rescue in The Terminator that his “humanity” is actually a layer was a different Man of Tomorrow— of artificial skin hiding the electronic Michael Biehn as soldier-from-the-future gadgetry that really makes him tick.

Kyle Reese—and the battle raged on!

As recently as 2015 and 2021, Today, it’s impossible to read Cameron had claimed in interviews DC Comics Presents #61, an utterly that the plot of The Terminator came thrilling comic book, without thinking to him in 1981 when he was sick with of James Cameron’s cult-favorite a high fever. However, Cameron sci-fi film and franchise launcher, The purportedly stated in a Starlog Terminator, since both tales essentially interview just prior to his film’s 1984 share the same plot. release that he cribbed the plot from Despite the uncanny parallels Ellison’s Outer Limits episodes, but between DCCP #61 and The Terminator, that quote was not allowed to appear Wein and Pérez’s story shipped to in print in the magazine. comic shops on May 10, 1983, while Twenty years after those Outer Cameron’s film did not debut in movie Limits episodes first aired, Harlan theaters until over a year later, on Ellison caught wind of The Terminator’s October 26th of the most Orwellian plot prior to its release. A lawsuit of years, 1984. Wein’s version of this resulted, and today the film’s credits story was already in the back-issue include an acknowledgment “to the bins of your neighborhood comic works of Harlan Ellison.” shop by the time Cameron’s began Was a young Len Wein also finding its audience at your local imprinted by those 1964 Outer Limits mall’s multiplex. episodes by Harlan Ellison? Does it Given the production and printing matter? Whatever its inspiration, if any, lead times required for producing issue #61, in this writer’s humble both comic books and motion pictures opinion, is the absolute best of the 97 and the relative segregation between the issues and four Annuals in the impresindustries in those days, it’s uncertain sive run of DC Comics Presents. if one of these stories borrowed from the other. Since Wein died in 2017, we cannot ask him today if he Superman’s Strange perhaps had heard of Cameron’s Adventures Continue screenplay prior to writing his script, The Freedom Fighters joined forces as one fan theory suggests. Besides, with Superman in DCCP #62.

Len Wein and George Pérez’s DCCP #61’s stories about time-travelers attempting Comprising Uncle Sam, the Human (Sept. 1983) Superman/OMAC team-up was to change the past were nothing Bomb, and other Golden Age superreleased over one year before James Cameron’s new. Usually they were told with the heroes originally owned and published similarly themed movie The Terminator. But the protagonist’s eye glancing into the

by Quality Comics, the Freedom idea of a time-traveling automaton assassin from rearview mirror, trying to correct a Fighters were acquired by DC and the future predated both projects. grave occurrence from the past, such rolled out in 1973’s Justice League of DCCP, Superman, and OMAC TM & © DC Comics. as the young teenage Kal-El timeAmerica #107–108 as the defenders traveling to 1865 to attempt to thwart of Earth-X, a parallel world where the John Wilkes Booth’s assassination of Nazis had won World War II; they later received their own title, set U.S. President Abraham Lincoln in Superboy #85 (Dec. 1960) in on Earth-One, but Freedom Fighters was cancelled in 1978 in the a tale aptly titled “The Impossible Mission!” You can’t change the infamous DC Implosion. past was the conceit of such tales. But imagine a story where the Their comeback in #62 concerned the deterioration of America’s past visited by a time-traveler is actually our present. That’s what spirit after Neo-Nazis’ theft of Earth-One’s Declaration of Wein did, and Cameron, too, and both executed their ideas superbly.

Independence and U.S. Constitution. “Born on the Fourth of July” But Harlan Ellison beat them to the punch. The Outer Limits, was co-written by former Freedom Fighters scribe Bob Rozakis and that unnerving mid-1960s anthology show that warned edgy viewers Dan Mishkin, although the concept originated with the latter. “I got “There is nothing wrong with your television set” before sending to use an idea I’d had years before but never turned into a story: that them on a fantastic trip that made some of Rod Serling’s Twilight the foundational documents of the birth of the United States—the Zones seem as tame as My Three Sons, featured a pair of Season actual, physical documents—contained a kind of mystical power,”

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Mishkin said in Back Issue #66. “And that was an idea that fit well with a character like Uncle Sam, who embodies America in a way that turns ideas into power.” That issue’s “Pair Mail” lettercol featured an update from Rozakis that bridged for the reader’s benefit the doings of the Freedom Fighters between their book’s untimely cancellation and the Superman/FF team-up.

Mishkin, with Gary Cohn, was back in DCCP #63 (Nov. 1983) with a meeting of Superman and their new character, Amethyst, the star of their DC fantasy title, Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, a 12-issue maxiseries whose seventh issue was released the same day as this Superman team-up. In Back Issue #66, Dan Mishkin admitted, “I look back at the Amethyst story and can only see it now as a necessary compromise—promoting the character to readers who might not be picking up the maxiseries by inserting our character more firmly in the DC Universe.”

The Man of Steel’s Metropolis collided with the Last Boy on Earth’s future wasteland in the Superman/Kamandi team-up in DC Comics Presents #64. Jack Kirby’s Kamandi had been in limbo since another offbeat team-up, with Batman, in The Brave and the Bold #157 (Dec. 1979), B&B writer Bob Haney’s final contribution to the series. The Superman/Kamandi team-up, which featured talking beasts running amok in Superman’s timeline, could have been a Great Disaster in itself were it not in the loving hands of erstwhile Kirby assistant Mark Evanier, whose script ably balanced both concepts’ realms and portrayed Kamandi in awe of Superman, known as the legendary “Mighty One” in the Last Boy on Earth’s time.

Issue #65 (Jan. 1984) featured the return of the supervillain Maaldor, introduced in issue #57, who haunted the dreams of Superman. The Man of Steel turned to the keeper of DC’s Doorway to Nightmare, the mistress of magical tarot cards, Madame Xanadu, in a preternatural team-up scripted by Paul Kupperberg and penciled, inked, and colored by Gray Morrow. Known primarily for his realistic renderings of fantastic realms, from sci-fi to horror, Morrow might have seemed like an ill fit for a Superman story, but his interpretation of a Man of Steel tormented by nightmares made DC Comics Presents #65 one of the standout Superman comics of the late Bronze Age. “This is one of my favorite books from that period, and the first time on DCCP that Julie let me have my own head on a story, with no editorial interference on his part,” Kupperberg recalled in Back

Here Comes Santa Claus!

Santa Claus, who teamed with Superman in DCCP #67, has met many superheroes and comic characters over the decades— including Harvey Comics’ famous friendly ghost, in Casper’s Ghostland #94 (Feb. 1977).

Cover by Warren Kremer.

TM & © Classic Media LLC.

Issue #66. “Julie was a notorious noodler on plots. You’d come in with a story in mind, and by the time the plotting session was over, he would have turned the story on its ear and inside out. But when I started describing what I wanted to do with this issue, he threw up his hands and said, essentially, ‘I don’t really get those kinds of stories, but if you want to give it a try, go ahead.’”

The Metropolis Marvel detoured once again into the occult world with issue #66’s Superman/Demon team-up, written by Len Wein and illustrated by the phenomenal Joe Kubert in a rare Superman outing.

The artwork on the issue was extraordinary, with Superman and the Demon Etrigan endangered by Blackbriar Thorn, a 2,000-year-old druid whose elemental powers nearly annihilated the odd-couple co-stars.

DCCP #67 (Mar. 1984) was perhaps the oddest single issue in a series full of surprises: a team-up between Superman and Santa Claus.

Historically, however, Saint Nick had long been an unofficial member of the DC Universe, from the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer comics published annually through the 1950s and early 1960s to random Christmas stories appearing everywhere virtually each year, even in war and mystery series. Christmas-themed stories such as “The TT’s Swingin’ Christmas Carol” (Teen Titans #13) and “The Silent Night of the Batman” (Batman #219) had become DC classics, and Rudolph and “Christmas with the Super-Heroes” collections were stocking fillers for tabloids of the 1970s and digests of the 1980s.

So Santa in the role of proxy crimefighter really wasn’t that far of a stretch. In the hands of one of the company’s chief superhero scribes, Len Wein, paired with co-plotter and DC lore-keeper E. Nelson Bridwell, the story was gorgeously illustrated by the Superman art team supreme of Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson.

The menace behind “’Twas the Fright Before Christmas!” was Superman’s longtime foe the Toyman, whose infiltration of the toy market with mind-controlling and dangerous playthings was the perfect catalyst to unite the two jolly and powerful crimson-clad champions—who, with their respective Arctic fortresses bustling with wonders, weren’t that mismatched a combo after all.

‘Whatever Happened to…? Magazine’

After a spate of issues whose plots might have been mistaken as stories from Schwartz’s Strange Adventures or even Rod Serling’s The Twilight Zone, DC Comics Presents appeared to return to traditional superheroics with its Superman/Vixen team-up in issue #68 (Apr. 1984). Yet the issue’s co-star had a backstory that was anything but traditional.

Vixen, created by Gerry Conway, was intended for stardom.

Beautiful fashion model Mari McCabe by day, cagey crimefighter with animal powers by night, Vixen was slated in 1978 to become the first black superheroine to receive her own title. The DC Implosion had other ideas, and once the publisher cancelled a slew of ongoing series and pulled the plug on a handful of newbies like Vixen, this African-born wielder of Tantu Totem–infused superpowers was locked in limbo before she had a chance to debut. “I loved the character and wanted to see her in print anywhere it was possible,” Conway admitted to John Schwirian in Back Issue #40 (May 2010). Editor Julie Schwartz was accommodating, first allowing Conway to script a Vixen guest-appearance in the Superman tale in Action Comics #521 (July 1981), followed nearly three years later by her second appearance in DCCP #68. Before long, Conway would transplant Mari McCabe into his revamped Justice League of America.

Despite its outward appearance as a conventional superhero team-up, DCCP #68 served as a surrogate Showcase outing, as had quite a few of the recent issues, affording exposure to homeless DC characters with no place to go or to new concepts needing the commercial helping hand that only the popular Man of Steel could provide. Readers were noticing, judging from letters appearing in the “Pair Mail” column. “Who’d have thought it! A team-up story with Superman and Amethyst fighting for their lives against the Dark Opal!” wrote one commentator in issue #67’s lettercol, followed by another letter that stated, “I figured that your teaming Superman with

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A Team-Up to Cheer For!

The leggy Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders and Marvel’s hottest heroes kicked it up together in this oddball custom comic produced by Marvel in 1982. Marvel also released a one-shot pairing Spider-Man and the Dallas Cowboys themselves.

Spider-Man and Hulk TM & © Marvel. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders © Dallas Cowboys.

Amethyst was a cheap attempt at hyping your maxi-series, much like your teaming of Superman with the Masters of the Universe.” Those readers weren’t complaining, unlike the commentator in issue #68’s lettercol, who, after initial hesitation, liked issue #64’s Superman/ Kamandi story but was still concerned about the comic’s overall direction. “Why has this book become WHATEVER HAPPENED TO… MAGAZINE?” he shrieked. “It’s great to see unknown DC characters show up, but let’s keep it to a minimum. Let’s see Firestorm, Batgirl, Flash, and Green Lantern back again!” Bob Rozakis responded to the letter by stating that fanmail suggested that the “offbeat” team-ups were favored by the readers. “But that doesn’t mean our regular characters won’t be appearing… just that they have competition.”

Issue #69 (May 1984) was another out-of-the-ordinary team-up that shone a spotlight on a troubled title, offering a Superman/ Blackhawk tale titled “Back to World War II.” Curious about the story behind a 1941 award won by former war correspondent Perry White, Superman time-traveled to June 11, 1940, where he not only met the international flying aces the Blackhawks but Albert Einstein as well. DCCP #69 was released the same day (February 2, 1984) as Blackhawk #270, the latter nearing the end of a 1982 revival illustrated by Dan Spiegle. Mark Evanier, writer of both Blackhawk and the Superman/Blackhawk team-up, remarked in an interview with Dan Johnson in Back Issue #37 (Dec. 2009) that DC Comics was “not, I thought, promoting the [Blackhawk] book much, if at all.” DC Comics Presents #69’s exposure came too late to save the co-stars’ book, as Blackhawk was cancelled with issue #273 (Nov. 1984).

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It had been two years since the Metal Men last appeared, in B&B #187, when they resurfaced alongside Superman in DC Comics Presents #70. “DCCP #70, with the Metal Men, was my suggestion,” recalled writer Paul Kupperberg in Back Issue #66. “I always liked the characters, way back when from the original Robert Kanigher, Ross Andru, and Mike Esposito run in Showcase.” Kupperberg’s story involved a scientist named Otto Brisbane, trapping the robot team and pitting them against doomsday realities. “It was a goofy little story,” Paul admitted, “but the Metal Men themselves had a goofy side to them, so it seemed to work. And penciler Alex Saviuk’s work always kind of reminded me of Andru’s, so he definitely nailed the Metal Men.” A Superman/Bizarro team-up appeared in issue #71, where Bizarro-Amazo came to Earth and infused mortals—including Jimmy Olsen—with superpowers. It was a lighthearted, utterly wacky story where Superman and Bizarro, usually at odds, joined forces to stop Bizarro-Amazo. However, with its E. Nelson Bridwell/Curt Swan/Dave Hunt creative pedigree, this story might as well have appeared in either Superman or Action Comics.

Issue #72 (Aug. 1984) teetered full-tilt into insanity—intentionally—in “Madness in a Dark Dimension!,” a Superman/Phantom Stranger/Joker team-up. “DCCP #72 was instigated by Julie,” the story’s writer, Paul Kupperberg, remarked of his editor in Back Issue #66. “The addition of the Joker was definitely a Schwartzian touch, and the combination of those characters seemed to give me an excuse for a third appearance by Maaldor.” A dimensional rift looming over Metropolis was in fact a violent manifestation of Maaldor’s consciousness, and as the villain’s madness threatened to topple reality, the intervening Phantom Stranger implored the Man of Steel to enlist as an ally the one figure who was no stranger to lunacy—the Joker! Their surreal journey was rendered with Ditko-Doctor Strange panache by Alex Saviuk and Dennis Jensen.

DC Comics Presents #73 was an old-school issue, a Superman/ Flash team-up penned by longtime Superman and Flash writer Cary Bates and penciled by the Scarlet Speedster’s legendary artist, Carmine Infantino. The Flash, whose reputation had recently been tarnished in his own series by his apparent murder of his enemy the Reverse-Flash, was apparently responsible for wanton destruction in another realm, putting him at odds with the Metropolis Marvel.

Two weeks later, DCCP Annual #3 reunited Superman and the original Captain Marvel in a 40-page slugfest pitting the heroes— as well as the Marvel Family and the Superman of Earth-Two— against a Shazam lightning–powered Dr. Sivana. Exceptional Gil Kane artwork was a hallmark of this Superman/Shazam! adventure plotted by Roy Thomas and dialogued by Joey Cavalieri.

An entirely different tale was conceived for DCCP Annual #3: Superman/New Teen Titans, by the NTT creative team of Marv Wolfman, George Pérez, and Romeo Tanghal, as reported in Fantagraphics’ Amazing Heroes #39 (the magazine’s 1984 Amazing Heroes Preview Special). It didn’t materialize, but Wolfman reused its plot in 1985’s New Teen Titans Annual vol. 2 #1, which was instead drawn by Ed Hannigan and Mike DeCarlo. That Annual introduced the space force called the Vanguard in a flashback tale co-starring Superman and featuring the villainy of Brainiac.

The third Annual was followed by DCCP #74, a Superman/ Hawkman team-up co-starring Hawkwoman. Actually, it was touted inside as a three-way team-up between Superman and the Hawks, but the cover layout kept Hawkwoman from receiving cover billing.

It concluded the plotline with Var-El, Superman’s great-grandfather.

Issue #75, a Superman/Arion, Lord of Atlantis team-up, was another off-kilter combo that provided exposure to a non-mainstream DC title, “which would have been me pushing the monthly Arion, Lord of Atlantis title that I was doing with [artist] Jan Duursema,” writer Paul Kupperberg recalled in Back Issue #66. “The book was about two-thirds through its run by then, and while Arion hadn’t really been tied all that closely with the DC continuity, I pitched this one to Julie mostly because I had a hole in my schedule and needed

a book to fill it. But Tom Mandrake did a great job on the art and the story had a few cute character moments in it,” including the normally conservative Superman’s wearing of an earring that was magically altered by Arion to allow the Metropolis Marvel to understand the Lord of Atlantis’ ancient language. This time-crossing team-up involved the Arion villain Chaon, a Lord of Chaos.

DCCP: Diversity, Constantly Changing Personnel

Eduardo Barreto was a South American artist born in Uruguay who honed his talent on Argentinian comic books before relocating to the New York City area in 1979 to work in the U.S. market. After early inking jobs at Marvel—including the Sal Buscema–penciled SpiderMan/Invisible Girl story in Marvel Team-Up #88 (Dec. 1979)—Barreto snagged random DC assignments, plus the Steel Sterling book published by Archie Comics during one of its superhero revivals. Julie Schwartz soon took notice of Barreto’s facility for rendering effervescent figures, gorgeous women, and mesmerizing layouts, and assigned him the cover-featured “The Born-Again Kryptonite Man” in Superman #397 (July 1984)—and the editor had instantly scored DC’s hottest new artist. Barreto would soon draw numerous Superman covers and adventures, Atari Force, The New Teen Titans, and other comics as well as the Judge Parker newspaper strip. Superstar illustrator Jim Lee called him “an artist’s artist” upon Barreto’s untimely death in 2011.

So it was Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn’s good fortune to have Barreto assigned to their Superman/Wonder Woman team-up in DC Comics Presents #76 (Dec. 1984), which pitted the duo against an Amazonian expatriate, Christina Cade, and her ability to mold monsters from clay. Barreto would remain DCCP’s cover artist for the immediate future.

Secretly observing the co-starring heroes in #76 were two mysterious figures, a brooding off-camera male and his fetching female accomplice. DC readers would soon recognize them as the universe-watching Monitor and his herald Lyla (later to be known as Harbinger), who began appearing in various DC titles with teaser scenes like this one to set the stage for DC’s upcoming company-wide Crisis on Infinite Earths, a 12-issue maxiseries with multiple crossover issues that would alter the entire DC Universe… and have great ramifications for DC Comics Presents.

Writer Marv Wolfman, principal architect of the impending Crisis and the maxiseries’ writer, scripted DCCP #77 and 78, which teamed, respectively, Superman and the Forgotten Heroes, followed

by Superman and the Forgotten Villains. This two-parter was a pre-Crisis housecleaning exercise that gathered a gaggle of DC’s B- and C-listers from the Silver Age and pitted them against supervillains of—to be charitable—even lower stature (with the exception of the Enchantress). The Forgotten Heroes were Animal Man, Cave Carson, Congo Bill and Congorilla, undersea enigma Dolphin, Dane Dorrence of the Sea Devils, Suicide Squad leader Rick Flag, the Immortal Man, and the Time Master himself, Rip Hunter. The Forgotten Villains were the Enchantress, the former supernatural superheroine-turned-bad who in the mid-1960s starred in a handful of solo stories in Strange Adventures, plus Mr. Poseidon, a Sea Devils rogue; Ultivac, a giant robot and early enemy of the Challengers of the Unknown; Rip Hunter’s foe, the wizard Kraklow; the AtomMaster, a bargain-basement evil scientist with a colander-shaped matter-rearranging helmet, who had only appeared once, fighting Superman and Batman in World’s Finest Comics #101 (May 1959); and another one-timer, the orange-skinned Faceless Creature from Saturn (a.k.a. the Faceless Hunter), a nuclear-blasting, pointy-eared alien from a trio of randomly published tales in Julie Schwartz’s Strange Adventures issues starting with issue #124 (Jan. 1961).

In DCCP #79 (Mar. 1985), the Action Ace fought the Erg-Master, a juggernaut who gathered and expended energy from “practically anything—the sun… power lines… nuclear power… even the wind.”

This opening battle was followed by more problems for the Man of Steel, resulting in a Superman/Clark Kent team-up. “The Superman

and Clark Kent team-up in #79 was another of Julie’s ideas,” according to its scripter, Paul Kupperberg. “It brought back the intergalactic gamblers Rokk and Sorban from the planet Ventura, and the conceit was that they split the Man of Steel into his two component identities and wagered on which one of them would be the first to solve the mystery. The whole schtick and resolution was classic Schwartz, but it was a fun story, with art by the great Curt Swan inked by the equally great Al Williamson.”

One of comics’ all-time masters, Williamson, originally a protégé of Tarzan artist Burne Hogarth, was legendary for his newspaper strips Flash Gordon and two The cover of DCCP #82 collaborations with writer Archie (June 1985). Its SuperGoodwin, Secret Agent Corrigan man/Adam Strange teamand the adaptation of Star Wars: up, illustrated by Klaus The Empire Strikes Back.

Janson, was one of longIssue #80’s Superman/ time scribe Cary Bates’ Legion of Super-Heroes team-up last Superman stories. “was built around the Legion TM & © DC Comics. discovering an other-dimensional city in space populated by killer Superman robots,” writer Paul Kupperberg recalled in Back Issue #66. “They were somehow supposed to help Brainiac capture the real Superman and use him in his fight against the Master Programmer.”

Following the aforementioned Superman/Ambush Bug lark in #81 came DC Comics Presents #82 (June 1985), a Superman/Adam Strange team-up magnificently illustrated

by Klaus Janson, the popular inker who had become a fan-favorite by embellishing Frank Miller’s Daredevil at Marvel, then by soloillustrating several post-Miller Daredevil issues. Janson “has always wanted to draw an Adam Strange Cary Bates. adventure,” Schwartz commented © DC Comics. in Amazing Heroes #62, the 1985 Amazing Heroes Preview Special.

This was one of the final times Cary Bates would script a Superman story… and as he related in his Krypton Companion interview, “One of the last stories I remember that really stood out for me was a Superman/Adam Strange team-up I wrote for DC Comics Presents. Klaus Janson did a great job with the art.”

DCCP #83 teamed Superman with Batman and the Outsiders (BATO). This tale by BATO scribe Mike W. Barr resurrected the Silver Age Bat-foe the Outsider, who was actually Alfred Pennyworth, a.k.a. Alfred the Butler. “Julie approached me about a DCCP with Superman and Batman and the Outsiders,” Barr related in Back Issue #87. “I immediately asked him which [Outsiders] characters were his favorites. His reply: ‘I don’t know anything about them, I just know a team-up will sell.’ As the Batman TV show would put it, ‘OW!’ That taught me to never again fish for compliments.” BATO’s artist, Jim Aparo, illustrated the cover, while longtime Batman penciler Irv

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TM & © DC Comics.

Novick and inker Dave Hunt drew the interiors. “The first panel of the story—which was done from a ‘Marvel-style’ plot—called for a shot past what later turned out to be a plot device to the Wayne Penthouse,” Barr recalled. “Irv claimed this could not be drawn, so I simply told him to reverse the angle and he had, oddly, no problem. His refusal to draw the original panel blew a setup, but I wasn’t the editor, so I played nice. Nonetheless, Irv did a great job on the Outsiders.”

Jack Kirby’s pre–Fantastic Four original quartet of adventurers, the Challengers of the Unknown, joined forces with Superman in issue #84.

King Kirby himself, inked by Greg Theakston, penciled the cover and the interior team-up.

The story featured a flashback sequence by a different, equally legendary, artist—Alex Toth.

According to writer Bob Rozakis, the Toth section was “the first chapter of a [Challengers] tale I originally wrote for Adventure Comics digest.” In addition to having Kirby and Toth art in one story, this issue offered the reader an opportunity to see Kirby’s unique interpretation of Superman sans the corporate-mandated redrawings by Al Plastino or Murphy Anderson that altered much of the King’s early 1970s DC work on Jimmy Olsen and The Forever People.

It wasn’t often that the invulnerable Superman got sick—Virus X nearly wiped him out a couple of times during the Silver Age—but once he was infected with the Kryptonian Bloodmorel fungus in DC Comics Presents #85 (Sept. 1985), it seemed unlikely that the Man of Tomorrow would make it through the day. Fevered and ranting, “Cal Ellis” rented a car and journeyed into the Bayou to die. Luckily he came across Swamp Thing, the Earth elemental who could communicate with plant life (including alien plant spores).

Thus Superman crossed “The Jungle Line” in one of DCCP’s most curious outings. Behind this riveting tale was Alan Moore, scribe of Swamp Thing, a title whose “Sophisticated Suspense” tone was morphing editor Karen Berger’s corner of the DC Universe into what would soon become the mature-readers Vertigo imprint.

Moore’s Midas touch was enriching random DC Universe stories during this period, including this memorable Superman/Swamp Thing classic illustrated by Rick Veitch and Al Williamson.

Had fate not interfered there would have been yet another Superman/Swamp Thing team-up appearing earlier in DCCP. As Martin Pasko revealed in Back Issue #87, “I was assigned a Superman/Swamp Thing team-up that I had a story for that I really liked, but [Julius Schwartz] assigned it to Alex Toth (don’t ask why; I never understood that choice, either), but I’d’ve wanted to work with Alex if it had been ‘Superman Meets Sugar and Spike.’

Unfortunately, Alex disappeared with the script and never delivered, and that one never saw the light of day.”

Two weeks after DCCP #85’s release came another of Alan Moore’s non-Swamp Thing forays into the DC Universe, and probably his most feted one: 1985’s Superman Annual #11, stunningly illustrated by Dave Gibbons. Connecting the Annual’s oft-reprinted “For the Man Who Has Everything” to DCCP was its use of DCCP’s breakout bad guy, Mongul, as its villain, and its unofficial “team-up” status through its guest-star appearances of Batman, Robin (the Jason Todd version of the character in the youth’s second meeting with Superman), and Wonder Woman. Moore and Gibbons would soon follow with Watchmen, collectively changing the comicbook world in the process… but that is another story.

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Crisis on Earth-DCCP

DC Comics Presents #86 (Oct. 1985) plunged into the company’s 50th anniversary mega-event with its first Crisis on Infinite Earth crossover. As did other individual issues participating in the Crisis initiative, DCCP #86’s trade dress displayed two alterations: its DC bullet was altered into a “50” to signify the publisher’s golden anniversary year, and a strip stretched across the cover denoting that this was an “Official Crisis Cross-over.” Julius Schwartz, like all DC editors at the time, was required to comply with Crisis, but the editor who introduced the parallel-worlds concept to the line beginning in 1961 with The Flash #123’s “Flash of Two Worlds” was unhappy.

According to Bob Rozakis, “Julie thought the explanation for doing Crisis—that having multiple Earths was too confusing for the readers—was ridiculous.” (Despite their enthusiasm for Wolfman and Pérez’s unfolding 12-issue Crisis on Infinite Earths maxiseries, many DC readers—including this author—agreed with Schwartz.)

DCCP #86 was another Superman/Supergirl team-up—their last.

“I had been writing the Supergirl monthly and she was going to die in that same month’s Crisis #7, so this was their farewell team-up, against Blackstarr,” the issue’s writer, Paul Kupperberg, explained in Back Issue #66. “In the end, Blackstarr tried to put time and space

Strange Deadfellows

If Superman teaming with Swamp Thing seems like a peculiar pairing, try Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein on for size. This crazy, creepy 1948 comedy teamed three Universal monsters in an encounter with the hilarious Hollywood funnymen and maintains a cult following to this day. © Universal Pictures. Poster courtesy of Heritage.

Beware the… Foozle?

Steve Englehart’s dispute with DC Comics led to the scribe’s Superman/Creeper DCCP plot being repurposed in a story in Eclipse, the Magazine #1 (May 1981) starring these creator-owned characters.

Art by Marshall Rogers. © Steve Englehart and Marshall Rogers.

back the way they belonged, but she failed and disappears, still leaving Kara with ‘ominous feelings.’ It’s kind of a sad story for me, being the last time I got to write Supergirl.”

Another Schwartz concept, Earth-Prime, essentially the “real” world where Julie Schwartz worked and where characters like Superman were the stars of comic books, resurfaced in DCCP #87, and would have long-reaching ramifications. That Crisis tie-in issue, which reunited the creative team of writer Elliot S! Maggin and penciler Curt Swan (inked by Al Williamson), teamed Superman with Superboy, in this case the Superboy of Earth-Prime, the first and sole superhero in a world where superheroes were otherwise fictional. It was a charming tale of nostalgia and discovery, in an extra-length issue accompanied by a 16-page “Origin of Superboy-Prime” backup story. What poor Julie Schwartz could not envision at the time is that 20 years after the publication of this tale, this hopeful Boy of Steel would return as a pitiless murderer in writer Geoff Johns’ Infinite Crisis.

Superboy-Prime’s ultimate conversion into a villain has made DC Comics Presents #87 one of the series’ most collectible back issues.

Superman paired off with the Creeper in issue #88, DCCP’s third consecutive Crisis crossover, a team-up long hoped for by many readers but whose actual execution proved controversial. Its creative team of writer Steve Englehart and artist Keith Giffen (inked by Karl Kesel) excited many fans, and the story, which pitted the co-stars against demons and portrayed the Creeper as actually being insane “rather than merely acting...” that way, garnered support from some readers who wanted to see this creative team return to the Steve Ditko-created character. But Giffen’s experimental art, which liberally borrowed from South American artist José Antonio Muñoz’s stark style, rubbed many readers the wrong way. “Giffen’s art has gotten more and more cartoony every appearance… I don’t like it,” griped one fan about issue #88 in a letter published in #92’s “Pair Mail.” Another reader harped, “Keith Giffen’s artwork was a remarkable display of how an extraordinarily talented artist can waste his talent.”

Two footnotes are attached to the Superman/Creeper team-up, involving both of issue #88’s primary creators.

First, as reported in John Wells’ Creeper history in Back Issue #124 (Dec. 2020), Steve Englehart, circa 1980, was originally commissioned by Julie Schwartz to write a Superman/Creeper team-up

for DC Comics Presents. Curt Swan was in the midst of penciling the story when a disagreement over compensation between the writer and DC led Englehart to pull his story and legally reclaim its plot. What was intended to be an Englehart/Swan Superman/ Creeper team-up was transformed into a creator-owned S-329 Agent of Storbor/Klonsbon the Foozle story titled “Slab,” illustrated by Englehart’s Detective Comics collaborator, Marshall Rogers, and published by Eclipse Comics in Eclipse, the Magazine #1 (May 1981). (Additionally as part of this dispute, Englehart reimagined two Madame Xanadu stories that were to be illustrated by Rogers for DC into two Scorpio Rose stories for Eclipse.)

Second, part of the enthusiasm engendered by Keith Giffen’s participation in DC Comics Presents #88 dated back a few years to 1983, to a Creeper maxiseries that was announced, to be written and penciled

by Giffen—in his more traditional style which he had popularized in his early 1980s collaboration with Paul Levitz on Legion of SuperHeroes—and inked by Gary Martin. That, too, never materialized.

Giffen later introduced a laughing loony called the Heckler into the DC Universe. In a Heckler history in Back Issue #91, Giffen alluded to the Creeper and remarked, “I had a jones for a specific character DC was publishing, but knew the way I’d have handled said character would have been… let’s say, off-putting to DC.” So Keith instead came up with the Heckler, which he called “a superhero Bugs Bunny.”

Incidentally, as reported in the 1985 Amazing Heroes Preview Special, Giffen’s Ambush Bug co-conspirator Robert Loren Fleming had planned a 1985 issue of DC Comics Presents that never saw the light of day, a Superman/Thriller team-up involving characters from writer Fleming’s experimental Thriller series of 1983–1984. The conceit of “In Homage,” set in Thriller’s near-future, non-DC continuity, involved a Superman vs. Brainiac video game whose misuse by character Crackerjack created an altered-reality encounter.

Were a Superman/Thriller team-up not bizarre enough, another unrealized DCCP planned for 1985 would have teamed Superman with Brother Power, the Geek, the hippie-culture character created in 1968 by Joe Simon that sat dormant until being taken out of mothballs in the 1990s in DC’s Vertigo imprint. A Superman/Brother Power team-up was teased on the coming attractions listing on the inside back cover of Who’s Who #3 (May 1985), the issue of that encyclopedic DC series which featured a Brother Power entry. That issue of DCCP never occurred. In a single Dave Gibbons–drawn panel in Green Lantern #180 (Sept. 1984), produced during Len Wein’s 1984–1985 stint as Green Lantern scribe, GL, miffed over how his duties for the Guardians of the Universe kept interfering with his personal life as Hal Jordan, vented his hostilities by power-ring–blasting a disabled satellite in Earth’s orbit. As reported by Wein himself in Comics Buyer’s Guide #828 (Sept. 29, 1989), that was the same satellite that contained Brother Power, blasted into space in the second and final issue of Simon’s short-lived Geek title. Wein intended to explore that in Green Lantern but left the title before doing so, then later planned to tie up what he considered to be a dangling plotline in a Superman/ Brother Power DCCP team-up that similarly was never produced.

The Final Countdown

DC Comics Presents #89’s (Jan. 1986) powerful cover, by Denys Cowan and inker Bob Smith, pitted its co-stars into combat as Superman vs. the Omega Men. Three members of the Marv Wolfman– created space-spanners from the Vegan star system, who had previously met Superman in Action Comics #535–536 (Sept.–Oct. 1982), also scribed by Wolfman, were puzzled to find themselves on a dystopian version of Earth’s Metropolis, where they were attacked by their former ally, the Caped Kryptonian.

The Omega Men, whose own magazine was running out of steam with its 34th issue currently on the stands (Omega Men would be soon be cancelled with issue #38), benefitted from this profile-boosting appearance alongside DCCP’s Super-star, but the most striking feature of the story was its depiction of Superman, as drawn by semi-regular

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penciler Alex Saviuk and inker Ricardo Villagran. In the vein of Giffen’s Joe Shuster treatment of the Man of Steel in the Superman/ Doom Patrol team-up, in #89 Superman was illustrated in a manner evoking veteran Golden/Silver Age artist Wayne Boring’s take on the character: barrel-chested and thick-waisted, with bent-knee flying poses. This interpretation was no mere wink to an all-time Superman great, as (spoiler alert!) the story’s confrontational Action Ace was not the real deal, but instead the Superman doppelganger “The Thing from 40,000 A.D.,” from the classic Superman tale bearing that title that was originally published in Superman #87 (Feb. 1957) and reprinted several times over the years. Given editor Schwartz’s penchant for dusting off old sci-fi concepts, one might assume it was Julie who suggested this twist. But as Bob Rozakis, the script’s co-writer, explained in the lettercol of DCCP #93, using “The Thing” was the idea of his writing partner, Todd Klein, the aforementioned letterer and one-time DCCP Annual cover colorist, who was also the Omega Men scribe at the time.

“Todd gets the credit for the idea of bringing back The Thing,” Rozakis wrote, adding, “And in the plotting session with Julie, yours truly came up with the twist of having the creature reenact the original story”—which was a clue for the longtime reader “to the reason” behind Superman’s bizarre behavior. Issue #93 concluded with a tribute caption dedicating the story to Wayne Boring and the “unknown” writer of the original tale; it remains uncertain as to who scripted that uncredited original tale, with Grand Comics Database indexers having credited both Bill Finger and William Woolfolk for the job.

Also in issue #93’s “Pair Mail” column, Rozakis made an announcement that disheartened devoted readers: That despite its rapidly approaching 100th issue, DC Comics Presents would conclude its run with issue #97. Rozakis reiterated the buzz that was circulating in the fan press about writer-artist John Byrne’s upcoming revamp of Superman.

There was a shocking change with the series’ cover dress beginning with DCCP #90. Gone was the banner logo as designed by Todd Klein, as well as the accompanying traditional Superman logo that had been found underneath. In its place was a place was a diminished spotlight on the magazine’s title, with “Comics Presents” reduced to small type alongside the DC bullet, and in a gigantic, slanted font the title “SUPERMAN &”—a last-minute throwback, in a way, to the series’ intended “Superman Plus” title. Below “SUPERMAN &” was the logo—or an approximation thereof—of the co-star. This revised design was the creation of Ed Hannigan’s, DC new cover editor.

DCCP #90 was a three-way team-up, co-starring Superman, Firestorm the Nuclear Man, and Captain Atom, the latter being one of the characters from Charlton Comics recently acquired by DC and incorporated into its universe via Crisis on Infinite Earths. “I grew up on Steve Ditko’s Captain Atom and the rest of the Charlton Action Heroes of the 1960s, so it was cool to get a chance at one of

Ed Hannigan revamped DC Comics Presents’ logo beginning with issue #90. This new designed minimized the comic’s title but amplified the importance of its star.

TM & © DC Comics.

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the crew,” commented issue #90’s writer, Paul Kupperberg, in Back Issue #66. “I’d actually written a whole Captain Atom continuity for a planned weekly featuring all the Charlton superheroes that never happened, so this is my only published story featuring the character.

I’d also had a hand in Firestorm prior to this, having briefly edited the title as well as writing a fill-in a few years before. Nice art by Denys Cowan, although Dave Hunt’s inks didn’t do him any favors.”

Craig Boldman, at the time one of editor Schwartz’s newer Superman writers, penned his one and only DCCP issue with #91, reteaming Superman with Captain Comet, whose powers were raging out of control. The story, published in early December 1985, capitalized on public interest in the return of Halley’s Comet, whose orbit approaches Earth roughly every 75 years; its return (in the real world) occurred in April 1986.

DC Comics Presents #92 (Apr. 1986) featured a Superman/Vigilante team-up, the Man of Steel’s co-star being the Punisher-like crimebuster that spun out of the pages of The New Teen Titans into his own book.

The issue “was probably the biggest stretch of any of the team-ups I did,” admitted its writer, Paul Kupperberg. “I had taken over writing The Vigilante about a year before this issue came out, and if there was anybody in the DCU who didn’t belong sharing a story with squeakyclean Boy Scout Superman, it was him. Vigilante was a pretty raw book, all blood and guts and hardcore ‘reality,’ usually racking up a pretty high body count. But I kept him on the straight and narrow for this story. I think Vigilante got to fire off one shot in the whole story, and that to score a shoulder wound against one of the bad guys.”

Softening the guest-star even more was the team-up’s artist, Superman stalwart Curt Swan, inked by DCCP semi-regular Dave Hunt.

Issue #93 teamed Superman with “The Elastic Four”—returnees the Elongated Man and Plastic Man, regular supporting cast member Jimmy Olsen in a long-overdue reappearance as Elastic Lad, and a fourth, unidentified (on its Jim Starlin cover) stretchable figure, named inside as Malleable Man. He was actually a troublemaker named Skizzle Shanks, who gets the power to stretch. Shanks “turned out to be a former partner-in-crime of Eel O’Brien [Plastic Man], out to recreate the accident that gave Eel his stretching powers,” recalled its writer, Paul Kupperberg. A fan, Laney Loftin, suggested this team-up. Kupperberg, however, came up with Malleable Man and linked him to comics’ original rubber-band man, once the star of Quality Comics’ Police Comics and later acquired by DC. “Plastic Man was a lifelong favorite of mine (well, the original Jack Cole strips, at any rate), and I had written a couple of Elongated Man backups in years past, as well as the Jimmy Olsen strip in Superman Family, so it was a silly, fun story.” The tale was drawn with appropriate comic touches by Alex Saviuk, and beautifully inked by Kurt Schaffenberger. It was Kupperberg’s final DCCP. Three alumni of Crisis on Infinite Earths—Harbinger, Lady Quark, and Pariah—teamed up with Superman in DCCP #94 (June 1986), under a sizzling cover by Crisis’ master artist George Pérez.

The story, co-written by DC editors Barbara Randall (later Kesel) and Robert Greenberger, chronicled the displaced trio’s attempts to interface with the new, single Earth forged in the wake of Crisis’ elimination of the DC multiverse, with journalist Clark Kent even interviewing them on television and the group combining their energies to tackle the villain Volt Lord.

Greenberger, as an editor, had been fundamental in the development of Crisis and, along with Marv Wolfman, wanted to keep the Crisis-spawned trio in the spotlight. “When I pitched using the Pariah/Lady Quark/Harbinger trio as co-stars,” Greenberger penned in a Lady Quark history in Back Issue #90 (Aug. 2016), Julie Schwartz “gruffly nodded in agreement. There was little to go on beyond those Crisis issues.” An admirable attempt to address the new post-Crisis DC Universe, issue #94 would soon be for naught with John Byrne’s rapidly impending Superman makeover.

Greenberger admitted in Back Issue, “I recall being disappointed at some of Julie’s heavy-handed rewriting of the dialogue, but

apparently that was par for the course.”

DC Comics Presents #95’s Superman/Hawkman team-up (Hawkwoman mostly sat this one out, except for a brief Shayera cameo) occurred during a period when fans of the Winged Wonder had something to crow about. In the hands of writer Tony Isabella and artist Richard Howell, the hero from Thanagar was flying high after the miniseries The Shadow War of Hawkman #1–4 (May–Aug. 1985).

“The Shadow War of Hawkman was pitched as a five-year plan, pending sales of the original miniseries,” Isabella informed Hawkman historian Doug Zawisza in Back Issue #97 (July 2017). Sales were sufficient for a follow-up by Isabella and Howell, a double-sized one-shot, 1986’s Hawkman Special… plus Hawkman guestappearances by other creators in several DC titles, including issues of Crisis. Artist Howell told Back Issue, “I remember that Tony was very, very positive about the Shadow War clearly being the opening salvo in a long-term Hawkman series.” Isabella’s instincts were correct: DC gave the green light to an ongoing Hawkman book, launching on May 22, 1986 with the August–cover-dated Hawkman #1.

DCCP #95 came out the month before the new Hawkman title debuted. Plotted by Isabella and scripted by Hawkman editor Alan Gold, Howell’s pencils on #95’s “The Big Kill” were inked by Murphy Anderson, the second Hawkman artist of the Silver Age. DCCP’s editor had first offered the inking assignment to Hawkman’s first Silver Age artist, the one who had teamed with writer Gardner Fox in reviving the character decades earlier in The Brave and the Bold. “I still have a letter here from Joe Kubert,” Howell told Back Issue, “apologizing—since Julie Schwartz had asked him to ink the DC Presents issue, but his schedule didn’t permit it.”

The penultimate issue of the series, DC Comics Presents #96 (Aug. 1986), was a Superman/Blue Devil team-up co-written

by Blue Devil’s creators, Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn. Mishkin recalled in Back Issue #66 that he originally intended to solo-script the team-up, as his writing partner was “busy with other things.”

However, Dan “had a terrible time coming up with something that would fit the spirit of the character Gary and I created while working effectively as a Schwartz-era Superman story. I ended up calling on him when I kept hitting brick walls, and before I knew it he had straightened everything out and we were clicking on the old Cohn and Mishkin express again.” The story, “The Deputy,” marked the final appearance of the Bronze Age villain Terra-Man, the spaghettiWestern pastiche created by writer Cary Bates in Superman #249 (Mar. 1972). In the hands of Mishkin and Cohn, and as drawn

by Joe Staton and Kurt Schaffenberger, Terra-Man’s Man-with-NoName roots perfectly complemented the Tinseltown world of Superman’s co-star, since Blue Devil’s alter ego Dan Cassidy was, as regular Blue Devil readers knew, a Hollywood SFX whiz and stuntman. Those readers would soon lament the loss of the series, as its cancellation loomed, with Blue Devil #31 (Dec. 1986).

DCCP #96’s letters column featured good news for “Superman plus” fans dreading the series’ rapidly approaching demise: Bob Rozakis announced that the soon-to-be-revamped Action Comics would feature Superman team-ups written and penciled by John Byrne.

The End of DC Comics Presents

Then came DC Comics Presents #97 (Sept. 1986), the final issue, by far the most peculiar story in a series where the weird was often commonplace. Billed as “An Untold Tale of the Pre-Crisis Universe,” this “team-up” featured Superman and the Phantom Zone villains, a sequel to the Steve Gerber–scripted, Gene Colan–illustrated Phantom Zone four-issue miniseries of 1982, which was in part inspired by the Zone villains’ appearance in the film Superman II. Gerber, whose flourishes within the DC Universe were rare, had been recruited to pen the original miniseries by DC’s executive editor. As the writer told me in a 2006 interview for The Krypton Companion, “Dick Giordano approached me about it. It’s not something I would’ve come up with myself, because I was never a

big fan of the PZ villains.” Upon the invitation of Julie Schwartz, Gerber returned for its sequel, in DCCP #97, with Rick Veitch replacing Gene Colan as artist.

Gerber’s “Phantom Zone: The Final Chapter” explored the backstory of the creation of Krypton’s death penalty alternative and revealed, in a surprise twist from a writer known for throwing readers for a curve, that the Zone was more than just a spooky prison. “The Phantom Zone, it turned out, was not a separate dimension, but a field of consciousness surrounding a being called Aethyr,” Gerber explained. “That field had physical limits, so it was actually possible to cross the A few issues shy of its landscape of Aethyr’s consciouscentennial, DC Comics ness and come out on the other Presents ended its run side of the Phantom Zone.” with issue #97 (Sept.

And with that revelation of 1986), a bizarre Superthe Phantom Zone’s sentience, man/Phantom Zone DC Comics Presents came to a Criminals story by Steve close. Alan Moore was tapped Gerber that was a sequel

by Julie Schwartz to give the to his earlier Phantom Earth-One Man of Steel his Zone miniseries.

(Curt) Swan song in the nostalTM & © DC Comics. gic “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?” in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583, and Schwartz retired from DC Comics, bopping into the office each Wednesday for a visit and making the occasional convention appearance in the role of the company’s “goodwill ambassador.”

As Steve Gerber witnessed during his brief period working with Julie Schwartz, “Just a guess, but from talking to him at the time, I think he felt a kind of relief, as if a burden had been lifted. He never asked for the Superman books. I think he would’ve been very content to edit his revival characters, JLA, and Strange Adventures for his entire career.”

Sometimes, Julie’s methodology could tax a writer. “He could be difficult to plot for,” remembered Martin Pasko, “since he insisted on taking a very active role in breaking the story. And everything was plot, plot, plot, gimmick, gimmick, gimmick to him—not that I fault him for that; he was a product of his time.”

Yet Schwartz’s publications altered lives, from their imaginative stories to their text pages that connected readers in an era before social media. “Because of his letters columns, I discovered comics fandom, which he helped create, because he had been one of the guys who had created science-fiction fandom,” reflected Len Wein of his editor. “And he became a dear friend, and taught me much about what I know as a writer. Here’s a guy whose impact upon my life cannot be measured.”

Wein’s Superman/OMAC collaborator, George Pérez, similarly held Schwartz in high regard. “Julie Schwartz is partly responsible for so many famous people doing such famous, good work. But like many good editors, he remains invisible in the actual creative process to the average fan. So you never really recognized how important a good editor is in the career of an artist or writer.”

DC Comics Presents might have been just one of Julius Schwartz’s assignments in the twilight of his career, but under Julie’s editorial watch it became the home of some of Superman’s most memorable adventures produced by many of the industry’s most influential talents.

Chapter 12: DC Comics Presents

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DCCP SPOTLIGHT: MARC TEICHMAN “I Flew with Superman! (And Hawkman, Too!)” An Interview with DC Comics Presents #11 Guest-star Marc Teichman

“You, too, can team up with Superman!”

About the only way that could happen back in the spring of 1978, when those words appeared in the text page of DC Comics’ new Superman team-up mag, DC Comics Presents #1 (July–Aug. 1978), was a nostalgia-show handshake and quick Polaroid with Kirk Alyn, the lithe, distinguished actor who played the Man of Steel in the Superman movie serials of 1948 and 1950. Or perhaps a chance run-in with an actor relatively unknown at the time but who by year’s end would become a household name: Christopher Reeve, Marc Teichman today. of Superman: The Movie.

But Julius Schwartz, the DC editor who always encouraged his writers to “Be Original,” had another idea: give a reader a chance to appear in an issue of DCCP, alongside the Metropolis Marvel. While such contests were certainly not novel—including DC’s own then-recent “Great Superman Movie Contest” which afforded its winners, two kids named Edward Finneran, of Massachusetts, and Tim Hussey, of California, the chance to become Smallville High School football players in cameos in the 1978 blockbuster—Julie’s criteria for participating in the contest was originality: Write in to DC’s editorial offices with a suggested title for the new comic’s letters page, and the clever, and lucky, winner would be scripted and illustrated into an upcoming issue.

The clever, and lucky, reader was Marc Teichman of Staten Island, New York, who suggested “Pair Mail.” As soon as I re-read issue #1’s lettercol when beginning my research into the 97 issues and four Annuals of DC Comics Presents for this book, and watched Teichman’s journey unfold, first in issue #7’s lettercol announcement of his winning entry followed by the actual Superman team-up in issue #11, I wondered, Whatever happened to this guy? Living in the age of social media, one doesn’t have to wonder about that kind of thing for long. In June 2021 I searched for and found Marc Teichman on Facebook, sent him a friend request and a message requesting an interview, then began an interesting dialogue with the fellow who teamed up with Superman… and Hawkman, too!

Before I share that Q&A with you, a quick recap of the comic’s story is necessary.

The issue was DC Comics Presents #11 (July 1979), where writer Cary Bates, penciler Joe Staton, and inker Frank Chiaramonte teamed Superman and Hawkman in a story titled “Murder by Starlight!” Its electrifying cover, by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano, who illustrated many DC covers during that era, depicted an unruly Winged Wonder tearing into a stymied Man of Tomorrow in an aerial battle. That image evoked a childhood memory of the cover of one of the first team-up comics I ever read—The Brave and the Bold #70 (Feb.–Mar.

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1967), which featured a dizzying mid-air mix-up, spectacularly depicted by Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella, between the magazine’s star, Batman, and his guest that issue… Hawkman!

(Apparently, the Winged Wonder’s feathers are easily ruffled during team-ups.) DCCP #11’s main story involved a villain’s mind control and power amplification of Hawkman, and how Superman dared not fight his Justice League ally for a reason I’ll allow you to discover or rediscover by reading the comic yourself.

But its B-story is the subject of interest here. Therein, Marc Teichman of Staten Island, New York, made the rounds at While the JLA’s resident the offices of the Daily Planet, aliens duked it out on introduced as the newspaper’s this Ross Andru/Dick lottery winner in a charity Giordano cover, inside fundraiser. Marc’s contest prize the pages of DC Comics was a spin—over buildings in Presents #11 (July 1979), a single bound (Superman’s)— contest winner Marc around Metropolis as escorted Teichman made his by its resident high-flying hero. comic-book debut.

Marc, with camera in tow, TM & © DC Comics. snapped aerial pics while soaring with Superman, thinking, “If I’m lucky, I’ll end up with a collection of super-photos I can show my children someday.”

It was crucial to Bates’ story that this Earth-One Marc not merely be a guy snapping selfies but an actual photographer. While developing his Super-pics in his darkroom, Teichman noticed “mysterious bursts of eerie light over Superman’s body!” in every image.

Concerned, he took the photos to the Daily Planet’s Clark Kent, known for being able to contact Superman in times of crisis. Marc’s photographic discovery alerted the Man of Steel to the machinations of the scientist that was controlling Hawkman and aided in the heroes’ ability to save the day. The appreciative DC Comics Presents co-stars both flew Teichman home to Staten Island on the last page of the team-up, with Marc beaming to Hawkman and Superman, “You guys are too much! If only my friends could see me now!”

MICHAEL EURY: How were you informed of your victory, and who contacted you?

MARC TEICHMAN: Julie Schwartz contacted me on the phone and then in written correspondence, and I got a letter from E. Nelson Bridwell.

EURY: How old were you at the time?

TEICHMAN: I was 23 when I was contacted.

EURY: Were you an avid comic-book reader?

TEICHMAN: I was. I remember buying comics when they were 12 cents, and 15 cents, 20 cents, 25 cents, and so on.

EURY: When did you start reading comics?

TEICHMAN: I think that I started reading when I was nine, when my older brother turned me on to them.

EURY: Do you still read comics today, or maintain a collection?

TEICHMAN: I still have my old comics. I still have Avengers #1 to 500 and on, and early appearances of the Legion of SuperHeroes [in Adventure Comics] and Brave and Bold, from the early issues including the first appearance of the Teen Titans to The Brave and the Bold’s end.

EURY: The contest rules stated that as winner, you had to submit photos of yourself to DC for the story, right?

TEICHMAN: I had to send several pictures of myself and sign a legal letter giving them my permission to use my name and my likeness in the comic for one time only. (Please note the terms, as they will come up in my story, 30 years later.)

day you first saw a copy, and how did you share the news with your family and friends?

TEICHMAN: I was very excited about the comic and my appearance in it and pleased with it. My favorite parts are when I meet the Daily Planet staff and meet Superman, and when Superman and Hawkman fly me back to Staten Island. My family and friends couldn’t believe that I was in a comic and that I met Superman.

EURY: Does your team-up with Superman ever come up in conversation today?

TEICHMAN: To this day, when I start to tell the story of the comic book, I tell them that I met Superman. They look at me at tell me that I had enough alcohol for the day. [laughter] I tell them that they can pull out their phone and Google Superman and my name, Marc Teichman, and they will see the proof of my story!

EURY: You said something happened 30 years later related to the publication terms for this story…?

TEICHMAN: Flash forward 30 years EURY: In the DC Comics Presents later, to October 2009. The short story, Marc thinks, “If I’m lucky, version is, I noticed an advertisement I’ll end up with a collection of for a Showcase Presents trade papersuper-photos I can show my children back reprinting DC Comics Presents, someday!” Were you able to visit reprinting the stories in black-andthe DC offices to have your photo white, with my story in it. My Spideytaken with editor Julie Schwartz or sense started to kick in. My presence other members of the staff? was supposed to be a one-time occurTEICHMAN: No, I don’t have any rence and DC did not obtain permispictures from 1979. sion from me for the trade (not that I would’ve said no if I had been asked).

EURY: The story’s Marc Teichman Then the Showcase Presents: was a photographer. Were you a DC Comics Presents Superman photographer, or was this simply Team-Ups came out. Of the things a story element? And did writer lacking in the book was an Cary Bates interview you before explanation of who I was, which was scripting? explained in the original comic book TEICHMAN: The writer and Julie in the letters page. They also referred asked me if I was ever into photogto me as a fictional character. raphy. I told them I was not. They I wrote to DC Comics, to the said they were going to use that attention of Paul Levitz, President. [photography] angle in the story.

DC’s legal staff responded back to me in writing. I first had to prove EURY: Joe Staton and Frank who I was and provide the details of Chiaramonte were the story’s the contest. The lawyer made light of artists. How well did they capture my issues and ultimately sent me a your likeness? bunch of trades for “compensation” TEICHMAN: Most panels of me (top) The Marc Teichman of Earth-One meets the Daily for their errors. I feel they could’ve were drawn very well. But some Planet staff. (bottom) Marc meets the big guy himself! done a much better job of compensating closeups gave me a gigantic nose TM & © DC Comics. me for overlooking my presence, and a face that Superman may have but it’s almost impossible to win an squeezed! [laughter] argument with a lawyer without another lawyer to represent you.

EURY: Do you own any original artwork from the issue?

EURY: That’s too bad. I hope it hasn’t otherwise soured you TEICHMAN: I wish I had the artwork from the story. DC did not about the original experience. offer it and I did not think to ask for it. I wish I could go back and What is, or was, your vocation? ask for the artwork.

TEICHMAN: I worked in a hospital in Manhattan for 25 years as a director of support services. I am now retired.

EURY: In addition to being included as a character in the issue, was there any other prize for winning the contest?

EURY: Ever wonder what the Earth-One Marc Teichman is up to?

TEICHMAN: Just a copy of the comic. Now that I think back, I TEICHMAN: The Earth-One Marc Teichman also finally cut wish the prize would have been something more, like a copy of the off his mustache, like me. That Marc always ran into trouble and comic book autographed by the writer, artists, and editor, or, like I seemed to always need help of the local heroes when visiting their said earlier, a page of the original artwork that featured my likeness. cities, using his Apple signal watch to call them. Now, the EarthOne Marc has taken over Oracle’s role and assists all heroes in their EURY: Nonetheless, I imagine this comic appearance gave you tech and communications needs! some bragging rights back in 1979. What was your reaction the

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The first of the Super Slugfests of ’78, Superman vs. Wonder Woman, published as All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-54. Cover by José Luis García-López and Dan Adkins.

TM & © DC Comics.

TEAM-UPS

The Super-Slugfests of 1978 Most people would not think of the 1970s Superman as a brawler—after all, he was one of the Super Friends that were enthralling kids each Saturday morning in that popular television cartoon, and in Superman: The Movie, Christopher Reeve in the role identified himself as “a friend” after his first rescue of Margot Kidder’s Lois Lane.

Yet during 1978, the year that publisher DC Comics was celebrating Superman’s 40th anniversary, it seemed as if the “friendly” Superman was constantly looking for a fight.

Punch-drunk from the knockout that was January 1976’s Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, its tabloid-sized format becoming the comic-book equivalent of a widescreen movie, DC wasted no time booking sparring partners for their Kid from Krypton for more super-sized one-shots with the same heroes-fight-then-team-up formula.

But who could possibly last a nanosecond in the ring with a man who could push planets? Three contenders bawled up their fists to brave a bout with the Metropolis Marvel: a princess with a magic lasso, a champ with a magic tongue, and a boy with a magic word.

Superman vs. Wonder Woman

The opening bout in this triple feature of fisticuffs was a big surprise. Superman rarely got down-and-dirty with his male adversaries, preferring a flick of his finger to knock out a mortal foe. You had to be a mad scientist in high-tech armor or a thing from another world to warrant a super-punch. And thus the Gentleman of Steel would never mix it up with a lady, even a super-strong one from Paradise Island… right? Think again!

First things first: After the wild success of Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man, its writer, Gerry Conway, “was offered the editor-in-chief role at Marvel, and because it was what I thought I wanted at that point in my life, I left DC and grabbed it,” Conway told Wonder Woman historian Andy Mangels in Back Issue #61. That position wasn’t a good fit for Conway, and after a little over a tumultuous month in the role he resigned and returned to DC. Encouraged by his pal from Marvel, Roy Thomas, Conway conceived another Superman slugfest in the super-sized tabloid format: Superman vs. Shazam! The original Captain Marvel had not only returned to print in DC’s Shazam! title but was also a television star on the live-action Shazam! show seen on CBS-TV on Saturday mornings. But a different DC character had also made a TV debut, when the statuesque beauty Lynda Carter rocketed to stardom in the New Original Wonder Woman live-action series, a show that was, in its earliest episodes, set during World War II. DC wanted a Superman vs. Wonder Woman tabloid out pronto, and wanted it to take place during World War II to mirror the Wonder Woman currently in the public eye. Who better to pen such a mega-event than Gerry Conway? So DC’s managing editor, Joe Orlando, assigned Superman vs. Wonder Woman to Gerry, who temporarily backburnered Superman vs. Shazam! to script the 72-page mash-up/team-up.

Conway relished the 1940s environment for the story. “Even before the TV series was set in WWII,” Conway said, “I thought Wonder Woman—and Captain America—was a more successful character in that milieu.” Of course, thanks to its multiverse, DC Comics had a Superman who was active during the 1940s— the original Man of Steel, who then-current readers would know as the Earth-Two Superman. The Superman known to the general public, however, was the Earth-One Superman, who starred in DC’s comics of the day and who, more or less, inspired the interpretations of the hero seen on television and to be seen in the upcoming Superman: The Movie. Since Superman vs. Wonder Woman was designed to attract the general reader as well as the comics fan, it was decided to simplify matters and avoid mentioning the parallel worlds

CHAPTER 13

THE

The Battle of the Sexes

Superman and Wonder Woman weren’t the only ’70s celebrities embroiled in a he-versus-she smackdown!

Bobby Riggs challenged Billie Jean King to a highly publicized tennis match at the Houston Astrodome on September 20, 1973. With an accompanying media circus portraying this as a clash between a “chauvinist” and a “women’s libber,” King nabbed the winner-take-all $100,000 purse by beating Riggs in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, and 6–3.

Images courtesy of Tommy Cook and Shaun Clancy.

concept. “We probably felt that discussing the Earth-Two mythology would have unnecessarily confused a new reader,” Conway said.

While that perturbed those fans accustomed to the traditional explanations about parallel worlds found in editor Julius Schwartz’s Justice League of America and other DC books, since Conway’s own Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man similarly bypassed any such explanation of continuity constructs, readers just sat back and let the adventure sweep them away.

José Luis García-López, the most exciting new flavor at DC, got the nod to illustrate the extra-length battle between two of the company’s greatest. At the time of Superman vs. Wonder Woman’s genesis, José was illustrating DC’s new Jonah Hex comic, written

by Michael Fleisher. “Joe Orlando brought me to [publisher] Carmine Infantino’s office and they showed me the Superman vs.

Spider-Man tabloid,” García-López recalled in Back Issue #61.

“They asked me if I could do something like it. I was in shock just looking at the book, and said, ‘No, [I] can’t even approximate the quality of [Ross] Andru’s art.’ But they flattered me a lot and convinced me. Joe Orlando always pushed projects to me that— at the time—I thought I was not prepared to assume. I’m forever in debt with his trust in my work.” The artist took four issues off from Jonah Hex (issues #6–9) to illustrate Superman vs. Wonder Woman, with penciler Ernie Chan spelling him on Hex. Published as All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-54, Superman vs.

Wonder Woman’s conceit was that it was a previously top-secret file culled from the U.S. War Department. With his script, Conway played in territory that several years later would be writer Roy Thomas’ domain when Roy jumped ship from Marvel to DC to write the World War II–based adventures of DC’s Earth-Two heroes

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in the pages of All-Star Squadron. Conway’s Superman vs. Wonder Woman was interwoven into American military history, occurring on June 10–11, 1942, early in the United States’ involvement in the Second World War, and featured real-world characters in the storyline including Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, legendary super-brain Albert Einstein, and U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The story was broken into chapters billed as military “reports,” unveiling Superman’s and Wonder Woman’s respective discoveries of a shadowy “Manhattan Project” and the development of a nuclear bomb, the machinations of Axis supervillains Baron Blitzkrieg and Sumo the Samurai, and a disagreement between the two DC heroes which led to a larger-than-life smash-up before their differences were resolved. “For one thing, I’m pretty sure there were no superheroes at Midway!” Conway joked to Mangels in Back Issue #61. “I wasn’t trying to write a history book—I was telling a story, and since the introduction of superheroes into anything throws ‘real history’ out the window, I felt perfectly free to fudge facts to make for a better story.”

Superman vs. Wonder Woman was beautifully inked by Dan Adkins. Given the enormity of the penciling the 72-page epic, GarcíaLópez, whose attention to detail was and to this day remains aweinspiring, provided fully detailed pencils for roughly the first two-dozen pages, then loosened his style to layouts to keep the project on deadline. “[My layouts] were pretty tight anyway, and the only thing I left for interpretation were the shadows or layouts,” García-López recalled, requiring the gifted Adkins to shift from inks to finishes.

The end result was a hit book for DC. “I had a lot of fun working with one of my favorite artists—José Luis García-López, who always made anything I wrote look a lot better that it was,” Conway beamed.

Superman vs. Muhammad Ali

The second of ’78’s Super-slugests was a fight no one could have predicted. Muhammad Ali, nee Cassius Clay, was the Greatest, as the boastful showman would brazenly tell us whenever near a microphone. He could float like a butterfly and sting like a bee. But the Greatest Superhero could set a building on fire with his eyes and literally knock your head off. Putting them into a boxing ring together wasn’t a match-up, it was a death sentence for the mortal Ali. Who came up with this crazy idea?

Don King, that’s who! King, the legendary boxing promoter from the rough-and-tumble streets of Cleveland, Ohio, the electric-haired huckster who throughout his long career put together some of boxing’s most memorable—and moneymaking—bouts, was on top of the world in the mid-1970s. He became a household name after matching Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in 1974’s “Rumble in the Jungle,” and the next year struck gold, and mega-ratings on television, by pitting Ali against Joe Frazier in the “Thrilla in The original Superman vs. Muhammad Ali cover, by Joe Kubert. From Amazing Manilla.” Over the years he was responsible for World of DC Comics #12 (Aug. 1976). seven of Muhammad Ali’s title bouts.

Superman TM & © DC Comics. Muhammad Ali © Muhammad Ali Enterprises LLC. Eight, when you count the one with Superman.

King, like just about everyone reading newsbecome a beloved sportsman and African-American icon, his papers and watching TV media in late 1975, had flamboyance landing him a successful action-figure line from Mego caught wind of January 1976’s smack-down between Superman and Toys—and soon, a biopic, The Greatest, and a Saturday morning his Marvel rival Spider-Man, and arranged a meeting with DC Comics cartoon series, I Am the Greatest: The Adventures of Muhammad Ali. President Sol Harrison, at DC’s Manhattan offices. Let’s put the Man And so Superman vs. Muhammad Ali was on the drawing board— of Steel in the comic-book ring with the Greatest, King proposed to Joe Kubert’s. Kubert, the legendary artist-editor whose then-recent Harrison. “Strangely, even though Don King, who was a big boxing rendition of Tarzan during DC’s licensing of character had revitalized promoter and still had a strong relationship with Muhammad Ali, even the Lord of the Jungle’s popularity, was initially assigned to the project. though he came first to Sol’s office and that was the kind of thing Sol Kubert produced a wraparound cover for Superman vs. Muhammad Ali was usually excited about, he handed it off to me,” said Jenette Kahn, that introduced the classic imagery of this epic battle, with the stars in DC’s newly arrived publisher who would soon become known as “the the ring on the front cover, surrounded by an enthusiastically cheering Superman lady” to the legendary prizefighter, to Robert Greenberger in crowd that expanded to engulf the back cover. The cover’s logo was an in-depth, career-spanning interview in Back Issue #57 (July 2012). top-lined with the blurb “The Fight to End All Fights.” DC’s selfIn more recent interviews, Neal Adams, the photorealistic illustrator produced fanzine, The Amazing World of DC Comics, announced the to whom Superman vs. Muhammad Ali would ultimately be assigned, project and published the Kubert cover in issue #12 (Aug. 1976), with a remembered the project’s genesis differently, crediting DC’s Superman winter 1976–1977 date attached in a “Direct Currents” news blurb. editor Julius “Julie” Schwartz for the idea. “One day at a meeting, Julie Businessman Herbert Muhammad, Muhammad Ali’s manager and said: ‘Why don’t we have Superman fight Muhammad Ali?” Adams the son of longtime Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad, was recalled to BBC Trending. “We all said: ‘You’re crazy!’ but Julie felt dissatisfied with Kubert’s sketchy art style. “Apparently Joe’s rough that a real-life hero fighting a fantasy hero would be something special.” style didn’t translate into likenesses that [Herbert] Muhammad was Schwartz himself had a different recollection, as he penned in his 2000 happy with,” Neal Adams explained to Brett Weiss in Back Issue #61. autobiography, Man of Two Worlds. “It was a major project for the “I’m quite sure that DC was happy with what Joe was doing, and company, and Jenette Kahn, the publisher, asked me to take care of it.”

I’m sure he would have done a fine job, but everything had to be run While the United States was celebrating its Bicentennial in ’76, past [Herbert Muhammad], and he didn’t like what he saw.” And so Muhammad Ali had become an American icon. As Cassius Clay, Ali Kubert was relieved of the assignment. was a former Gold Medal–winning Olympic pugilist who took the Artist-letterer John Workman, who was working as a production public stage in 1964 when beating the unstoppable Sonny Liston in artist at DC during this time, observed the DC reaction to this abrupt the ring to become the heavyweight champion of the world. With the change in plans. As Workman told me for my article “The Superman spotlight now thrust upon him, over the next few years Clay, known for vs. Muhammad Ali Artists That Weren’t” in Back Issue #105 (July a rapid tongue that was as fast as his lightning fists, made a religious 2018), “Sol Harrison and Jenette Kahn showed [the Ali camp] samples conversion to the Nation of Islam, redubbing himself Cassius X before of every artist that they might be able to get to work on the book. taking the name Muhammad Ali. Due to his controversial comments Ali’s people looked over all the samples and decided they liked Kurt about racial segregation and a conviction for draft evasion when he Schaffenberger’s stuff.” refused military induction into the Vietnam War (“I ain’t got no quarrel While a DC fan would have no trouble imagining Schaffenberger’s with them Viet Cong,” he famously said), Ali fell out of favor as a crisp, coloring book-like style on the Superman vs. Shazam! tabloid public figure. His fortunes started to pivot in 1971 when he entered that followed the Ali one-shot, the venerable artist seemed mismatched the ring in against Joe Frazier in “The Fight of the Century” (the for such a high-profile project that relied upon celebrity likenesses. tagline that DC and Marvel borrowed for their “Battle of the Century” Jenette Kahn certainly thought so, lobbying for Neal Adams for the Superman/Spider-Man bout), followed by the U.S. Supreme Court’s project. The Ali camp ultimately agreed. overturning of Ali’s draft-evasion conviction. In the mid-1970s, Ali had

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Put Up Your Dukes

DC’s superstar writer Dennis O’Neil had been assigned the scripting of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali, reuniting the O’Neil/Adams team that had, earlier in the decade, elevated Batman and Green Lantern/ Green Arrow to acclaim, both under editor Julie Schwartz’s watch.

“Once Denny had framed the story, I flew to Chicago with some early pencils of Neal’s to a meeting with Herbert Muhammad, Ali’s manager, and his attorney, Charles Lomax,” Jenette Kahn wrote in her Afterword to the 2010 upscale reprinting of Superman vs.

Muhammad Ali. While Adams’ artwork, remembered to this day for its spot-on likenesses, met the approval of the Ali camp, Kahn recalled that Ali’s manager asked for minor variations to perfect the depiction of the champ, such as, “‘Ali’s calf is too narrow. It’s fuller than that. Make sure you change it.’”

While work progressed on the book, circumstances began to interfere with the reunion of editor Schwartz’s dream team. “When Neal started to adapt [Denny’s script],” Julie recalled in his autobiography, “he started to make changes and didn’t follow the script too well. Denny raised objections until, finally, he said to Neal, ‘I won’t change your artwork if you don’t change my copy.’

It didn’t happen, and Neal kept making changes, and Denny finally quit the project, and Neal had to finish it all by himself.”

Adams’ version of the Superman vs. Muhammad Ali script clash, as he related in Back Issue #61, was that “Julie came up with the original conflict. Denny and I both did outlines—we went off and plotted. Mine was a little bit more direct. Denny’s kind of meandered around a bit. Julie liked my outline better and pushed it on to Denny, which wasn’t a great situation because he did it right in front of me.

I didn’t like that. Denny agreed to the job and started working with the combination outline, but he kind of got lost in the story.”

As a result, the comic’s credits read, in the words of editor Schwartz in Man of Two Worlds, “‘Script based on an original story

by Denny O’Neil, Adapted by Neal Adams, and Penciled by Neal Adams.’” Add to that inks by Dick Giordano and Terry Austin and lettering by one of the best in the biz, Gaspar Saladino.

Regardless of its genesis, the story was enormous in scope yet simple in execution. The Scrubb, an alien race fronted by a strident leader aptly named Rat’lar, had taken notice of Earth and its “warlike and savage people” and their “potential for destruction.” Yet instead of merely issuing a Day the Earth Stood Still–like warning, Rat’lar,

The Champ himself was integral to the promotion of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali.

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whose race honored “our warriors’ valor and abilities” as well as those attributes in their enemies, proposed a boxing match between Earth’s greatest champion and the Scrubb’s—not taking “no” for an answer by surrounding the planet with an armada poised to obliterate terra firma and its populace to force the issue. Ali and Superman disagreed on which of them was the greatest (as their colossal twopage-spread handshake that concluded the tale revealed, they both are), and the two duked it out, with Superman being depowered.

And awaiting the victor was the Scrubb’s monstrous combatant Hun’Ya, ready to go fists-to-fists with the last (Earth)man standing.

Adams’ artwork was extraordinary, and many of his fans regard Superman vs. Muhammad Ali the prize belt of his decades-spanning career. Neal exploited the tabloid format to its full potential with grandiose depictions, from his creation of the immenseness of the Scrubb’s Earth-engulfing space flotilla to a much-seen downshot of a bruised, Ali-pummeled Superman on a stretcher. Using photo reference, Adams perfectly captured the likenesses of Ali and his entourage. His Superman was powerful, bringing to fruition his vision of the Man of Steel that had only been hinted at through his covers and licensing images featuring the character. The inks by Giordano and Austin were similarly and deservedly masterful.

Such a massive project was slow in coming, however, given the artist’s acute attention to detail. After The Amazing World of DC Comics (AWODCC) #12’s original announcement of a late 1976–early 1977 release date, the next issue, #13 (Oct.–Nov. 1976), reported that Neal Adams, not Joe Kubert, was the artist, and that “the book is progressing for late winter or early spring release.” Months later, AWODCC #14 (Mar. 1977) noted that the book was “chugging along towards a summer release.” As Adams’ one-time Brave and the Bold collaborator Bob Haney remarked in a letter published in The Comics Journal #45 (Mar. 1979), “during the long production throes of the AliSupes book it became an office joke if Neal would finish the art before Ali blew the duke to Spinks, or had long retired...” The book finally hit the stands in late January 1978—and was certainly worth the wait.

As with the Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man project that preceded it, media attention for Superman vs. Muhammad Ali was unprecedented, extending well beyond the confines of comic fandom.

Superman comics had featured celebrity appearances before— examples being Orson Welles (Superman #62), Pat Boone (Lois Lane #9), and Candid Camera’s Allen Funt (Action Comics #345)—but those cavalier guest-shots paled in comparison to the Superman/Ali team-up. The book had the self-promotional Ali himself in its corner, and the champ relished his media interviews, which included him reading the comic and draping a Superman cape over his shoulder.

The comic was also a multicultural milestone, an early example of a black comic-book champion in a territory where previous few heroes of color (Black Panther, Luke Cage, Black Lightning) had tread.

Curiously, for an out-of-continuity one-shot that was the result of a special licensing agreement, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali’s shockwaves continued to reverberate throughout DC’s comics for decades to come. The first happened shortly after the tabloid’s publication, in the Superman/Mister Miracle team-up in DC Comics Presents #12 (Aug. 1979), scripted by Steve Englehart. Therein, Superman, flying to a conflict with the Super Escape Artist, recalled his recent bout with the Greatest. While that was the only in-continuity reference to the story, comics historian John Wells informed The Team-Up Companion that “Hunya was reborn as human boxer Hunya Adams in Superman: The Man of Steel #56 (May 1996) and 71 (Sept. 1997), while the Scrubb returned in Superman’s Pal Jimmy Olsen vol. 2 #11 (Aug. 2020). Both Hunya and the Scrubb also appeared in Harley’s Little Black Book #6 (May 2017).”

Additionally, as a memorial to Muhammad Ali, who died on June 3, 2016, writers Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti lovingly lampooned Superman vs. Muhammad Ali in Harley’s Little Black Book #5 (Feb. 2017) with its Superman vs. Harley Quinn fight, scoring Neal Adams as the issue’s guest-artist!

Celebrity Face-Off

The Superman vs. Muhammad Ali wraparound cover has become one of comicdom’s most famous images. For its basic composition, Neal Adams repurposed the amazing, albeit rejected, Joe Kubert version that predated his. “I didn’t want any contributions that Joe had made to be wasted, so I took his layout and traced it for the double-spread cover. So that cover is really Kubert’s layout,” Adams said in Back Issue #61.

Yet it is the celebrity-laced audience that has earned the cover its immortality.

As Jenette Kahn recalled in Back Issue #57, “I had what I thought was an inspired idea. I said, ‘We have a huge double cover with no ad in the back with Supes and Ali in the ring together. And who comes to boxing matches? All the glitterati. So let’s fill the audience with famous people,’ and we proceeded to do just that.

And Neal drew all these famous people in the stands.”

Adams remembered the idea as being his, and stated in Back Issue #61, “If you’re gonna have this fight between Superman and Muhammad Ali, aren’t celebrities going to come, just like in a regular fight? Dumbest idea I ever had. [laughs] It was a whole lot of extra work.”

That “extra work” came in the form of likeness approval. According to Kahn, “It was only after they were drawn that we learned that if we were using their likenesses, their images were aiding in the sale of the comic book, and we needed their permission to use them.”

And thus DC’s new publisher globetrotted about to secure approvals for celebrity likenesses.

In some cases, the requests were denied. “And when they wouldn’t give us permission,” Kahn said in Back Issue #57, “we had to draw somebody else with a similar physiognomy in their place.”

This, of course, created extra work for Neal Adams, who recalled, “Out of a given number of celebrities, certain people turned us down, so DC comes back to me and says, ‘Can you patch over this,’ and I said, ‘Come on, I got a hundred people here, and now I’ve got to start making patches?’”

Some figures were altered—actor George C. Scott was transformed into author Kurt Vonnegut, pop star Elton John became soccer great Pelé, and shiny-domed TV star Telly Savalas became Superman’s arch-foe Lex Luthor (whose money was no doubt on Ali). Others required substitutions: To the left of Luthor on the published cover is Don King, but originally Rolling Stone Mick Jagger was ringside; and nearby, next to the Chairman of the Board himself, crooner-actor Frank Sinatra, you’ll find Jenette Kahn… but Adams originally drew singer John Denver in that spot. In a few cases, Adams simply altered a famous face into a generic one. “So John Wayne is in the audience [to the left of Johnny Carson, above and to the right of Lex Luthor’s bald head], only he’s not identified as such because he has a mustache,” Adams said in Back Issue #61.

Still, the cover audience boasted an amazing 172 famous faces, from show business (the Jacksons, Ron Howard, Lucille Ball, Wolfman Jack) to political figures (Presidents Carter and Ford and wives) to DC staffers, Warner Communications executives, comics pros, personnel from Neal Adams’ Continuity Associates, and Can you name everyone in the audience? Neal Adams’ star-studded wraparound cover to All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-56, Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. Superman and related characters TM & © DC Comics. Muhammad Ali © Muhammad Ali Enterprises LLC.

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TM & © Marvel.

Muhammad Ali’s associates. Even DC characters appeared, most in their alter egos but also a few costumed ones like Plastic Man being buried in the crowd. A cover key was provided to identify the personalities.

In my aforementioned article in Back Issue #105, I reported that Superman vs. Muhammad Ali was initially approved by then-DC publisher Carmine Infantino, as I had been informed that Infantino had discussed the project in a late-1975 television interview while on the Superman vs. Spider-Man promotional trail. A video or transcript of that interview failed to materialize for verification. And thus I contacted Jenette Kahn for clarification. In a July 9, 2021 email, she kindly offered, “I hadn’t heard that Carmine was involved, but it’s possible that Don [King] first contacted Carmine, and when Carmine was ousted, Sol [Harrison] took up the mantle. He never gave any credit to Carmine, but even if discussions did start with him, and I don’t know that they did, it’s an idea that came to DC and not one we generated.”

Regardless of the project’s office of origin, while cheering for Neal Adams’ mind-blowing illustrations and all of the many hands involved with bringing the one-shot to light, a special spotlight must be shone onto the publisher who remained in its corner throughout its bumpy road to fruition, Jenette Kahn.

One might even regard Kahn as the unsung heroine of Superman vs. Muhammad Ali. Writer Marv Wolfman sure did. As the writer-editor of Marvel’s Amazing SpiderMan #186 (Nov. 1978), illustrated by Keith Pollard and Mike Esposito, Marv immortalized Jenette’s role in the epic project through a cameo from a female comic-book publisher who approached the Web-Slinger with the proposition, “Picture this, you against the heavyweight champ. Spider-Man vs.

Leon Spinks!”

“You gotta be kidding, lady!” retorted Spidey.

Superman vs. Muhammad Ali is now revered as one of comicdom’s most ambitious and exciting projects of all time.

I wonder if Spidey regretted passing on the lady publisher’s offer?

The Battle Nearly 40 Years in the Making

The final bout in this titanic trifecta, Superman vs. Shazam!, published in All-New Collectors’ Edition (ACE) #C-58, was the fight we were expecting—heck, fans were clamoring for it! Their fathers had when they were kids, too!

The original Captain Marvel, writer Bill Parker and artist C. C. Beck’s whimsical wish-fulfillment hero, was one of the Golden Age’s salvo of supermen that followed, faster than a speeding bullet, the 1938 premiere of Superman in Action Comics #1. The most shameless rip-offs were quickly disposed of, not by an angry Man of Steel, but by litigation initiated by DC’s hard-hitting lawyers.

Captain Marvel, however… he had the stamina of Atlas.

As comicdom’s most noted historian of the day, DC assistant editor and comic-book writer E. Nelson Bridwell, explained in “The Courtroom Battle Between Superman and Captain Marvel,” a text page appearing on the inside back cover of ACE #C-58, “Cap was seemingly a copy of Superman. But the ‘World’s Mightiest Mortal’ soon developed into something else, thanks to a brilliant group of creative writers and artists.” Chief among their differences were

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their milieus and alter egos. Superman had science-fiction roots, being a spaceman from a doomed planet, and walked among us in the loafers of reporter Clark Kent. Captain Marvel was pure fantasy, in actuality a young boy, Billy Batson, whose utterance of the magic word “Shazam!” (an acronym where each letter represented the powers of a Greek or Roman god) transformed him—in a flash of lightning—into the superpowered Captain Marvel. For roughly 20 years, Superman went it alone in his crimefighting, whereas Captain Marvel quickly became the patriarch to a Marvel Family that included a Captain Marvel for every member of a comic-reading kid’s family: Mary Marvel for sis, Captain Marvel, Jr. for little bro, and even Uncle Dudley, a lovable but delusional extended family member who paraded around in red tights as Uncle Marvel. For anyone paying attention, despite their similar superpowers, Superman and Captain Marvel were as different as night and day.

Those differences would emerge over time, however. In the beginning, as Bridwell wrote, “It must be admitted that the original concepts of the two heroes were quite alike. Both were incredibly strong, shed bullets without a scratch, were super-fast, and took enormous leaps. Yet neither flew in his early tales… Neither had super-senses, either.” DC immediately objected to those similarities, filing court actions against Captain Marvel’s publisher, Fawcett Publications, Inc., in 1941, but delays kept the case from going to trial until 1948. In the meantime, by the middle of the decade Fawcett’s Captain Marvel Adventures (CMA) usurped the Man of Steel’s title of bestselling superhero, with the circulation of the biweekly CMA exceeding Superman. Take that, ya big blue palooka!

As Bridwell described in detail, between 1948 and 1952 a series of courtroom battles between DC and Fawcett raged on, and eventually a pummeled, weak-kneed Fawcett could no longer stomach the barrage.

“In ’53, Fawcett decided to throw in the towel,” Bridwell wrote. The Golden Age of Comics’ World War II–fueled sales heyday had peaked and sales of Fawcett’s Marvel Family comics line were declining anyway, so “Fawcett decided to settle out of court. They reportedly paid DC $400,000 and court costs, and agreed not to publish Captain Marvel and company again without DC’s permission.” So Superman clobbered Captain Marvel not by a knockout, but by repeated blows to lawyers’ heads. MAD, in its infancy in 1953, took potshots at their battle as “Captain Marbles” stole the limelight from “Superduperman” in issue #4 of that long-running humor comic.

Throughout the 1950s, Superman, the last superman standing, was clearly the victor, conquering all media including television— although in the following decade, TV’s beloved bumpkin, Gomer Pyle, kept Cap’s spirit alive by exclaiming “Shazam!” whenever he was awestruck. (Gomer even name-dropped the limbo-dwelling hero in an Andy Griffith Show episode where he remarked to Barney Fife, “Shazam, Barney! Even Captain Marvel wouldn’t’a thought of that!”)

Superman swung a subtle jab in at his old rival, thanks to a sight gag by former Marvel Family (and future Shazam!) artist Kurt Schaffenberger. The story was “The Monkey’s Paw,” written by Superman co-creator Jerry Siegel and appearing in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #42 (July 1963). There, Lois, in possession of an artifact that granted her wishes, imagined Superman plowing through a gauntlet of super-suitors vying for the lady reporter’s hand, one of them being Captain Marvel—whose costume was concealed by muted coloring and panel composition with Lois blocking Cap’s telltale lightning bolt from view. (A 1970 reprint of the story in Lois Lane #104 couragelously restored the Big Red Cheese’s bright costume hues.) And sci-fi author Otto Binder, also a comic scribe who once was one of Fawcett’s main Captain Marvel writers, slyly winked at the heroes’ former rivalry in a three-issue Action Comics arc (issues #351–353) in the summer of 1967 when Superman got pushed around by a muscleman with the powers of the gods, a he-man with the audacious name “Zha-Vam”! To the average grade-school kid who was born too late to know the legend of Captain Marvel, however, the Lois Lane and Zha-Vam stories rang no bells of familiarity.

Ironically, DC Comics, the publisher that knocked out Captain Marvel, was the one to wave smelling salts under his flared nostrils. In December of 1972, under publisher Carmine Infantino, DC revived the Golden Age hero for a modern audience in a new series promoted in house ads as “DC’s Christmas Gift to You” (actually, it wasn’t a gift— you had to buy it), a new title called Shazam!, since the name “Captain Marvel” had been trademarked by Marvel Comics. Superman himself, drawn by DC’s main cover artist Nick Cardy, pulled back the curtain on the cover of Shazam! #1 (cover-dated Feb. 1973), revealing Billy Batson transforming into “the original Captain Marvel” (a subtitle the book would soon legally have to desist in using) as drawn by the hero’s original artist, C. C. Beck. A reluctant Julius Schwartz got the editorial assignment, delegating writer Denny O’Neil, who had recently updated Superman under Schwartz’s watch, to do the same for the “Big Red Cheese.” Early issues of Shazam! featured special letters pages inviting readers to chime in on which hero was the big kahuna.

A few years would pass before the two heroes finally squared off, but along the way DC offered readers a few previews of what a Superman vs. Captain Marvel battle might be like.

Two months before Shazam! #1, writer Len Wein and artists Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano teased readers with a Superman vs.

“Captain Marvel” clash in Justice League of America #103 (Dec. 1972).

This “Cap,” however, was a magically augmented cosplayer attending the Halloween festivities in the fan-favorite city of Rutland, Vermont, the site of frequent comic-book stories.

Captain Thunder, a Captain Marvel homage lovingly created by writer Elliot S! Maggin, went head-to-head with Superman in Superman #276 (June 1974), drawn by Curt Swan and Bob Oksner.

This Cap was a displaced hero from another dimension.

Six months later, writer Denny O’Neil took Lex Luthor, arch-foe of Earth-One’s Superman, to Earth-S, home of Captain Marvel, to team up with Cap’s wiggly foe Mr. Mind and tangle with the World’s Mightiest Mortal, in Shazam! #15 (Nov.–Dec. 1974). Fifteen issues later, Shazam! #30 (July–Aug. 1977) featured a dynamite Kurt Schaffenberger–drawn cover with Superman uppercutting a flummoxed Captain Marvel… but inside, the reader discovered that it was actually a Superman robot forged by Cap’s enemy Dr. Sivana.

Sandwiched between those two Shazam! issues came the first true battle between Superman and Captain Marvel—and it was quite a cheat. The heroes finally plowed into each other in Justice League of America #137 (Dec. 1976), in a tale co-written by E. Nelson Bridwell and Martin Pasko and drawn by Dick Dillin and Frank McLaughlin. It was part of JLA’s annual Justice League/ Justice Society crossover, which this year involved Earth-S—as in Earth-Shazam, the world to which DC relegated the Fawcett heroes Lukewarm reaction to the it was publishing—and a group of first-ever actual encounter former Fawcett stars (most notably, between Superman and the Marvel Family) banded togethCaptain Marvel, in Justice er as the wizard Shazam’s SquadLeague of America #137 ron of Justice. Its climax built to a (Dec. 1976), left readers cover-promoted battle between a champing at the bit for a Red Kryptonite–crazed Superman real battle between the and Captain Marvel… which was two. Cover by Ernie Chua. resolved in less than a page. Boo, TM & © DC Comics. hiss! Throw the bums out!

At last! A 72-page punch-’em-up co-starring the Man of Tomorrow and World’s Mightiest Mortal, in All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58. Cover art by Rich Buckler and Dick Giordano.

TM & © DC Comics.

Superman vs. Shazam!

But with the exception of JLA #137, these were all fake fights, with either a phony Supie or Cap going up against the real deal. The long-brewing enmity between the Big Red “S” and the Big Red Cheese had escalated to “Fight, fight!” chants from readers stirred up by Julie Schwartz’s lettercols that fanned the flames of the heroes’ “discord.” Topping it off, Captain Marvel was now known to a larger audience thanks to the live-action Shazam! Saturday morning television series produced by Filmation Associations, and Superman was about to become the first superhero to star in a major motion picture with state-of-the-art special effects and a huge budget.

It was negative fan reaction to JLA #137’s anemic “fight” that led to the fabled second—actually, the first full-fledged—flare-up between the pair. “There had been the ‘Crisis in Eternity’ trilogy a couple of years earlier in Justice League of America that introduced Earth-S, which had left many people dissatisfied,” writer Gerry Conway told Captain Marvel historian P.C. Hamerlinck in BACK ISSUE #61. “Roy Thomas had a whole bunch of suggestions of things for me to do when I returned to DC, including a Superman/Captain Marvel encounter. … To be perfectly honest, I was not a big Captain Marvel fan. I probably wouldn’t have thought of the book if Roy Thomas hadn’t suggested it because he was the big CM fan.” But when DC went looking for tabloid-format “Superman vs.” projects for ’78, Superman vs. Shazam! was a no-brainer. Its fight promoter was editor Julius Schwartz, who booked Conway to script the 72-page epic meeting in a story titled “When Earths Collide!”

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“I might’ve asked Roy for some advice, and read a few of the comics that were available, but that was pretty much the amount of research I did, which probably shows in the lack of depth of understanding of the material,” Conway said in BI #61.

Conway effectively borrowed some successful tropes from two sources. The first was the inspiration for the team-up’s title. When Worlds Collide was a 1933 sci-fi novel co-authored by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer, about a runaway planet on a doomsday trajectory toward Earth. Wylie and Balmer penned a 1934 sequel, After Worlds Collide, but the original, When Worlds Collide, was adapted as a 1951 movie that became a staple on TV weekend matinees.

The second was his hit Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man book, which employed villainous machinations to dupe the respective heroes into combat.

In Superman vs. Shazam!, the bad guy was Karmang the Evil, a White Martian who intended to create a new big bang by colliding the worlds of Superman (Earth-One) and Captain Marvel (Earth-S), creating the energy to bring back his once-mighty Martian race from the great beyond. To implement such a plan he needed to distract those planets’ Big Guns from his maneuverings, and did so by bringing in ringers—Black Adam to double as Captain Marvel, and the “Sand Superman” from Denny O’Neil’s 1971 Superman revamp, called the Quarrmer in Conway’s tale since the Superman duplicate

Ballot Boxing

hailed from the Quarrm dimension—to double as Superman. Chapters in “When Earths Collide!” pitted Superman against an enraged “Captain Marvel” and Captain Marvel in opposition to a furious “Superman.” While at face value those battles might seem as phony as the previous “battles” between the two heroes, their execution was amazing, employing the “large screen” format afforded by the tabloid’s bigger page size to remarkable effect, with dynamic, no-holds-barred slugfest scenes amid breathtaking background landscapes. Conway effectively used Supergirl and Mary Marvel in important supporting roles that helped unite the heroes to combat their common foe.

The true star of Superman vs. Shazam! wasn’t either of its co-stars or its scribe, but instead its artist, Rich Buckler. The chameleonic penciler had often been shackled not just by the smallness of the traditional comic-book page but also by his own homages to artists who influenced him, from his Kirby-like Marvel work to his Adamsesque DC work. The colossal venue and scope of “When Earths Collide!” inspired Buckler to produce some of the best art of his long career.

“The beauty of Superman vs. Shazam! was that it really gave Rich an opportunity to go hot and do the kind of work that he was capable of doing,” an awestruck Conway observed in BACK ISSUE #61.

Buckler, as revealed in the DC Comics Presents chapter earlier in this volume, had his sights sent on drawing the Man of Steel, and told P.C. Hamerlinck in a 2009 Alter Ego interview that the Superman vs. Shazam! book was at the time “the biggest and most intimidating assignment I have ever gotten! How the hell am I going to do it?’ Remember, this was around the same time as Neal Adams’ Superman vs. Muhammad Ali… that was what I had to measure up to!” While Buckler chose his Adams style for the overall look of the book, most of his Captain Marvel faces mimicked the simpler, kid-friendly appearance of the hero as exemplified in the pages of Shazam! by artists like the hero’s co-creator, C. C. Beck, and other Shazam! illustrators such as Bob Oksner and Kurt Schaffenberger.

Dick Giordano beautifully inked Buckler’s work.

The Superman vs. Shazam! cover, which Buckler laid out in a quickly approved sketch when visiting the DC offices, eschewed the “heroes flying/running at each other” pose so common for superhero match-ups—and used previously on JLA #137 and with the “Captain Thunder” conflict in Superman #276. Instead, the heroes are brawling, punching each other in the jaw while Supergirl and Mary Marvel watch aghast in the background. This fight was a long time in coming, and did not disappoint.

And Da Winna is…

Long before Superman duked it out with his pals in super-sized special editions, two of Hanna-Barbera’s headliners went at it—in a contest for the nation’s highest office—in Magilla Gorilla #3 (Dec. 1964).

Campaign promises of pet shop discounts and free picnic baskets couldn’t compete with LBJ’s Great Society message of hope. © Hanna-Barbera Productions.

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All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58 was a hit, like the two “Superman vs.” tabloids that preceded it earlier that year. The tabloid format itself was running its course, and after the Superman and Spider-Man and Batman vs. the Incredible Hulk treasury editions of 1981 (see the DC-Marvel chapter), the format was retired… until later nostalgic revivals for special projects.

Of the three “Superman vs.” battles of 1978, Superman vs.

Muhammad Ali is regarded the standout due to its sheer audacity, pop-culture exploitation, and Neal Adams artwork.

But Superman vs. Shazam! was the battle that most permanently affected the DC Universe. Superman/Captain Marvel encounters became regular events, from team-ups, such as the Buckler-drawn DC Comics Presents issues covered elsewhere in this book, to battles, starting with the Roy Thomas–written Captain Marvel vs. the Earth-Two Superman fight in 1984’s All-Star Squadron #36.

Superman vs. Shazam! also influenced an original DC superhero whose creation quickly followed the scripting of that landmark one-shot. As Gerry Conway admitted, his researching of stories of Billy Batson’s magic transformations into Captain Marvel “also played into the whole young-hero-in-a-big-hero’s-body concept that I later took and developed into Firestorm.”

Conway remarked of Superman vs. Shazam!, “it was a fun book to do.” It was a fun book to read, too.

END NOTES AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

And thus ends our journey through the titanic team-up tales of the Silver and Bronze Ages.

Almost.

In the pages following you will find an issue-by-issue index of each and every comic book chronicled in the preceding chapters (except for the Harvey series, which largely contained reprint material). It’s an exhaustive reference guide that I hope will be a valuable resource for years to come.

Your ever-lovin’, blue-eyed author-editor could not have produced this book without the kind assistance of others.

First, my gratitude to TwoMorrows publisher John Morrow for allowing me to indulge my inner fanboy by viewing through the lens of historical and intellectual curiosity the comic books that so defined my childhood and adolescence and continue to entertain me these decades hence.

Our front cover, reminiscent of the DC Comics 100-Page Super Spectaculars that so many of us adored, features a Curt Swan– commissioned illustration from the early 1990s that hails from the collection of Swan biographer Eddy Zeno. It was inked and customized into “Braveman” and “Boldman” in 2021 by Josef Rubinstein, and colored by Glenn Whitmore. Our book logo and the design of the front and back covers are the handiwork of my Batcave Companion co-conspirator, Michael Kronenberg. And the interior pages, all 256 of ’em, were laid out by the talented Rich J. Fowlks, the designer of the TwoMorrows magazine I edit, Back Issue.

Thanks to my wife, Rose Rummel-Eury, for her unofficial grammatical review of my manuscript and for her support as I’ve forfeited sleep and leisure time during my wonderful but demanding eight-month journey into researching and writing this tome. Thanks also to my brother, John S. Eury, for listening to me ramble on for months about this book… and for being a part of my original discovery of these team-up comics.

John Wells, the E. Nelson Bridwell of our generation, was The Team-Up Companion’s patron saint. John provided fanzine information that shed light on team-ups published and unrealized, and his 11th

hour vetting of my manuscript offered a handful of vital suggestions and spared me the embarrassment of a couple of errors.

Thank you, Mark Teichman, winner of the DC Comics Presents name-the-lettercol contest, for answering the query of a complete stranger and granting an interview.

I must acknowledge the creators, past and present, of the team-up comics explored herein—your stories continue to engage and inspire me, as they do many others. Most of the voices “heard” in this volume are culled from previous interviews from sources cited throughout the text. Special thanks are extended to the following, who provided either in-depth recollections or prompt email responses to queries specifically for The Team-Up Companion: Mike W. Barr, Eliot R. Brown, Gerry Conway, Kerry Gammill, Steven Grant, Jenette Kahn, Todd Klein, Paul Levitz, Ralph Macchio, Josef Rubinstein, Roy Thomas, and Marv Wolfman.

A thank-you to the comic-book historians whose earlier interviews with the aforementioned creators, previously published in Back Issue and other cited sources, preserved their oral histories that I am honored to share in The Team-Up Companion: Jim Amash, Mark Arnold, Michael Aushenker, Spencer Beck, Jonathan Rickard Brown, Bruce Buchanan, Marc Buxton, Dewey Cassell, Michael Catron, Shaun Clancy, Jon B. Cooke, Jamie Ewbank, Dan Johnson, R. A. Jones, Rob Kelly, John Kirk, Michael Kronenberg, Andy Mangels, Franck Martini, Jonathan Miller, Brian K. Morris, Mike Pigott, Peter Sanderson, John Schwirian, Jerry Smith, Bryan D. Stroud, Lex Carson Suite, John Trumbull, Michael Uslan, Don Vaughan, and the ever-helpful John Wells.

My gratitude must also be extended to Ross Pearsall, John Joshua, and Bambos Georgiou, for their kind provision of specialty images, and to Heritage Comics Auctions for many of the scans of original art used herein.

And lastly, thanks to you, dear reader, for buying this book.

There is no dearth of projects out there clamoring for your attention and your hard-earned dollars, and your decision to support The Team-Up Companion is most sincerely appreciated.

End Notes and Acknowledgements

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Artists’ credits: (p): penciler, (i): inker Notes: Headlining characters’ supporting casts (Alfred, Lois Lane, Mary Jane Watson, Alicia Masters, etc.) are not included in guest-star listings. Also excluded is detailed information about backup or filler reprints. Synopses provided are not full summaries, but teasers or brief story descriptions, to keep this oft-reprinted library fresh for new readers.

Team-Up Trivia: Villain(s): Nazis Charles Paris (i) • The first Batman B&B team-up; Guest-star(s): Mlle. Marie Editor(s): George Kashdan TM & © DC Comics.

Batman would take over the title Team-Up Trivia: Synopsis: The Atom answers a beginning with #74.

• The three co-stars are promoted for mayday from Dr. Will Magnus, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #50 “conspicuous gallantry in action” who’s held hostage by the vengeful (Oct.–Nov. 1963) THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #60 at story’s end. automaton Uranium, and helps the GREEN ARROW AND THE (June–July 1965) • While this issue’s cover accurately scientist restore the Metal Men, MANHUNTER FROM MARS THE TEEN TITANS (ROBIN, bills its co-stars as “together for whom the rogue robot had destroyed.

Cover: George Roussos WONDER GIRL, AQUALAD, the first time,” it wasn’t DC war Villain(s): Uranium, Agantha Story Title: “Wanted—The Capsule AND KID FLASH) writer-editor Robert Kanigher’s first Master” character crossover. Mlle. Marie THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #56 Cover: Nick Cardy Writer(s): Bob Haney Story Title: “The Astounding previously met Sgt. Rock in Our (Oct.–Nov. 1964) Artist(s): George Roussos Separated Man” Army At War #115 (Feb. 1962) and THE FLASH AND THE Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff and Writer(s): Bob Haney Rock briefly worked with Johnny MANHUNTER FROM MARS George Kashdan Artist(s): Bruno Premiani Cloud in All-American Men of War Cover: Bernard Baily Synopsis: Star City’s protectors, Editor(s): George Kashdan #96 (Mar.–Apr. 1963).

Story Title: “Raid of the Mutant Green Arrow and his sidekick Synopsis: Midville’s “Teen • Jeb Stuart references this B&B Marauders” Speedy, enlist the aid of J’onn J’onzz, Government Day” is disrupted by story when he next encounters Writer(s): Bob Haney the Martian Manhunter, to tackle a attacks on the town by the random Sgt. Rock in G.I. Combat #108 Artist(s): Bernard Baily mysterious Martian mastermind who giant body parts of the astounding (Oct.–Nov. 1964).

Editor(s): George Kashdan is assembling a horrific weapon that Synopsis: The Flash and J’onn J’onzz Separated Man, prompting the threatens both Earth and Mars. youths to summon the Teen Titans THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #53 unite to fight a superpowered hybrid Villain(s): Vulkor, Martian criminal for help.

(Apr.–May 1964) of themselves, a mutant from another gang Villain(s): The Separated Man THE ATOM AND THE FLASH world that can also replicate the Guest-star(s): Speedy Guest-star(s): Batman; the Flash; Cover: Bob Brown powers of other JLA members—and Team-Up Trivia: Aquaman; Wonder Woman, Queen Story Title: “The Challenge of the only Hawkgirl can help the heroes • First team-up issue of B&B and Hippolyta Expanding World” save the day! the first official superhero team-up Team-Up Trivia: Writer(s): Bob Haney Villain(s): Unnamed mutant comic book.

• Sequel to B&B #54 and first use of Artist(s): Alex Toth super-hybrid, Queen Tatania • J’onn J’onzz is commonly called the “Teen Titans” logo and name, Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff and Guest-star(s): Justice League of “Manhunter” by Green Arrow and plus first appearance of Wonder Girl George Kashdan America (depicted as a fair exhibit other characters. with the team.

Synopsis: A subatomic planet’s and figurines); Hawkgirl, Carter • The cover is artist Nick Cardy’s first uncontrollable enlargement threatens (Hawkman) Hall THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #51 both the microscopic world and Titans art. He would become the Team-Up Trivia: (Dec. 1963–Jan. 1964) feature’s regular artist with its next Earth, leading the Tiny Titan and • Prior to this story, Amazo, an AQUAMAN AND HAWKMAN installment.

Fastest Man Alive to join forces to android that could also duplicate the Cover: Howard Purcell • Beatles music is referenced as the vanquish the threat.

Justice League’s powers, premiered Story Title: “Fury of the Exiled teens blast “I Want to Hold Your Villain(s): Attila-5 in B&B #30, the JLA’s third tryout Creature” Hand” from their transistor radios appearance.

Writer(s): Bob Haney to vanquish the Separated Man’s THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #54 • Queen Tatania of planet Argon is an Artist(s): Howard Purcell eavesdropping ear.

(June–July 1964) accidental villain, since her creation, Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff and • The Titans would receive one more KID FLASH, AQUALAD, AND the mutant menace, was intended to George Kashdan tryout, in Showcase #59 (Nov.–Dec. ROBIN be a hero.

Synopsis: An Atlantean pariah who 1965), before being rewarded their Cover: Bruno Premiani • In addition to the cover-featured had previously attempted to overown series.

Story Title: “The Thousand-and-One Flash/Manhunter hybrid, in the story throw the domed undersea kingdom’s Dooms of Mr. Twister” the mutant becomes Green Arrow/ government magically mutates into “a Writer(s): Bob Haney THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #61 Hawkman, Hawkman/Aquaman, mighty menace from the sea and the (Aug.–Sept. 1965) Artist(s): Bruno Premiani Flash/Green Lantern, and Batman/ sky” to wreak havoc on Aquaman’s STARMAN AND BLACK Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff and Green Arrow hybrids. realm, requiring the aid of Hawkman.

CANARY George Kashdan • The tale’s International Fair 1964 is Villain(s): Tyros, Hawkgirl-harpy Cover: Murphy Anderson Synopsis: Three superhero sidekicks writer Haney’s nod to the then-cur(temporary transformation) join forces to liberate the captured rent New York World’s Fair of 1964. Story Title: “Mastermind of Team-Up Trivia: Menaces!” teenagers of Hatton Corners and • Aquaman and Aqualad consult the Writer(s): Gardner Fox tackle a cyclone-creating criminal THE BRAVE AND BOLD #57–58 wizard Shazam-like Old Man of the Artist(s): Murphy Anderson with a long-standing grudge against premiere Metamorpho the Element Oceans for advice.

Editor(s): Julius Schwartz the community.

Man in solo adventures.

Synopsis: Florist Dinah (Black Villain(s): Mr. Twister THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #52 Guest-star(s): Batman, the Flash, THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #59 Canary) Drake Lance is an unwitting (Feb.–Mar. 1964) accomplice in the Mist’s ploy to Aquaman (Apr.–May 1965) 3 BATTLE STARS (SGT. ROCK, hypnotically command affluent Team-Up Trivia: BATMAN AND GREEN LT. CLOUD, AND TANKMAN customers to give away their wealth, • First appearance of the Teen Titans, LANTERN STUART) attracting the attention of Starman. although that name would not be Cover: Gil Kane Cover: Joe Kubert Villain(s): The Mist coined until their next appearance, Story Title: “The Tick-Tock Traps of Story Title: “Suicide Mission!”

Team-Up Trivia: in B&B #60. the Time Commander” Writer(s): Robert Kanigher • Editor Julie Schwartz’s revival of the Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Joe Kubert Golden Age characters, following THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #55 Artist(s): Ramona Fradon (p) and Editor(s): Robert Kanigher his similar team-up revivals of (Aug.–Sept. 1964) Charles Paris (i) Synopsis: Aerial ace Johnny Cloud’s Doctor Fate and Hourman in METAL MEN AND THE ATOM Editor(s): George Kashdan assignment to escort to safety the Showcase #55–56.

Cover: Ramona Fradon (p) and Synopsis: Batman and Green Lantern “Allies’ most valuable agent,” an • Story is set on Earth-Two. Charles Paris (i) discover that “fugitive scientist” John armor-clad operative codenamed • Winner of the 1965 Alley Award for Story Title: “Revenge of the Robot Starr, a.k.a. the Time Commander, “Martin,” becomes a tag-team mission Reject” “Best Comic Book Cover.” may not be as innocent as he has involving the Haunted Tank’s Jeb Writer(s): Bob Haney publicly proclaimed.

Stuart and Easy Company’s Sgt. Rock. Artist(s): Ramona Fradon (p) and Villain(s): Time Commander

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THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #62 (Oct.–Nov. 1965) STARMAN AND BLACK CANARY Cover: Murphy Anderson Story Title: “The Big Super-Hero Hunt” Writer(s): Gardner Fox Artist(s): Murphy Anderson Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Now wed, the Sportsmaster and the Huntress (a.k.a. Mr. and Mrs. Menace) are up to their old tricks, including sports-related thefts and the abduction of Wildcat, bringing together Black Canary and Starman again.

Villain(s): The Sportsmaster and the Huntress Guest-star(s): Wildcat Team-Up Trivia: • Editor Julie Schwartz’s revival of the Golden Age Wildcat, Sportsmaster, and Huntress. The Golden Age Huntress is not to be confused with the superheroine Huntress that would premiere in 1977.

• Story is set on Earth-Two. • Wildcat would later become a frequent Batman ally in B&B, although the Wildcat later seen was presumably the Earth-One version of the hero.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #63 (Dec. 1965–Jan. 1966) SUPERGIRL AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Jim Mooney Story Title: “The Revolt of the Super-Chicks” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): John Rosenberger Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: When Supergirl forsakes superheroics for fashion modeling, her cousin Superman asks Wonder Woman to intervene—but the Amazing Amazon instead becomes a swinging jetsetter!

Villain(s): Multi-Face Guest-star(s): Superman; Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Girl Team-Up Trivia: • Issue #56’s Superman cameo aside, this is B&B’s only use of Supergirl and guest-star Superman during Mort Weisinger’s reign as Superman editor.

• The co-stars would next meet in Wonder Woman #177 (July 1968).

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #64 (Feb.–Mar. 1966) BATMAN VERSUS ECLIPSO Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “Batman Versus Eclipso” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Win Mortimer Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: While Batman becomes smitten with socialite Marcia Monroe, Eclipso—“Hero and Villain in One Man!”—and the Queen Bee form a criminal alliance.

Villain(s): Eclipso, Queen Bee, Cyclops (evil organization) Team-Up Trivia: • This is Eclipso’s first encounter with a Justice Leaguer.

• Queen Bee is not the villainess with the same name that is a foe of the JLA. THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #65 (Apr.–May 1966) THE FLASH AND THE DOOM PATROL Cover: Bruno Premiani Story Title: “Alias Negative Man!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Dick Giordano (p) and Sal Trapani (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: The Flash stands in for a captured Negative Man to help the Doom Patrol trick, and ultimately defeat, the Brotherhood of Evil.

Villain(s): Brotherhood of Evil (Monsieur Mallah, the Brain, Madame Rouge, Garguax, General Immortus) THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #66 (June–July 1966) METAMORPHO AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Ramona Fradon (p) and Charles Paris (i) Story Title: “Wreck the Renegade Robots” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Mike Sekowsky (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: Metamorpho the Element Man seeks Doc Magnus’ assistance in returning to his normal Rex Mason form, but is needed as the Element Man to combat the Metal Men, who are being manipulated by an evil outsider.

Villain(s): Professor Kurt Borian (a.k.a. the Master) THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #67 (Aug.–Sept. 1966) BATMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Carmine Infantino (p) and Joe Giella (i) Story Title: “The Death of the Flash” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Charles Paris (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: Unaware that the Flash’s use of his super-speed is threatening the hero’s life, Batman summons his fellow Justice Leaguer to help chase down the Speed Boys, super-fast thieves whose specially treated sneakers make them virtually uncatchable.

Villain(s): The Speed Boys THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #68 (Oct.–Nov. 1966) BATMAN AND METAMORPHO Cover: Mike Sekowsky (p) and Joe Giella (i) Story Title: “Alias the Bat-Hulk” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Mike Sekowsky (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: A triple-threat villain team transforms Batman into the rampaging Bat-Hulk, and it’s up to Metamorpho the Element Man to stop him from wrecking Gotham City.

Villain(s): Joker, Penguin, Riddler; Bat-Hulk

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #69 (Dec. 1966–Jan. 1967) BATMAN AND GREEN LANTERN Cover: Carmine Infantino (p) and Joe Giella (i) Story Title: “War of the Cosmic Avenger” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Win Mortimer Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: Green Lantern comes to the rescue of Batman, who is trapped in a constricting iron bat, and the reunited super-team faces a colossus as well as an old foe.

Villain(s): Time Commander, Cosmo Team-Up Trivia: • Sequel to B&B #59.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #70 (Feb.–Mar. 1967) BATMAN AND HAWKMAN Cover: Carmine Infantino (p) and Joe Giella (i) Story Title: “Cancelled: 2 SuperHeroes” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Johnny Craig (p) and Chuck Cuidera (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: A wealthy collector is obsessed with discovering the secret identities of superheroes, starting with the Caped Crusader and Winged Warrior.

Villain(s): The Collector (Balthazar T. Balthazar), gangster Nick Cathcart and henchmen Guest-star(s): Shiera (Hawkgirl) Hall Team-Up Trivia: • In addition to the team-up’s co-stars, Superman, Flash, and Green Lantern’s names are listed as the Collector’s alter-ego targets.

• Writer Haney would introduce a different villain named the Collector in #91.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #71 (Apr.–May 1967) BATMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Carmine Infantino (p) and Charles Cuidera (i) Story Title: “The Wrath of the Thunderbird” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): George Papp Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: Batman and Green Arrow coach John Whitebird against an unscrupulous opponent in an athletic competition for tribal leadership.

Villain(s): Tom Tallwolf, the Promoter (J. Jay Jaye), the Thunderbird Team-Up Trivia: • This is the first of many Batman/GA B&B team-ups and the only one with Green Arrow in his original costume.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #72 (June–July 1967) THE SPECTRE AND THE FLASH Cover: Carmine Infantino (p) and Murphy Anderson (i) Story Title: “Phantom Flash, Cosmic Traitor” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Charles Cuidera (i)

Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: The Flash, manipulated by a vengeful World War I flying ace, is transformed into a poltergeist and forced into combat against the Spectre.

Villain(s): The Ghost Ace Team-Up Trivia: • Earth-One’s Flash visits EarthTwo’s Spectre for this team-up.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #73 (Aug.–Sept. 1967) AQUAMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Carmine Infantino (p) and Charles Cuidera (i) Story Title: “Galg the Destroyer” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Sal Trapani Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: Oceanic thieves that shrink from view lead Aquaman to enlist the Atom on a pursuit that takes them to a subatomic world and into conflict with the monstrous Galg.

Villain(s): Undersea pirates, Galg the Destroyer Guest-star(s): Mera, Aqualad, Aquababy Team-Up Trivia: • B&B’s last non-Batman team-up.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #74 (Oct.–Nov. 1967) BATMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Rampant Run the Robots!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: Batman is dependent upon help from the Metal Men to solve the mystery of why the automatons attending Gotham City’s First International Robot Exposition are turning to crime.

Villain(s): Robot thieves, Dr. Daedalus Team-Up Trivia: • Batman becomes B&B’s permanent star with this issue.

• Swinging across Gotham’s rooftops, Batman remarks that he was performing such feats before “a certain web-spinning Peter-come-lately,” writer Haney’s jab at competitor Marvel’s Amazing Spider-Man. THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #75 (Dec. 1967–Jan. 1968) BATMAN AND THE SPECTRE Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “The Grasp of Shahn-Zi!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: Batman and the Spectre cross paths when Gotham City’s Year of the Bat celebration is upended by an ancient mage who walls off and imperils the city’s Chinatown district.

Villain(s): Shahn-Zi Team-Up Trivia: • The story title does not appear on the splash page or within the story itself, only on the cover.

Team-Up Index

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• Detective Jim (Spectre) Corrigan is in Gotham to observe “police methods”; Haney’s script offers no explanation for the Earth-Two character’s appearance on Earth-One. THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #76 (Feb.–Mar. 1968) BATMAN AND PLASTIC MAN Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Doom, What Is Thy Shape?”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Mike Sekowsky (p) and Jack Abel (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: The Molder and his shape-shifting Plastoids unleash a crime spree in Gotham City, leading Batman to team up with Plastic Man to apprehend them.

Villain(s): The Plastoids, the Molder THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #77 (Apr.–May 1968) BATMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “So Thunders the Cannoneer!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): George Kashdan Synopsis: A criminal circus performer targets a collection of international treasures transported on the Brotherhood Express train, which is under the protection of Batman and the Atom.

Villain(s): The Cannoneer, Lilla De La Pooche, Dum-Dum Team-Up Trivia: • Haney would employ a similar train plot in the Batman/Metal Men team-up in B&B #121.

• A circus “midget” named Queen Bee is mentioned; she is not connected to the villain of the same name in issue #64, or to the Justice League villainess.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #78 (June–July 1968) BATMAN AND WONDER WOMAN GUEST-STARRING BATGIRL Cover: Bob Brown Story Title: “In the Coils of Copperhead!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Bob Brown Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: While the elusive super-criminal the Copperhead slithers from Batman’s grasp, the Caped Crusader is distracted by Wonder Woman and Batgirl’s battle for his affections.

Villain(s): The Copperhead Guest-star(s): Batgirl Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of the Copperhead, a rare Haney-created villain that would be used in future stories by other writers.

• Murray Boltinoff replaces George Kashdan as editor with this issue.

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THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #79 (Aug.–Sept. 1968) BATMAN AND DEADMAN Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “The Track of the Hook” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Deadman seeks Batman’s detective skills to help find his killer, the Hook, and Batman is hot on the trail of Gotham’s newest crimelord, the King. Are the cases connected?

Villain(s): Monk Manville (Max Chill), the King (Carleton K. Kaine) Team-Up Trivia: • Considered part of the Deadman saga, this story was published between the “Deadman” features in Strange Adventures #213 and 214.

• Winner of the 1968 Alley Award for “Best Full-Length Story.”

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #80 (Oct.–Nov. 1968) BATMAN AND THE CREEPER Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “And Hellgrammite Is His Name!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman chances upon the peculiar outlaw known as the Creeper as both pursue the insect-like supervillain, Hellgrammite.

Villain(s): Hellgrammite, Gotham mobsters Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Hellgrammite.

• Batman references this encounter with the Creeper in Justice League of America #70 (Mar. 1969).

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #81 (Dec. 1968–Jan. 1969) BATMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “But Bork Can Hurt You!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (with Vince Colletta assists) (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: While Batman battles Bork, an invulnerable drifter who is setting himself up as a crime boss, Flash races across the globe to find the secret of Bork’s inexplicable imperviousness.

Villain(s): Carl Bork THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #82 (Feb.–Mar. 1969) BATMAN AND AQUAMAN Cover: Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Sleepwalker from the Sea!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: A ruthless waterfront developer commands the brainwashed, super-strong Aquaman as muscle against the World’s Greatest Detective.

Villain(s): Ocean Master, Alisa Dubois

The Team-Up Companion

Guest-star(s): “Mera” (Bruce Wayne’s girlfriend Honor in disguise) Team-Up Trivia: • While Batman and Aquaman’s logos both appear on the cover, they are not joined by B&B’s traditional “and.”

Oliver Queen are both torn over the responsibilities of their dual identities.

Villain(s): Miklos Minotaur Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Green Arrow with a beard and in his new costume.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #83 (Apr.–May 1969) BATMAN AND THE TEEN TITANS Cover: Irv Novick Story Title: “Punish Not My Evil Son” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Bruce Wayne is blind to the duplicitousness of his new ward, the orphaned Lance Bruner, but Dick Grayson and his Titans teammates are wise to the wayward youth.

Villain(s): Lance Bruner, Grantland Stark

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #86 (Oct.–Nov. 1969) BATMAN AND DEADMAN Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “You Can’t Hide from a Deadman!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: After Deadman makes half-hearted attempts to kill the Masked Manhunter, Batman and Deadman venture together to the mystical realm of Nanda Parbat to free the Ghostly Guardian from the grip of the force that’s controlling him.

Villain(s): Sensei, the League of Assassins, Willie Smith, Lotus Guest-star(s): Robin; Cleveland Brand as Deadman Team-Up Trivia: • This issue resumes the ongoing Deadman storyline, which had temporarily halted after the cancellation of the “Deadman” feature in Strange Adventures #216 (Jan.–Feb. 1969).

• Artist Adams makes considerable changes to Haney’s original script to adapt the story to Deadman’s saga.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #84 (June–July 1969) BATMAN AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “The Angel, the Rock, and the Cowl!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams (with Joe Kubert) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: A statue of archangel Gabriel once liberated from Nazi occupation triggers Bruce Wayne’s memory of an adventure behind enemy lines during WWII, early in his Batman career.

Villain(s): Col. Von Stauffen, Nazis Guest-star(s): Winston Churchill; Easy Company (Bulldozer, Wild Man, Jackie Johnson, Little Sure Shot) Team-Up Trivia: • Neal Adams pays homage to Sgt. Rock artist Joe Kubert by drawing Rock and Easy Company in a Kubert style, even mimicking Kubert’s signature for his own cover signature.

• Joe Kubert assists with the art on page 19.

• Bob Haney disregards DC continuity with this story, not only by combining the Earth-One Batman (who was too young to have been an adult during WWII) with Sgt. Rock but also by depicting an older Rock in the modern day at story’s end, violating DC battle lore that suggested that Rock did not survive World War II. • This controversial but popular story would be retconned into Earth-Two continuity in B&B #162 (May 1980).

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #85 (Aug.–Sept. 1969) BATMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “The Senator’s Been Shot!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Neal Adams Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: After an attempted assassination of a senator, the governor appoints Bruce Wayne to serve as interim senator, and Wayne and

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #87 (Dec. 1969–Jan. 1970) BATMAN AND THE NEW WONDER WOMAN Cover: Mike Sekowsky and Dick Giordano Story Title: “The Widow-Maker!”

Writer(s): Mike Sekowsky Artist(s): Mike Sekowsky (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman drives a Bruce Wayne–sponsored roadster in a European road race against an unethical opponent who will go to any lengths to win.

Villain(s): Willi Van Dort Guest-star(s): I-Ching Team-Up Trivia: • Wonder Woman’s first B&B team-up with Batman during her powerless “Diana Prince” phase.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #88 (Feb.–Mar. 1970) BATMAN AND WILDCAT Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Count Ten… and Die!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Former boxing great Ted Grant has lost his confidence in the ring. Will he, in his Wildcat identity, be of assistance to Batman on his mission to bust up a spy ring?

Villain(s): Koslov, Kurt Schimmerling Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of the Earth-One/ Earth-B Wildcat.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #89 (Apr.–May 1970) BATMAN AND THE PHANTOM STRANGER Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Arise Ye Ghosts of Gotham” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: A sect called the Hellerites claim ownership of parts of Gotham City, citing a covenant from generations earlier.

Villain(s): Josiah Heller, the Hellerites, Karl Loftus Guest-star(s): Robin, Dr. Thirteen THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #90 (June–July 1970) BATMAN AND ADAM STRANGE Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “You Only Die Twice!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: A brush with death leads an obsessed Batman, and Bruce Wayne, on a behavioral downward spiral that damages his relationships and reputation.

Villain(s): Big John Jarnett, Brian T. Fassett THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #91 (Oct.–Nov. 1970) BATMAN AND BLACK CANARY Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “A Cold Corpse for the Collector!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Nick Cardy Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Black Canary, newly transplanted to Earth-One from Earth-Two, falls blindly in love with this world’s counterpart of her late husband, while Batman searches for the identity of the deadly hitman called the Collector.

Villain(s): The Collector (Larry Lance), Rhymer (mob boss) Team-Up Trivia: • Black Canary’s recent relocation to Earth-One is mentioned.

• Writer Haney previously introduced a different villain named the Collector in #70.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #92 (Oct.–Nov. 1970) BATMAN AND THE BAT-SQUAD Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “Night Wears a Scarlet Shroud!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Nick Cardy Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: In London as film financier Bruce Wayne, Batman is lured into a murder mystery on the movie set and encounters a mismatched but helpful trio of detectives.

Villain(s): The Scarlet Strangler Team-Up Trivia: • First and only appearance of the Bat-Squad (Major Dabney, Mick Murdock, Margo Cantrell).

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #93 (Dec. 1970–Jan. 1971) BATMAN AND THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Red Water, Crimson Death” Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Neal Adams Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: After an encounter with a young boy while en route to Ireland on holiday, Bruce Wayne is puzzlingly compelled to become Batman to investigate strange goings-on at a haunted castle.

Villain(s): Alyosius Cabot Team-Up Trivia: • The House of Mystery’s caretaker Cain hosts this tale but does actually meet Batman.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #94 (Feb.–Mar. 1971) BATMAN AND THE TEEN TITANS Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “Rebels in the Streets” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Nick Cardy Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Teenage terrorists determined to improve Gotham’s ghetto threaten the city with an atomic bomb, leading Batman to summon the Teen Titans to infiltrate the group.

Villain(s): STOPP (Society To Outlaw Parent Power) THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #95 (Apr.–May 1971) BATMAN AND ?

Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “C.O.D., Corpse on Delivery” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Nick Cardy Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Globetrotting Batman searches for the missing fiancé of Gotham City millionaire Ruby Ryder, with clues pointing readers to the ultimate reveal of this secret gueststar: (spoiler alert) Plastic Man! Villain(s): Ruby Ryder, attorney Hinton Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of corporate villainess Ruby Ryder.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #96 (June–July 1971) BATMAN AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Nick Cardy (Batman figure redrawn by Murphy Anderson) Story Title: “The Striped Pants War!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Nick Cardy Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Once Bruce Wayne is appointed a special international ambassador, he begins to suspect that his old ally Sgt. Rock is guilty of treason against the United States.

Villain(s): Companeros De La Muerta (South American terrorist group)

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #97 (Aug.–Sept. 1971) BATMAN AND WILDCAT Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “The Smile of Choclotan” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Bob Brown (p) and Nick Cardy (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman and Wildcat assist a Mexican teen named Luis in his quest for a long-lost treasure.

Villain(s): El Grande, the Ox THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #98 (Oct.–Nov. 1971) BATMAN AND THE PHANTOM STRANGER Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “Mansion of the Misbegotten!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Called to an old friend’s deathbed, Batman is shocked to discover that the widowed family may be part of a satanic cult. Can the Phantom Stranger help save Batman’s godson?

Villain(s): Cult members, Lucifer Team-Up Trivia: • Artist Jim Aparo’s first B&B issue and first Batman story.

• Batman pledges to care for his godson, but the character is never seen again.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #99 (Dec. 1971–Jan. 1972) BATMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “The Man Who Murdered the Past!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Bob Brown (p) and Nick Cardy (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Justice League allies Batman and the Flash’s paths cross on a New England island where Batman is possessed by the ghost of an ancient mariner.

Villain(s): The ghost of Old Manuel “the Port-a-Gee” Team-Up Trivia: • Haney’s story violates Batman continuity by depicting Thomas and Martha Wayne’s ashes at rest at the Wayne family’s family summer home.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #100 (Feb.–Mar. 1972) BATMAN AND 4 FAMOUS CO-STARS (GREEN LANTERN, BLACK CANARY, ROBIN, AND GREEN ARROW) Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “The Warrior in a Wheel-Chair!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Sidelined by a sniper’s near-fatal bullet, a convalescing Batman remotely directs his teammates on a time-sensitive interception of a Gotham City heroin shipment.

Villain(s): Belknap

Team-Up Trivia: • This story infamously depicts Green Arrow’s remorseless arrow-murder of a pusher and Black Canary’s dereliction of duty for a beauty shop visit.

• Green Lantern’s gloves are mistakenly colored green instead of white throughout the story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #101 (Apr.–May 1972) BATMAN AND METAMORPHO Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “Cold Blood, Hot Gun!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Metamorpho the Element Man forsakes a cure for his freakish condition to protect his girlfriend Sapphire Stagg when she and other wealthy socialites—including Bruce Wayne—appear on the Bounty Hunter’s murder list.

Villain(s): The Bounty Hunter, Derwent Fairbairn Team-Up Trivia: • At story’s end, Batman vows to one day stop the Bounty Hunter, who escaped, but the hired killer does not make another appearance.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #102 (June–July 1972) BATMAN AND THE TEEN TITANS Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “The Commune of Defiance” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo (pages 1–13), Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) (pages 14–22) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: In the streets of Barclayville, Gotham City’s oldest neighborhood, Batman and the Teen Titans are caught in the crosshairs of a violent struggle between angry young protestors and a gangster.

Villain(s): Sonny Trask Team-Up Trivia: • Aparo could not finish the issue’s art due to a family emergency, with Adams and Giordano returning to B&B to complete the story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #103 (Sept.–Oct. 1972) BATMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “A Traitor Lurks Inside Earth!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Bob Brown (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: When the Pentagon turns to Batman for help in stopping a U.S. defense computer that has gained sentience and “flipped its electronic lid,” the Caped Crusader recruits his robotic allies the Metal Men for assistance.

Villain(s): Super-computer John Doe Team-Up Trivia: • B&B’s bimonthly publishing schedule was pushed back one month with this issue.

Team-Up Index

209

• Haney’s rogue-computer story is inspired by the then-recent sci-fi novel and movie adaptation, 2001: A Space Odyssey.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #104 (Nov.–Dec. 1972) BATMAN AND DEADMAN Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “Second Chance for a Deadman?”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: A plastic-surgery ring is creating makeovers for wanted criminals! Batman’s effort to bust up the operation is complicated when his undercover partner, Deadman, falls in love with the girlfriend of the criminal whose body he inhabits.

Villain(s): Lilly Lang, Richie Wandrus Team-Up Trivia: • Proclaiming “the hour of the gun,” Batman atypically brandishes a rifle when storming a stronghold of heavily armed criminals.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #105 (Jan.–Feb. 1973) BATMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Play Now… Die Later!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Bruce Wayne’s interest in a beautiful Latina places Batman, aided by guest-star Wonder Woman, into a Spanish nation’s revolutionary war taking place on the streets of Gotham City.

Villain(s): El Moro Guest-star(s): Wonder Woman’s Amazon Guardian Angel Team-Up Trivia: • Wonder Woman’s second and final B&B team-up with Batman during her powerless “Diana Prince” phase.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #106 (Mar.–Apr. 1973) BATMAN AND THE GREEN ARROW, PLUS? Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Double Your Money— and Die!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Coins left behind at the murder scenes of executed shareholders of a jetsetter’s corporation point to the involvement of the issue’s mystery villain.

Villain(s): Two-Face Team-Up Trivia: • Green Arrow’s alter ego, Oliver Queen, is inexplicably a millionaire again when he has lost his fortune elsewhere in DC continuity.

• Two-Face’s second Bronze Age appearance after his revival in Batman #234 (Aug. 1971).

• Two-Face’s origin and history are told in a flashback.

210

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #107 (June–July 1973) BATMAN AND BLACK CANARY Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The 3-Million Dollar Sky!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman and Black Canary go undercover as the pilot and flight attendant of a hijacked airliner.

Villain(s): Willie Kresh, Monk Devlin, bandit Emiliano Team-Up Trivia: • An introductory caption references Black Canary’s recent migration from Earth-Two, a rare nod to continuity by writer Haney.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #108 (Aug.–Sept. 1973) BATMAN AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Night Batman Sold His Soul!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: A mysterious person to whom Batman owes his life is, according to an obsessed Sgt. Rock, World War II survivor Adolf Hitler… or is he actually a figure even more sinister?

Villain(s): Mad Dog Dorn, “Hitler” (the Devil) Guest-star(s): Bulldozer, the new Easy Company THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #109 (Oct.–Nov. 1973) BATMAN AND THE DEMON Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Gotham Bay, Be My Grave!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: A rancorous sailor, hanged in 1883 for his sea crimes, returns from the dead, entwining the lives of Batman and demonologist Jason Blood and Blood’s entourage— including the immortal Blood’s alter ego, the demon Etrigan!

Villain(s): Jack Dobbs Guest-star(s): Merlin Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of the Demon and cast outside of Jack Kirby’s The Demon series.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #110 (Dec. 1973–Jan. 1974) BATMAN AND WILDCAT Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “A Very Special Spy!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman and Wildcat are drawn into a violent battle over ownership rights of a new nonemissions auto fuel.

Villain(s): B. B. Sanford, Manfredi, Radek THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #111 (Feb.–Mar. 1974) BATMAN AND THE JOKER

The Team-Up Companion

Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Death Has the Last Laugh” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: The Joker claims he isn’t responsible for murders bearing his grisly, death-grin M.O., and Batman reluctantly teams up with his arch-foe to discover the real killer.

Villain(s): The Joker, Burt Slade, Rizzo Team-Up Trivia: • Second appearance of the homicidal Bronze Age Joker, following “The Joker’s Five-Way Revenge” in Batman #251 (Sept. 1973).

• On the opening page, an enraged Batman threatens to take the Joker’s life for his murders.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #112 (Apr.–May 1974) BATMAN AND MISTER MIRACLE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Impossible Escape” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: The theft of an ancient artifact from a Gotham museum leads Batman and Super Escape Artist Mister Miracle to an Egyptian tomb and an encounter with the immortal Atun.

Villain(s): Atun, Dr. Ingrid Borg Guest-star(s): Big Barda, Oberon, Mother Box Team-Up Trivia: • 100-Page Super Spectacular format: one new story plus reprints.

• First appearance of Mister Miracle and cast outside of Jack Kirby’s Mister Miracle series.

• Includes three-page “Batman’s Famous Co-Stars” segment.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #113 (June–July 1974) BATMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The 50-Story Killer!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Gotham’s new mayor forces Batman into retirement and replaces him with the Metal Men as the city’s protectors, but a hostage crisis doesn’t allow Bruce Wayne to forsake his Bat-cowl for long.

Villain(s): One Arm Team-Up Trivia: • 100-Page Super Spectacular format: one new story plus reprints.

• Includes three-page “The Brave and the Bold Co-Stars” segment.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #114 (Aug.–Sept. 1974) BATMAN AND AQUAMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Last Jet to Gotham” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: An airliner captured by a waterspout and held undersea lures a scuba-diving Batman into the brine for a rescue, where he cannot fathom

why the apparent hijacker is his JLA ally, Aquaman.

Villain(s): Mobster Joe Angel Team-Up Trivia: • 100-Page Super Spectacular format: one new story plus reprints.

• Aquaman pilots his Double-Dolphin submarine.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #115 (Oct.–Nov. 1974) BATMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Corpse That Wouldn’t Die!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: While rescuing a kidnapping victim, Batman is nearly electrocuted and left clinically dead. A miniaturized Atom enters Batman’s brain and manipulates the zombie-like Masked Manhunter on his “final” mission.

Villain(s): Bugsy Cathcart Team-Up Trivia: • 100-Page Super Spectacular format: one new story plus reprints.

• Includes one-page “Doctor Fate and Hourman: What Makes Them Tick?” segment.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #116 (Dec. 1974–Jan. 1975) BATMAN AND THE SPECTRE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Grasp of the Killer Cult” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Murders committed by previously law-abiding citizens have supernatural underpinnings, luring Batman and guest-star Spectre into a conflict with an ancient cult.

Villain(s): Spirits, worshippers of Kali Team-Up Trivia: • 100-Page Super Spectacular format: one new story plus reprints.

• Includes three-page “Heroes Who Wouldn’t Die” and two-page “The Many Lives of the Spectre” segments.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #117 (Feb. 1975–Mar. 1975) BATMAN AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Nightmare Without End” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Easy Company calls upon Batman to help Sgt. Rock, who is facing a dishonorable discharge and is haunted by a WWII soldier he once executed for cowardice.

Villain(s): Colonel Von Bock Guest-star(s): Easy Company, Bulldozer Team-Up Trivia: • 100-Page Super Spectacular format: one new story plus reprints.

• Rock appears on a recruiting poster for the U.S. Army in the story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #118 (Apr. 1975) BATMAN AND WILDCAT CO-STARRING THE JOKER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “May the Best Man Win Die!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: To muzzle a former associate, the Joker unleashes an elaborate plot that involves an exhibition boxing match with celebrity guest champion Ted (Wildcat) Grant and a deadly virus whose vaccine is connected to a runaway pooch!

Villain(s): The Joker, Mike Dubcek Team-Up Trivia: •B &B reverts to 32-page format.

•N ow published eight times a year.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #119 (June 1975) BATMAN AND MAN-BAT Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Bring Back Killer Krag” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: When pursuing a hired killer to the island of Santa Cruz, a safe haven for criminals, Batman encounters his freakish friend/foe Man-Bat. Villain(s): Max “Killer” Krag, Domingo Valdez Team-Up Trivia: •B atman takes Kirk (Man-Bat) Langstrom’s serum and temporarily becomes a man-bat.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #120 (July 1975) BATMAN AND KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “This Earth Is Mine” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman is magically transported to Kamandi’s dystopian future and, as Captain Bat, assists Kamandi and a pack of hounded humans in their struggles against armies of intelligent but violent gorillas and bears.

Villain(s): Sgt. Gorgo, gorilla soldiers Team-Up Trivia: •S pecial Giant edition.

• An “old book” from Earth’s past— a copy of B&B #118—is in the possession of Kamandi’s clan and has inspired them about Batman’s legend.

• I ncludes two-page “The Beasts That Battled Batman” segment.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #121 (Sept. 1975) BATMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Doomsday Express” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: “The first and only Americans”—mixed-race Native Americans—hijack a Bicentennial train carrying priceless U.S. artifacts

including the Declaration of Independence and hold hostage the train’s protector, Batman.

Villain(s): Charles White Wing, Dolores Clear Lake, Eddie Running Fox THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #122 (Oct. 1975) BATMAN AND SWAMP THING Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Hour of the Beast” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: An opportunistic carnival barker holds Swamp Thing captive as a Gotham City sideshow attraction, and chaos takes root as vines mutate and imperil the populace.

Villain(s): B. B. Riggs Team-Up Trivia: • Reference is made to Batman’s previous meeting with the bog-beast in Swamp Thing #7.

• Swamp Thing’s origin is told in a flashback.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #123 (Dec. 1975) BATMAN, PLASTIC MAN, AND METAMORPHO Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “How to Make a SuperHero” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: While Bruce Wayne is jailed on trumped-up charges, Metamorpho tries to help the “Bat-guy” while a delusional Plastic Man masquerades as Batman.

Villain(s): Ruby Ryder Team-Up Trivia: • Sequel to B&B #95.

• Rex (Metamorpho) Mason knows Bruce Wayne’s Batman identity in this story, conflicting with DC continuity.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #124 (Jan. 1976) BATMAN AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Small War of the Super-Rifles” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Hooded terrorists intending to steal military weapons attempt to thwart the pursuing Batman and Sgt. Rock by forcing artist Jim Aparo to alter the events of the latest B&B, which is simultaneously telling their story.

Villain(s): The Thousand (terrorist cartel) Guest-star(s): Jim Aparo, Murray Boltinoff, Bob Haney Team-Up Trivia: • This issue breaks the fourth wall and allows the comic’s guest-starring creative team to influence the story’s outcome.

• The creators at their homes/home studios: Aparo in Connecticut, Haney in “a pine-surrounded house in the Catskill Mountains,” and Boltinoff on Long Island, New York.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #125 (Mar. 1976) BATMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Streets of Poison” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman’s mission to halt the influx of illegal narcotics into Gotham leads him, and teammate Flash, to a Southeast Asian nation under the steel grip of a dictatorial drug lord.

Villain(s): General Lin Chan, Amy Stimson Team-Up Trivia: • Amy Stimson is writer Haney’s stand-in for Amelia Earhart, the famed aviatrix who disappeared on a solo round-the-world flight.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #126 (Apr. 1976) BATMAN AND AQUAMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “What Lurks Below Buoy 13” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): John Calnan (p) and Jim Aparo (i) Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: The theft of a sophisticated spy satellite compels a bitter Aquaman to join forces with Batman to restore the “balance of power” which keeps both the surface and undersea worlds safe.

Villain(s): Neo-Nazis, Baron Mannheim Team-Up Trivia: • Reference is made to the ousting of Aquaman as Atlantis’ ruler in Adventure Comics #444 (Mar.– Apr. 1967), a rare continuity tie-in in a Haney script.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #127 (June 1976) BATMAN AND WILDCAT Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Dead Man’s Quadrangle” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman’s trail of the smuggler of illegal immigrants into the U.S. leads him to a remote island in supposedly cursed seas, where Wildcat runs a resort on the isle.

Villain(s): El Zapatero, Iron-Fist Team-Up Trivia: • The story was inspired by a 1970s wave of interest in the Atlantic Ocean’s “Bermuda Triangle” region where planes and ships were rumored to have mysteriously disappeared.

• On his flight to the island of “Key Allegro,” Batman meets the author of the book Dead Man’s Quadrangle, Hannibal Kingsley, who is drawn by Jim Aparo as a dead-ringer for B&B scribe Haney.

• Cast adrift at sea, Batman fights a shark. The previous year, director Steven Spielberg’s Jaws became cinema’s first summer blockbuster.

• El Zapatero’s martial-artist bodyguard Iron-Fist bears no relation to

the competition’s kung-fu superhero Iron Fist, first seen in Marvel Premiere #15 (May 1974). At the time of B&B #127’s release, Marvel’s Iron Fist #5 was on the stands.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #128 (July 1976) BATMAN AND MISTER MIRACLE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Death by the Ounce” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Batman’s protection of the Shah of Karkan, visiting royalty from an oil-rich nation, puts him at odds with an enemy determined to kidnap the monarch. Can Super Escape Artist Mister Miracle aid Batman?

Villain(s): Granny Goodness Guest-star(s): Big Barda, Oberon Team-Up Trivia: • This post–Jack Kirby appearance of Mister Miracle occurred during the character’s brief limbo between his “Return of the New Gods” outing in 1st Issue Special #13 (Apr. 1976) and the revival of Mister Miracle with issue #19 (Sept. 1977).

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #129 (Sept. 1976) BATMAN AND GREEN ARROW, CO-STARRING THE ATOM, THE JOKER, AND TWO-FACE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Claws of the Emperor Eagle” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen’s acquisition of and obsession over a supposedly cursed ancient relic leads him, and his allies Batman and the Atom, on an international race to reacquire the artifact once it is stolen.

Villain(s): The Joker, Two-Face, General Magmood Khan Guest-star(s): The Atom Team-Up Trivia: • The story’s Emperor Eagle artifact is obviously inspired by fiction’s famed Maltese Falcon.

• This issue with a villain named Khan is the first B&B published under the executive watch of DC’s new publisher, Jenette Kahn.

• Continued in B&B #130.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #130 (Oct. 1976) BATMAN AND 4 FAMOUS CO-STARS (GREEN ARROW, THE ATOM, THE JOKER, AND TWO-FACE) Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Death At Rainbow’s End” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: The reason for Green Arrow’s obsession over the Emperor Eagle is revealed as the factions vying for the priceless artifact cross paths in a climactic conflict.

Team-Up Index

211

Villain(s): The Joker, Two-Face, General Magmood Khan Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from B&B #129.

• This issue’s cover reuses the “4 FAMOUS CO-STARS” logo from B&B #100.

• The splash page bills the story as starring Batman, Green Arrow, and the Atom.

• Green Arrow fires a shaft with the tiny Atom on its arrowhead, predating a similar, and more famous, equivalent Marvel scene with Ant-Man riding Hawkeye’s arrow in The Avengers #223 (Sept. 1982).

• While it seemed as if writer Bob Haney had disregarded continuity last issue by portraying Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen as wealthy in his acquisition of the Emperor Eagle, since Queen had lost his fortune in DC’s mainstream continuity, this story reveals that the former millionaire “gambled his last dollar” to buy the relic to obtain the priceless jewels fabled to be housed inside its hollow shell.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #131 (Dec. 1976) BATMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Take 7 Steps to…

Wipe-Out!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Murray Boltinoff Synopsis: The Amazing Amazon, as a special envoy for the United Nations, joins Batman to thwart Catwoman’s scheme to sell designs for a sophisticated spy computer to an enemy nation.

Villain(s): Catwoman Team-Up Trivia: • Wonder Woman has returned to her traditional guise, with superpowers.

• Catwoman uses her giant cats to murder, uncharacteristic of the villainess at that time.

• Selina (Catwoman) Kyle’s name is misspelled “Selena.”

• Murray Boltinoff’s final issue as editor.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #132 (Feb. 1977) BATMAN AND RICHARD DRAGON, KUNG-FU FIGHTER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Batman—Dragon Slayer??”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Batman assists Richard Dragon in investigating the motive behind a martial-artist killer-for-hire’s attempt on the Kung-Fu Fighter’s life.

Villain(s): Gang of thugs, the Stylist, Carlos Esteban Team-Up Trivia: • The story’s reclusive millionaire, Calvin Curtis, is inspired by real-life tycoon Howard Hughes, who died on April 5, 1976. B&B #132 was published on November 15, 1976.

212

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #133 (Apr. 1977) BATMAN AND DEADMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Another Kind of Justice!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Batman enlists Deadman’s aid in perpetrating a haunting hoax to capture a seafaring drug runner with a long history of smuggling.

Villain(s): Turk Bannon (flashback), Achille Lazlo THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #134 (May 1977) BATMAN AND GREEN LANTERN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Demolishment!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Once Green Lantern defects to the oppressive European nation of the People’s Republic, Batman, acting as an agent for the U.S. government, is subjected to torture and brainwashing in his attempt to recover his supposedly traitorous Justice League ally.

Villain(s): Colonel Miklos Vakla THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #135 (July 1977) BATMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “More Than Human!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Despite the assistance of the Metal Men, Batman is powerless to stop evil mogul Ruby Ryder’s plot to take ownership of Bruce Wayne’s enterprises.

Villain(s): Ruby Ryder, Jason Morgan Guest-star(s): Dr. Will Magnus Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in B&B #136.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #136 (Sept. 1977) BATMAN, GREEN ARROW, AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Legacy of the Doomed!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Oliver (Green Arrow) Queen goes undercover to attempt to wrest control of Bruce Wayne’s empire from the clutches of Ruby Ryder and her lovesick, bestial bodyguard, Jason Morgan.

Villain(s): Ruby Ryder, Jason Morgan Guest-star(s): Dr. Will Magnus Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from B&B #135.

• Queen adopts the name “Jacob Archer” in his dealings with Ryder.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #137 (Oct. 1977) BATMAN AND THE DEMON Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Jim Aparo (i) Story Title: “Hour of the Serpent!”

The Team-Up Companion

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): John Calnan (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: The malevolent mystic Shahn-Zi returns to wreak havoc throughout Gotham City’s Chinatown, leading Batman to rely upon a supernatural assist from the Demon.

Villain(s): The Savage Dragons, Shahn-Zi Guest-star(s): Merlin Team-Up Trivia: • This is co-star Demon’s first appearance since the cancellation of his Jack Kirby–created comic with The Demon #16 (Jan. 1974). The story’s closing caption promises the Demon’s forthcoming return. The character would soon guest-star in the Man-Bat story in Batman Family #17 (Apr.–May 1978) and cameo in Challengers of the Unknown #87 (June–July 1978) before beginning a Demon backup series in Detective Comics #482 (Feb.–Mar. 1979).

• This is the second and final appearance of the Bob Haney–created Shahn-Zi, previously seen in B&B #75’s Batman/Spectre team-up.

• The Savage Dragons are a gang of teenage criminals plaguing Gotham City’s Chinatown. Writer-artist Erik Larsen’s creator-owned superhero comic The Savage Dragon would premiere much later, in 1992, from Image Comics.

• Glenda Marks, friend of the Demon Etrigan’s human host Jason Blood, is erroneously identified as Blood’s fiancée in this story.

• Shahn-Zi magically turns Batman into a bat.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #138 (Nov. 1977) BATMAN AND MISTER MIRACLE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Mile High Tombstone!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: An island volcano presents a perilous backdrop as Batman and Mister Miracle team up to rescue a missing scientist.

Villain(s): Cosimo Team-Up Trivia: • Batman mentions Superman and a “space-radio” he received from the Man of Steel which he used to contact Mister Miracle on his home world of New Genesis.

• Editor O’Neil shoehorns Haney’s script into DC continuity in a footnote stating that this story occurs before the recently released Mister Miracle #19 (Sept. 1977), the revival of the Super Escape Artist’s title.

• The costumed villain “Cosimo the Magnificent,” a Frenchman, is referred to by Miracle as “Europe’s greatest acrobat and escape artist” and an old rival, although this is the character’s only appearance.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #139 (Jan.–Feb. 1978) BATMAN AND HAWKMAN

Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Requiem for a Top Cop!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: A dark secret from Commissioner Gordon’s past is exposed as he becomes the target of a bounty hunter from the stars.

Villain(s): Vorgan Team-Up Trivia: • First issue under the editorship of Paul Levitz, new editor of the Batman franchise, who would consolidate B&B into DC continuity.

• B&B temporarily reverts to bimonthly publication with this issue.

DC SPECIAL SERIES #8 (Feb. 1978) THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD SPECIAL BATMAN, DEADMAN, AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Hell Is for Heroes” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Ric Estrada (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman’s inexplicable connection to a statue of himself unites the hero with two disparate teammates, Sgt. Rock and Deadman, plus a mysterious additional co-star.

Villain(s): Lucifer (a terrorist) Guest-star(s): Easy Company, Bulldozer; Vashnu, Rama Kushna; Sherlock Holmes Team-Up Trivia: • Cover-billed as “The Strangest B&B Team-Up Ever!”

• 34-page story in a 48-page Giant issue.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #140 (Mar.–Apr. 1978) BATMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Dastardly Events Aboard The Hellship!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The apparent abduction of the daughter of an industrialist behind a revolutionary energy source leads Batman and Wonder Woman into an encounter with a ringmaster who commands an army of obedient apes.

Villain(s): Dimitrios, gorillas, Esmeralda Beaumont Team-Up Trivia: • Gorilla cover.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #141 (May–June 1978) BATMAN AND BLACK CANARY Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Pay—or Die!” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler Alfred pretends to borrow money from a murderous loan shark in Batman and Black Canary’s ploy to reveal the criminal’s suspected identity.

Villain(s): The Joker Team-Up Trivia: • Alfred’s only B&B cover appearance.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #142 (July–Aug. 1978) BATMAN VS. AQUAMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Enigma of a Death-Ship!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman’s attempt to obtain from a sunken ship a vital clue in an investigation is thwarted by an uncharacteristically defiant Aquaman.

Why would the Sea King turn against his Justice League ally?

Villain(s): Scuba squad; telepathically controlled marine life, Aquaman and Mera Guest-star(s): Mera Team-Up Trivia: • Reference is made to Batman’s recent adventure with the Sea King in a battle with the crimelord Kobra in Aquaman #61 (Apr.–May 1978), also from editor Levitz.

• Continued in B&B #143.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #143 (Sept.–Oct. 1978) BATMAN AND THE CREEPER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Cast the First Stone” Writer(s): Bob Haney and Cary Burkett Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman discovers that the mysterious “Mr. Big” orchestrating Gotham’s illegal drug trade is none other than the most respected television news journalist in America.

Villain(s): Drug kingpin “Mr. Big” (Montgomery “Monty” Walcott) Guest-star(s): Aquaman and Mera (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from B&B #142.

• First issue published during the illfated “DC Explosion,” with an expanded page count and the addition of a “Human Target” backup feature.

The cover’s logo is amended to read “The New Brave and the Bold.”

• Bob Haney’s original script was heavily rewritten by Cary Burkett at editor Paul Levitz’s direction.

• Television news anchor Montgomery Walcott, revered by viewers as “Mr. Sincere” and “Mr. Respectable,” is a pastiche of beloved real-life newsman Walter Cronkite.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #144 (Nov.–Dec. 1978) BATMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Arrow of Eternity” Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: GA’s obsession with the fabled, enchanted “Arrow of Agincourt” leads the JLA’s bowman and Batman on a time-travel journey to the Middle Ages and a brave and bold battle with shining knights.

Villain(s): The Gargoyle, knights

Guest-star(s): Merlin Team-Up Trivia: • Second and final issue published during the ill-fated “DC Explosion,” with an expanded page count and the addition of a “Human Target” backup feature. The cover’s logo is amended to read “The New BIG Brave and the Bold.”

• It is unlikely that the Merlin in this story is the same Merlin connected to the Demon and last seen in B&B #137.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #145 (Dec. 1978) BATMAN AND THE PHANTOM STRANGER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “A Choice of Dooms!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The kingpin of Gotham City’s diamond-smuggling Ice House Gang wields voodoo to puppet his minions, attracting the mysterious Phantom Stranger to Batman’s side.

Villain(s): Kaluu, N’Daka the zombie Team-Up Trivia: • B&B switches to monthly frequency.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #146 (Jan. 1979) BATMAN AND THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Secret That Saved a World!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Romeo Tanghal (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman, tagged as a special envoy for the U.S. government, and master of disguise Unknown Soldier rush to apprehend a Nazi agent attempting to steal plans to build an atomic weapon.

Villain(s): Count Klaus Von Stauffen, Nazis, Adolf Hitler (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • This World War II–set adventure takes place on Earth-Two. THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #147 (Feb. 1979) BATMAN AND SUPERGIRL Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Death-Scream from the Sky!” Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: While terrorists threaten Gotham City with a laser-loaded satellite, Batman’s teammate Supergirl’s powers are failing at the worst possible time!

Villain(s): Children of Light, Dr. Light Team-Up Trivia: • Cover billed as “At last! The team you’ve been begging to see!”

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #148 (Mar. 1979) BATMAN AND PLASTIC MAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Night the Mob Stole Xmas!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Joe Staton (layouts) and Jim Aparo (finishes) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Are Gotham’s missing Christmas decorations connected to a network of cigarette smugglers?

Batman thinks so… but will his Pliable Pretzel partner help or hinder his efforts to solve the case?

Villain(s): Various mobsters, Big Jake Doyle, Wolfie Team-Up Trivia: • Haney’s script refers to illegal cigarette smuggling as “buttlegging.”

• After Karns displays super-strength, invulnerability, the erroneous wall-phasing, and super-speed, Bruce Wayne likens those abilities to Wildcat, JLA guest-star Ultra, the Phantom Stranger, and the Flash, respectively.

• Special three-page “Brave and the Bold Mailbag” is a text feature by editor Levitz revealing B&B’s history, with a content and creator checklist for issues #50–150. The art credit for #126 should read John Calnan and Jim Aparo but mistakenly solo-credits Calnan.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #149 (Apr. 1979) BATMAN AND THE TEEN TITANS Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Look Homeward, Runaway!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The disbanded Titans reunite when called by Batman to infiltrate a criminal gang of teenage runaways whose efforts are coordinated by an unknown mastermind.

Villain(s): The Runaways, the Man (Max Cash) Team-Up Trivia: • The Titans appearing in this story are Robin, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash, and Speedy.

• Their title having been cancelled with Teen Titans #53 (Feb. 1978), this was the last appearance of the TTs before their reboot as “The New Teen Titans” beginning with a special preview edition inserted into DC Comics Presents #26 (Oct. 1980).

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #151 (June 1979) BATMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Disco of Death!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: It’s the last dance for doomed young women at a popular Gotham disco. Batman and Flash’s investigation points them to a curse from the nightclub’s past.

Villain(s): The Phantom of the Stardust (Jack Dawes) Guest-star(s): The Joker (a costumed disco-dancer) Team-Up Trivia: • Dressed in a white suit à la Saturday Night Fever’s John Travolta, Bruce Wayne discodances to “Staying Alive.”

• Flash’s Cosmic Treadmill, which enables him to time-travel, appears on the cover and in the story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #150 (May 1979) BATMAN AND ?

Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Today Gotham— Tomorrow the World!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Kidnapped and imprisoned by a terrorist group, Bruce Wayne is under the watchful eye of a “Keeper” who displays a range of superhuman traits which Wayne ultimately deduces belong to the issue’s co-star, (spoiler alert) Superman!

Villain(s): The Battalion of Doom (terrorists), Moses “Keeper” Karns Guest-star(s): Jimmy Olsen, Morgan Edge Team-Up Trivia: • Four significant B&B issues’ covers appear behind Batman on the cover: #59, the first Batman team-up (co-starring Green Lantern); #85, which revolutionized Green Arrow; anniversary issue #100; and #111, the critically acclaimed first Joker team-up.

• The credits cite this issue as Bob Haney’s 117th B&B appearance and Jim Aparo’s 49th.

• A phantom-like Karns is shown walking through a wall. Superman does not have this superpower.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #152 (July 1979) BATMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Death Has a Golden Grab!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Amalgamated Technics’ computer networks are hijacked, and computer crimes from air traffic control disruption to bank fund theft unite Batman and Atom to investigate.

Villain(s): Howard Trask Team-Up Trivia: • A Gotham jail guard is reading B&B #146, the Batman/Unknown Soldier issue.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #153 (Aug. 1979) BATMAN AND THE RED TORNADO Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Menace of the Murder Machines” Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Don Newton (p) and Bob Smith (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: An investigation of a murder apparently committed by a robot leads the Darknight Detective to team up with the JLA’s resident android, Red Tornado.

Villain(s): Dr. Gregory Tarre

Team-Up Index

213

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #154 (Sept. 1979) BATMAN AND METAMORPHO Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Pathway of Doom…”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman is commissioned by heiress Sapphire Stagg to find the missing Element Man. Has Metamorpho returned to his earlier soldier-of-fortune ways, or is there another reason for his disappearance?

Villain(s): Achilles (international hitman) THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #155 (Oct. 1979) BATMAN AND GREEN LANTERN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Fugitive from Two Worlds!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman and GL are at interplanetary odds when each has conflicting reasons for apprehending a wanted extraterrestrial.

Villain(s): Tri Vul Guest-star(s): Guardians of the Universe, Green Lantern Corps (Chaselon, Zborra, and Medphyll) Team-Up Trivia: • This story features extensive, uncredited rewrites by Mike W. Barr.

• The Justice League satellite is shown.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #156 (Nov. 1979) BATMAN AND DOCTOR FATE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Corruption” Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Don Newton (p) and Bob Smith (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: A demon with a grudge is possessing Gotham City policemen, including Commissioner Gordon.

Doctor Fate is attracted from Earth-Two to investigate the supernatural elements while Batman deduces the reasons behind the demon’s ire.

Villain(s): GCPD Sgt. William Trask, supernatural demon THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #157 (Dec. 1979) BATMAN AND KAMANDI Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Time… My Dark Destiny!”

Writer(s): Bob Haney Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: When tracking down a crime cartel called Extortion, Inc., Batman is surprised to discover its hard-hitting “Enforcer” is actually his former ally, the time-displaced, amnesiac Last Boy on Earth.

Villain(s): The Enforcer (Kamandi), Operatives of Extortion, Inc.

214

Guest-star(s): Dr. Canus, Pyra, Spirit, Mylock Bloodstalker Team-Up Trivia: • This story features extensive, uncredited rewrites by Mike W. Barr.

• Bob Haney’s final B&B issue.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #158 (Jan. 1980) BATMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Yesterday Never Dies!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway (from a character suggested by Carla Conway) Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: A French supervillain “more frightening than the Scarecrow” brings out Diana Prince’s and Bruce Wayne’s deepest fears… but why?

Villain(s): Flashback Team-Up Trivia: • Wonder Woman is tormented by the death of Steve Trevor, from WW #180, and Batman relives the murder of Bruce Wayne’s parents.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #159 (Feb. 1980) BATMAN AND RA’S AL GHUL, MASTER OF THE ASSASSINS Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Crystal Armageddon!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The “Detective” is forced to team with arch-foe Ra’s al Ghul to thwart the League of Assassins’ attempt to obtain a scientific formula that triggers instant destruction.

Villain(s): The League of Assassins Guest-star(s): Talia THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #160 (Mar. 1980) BATMAN AND SUPERGIRL Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Brimstone Connection” Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The life of scientist Fred Danvers, Supergirl’s adoptive father, is endangered when the villainous Colonel Sulfur tries to obtain Danvers’ formula for an experimental energy source.

Villain(s): Colonel Sulfur, Jasper Casbeer Team-Up Trivia: • Colonel Sulfur, the mentally imbalanced criminal with a knife-loaded prosthetic right hand, first appeared in Batman #241 (May 1972).

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #161 (Apr. 1980) BATMAN AND ADAM STRANGE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “A Tale of Two Heroes” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz

The Team-Up Companion

Synopsis: The Zeta-beam swaps the issue’s co-stars, with Batman on Rann to attempt to prove Adam Strange’s innocence against a murder charge and Strange filling in for the Masked Manhunter in Gotham City.

Villain(s): Captain Malice Guest-star(s): Alanna, Sardath Team-Up Trivia: • Batman and Adam Strange do not actually meet in this story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #162 (May 1980) BATMAN AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Operation: Time Bomb” Writer(s): Bill Kelley Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: In this Earth-Two, World War II–set adventure, the Golden Age Batman goes behind enemy lines to infiltrate the Iron Major’s operations and once again encounters Sgt. Rock and Easy Company.

Villain(s): The Iron Major Guest-star(s): Easy Company (Bulldozer and Wildman) Team-Up Trivia: • “Bill Kelley” is a pseudonym for former B&B editor Murray Boltinoff.

• An editorial footnote relegates the controversial first Batman/Sgt. Rock team-up from issue #84 to this story’s Earth-Two continuity.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #163 (June 1980) BATMAN AND BLACK LIGHTNING Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Oil, Oil… Nowhere” Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Dick Giordano Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The protectors of Gotham City and Metropolis’ Suicide Slum cross paths when their dual investigations of the theft of oil place them on the trail of a single-minded nationalist.

Villain(s): Senator Hargrave THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #164 (July 1980) BATMAN AND HAWKMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Mystery of the Mobile Museum!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Steve Mitchell (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: It’s a wild night at the Midway City Museum for Batman and Hawkman as exhibits come to life to fight them and the museum itself is hoisted from its foundation.

Villain(s): Shiera Hall (mindcontrolled), Ma-Prusha (aliens) Guest-star(s): Shiera Hall (does not appear as Hawkgirl); Superman, Robin, Batgirl, Hawkgirl (hallucinations) Team-Up Trivia: • A security guard mistakenly calls the Batcopter the “Whirly-Bat.”

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #165 (Aug. 1980) BATMAN AND MAN-BAT Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Prescription for Tragedy!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): Don Newton (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Desperately resorting to an unapproved medicine to manage his infant daughter’s hypersensitive hearing, Man-Bat runs afoul of Batman, who’s pursuing the smugglers of illegal pharmaceuticals.

Villain(s): Dr. Lawrence Lucerne Guest-star(s): Jason Bard Team-Up Trivia: • Private eye Jason Bard, first seen in a Frank Robbins-scripted tale in Detective Comics #392 (Oct. 1969), is a Batman supporting cast member and guest-star that headlined a short-lived “The Master Crime-Files of Jason Bard” backup in several 1970s issues of Detective. He had recently been seen in the “Man-Bat” backup feature in Detective.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #166 (Sept. 1980) BATMAN AND BLACK CANARY Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Requiem for 4 Canaries!”

Writer(s): Michael Fleisher Artist(s): Dick Giordano (p) and Terry Austin (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman and Black Canary team up to stop the Penguin’s plot to kill a quartet of former associates who ratted on him.

Villain(s): The Penguin Team-Up Trivia: • In one of his murder ruses, the Penguin appears in drag, disguised as an old woman.

• B&B shifts to an expanded page count this issue, adding the “Nemesis” backup series written by Cary Burkett and illustrated by Dan Spiegle.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #167 (Oct. 1980) BATMAN AND BLACKHAWK Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Ice Station Alpha!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Dave Cockrum (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: During World War II, the Golden Age Batman’s encounter with Nazis in Gotham City puts him on the trail of an insidious German plot to create a new super-weapon that would wipe out the U.S. East Coast. Joining him on his race to stop the enemy: the high-flying squadron of international peacekeepers, the Blackhawks.

Villain(s): Nazis, General Hauptman Guest-star(s): Earth-Two Dick Grayson (not as Robin), General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Team-Up Trivia: • Set on Earth-Two, beginning on September 19, 1944.

• Wolfman and Cockrum take minor liberties with established continuity in this enjoyable adventure, including Batman’s wearing of his original cowl.

• I n a Nazi-created tidal wave in Gotham City, the Hildago Trading Company is destroyed. This is a nod to pulp hero Doc Savage, as in Savage lore the Hildago Trading Company was a warehouse where the Man of Bronze stored his modes of transportation.

• The radio drama The Shadow is referenced.

•C ontains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #168 (Nov. 1980) BATMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Shackles of the Mind!”

Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Green Arrow enlists Batman’s support in launching the escape-artist career of Samson Citadel, a troubled teen he had mentored, but the heroes soon suspect “Sam” of secretly committing crimes.

Villain(s): The Great Rhinehart Team-Up Trivia: • Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #169 (Dec. 1980) BATMAN AND ZATANNA Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Angel of Mercy, Angel of Death!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Is Angela Marcy a faith healer, or a fake? Batman and the Mistress of Magic, Zatanna, disagree, but an ailing criminal’s interest in Marcy’s mercy leads the heroes into uncovering the truth about her.

Villain(s): “Steel” Springer Team-Up Trivia: • Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #170 (Jan. 1981) BATMAN AND NEMESIS Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “…If Justice Be Blind!”

Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Gotham’s underworld has put a contract on master-of-disguise vigilante Nemesis, who joins forces with the Batman to pursue those responsible for a long list of crimes including the murder of Nemesis’ brother.

Villain(s): Danny Krebs, Dr. Von Riebling, the Head, the Council Team-Up Trivia: • Full-length, 25-page story teaming Batman with the star of B&B’s backup series.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #171 (Feb. 1981) BATMAN AND SCALPHUNTER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: A Cannon for Batman” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): José Luis García-López Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: After finding a Bat-emblem dated August 29, 1862 in a hope chest acquired at an auction, Batman time-travels to the Civil War to investigate. There he encounters Ke-who-no-tay, the white man raised as the American Indian known as Scalphunter.

Villain(s): Confederate soldiers Team-Up Trivia: • Bruce Wayne visits Professor Carter Nichols, whose “time hypnosis” technique previously sent him (and Dick Grayson, Robin) into the past.

Nichols was first seen in World’s Finest Comics #79 (Nov. 1955).

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #172 (Mar. 1981) BATMAN AND FIRESTORM Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Darkness and Dark Fire” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Steve Mitchell (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: It’s up to Batman to help the Nuclear Man when Firestorm becomes a mindless puppet of a sentient nuclear reactor.

Villain(s): Nuclear reactor Guest-star(s): Jason Bard; Justice League (Superman, Wonder Woman, Red Tornado, Flash) Team-Up Trivia: • Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #173 (Apr. 1981) BATMAN AND THE GUARDIANS OF THE UNIVERSE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “One of Us Is Not One of Us!” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: A Guardian travels from Oa to Earth to recruit the World’s Greatest Detective to reveal an imposter amongst the Guardians’ ranks, who has severed their ability to contact their intergalactic peacekeepers, the Green Lantern Corps.

Villain(s): Sinestro (flashback) Guest-star(s): Green Lantern Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in B&B #174.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #174 (May 1981) BATMAN AND GREEN LANTERN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “To Trap An Immortal” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: “Old Timer,” the former Guardian turned mortal, assists Green Lantern and Batman in revealing

the identity of the rogue behind last issue’s infiltration of the Guardians of the Universe.

Villain(s): Sinestro Guest-star(s): Guardians of the Universe, Green Arrow and Black Canary (flashback), Green Lantern Corps Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from B&B #173.

• A flashback montage recounts stories from the original Green Lantern/ Green Arrow series of 1970–1972, which introduced “Old Timer.”

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #175 (June 1981) BATMAN AND LOIS LANE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Heart of the Monster” Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Metallo’s kryptonite heart can now weaken humans—including Batman, who is held at bay when trying to capture Superman’s enemy in Gotham City! Meanwhile, a dangerous investigation leads the Daily Planet’s intrepid lady reporter to Gotham.

Villain(s): Metallo, Dr. John Cranshaw Guest-star(s): Perry White Team-Up Trivia: • The villain is Metallo II, Roger Corben, brother of John Corben, the original Metallo. Metallo II was first seen in Superman #310 (Apr. 1977).

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #176 (July 1981) BATMAN AND SWAMP THING Cover: Michael W. Kaluta Story Title: “The Delta Connection!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Batman’s search for Catwoman’s endangered sister Felicia Kyle, who’s serving time in a Louisiana prison, embroils the Darknight Detective in a bayou mystery involving a murder in Gotham City. And where there’s the bayou, there’s Swamp Thing!

Villain(s): Calvin Traller Guest-star(s): Selina (Catwoman) Kyle Team-Up Trivia: • Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #177 (Aug. 1981) BATMAN AND THE ELONGATED MAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Hangman Club Murders!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: The Justice League’s two top detectives match wits to stop the hooded Hangman from his spree of murdering ex-cons that were assisted by the criminal rehabilitation organization, the Hangman’s Club.

Villain(s): The Hangman

Team-Up Trivia: • Writer Barr dedicates this mystery story “to the spirit and the memory of Bill Finger” (1914–1974), the long-uncredited co-creator of Batman. After decades of support by many industry creators, Finger finally received acknowledgment from DC Comics and parent company Warner Bros. beginning in October 2015 with the credit “Batman created by Bob Kane with Bill Finger” herewith appearing on all Batman stories.

• First issue under the editorship of Dick Giordano, new editor of the Batman franchise. Giordano implements a new element to B&B: a visual clue each issue identifying the next issue’s co-star.

• Next issue co-star clue: Page 13, panel 5, the Creeper’s distinctive silhouette is shadowed upon a building.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #178 (Sept. 1981) BATMAN AND THE CREEPER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Paperchase” Writer(s): Alan Brennert Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: The divisive demagoguery of WHAM-TV’s newest commentator incites discord on the streets of Gotham, while a deadly “man” made of paper is ridding the streets of “criminal scum.”

Villain(s): Dr. Clayton Wetley, “Paper Man” Guest-star(s): Jim Aparo, Dick Giordano (“man on the street” cameos) Team-Up Trivia: • Writer Brennert dedicates this story “to the talents of Steve Ditko,” the Creeper’s creator.

• Next issue co-star clue: Page 13, panel 4, the Legion of SuperHeroes’ space-cruiser is silhouetted against a full moon.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #179 (Oct. 1981) BATMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Time-Bomb with the Thousand-Year Fuse!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): Ernie Colón (p) and Mike DeCarlo (i) Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: An “alien egg” in 20th Century Gotham City is coveted by a time-traveler who plans to use it as a weapon the in 30th Century, drawing Batman into the future and an encounter with Metropolis’ young protectors, the Legion.

Villain(s): Anton Halkor, Universo Guest-star(s): Rond Vidar Team-Up Trivia: • Participating Legionnaires are Chameleon Boy, Colossal Boy, Cosmic Boy, Duo Damsel, Element Lad, Princess Projectra, Shadow Lass, Shrinking Violet, and Sun Boy.

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215

• No next issue co-star clue this issue. On page 4, panel 10, a reflection can be seen of the story’s Dr. Kyrlu, who, two panels earlier, appears with the same contemplative pose. A letter in #188 suggested that this was instead the ghostly image of Jim Corrigan, the upcoming co-star Spectre’s host form, which editor Giordano did not confirm or deny.

• 27-page team-up story. No “Nemesis” backup this issue.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #180 (Nov. 1981) BATMAN AND THE SPECTRE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Scepter of the Dragon God!” Writer(s): Michael Fleisher Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: When Gotham’s Metropolitan Museum’s night watchman is slaughtered by supernaturally animated samurai armor, the Darknight Detective teams with the Ghostly Guardian to halt an ancient wizard’s theft of museum artifacts which would lead to his ascension from the beyond.

Villain(s): Wa’ar-Zen Team-Up Trivia: • Next issue co-star clue: Page 17, panel 2, the Hawk and the Dove are “hidden” within a surreal background during the Spectre’s cosmic clash with Wa’ar-Zen. • Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #181 (Dec. 1981) BATMAN AND THE HAWK AND THE DOVE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Time, See What’s Become of Me…” Writer(s): Alan Brennert Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: The radical yet opposing ideals that defined Hank and Don Hall as youths now unravel their adult lives, and Batman intervenes to help the Hawk and the Dove find their place in contemporary society.

Villain(s): Thomas Kurland, Sr. and Jr. (father-and-son drug dealers) Guest-star(s): Hal (Green Lantern) Jordan, Barry (the Flash) Allen Team-Up Trivia: • Portrayed as anachronisms of 1960s culture, the Hawk and the Dove have been allowed to age naturally in Brennert’s 1981 story, whereas their former Teen Titans allies and Batman himself have, per comics’ protracted timeline, aged at a much slower rate. This conundrum invited criticism from some continuityminded readers.

• The Hawk and the Dove’s origin is retold in a flashback.

• Next issue co-star clue: Page 13, panel 5, Robin’s insignia appears on a streetcar.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

216

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #182 (Jan. 1982) BATMAN AND ROBIN THE EX-BOY WONDER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Interlude on Earth-Two” Writer(s): Alan Brennert Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: A mysterious lightning storm bridges two parallel Earths as Batman inexplicably journeys to Earth-Two. There, he and that world’s adult Robin struggle with their clashing histories while relics from the Earth-Two Batman’s past come to “life” to attack them.

Villain(s): Professor Hugo Strange, Strange’s Monster Men (flashback) Guest-star(s): Starman; Doctor Fate, Hourman (portraits in JSA HQ); Batwoman; Earth-Two Batman (duplicate) Team-Up Trivia: • A business, Robinson & Sprang’s Art Supplies, is a tribute to Golden Age Batman artists Jerry Robinson and Dick Sprang.

• No next issue co-star clue this issue. In issue #188’s lettercol, editor Giordano verifies this. However, a fan letter in that issue suggests that on page 7, panel 1, when a recreation of Catwoman’s plane is firing upon innocent bystanders, the scattering group is drawn in the shape of a question mark, hinting at the Riddler’s upcoming appearance.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #183 (Feb. 1982) BATMAN AND THE RIDDLER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Death of Batman” Writer(s): Don Kraar Artist(s): Carline Infantino (p) and Mike DeCarlo (i) Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: Batman is forced to team up with his puzzle-master foe to follow a trail of strategically planted clues to save the life of a kidnapped crime novelist.

Villain(s): H. Rutherford Creighton Team-Up Trivia: • While drawn on the cover wearing his traditional purple gloves and belt, in the interior story the Riddler does not wear those accessories.

• Next issue co-star clue: Page 13, panel 7, the Huntress’ insignia appears as a wall plaque.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #184 (Mar. 1982) BATMAN AND THE HUNTRESS Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Batman’s Last Christmas!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: As the Huntress visits Earth-One to spend Christmas with that world’s counterpart of her

The Team-Up Companion

late father, the Earth-Two Batman, Earth-One’s Caped Crusader is shaken when discovering that his late father may have been involved in organized crime.

Villain(s): Santa Claus (disguised mobster); “Spurs” Sanders Guest-stars(s): Justice League (Flash, Green Lantern, Aquaman) and Justice Society (Flash, Green Lantern, Doctor Fate) (in panel explaining parallel Earths), Batman and Catwoman of Earth-Two (flashback), Superman and Flash (action figures) Team-Up Trivia: • Next issue co-star clue: Page 5, panel 5, a single shaft in an alley’s trash pile hints at Green Arrow’s upcoming appearance.

• This Christmas story concludes with a festive “scroll” containing the actual signatures of the personnel of DC Comics.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #185 (Apr. 1982) BATMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Falcon’s Lair!”

Writer(s): Don Kraar Artist(s): Adrian Gonzales (p) and Mike DeCarlo (i) Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: A Renaissance Festival– themed birthday party for a millionaire is actually a ruse by the Penguin to attack his longtime enemy, the Batman.

Villain(s): The Penguin, Luis Quintero Guest-stars(s): Black Canary, Robin (robot duplicates) Team-Up Trivia: • No next issue co-star clue this issue. However, the Penguin’s employment of a combative, trained falcon throughout the tale might be perceived as a clue to Hawkman’s appearance next issue.

Also, on page 14, the mounted knight who attempts to skewer Batman with a lance sports on his tunic the insignia of a winged man.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #186 (May 1982) BATMAN AND HAWKMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Treasure of the Hawk-God’s Tomb!”

Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: The vanishing villain called the Fadeaway Man, an enemy of Hawkman, is pilfering antiquities and auctioning forgeries to unsuspecting buyers. The Winged Wonder and Batman join forces to stop him.

Villain(s): The Fadeaway Man, the Penguin (cameo) Team-Up Trivia: • No next issue co-star clue this issue.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #187 (June 1982) BATMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Whatever Happened to What’s’ername?”

Writer(s): Charlie Boatner Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: The World’s Greatest Detective’s curiosity is piqued when the Metal Men are being destroyed, one by one—and none of the robots can recall their former member, Tin’s girlfriend, “Nameless.”

Villain(s): The Gas Gang (Carbon Dioxide, Carbon Monoxide, Chloroform, Helium, Oxygen), Platinum Man, Missile Men, B.O.L.T.S. Guest-star(s): Dr. Will Magnus; the Metal Women (Gold Girl, Iron Girl, Mercury Girl, Lead Girl) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Nameless’ origin is revealed in a flashback.

• The giant robot B.O.L.T.’s appearance on pages 12–13 was scripted and originally drawn to instead be the Metal Men’s main adversary, Chemo, but was redrawn due to Chemo’s appearance in a different title, Superman #370 (Apr. 1982).

• Next issue co-star clue: Page 16, panel 6, a single long-stemmed rose is amid lab debris, hinting at the Rose and the Thorn’s upcoming appearance.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #188 (July 1982) BATMAN AND ROSE AND THE THORN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “A Grave As Wide As the World!” Part One: “A Moon for Madmen!”

Writer(s): Robert Kanigher Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: The murder of a former Nazi spy leads Batman to race against the clock to find a stolen canister of a Nazi-developed nerve gas. Is this connected to the desecration of the grave of the father of Rose Forrest?

Her split-personality alter ego, the Thorn, is determined to find out— but Batman refuses to include her in his mission.

Villain(s): “Adolf Hitler” (disguised Neo-Nazi), David Phillips, Ernst Kuller, Neo-Nazis Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in B&B #189.

• Since the cancellation of the “Rose and the Thorn” backup series in Superman’s Girl Friend, Lois Lane #130 (Apr. 1973), prior to this B&B the Thorn had only appeared once, in Superman #336 (June 1979).

After B&B #189, she would not be seen again until Booster Gold #2 (Mar. 1986).

• No next issue co-star clue this issue, since Rose and the Thorn would reappear.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #189 (Aug. 1982) BATMAN AND ROSE AND THE THORN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “A Grave As Wide As the World!” Part Two: “Dead Men Tell No Tales!”

Writer(s): Robert Kanigher Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: Batman and the Thorn once again unite as the Darknight Detective globetrots in his race to stop Neo-Nazis from waging biochemical warfare.

Villain(s): Neo-Nazis, Batmangarbed assassins, David Phillips Guest-star(s): Zorro (cosplayer at Rio’s Carnival) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from B&B #189.

• No next issue co-star clue this issue.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #190 (Sept. 1982) BATMAN AND ADAM STRANGE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Who Killed Adam Strange?”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Carline Infantino (p) and Sal Trapani (i) Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: Batman is Zeta-beamed to Rann to solve the apparent murder of Adam Strange.

Villain(s): The Vantorians (flashback), Ryla Guest-star(s): Alanna, Sardath Team-Up Trivia: • Part of the title page includes the logo for Mystery in Space, the former DC sci-fi anthology that was Adam Strange’s one-time home.

• No next issue co-star clue this issue.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #191 (Oct. 1982) BATMAN AND THE JOKER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Only Angels Have Wings” Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Dick Giordano Synopsis: Although millions watched the Joker kill the Penguin on live television, the Clown Prince of Crime asks his foe Batman to help prove his innocence.

Villain(s): The Penguin Team-Up Trivia: • The Joker’s favorite TV show is The Three Stooges.

• A “Harlequin Cab” nearly runs down Batman.

• No obvious next issue co-star clue this issue. However, a bespectacled choirboy on page 14, panel 2 might be regarded as a young Clark Kent, a clue to Superboy’s upcoming team-up. Curiously, on page 10, panel 3, Aparo clearly draws a question mark in his shading on a doctor clinic’s bed, intimating a Riddler appearance, although that occurred in issue #193.

• As he did in B&B #166, the Penguin appears in drag, this time disguised as a nun.

• Contains a “Nemesis” backup story.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #192 (Nov. 1982) BATMAN AND SUPERBOY Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “You Can Take the Boy Out of Smallville…”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: A strange beam timeswaps Superman and Superboy, and an inexperienced Boy of Steel is mentored by Batman as they take on supervillain I.Q. Villain(s): I.Q. Guest-star(s): Superman Team-Up Trivia: • Next issue co-star clue: Page 11, panel 4, a statuette of the scales of justice, the symbol of Nemesis, is visible on a background shelf.

• This issue contains the final “Nemesis” backup, leading into next issue’s Batman/Nemesis team-up.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #193 (Dec. 1982) BATMAN AND NEMESIS Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Those Who Live by the Sword” Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Nemesis enlists Batman in his struggle against the criminal organization the Council and makes the ultimate sacrifice to balance the scales of justice.

Villain(s): The Council, Bloodclaw, Irene Scarfield Team-Up Trivia: • Next issue co-star clue: Page 6, panel 2, there is a Flash insignia on a wall near where Alfred is dusting.

• Apparent death of Nemesis.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #194 (Jan. 1983) BATMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Trade Heroes— and Win!” Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Carline Infantino (p) and Sal Trapani (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: A pop psychologist’s “I believe in me!” training helps two failed supervillains find success after swapping each other’s super-enemies.

Villain(s): Doctor Double-X, Rainbow Raider, Professor Andrea Wye Team-Up Trivia: • Next issue co-star clue: Page 5, panel 6, there is a “Vampire Strikes” newspaper headline in the litter in Flash’s speed trail.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #195 (Feb. 1983) BATMAN AND I… VAMPIRE! Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Night of Blood!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr

Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Vampire-hero Andrew Bennett has come to Gotham City on the trail of a cult of bloodsuckers, while Gotham’s own resident bat-man is investigating a rash of vampire slayings that are terrifying the populace.

Villain(s): Vampires, Cult of the Blood Red Moon, Johnny the Gun Gunnarson; Mary, Queen of Blood Team-Up Trivia: • Batman and Andrew Bennett meet at Gotham City’s Club Dracula.

• Next issue co-star clue: Page 19, panel 3, a Ragman portrait is visible on a background wall.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #196 (Mar. 1983) BATMAN AND RAGMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Two Faces of Midnight!”

Writer(s): Robert Kanigher Artist(s): Jim Aparo Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: His pursuit of a kidnapped woman leads Ragman to assist the wounded Batman, and the two combine forces to battle a destructive cadre of terrorists.

Villain(s): Dynamiters for Democracy (terrorists) Team-Up Trivia: • Batman and Ragman previously met in Batman Family #20 (Oct.–Nov. 1978).

• Ragman’s origin is retold in a flashback.

• No next issue co-star clue this issue—a missed opportunity, since the story’s nighttime setting offers several opportunities where an alley cat could have been drawn to hint at Catwoman’s appearance in #197.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #197 (Apr. 1983) BATMAN AND CATWOMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Autobiography of Bruce Wayne!”

Writer(s): Alan Brennert Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and George Freeman (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: The Golden Age Batman, in a tale largely told in flashbacks, recalls the reformation of Selina (Catwoman) Kyle and her marriage to Bruce Wayne.

Villain(s): Scarecrow Guest-star(s): Justice Society (Superman, Wonder Woman, Hourman, Green Lantern, Starman) (flashback); Robin, Batwoman; Lois Lane-Kent Team-Up Trivia: • Story is set on Earth-Two and co-stars the Golden Age Batman and Catwoman.

• The Huntress, the daughter of the Earth-Two Batman and Catwoman, teamed with Batman in issue #184.

• The building Bilfinger Hall, Physical Sciences is a tribute to the long-uncredited co-creator of Batman, writer Bill Finger.

• No next issue co-star clue this issue.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #198 (May 1983) BATMAN AND KARATE KID Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Terrorists of the Heart!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Chuck Patton (p) and Rick Hoberg (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: As Batman pursues the homicidal member of a terrorist group, he encounters Karate Kid of the Legion of Super-Heroes, who has time-traveled from the 30th Century in search of a friend from his previous adventures in the 20th Century.

Villain(s): Pulsar, the Black Heart (terrorists), Katy Team-Up Trivia: • Story resolves the lingering plotline from the Legion of Super-Heroes spinoff series, Karate Kid #1 (Apr. 1976)–15 (Aug. 1978), involving Val (Karate Kid) Armor’s 20th Century girlfriend, Iris Jacobs.

• No next issue co-star clue this issue.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #199 (June 1983) BATMAN AND THE SPECTRE Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “The Body-Napping of Jim Corrigan!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Rick Hoberg (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: After rescuing an endangered train, the Spectre attempts to return to his human host, Jim Corrigan, only to find Corrigan missing. Thus the Ghostly Guardian enlists the detective skills of the Batman to locate his missing host.

Villain(s): Kalindra, Stephos; Vanton (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • No next issue co-star clue this issue.

THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD #200 (July 1983) BATMAN AND BATMAN Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Smell of Brimstone, Stench of Death!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Dave Gibbons (p and i), with Gary Martin (i, pgs. 4–19) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Earth-Two’s “modern Mephistopheles,” the kingpin Brimstone, awakens from a coma and wills his evil spirit to possess his counterpart on Earth-One to begin a crime wave there.

Villain(s): Brimstone (Nicholas Lucien); Pinstripe, Jojo (flashback story); Joker of Earth-Two Guest-star(s): Justice Society (Flash, Green Lantern) and Justice League (Flash, Green Lantern) (in panel explaining parallel Earths); Robin of Earth-Two (flashback story) Team-Up Trivia: • 64-page anniversary issue with a 40-page lead story, a “team-up” of the Batman of Earth-One and the Batman of Earth-Two. This is a parallel story, where the two Batmen do not actually meet.

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217

• Pages 4–19 are a flashback tale, “Fire and Brimstone!,” starring the Golden Age Batman and Robin in a clash with Brimstone. Artist Dave Gibbons, inked in this chapter by Gary Martin, draws in the style of classic Bat-artist Dick Sprang.

• Only appearance of Brimstone.

DC would soon appropriate the character’s name for the new Brimstone, a gigantic, pyrokinetic elemental, in Legends #1 (Nov. 1986).

• C ontains a one-page Bat-Mite gag story and a 15-page preview of the new Batman and the Outsiders series.

• Final issue.

© DC Comics.

© Marvel.

SUPERMAN VS. THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #nn (1976) Cover: Ross Andru (with Neal Adams alterations) (p) and Dick Giordano (with Terry Austin background inks) (i) Story Title: “The Battle of the Century!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (with Neal Adams Superman alterations) (p) and Dick Giordano (with Terry Austin background inks and John Romita, Sr. Peter Parker alterations) (i) Editor(s): Carmine Infantino and Stan Lee; consulting editors: Roy Thomas, Julius Schwartz, Marv Wolfman, and E. Nelson Bridwell Synopsis: The Man of Steel and friendly neighborhood Wall-Crawler meet for the first time when a prison-forged alliance between their two fiercest foes brings together the heroes, first as enemies and soon, as allies.

Villain(s): Lex Luthor, Dr. Octopus Team-Up Trivia: • This is the second official co-publication between Marvel and DC, following 1975’s MGM’s Marvelous Wizard of Oz #1, and the first official team-up between DC and Marvel characters.

• The team-up is published in the tabloid-sized format. The story is an epic 92 pages.

• A page 23 sight gag features a background portrait of Conan on the wall of J. Jonah Jameson’s office.

• Luthor uses the Injustice Gang’s rocket and satellite during his team-up with Doc Ock. MARVEL TREASURY EDITION #28 (July 1981) SUPERMAN AND SPIDER-MAN Cover: John Romita, Sr. (layouts) and Bob Larkin (paints) Story Title: “The Heroes and the Holocaust!”

Writer(s): Jim Shooter (plot suggestions by Marv Wolfman)

218

Artist(s): John Buscema (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) (background inks: Terry Austin, Klaus Janson, Bob McLeod, Al Milgrom, Steve Leialoha, Walt Simonson, Bob Layton [credited: actually, Brett Breeding], Joe Rubinstein, and Bob Wiacek) Editor(s): Allen Milgrom; consulting editors: Joe Orlando and Len Wein Synopsis: Dr. Doom’s latest plan for global domination involves obtaining control of its energy sources— so what better ally-in-evil to choose than the power-draining enemy of Superman, the Parasite?

Villain(s): Dr. Doom, the Parasite Guest-star(s): The Hulk, Wonder Woman Team-Up Trivia: • The team-up is published in the tabloid-sized format. The story is 62 pages.

• This is a Marvel-produced comic, with suggestions by DC editors.

• Brett Breeding, at the time Bob Layton’s assistant, inked the background sections credited to Layton.

• A Superman poster hangs on the wall of J. Jonah Jameson’s Daily Bugle office, although JJJ calls the hero “Whatsisname.”

• Superman battles the Hulk in a vignette.

• “Looking up in the sky” in Manhattan at the visiting, flying Superman are the off-panel “Weezie” and “Walter,” Louise Jones (Simonson) and Walt Simonson.

• Spider-Man battles Wonder Woman in a vignette.

• The Parasite was created by teenage Jim Shooter, writer, in Action Comics #340 (Aug. 1966).

DC SPECIAL SERIES #27 (Fall 1981) BATMAN VS. THE INCREDIBLE HULK Cover: José Luis García-López (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Monster and the Madman” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Dick Giordano (with assists from Mike DeCarlo) (i) Editor(s): Dick Giordano; consulting editors: Allen Milgrom and Jim Shooter, special thanks to Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Reality teeters on the brink of insanity as the cosmic villain the Shaper of Worlds forms an alliance with the maddest of the mad, the Joker, forming unlikely allies of their foes, the Hulk and Batman.

Villain(s): The Joker, the Shaper of Worlds; the Rhino, the Abomination, the Leader, Two-Face, the Scarecrow (DC), Killer Moth (hallucinations) Guest-star(s): Doc Samson Team-Up Trivia: • The team-up is published in the tabloid-sized format. The story is 64 pages.

• This is a DC-produced comic, with suggestions by Marvel editors.

• Wayne Enterprises is developing an experimental gamma-gun.

The Team-Up Companion

MARVEL AND DC PRESENT #1 (1982) THE UNCANNY X-MEN AND THE NEW TEEN TITANS Cover: Walter Simonson (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “Apokolips… Now” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Walter Simonson (p) and Terry Austin (i) Editor(s): Louise Jones; consulting editor: Len Wein Synopsis: O’ deadly Darkseid attempts to replicate his hellish homeworld, Apokolips, on Earth and resurrects the X-Men’s fallen ally Dark Phoenix to help him.

Villain(s): Darkseid, Dark Phoenix; Deathstroke the Terminator, Parademons, Ravok the Ravager Guest-star(s): Metron Team-Up Trivia: • The team-up is published in the comic-sized deluxe format. The story is 64 pages.

• This is a Marvel-produced comic, with suggestions by DC creators.

• Participating X-Men are Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Kitty Pryde, Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Professor X. Participating Titans are Robin, Raven, Starfire, Changeling, Cyborg, Wonder Girl, and Kid Flash.

• Third appearance of Deathstroke the Terminator, following The New Teen Titans #2 (Dec. 1980) and NTT #9–10 (July–Aug. 1981).

© DC Comics.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #1 (July–Aug. 1978) SUPERMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: José Luis García-López (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Story Title: “Chase to the End of Time!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A civil war between the Zelkots and Volkirs places Superman and Flash at cross purposes as each hero undertakes a mission for one of the two hostile alien races, with both Earth’s safety and Krypton’s timeline hanging in the balance.

Villain(s): Islayn, Aylem; ReverseFlash Team-Up Trivia: • This is the fourth Superman/Flash race, following Superman #199 (Aug. 1967), The Flash #175 (Dec. 1967), and World’s Finest Comics #198–199 (Nov.–Dec. 1970).

• Flash’s speed superiority over Superman, revealed in WFC #199, is reiterated.

• Continued in DCCP #2.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #2 (Sept.–Oct. 1978) SUPERMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: José Luis García-López (p) and Dan Adkins (i)

Story Title: “Race to the End of Time!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman’s role in the Volkir-Zelkot civil war may not be as it originally seemed as he and Flash race to complete their time-hopping missions.

Villain(s): Islayn, Aylem; ReverseFlash Guest-star(s): Legion of Super-Heroes (Mon-El, Cosmic Boy, Princess Projectra, Wildfire, Brainiac 5, Superboy) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from DCCP #1.

• Format expands to 40 pages, with a full-length, 25-page story.

• Superman and Superboy’s superspeed head-on collision reprises a scene from Superboy #47 (Mar. 1956), although a caption in DCCP #2 cites the story’s reprint, from 1976’s Super-Team Family #5.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #3 (Nov. 1978) SUPERMAN AND ADAM STRANGE Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “The Riddle of Little Earth Lost” Writer(s): David Michelinie Artist(s): José Luis García-López Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and Adam Strange swap places as the protectors of Metropolis and Rann and face challenges in their new environments.

Villain(s): Kaskor Guest-star(s): Alanna, Sardath Team-Up Trivia: • Now published monthly.

• Jack C. Harris serves as Adam Strange script consultant. Harris wrote Adam Strange’s most recent appearance, Showcase #101–103 (June–Aug. 1976), where Strange co-starred alongside headliner Hawkman.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #4 (Dec. 1978) SUPERMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “Sun-Stroke!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): José Luis García-López Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The lethal leviathan Chemo, longtime foe of the Metal Men, lumbers through Metropolis… but what is his connection to Hawkman’s old enemy I.Q.?

Villain(s): Chemo, I.Q. Guest-star(s): Hawkman and Hawkgirl (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • F ormat returns to traditional 32 pages. This issue’s story is 23 pages.

• Superman meets the Metal Men for the first time, ignoring Gold’s guest-appearance in the Bob Haney–scripted Superman/Batman tale in World’s Finest Comics #239 (July 1976).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #5 (Jan. 1979) SUPERMAN AND AQUAMAN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The War of the Undersea Cities!”

Writer(s): Len Wein (plot) and Paul Levitz (script) Artist(s): Murphy Anderson Editor(s): Ross Andru Synopsis: Aquaman’s evil halfbrother Orm, the Ocean Master, orchestrates a civil war between the undersea cities of Tritonis, home to Superman’s first love, mermaid Lori Lemaris, and Poseidonis, Aquaman’s realm. Superman is hooked into the conflict.

Villain(s): Ocean Master Guest-star(s): Lori Lemaris, Mera, King Vulko (flashback) DC COMICS PRESENTS #6 (Feb. 1979) SUPERMAN AND GREEN LANTERN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Fantastic Fall of Green Lantern!”

Writer(s): Paul Levitz Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: After being defeated by his foe Star Sapphire, Green Lantern bestows his power ring to a successor… Clark Kent!

Villain(s): Star Sapphire, Lord Fridol of the Weaponers of Qward Guest-star(s): Green Arrow, Batman, Wonder Woman, Black Canary (shown in Metropolis Press Club portraits); Zamorans (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Clark Kent is the star of the cover, with co-star Green Lantern.

Superman appears on the cover as a background photo.

• I n “The Greatest Green Lantern of Them All,” a “World of Krypton” backup tale in Superman #257 (Oct. 1972), the Guardians of the Universe once considered Kal-El as a GL. • Superman fought Star Sapphire in Superman #261 (Feb. 1973).

• Continued in DCCP #7.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #7 (Mar. 1979) SUPERMAN AND RED TORNADO Cover: Dick Dillin (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Paralyzed Planet Peril!”

Writer(s): Paul Levitz Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Weaponers of Qward’s Q-energy incapacitates the Man of Steel, requiring an assist from his JLA android ally, Red Tornado.

Villain(s): The Weaponers of Qward Guest-star(s): Black Canary Team-Up Trivia: •C ontinued from DCCP #6.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #8 (Apr. 1979) SUPERMAN AND SWAMP THING Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “The Sixty Deaths of Solomon Grundy!”

Writer(s): Steve Englehart Artist(s): Murphy Anderson Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman’s attempts to subdue the beserk zombie Solomon Grundy are inexplicably stalemated by the intervention of a protective Swamp Thing.

Villain(s): Solomon Grundy Team-Up Trivia: • The story ends with a dedication to Swamp Thing’s creators: “For Len, Berni & Joe” (Wein, Wrightston, and Orlando).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #9 (May 1979) SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Invasion of the Ice People!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Jack Abel (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A sculptor’s bizarre compulsion to carve an ice giant creates a telepathic goliath that requires the combined might of the Man of Steel and Amazing Amazon to stop.

Villain(s): Ice-monster, alien Skyrnians Team-Up Trivia: • A tagline above the logo traded on the co-stars’ respective visibility at the box office and on television: “Two super-stars of movies and TV in titanic team action!”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #10 (June 1979) SUPERMAN AND SGT. ROCK Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Miracle Man of Easy Company” Writer(s): Cary Bates Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Jack Abel (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman saves Paris from a bomb, but its blast propels an amnesiac Man of Tomorrow through the timestream onto the frontlines of World War II, where he assists Easy Company as the solider “Tag-Along.”

Villain(s): Nazis Guest-star(s): Easy Company (Bulldozer, Ice Cream Soldier, Jackie Johnson, Little Sure Shot, Wild Man) DC COMICS PRESENTS #11 (July 1979) SUPERMAN AND HAWKMAN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Murder by Starlight!”

Writer(s): Cary Bates Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: His superpowers amplified, an enraged and mind-controlled

Hawkman flies into combat with his JLA pal Superman.

Villain(s): Frank Rayles Guest-star(s): Marc Teichman, Hawkgirl Team-Up Trivia: • Continues previous issue’s story catalyst, with Superman and the bomb in Paris.

• The issue’s special guest-star is reader Marc Teichman, winner of DCCP’s name-the-lettercol contest.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #12 (Aug. 1979) SUPERMAN AND MISTER MIRACLE Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Winner Take Metropolis” Writer(s): Steve Englehart Artist(s): Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Super Escape Artist Mister Miracle, a god from New Genesis, takes umbrage with Superman’s media dominance and challenges him to a super-contest.

Villain(s): Xugat, Intergang Guest-star(s): Big Barda, Oberon; Highfather (symbolic image) Team-Up Trivia: • Reporting on the Superman/Mister Miracle competition are media figures Lola Barnett (DC’s version of TV gossip columnist Rona Barrett), Johnny Nevada (DC’s Johnny Carson), an unnamed Howard Cosell, and Lana Lang.

• Artist Buckler recreates a Superman pose from Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man on page 12 when Superman and Mister Miracle meet mid-air.

• When flying to his confrontation with Mister Miracle, Superman recalls his recent fight with Muhammad Ali, a rare reference to the non-continuity Superman vs.

Muhammad Ali one-shot.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #13 (Sept. 1979) SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Cover: Dick Dillin (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “To Live in Peace— Nevermore!”

Writer(s): Paul Levitz Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Legion travels to their past, Superman’s present, to intervene in the Man of Steel’s attempt to cease an interstellar conflict which involves the son of one of Superman’s oldest friends.

Guest-star(s): Pete Ross, Jon Ross; Superman robots Team-Up Trivia: • Participating Legionnaires are Dawnstar, Lightning Lad, Sun Boy, and Saturn Girl, plus honorary Legionnaire Pete Ross.

• Reference is made to Action Comics #457 (Mar. 1976), which introduced Jon Ross.

• Continued in DCCP #14.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #14 (Oct. 1979) SUPERMAN AND/VS. SUPERBOY Cover: Dick Dillin (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Judge, Jury… and No Justice!”

Writer(s): Paul Levitz Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superboy emerges from the past to attempt to kill his adult self, Superman.

Villain(s): Pete Ross Guest-star(s): Krypto the Super-Dog Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from DCCP #13.

• The cover logos brand this a “Superman and Superboy” team-up, while the splash page bills it more accurately as “Superman vs.

Superboy.”

• This storyline resumes in issue #25.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #15 (Nov. 1979) SUPERMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Joe Staton (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Story Title: “Plight of the Giant Atom!”

Writer(s): Cary Bates Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Scientist Ray Palmer turns to Superman for aid when he loses control over his ability to size-change as the Atom.

Villain(s): Sabromians Guest-star(s): Batman DC COMICS PRESENTS #16 (Dec. 1979) SUPERMAN AND BLACK LIGHTNING Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The De-Volver!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A villain who devolves into primitive and destructive creatures wreaks havoc in Metropolis, and has a vendetta against the protector of the city’s Suicide Slum, Black Lightning.

Villain(s): Hugh Bryant (the De-Volver) DC COMICS PRESENTS #17 (Jan. 1980) SUPERMAN AND FIRESTORM Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “The Ice Slaves of Killer Frost!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Steve Mitchell (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The return of Killer Frost leads Ronnie Raymond and Prof.

Martin Stein to reunite into the Nuclear Man, Firestorm, to team with Superman in stopping the villainess.

Villain(s): Killer Frost Team-Up Trivia: • This is the Nuclear Man’s first

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appearance since the cancellation of his title with Firestorm #5 (Oct.–Nov. 1978).

•S uperman invites Firestorm to join the JLA. The story continues in Justice League of America #179 (June 1980), where JLA scribe and Firestorm co-creator Gerry Conway makes Firestorm a member of the team.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #18 (Feb. 1980) SUPERMAN AND ZATANNA Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Night It Rained Magic!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Zatanna’s and her father Zatara’s curiosity about a dimension of magic empowers a has-been illusionist.

Villain(s): The Great Caligro Guest-star(s): Zatara DC COMICS PRESENTS #19 (Mar. 1980) SUPERMAN AND BATGIRL Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Who Haunts This House?”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A mansion hosting a celebrity party becomes a house of mystery when its attendees transform into homicidal zombies.

Villain(s): Dr. Horus Team-Up Trivia: •S uperman and Batgirl had earlier teamed up in Superman #268 (Oct. 1973) and 279 (Sept. 1974).

Superman’s earliest encounters with Batgirl took place in World’s Finest Comics #169 (Sept. 1967) and 176 (June 1968), stories that included Batman and Supergirl.

Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Frank Chiaramonte (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A feverish Ralph Dibny alerts Superman to an alien-spawned pandemic. Is there a nose-twitching mystery connection between the Elongated Man and a potential cure?

Villain(s): The Masters (aliens) DC COMICS PRESENTS #22 (June 1980) SUPERMAN AND CAPTAIN COMET Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “Plight of the Human Comet!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The mutant future-man Captain Comet fears his demise unless he is once again exposed to the comet that originally evolved him into a superhuman.

Villain(s): Starstriker Guest-star(s): Wonder Woman DC COMICS PRESENTS #23 (July 1980) SUPERMAN AND DOCTOR FATE Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Curse Out of Time!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: An ancient curse connects a time-displaced 16th Century privateer, a supernatural imp, and Doctor Fate’s wife, bringing together Earth-Two’s Fate and Earth-One’s Superman.

Villain(s): Captain Ezra Hawkins, El Muchacho

DC COMICS PRESENTS #20 (Apr. 1980) SUPERMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Inferno in the Sky!” Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Green Arrow’s life is jeopardized when he investigates a ruthless oil baron who has devious plans for an experimental energy source.

Villain(s): Bo Force

DC COMICS PRESENTS #24 (Aug. 1980) SUPERMAN AND DEADMAN Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “The Man Who Was the World!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): José Luis García-López Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Deadman seeks release from his afterlife mission. Will a man whose erratic heartbeat causes earth tremors change Deadman’s mind?

Villain(s): Alex Atley’s Cardialink, Dennis, Mr. Genarian, the Grim Reaper Guest-star(s): Rama Kushna Team-Up Trivia: • This story continues a plotline from Wein and García-López’s “Deadman” solo story in Adventure Comics #466 (Nov.–Dec. 1979).

• Deadman possesses Superman’s body.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #21 (May 1980) SUPERMAN AND THE ELONGATED MAN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Alien Epidemic!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway

DC COMICS PRESENTS #25 (Sept. 1980) SUPERMAN AND THE PHANTOM STRANGER Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Judgment Night” Writer(s): Paul Levitz

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The Team-Up Companion

Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman’s inability to rescue his friend Pete Ross’ son, Jon, is the crux of a supernatural adventure involving the hero and guest-star the Phantom Stranger struggling for the boy’s soul and for his father’s sanity.

Villain(s): Tala Guest-star(s): Jon Ross, Pete Ross; Dawnstar (flashback); Superman robots Team-Up Trivia: • Resumes storyline from issue #14.

• “Whatever Happened to…?” backup series begins. Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Hourman?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #26 (Oct. 1980) SUPERMAN AND GREEN LANTERN Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “Between Friend and Foe!” Writer(s): Jim Starlin (plot) and Marv Wolfman (dialogue) Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and Steve Mitchell (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A hideous alien beast assumes the form and power of Green Lantern and battles the Man of Steel, attempting to kill him with kryptonite.

Villain(s): N’Gon Guest-star: Green Lantern Archon Z’Gmora of the Cygnus system (N’Gon) Team-Up Trivia: • Preceding GL Z’Gmora by five years was Starlin’s creation of Marvel Comics’ similarly named Gamora in the “Warlock” story in Strange Tales #180 (June 1975).

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Sargon the Sorcerer?”

• This highly collectible issue includes the New Teen Titans free, 16-page preview comic. The New Teen Titans #1 was released the following month.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #27 (Nov. 1980) SUPERMAN AND THE MANHUNTER FROM MARS Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “The Key That Unlocked Chaos!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and “Quickdraw” (Dick Giordano, Frank McLaughlin) (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The warlord Mongul holds Superman’s friends hostage to force the Man of Steel to retrieve a cosmic key from its protector, J’onn J’onzz.

Villain(s): Mongul Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Mongul.

•S uperman battles Martian Manhunter, as he did in their previous team-up, World’s Finest #210 (Mar. 1972).

• Continued in DCCP #28.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Congorilla?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #28 (Dec. 1980) SUPERMAN AND SUPERGIRL Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “Warworld!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: With the aid of his cousin Supergirl, Superman continues last issue’s conflict with Mongul by tracking him to the weaponized satellite, Warworld.

Villain(s): Mongul Guest-star(s): Martian Manhunter (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from DCCP #27.

• Continued in DCCP #29.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Johnny Thunder, Lawman?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #29 (Jan. 1981) SUPERMAN AND THE SPECTRE Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “Where No Superman Has Gone Before” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman’s super-speed search for Supergirl, lost after their attack on Mongul’s Warworld last issue, is halted by the Spectre.

Villain(s): Mongul (flashback), the Grim Reaper, Superman’s dark side Guest-star(s): Martian Manhunter (flashback), Supergirl Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from DCCP #28.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Dr. Mid-Nite?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #30 (Feb. 1981) SUPERMAN AND BLACK CANARY Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Steve Mitchell (i) Story Title: “A Dream of Demons!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Visions of Dinah (Black Canary) Drake Lance’s deceased husband, Larry, lure Black Canary and Superman into a nightmare dimension.

Villain(s): Dr. Destiny Guest-star(s): Justice League (Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Green Lantern, Hawkman) (flashback); Justice Society (Dr. Fate, Dr. Mid-Nite, Green Lantern, Superman, Wonder Woman) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Backup story is “Whatever Happened to the Golden Age Atom?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #31 (Mar. 1981) SUPERMAN AND ROBIN THE TEEN WONDER Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Deadliest Show on Earth!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway (plot, with uncredited script by Roy Thomas) Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Robin returns to his big-top roots as he encounters the Sterling Circus, a “circus of mind-slaves,” whose ringmaster even wields control over the mighty Superman!

Villain(s): An evil clown Guest-star: Waldo the Clown (Waldo Simpson) Team-Up Trivia: • Waldo the Clown returns in the “Robin” backup in Batman #337 (July 1981), although in his return engagement he is renamed Waldo Flynn.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Robotman?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #32 (Apr. 1981) SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Super-Prisoners of Love!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway (plot, with uncredited script by Roy Thomas) Artist(s): Kurt Schaffenberger (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Lois Lane and Steve Trevor are jilted as cupid’s darts make Superman and Wonder Woman fall in love.

Villain(s): Eros Guest-star: Aphrodite Team-Up Trivia: • Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Mark Merlin and Prince Ra-Man?” DC COMICS PRESENTS #33 (May 1981) SUPERMAN AND SHAZAM! Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Man and Supermarvel!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway (plot) and Roy Thomas (script) Artist(s): Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Man of Steel and Big Red Cheese are stymied when they enigmatically switch costumes… and superpowers!

Villain(s): Mister Mxyzptlk, Mister Mind Guest-star(s): Supergirl, Mary Marvel (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • This is Superman’s third encounter with the original Captain Marvel, after JLA #137 and the Superman vs. Shazam! All-New Collectors’ Edition #C-58.

• Jimmy Olsen reads an old Captain Marvel comic book.

• Backup story is “Whatever Will Happen to Star Hawkins?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #34 (June 1981) SUPERMAN AND THE SHAZAM! FAMILY Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i)

Story Title: “The Beast-Man That Shouted ‘Hate’ at the Heart of the U.N.!”

Writer(s): Roy Thomas; plotting assist by Gerry Conway Artist(s): Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and Captain Marvel are trapped in a funny-animal dimension as a trio of supervillains take over the Earth-S United Nations.

Who will rescue Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr., and Uncle Marvel?

Villain(s): Mister Mxyzptlk, King Kull the Beast-Man, Mister Mind; Dr. Sivana, Captain Nazi, Ibac, the Monster Society of Evil (flashback) Guest-star(s): The wizard Shazam, Hoppy the Captain Marvel Bunny Team-Up Trivia: • The story title is a nod to Harlan Ellison’s short story and short story collection of the same name, The Beast Who Shouted Love At the Heart of the World.

• Clark Kent reads an old Hoppy the Marvel Bunny comic book.

• 25-page story; no “Whatever Happened to…?” backup this issue.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #35 (June 1981) SUPERMAN AND MAN-BAT Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Metamorphosis Machine!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Kirk (Man-Bat) Langstrom’s search of S.T.A.R. Labs for a cure for his daughter’s acute hearing condition entangles him with the Atomic Skull and the villain’s new female counterpart, plus the Atomic Skull’s foe, Superman.

Villain(s): SKULL, Atomic Skull, Felicia (female Atomic Skull) Team-Up Trivia: • Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Rex, the Wonder Dog?” DC COMICS PRESENTS #36 (Aug. 1981) SUPERMAN AND STARMAN Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “Whatever Happened to Starman?”

Writer(s): Paul Levitz Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A quest to avenge the murder of his sister Clyryssa propels Emperor Gavyn, Starman, into the clutches of the world-dominator, Mongul. Once Superman tracks his old foe Mongul, the two heroes team up to battle him.

Villain(s): Mongul Team-Up Trivia: • Full-length, 25-page story, subsuming the regular “Whatever Happened to…?” backup.

• Continues the “Starman” series that ran in Adventure Comics #467 (Jan. 1980)–478 (Dec. 1980).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #37 (Sept. 1981) SUPERMAN AND HAWKGIRL Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “The Stars, Like Moths…!”

Writer(s): Jim Starlin (plot) and Roy Thomas (script) Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman is trapped in a solar-fueled dimension created

by Var-El, his late Kryptonian great-grandfather who generations ago fashioned a portal connecting Earth to that dimension. It’s up to Hawkgirl to rescue the Man of Steel.

Villain(s): Alien raptor bird Team-Up Trivia: • Thomas’ story title is a nod to Isaac Asimov’s 1951 sci-fi novel The Stars, Like Dust.

• Backup story is “Whatever Did (or Will) Happen to Rip Hunter, Time Master?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #38 (Oct. 1981) SUPERMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: George Pérez Story Title: “Stop the World—I Want to Get Off! Go Home!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): Don Heck Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and Flash are at odds, duped into conflict at an amusement park by an alien with an ulterior motive.

Villain(s): Minaar, Klaanu, Syryna Team-Up Trivia: • Centerfold features a George Pérez– drawn two-page pinup of Superman and his DCCP co-stars.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to the Crimson Avenger?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #39 (Nov. 1981) SUPERMAN AND PLASTIC MAN Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Thing That Goes Woof in the Night!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Bob Smith (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Pliable Pretzel springs into action with the Man of Steel to search for a dangerous mechanical dog created by the menacing Gepetto, the Toyman.

Villain(s): Toyman, Dollface, Fliptop Guest-star(s): Woozy Winks Team-Up Trivia: • Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Richard Dragon, Kung-Fu Fighter?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #40 (Dec. 1981) SUPERMAN AND METAMORPHO Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Day the Elements Went Wild!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway

Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Java, the caveman who pines for Metamorpho’s girlfriend Sapphire Stagg, stirs up trouble once he obtains a facsimile of the Orb of Ra, the mystical artifact that turned soldier-of-fortune Rex Mason into the Element Man. Villain(s): Java Team-Up Trivia: • Backup story is “Whatever Happened to the Original Air Wave?”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #41 (Jan. 1982) SUPERMAN AND THE JOKER Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Terrible Tinseltown Treasure-Trap Treachery!”

Writer(s): Martin Pasko Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A partnership of the Felonious Funsters, the Joker and the Prankster, turns sour and the two battle over the estate of a legendary comedian. Superman cautiously teams with the Clown Prince of Crime once the Prankster holds Perry White hostage.

Villain(s): The Joker, the Prankster, the Joker’s goons Guest-star(s): Batman, Robin Team-Up Trivia: •F ull-length, 27-page story, ousting the regular “Whatever Happened to…?” backup.

•C omedian Jerry Travis is an analog for real-life comic actor Jerry Lewis.

•F inal appearance of the Earth-One Prankster.

• A producer is speaking on the phone with an unseen “Harlan,” writer Pasko’s wink at sci-fi author and comics scribe Harlan Ellison.

• 48-page comic contains a free 16-page preview of Wonder Woman’s new creative team of Roy Thomas, Gene Colan, and Romeo Tanghal.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #42 (Feb. 1982) SUPERMAN AND THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Specter of War” Writer(s): Paul Levitz Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A mysterious soldier delivers a letter to Clark Kent at the Daily Planet alerts Superman to a sabotaged missile and helps the Man of Steel avert a nuclear catastrophe.

Has Superman been assisted by the legendary Unknown Soldier?

Villain(s): Major Amos Guest-star(s): Red Tornado (on JLA monitor duty) Team-Up Trivia: •S uperman does not physically meet his co-star in this issue.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to the Sandman?”

Team-Up Index

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DC COMICS PRESENTS #43 (Mar. 1982) SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Cover: Brian Bolland Story Title: “In Final Battle” Writer(s): Paul Levitz Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The star-engulfing SunEater, which Superman knows from his Superboy days in a Legion adventure in the future that took Ferro Lad’s life, is headed for Earth and its sun. And Mongul has sent it there, as vengeance against his enemy Superman.

Villain(s): Sun-Easter, Mongul Guest-star(s): Justice League (Green Lantern, Red Tornado, Black Canary), Supergirl Team-Up Trivia: • Full-length, 27-page story, ousting the regular “Whatever Happened to…?” backup.

• Participating Legionnaires are Cosmic Boy, Brainiac 5, Sun Boy, Shadow Lass, Element Lad, and Wildfire, plus honorary Legionnaire Jimmy Olsen.

• Supergirl’s hot pants are miscolored blue instead of the customary red.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #44 (Apr. 1982) SUPERMAN AND DIAL “H” FOR HERO Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Man Who Created Villains” Writer(s): Bob Rozakis (plot) and E. Nelson Bridwell (script) Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman, on assignment as reporter Clark Kent in Fairfax, a small community recently prone to superhero sightings, teams with several young heroes in a skirmish with a menace capable of creating supervillains.

Villain(s): The Master, the Nullifier Team-Up Trivia: • Superman’s co-stars are teens Chris King and Vicki Grant, stars of the “Dial ‘H’ for Hero” feature that launched in Adventure Comics #479 (Mar. 1981), where the teens transformed into superheroes created by readers.

•C hris H-dials into the heroes Beast-Maniac (created by Ricky Bakletta), Prism (by Jay Dickson), and Essence (by Brad Bechtel).

Vicki H-dials into Sphrera (created

by David Brown), Blazerina (by Davey Crowe), and Thundera (by Lannie Hood).

•N o “Whatever Happened to…” backup.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #45 (May 1982) SUPERMAN AND FIRESTORM Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Chaos Network” Writer(s): Gerry Conway

222

Artist(s): Rich Buckler (p) and Bob Smith (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: An accident gives terrorist Kristopher Kross the ability to telekinetically manipulate the technology he was stealing from Prof. Martin Stein.

As the villain Kriss-Kross, it takes the team of Superman and Firestorm the Nuclear Man to stop him.

Villain(s): Kriss-Kross Team-Up Trivia: • This team-up was slotted to engender enthusiasm for the new monthly series The Fury of Firestorm, which premiered the next month.

• Conway’s first name is misspelled as “Jerry” in the Firestorm “Created by” credit on page 3, but is correctly spelled as “Gerry” in the story credits on the same page.

• Conway acknowledged the 1981 book The Terror Network: The Secret War of International Terrorism by Claire Sterling as his story title’s inspiration.

• Clark Kent reveals his Superman identity to Firestorm.

• Re the villain’s name, Grammywinning recording artist Christopher Cross of “Sailing” and “Arthur’s Theme” fame was at the height of his acclaim when this story was produced.

• No “Whatever Happened to…” backup.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #46 (June 1982) SUPERMAN AND THE GLOBAL GUARDIANS Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Wizard Who Wouldn’t Stay Dead!”

Writer(s): E. Nelson Bridwell Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: African mystic Dr. Mist recruits Superman to battle an evil wizard and group of international villains, leading to an international assemblage of superheroes.

Villain(s): Thaumar Dhai, Ashtoreth, Moloch, Echidne, Sotroid, Dubh Magus, El Dorado, Yuki-Onna Team-Up Trivia: • While this is the first official appearance of the Global Guardians as a team, most of the heroes previously appeared in issues of Super Friends, also written by Bridwell.

• In addition to Dr. Mist, the participating Global Guardians are the Seraph (Israel), Green Fury (Brazil), Rising Sun (Japan), the Olympian (Greece), Little Mermaid (Denmark), Jack O’Lantern (Ireland), and Bushmaster (Venezuela).

• No “Whatever Happened to…” backup.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #47 (July 1982) SUPERMAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Frank Giacoia (i)

The Team-Up Companion

Story Title: “From Eternia—with Death!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Mike DeCarlo (i) Editor(s): Dave Manak; Julius Schwartz, consulting editor Synopsis: While Castle Grayskull is under siege, Superman is drawn to its other-dimensional realm, Eternia, and joins forces with He-Man and Battle-Cat to fight Skeltor.

Villain(s): Skeletor, Beastman, Crusher Team-Up Trivia: • This is the first story appearance of Mattel Toys’ Masters of the Universe.

Mattel’s toy line premiered in February 1982; this comic went on sale March 16, 1982, and Filmation’s Masters of the Universe cartoon series premiered in Fall 1982.

• Appearing alongside He-Man/ Prince Adam are Battle-Cat, Manat-Arms, and Tela.

• Mattel’s Masters of the Universe logo was modified by letterer Todd Klein for use as a DC Comics logo.

• The Superman/MOTU team-up was followed the next month by a free, 16-page Masters of the Universe preview comic book by the same creative team, inserted into many DC titles. Following that was a three-issue MOTU miniseries by Kupperberg and penciler George Tuska. These are the first Masters of the Universe comic books.

• Kupperberg’s story title is a nod to the Ian Fleming James Bond title From Russia, With Love.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to Sandy, the Golden Boy?”

Artist(s): Rich Buckler (p) and John Calnan (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: While Black Adam challenges Superman on Earth-One, that world’s Billy Batson, who has dreamt of becoming Captain Marvel, tries to summon Shazam’s mighty powers to help the Man of Steel.

Villain(s): Black Adam Guest-star(s): Billy Batson of Earth-One, the wizard Shazam Team-Up Trivia: • Jimmy Olsen meets Earth-One’s Billy Batson, whom he recognizes from his old Captain Marvel comic books.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #48 (Aug. 1982) SUPERMAN AND AQUAMAN Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Eight Arms of Conquest!”

Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Alien octopi with telepathic powers infiltrate Aquaman’s undersea realm, with the intention of global conquest—unless Aquaman and his fellow Justice Leaguer Superman can stop them.

Villain(s): Alien octopi Guest-star(s): Topo the octopus Team-Up Trivia: • Aquaman uses his telepathy to take control of the unconscious Superman’s body and superpowers.

• Backup story is “Whatever Happened to the Black Pirate and Son?” • Final “Whatever Happened to…?” backup.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #51 (Nov. 1982) SUPERMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Alex Saviuk (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Rendezvous with Death” Writer(s): Dan Mishkin Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: During a trip to the Old West via the Time Pool, the Atom gets a glimpse of Superman’s potential demise in the present and attempts to prevent it.

Villain(s): Orgons (aliens); a Kryptonian flame-dragon Guest-star(s): Var-El Team-Up Trivia: • Superman mentions his DCCP #37 team-up with “Hawkwoman”; she was still “Hawkgirl” at the time that issue was published.

• One of the aliens likens the Atom’s size-changing to “the natives of Imsk.” Imsk is the homeworld of Shrinking Violet of the 30th Century’s Legion of Super-Heroes.

• Includes a free Masters of the Universe 16-page preview comic insert.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #49 (Sept. 1982) SUPERMAN AND SHAZAM! Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: no title Writer(s): Roy Thomas (plot) and Paul Kupperberg (script)

DC COMICS PRESENTS #50 (Oct. 1982) SUPERMAN AND CLARK KENT Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “When You Wish Upon a Planetoid!”

Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Kurt Schaffenberger (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: After the Metropolis Marvel and his alter ego are split into two distinct beings by the wish-granting Miracle Machine, reporter Clark Kent begins to suspect he shares a connection to Superman.

Villain(s): Atomic Skull Guest-star(s): The Controllers and the Miracle Machine; Batman Team-Up Trivia: • Includes a two-page pinup by Alex Saviuk and Frank Giacoia featuring Superman and all 65 of his co-stars from DCCP #1–50.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #52 (Dec. 1982) SUPERMAN AND THE NEW DOOM PATROL

Cover: Keith Giffen (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Negative Woman Goes Berserk!”

Writer(s): Keith Giffen (plot) and Paul Kupperberg (plot and script) Artist(s): Keith Giffen (p) and Sal Trapani (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: While Superman helps the Doom Patrol corral the uncontrollable powers of Negative Woman, an unpredictable new villain goes on a campaign of mischief.

Villain(s): Ambush Bug Guest-star(s): Parade balloons sight gags: Fred Hembeck–style Superman, Cerebus, ElfQuest’s Skywise, Judge Dredd, and Captain Kentucky Team-Up Trivia: • Doom Patrol members are Robotman, Negative Woman, Tempest, and Celsius.

• First appearance of Ambush Bug. DC COMICS PRESENTS #53 (Jan. 1983) SUPERMAN IN THE HOUSE OF MYSTERY Cover: Ross Andru (p) and Joe Orlando (i) Story Title: “The Haunting Dooms of Halloween!”

Writer(s): Dan Mishkin Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Tony DeZuniga (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: On Halloween, masquerading adults and trick-or-treating kids become their costumes’ characters, powers and all, and the investigating Superman crosses paths with the House of Mystery’s caretaker Cain.

Villain(s): Mr. Mxyzptlk; various monsters including Dracula, ghosts, a werewolf, and skeletons Guest-star(s): Superman supporting cast members shown in Halloween costumes include Clark Kent as Green Lantern, Lois Lane as Cleopatra, Jimmy Olsen as Thor (not the Marvel version), Steve Lombard as Hercules (not the Marvel version), Lana Lang as Wonder Woman, and Lola Barnett as Black Canary; unnamed guests are the Flash, Wonder Girl, and other characters Team-Up Trivia: • Includes an Atari Force: Liberator free, 16-page preview comic.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #54 (Feb. 1983) SUPERMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Don Newton (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The Price of Progress” Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Don Newton (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Green Arrow, the JLA’s leftwing crusader, joins Superman to investigate the cause of the smog that’s choking the city of Metropolis.

Villain(s): Dr. Titus Selinger Guest-star(s): Black Canary

DC COMICS PRESENTS #55 (Mar. 1983) SUPERMAN AND AIR WAVE Cover: Alex Saviuk (p) and Bob Smith (i) Story Title: “The Parasite’s Power Ploys!”

Writer(s): Bob Rozakis Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: While on a mission to confiscate a chunk of Gold Kryptonite that would permanently rob Superman of his powers, the Man of Steel encounters Air Wave II, whose superpowers are on the fritz.

Villain(s): Phantom Zone villain Quex-Ul (flashback), Casey Jones, the Parasite Guest-star(s): Superboy and Air Wave I (flashback), Green Lantern (flashback) DC COMICS PRESENTS #56 (Apr. 1983) SUPERMAN AND POWER GIRL Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “Death in a Dark Dimension!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman of Earth-One and Earth-Two’s equivalent of his cousin Supergirl, Power Girl, are teleported to a dimension where they are forced into combat by an overlord.

Villain(s): Maaldor the Darklord Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Maaldor the Darklord.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #57 (May 1983) SUPERMAN AND THE ATOMIC KNIGHTS Cover: Alex Saviuk (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Days of Future Past!”

Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman’s search for the cause behind his nightmares of an atomic holocaust leads him to the Atomic Knights’ Gardner Grayle.

Villain(s): Radiation monster, giant Atomic Knights Guest-star(s): Hercules (of DC’s 1970s’ Hercules Unbound series) Team-Up Trivia: • Comics’ more famous “Days of Future Past” was 1981’s bleak look into the future of Marvel’s mutants,

by Chris Claremont and John Byrne in X-Men #141–142.

• When meeting Hercules, Superman recalls his previous encounter with a different Hercules, a reference to Action Comics #267 (Aug. 1960), “Hercules in the 20th Century!”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #58 (June 1983) SUPERMAN, ROBIN, AND THE ELONGATED MAN

Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “The Deadly Touch of the Intangibles!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Untouchable supervillains disrupt a circus charity event featuring acrobatics by Robin and human-trapeze Elongated Man. Good thing reporter Clark Kent is covering the event!

Villain(s): The Intangibles Team-Up Trivia: • The Intangibles are rogue movie special-effects artists with a beef against filmmaker Tom Samuels of the lucrative Astrowars movie franchise, based upon George Lucas and Star Wars.

• Writer Barr had envisioned the villains as the Untouchables, with a 1930s gangster theme, and later rechristened the villains the Untouchables and restored their intended gangster motif.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #59 (July 1983) SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUBSTITUTE HEROES Cover: Keith Giffen (p) and Mike DeCarlo (i) Story Title: “Ambush Bug II” Writer(s): Keith Giffen (plot) and Paul Levitz (script) Artist(s): Keith Giffen (p) and Kurt Schaffenberger (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Ambush Bug pops into Metropolis to pester Superman just as the Man of Tomorrow time-travels to the 30th Century headquarters of the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Villain(s): Ambush Bug Team-Up Trivia: • Legion of Substitute Heroes appearing are Polar Boy, Fire Lad, Chlorophyll Kid, Stone Boy, Color Kid, Infectious Lass, Porcupine Pete, and Double-Header.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #60 (Aug. 1983) SUPERMAN AND THE GUARDIANS OF THE UNIVERSE Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “Battle for the Universe” Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Tony DeZuniga (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Guardians of the Universe summon Superman to aid their struggle against the WeaponMaster, who has taken control of several Green Lantern Corps members.

Villain(s): The Weapon-Master; controlled Green Lanterns Guest-star(s): Numerous Green Lanterns including the GL of Rolvac (Space Sector 8143-12), Tomar-Re, Katma Tui, and Arkkis Chummuck Team-Up Trivia: • Superman’s and the Guardians’ worlds previously crossed in the landmark story “Must There Be a Superman?” in Superman #247 (Jan. 1972) and in the “World of Krypton” backup story “The Greatest

Green Lantern of Them All!” in Superman #257 (Oct. 1972).

• Writer Cary Burkett introduced the Weapon-Master in the Superman/ Batman stories in World’s Finest Comics #272–274 (Oct.–Dec. 1981).

He is not to be confused with the Justice League foe Weapons Master, who originated in the JLA’s second story, in The Brave and the Bold #29.

• Weapon-Master uses a Q-Energy grenade against Superman, earning a footnote to Q-Energy’s first appearance in Superman #204 (Feb. 1968).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #61 (Sept. 1983) SUPERMAN AND OMAC, ONE MAN ARMY CORPS Cover: George Pérez Story Title: “The Once-and-Future War!” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): George Pérez (p) and Pablo Marcos (i); inking assist by Rick Hoberg Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Murdermek, a terminator from the future, is sent by Intercorp into the past—Superman’s present— to kill Buddy Blank’s ancestor Norman Blank and thereby prevent Buddy’s birth and eventual transformation into OMAC. Villain(s): Intercorp, Murdermek Team-Up Trivia: • While this plot is similar to James Cameron’s movie The Terminator, DCCP #61 went on sale May 10, 1983, and The Terminator premiered in theaters on October 26, 1984.

• OMAC was last seen in a backup in The Warlord #61 (July 1981).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #62 (Oct. 1983) SUPERMAN AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “Born on the Fourth of July” Writer(s): Bob Rozakis and Dan Mishkin Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Uncle Sam leads the Freedom Fighters from Earth-X to Earth-One to restore democracy in Superman’s America by saving its vital documents, the Constitution and Declaration of Independence, from destruction by insurgents.

Villain(s): Neo-Nazis Team-Up Trivia: • The Freedom Fighters appearing in this story are Uncle Sam, Black Condor, Doll Man, the Human Bomb, and the Ray. • Freedom Fighter Phantom Lady, who had retired prior to this team-up, appeared a year earlier in Wonder Woman #292–293 (June–July 1982) as part of a three-part storyline involving DC’s superheroines.

• The story title “Born on the Fourth of July” was popularized in a 1976 bestselling memoir of the same name

by Ron Kovic, a disabled Vietnam veteran-turned-antiwar activist.

Team-Up Index

223

Filmmaker Oliver Stone brought Born on the Fourth of July to the big screen in a Tom Cruise–starring movie that was released on December 20, 1989.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #63 (Nov. 1983) SUPERMAN AND AMETHYST, PRINCESS OF GEMWORLD Cover: Ernie Colón Story Title: “Worlds to Conquer” Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Ernie Colón, Bob Smith, and Gary Martin (i); Keith Giffen, art consultant Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Amy Winston, the young girl who transforms in the princess Amethyst, visits Earth-One to implore Superman to help her vanquish a threat on Gemworld.

Villain(s): Carnellian; SKULL; Dark Opal Team-Up Trivia: • This story was published between issues #7 and 8 of Mishkin, Cohn, and Ernie Colón’s Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld maxiseries.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #64 (Dec. 1983) SUPERMAN AND KAMANDI, THE LAST BOY ON EARTH Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “May You Live in Interesting Times” Writer(s): Mark Evanier Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) Frank McLaughlin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Distortions in the timeline bring talking tigers and dangers from a dystopian future into modern-day Metropolis as the Last Boy on Earth meets the legendary “Mighty One,” Superman.

Villain(s): Victor Epoch; Great Caesar and his tiger army Team-Up Trivia: • Kamandi’s most recent appearance was the Batman team-up in The Brave and the Bold #157 (Dec. 1979).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #65 (Jan. 1984) SUPERMAN AND MADAME XANADU Cover: Gray Morrow Story Title: “Slayer from the Dark Dimension!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Gray Morrow Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Maaldoor the Darklord haunts Superman’s dreams, and only the mystic Madame Xanadu can come to his aid.

Villain(s): Maaldor the Darklord; Lex Luthor (nightmare) Team-Up Trivia: • Gray Morrow colored the story as well as illustrated it.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #66 (Feb. 1984) SUPERMAN AND THE DEMON Cover: Joe Kubert Story Title: “The Resurgence of Blackbriar Thorn!”

224

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Joe Kubert Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Archaeologist Lewis Lang, father of Superman’s childhood friend Lana Lang, unearths an ancient druid statue that comes to life and uses its elemental powers to endanger the Man of Steel and the Demon Etrigan.

Villain(s): Blackbriar Thorn DC COMICS PRESENTS #67 (Mar. 1984) SUPERMAN AND SANTA CLAUS Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “’Twas the Fright Before Christmas!”

Writer(s): Len Wein (plot and script) and E. Nelson Bridwell (co-plotter) Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Murphy Anderson (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The emergence of mind-controlling toys in the market attracts the suspicions of the Man of Tomorrow. Once his powers are nullified by an errant plaything, Superman finds an unexpected ally at the North Pole.

Villain(s): The Toyman Guest-star(s): Krypto (flashback) DC COMICS PRESENTS #68 (Apr. 1984) SUPERMAN AND VIXEN Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “Destiny’s Children!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Murphy Anderson (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: When teenage boys with the highest scores on video games mysteriously disappear from arcades, neo-superhero Vixen recruits her old ally Superman to help find the missing teens.

Villain(s): Admiral Cerebrus Team-Up Trivia: • Vixen, whose own series went unpublished as a result of the DC Implosion, had previously met Superman in Action Comics #521 (July 1981).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #69 (May 1984) SUPERMAN AND BLACKHAWK Cover: Irv Novick (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Back to World War II” Writer(s): Mark Evanier Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Dennis Jensen (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A forgotten news story that earned Perry White a 1941 war correspondent award compels Superman to time-travel to June 11, 1940 to investigate.

Villain(s): Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmel, various Nazis Guest-star(s): Albert Einstein Team-Up Trivia: • While in 1940, Clark Kent passes himself off as reporter Jonathan Clinton. Evanier derived the name from Clark’s adoptive father Jonathan Kent and Clark Kent’s Metropolis address of 344 Clinton Street.

The Team-Up Companion

DC COMICS PRESENTS #70 (June 1984) SUPERMAN AND THE METAL MEN Cover: Alex Saviuk (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Survival of the Fittest!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Tony DeZuniga (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A scientist tests the Metal Men’s mettle by subjecting them to doomsday scenarios, from a monsterridden urban holocaust to a sweltering jungle with giant cockroaches. Can the mighty Superman withstand this manufactured Armageddon?

Villain(s): Otto Brisbane DC COMICS PRESENTS #71 (July 1984) SUPERMAN AND BIZARRO Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “The Mark of Bizarro!”

Writer(s): E. Nelson Bridwell Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Things go topsy-turvy on Earth with Bizarro-Amazo arrives and bestows normal people with superpowers.

Villain(s): Bizarro-Amazo, BizarroShaggy Man, Bizarro-Joker Guest-stars: Bizarro-Justice League (Bizarro-Flash, Bizarro-Yellow Lantern, Bizarro-Hawkman, BizarroAquaman, Bizarro-Wonder Woman) Team-Up Trivia: • Bridwell’s story title is a play on the title The Mark of Zorro.

• Predating this story was the release of Jim Valentino’s independent series normalman, a Superman spoof about a powerless human being rocketed to a planet of super-people.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #72 (Aug. 1984) SUPERMAN, THE PHANTOM STRANGER, AND THE JOKER Cover: Alex Saviuk (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Madness in a Dark Dimension!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Dennis Jensen (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: When Maaldor the Darklord’s insanity manifests as dimensional disruptions, Superman and the Phantom Stranger fight madness with madness by turning to the Joker for help.

Villain(s): Maaldor the Darklord, the Joker Guest-star(s): Power Girl (flashback), Madame Xanadu (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • A hand-written colorist’s marginal note unintended for print mistakenly appears in the image area at the bottom of page 14.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #73 (Sept. 1984) SUPERMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Carmine Infantino (p) and Klaus Janson (i)

Story Title: “Rampage in Scarlet” Writer(s): Cary Bates Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: It’s Superman versus the Flash as the Fastest Man Alive is apparently responsible for a wave of destruction on the other-dimensional world of Norkk.

Villain(s): Phantom Zone villains Jax-Ur, General Zod, Kru-El, and Faora Team-Up Trivia: • References are made to the Flash’s woes in his Cary Bates–written Flash series, stemming from the hero’s apparent murder of the Reverse-Flash in The Flash #324 (Aug. 1983) and his subsequent fall from grace and courtroom trial.

• Flash intercepts a beam intended for Superman and temporarily is sent to the Phantom Zone. The Infantino-drawn phantom Flash is reminiscent of the artist’s “Phantom Flash, Cosmic Traitor” Spectre/ Flash team-up in The Brave and the Bold #72 (June–July 1967).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #74 (Oct. 1984) SUPERMAN AND HAWKMAN (AND HAWKWOMAN) Cover: Alex Saviuk (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Story Title: “Wings Against the Stars!”

Writer(s): Bob Rozakis and Dan Mishkin Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The saga of Var-El, Kal-El’s time-traveling ancestor, concludes as Superman, Hawkman, and Hawkwoman are drawn into a conflict between the Orgons and the Hawks’ homeworld of Thanagar.

Villain(s): Orgons Guest-star(s): Var-El (death), the Atom (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The title page features the logos of all three of the issue’s co-stars. In issue #78’s lettercol, Bob Rozakis revealed that the intention for issue #74’s cover was to include Hawkwoman’s logo alongside Hawkman’s but the cover layout did not allow it.

• Superman refers to his previous encounter with the Orgons, his Atom team-up in DCCP #51.

• Superman dons Hawkman’s wings on the cover and for the climax.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #75 (Nov. 1984) SUPERMAN AND ARION, LORD OF ATLANTIS Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “Partners in Time!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Tom Mandrake Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Arion, the Lord of ancient Atlantis, arrives in modern-day Metropolis. After an initial clash with Superman, he enlists the Man of Steel’s aid in apprehending the Lord of Chaos, Chaon.

Villain(s): Chaon

Guest-star(s): Lady Chian, Wyynde, Mara Team-Up Trivia: • Superman wears an earring! Arion breaks his language barrier with the Metropolis Marvel by magically altering a street-sold earring into a language translator.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #76 (Dec. 1984) SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “Living Clay…

Killing Clay…”

Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Eduardo Barreto Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Rogue Amazon Christina Cade manipulates clay—from which Wonder Woman was formed—into monsters that do her bidding.

Villain(s): Christina Cade, clay monsters and minions Guest-star(s): Amazons (flashback); Monitor (off-camera), Harbinger Team-Up Trivia: • Superman’s logo on the cover is replaced by a specially drawn version that is crushed in the massive grip of a hulk-like Christina Cade.

• DCCP’s first inclusion in the impending Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover, as the Monitor (unseen) and Lyla observe the story’s activities.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #77 (Jan. 1985) SUPERMAN AND THE FORGOTTEN HEROES Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “Triad of Terror” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Forgotten Heroes’ speaking engagement is disrupted by Mr. Poseidon and the giant robot Ultivac, and Superman is challenged by a foe he fought once, the AtomMaster. What, or who, is bringing these and other Forgotten Villains out of retirement?

Villain(s): The Enchantress, Mr. Poseidon, Ultivac, Kraklow, the Atom-Master, the Faceless Creature from Saturn Team-Up Trivia: • The Forgotten Heroes are Animal Man, Cave Carson, Congo Bill and Congorilla, Dolphin, Dane Dorrence, Rick Flag, the Immortal Man, and Rip Hunter, Time Master.

• Superman is transformed into a dragon.

•C ontinued in DCCP #78.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #78 (Feb. 1985) SUPERMAN AND THE FORGOTTEN VILLAINS Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “The Triad” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i)

Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and the Forgotten Heroes encounter new space-faring allies in their cosmic quest to halt the progression of supernatural power garnered by the trio of rogues behind the Forgotten Villains.

Villain(s): The Enchantress, Mr. Poseidon, Ultivac, Kraklow, the Atom-Master, the Faceless Creature from Saturn Guest-star(s): Space Cabbie, Chris KL-99, Jero, Halk; Monitor (off-camera), Lyla Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from DCCP #77.

• The Forgotten Heroes are Animal Man, Cave Carson, Congo Bill and Congorilla, Dolphin, Dane Dorrence, Rick Flag, the Immortal Man, and Rip Hunter, Time Master.

• Guest-star Space Cabbie’s name is spelled Space “Cabby” in this story.

• Immortal Man adopts a new, teenage body.

• The story concludes with a Crisis teaser depicting the Monitor (shielded by his chair) and Lyla having observed the issue’s events; EarthThree is mentioned.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #79 (Mar. 1985) SUPERMAN AND CLARK KENT Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “Superman—Meet Clark Kent!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Al Williamson (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A bet between two high-rollers from the gamblers’ planet Ventura transforms Superman and Clark Kent into separate people.

Villain(s): Rokk, Sorban Team-Up Trivia: • Intergalactic gamblers Rokk and Sorban debuted in Superman #171 (Aug. 1964) and appeared in several additional Silver and Bronze Age Superman stories.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #80 (Apr. 1985) SUPERMAN AND THE LEGION OF SUPER-HEROES Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “A World Full of Supermen!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Brainiac threatens the city of Metropolis and uses the time-displaced Legion to bait Superman into action.

Villain(s): Brainiac, Superman robots Team-Up Trivia: • Participating Legionnaires are Chameleon Boy, Element Lad, Phantom Girl, Shrinking Violet, and Ultra Boy. DC COMICS PRESENTS #81 (May 1985) SUPERMAN AND AMBUSH BUG Cover: Keith Giffen (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “All This and Kobra Too”

Writer(s): Keith Giffen (plot) and Robert Loren Fleming (dialogue) Artist(s): Keith Giffen (p) and Bob Oksner (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Exposure to Red Kryptonite swaps Superman’s and Ambush Bug’s minds. What a bad time for Kobra to show up!

Villain(s): Kobra Guest-star(s): Superman robots DC COMICS PRESENTS #82 (June 1985) SUPERMAN AND ADAM STRANGE Cover: Klaus Janson Story Title: “The Ghost of Krypton Past!”

Writer(s): Cary Bates Artist(s): Klaus Janson Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: As Superman visits the planet Rann, the evil spirit of Zazura, an ancient space-succubus with a grudge against Kryptonians, possesses Adam Strange’s wife, Alanna.

Villain(s): Zazura Guest-star(s): Alanna, Sardath Team-Up Trivia: • Sardath resembles editor Julie Schwartz on Klaus Janson’s cover.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #83 (July 1985) SUPERMAN AND BATMAN AND THE OUTSIDERS Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: “Shadow of the Outsider!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Irv Novick (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Bruce Wayne’s loyal butler, Alfred, once again becomes the reality-bending villain, the Outsider.

As Batman and the Outsiders pursue him, Superman lends a hand.

Villain(s): The Outsider, I.Q. Team-Up Trivia: • The Outsiders are Black Lightning, Metamorpho, Geo-Force, Halo, and Katana.

• Batman makes reference to his previous encounter with I.Q., in The Brave and the Bold #192 (Nov. 1982), also written by Barr.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #84 (Aug. 1985) SUPERMAN AND THE CHALLENGERS OF THE UNKNOWN Cover: Jack Kirby (p) and Greg Theakston (i) Story Title: “Give Me the Power…

Give Me Your World” Writer(s): Bob Rozakis Artist(s): Jack Kirby and Alex Toth (p) and Greg Theakston (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Challs’ discovery of a card with Kryptonian graphics leads them to the Man of Steel and an encounter with a superpowered menace from Superman’s homeworld.

Villain(s): Zo-Mar; General Zod (flashback and in Phantom Zone), Jax-Ur (in Phantom Zone)

Team-Up Trivia: • Jack Kirby penciled the majority of the story, while Alex Toth penciled the Challengers flashback sequence, with Greg Theakston inking the entire issue.

• The Toth segment was originally conceived as a Challengers tale for Adventure Comics digest.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #85 (Sept. 1985) SUPERMAN AND SWAMP THING Cover: Rick Veitch Story Title: “The Jungle Line” Writer(s): Alan Moore Artist(s): Rick Veitch (p) and Al Williamson (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Bloodmorel, a fungus that survived Krypton’s destruction, infects Clark Kent, robbing him of his superpowers and sickening him. He drives South to die, but encounters an unexpected helper in Swamp Thing.

Villain(s): The Bloodmorel fungus Guest-star(s): Flash, Wonder Woman, Batman Team-Up Trivia: • Superman rents a car under the name “Cal Ellis.”

DC COMICS PRESENTS #86 (Oct. 1985) SUPERMAN AND SUPERGIRL Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “Into the Valley of Shadow…!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Rick Hoberg (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Super-cousins team up for the last time before her Crisis #7 demise to confront Supergirl’s powerful nemesis Blackstarr, with whom they form an awkward alliance to face an intergalactic threat.

Villain(s): Blackstarr Guest-star(s): Batgirl Team-Up Trivia: • Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.

• Linda (Supergirl) Danvers’ address is 1537 West Fargo Avenue, Chicago.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #87 (Nov. 1985) SUPERMAN AND SUPERBOY Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “Year of the Comet” Writer(s): Elliot S! Maggin Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Earth-Prime, the “real” world where Superman is merely a comic-book character, receives its first superpowered denizen in the form of Superboy.

Villain(s): Superman Revenge Squad Team-Up Trivia: • Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.

• Supergirl’s death in Crisis #7 is referenced.

•F irst appearance of SuperboyPrime.

• Includes “The Origin of SuperboyPrime” backup story by the same creative team.

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DC COMICS PRESENTS #88 (Dec. 1985) SUPERMAN AND THE CREEPER Cover: Keith Giffen (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Prophecy of the Demon-Plague” Writer(s): Steve Englehart Artist(s): Keith Giffen (p) and Karl Kesel (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Creeper’s sanity is questioned when he joins forces with the Man of Steel to combat demons.

Villain(s): Demons Team-Up Trivia: • Crisis on Infinite Earths crossover.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #89 (Jan. 1986) SUPERMAN VS. THE OMEGA MEN Cover: Denys Cowan (p) and Bob Smith (i) Story Title: “Metropolis Wasn’t Built in a Day… or Was It?” Writer(s): Bob Rozakis and Todd Klein Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Ricardo Villagran (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The space-spanning Omega Men of the Vegan star-system are puzzled when their former ally, Superman, turns against them.

Villain(s): The Thing from 40,000 A.D. Team-Up Trivia: • Participating Omega Men are the winged Harpis, the feral Tigorr, and the hulkish Oho-Besh.

• The Omega Men’s previous meeting with Superman in Action Comics #535–536 (Sept.– Oct. 1982) is referenced.

• This story is a sequel to the Wayne Boring-drawn “The Thing from 40,000 A.D.!” in Superman #87 (Feb. 1957).

DC COMICS PRESENTS #90 (Feb. 1986) SUPERMAN, FIRESTORM, AND CAPTAIN ATOM Cover: Denys Cowan (p) and Bob Smith (i) Story Title: “Escape from Solitude!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Denys Cowan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The rescue of an endangered space shuttle unites Superman with radioactive heroes Firestorm and Captain Atom, and puts them into conflict with a nuclear villain named Rayburn.

Villain(s): Rayburn Team-Up Trivia: • DCCP undergoes a cover logo redesign beginning this issue.

• Captain Atom would soon receive a dramatic makeover courtesy of writers Cary Bates and Greg Weisman and artists Pat Broderick and Bob Smith, beginning with Captain Atom vol. 2 #1 (Mar. 1987).

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DC COMICS PRESENTS #91 (Mar. 1986) SUPERMAN AND CAPTAIN COMET Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “The Brains That Stormed Metropolis!”

Writer(s): Craig Boldman Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Captain Comet has evolved again and becomes a menace that requires Superman’s intervention, while Brain Storm surprisingly becomes a hero.

Villain(s): Brain Storm Team-Up Trivia: • The story involves the real world’s interest in an upcoming (April 11, 1986) appearance of Halley’s Comet, whose path approaches Earth approximately 75 years.

• This was one of Schwartz’s final pre-Crisis Superman stories published after Crisis on Infinite Earths had begun.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #92 (Apr. 1986) SUPERMAN AND THE VIGILANTE Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “A Question of Justice!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Curt Swan (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The threat of nerve-gas poisoning of major metropolitan cities makes unlikely allies of Superman and the Vigilante.

Villain(s): Professor Arthur Bryan DC COMICS PRESENTS #93 (May 1986) SUPERMAN AND THE ELASTIC FOUR Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “That’s the Way the Heroes Bounce!”

Writer(s): Paul Kupperberg Artist(s): Alex Saviuk (p) and Kurt Schaffenberger (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Elongated Man, Plastic Man, and Jimmy Olsen as Elastic Lad come under the thrall of a new stretchable character, Malleable Man, who has ties to Plas’ former criminal alias, Eel O’ Brian.

Villain(s): Malleable Man (Skizzle Skanks) Team-Up Trivia: • Per a credit box, this was a fansuggested team-up, by reader Laney Loftin.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #94 (June 1986) SUPERMAN, HARBINGER, LADY QUARK, AND PARIAH Cover: George Pérez Story Title: “The Challenge of the Volt Lord” Writer(s): Barbara Randall and Robert Greenberger Artist(s): Tom Mandrake (p) and Don Heck (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz

The Team-Up Companion

Synopsis: As the three guest-stars attempt to assimilate into the new, post-Crisis Earth, a supervillain reminiscent of Lady Quark’s late husband forces the heroes to team up.

Villain(s): Volt Lord Guest-star(s): Lord Volt (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Lady Quark, the Earth-Six refugee, was married to Lord Volt, who perished with their world in the Crisis.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #95 (July 1986) SUPERMAN AND HAWKMAN Cover: Ed Hannigan (layouts) and Murphy Anderson (pencils and finishes) Story Title: “The Big Kill!”

Writer(s): Tony Isabella (plot) and Alan Gold (script) Artist(s): Richard Howell (p) and Murphy Anderson (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Wielding the energies of a black hole, Kasta the ThrillKiller, a hunter from Thanagar, may be more than a match for Superman. Can Hawkman rescue the Man of Steel?

Villain(s): Kasta the Hunter/ Thrill-Killer, Mongul (flashback), Gentleman Ghost Guest-star(s): Hawkwoman (as Shayera Hall) Team-Up Trivia: • Occurs during Crisis but not labeled as a Crisis crossover.

• A new Hawkman monthly series premieres the next month.

DC COMICS PRESENTS #96 (Aug. 1986) SUPERMAN AND BLUE DEVIL Cover: Paris Cullins (p) and Bob Smith (i) Story Title: “The Deputy!”

Writer(s): Dan Mishkin and Gary Cohn Artist(s): Joe Staton (p) and Kurt Schaffenberger (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: It’s high noon for Metropolis as that high-flyin’ felon Terra-Man, abetted by aliens, rides back into town.

Villain(s): Terra-Man, alien rogues Team-Up Trivia: • Final appearance of the Earth-One Terra-Man. • Issue contains a four-page specialty comic insert for the toy-inspired DC book MASK. DC COMICS PRESENTS #97 (Sept. 1986) SUPERMAN AND THE PHANTOM ZONE CRIMINALS Cover: Rick Veitch (p) and Bob Smith (i) Story Title: “Phantom Zone: The Final Chapter” Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Rick Veitch (p) and Bob Smith (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The story of Jor-El’s development of Krypton’s alternative to the capital punishment is retold, and Superman discovers there is more

to the Phantom Zone than he had previously believed.

Villain(s): Phantom Zone criminals Jax-Ur, Va-Kox, Dr. Xadu, Faora, Nam-Ek, General Zod, Kru-El, Thul-Kar; Aethyr; Mr. Mxyzptlk Guest-star(s): Bizarro No. 1, various members of Bizarro’s supporting cast Team-Up Trivia: • Billed as “An Untold Tale of the Pre-Crisis Universe.”

• Double-length issue featuring a 38-page story.

• Sequel to the four-issue Phantom Zone miniseries.

• Final issue of the series.

DC COMICS PRESENTS ANNUAL #1 (1982) SUPERMAN AND THE GOLDEN AGE SUPERMAN Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Crisis on Three Earths” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Rich Buckler (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Luthors of Earth-One and Earth-Two swap planets, triggering a series of multiverse events uniting the Supermen of two worlds and “Earth-Three’s first super-hero,” Alexander Luthor.

Villain(s): Lex Luthor (Earth-One), Alexei Luthor (Earth-Two), Ultraman (Earth-Three) Guest-star(s): Alexander Luthor and Lois Lane of Earth-Three Team-Up Trivia: • Comics letterer Todd Klein provided the painted colors for the cover.

DC COMICS PRESENTS ANNUAL #2 (1983) SUPERMAN INTRODUCES SUPERWOMAN Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “The Last Secret Identity!”

Writer(s): Elliot S! Maggin Artist(s): Keith Pollard (p) and Mike DeCarlo (i); inking assist by Tod Smith Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Kristin Wells, an educator from the 29th Century, time-travels to Superman’s 20th Century to uncover the long-unrevealed alter ego of the superheroine Superwoman.

Villain(s): King Kosmos Guest-star(s): Justice League (Batman, Flash, Green Arrow, Wonder Woman); costume party scenes with Jimmy Olsen as Elastic Lad plus people masquerading as Flash, Spider-Man, Batman, Superman, Thor, Sheena, and Black Canary Team-Up Trivia: • First comic-book appearance of Kristin Wells, Superwoman, who originated in Maggin’s 1981 novel, Superman: Miracle Monday, released in conjunction with the film Superman II. • Maggin wrote a prototype of the character, Joann Jaime, in “The Miracle of Thirsty Thursday” in Superman #293 (Nov. 1975).

• In 2862, Professor Wells lectures at Columbia University-Metropolis’

Louis B. Gowan Building. The building’s name is writer Maggin’s salute to Louis G. Cowan, a Communications Center director at Maggin’s alma mater, Brandeis University, who was also a CBS television executive and School of Journalism director at Columbia University.

• A Metropolis billboard promotes the movie “Tootsie starring Dustin Hoffman.”

• Previous uses by DC of a Superwoman in stories include Lois Lane dreaming of being Superwoman in Action Comics #60 (May 1943); “Superwoman” Luma Lynai of the planet Staryl, with whom matchmaker Supergirl attempts to marry off to Superman in Action #289 (June 1962); Superwoman, Earth-Three’s evil analog of Wonder Woman, first seen in Justice League of America #29–30 (Aug.–Sept. 1964); and the Earth-Two Lois Lane’s appearance as Superwoman in the “Mr. and Mrs. Superman” feature in The Superman Family #207 (May–June 1981).

DC COMICS PRESENTS ANNUAL #3 (1984) SUPERMAN AND SHAZAM! Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “With One Magic Word” Writer(s): Roy Thomas (story) and Joey Cavalieri (script), with Julius Schwartz and Gil Kane (plot assist) Artist(s): Gil Kane Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: By usurping Shazam’s magic lightning, Dr. Sivana becomes a virtually unstoppable superpowered villain.

Villain(s): Dr. Sivana Guest-star(s): The wizard Shazam; Mary Marvel, Captain Marvel, Jr.; Superman of EarthTwo; the Elders DC COMICS PRESENTS ANNUAL #4 (1985) SUPERMAN AND SUPERWOMAN Cover: Eduardo Barreto Story Title: “Welcome to Luthorcon III!” Writer(s): Elliot S! Maggin Artist(s): Eduardo Barreto (p) and Jerry Ordway (i); uncredited background inks by Al Vey Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: 29th Century resident Superwoman Kristin Wells, honored for her superheroics on July 4, 2865, returns to 20th Century Metropolis and its fan-attracting Luthorcon—as well as the latest machination from Lex Luthor himself.

Villain(s): Lex Luthor; convention staff as various versions of Luthor Guest-star(s): Movie Superman Gregory Reed; Luthorcon cosplayers including Batgirl, Supergirl, Flash, the original Captain Marvel, Camelot 3000 King Arthur, Luke Skywalker, Flash Gordon and Ming, Batman, and Toyman

© DC Comics.

DC SUPER-STARS #15 (July–Aug. 1977) SGT. ROCK AND THE UNKNOWN SOLDIER (AND MLLE. MARIE) Cover: Joe Kubert Story Title: “Heap the Corpses High!”

Writer(s): Robert Kanigher Artist(s): Lee Elias (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Master-of-disguise Unknown Soldier is assigned to a mission in occupied France to discover the hidden location of a Nazi missile base, ultimately crossing paths with Mlle. Marie and Sgt. Rock.

Villain(s): Von Bruner, Adolf Hitler, various Nazis Guest-star(s): Easy Company Team-Up Trivia: • The cover art includes Mademoiselle Marie but only the male characters’ logos appear, with Marie’s participation mentioned in a burst.

The interior title page, however, bills the story as a three-way team-up, with all three logos.

• Each of the three co-stars is featured in their own “Secret Army Files” dossier page following the story.

DC SUPER-STARS #18 (Jan.–Feb./Winter 1978) DEADMAN AND THE PHANTOM STRANGER Cover: Jim Aparo Story Title: no overall title, but the tale is told in chapters titled “The Gargoyles,” “Hour of the Demon!,” “Wraiths in the Rain,” and “The Phantom Stranger and Deadman” Writer(s): Martin Pasko; Gerry Conway Artist(s): Romeo Tanghal (p) and Dick Giordano and Bob Layton (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The Phantom Stranger and Deadman are lured to Rutland, Vermont, which is under siege by mysterious forces in the forms of gargoyles and a soul-consuming demon.

Villain(s): Gargoyles, Tala, the demon Qabal Guest-star(s): Dr. Thirteen; Rama Kushna; Batman, Captain Marvel, Superman, Aquaman, Wonder Woman, Captain America (cosplayers on a Halloween parade float); Tom Fagan, Gerry and Carla Conway, Marty Pasko, Paul Levitz, Romeo Tanghal Team-Up Trivia: • This story continues the popular trend in Bronze Age comics of setting stories in Rutland, Vermont, home of legendary comic-book fan Tom Fagan and site of an annual Halloween masquerade parade.

Comics set in Rutland preceding this issue were Avengers #83 (Dec. 1970), Batman #237 (Dec. 1971), Amazing Adventures #16 (Jan. 1973), Justice League of America #103 (Dec. 1972), Thor #207 (Jan. 1973), Avengers #119 (Jan. 1974), Thor #232 (Feb. 1975), Freedom Fighters #6 (Jan.–

Feb. 1977), and Justice League of America #145–146 (July–Aug. 1977).

Rutland and Fagan would continue to appear in random stories after this Deadman/Phantom Stranger team-up.

• Last issue of the series. DC SuperStars began as a reprint Giant with rotating stars and transformed into a double-sized, experimental series.

© Marvel.

GIANT-SIZE KID COLT #1 (Jan. 1975) KID COLT AND THE RAWHIDE KID Cover: Larry Lieber (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Story Title: “Meet the Manhunter!”

Writer(s): Larry Lieber Artist(s): Larry Lieber (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Fugitive-heroes Kid Colt and the Rawhide Kid cross paths during a saloon brawl in the rowdy town of Kurtsey, and are targeted by a retired city lawman-turned-bounty hunter.

Villain(s): Dolan gang, Detective Sam Murdock Team-Up Trivia: • 15-page new story, accompanied by seven Kid Colt reprints.

GIANT-SIZE KID COLT #2 is a solo Kid Colt issue with no team-up.

GIANT-SIZE KID COLT #3 (July 1975) KID COLT AND THE NIGHT RIDER Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “Death Duel with Dack Derringer!”

Writer(s): Gary Friedrich Artist(s): Dick Ayers (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: While Kid Colt recuperates from gunshot wounds from a dishonest gambler during a card game, “He Who Rides the Nightwinds,” the ghostly Night Rider, pursues the shooter.

Villain(s): Dack Derringer Team-Up Trivia: • 20-page new story, accompanied by six reprints, a mix of Kid Colt stories and other Westerns.

© Marvel.

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #1 (July 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND DRACULA Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Ship of Fiends!”

Writer(s): Len Wein

Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Don Heck (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The S.S. Wendell cruise ship transporting Dr. A. J. Maxfield, who created a vaccine that cures a deadly contagion that has stricken Aunt May, also has on board the Lord of Vampires and Maggia mobsters, all of whom are pursuing the scientist and the life-saving cure.

Villain(s): Dracula; the Maggia; Anthony “The Whisperer” Cavellia, Seymour “Simian” Simms; Equinox (cameo) Guest-star(s): Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • 30-page new story, accompanied by a Spider-Man reprint.

• While their storylines are intertwined, Spider-Man and Dracula’s actual encounter is limited to a three-panel sequence early in the story where Peter Parker accidentally bumps into the Lord of the Vampires.

• Equinox’s appearance is continued in Marvel Team-Up #23 (July 1974).

• The story’s cure for Aunt May’s virus is referenced in Amazing Spider-Man #134 (July 1974).

• Giant-Size Spider-Man #1 was preceded in print by Giant-Size Super-Heroes featuring Spider-Man #1 (June 1974), featuring an all-new story pitting Spidey against Morbius and Man-Wolf.

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #2 (Oct. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND MASTER OF KUNG FU Cover: Gil Kane (p) and John Romita, Sr. and Tony Mortellaro (i) Story Title: “Masterstroke!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Spider-Man and Shang-Chi’s respective hand-to-hand combat skills are put to the test as the two are duped into conflict. As Shang-Chi’s evil father, Fu Manchu, plots to place a mind-control device atop the Empire State Building, Spidey and the Master of Kung Fu join forces.

Villain(s): Fu Manchu, Tak Guest-star(s): Denis Nayland Smith, Black Jack Tarr Team-Up Trivia: • 30-page new story, accompanied by a Spider-Man reprint.

• In a fight scene, Spidey borrows the Thing’s battle cry: “It’s clobberin’ time!”

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #3 (Jan. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND DOC SAVAGE Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “The Yesterday Connection!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: An otherworldly woman named Desinna who seeks SpiderMan’s aid involves the Wall-Crawler

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in a time-crossing escapade in Doc Savage’s era of 1934.

Villain(s): Desinna, Tarros Guest-star(s): Doc Savage’s “Fabulous Five” operatives Ham, Monk, Renny, Long Tom, and Johnny; Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia Team-Up Trivia: • 33-page new story, accompanied by a Spider-Man reprint.

• Marvel licensed Doc Savage from publisher Condé Nast between 1972 and 1977 and published both color and black-and-white Doc Savage titles.

• This was Marvel’s first Doc Savage team-up with a Marvel character, the second being a Thing team-up in Marvel Two-in-One #21 (Nov. 1976).

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #4 (Apr. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND THE PUNISHER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “To Sow the Seeds of Death’s Day!” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Reunited when foiling a kidnapping, an apprehensive Spidey and his one-time foe the Punisher form a pact and are led into conflict with a diabolical weapons broker.

Villain(s): Moses Magnum Team-Up Trivia: • 27-page new story, accompanied by Spider-Man reprint.

• Third appearance of the Punisher.

• First appearance of Moses Magnum.

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #5 (July 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND THE MAN-THING Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Tom Palmer (i) Story Title: “Beware the Path of the Monster!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i), with Dave Hunt (backgrounds) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Peter Parker journeys to the Florida Everglades to snap pictures of the macabre Man-Thing for the Daily Bugle, but his old friend Dr. Curt Connors’ reappearance as the lethal Lizard propels Spider-Man into a boggy battle.

Villain(s): The Lizard Guest-star(s): President Gerald Ford Team-Up Trivia: • 3 0-page new story, accompanied by Spider-Man reprint.

•G wen Stacy clone appearance.

•C ontinued in Amazing Spider-Man #147 (Aug. 1975).

GIANT-SIZE SPIDER-MAN #6 (Dec. 1975) SPIDER-MAN GUEST-STARRING THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito (i) Team-Up Trivia: •N o new story; all Spider-Man reprints.

228

© Marvel.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #1 (Mar. 1972) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas!”

Writer(s): Roy Thomas Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Stan Lee Synopsis: It’s the thieving Sandman, not the Grinch, who’s threatening to steal the Yuletide spirit from Spidey and the Torch, but the two heroes discover that their enemy may not be so bad after all.

Guest-star(s): Misty Knight; Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Thing) Villain(s): Sandman Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man remarks that he has only encountered Sandman once, while in fact he had previously fought Sandman three times, in Amazing Spider-Man #4 (Sept.

1963), ASM Annual #1 (1964), and ASM #18 (Nov. 1964).

• Johnny Storm does not appear in his FF uniform in the story, but instead in civilian attire, a 1970s bell-bottomed outfit.

• First appearance of Misty Knight, as a rescue victim, although her identity is not disclosed until MTU #64 (Dec. 1977).

• Early example of Sandman’s tenderness, which would later be explored by writer Tom DeFalco in Marvel Two-in-One and elsewhere.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #2 (May 1972) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Gil Kane (p) and John Romita, Sr. (i) Story Title: “And Spidey Makes Four!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Stan Lee Synopsis: A mind-controlled SpiderMan becomes the fourth member of the Frightful Four and the quartet invades the FF’s Baxter Building HQ. Villain(s): Frightful Four (Wizard, Sandman, Trapster, Spider-Man); Annihilus MARVEL TEAM-UP #3 (July 1972) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Story Title: “The Power to Purge!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Stan Lee Synopsis: Once Michael Morbius’ fiancée implores the Fantastic Four to help her lover-turned-vampire, the Human Torch calls upon Morbius’ former foe, Spider-Man, to track down

The Team-Up Companion

the scientifically created bloodsucker.

Guest-star(s): Fantastic Four (Thing, Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic); Archie Bunker (on TV) Villain(s): Morbius, Jefferson Bolt (vampire) Team-Up Trivia: • The Thing watches All in the Family on television, and tells the intruding Johnny (Torch) Storm to “Stifle yourself, ya dingbat!,” Bunker’s catchphrase from the popular 1970s sitcom.

• Continued in MTU #4.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #4 (Sept.

1972) SPIDER-MAN AND THE X-MEN Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “And Then—the X-Men!” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Steve Mitchell (i); John Romita, Sr. and Frank Giacoia (i) on flashback Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Morbius the Living Vampire, who evaded capture by Spidey and the Torch in the previous issue, attracts the attention of fellow scientist Charles Xavier, who reactivates his dormant X-Men. The mutants soon come into conflict with Spidey, wrongly accused of kidnapping Morbius’ former colleague.

Guest-star(s): The Beast (Hank McCoy); Human Torch (flashback) Villain(s): Morbius; the Lizard (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #3.

• This a rare new appearance of the X-Men, published during a period when their series had been demoted to reprints. X-Men #66 (Mar. 1970) contained the series’ final new story until their 1975 revamp in GiantSize X-Men #1.

• The X-Men appearing are Professor X, Angel, Iceman, Cyclops, and Marvel Girl, all in civilian clothing.

• Hank (Beast) McCoy, seen in a cameo, declines Professor X’s summons due to other commitments. At the time the Beast, who had recently been further mutated into a monstrous form, was starring in his own solo series in Amazing Adventures #11 (Mar. 1972)–17 (Mar. 1973).

• Letterer John Costanza spells his name “Jon” in the opening credits.

• A sight gag from artist Gil Kane inserts himself into a newspaper, a joke obituary, with the cut-off headline: “Well-known cartoonist found in—.”

• “Mail it to Team-Up” letters column premieres in this issue.

• A next-issue ad touts the story “The Eye of the Basilisk,” but the Basilisk does not appear until the Spider-Man/Captain Marvel team-up in MTU #16 (Dec. 1973).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #5 (Nov. 1972) SPIDER-MAN AND THE VISION Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i)

Story Title: “A Passion of the Mind!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: As Spider-Man attempts to help the Android Avenger, the Vision, who is experiencing seizures, they battle a Skrull-created war machine called Monstroid, under the command of the FF’s mind-controlling foe, the Puppet Master.

Villain(s): The Puppet Master, Monstroid Team-Up Trivia: • First “solo” appearance of the Vision without the Avengers and first cover appearance of a “Vision” logo.

• Continued in MTU #6.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #6 (Jan. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THE THING Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “…As Those Who Will Not See!” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Puppet Master, the FF’s longtime and sometimes sympathetic foe, reunites with his stepdaughter Alicia Masters… then leads Spider-Man and the Thing into the deathtrap-laden hideaway he shares with the malevolent Mad Thinker.

Villain(s): The Puppet Master, the Mad Thinker, Puppet Master’s android Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #5.

• A flashback retells Puppet Master and Alicia Masters’ origins. The villain confesses that he was responsible for Alicia’s blinding.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #7 (Mar. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THOR Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “A Hitch in Time!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: A chance encounter between Peter Parker and the Thunder God unites them as reality bends before their very eyes.

Villain(s): Kryllk the Cruel, Kryllk’s army Guest-star(s): Iron Man, the Scarlet Witch; the Watcher; Fandral Team-Up Trivia: • MTU goes monthly with this issue.

• Parker changes to Spider-Man before Thor.

• The time-manipulating device Kryllk wields is called the Dark Crystal. A decade later, Muppeteer Jim Henson’s full-length fantasy movie, The Dark Crystal (no relation to the MTU story), would be released and adapted to comic books in Marvel Super Special #24 (Feb. 1983). Marvel also serialized the adaptation into three issues of a Dark Crystal comic book.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #8 (Apr. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THE CAT Cover: Jim Mooney Story Title: “The Man-Killer Moves at Midnight!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Mooney Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The then-current Women’s Liberation movement colors this tale that combines Spidey and the Cat in a clash with a group of violent extremists led by a cybernetic supervillainess.

Villain(s): Man-Killer, unnamed anti-Women’s Lib militia; Drake; A.I.M. (behind the scenes) Team-Up Trivia: • This issue was published between The Cat #3 (Apr. 1973) and 4 (June 1973), the series’ final issue.

The Cat would become Tigra the Were-Woman in Giant-Size Creatures #1 (July 1974).

•F irst appearance of Man-Killer.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #9 (May 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON MAN Cover: John Romita, Sr. (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Tomorrow War!” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Frank Bolle (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: After being drawn together by an inexplicable attack on Avengers headquarters, Iron Man and Spidey are lured by the Tomorrow Man into his battle against another time-traveling villain, Kang.

Villain(s): Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Kang Guest-star(s): The Avengers (Vision, Black Panther, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Thor) Team-Up Trivia: • Romita and Sinnott’s depiction of the flying Iron Man on the cover would later be reused as the cornerbox image on Iron Man, beginning with issue #89 (Aug. 1976).

• A footnote cites the Tomorrow Man’s previous appearance as Thor #102, but should have instead cited Journey into Mystery #102 (Mar. 1964), as that series had yet to be retitled Thor during the Zarrko appearance.

• Continued in MTU #10.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #10 (June 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: John Romita, Sr. (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Time Bomb!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: With Iron Man injured and the Avengers incapacitated, Spidey turns to his pal the Torch for help in tracking down explosives Zarrko has placed throughout time.

Villain(s): Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Kang Guest-star(s): Iron Man; the Avengers (Vision, Black Panther, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Thor)

Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #9.

• The Torch is wearing his red FF uniform.

• Continued in MTU #10.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #11 (July 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THE INHUMANS Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “The Doomsday Gambit!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway (plot) and Len Wein (script) Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Spider-Man, “a pivotal player in a centuries-spanning conflict for the domination of Earth’s future,” invades Atillan, the secreted homeland of the Inhumans, seeking their aid to liberate the captured Avengers from Kang in the 23rd Century.

Villain(s): Zarrko the Tomorrow Man, Kang; Maximus the Mad Guest-star(s): Iron Man (flashback), the Human Torch (flashback); Omega; the Avengers (Iron Man, Vision, Black Panther, Captain America, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Thor) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #10.

• The Omega in this story is the Inhuman android constructed by Maximus and previously seen in Fantastic Four #131–132 (Feb.– Mar. 1973). He is not to be confused with the superhero Omega, who would later begin his own shortlived series, Omega the Unknown #1 (Mar. 1976)–10 (Oct. 1977).

• (Spoiler alert!) At story’s end it is revealed that this is not the real Kang, but a duplicate. Many years later, Fantastic Four Annual #25 (1992) explained that this was a Kang robot controlled by the real Kang.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #12 (Aug. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THE WEREWOLF (BY NIGHT) Cover: Gil Kane (p) and John Romita, Sr. (i) Story Title: “Wolf At Bay” Writer(s): Gerry Conway (plot) and Len Wein (script) Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: In San Francisco on Peter Parker’s working vacation, Spider-Man is attacked by the Werewolf, whose relentless assault suggests the lycanthrope might be under the sway of a manipulator.

Villain(s): Moondark Guest-star(s): Daredevil and Black Widow (photographs) Team-Up Trivia: • I n his first encounter with Moondark, Jack Russell, in his human, non-Werewolf form, jokingly calls the malevolent mage “Moondrake,” as in the comic-strip hero Mandrake the Magician.

• Continued in Daredevil #103 (Sept. 1973).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #13 (Sept. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN AMERICA Cover: Gil Kane (p) and John Romita, Sr. (i) Story Title: “The Granite Sky!” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i), with uncredited background inks by Dave Hunt Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Back in New York and lamenting the murder of Gwen Stacy, Spider-Man is drawn into a chance encounter with Captain America that involves the agents of A.I.M. and S.H.I.E.L.D., as well as a vengeful Grey Gargoyle, the villain with the touch of stone.

Villain(s): Grey Gargoyle, A.I.M. Guest-star(s): S.H.I.E.L.D., Dum Dum Dugan, Nick Fury; Falcon (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Nathaniel the drunken sailor from the opening wharf scene is the same pep talker seen in a similar role in MTU #2.

• The Falcon is shown in his original green costume in a flashback to Captain America #142 (Oct. 1971), retelling the previous clash between Cap and the Grey Gargoyle.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #14 (Oct. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Mayhem Is… the Men-Fish!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Wayne Howard (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Web-Slinger joins forces with Prince Namor and encounters a team-up of two aquatic villains and their legion of monsters, the Men-Fish.

Villain(s): Tiger Shark, Dr. Dorcas, Men-Fish Guest-star(s): Hulk (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Spidey jokingly calls Subby “Spock ears.”

• Tiger Shark’s origin is retold in a flashback.

• First appearance of the Men-Fish.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #15 (Nov. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND THE GHOST RIDER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i), alterations by John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “If An Eye Offend Thee…”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Ross Andru (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson attend a stunt cycle show starring the Ghost Rider.

Once the event is crashed by the mind-controlling, motorcycling Orb, Spider-Man is coaxed into action.

Villain(s): The Orb, Orb’s motorcycle gang

Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of the Orb. MARVEL TEAM-UP #16 (Dec. 1973) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN MARVEL Cover: John Romita, Sr. (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Beware the Basilisk, My Son!” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Captain Marvel dispatches his ally Rick Jones, with whom he shares a body, to retrieve the Alpha Stone, a Kree power source currently displayed at a museum. An accident with the gem transforms the thief who was stealing it into the Basilisk, just as Spider-Man swings past the museum on patrol.

Villain(s): Basilisk Guest-star(s): Rick Jones Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of the Basilisk.

• Kane’s depiction of the bald, blueskinned, bulge-eyed Basilisk in the villain’s origin scene evokes memories of the artist’s rendering of the villain Dr. Evil from 1969 issues of DC’s Captain Action comic book.

• Continued in MTU #17.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #17 (Jan. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND MISTER FANTASTIC Cover: John Romita, Sr. (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Chaos At the Earth’s Core!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and “Everybody” (Sal Trapani, Frank Giacoia, Mike Esposito) (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Captain Marvel is trapped within the Omega Stone, a Kree gem used as a power source by the subterranean villain the Mole Man. Spidey enlists Reed Richards for the rescue of Mar-Vell.

Villain(s): Basilisk, Moloids, Mole Man Guest-star(s): Rick Jones Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #16.

• Richards informs Spidey of the recent breakup of the FF, which took place in Fantastic Four #141 (Dec. 1973).

• The end caption refers readers to Captain Marvel’s next appearance, in Daredevil #107 (Jan. 1974).

• A sequel to this story appears in MTU #47.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #18 (Feb. 1974) THE HUMAN TORCH AND THE HULK Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Where Bursts the Bomb!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito and Frank Giacoia (i)

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229

Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: When Blastaar the Living Bomb is unleashed by a rogue scientist, the Human Torch must coax the Incredible Hulk into helping him apprehend the raging villain.

Villain(s): Professor Paxton, Blastaar Guest-star(s): Wyatt Wingfoot; Mr. Fantastic, Thing (flashback); Angel, Beast (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • First MTU with the Torch as the headliner.

• Johnny Storm wears his red FF uniform in this story.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #19 (Mar. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND KA-ZAR Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Coming of…

Stegron the Dinosaur Man!” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Spidey ventures to the Savage Land at the request of Dr. Curt (Lizard) Connors to stop the scientist-turned-monster Stegron, teaming with Ka-Zar and battling dinosaurs along the way.

Villain(s): The Lizard (flashback); dinosaurs, Swamp-Men, Stegron the Dinosaur Man Guest-star(s): S.H.I.E.L.D. Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Stegron.

• Continued in MTU #20.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #20 (Apr. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND THE BLACK PANTHER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and John Romita, Sr. (i) Story Title: “Dinosaurs on Broadway!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: With dominion over a throng of dinosaurs, Stegron invades Manhattan, and Spidey and the Black Panther rally together to stop him.

Villain(s): Stegron the Dinosaur Man, dinosaurs, Swamp-Men (flashback) Guest-star(s): Ka-Zar (flashback), Dr. Curt Connors Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #19.

• First of many MTUs drawn by Sal Buscema.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #21 (May 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND DOCTOR STRANGE Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Spider and the Sorcerer!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: With the deadly Wand of Watoomb under his control, evil mage Xandu negates his foes Spider-Man

230

and Dr. Strange’s superpowers, until Strange creates a counterspell that gives him Spidey’s powers and makes the Web-Slinger a sorcerer.

Villain(s): Xandu the Unspeakable Team-Up Trivia: • This is a sequel to Spidey and Strange’s first meeting and battle with Xandu, published in Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2 (1965) and later reprinted in Doctor Strange #179 (Apr. 1969).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #22 (June 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND HAWKEYE Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “The Messiah Machine!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Hawkeye, no longer with the Avengers, has stumbled across a network of robot thieves and enlists Spidey’s aid in investigating their master, the sentient computerturned-supervillain Quasimodo.

Villain(s): Quasimodo, Automatoids Guest-star(s): The Beast (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The headstrong Hawkeye was a free agent at the time of this story, having quit the Avengers in Avengers #109 (Mar. 1973), which was followed by a brief stint with the Defenders, beginning in Defenders #7 (Aug. 1973).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #23 (July 1974) THE HUMAN TORCH AND THE ICEMAN Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “The Night of the Frozen Inferno” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito (i) with uncredited inking assists by Dave Hunt Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: After being tricked into a fire-vs.-ice conflict, the Torch and Iceman team up to tackle a new villain, Equinox, whose powers are an amalgamation of their own.

Villain(s): Equinox Guest-star(s): Spider-Man; X-Men (Angel, Cyclops, Marvel Girl) Team-Up Trivia: • Second MTU with the Torch as the headliner.

• Reference is made to the new GiantSize Spider-Man #1.

• Johnny Storm wears his red FF uniform in this story.

• First full appearance of Equinox.

• R are guest-appearance of the X-Men in this pre-New X-Men era; on the stands at the time of this issue’s release was X-Men #88, during the book’s reprint phase.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #24 (Aug. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND BROTHER VOODOO Cover: Gil Kane (p) and John Romita, Sr. (i)

The Team-Up Companion

Story Title: “Moondog Is Another Name for Murder!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Sal Trapani (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Spidey’s rescue of a Manhattan actress from bizarrely clad cultists leads him into a team-up with the bayou mage Brother Voodoo, who has pursued the cult leader from New Orleans.

Villain(s): Moondog the Malicious, Moondog’s cult MARVEL TEAM-UP #25 (Sept. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND DAREDEVIL Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Three Into Two Won’t Go!” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: As Spidey is about to apprehend the criminal Cat-Man, Daredevil intervenes and the two briefly tussle, Marvel style—until DD explains he is trailing Cat-Man in a kidnapping case, for which he enlists the Web-Slinger’s aid.

Villain(s): The Unholy Three, a.k.a. the Unholy Trio (Cat-Man Ape-Man, Bird-Man) MARVEL TEAM-UP #26 (Oct. 1974) THE HUMAN TORCH AND THOR Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “The Fire This Time” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Mike Esposito and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Lava Man asks the Torch for help in contacting Thor, as the Thunder God—and his magic hammer—are needed in a subterranean war against an army of Lava Men led by an evil witch doctor.

Villain(s): Lava Man; Jinku, Lava Men Guest-star(s): Avengers (Captain America, Wasp, Iron Man) (flashback); Moloids Team-Up Trivia: • Third MTU with the Torch as the headliner.

• Thor’s helmet is missing its wings on the cover.

• Johnny Storm wears his red FF uniform in this story.

• Iron Man is drawn wearing the wrong armor in his flashback depiction.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #27 (Nov. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “A Friend in Need!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Through masquerades and chicanery, Spidey’s longtime enemy,

the face-changing Chameleon, tricks the easily manipulated Hulk into busting the villain’s old friend out of prison.

Villain(s): The Chameleon, Joe Colt Guest-star(s): “Rick Jones” Team-Up Trivia: • Chameleon disguises himself as Spider-Man and Rick Jones.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #28 (Dec. 1974) SPIDER-MAN AND HERCULES Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “The City Stealers!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Earthquakes across Manhattan alert Spider-Man and Hercules to the city’s imperilment.

The heroes unite and discover that more than a seismological threat awaits.

Villain(s): The City Stealers Team-Up Trivia: • The indicia incorrectly cite this issue as featuring “SPIDER-MAN and DAREDEVIL.” MARVEL TEAM-UP #29 (Jan. 1975) THE HUMAN TORCH AND IRON MAN Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Beware the Coming of… Infinitus! or How Can You Stop the Reincarnated Man” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Iron Man reluctantly joins forces with the brazen young Torch to tackle an invader of Tony Stark’s industries: the supervillain Infinitus, a reincarnated Egyptian pharaoh returned to life to wreak vengeance upon the descendants of his foes.

Villain(s): Infinitus the Reincarnated Man Team-Up Trivia: • Fourth MTU with the Torch as the headliner.

• Johnny Storm wears his red FF uniform in this story.

• Iron Man wears his 1970s armor with a “nose” on his faceplate.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #30 (Feb. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND THE FALCON Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “All That Glitters Is Not Gold!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: When Spidey busts up a seemingly routine mugging, he is drawn into a streetwise adventure with the Falcon and an encounter with Midas, a villain with a bias against African Americans.

Villain(s): Midas

MARVEL TEAM-UP #31 (Mar. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON FIST Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “For a Few Fists More” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Jim Mooney (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Drom, the so-called “Backwards Man” who is aging in reverse, has an ulterior motive for puppeting Spider-Man and Iron Fist into conflict.

Villain(s): Drom the Backwards Man Team-Up Trivia: • Conway’s story title is a play on For a Few Dollars More, the 1965 spaghetti Western directed by Sergio Leone.

• Drom speaks backwards, with footnotes translating his dialogue.

Similarly, DC Comics’ Zatanna the Magician, who in the Bronze Age regularly appeared in Justice League of America, a book written

by Conway, spoke her incantations in reverse.

• The concept of a man born elderly and de-aging toward infancy was popularized in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which was released as a motion picture in 2008.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #32 (Apr. 1975) THE HUMAN TORCH AND THE SON OF SATAN Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “All the Fires in Hell…!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: The possession of Wyatt Wingfoot by a sinister force leads Johnny Storm to seek the assistance of exorcist Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan.

Villain(s): The demon Dryminextes Guest-star(s): Thing, Wyatt Wingfoot Team-Up Trivia: • Fifth MTU with the Torch as the headliner.

• Johnny Storm wears his red FF uniform in this story.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #33 (May 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND NIGHTHAWK Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Anybody Here Know a Guy Named Meteor Man?” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: After Nighthawk’s discovery of his home’s plundering

by Spider-Man’s old foe the Looter, the man with meteor-infused superpowers, the flying Defender turns to a distracted Wall-Crawler for assistance.

Villain(s): Meteor Man (The Looter); Jeremiah, Innocents of God (cult)

Team-Up Trivia: • Meteor Man, formerly calling himself the Looter, originally battled Spidey in Amazing Spider-Man #36 (May 1966).

• Marvel published an entirely different Meteor Man in 1993, based upon that year’s Meteor Man movie starring Robert Townsend: a double-length Meteor Man movie adaptation followed by a six-issue miniseries of new stories.

• Continued in MTU #34.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #34 (June 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND VALKYRIE Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Beware the Death Crusade!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Nighthawk’s fellow Defender Valkyrie takes us the quest to join Spidey in capturing Meteor Man, while cult leader Jeremiah exhibits abilities far beyond those of persuasion.

Villain(s): Meteor Man, Jeremiah, Innocents of God Guest-star(s): Nighthawk Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #33.

• Continued in MTU #35.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #35 (July 1975) THE HUMAN TORCH AND DOCTOR STRANGE Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Blood Church!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Dr. Strange investigates the whereabouts of his missing Defenders teammate Valkyrie, leading him to Johnny Storm for help. The duo struggles against a powerful cult to liberate Valkyrie from their clutches.

Villain(s): The Innocents of God, Jeremiah, Oruthu the demon, demonic creatures Guest-star(s): Clea, Valkyrie Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #34.

• Sixth and final MTU with the Torch as the headliner.

• Johnny Storm wears his red FF uniform in this story.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #36 (Aug. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND THE FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Once Upon a Time, in a Castle…”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: While busting up a routine heist, Spidey is waylaid by a blast

from an unseen enemy and wakes up trapped in a Balkan castle laboratory, beside… the Frankenstein Monster?

Villain(s): The Monster Maker; Dracula (flashback), Clone-creature (flashback) Guest-star(s): S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Klemmer, Man-Wolf Team-Up Trivia: • One week after this issue went on sale, Frankenstein Monster was abruptly cancelled with issue #18 (Sept. 1975).

• Continued in MTU #37.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #37 (Sept. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND MAN-WOLF Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and John Romita, Sr. (i) Story Title: “Snow Death!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Baron Ludwig von Shtupf, the Monster Maker, recruits the mutated astronaut John Jameson— Man-Wolf—in his twisted mission to create hideous beasts.

Villain(s): The Monster Maker Guest-star(s): Frankenstein Monster, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent Klemmer Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #36.

• The title page bills this as a three-way team-up with Spidey, Man-Wolf, and the Frankenstein Monster as co-stars.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #38 (Oct. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND THE BEAST Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Night of the Griffin” Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Griffin, the hideous lion-eagle hybrid who originally fought the Beast, returns to exact revenge on his enemies.

Villain(s): The Griffin Guest-star(s): The Angel (flashback) MARVEL TEAM-UP #39 (Nov. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Chapter One: Any Number Can Slay!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Some of old foes from a previous Spidey/Torch encounter have reunited to wipe out the WebSlinger.

Villain(s): The Enforcers (Montana, Fancy Dan), Big Man, Sandman, Crime-Master Team-Up Trivia: • Sequel to Amazing Spider-Man #19 (Dec. 1964).

• Credits include a “muchas gracias” nod to Yvie Perez for Spanish translations.

• Johnny Storm has returned to his traditional blue FF uniform.

• Continued in MTU #49.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #40 (Dec. 1975) SPIDER-MAN AND THE SONS OF THE TIGER Cover: Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Murder’s Better the Second Time Around!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Spidey and the Torch, with martial-artist guest-stars the Sons of the Tiger, are caught in the crossfire between opposing underworld factions.

Villain(s): The Enforcers (Montana, Fancy Dan), Big Man, Sandman, Crime-Master Guest-star(s): Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #39.

• The Sons of the Tiger are Abe Brown, Bob Diamond, and Lin Sun, plus Lotus Shinchuko.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #41 (Jan. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND THE SCARLET WITCH Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Story Title: “A Witch in Time!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Spider-Man rushes to the aid of the Scarlet Witch, who is under the thrall of Cotton Mather, a tenacious “Witch-Slayer” from centuries ago.

Villain(s): Cotton Mather the WitchSlayer Guest-star(s): The Vision Team-Up Trivia: • Mantlo’s script erroneously places Dr. Doom’s time platform in his Latverian castle when it instead resides at Doom’s Upstate New York lair.

• Cotton Mather (1663–1728) was a real-life Puritan minister and key figure behind the Salem witch trials.

• Continued in MTU #42.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #42 (Feb. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND THE VISION Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Visions of Hate!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Via Dr. Doom’s time machine, Spidey and Vision have pursued the captive Scarlet Witch to 1692’s Salem witch-trials, where they encounter the malevolent Dark Rider.

Villain(s): Cotton Mather, Dark Rider, Dr. Doom Guest-star(s): Scarlet Witch Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #41.

• Continued in MTU #43.

Team-Up Index

231

MARVEL TEAM-UP #43 (Mar. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND DR. DOOM Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “A Past Gone Mad!” Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: In the puritanical 17th Century, Spider-Man finds himself allying with the FF’s fiercest foe as the Dark Rider targets the timetraveling Dr. Doom.

Villain(s): Cotton Mather, Dark Rider Guest-star(s): Scarlet Witch, Vision Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #42.

• Continued in MTU #44.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #44 (Apr. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND MOONDRAGON Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Story Title: “Death in the Year Before Yesterday” Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The telepathic Avenger Moondragon is drawn to the distant past to assist her beleaguered teammates the Scarlet Witch and Vision, as well as their ally, Spider-Man. Villain(s): Cotton Mather, Dark Rider, Dr. Doom Guest-star(s): Iron Man; Scarlet Witch, Vision Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #43.

• Continued in MTU #45.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #45 (May 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND KILLRAVEN Cover: Gil Kane Story Title: “Future-Shock!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Spidey’s attempt to timetravel home from the 17th Century to 1976 goes awry and he is transported to 2019, where a war of the worlds is ravaging Earth as Mars attacks.

Villain(s): Cotton Mather; Martian Masters; Green Goblin (hallucination) Guest-star(s): Killraven’s Freemen (M’Shulla, Old Skull, Mint Julep, Carmilla Frost, Volcana Ash) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #44.

• Continued in MTU #46.

• Killraven’s origin and series highlights are retold in a flashback.

• Killraven’s “War of the Worlds” series, adapting H. G. Wells’ sci-fi classic to the Marvel Universe, began in Amazing Adventures #18 (May 1973) and ran through issue #39 (Nov. 1976).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #46 (June 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND DEATHLOK

232

Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Future-Shock Part II: …Am I Now or Have I Ever Been?”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Spider-Man’s time-hopping continues as he arrives in a dystopian near-future version of his own New York City, where the pack of youths he spies being stalked by a cyborg terminator may not be as innocent as he assumes.

Villain(s): Cubists (mutant cannibal gang), Strake and Grisson (mercenaries) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #45.

• Continued in Marvel Two-in-One #17.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #47 (July 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND THE THING Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “I Have to Fight the Basilisk!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Spidey and the Thing join forces to upend the Basilisk’s vengeful plot to destroy New York City with an active volcano.

Guest-star(s): Captain Marvel (flashback); Mr. Fantastic (flashback) Villain(s): Basilisk; Mole Man (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from Marvel Two-in-One #17.

• The MTU and MTIO creative teams swap their respective titles with this two-part crossover.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #48 (Aug. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON MAN Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “A Fine Night for Dying!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Spidey’s shady reputation makes Iron Man suspicious of the Wall-Crawler once a Stark Industries fuel depot is bombed, but tough-asnails police captain Jean DeWolff persuades the heroes to work together to find the real bomber.

Villain(s): The Wraith Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Jean DeWolff, who would become an important member of Spider-Man’s Bronze Age supporting cast.

• Continued in MTU #49.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #49 (Sept. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON MAN Cover: John Romita, Sr. (p) and Aubrey Bradford (i) Story Title: “Madness Is All in the Mind!”

The Team-Up Companion

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Spidey and Iron Man are stymied by the Wraith’s mind control and apparent supernatural powers, and realize they need assistance from someone versed in the mystic arts.

Villain(s): The Wraith Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #48.

• Iron Man’s armor is incorrectly shown as perspiring, sparking reader response published in issue #53’s lettercol.

• Continued in MTU #50.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #50 (Oct. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND DR. STRANGE Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Mystery of the Wraith!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: A shocking connection is revealed between the Wraith and Captain DeWolff.

Guest-star(s): Iron Man Villain(s): The Wraith, Phillip DeWolff, Brian DeWolff Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #49.

• Continued in MTU #51.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #51 (Nov. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON MAN Cover: John Romita, Sr. (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “The Trial of the Wraith!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: There’s courtroom chaos when the Wraith’s raging powers disrupt the criminal trial against the villain’s alter ego and his manipulative father.

Guest-star(s): Dr. Strange; Matt Murdock, Nick Fury, Professor X, Moondragon; Hulk (cameo) Villain(s): The Wraith, Phillip DeWolff, Brian DeWolff Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #50.

• The Hulk appearance at story’s end is a teaser for MTU #53.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #52 (Dec. 1976) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN AMERICA Cover: John Romita, Sr. (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Danger: Demon on a Rampage!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Gerry Conway Synopsis: A dimensional doorway opens in Manhattan, and out spews a monstrous behemoth… followed by Captain America.

Guest-star(s): The Falcon Villain(s): Demon from another dimension, Batroc the Leaper Team-Up Trivia: • Gerry Conway is the issue’s guest writer-editor.

• Spidey is thinking about his recent encounter with the Tarantula, which occurred in Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-Man #1 (Dec. 1976), on sale the same day as MTU #52.

• The demon, the Falcon, Captain America, and other characters emerging from the dimensional doorway are exiting writerartist Jack Kirby’s storyline in Captain America #201–203 (Sept.–Nov. 1976).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #53 (Jan. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK Cover: Dave Cockrum (p) and John Romita, Sr. (i) Story Title: “Nightmare in New Mexico!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Once Spider-Man happens across the Hulk battling the mysterious Woodgod in the ghost town of Liberty, New Mexico, things take a turn for the worse when Hulk directs his ire toward Spidey.

Guest-star(s): Woodgod; X-Men (Professor X, Banshee, Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Phoenix, Storm, Wolverine) Villain(s): Major Mel Tremens Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #51 (Hulk cameo) and Marvel Team-Up Annual #1 (Spider-Man/X-Men).

•S econd appearance of “The Man-Brute Called” Woodgod, created

by Mantlo and Keith Giffen in Marvel Premiere #31 (Aug. 1976).

• Continued in MTU #54.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #54 (Feb. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Spider in the Middle!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Spidey learns there’s a more dangerous threat than the Hulk in the deserted New Mexico town he finds himself in—it’s the site of a top-secret lab where a deadly nerve gas is being developed.

Guest-star(s): Woodgod Villain(s): Major Mel Tremens Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #53.

• Continued in MTU #55.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #55 (Mar. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND WARLOCK Cover: Dave Cockrum

Story Title: “Spider, Spider, On the Moon!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Rocketed into orbit after his Hulk encounter in the previous issue, Spider-Man is rescued by Adam Warlock. But the Stranger’s attack on Warlock thrusts Spidey into a cosmic clash on the lunar surface.

Guest-star(s): Hulk, Woodgod Villain(s): The Stranger; Dr. Octopus, Green Goblin, Kingpin, Lizard, Mysterio, Sandman, Vulture (illusions) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #54.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #56 (Apr. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND DAREDEVIL Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Double Danger At the Daily Bugle!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: An extortion plan by the supervillain duo of Electro and Blizzard attracts the attention of Spidey and Daredevil.

Villain(s): Electro, Blizzard MARVEL TEAM-UP #57 (May 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND THE BLACK WIDOW Cover: Dave Cockrum Story Title: “When Slays the Silver Samurai!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Black Widow races to the aid of Spider-Man as the Wall-Crawler tangles with the mutant warrior, the Silver Samurai.

Villain(s): Silver Samurai Team-Up Trivia: • The story intimates a forthcoming continuation in Black Widow’s super-team title The Champions, but Champions was cancelled (with issue #17, Jan. 1978) before that occurred.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #58 (June 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND GHOST RIDER Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “Panic on Pier One!” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema (with Dave Cockrum) (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: A vengeful Trapster attacks Johnny (Ghost Rider) Blaze, who’s working as a stunt rider on a TV show filming in Peter Parker’s neighborhood.

Villain(s): Trapster; Sandman (flashback), Wizard (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Blaze is working as the stuntman on the television series Stunt-Master.

• Trapster’s enmity for Ghost Rider stems from the villain’s appearance in Ghost Rider #13 (Aug. 1975).

• The “Mail It to Team-Up” letters column is renamed “Web-Zingers” this issue.

• MTU #62’s lettercol reveals that an uncredited Dave Cockrum penciled aircraft on page 15 of issue #58.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #59 (July 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND YELLOWJACKET AND THE WASP Cover: Dave Cockrum Story Title: “Some Say Spidey Will Die by Fire… Some Say by Ice!” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: An unexpected elemental attack with fire and ice blasts temporarily disables Spidey, and the husband-and-wife Avengers rally to his aid.

Villain(s): Equinox Guest-star(s): Human Torch (flashback), Iceman (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Page 1’s header calls this a Spider-Man/Yellowjacket team-up, which the cover credits both Yellowjacket and the Wasp as Spidey’s co-stars.

• Claremont dedicates this issue to Roy Thomas, and explains his reasons for doing so in the letters column.

•S pidey recounts Equinox’s past appearances in Giant-Size SpiderMan #1 and in MTU #18’s Human Torch/Iceman team-up.

• Johnny Storm wears his red FF uniform in his flashback.

• Continued in MTU #60.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #60 (Aug. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND THE WASP Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “A Matter of Love… and Death!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Wasp is enraged at Equinox for last issue’s apparent murder of her husband, Yellowjacket, while the villain’s mother stands up for her superpowered son.

Villain(s): Equinox Guest-star(s): Yellowjacket Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #59.

• Continued in MTU #61.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #61 (Sept. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Not All Thy Powers Can Save Thee!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: A magical artifact disturbed during last issue’s battle with Equinox unleashes the Super-Skrull, whose spirit was trapped inside it.

Villain(s): Super-Skrull Guest-star(s): Carol (Ms. Marvel) Danvers; Mr. Fantastic (flashback), Thing (flashback); Tigra (flashback), Red Wolf (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #60.

• The Soul Catcher artifact was given to Reed Richards to study by Tigra and guest-star Red Wolf in Tigra’s series in Marvel Chillers #7 (Oct. 1976).

• Continued in MTU #62.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #62 (Oct. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND MS. MARVEL Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “All This and the QE2!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Super-Skrull is after a powerful gem being transported on a cruise liner—luckily one of its passengers is Carol Danvers, a.k.a.

Ms. Marvel!

Villain(s): Super-Skrull Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #61.

• Claremont borrows the name of the story’s powerful crystal, cavorite, from the works of sci-fi master H. G. Wells.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #63 (Nov. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON FIST Cover: Dave Cockrum (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Night of the Dragon!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: What good can Spidey and Misty Knight do against Steel Serpent, the combatant powerful enough to drain Iron Fist’s chi?

Villain(s): Steel Serpent, Bushmaster Guest-star(s): Misty Knight Team-Up Trivia: • Continues subplots from the recently cancelled Iron Fist #15 (Sept. 1977).

• Detective-martial artist Misty Knight, confidant to Iron Fist, is revealed to have been the mugging victim saved

by Spidey in Marvel Team-Up #1.

• Continued in MTU #64.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #64 (Dec. 1977) SPIDER-MAN AND THE DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON Cover: Dave Cockrum Story Title: “If Death Be My Destiny…”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Spidey and martial artists Colleen Wing and Misty Knight take on Steel Serpent while Iron Fist recuperates.

Villain(s): Steel Serpent Guest-star(s): Iron Fist Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #63.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #65 (Jan. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN BRITAIN Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Introducing, Captain Britain” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Peter Parker’s new roommate, visiting British university student Brian Braddock, is a target of the crime cartel the Maggia, who suspects he might be the U.K. superhero Captain Britain.

Villain(s): Arcade; the Maggia, Miss Lock, Mr. Chambers Team-Up Trivia: • First U.S. appearance of Captain Britain. The hero was created by Chris Claremont and Herb Trimpe for Marvel U.K. and premiered in Captain Britain #1 (Oct. 1976).

Flashbacks reveal highlights from Cap’s earlier exploits.

• First appearance of Arcade.

• Continued in MTU #66.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #66 (Feb. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN BRITAIN Cover: John Byrne Story Title: “Murder World” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Spidey and Captain Britain fight for their lives to survive Arcade’s deathtrap-laden “amusement” park, Murder World.

Villain(s): Arcade, Miss Lock, Mr. Chambers, the Maggia Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #65.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #67 (Mar. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND TIGRA Cover: John Byrne (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Tigra, Tigra, Burning Bright!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Dave Hunt (i), with John Byrne inks on pg. 10 Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Tigra the Were-Woman attacks Spider-Man while under the thrall of their mutual foe, Kraven the Hunter.

Villain(s): Kraven the Hunter Team-Up Trivia: • Tigra’s auburn hair is miscolored black on the cover.

• Tigra previously encountered Kraven in her own series in Marvel Chillers #4 (Apr. 1976), also written

by Claremont.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #68 (Apr. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND THE MAN-THING Cover: John Byrne Story Title: “Measure of a Man!”

Team-Up Index

233

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Bob Wiacek (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: After liberating carnivalattraction Man-Thing from captivity, Spider-Man’s efforts to return the muck-monster to his Everglades home are upended by a demon that manipulates emotions.

Villain(s): Amos Jardine, D’Spayre Guest-star(s): Dakimh the Enchanter Team-Up Trivia: • A sight gag on page 10, wall graffiti reading “Steve Gerber Was Here,” acknowledges the former Man-Thing writer.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #69 (May 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND HAVOK Cover: Dave Cockrum Story Title: “Night of the Living God!” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Ricardo Villamonte (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Egyptology professor Ahmet Abdol is once again after the cosmicradiation superpowers of the mutant Alex Summers, a.k.a. Havok—a scenario above the pay grade of your friendly neighborhood Web-Slinger.

Villain(s): Living Pharaoh/Living Monolith Guest-star(s): Polaris, Beast, Thor Team-Up Trivia: • The Living Pharaoh’s desire for Havok’s powers dates back to X-Men #54–56 (Mar.–May 1969).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #70 (June 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND THOR Cover: John Byrne (p) and Tom Palmer (i) Story Title: “Whom Gods Destroy!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Tony DeZuniga (i) Editor(s): Jim Shooter Synopsis: As the towering Living Monolith rages through Manhattan, Spider-Man requires supwerpowered assistance from the Mighty Thor to stop him and rescue Havok.

Villain(s): Living Monolith Guest-star(s): Havok Team-Up Trivia: • A billboard in the background on a page 3 panel reads, “X-MEN – Monthly in May!” • At story’s end, the next issue blurb announces the temporary departure of Claremont and Byrne to “begin the new monthly X-Men.” • The Spider-Man syndicated newspaper strip is promoted in the lettercol via its reprinting of a Wichita Eagle article about the comic strip.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #71 (July 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND THE FALCON Cover: Ernie Chan Story Title: “Deathgarden” Writer(s): Bill Kunkel Artist(s): David Wenzel (p) and Dan Green (i)

234

Editor(s): Jim Shooter Synopsis: The comatose Captain America is critically ill after exposure to a botanical neurotoxin, and his partner Falcon and Spider-Man investigate.

Villain(s): A.I.M., Plant-Man Guest-star(s): Captain America, Dum Dum Dugan, Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D. Team-Up Trivia: • Daredevil is blurbed as the next issue’s co-star but does not appear until MTU #73.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #72 (Aug. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON MAN Cover: John Byrne (p) and Bob Layton (i) Story Title: “Crack of the Whip!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Jim Mooney Editor(s): Bob Hall Synopsis: Spidey’s intervention of a heist performed by Whiplash, the villain with the lethal lariat, leads him into a team-up with Whiplash’s foe Iron Man and a return clash with the mind-controlling Wraith.

Villain(s): Whiplash, the Maggia, the Wraith Guest-star(s): Havok MARVEL TEAM-UP #73 (Sept. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND DAREDEVIL Cover: Keith Pollard (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Story Title: “A Fluttering of Wings Most Foul!”

Writer(s): Gary Friedrich Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Bob Hall Synopsis: Peter Parker seeks legal aid for Aunt May from attorney Matt Murdock, but the return of the villainous Owl leads Murdock into action as Daredevil… and Parker as Spidey.

Villain(s): The Owl Team-Up Trivia: • Murdock’s radar sense detects Parker’s spider-powers.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #74 (Oct. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND THE NOT-READY-FOR-PRIME-TIME PLAYERS Cover: Dave Cockrum (p) and Marie Severin (i) Story Title: “Live from New York, It’s Saturday Night!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Marie Severin (i) Editor(s): Bob Hall Synopsis: While Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson are in the studio audience as Stan Lee hosts NBCTV’s Saturday Night Live, the Silver Samurai will stop at nothing to obtain a ring in the possession of comedian John Belushi.

Villain(s): Silver Samurai Guest-star(s): Hulk, Thor (standees); Stan Lee, Lorne Michaels; Ms. Marvel (Laraine Newman), Thor (Garrett Morris)

The Team-Up Companion

Team-Up Trivia: • NBC’s Saturday Night Live, which premiered in 1975, was winding down its third season when this comic was published.

• The Not-Ready-for-Prime-Time Players in the story, corresponding to the show’s cast at the time, are Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Jane Curtain, Garrett Morris, Bill Murray, Laraine Newman, and Gilda Radner.

• Rick Jones is announced as the episode’s musical guest but does not appear in the story.

• In the studio balcony are two old men with the names of two Muppets: Statler and Waldorf.

• As Peter sneaks away to become Spidey, he’s caught on camera with the graphic, “Super-hero in his spare time!”

MARVEL TEAM-UP #75 (Nov. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND POWER MAN Cover: Bob Hall Story Title: “The Smoke of That Great Burning” Writer(s): Chris Claremont (plot) and Ralph Macchio (script) Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Al Gordon (i) Editor(s): Bob Hall Synopsis: Peter Parker is none too thrilled to be dragged by Mary Jane Watson to a trendy Manhattan disco, but he’s in the right place at the right time as hoodlums appear, leading Spidey and co-star Luke Cage into a conflict with arsonists.

Villain(s): The Rat Pack (Spark, Stitches, Strafe) Guest-star(s): Truman Capote Team-Up Trivia: • The cover features a “Marvel’s TV Sensation!” blurb, signifying CBS-TV’s Amazing Spider-Man live-action series starring Nicholas Hammond as Parker/Spidey.

• The story’s Studio 13 is a nod to the real world’s Studio 54, a Manhattan hotspot at the time.

• Author Truman Capote is a bar patron at the disco.

• The story ends with the footnote, “Dedicated with respect and pride to the FDNY, New York’s bravest.”

MARVEL TEAM-UP #76 (Dec. 1978) SPIDER-MAN AND DR. STRANGE Cover: John Byrne (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “If Not for Love…”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Howard Chaykin and Jeff Aclin (p) and Juan Ortiz (i) Editor(s): Bob Hall Synopsis: Danger’s in the cards for the Sorcerer Supreme as he obtains a mysterious tarot deck, and Spidey and Ms. Marvel help Dr. Strange rescue a bedeviled Clea.

Villain(s): Silver Dagger Guest-star(s): Clea, Ms. Marvel, Wong, Marie Laveau Team-Up Trivia: • Spidey doesn’t initially recognize Ms. Marvel in her new costume, which she had recently premiered in Ms.

Marvel #20 (Oct. 1978). She was wearing her original uniform when she first met Spider-Man in MTU #68.

• Continued in MTU #77.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #77 (Jan. 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND MS. MARVEL Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “If I’m to Live… My Love Must Die” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Howard Chaykin and Jeff Aclin (p) and Juan Ortiz (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Spidey and Ms. Marvel battle Dr. Strange’s enemy Silver Dagger in New Orleans while Strange, assisted by sorceress Marie Laveau, journeys inside the Eye of Agamotto on a rescue mission to save Clea.

Villain(s): Silver Dagger; Dr. Octopus, Vulture, Kingpin, Mindless Ones, Electro, Punisher (illusions) Guest-star(s): Dr. Strange, Clea Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #76.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #78 (Feb. 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND WONDER MAN Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “Claws!”

Writer(s): Bill Kunkel Artist(s): Don Perlin (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: The Griffin roars into Avengers HQ eager for a scrap with the World’s Mightiest Heroes but must instead settle for Avenger Wonder Man—and his ally Spidey.

Villain(s): The Griffin; Viper (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The cover features a “Marvel’s TV Sensation!” blurb.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #79 (Mar. 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND RED SONJA Cover: John Byrne (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “Sword of the She-Devil” Writer(s): Chris Claremont (plot, script), John Byrne (plot) Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Terry Austin (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: An enchanted sword in a museum transforms Mary Jane Watson into Red Sonja, just in time for the “SheDevil with a Sword” to help Spidey fight the ancient high priest Kulan Gath.

Villain(s): Kulan Gath Guest-star(s): Clark Kent Team-Up Trivia: • Clark Kent cameos as a guest at the Daily Bugle Christmas party.

• A “KROM!” sound effect is an in-joke phoenetically evoking “Crom,” from the lore of sword-and-sorcery master author Robert E. Howard.

• A sequel of sorts to this story was published in 2007, a five-issue SpiderMan/Red Sonja miniseries. It was a co-publication between Marvel and the Red Sonja licensor, Dynamite.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #80 (Apr. 1979) SPIDER-MAN, DR. STRANGE, AND CLEA Cover: “Validar” (Rich Buckler) (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Story Title: “A Sorcerer Possessed!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Mike Vosburg (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: After a struggle with a werewolf, Peter Parker finds Dr. Strange’s amulet left behind.

He investigates as Spidey and turns to Strange’s apprentice Clea for help, discovering that the werewolf is actually the transformed Sorcerer Supreme.

Villain(s): Dr. Strange werewolf; Silver Dagger (flashback) Guest-star(s): Marie Laveau (flashback), Wong, Satana Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in MTU #81.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #83 (July 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND NICK FURY Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Story Title: “Slaughter on 10th Avenue” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Steve Leialoha (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Spider-Man’s assistance to the amnesiac Black Widow places him at odds with S.H.I.E.L.D. and into a conflict with Silver Samurai and Boomerang.

Villain(s): Silver Samurai, Boomerang, Viper Guest-star(s): Black Widow, S.H.I.E.L.D., Contessa Valentino Allegro De Fontaine, Clay Quartermain, Jasper Sitwell Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #82.

• Continued in MTU #84.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #81 (May 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND SATANA Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Steve Leialoha (i) Story Title: “Last Rites” Writer(s): Chris Claremont, with John Warner (research assistance) Artist(s): Mike Vosburg (p) and Steve Leialoha (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: The Devil’s Daughter, Satana, has arrived to help Spidey and Clea combat the werewolf Dr. Strange, but her saving of Strange’s soul becomes a life-or-death decision.

Villain(s): Dr. Strange werewolf, the Basilisk Guest-star(s): Dr. Strange, Clea, Wong Team-Up Trivia: •C ontinued from MTU #80.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #84 (Aug. 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND MASTER OF KUNG FU Cover: Steve Leialoha Story Title: “Catch a Falling Hero” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Steve Leialoha (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Nick Fury recruits martial artist Shang-Chi to join in the fray as vengeful Viper is revealed to be the mastermind behind the manipulation of Black Widow.

Villain(s): Silver Samurai, Boomerang, Viper, Ishiro Tagara; Cobra (flashback) Guest-star(s): Black Widow, Nick Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D., Clay Quartermain; John Belushi (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #83.

• Continued in MTU #85.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #82 (June 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND BLACK WIDOW Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Story Title: “No Way to Treat a Lady” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Steve Leialoha (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Nancy Rushman, the crimson-haired schoolteacher Spidey rescues from a gang attack, sure looks a lot like Black Widow. Soon Spidey finds himself battling a S.H.I.E.L.D. strike force as he helps defend a befuddled Widow.

Villain(s): Street gang Guest-star(s): Red Sonja (photo); S.H.I.E.L.D., Nick Fury, Contessa Valentino Allegro De Fontaine Team-Up Trivia: • Claremont’s story title is a nod to singer Helen Reddy’s 1975 hit, “Ain’t No Way to Treat a Lady.”

• Red Sonja appears with Spidey in a Daily Bugle photo, referencing MTU #79.

• Continued in MTU #83.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #85 (Sept. 1979) SPIDER-MAN, SHANG-CHI, BLACK WIDOW, AND NICK FURY Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “The Woman Who Never Was!” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Steve Leialoha (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Black Widow shakes off Viper’s brainwashing for a final showdown with the villainess, and the assembled heroes must vanquish Viper’s plan to kill President Carter and the U.S. Congress by piloting the commandeered S.H.I.E.L.D. heli-carrier into the U.S. Capitol.

Villain(s): Viper, Silver Samurai Guest-star(s): S.H.I.E.L.D., Clay Quartermain; President Jimmy Carter Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #84.

• Claremont’s story idea of a villain using an aircraft as a weapon against a U.S. landmark and its

inhabitants is eerily prescient of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C., on September 11, 2001.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #86 (Oct. 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Cover: Bob McLeod Story Title: “Story of the Year!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont, Allen Brodsky (plot) Artist(s): Bob McLeod Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Rogue space scientist Ivor Carlson aims to use the Deterrence Research Corporation’s weapons to attack an orbiting spaceship. The craft’s occupants, the Guardians, visiting from the 31st Century, covertly enlist Spidey’s aid.

Villain(s): The Deterrence Research Corporation, Ivor Carlson, Hammer and Anvil Team-Up Trivia: • The Guardians in this story are Martinex, Nikki, and Starhawk.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #87 (Nov. 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND THE BLACK PANTHER Cover: Bob McLeod Story Title: “The Razor’s Edge!”

Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Gene Colan (p) and Frank Springer (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: When the Black Panther kidnaps an executive who’s a business competitor with the nation of Wakanda, Spider-Man tracks the Avenger-turned-rogue.

Villain(s): Thomas Agar, Hellrazor, Roxxon Oil MARVEL TEAM-UP #88 (Dec. 1979) SPIDER-MAN AND THE INVISIBLE GIRL Cover: Rich Buckler Story Title: “A Child Is Waiting” Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Eduardo Barreto (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Susan Richards and Spidey team up to rescue Sue’s son, Franklin, from kidnappers.

Villain(s): Boss Morgan, the Hole-inthe-Wall Gang Guest-star(s): Yellowjacket, the Wasp, Franklin Richards Team-Up Trivia: • Chris Claremont is an unnamed party guest in the opening scene.

• Peter Parker is working as a photographer for the Daily Globe, having recently been fired from the Daily Bugle by J. Jonah Jameson in Amazing Spider-Man #191 (Apr. 1979).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #89 (Jan. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND NIGHTCRAWLER Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i)

Story Title: “Shoot Out Over Center Ring!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Michael Netzer and Rich Buckler (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Vengeful Amos Jardine hires the super-assassin Cutthroat to ambush and take down Spider-Man. Fortunately for Spidey, X-Man Nightcrawler has caught wind of the plot.

Villain(s): Amos Jardine; Arcade, Miss Locke; Cutthroat Guest-star(s): Colossus (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Sequel to MTU #68.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #90 (Feb. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND THE BEAST Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Jack Abel (i) Story Title: “Death on the Air” Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Mike Vosburg (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: A technology expo attracts the Modular Man and Killer Shrike, who pilfer a “cellular condenser.”

With the device, Modular Man manipulates microwaves to become a Kong-sized threat, and scientistheroes Spidey and Beast race to stop him.

Villain(s): Modular Man, Killer Shrike Team-Up Trivia: • Modular Man’s origin is told in a flashback. The villain was first seen in the black-and-white magazine Rampaging Hulk #2 (Apr. 1977).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #91 (Mar. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND THE GHOST RIDER Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Carnival of Souls!”

Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Pat Broderick (p) and Bruce Patterson (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Peter Parker suspects that there may be more than carnival trickery when spying a sideshow attraction called the Blazing Skull, a flaming skeleton.

Villain(s): Moondark the Magician Team-Up Trivia: • The Blazing Skull was inspired by the Golden Age Marvel character of the same name, first seen in Mystic Comics #5 (Mar. 1941).

• The other “freak show” attractions are Gorilla Woman, a bogus ManThing called “Muck Monster,” and “The Amazing Six-Armed SpiderMan,” a nod to the classic six-armed Spidey story that originated in Amazing Spider-Man #100.

• Those sideshow curiosities— as Gorilla Girl, Muck Monster, and Six—returned in “Freaks,” a five-page backup story of the same name that appeared in Marvel Tales #256 (Dec. 1991). That issue also reprinted MTU #91.

Team-Up Index

235

MARVEL TEAM-UP #92 (Apr. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND HAWKEYE Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Fear!”

Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: The normally valiant Hawkeye is reduced to a quivering bundle of nerves, and Spider-Man is determined to learn what elicited such dread in the Battling Bowman.

Villain(s): Mr. Fear Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Mr. Fear II. This is the nephew of the original Mr. Fear, who premiered in Daredevil #91 (Sept. 1972).

• Mr. Fear II’s alter ego, Alan Fagan, was named after a personal friend of writer Steven Grant.

Artist(s): Jim Janes (p) and Bruce Patterson (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Spidey is duped into believing that Nick Fury is in danger from a former S.H.I.E.L.D. operative now calling herself Mockingbird.

Villain(s): S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Carl Delandan Guest-star(s): Nick Fury Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Mockingbird.

• Bobbi (Mockingbird) Morse’s history with S.H.I.E.L.D. dates back to her first appearance in Astonishing Tales #6 (June 1971), although her character wasn’t named until issue #12 (Mar. 1972).

• Morse previously had one adventure as the Huntress, in the magazine Marvel Super Action #1 (Jan. 1976).

• The lettercol contains a history of Bobbi Morse written by assistant editor Mark Gruenwald.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #93 (May 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND WEREWOLF Cover: Don Perlin (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Rags to Riches!”

Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Tom Sutton and Carmine Infantino (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: A chance encounter at a jazz club reunites Peter Parker and Jack Russell, who as SpiderMan and the Werewolf face the lycanthrope’s ragman nemesis, Tatterdemalion.

Villain(s): Enforcer (flashback), Dansen Macabre, Tatterdemalion Guest-star(s): Spider-Woman (flashback), the Shroud Team-Up Trivia: • After Werewolf by Night’s cancellation with issue #43 (Mar. 1977), the Werewolf was occasionally seen in Spider-Woman, most recently in issue #19 (Oct. 1979).

• Continued in MTU #94.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #96 (Aug. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND HOWARD THE DUCK Cover: Alan Kupperberg (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “Panic in the Park” Writer(s): Alan Kupperberg Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Howard the Duck, now a cabbie, drives a fare from Cleveland to Manhattan: Status Quo, a persuasive demagogue sworn to eradicate fads from the popular culture.

Villain(s): Status Quo Guest-star(s): Lou Grant (in TV newsroom) Team-Up Trivia: • Peter Parker is watching The Uncle Floyd Show, a zany New York– market kiddie TV show at the time that had an adult following.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #94 (June 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND THE SHROUD Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “Darkness, Darkness…”

Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Mike Zeck (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: The hypnotic villainess Dansen Macabre entrances Spidey and commands him to attack her enigmatic foe, the Shroud.

Villain(s): Dansen Macabre, Shiva statue (magically animated) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #93.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #95 (July 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND MOCKINGBIRD Cover: Frank Miller (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Story Title: “…And No Birds Sing!”

Writer(s): Steven Grant

236

MARVEL TEAM-UP #97 (Sept. 1980) THE HULK AND SPIDERWOMAN Cover: Frank Springer Story Title: “Doctor of Madness!”

Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Al Gordon (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Jessica (Spider-Woman) Drew investigates a case which leads her to a New Mexico town where a mad scientist is turning criminals into monsters. Enter: the Incredible Hulk!

Villain(s): Dr. W. Lee Benway Team-Up Trivia: • First MTU with the Hulk as the headliner.

• Both co-stars had television series at the time.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #98 (Oct. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND THE BLACK WIDOW Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “The Fatal Attraction of the Black Widow” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman (plot) and Roger McKenzie (script)

The Team-Up Companion

Artist(s): Will Meugniot (p) and Bruce Patterson (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Spidey and Black Widow smash a Maggia gun-running operation, but run into trouble when the Owl, now with an amplified arsenal, returns, with his sights set on the Web-Slinger.

Villain(s): The Maggia, the Owl Guest-star(s): Daredevil (flashback) MARVEL TEAM-UP #99 (Nov. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND MACHINE MAN Cover: Frank Miller (p) and Dave Simons (i) Story Title: “And Machine Man Makes 3” Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Baron Brimstone and Sandman form an alliance after breaking out of Ryker’s Island together, and their enemies, Machine Man and Spider-Man, team up to nab them.

Villain(s): Baron Brimstone, Sandman, Brimstone’s demons MARVEL TEAM-UP #100 (Dec. 1980) SPIDER-MAN AND THE FANTASTIC FOUR Cover: Frank Miller (p) and Klaus Janson (i) Story Title: “And Introducing— Karma! She Possesses People!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Frank Miller (p) and Bob Wiacek (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Spidey and the FF are compelled to intervene in a familial struggle between Vietnamese immigrants with telepathic powers.

Villain(s): General Nguyen Ngoc Coy, Tran Coy Manh Guest-star(s): Karma; X-Men (Colossus, Wolverine, Storm, Professor X) Team-Up Trivia: • 30-page lead story in 48-page, double-sized centennial issue.

• First appearance of Karma (Xi’an Coy Manh).

• Karma next appears in Marvel Graphic Novel #4: The New Mutants (Nov. 1982).

STORM AND THE BLACK PANTHER Story Title: “Cry—Vengeance!”

Writer(s): John Byrne (plot) and Chris Claremont (plot, script) Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Synopsis: Ororo and T’Challa team to confront a vindictive foe from their shared past.

Villain(s): Andreas De Ruyter the Bull Team-Up Trivia: • 10-page backup story reuniting Claremont and Byrne in MTU. MARVEL TEAM-UP #101 (Jan. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND NIGHTHAWK Cover: Mike Nasser

Story Title: “To Judge a Nighthawk!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: An old girlfriend whose demise was accidentally caused by Nighthawk apparently returns from the dead for vengeance.

Villain(s): Mindy Williams; A.I.M. (flashback) Guest-star(s): Daredevil (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • 17-page lead story is followed by a 5-page Nighthawk solo story by Mike W. Barr and Steve Ditko.

• “Web-Zingers” lettercol features a checklist of MTU #1–100’s team-ups.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #102 (Feb. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND DOC SAMSON Cover: Frank Miller (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Samson and Delilah!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Frank Springer (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: A gamma radiation science conference at Empire State University attracts the interest of the Rhino and agents of A.I.M. Luckily Dr. Leonard Samson and Peter Parker are in attendance!

Villain(s): Rhino, A.I.M., Dr. Delia Chambers Guest-star(s): Hulk (flashback) MARVEL TEAM-UP #103 (Mar. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND ANT-MAN Cover: Jerry Bingham (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “The Assassin Academy” Writer(s): David Michelinie Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: Spidey’s and Ant-Man’s (Scott Lang) dual pursuits of a criminal gang put them into conflict with the seemingly unbeatable combatant, the Taskmaster.

Villain(s): Taskmaster Guest-star(s): ROM (action figure) Team-Up Trivia: • Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie has a ROM action figure. At the time ROM: Spaceknight, based upon a Hasbro toy, was a popular Marvel licensed title.

• Second appearance of the Taskmaster, previously seen in Avengers #195–196 (May–June 1980).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #104 (Apr. 1981) THE HULK AND KA-ZAR Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “Ka-Zar Is King!”

Writer(s): Roger McKenzie Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: M.O.D.O.K. plans to turn the Savage Land’s dinosaurs into obedient battle-beasts. Since an on-the-run Bruce Banner is on the ship carrying the villain to the

primitive realm, the Hulk lends some muscle to the lord of the Savage Land, Ka-Zar. Villain(s): M.O.D.O.K. Team-Up Trivia: • Third MTU with the Hulk as the headliner (MTU Annual #3 was the second).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #105 (May 1981) THE HULK AND POWER MAN AND IRON FIST Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “A Small Circle of Hate!”

Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: A family of mountaineers mistakes Luke Cage for the Incredible Hulk! And things get worse for Power Man when the real Hulk arrives to tangle with the Heroes for Hire.

Villain(s): Paw the hillbilly Team-Up Trivia: • Fourth and final MTU with the Hulk as the headliner.

• 17-page lead story.

• The story title is inspired by director Rob Cohen’s romantic drama film A Small Circle of Friends (1980), starring Brad Davis, Karen Allen, and Jameson Parker.

POWER MAN AND IRON FIST AND THE DAUGHTERS OF THE DRAGON Story Title: “Wolves in Designer’s Clothing” Writer(s): Mike W. Barr Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Synopsis: The Heroes for Hire and Daughters of the Dragon discover a criminal enterprise at a trendy fashion show.

Villain(s): Thieves Team-Up Trivia: • 5-page backup story.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #106 (June 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN AMERICA Cover: Frank Miller Story Title: “A Savage Sting Has— the Scorpion!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: The Scorpion lashes out at the Daily Bugle and its outspoken publisher, J. Jonah Jameson—just as both photographer Peter Parker and artist Steve Rogers are in the building on business.

Villain(s): Scorpion MARVEL TEAM-UP #107 (July 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND SHE-HULK Cover: Herb Trimpe (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Rumor of Revolution!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco and Jim Shooter

Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: A wanted revolutionary who is surrendering to the custody of attorney Jennifer (She-Hulk) Walters is kidnapped by the Man-Killer.

Villain(s): Man-Killer Guest-star(s): Matt Murdock MARVEL TEAM-UP #108 (Aug. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND PALADIN Cover: Herb Trimpe (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Something Wicked This Way Kills!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco (plot) and David Michelinie (script) Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Spidey and the mercenary Paladin are both on the trail of a mysterious stalker who later emerges as a dangerous supervillain.

Villain(s): Thermo the Thermatronic Man; the Burglar (flashback) Guest-star(s): Dazzler Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man’s origin is retold in a flashback.

• Continued in MTU #109.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #109 (Sept. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND THE DAZZLER Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Bob Wiacek (i) Story Title: “Critical Mass!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco (plot) and David Anthony Kraft (script) Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: The disco-singing Dazzler lights up the issue as she joins Spidey and Paladin in their struggle against Thermo.

Villain(s): Thermo the Thermatronic Man Guest-star(s): Paladin Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #108.

•D avid Anthony Kraft’s script includes a sound effects pun, DAK-KOW!, riffing off his initials.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #110 (Oct. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON MAN Cover: Bob Layton Story Title: “Magna Force!”

Writer(s): Herb Trimpe (plot) and David Michelinie (script) Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Manhattan-rocking quakes lead Spidey and the Armored Avenger to the center of the Earth and a battle with a supervillain who is harnessing the world’s molten core.

Villain(s): Magma Guest-star(s): Lois Lane (off-panel), Mayor Ed Koch Team-Up Trivia: • The story title plays off the title of a Dirty Harry movie, Magnum Force.

• At a press conference, Tony Stark answers a question from an unseen journalist, “Ms. Lane,” a Superman joke. Scripter David Michelinie would later become a longtime writer of Superman stories for DC Comics.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #111 (Nov. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND DEVIL-SLAYER Cover: Herb Trimpe (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Of Spiders and Serpents!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Spider-Man is targeted by a cult of Serpent-Men that is possessing superheroes in a dark plot to subjugate Earth. Can the Defenders’ Devil-Slayer help turn the tide?

Villain(s): Serpent-Men Guest-star(s): King Kull (flashback); Defenders (Dr. Strange, Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Valkyrie, Gargoyle, Clea), Wong Team-Up Trivia: • The Serpent-Men first appeared in a sword-and-sorcery comic, Marvel’s Kull the Conqueror #2 (Sept. 1971).

• Continued in MTU #112.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #112 (Dec. 1981) SPIDER-MAN AND KING KULL Cover: Marie Severin (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “A King Comes Riding” Writer(s): Herb Trimpe (plot) and J. M. DeMatteis (plot, script) Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Dr. Strange sends Spidey’s astral form into the distant past to search for a toxin for a Serpent-Man’s venom that threatens to kill the Wall-Crawler in the modern day.

Villain(s): Serpent-Men (flashback); Ju-Lak Guest-star(s): Devil-Slayer (flashback), Defenders (flashback); Dr. Strange, Wong Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #111.

•C redits include the acknowledgment, “featuring characters and concepts created by Robert E. Howard.”

MARVEL TEAM-UP #113 (Jan. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND QUASAR Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Resurrection of Edward Lansky” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Quasar of Project Pegasus investigates baffling power disruptions, leading him to team up with Spider-Man to face Spidey’s foe, the Lightmaster.

Villain(s): Nitro (flashback); Lightmaster Guest-star(s): Dazzler (flashback)

MARVEL TEAM-UP #114 (Feb. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND THE FALCON Cover: Mike Zeck (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Story Title: “The Heat in Harlem!”

Writer(s): Herb Trimpe (plot) and J. M. DeMatteis (plot, script) Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Spidey’s investigation of the street-protectors called the Young Watchers takes him to Harlem, where he and the Falcon come face-to-face with one of the Falcon’s foes.

Villain(s): Stone-Face Guest-star(s): Captain America (flashback), Black Panther (flashback) MARVEL TEAM-UP #115 (Mar. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND THOR Cover: Bob Layton Story Title: “Dichotomies!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: A touch-and-go surgical procedure is interrupted by a ranting supervillain named Meru. Good thing the attending surgeon is Dr. Don Blake, alter ego of Thor!

Villain(s): Meru the Mind-Bender, Dalia the Shape-Changer Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in MTU #116.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #116 (Apr. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND VALKYRIE Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Bob Layton (i) Story Title: “Between Sword and Hammer!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Under the thrall of Meru and Dalia, the Valkyrie wields her sword in combat against her former allies Thor and Spider-Man. Villain(s): Meru the Mind-Bender, Dalia the Shape-Changer Guest-star(s): Thor; Defenders (Dr. Strange, Hulk, Nighthawk, Son of Satan, Devil-Slayer, Hellcat, Gargoyle) (flashback); Wong Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #115.

• J. Jonah Jameson is watching a rerun of The Mary Tyler Moore Show featuring the wedding of Ted and Georgette.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #117 (May 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND WOLVERINE Cover: Bob Layton (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Scents and Senses!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Wolverine and Spidey each are attacked by time-displaced Roman centurions, drawing the

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heroes to a mysterious, deathtrap-laden castle and the mastermind behind their troubles.

Villain(s): Roman soldiers, Professor Power Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in MTU #118.

• First appearance of Professor Power.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #118 (June 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND PROFESSOR X Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Jack Abel (i) Story Title: “Meeting of the Minds” Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Professor Power attempts to force Professor Charles Xavier to use his mutant psionic abilities to heal his son Matthew Powers’ shattered mind.

Villain(s): Roman soldiers, Professor Power, the Fixer, Mentallo Guest-star(s): Wolverine, Colossus, Sprite Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #117.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #119 (July 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND GARGOYLE Cover: Kerry Gammill (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Time, Run Like a Freight Train…”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: In poignant parallel stories, Spidey and Gargoyle encounter elderly people depressed over their lives.

Villain(s): Avarrish Guest-star(s): Defenders (Dr. Strange, Valkyrie, Son of Satan) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from Defenders #109 (July 1982), which featured a Spider-Man guest-appearance.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #120 (Aug. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND DOMINIC FORTUNE Cover: Kerry Gammill (p) and Bob Layton (i) Story Title: “Old Soldiers” Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Now living in a nursing home, Dominic Fortune, the former swashbuckling adventurer, stumbles out of retirement to help Spider-Man fight a time-bending villain that intends to wipe out all but the elderly.

Villain(s): Turner D. Century Guest-star(s): Spider-Woman (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Kerry Gammill’s surname is misspelled “Gammil” in the credits.

238

MARVEL TEAM-UP #121 (Sept. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Look Before You Leap!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: While Spidey and the Torch can’t keep up with the fleetfooted felon Speed Demon, a nebbish wannabe dons a retired supervillain’s costume to become a new superhero, Frog-Man. Villain(s): Speed Demon; Leap-Frog (flashback) Guest-star(s): Barry Allen and Iris West; Daredevil (flashback); Frog-Man Team-Up Trivia: • The cover is an homage to Carmine Infantino’s Flash series for DC, with Speed Demon’s blurry after-images, Infantino-inspired finger-pointing graphics, and a cameo by the Silver Age Barry (Flash) Allen and wife-to-be Iris West.

• First appearance of Frog-Man. MARVEL TEAM-UP #122 (Oct. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND THE MAN-THING Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “A Simple Twist of…

Fate” Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Reporter-turned-sorcerer Ian Fate recruits the mindless muck-monster Man-Thing to help settle a grudge against old enemies in the newspaper business.

Villain(s): Ian Fate Guest-star(s): Defenders (DevilSlayer, Beast, Dr. Strange) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Fate had previously appeared in Defenders #104 (Feb. 1982).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #123 (Dec. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND DAREDEVIL Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Rivers of Blood” Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Spider-Man is hospitalized from his battle wounds with ManThing from last issue. He teams with Daredevil when Solarr arrives at the facility, paid to silence an ailing gangster who’s about to testify against the mob.

Villain(s): Solarr Guest-star(s): Man-Thing (flashback) MARVEL TEAM-UP #124 (Dec. 1982) SPIDER-MAN AND THE BEAST Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and John Beatty (i)

The Team-Up Companion

Story Title: “The Ties That Bind!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: His energies dramatically amplified, Professor Power exacts revenge on Professor X by targeting members of the X-Men, starting with Hank (Beast) McCoy, who is enjoying a reunion with his parents.

Villain(s): Professor Power; Mentallo (flashback) Guest-star(s): Professor X (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Sequel to MTU #118.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #125 (Jan. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND TIGRA Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and John Beatty (i) Story Title: “Yesterday and Today!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Spidey’s on hand when an old foe of Tigra’s from her days as the Cat returns with a mad-on.

Villain(s): Zabo Donalbain; Mal Donalbain (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • 16-page lead story.

DOCTOR STRANGE AND THE SCARLET WITCH Story Title: “Cross Fire” Writer(s): Jo Duffy Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Dan Green (i) Synopsis: A movie filming in Greenwich Village near Dr. Strange’s sanctum gets into occult trouble when its crew inadvertently releases a demon.

Villain(s): Fire Beast of Beliath Guest-star(s): Wong Team-Up Trivia: • 6-page backup story.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #126 (Feb. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HULK Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Dan Green (i) Story Title: “The Obligation” Writer(s): Jim Shooter Artist(s): Tomoyuki Takenaka Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: An act of kindness from Peter Parker to Bruce Banner inspires the dimwitted Incredible Hulk to pay it forward when encountering a troubled old man.

Team-Up Trivia: • 10-page backup story, but leadbilled on the cover.

• Originally produced in the summer of 1980 as a Marvel custom comic, Spider-Man and the Hulk, a Chicago Tribune giveaway supplement.

POWER MAN AND THE SON OF SATAN Story Title: “A Firm Offer!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Luke Cage and Daimon Hellstrom locate a murder victim whose death may have occult implications.

Villain(s): Sons of Satannish, Satannish Team-Up Trivia: • 12-page lead story, but billed as the B-story on the cover.

• Son of Satan’s storyline follows his most recent appearance in Defenders #116 (Feb. 1983).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #127 (Mar. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND THE WATCHER Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Small Miracles” Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: The non-intrusive Watcher acts as a Ghost of Christmas Present to help steer Spider-Man toward bringing together for the holiday family members separated by the mob.

Villain(s): Joe Face, Buck Todd MARVEL TEAM-UP #128 (Apr. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN AMERICA Cover: Photo cover by Eliot R. Brown featuring Jack Morelli as Spider-Man and Joe Jusko as Captain America, with painted retouches by Bob Larkin Story Title: “Sweet Temptation” Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Rodents overrun a New York street carnival, leading Captain America and Spider-Man to join forces and ferret out the root of the infestation, Vermin the Man-Rat. Villain(s): Vermin Guest-star(s): Black Cat (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • I ncludes Eliot R. Brown’s 6-page text-and-photo feature, “A Cover Is Born,” about the production of this issue’s photo cover.

• At this point, Vermin was a Captain America villain, having first appeared in Captain America #272 (Feb. 1982), by DeMatteis and Mike Zeck. Four years later, the same creative team would use Vermin to great acclaim in the “Kraven’s Last Hunt” serial running through the various Spider-Man titles.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #129 (May 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND THE VISION Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and John Byrne (i) Story Title: “…And Much to Ponder Before Dawn” Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: While his wife the Scarlet Witch sleeps in their home, the insomniac Vision is drawn to a New Hampshire hamlet inhabited by

android duplicates of famous human thinkers who turn to the Android Avenger for guidance. Meanwhile, Peter Parker and an aging Daily Bugle reporter come to town to investigate a series of murders.

Villain(s): Alpha; the Mad Thinker (flashback); Bob Rubens Guest-star(s): Scarlet Witch; Captain America, Team America (flashback); android duplicates of Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Mark Twain, Confucius, Abraham Lincoln, Socrates, William Shakespeare, and Albert Einstein Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in MTU #130.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #130 (June 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND THE SCARLET WITCH Cover: John Romita, Jr. (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “Till Death Do Us Part!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: The sinister sorcerer Necrodamus holds the Scarlet Witch captive to force the Vision to allow him to possess his powerful android form. Spider-Man faces the dual challenge of fighting a possessed Vision and a Daily Bugle reporter who has discovered his Peter Parker identity.

Villain(s): Necrodamus Guest-star(s): The Defenders (Dr. Strange, Hulk, Sub-Mariner) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #129.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #131 (July 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND FROG-MAN Cover: Paul Smith Story Title: “The Best Things in Life Are Free… But Everything Else Costs Money!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Kerry Gammill (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Nerdy Eugene Patilio hops back into action as Frog-Man, but finds it’s not easy being green as he faces the larcenous White Rabbit and her gang of bandits.

Villain(s): White Rabbit, White Rabbit Gang, Leap-Frog; Speed Demon (flashback) Guest-star(s): Daredevil (flashback), Human Torch (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Sequel to MTU #121.

• The direct-market edition’s UPC box displays the gag, “WARNING: This story is not for the overly serious!”

• First appearance of the White Rabbit.

• In addition to the White Rabbit herself, another Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland gag is the “Mad Hatter’s Chapeau Shop” decal the villainess uses to disguise her getaway van.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #132 (Aug. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND MR. FANTASTIC Cover: Paul Smith Story Title: “The Common Denominator!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Reed Richards gets a surprise visit from his nephew Larry—who sucker-punches him since Larry is actually Captain America’s enemy, Every-Man (Everyman). Luckily, Spidey drops by the Baxter Building for a visit…

Villain(s): Every-Man, Dr. Faustus (off-panel) Guest-star(s): Captain America (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Mr. Fantastic wears the new FF uniform introduced in Fantastic Four #256 (July 1983).

• Continued in MTU #133.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #133 (Sept. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND THE FANTASTIC FOUR Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and John Byrne (i) Story Title: “The World According to… Faustus!”

Writer(s): J. M. DeMatteis Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Reed Richards’ efforts to help his mentally ill nephew Larry thrust the elongating egghead into a series of dangerous mind games involving his FF family, Spidey, and Dr. Doom.

Villain(s): Every-Man (flashback), Dr. Faustus, Dr. Doom (robot) Guest-star(s): Captain America (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #132.

• Origin of Dr. Faustus.

• Continuity error: Larry’s father was named Milton in #131 but is named Josh in this issue.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #134 (Oct. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND THE JACK OF HEARTS Cover: Ron Frenz (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “But Tonight My Imprisonment Ends! Tonight Is… The Boy’s Night Out!” Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Frenz (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco and Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Under house arrest so that S.H.I.E.L.D. can study his superpowers, Jack of Hearts cuts loose for some fun, with S.H.I.E.L.D. agents dogging his every move… and Spidey stuck in the middle.

Guest-star(s): S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Cat (flashback)

Team-Up Trivia: • Jack of Hearts’ origin is retold in a flashback.

• New MTU editor Danny Fingeroth introduces himself in the lettercol.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #135 (Nov. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND KITTY PRYDE Cover: Ron Frenz (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Deep Down in Darkness!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Frenz (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco and Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: A subway rescue detours Spidey into trouble with the subterranean Morlocks, while the X-Men’s youngest member and the kids she is babysitting similarly fall into the Morlocks’ realm.

Villain(s): Morlocks, Strigor Guest-star(s): X-Men (Storm, Wolverine, Colossus, Nightcrawler), Illyana Rasputin MARVEL TEAM-UP #136 (Dec. 1983) SPIDER-MAN AND WONDER MAN Cover: Bob Hall Story Title: “Webs” Writer(s): David Michelinie Artist(s): Ron Frenz (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco and Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Wonder Man is duped into a business executive’s scheme to learn the secrets of Spider-Man’s resilient webbing.

Villain(s): The Mauler Guest-star(s): Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Beast, Vision, Wasp) (flashback) MARVEL TEAM-UP #137 (Jan. 1984) AUNT MAY AND FRANKLIN RICHARDS Cover: Ron Frenz (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Story Title: “Twinkle, Twinkle” Writer(s): Mike Carlin Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Bob DeNatale Synopsis: Franklin Richards and Aunt May (as Golden Oldie) become the heralds of Galactus and sate his enormous planet-devouring appetite with the cream-filled, delicious, golden confection, Twinkles.

Villain(s): Galactus, Nova, Doughboy the Creator Guest-star(s): Spider-Man, Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch; Danny Fingeroth, Jim Shooter, Stan Lee Team-Up Trivia: • Assistant editor Bob DeNatale edits this issue, part of Marvel’s line-wide, infamous “Assistant Editors’ Month” initiative in its January 1984 cover-dated titles. He also conceived its story.

• Tribute to the 1975–1982 Hostess Comic Ads campaign, one-page ads where comic-book stars quelled adversaries’ misdoings by feeding them Hostess Twinkies, cupcakes, or fruit pies.

• The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A–Z #3 (July 2008) relegated this story to the alternate reality of Earth-8417.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #138 (Feb. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND SANDMAN Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “Starting Over!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Sandman has shifted from being a bad guy to a good guy, but whose side will he be on when his former criminal allies the Enforcers take on Spider-Man? Villain(s): New Enforcers (Montana, Fancy Dan, Ox, Hammer Harrison, Snake Marston); the Arranger Guest-star(s): Black Cat (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Sandman reformed in the Thing/ Sandman team-up in Marvel Twoin-One #86 (Apr. 1982).

• A footnote citing Sandman’s first appearance with the Enforcers lists its most recent publication, as a reprint in Marvel Tales vol. 2 #157 (Nov. 1983), instead of its original appearance, Amazing Spider-Man #19 (Dec. 1964).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #139 (Mar. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND NICK FURY Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime!”

Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Brian Postman (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Spidey and the top S.H.I.E.LD. Agent meet when they both shadow the kidnapping victim of the robotic Dreadnought.

Villain(s): Maggia, Dreadnought Guest-star(s): Dum Dum Dugan, Dino Manelli Team-Up Trivia: • The Marvel Team-Up and co-star logos are fractured as part of the cover design.

• The story title was borrowed from singer Dean Martin’s hit of the same name.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #140 (Apr. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND BLACK WIDOW Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Klaus Janson (i) Story Title: “Where Were You… When the Lights Went Out?” Writer(s): Tom DeFalco (plot) and Bill Mantlo (script) Artist(s): Ron Frenz (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth

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Synopsis: Crime runs rampant when a blackout blankets Manhattan, and Spidey and Black Widow join together to track the killer of a shop proprietor. What a bad time for the Wall-Crawler to pull a vanishing act!

Villain(s): Juan Santiago, Cool Breeze Guest-star(s): Daredevil Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man and Daredevil don’t yet know each other’s secret identities, but Matt Murdock’s acute hearing detects that the unidentified Peter Parker’s heartbeat is the same as the Web-Slinger’s.

• Spider-Man’s disappearance is linked to the events of the limited series Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars.

• Continued in MTU #141.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #141 (May 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND DAREDEVIL Cover: Arthur Adams (p) and Mike Mignola (i) Story Title: “Blind Justice!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco (plot) and Jim Owsley (script) Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Daredevil fills in for the missing Spidey in assisting Black Widow with last issue’s murder investigation, but Spider-Man reappears… wearing a new black costume!

Villain(s): Kingpin, the Arranger, Juan Santiago, Cool Breeze Guest-star(s): Black Widow Team-Up Trivia: • First MTU appearance of Spider-Man’s black costume from Secret Wars.

•C ontinued from MTU #140.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #142 (June 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND CAPTAIN MARVEL Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Bob Wiacek (i) Story Title: “Foiled!”

Writer(s): David Michelinie Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: The new Captain Marvel (Monica Rambeau) and Spidey team up to tackle a gang of well-trained thieves of technological inventions.

Villain(s): PRIDE Agents Guest-star(s): Starfox Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man wears his black costume in this story.

•C ontinued in MTU #143.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #143 (July 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND STARFOX Cover: Greg LaRocque (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Shifts and Planes” Writer(s): David Michelinie Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Can the duo of Spidey and Starfox free Captain Marvel from being trapped in her energy form?

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Villain(s): Will-Killer Guest-star(s): Captain Marvel Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man wears his black costume in this story.

• Continued from MTU #143.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #144 (Aug. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND MOON KNIGHT Cover: Greg LaRocque Story Title: “My Sword I Lay Down!”

Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: The White Dragon makes a power play for control of New York’s Chinatown, and the involvement of Peter Parker’s college friend Philip Chang draws Spidey, along with Moon Knight, into the struggle.

Villain(s): White Dragon Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man wears his black costume in this story.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #145 (Sept. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND IRON MAN Cover: Greg LaRocque (p) and Bob Layton (i) Story Title: “Hometown Boy” Writer(s): Tony Isabella Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: On his home turf of Cleveland, Ohio, Blacklash (formerly Whiplash) sets his sights—and his wicked whip—on his longtime foe Iron Man at an electronics conference attended by the Armored Avenger and Spider-Man. Villain(s): Blacklash Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man wears his black costume in this story.

• James Rhodes is Iron Man in this story, replacing Tony Stark, who is recovering from alcoholism.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #146 (Oct. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND NOMAD Cover: Greg LaRocque (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Hero Worship!”

Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: The unbeatable battler Taskmaster is recruiting criminal wannabes for the mysterious Black Abbott, attracting the notice of Spidey and Nomad.

Villain(s): Taskmaster, Black Abbott, Black Apostles Guest-star(s): Captain America (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man wears his black costume in this story.

• Jack Monroe, the Bucky of the 1950s, first took Captain America’s former Nomad guise in Captain America #282 (June 1983).

• Continued in MTU #147.

The Team-Up Companion

MARVEL TEAM-UP #147 (Nov. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Greg LaRocque (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “A Debt Repaid…”

Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: The Black Abbott’s felonious influence spreads, and the Human Torch tracks the criminal to his secret base, where he is joined by Spidey.

Villain(s): Black Abbott; alien symbiote (Spidey’s black costume/ Venom-to-be) Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #146.

• Spider-Man wears his traditional costume in this story, having separated from his parasitic black costume, now revealed to be an alien symbiote, in Amazing Spider-Man #258 (Nov. 1984).

MARVEL TEAM-UP #148 (Dec. 1984) SPIDER-MAN AND THOR Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “A Child Shall Lead Them” Writer(s): Cary Burkett Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Even the Mighty Thor cannot withstand the power of the Black Abbott! How can your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man stop such a threat?

Villain(s): Black Abbott; alien symbiote (Spidey’s black costume/ Venom-to-be) Guest-star(s): Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTU #147.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #149 (Jan. 1985) SPIDER-MAN AND CANNONBALL Cover: Vince Giarrano (p) and Paty Cockrum (i) Story Title: “The Incandescent Man” Writer(s): Louise Simonson Artist(s): Bret Blevins (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: Spidey pairs off with one of the New Mutants to take down a human parasite of electricity that was hatched in the labs of Project Pegasus.

Villain(s): Incandescent Man Guest-star(s): New Mutants (Sunspot, Magik, Cypher, Wolfsbane) MARVEL TEAM-UP #150 (Feb. 1985) SPIDER-MAN AND THE X-MEN Cover: Barry Windsor-Smith Story Title: “’Tis Better to Give!”

Writer(s): Louise Simonson Artist(s): Greg LaRocque (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: The magical ruby of Cyttorak splits the Juggernaut into twin

terrors. It’s double trouble for Spidey as he faces the Juggernauts and Black Tom Cassidy. Will the X-Men be able to help the Wall-Crawler restore order?

Villain(s): Juggernaut, Black Tom Cassidy Guest-star(s): Professor X (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Double-sized final issue, featuring a 38-page story.

• The X-Men in this issue are Nightcrawler, Rogue, Colossus, and Rachel Summers.

MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL #1 (1976) SPIDER-MAN AND THE X-MEN Cover: Dave Cockrum Story Title: “The Lords of Light and Darkness!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The X-Men and the Daily Bugle’s Peter Parker, sharing a flight to a conference on mutation, are enticed into the Nest, a top-secret alternative-energy testing facility whose staff has been transformed into versions of Hindu deities.

Villain(s): The Lords of Light and Darkness (Agni, Brahma, Kali, Mara, Ratri, Shiva, Vishnu, Yama Dharma) Team-Up Trivia: • The X-Men in this story are Professor X, Banshee, Colossus, Cyclops, Nightcrawler, Phoenix, Storm, and Wolverine.

• Jean (Phoenix) Grey’s last name is misspelled as “Gray.”

MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL #2 (1979) SPIDER-MAN AND THE HULK Cover: Al Milgrom Story Title: “Murder in Cathedral Canyon!”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Sal Buscema and Alan Kupperberg (p) and Jack Abel (i) Editor(s): Al Milgrom Synopsis: Spidey and the Incredible Hulk tangle with the Soviet Super Soldiers as the fate of the world hangs in the balance, with a treacherous Russian soldier’s antimatter bomb ticking away.

Villain(s): General Nikolai Kutzov; Soviet Super Soldiers (Darkstar, Crimson Dynamo, Vanguard) Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL #3 (1980) THE HULK AND POWER MAN AND IRON FIST Cover: Frank Miller (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Mayhem in Middle America!”

Writer(s): Roger Stern Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Denny O’Neil Synopsis: The villainess Nightshade dupes the Hulk to obtain a super-computer with unparalleled hacking capabilities, the same device

Heroes for Hire Power Man and Iron Fist are hired to protect.

Villain(s): Nightshade Guest-star(s): Machine Man, Spider-Man Team-Up Trivia: • Second MTU with the Hulk as the headliner.

• “Mayhem in Middle America!” is actually the cover blurb title.

There is no single story title for this 38-page tale, told in five chapters each with its own title.

MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL #4 (1981) SPIDER-MAN AND MOON KNIGHT, IRON FIST, POWER MAN, AND DAREDEVIL Cover: Frank Miller (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Power Play!”

Writer(s): Frank Miller Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: It’s up to Spidey and an assemblage of New York’s street-smart heroes to intervene in an underworld turf war between the Purple Man and the Kingpin.

Villain(s): Purple Man, Kingpin, Scudd and Pigeon (Kingpin’s flunkies) Guest-star(s): Daughters of the Dragon (Misty Knight, Colleen Wing) MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL #5 (1982) SPIDER-MAN AND THE THING, SCARLET WITCH, DOCTOR STRANGE, AND QUASAR Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Serpent Rising” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald Artist(s): Mark Gruenwald (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: The mind-possessing Serpent Crown has been stolen from its protective custody at Project Pegasus, attracting Quasar, Spidey, and other heroes into a struggle against the power-mad elder god Set. Villain(s): Serpent Cult, Set; Quasar and Myron Wilburn (controlled

by Serpent Crown); Thoth-Amon (flashback), Krang (flashback), Viper (flashback), Hugh Jones (flashback), Serpent Squad (Sidewinder, Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder) (flashback) Guest-star(s): Wong, Vision; Kull (flashback), Conan (flashback), Sub-Mariner (flashback), Captain America and Hellcat (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: •M ark Gruenwald, best known as a Marvel writer-editor, provides breakdowns for this issue, which are finished by inker Jim Mooney.

• This story is a sequel to “The Serpent Crown Affair!,” which appeared in Marvel Two-in-One #64 (June 1980)–66 (Aug. 1980), and ties in to Marvel Team-Up #111 (Nov. 1981).

• Vision and Scarlet Witch are watching Raiders of the Lost Ark at a movie theater.

MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL #6 (1983) SPIDER-MAN, CLOAK AND DAGGER, AND THE NEW MUTANTS Cover: Ron Frenz (p) and Klaus Janson (i) Story Title: “The Hunter and the Hunted!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Frenz (p) and Kevin Dzuban (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: New Mutants Wolfsbane and Sunspot are apprehended by a narcotics crime network that intends to use lab-produced drugs to reproduce in the mutants the powers of Cloak and Dagger.

Villain(s): Unnamed mobsters Guest-star(s): The original X-Men (Professor X, Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel, Iceman) (illusion) Team-Up Trivia: • The participating New Mutants are Cannonball, Wolfsbane, Sunspot, and Psyche.

• Wolfsbane and Sunspot’s drug injections are revisited in New Mutants #23 (Jan. 1985)–25 (Mar. 1985).

• Includes a five-page backup, “Marvel Team-Up Rogues’ Gallery,” featuring full-page pinups of Arcade, Equinox, the City Stealers, Infinitus, and D’Spayre.

MARVEL TEAM-UP ANNUAL #7 (1984) SPIDER-MAN AND ALPHA FLIGHT Cover: Paul Neary (p) and John Byrne (i) Story Title: “The Collected Spider-Man” Writer(s): Louise Simonson Artist(s): Paul Neary (p) and Sam de la Rosa (i) Editor(s): Danny Fingeroth Synopsis: The Collector, the galaxy’s gatherer of cosmic curios, nabs Spider-Man and Marrina for his collection, inspiring Marrina’s friends, the Canadian super-team Alpha Flight, to rally to her rescue.

Villain(s): The Collector; a Dire Wraith (photo), the Answer (photo) Guest-star(s): Black Cat; Warlock (photo) Team-Up Trivia: • Spider-Man wears his alien symbiote black costume in this story.

• The participating members of Alpha Flight are Marrina, Aurora, Northstar, Puck, and Sasquatch.

• A five-page backup story, “No Place to Run” by Bob DeNatale, David Mazzucchelli, and Brett Breeding, is prescient of Kurt Busiek and Alex Ross’ later work, Marvels, providing a man-on-thestreet perspective of the action and violence of superhero-vs.

-supervillain struggles. Participating characters are the team of the Human Torch and Black Panther, battling the Crimson Dynamo; Mr. Fantastic has a cameo.

© Marvel.

MARVEL FEATURE #11 (Sept. 1973) THE THING and THE INCREDIBLE HULK Cover: Jim Starlin and John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Cry: Monster” Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Leader and Kurrgo manipulate bigger-than-life rivals Thing and Hulk into conflict in a desert ghost town.

Villain(s): The Leader, Kurrgo Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch; Invisible Girl; Iron Man (teaser) Team-Up Trivia: • Although a team-up title, the comic clearly promotes the Thing as its star with an “At last in his own smash series” cover blurb.

• The Thing’s origin is retold in a flashback.

• Kurrgo’s sole previous appearance was Fantastic Four #7 (Oct. 1962).

MARVEL FEATURE #12 (Nov. 1973) THE THING AND IRON MAN Cover: Jim Starlin and John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “The Bite of the Blood Brothers!”

Writer(s): Mike Friedrich Artist(s): Jim Starlin (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Winding his way home from last issue’s Hulk tussle, Thing happens across Iron Man battling the Blood Brothers and is drawn into the fracas, with cosmic consequences.

Guest-star(s): Starfox, Mentor; Vision (flashback) Villain(s): The Blood Brothers, Thanos; the Controller (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continues subplots from Iron Man #55 (Feb. 1973).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #1 (Jan. 1974) THE THING AND MAN-THING Cover: Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Vengeance of the Molecule Man!” Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: A furious Thing heads to the Florida marshes to clobber Man-Thing for plagiarizing his name, while the new Molecule Man’s plan to avenge his father’s death by destroying the Fantastic Four leads him into conflict with the Thing and the muck-monster.

Guest-star(s): Hulk, Iron Man (flashbacks); Mr. Fantastic Villain(s): Molecule Man (son of the original)

Team-Up Trivia: • The trade dress banner atop the cover misspells the title as “Marvel Two-on-One.” • Thing and Man-Thing are temporarily reverted to their human forms of Ben Grimm and Ted Sallis.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #2 (Mar. 1974) THE THING AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Manhunters from the Stars!”

Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Gil Kane (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: As the childlike superman Wundarr throws a tantrum on the streets of Manhattan, the Thing steps in to stop him—and comes into conflict with Sub-Mariner, cousin of Wundarr’s friend, Namorita.

Guest-star(s): Namorita, Wundarr; Man-Thing (flashback); Human Torch Villain(s): Tuumar and Zeneg of Dakkam, the Mortoid Team-Up Trivia: • Wundarr’s story is a continuation of the Gerber-scripted Man-Thing tale in Fear #17 (Oct. 1973).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #3 (May 1974) THE THING AND DAREDEVIL Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Inside Black Spectre!”

Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Now the guardian to the man-child Wundarr, the Thing assists Daredevil, who borrows the FF’s Fantasti-Car to track Black Widow to the headquarters of the crime cartel Black Spectre.

Guest-star(s): Wundarr, Mr. Fantastic; Shanna; Captain America (stage actor); Black Widow Villain(s): Adolf Hitler (stage actor); Black Spectre, Mandrill, Nekra Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in the Gerber-scripted Daredevil #110 (June 1974) and ties into an ongoing Daredevil subplot featuring Mandrill and Nekra.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #4 (July 1974) THE THING AND CAPTAIN AMERICA Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Doomsday 3014!”

Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Thing and Captain America are recruited by a mysterious time-traveling woman from the year 3014 to help unfetter her people from the grasp of the Badoon.

Guest-star(s): Wundarr; Namorita; Mr. Fantastic, Medusa Villain(s): The Zoms, the Monster of Badoon

Team-Up Index

241

Team-Up Trivia: • Second appearance of the Brotherhood of Badoon, enemies of the Guardians of the Galaxy, last seen in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (Jan. 1969).

•C ontinued in MTIO #5.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #5 (Sept. 1974) THE THING AND THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Cover: Sal Buscema Story Title: “Seven Against the Empire!”

Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: In the year 3014, the Thing and Captain America are joined by the Guardians of the Galaxy as they aid underground resistance leader Zakkor in a battle to free Earth from the Badoon’s control.

Guest-star(s): Captain America; Mr. Fantastic, Medusa (flashback) Villain(s): The Badoon, Lordship Drang, the Monster of Badoon Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #4.

• Second appearance of the Guardians of the Galaxy, last seen in Marvel Super-Heroes #18 (Jan. 1969).

• The Guardians are Major Vance Astro, Charlie-27, Yondu, and Martinex.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #6 (Nov. 1974) THE THING AND DR. STRANGE Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “Death-Song of Destiny!”

Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): George Tuska (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Master of the Mystic Arts is attracted to a supernatural harmonica played by a young girl, and those who hear the instrument’s melodies become enchanted.

Guest-star(s): Clea Villain(s): A magically altered giant rat Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in MTIO #7.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #7 (Jan. 1975) THE THING AND VALKYRIE Cover: John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Name That Doom!”

Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Enchantress is after the celestial harmonica, and it’s up to the Valkyrie and the Thing, with some help from Dr. Strange, to stop her.

Guest-star(s): Dr. Strange; Clea (flashback) Villain(s): The Executioner, the Enchantress Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #6.

• Continued in Defenders #20 (Feb. 1975), guest-starring the Thing.

242

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #8 (Mar. 1975) THE THING AND GHOST RIDER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Silent Night… Deadly Night!”

Writer(s): Steve Gerber Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: The Ghost Rider (Johnny Blaze) and the Thing are attracted to the Arizona desert by a mysterious star on Christmas Eve. Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Medusa, Wundarr, Namorita; Wyatt Wingfoot Villain(s): Miracle Man MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #9 (May 1975) THE THING AND THOR Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “When a God Goes Mad!” Writer(s): Steve Gerber (plot) and Chris Claremont (script) Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: The Puppet Master takes control of the Thunder God as a weapon to destroy his enemies, the Fantastic Four.

Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch; Wundarr, Namorita Villain(s): Dr. Doom (puppet); Puppet Master, Radion the Atomic Man MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #10 (July 1975) THE THING AND THE BLACK WIDOW Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacois (i) Story Title: “Is This the Day the World Ends?”

Writer(s): Chris Claremont Artist(s): Bob Brown (p) and Klaus Janson (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: The Thing stumbles into the Black Widow’s espionage mission against a deadly cartel called the Sword of Justice.

Villain(s): Sword of Justice (terrorist group), Agamemnon, Achmed MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #11 (Sept. 1975) THE THING AND THE GOLEM Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Thing Goes South!”

Writer(s): Roy Thomas (plot) and Bill Mantlo (script) Artist(s): Bob Brown (p) and Jack Abel (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: While headed to Florida on vacation with his girlfriend Alicia, the Thing mixes it up with the Golem and encounters the “overlord of demon-ruin,” Kaballa, who desires control of the Golem.

Villain(s): Kaballa and his demons

The Team-Up Companion

Team-Up Trivia: • Continues the saga of the Hebrew-legend leviathan the Golem, previously seen in a shortlived solo series in Strange Tales #174, 176, and 177.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #12 (Nov. 1975) THE THING AND IRON MAN Cover: Jack Kirby (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Stalker in the Sands!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo (with special thanks to Gary Lahm) Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: An errant test-piloting mission for Tony Stark misdirects the Thing to the subterranean lair of the power-stone-wielding Prester John, and Iron Man flies in to help.

Villain(s): Prester John Guest-star(s): Human Torch, Wyatt Wingfoot (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Artist Ron Wilson’s first Thing/ MTIO story.

• Prester John’s previous appearance in Fantastic Four #54 (Sept. 1966) is referenced in a flashback.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #13 (Jan. 1976) THE THING AND POWER MAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “I Created Braggadoom!

(The Mountain That Walks Like a Man!)” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman (plot), Roger Slifer and Len Wein (script) Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: A sheepish scientist hires Luke Cage to help the Thing battle his unintentional creation, the bio-genetics goliath Braggadoom, whose expanding size threatens New York City.

Villain(s): Braggadoom MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #14 (Mar. 1976) THE THING AND THE SON OF SATAN Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Ghost Town!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and John Tartaglione (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Thing is out of his comfort zone when encountering the hellspawned Daimon Hellstrom, with whom he teams to combat a vengeful ghost haunting Lawless, Arizona.

Villain(s): Jedediah Ravenstorm Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic (flashback and cameo) Team-Up Trivia: • Ben references the Human Torch’s team-up with the Son of Satan in Marvel Team-Up #32.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #15 (May 1976) THE THING AND MORBIUS Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “The Return of the Living Eraser!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Wilson (page 1 only) and Arvell Jones (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Living Vampire’s bloodlust targets Ben’s girlfriend Alicia, but once the Thing stops Morbius’ attack the two are compelled to team up after being transported to another dimension by the Living Eraser.

Villain(s): Living Eraser Team-Up Trivia: • MTIO goes monthly with this issue.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #16 (June 1976) THE THING AND KA-ZAR Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Into the Savage Land!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Thing is dispatched into the Savage Land to investigate seismological disturbances and encounters dinosaurs, the Hidden Jungle’s lord Ka-Zar, and the villain Volcanus.

Villain(s): Volcanus and his minions Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback); Zabu Team-Up Trivia: • This story sets the stage for the two-part crossover in MTIO #17 and Marvel Team-Up #47.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #17 (July 1976) THE THING AND SPIDER-MAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “This City—Afire!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Mike Esposito (i), with Dave Hunt (background inks) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Thing falls to the Basilisk in a Savage Land battle, and the mysterious appearance of an active volcano in the Hudson River attracts the attention of Spider-Man. Villain(s): Basilisk Guest-star(s): Ka-Zar and Zabu (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • This story picks up from SpiderMan’s time-travels in Marvel Team-Up #41–46 and the Thing’s Savage Land adventure in MTIO #16.

• Continued in Marvel Team-Up #47 (July 1976).

• The MTIO and MTU creative teams swap their respective titles with this two-parter.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #18 (Aug. 1976) THE THING AND THE SCARECROW Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Dark, Dark DemonKnight!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo (co-plot, script) and Scott Edelman (co-plot) Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Jim Mooney and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: A spine-chilling painting of the Scarecrow at an occult art exhibition is a conduit for the return of the darklord Kalumai, who transforms an innocent into a firedemon, drawing the Thing and the Scarecrow into action.

Villain(s): Kalumai and his fire-demon; Cultists of Kalumai (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Third appearance of the Scarecrow, following Dead of Night #11 (Aug. 1975) and Marvel Spotlight #26 (Feb. 1976).

•S carecrow would not reappear until Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme #31 (July 1991).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #19 (Sept. 1976) THE THING AND TIGRA Cover: Jack Kirby (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Claws of the Cougar!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo (script) and Tony Isabella (plot) Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Don Heck (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Tigra the Were-Woman needs the Thing’s aid in wresting the powerful Null-Bands from a new supervillain, the Cougar.

Villain(s): Tomazooma (flashback); minions of the Cougar, the Cougar Guest-star(s): The Cat (flashback); Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch (flashback) MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #20 (Oct. 1976) THE THING AND THE LIBERTY LEGION Cover: Jack Kirby (p) and Frank Giacoia (i), with alterations by John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “Showdown at Sea!” Writer(s): Roy Thomas Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Sam Grainger (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Thing, having traveled to the past to World War II, and the Liberty Legion battle Nazi supervillains in a race to keep Nazis from using stolen Vibranium to win the war.

Villain(s): Brain-Drain; Skyshark, Master Man, U-Man; Slicer Guest-star(s): The Watcher; Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • The Liberty Legion consists of Blue Diamond, Jack Frost, Miss America, the Patriot, Red Raven, the Thin Man, and the Whizzer.

• Continued from Marvel Two-in-One Annual #1 (1976).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #21 (Nov. 1976) THE THING AND DOC SAVAGE Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Black Sun Lives!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The fates of two generations of the Lightner family intersect, in the Thing’s era of 1976 and Doc Savage’s era of 1936, with the heroes joining forces to battle a supervillain called Blacksun.

Villain(s): Blacksun Guest-star(s): Human Torch; Monk, Renny; Tony Stark (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Marvel licensed Doc Savage from publisher Condé Nast between 1972 and 1977 and published both color and black-and-white Doc Savage titles.

• This was Marvel’s second Doc Savage team-up with a Marvel character, the first being Giant-Size Spider-Man #3 (Jan. 1975).

• Continued in MTIO #22.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #22 (Dec. 1976) THE THING AND THOR Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Touch Not the Hand of Seth!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Blacksun, critically ill from last issue’s conflict, is rushed by the Thing and the Torch to the hospital that employs Dr. Don (Thor) Blake—just in time for the dark god Seth to attack his enemy, Thor!

Villain(s): Blacksun; Seth Guest-star(s): Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #21, minus #21’s co-star Doc Savage.

• Continued in MTIO #23.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #23 (Jan. 1977) THE THING AND THOR Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Death on the Bridge to Heaven!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter Artist(s): Ron Wilson (with an assist

by Marie Severin) (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Seth commits a grave error when unleashing the unstoppable Devourer against his foes Thor and Thing and cannot control the beast.

Villain(s): Seth, the Devourer Guest-star(s): Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #22.

• Mantlo wrote the first six pages of the story, with Shooter writing the rest.

• A footnote from editor Marv Wolfman in an issue credited to editor Archie Goodwin elicited a No-Prize

appeal from a reader in MTIO #25’s lettercol, where it was revealed that production on this issue had begun during Wolfman’s earlier editorship.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #24 (Feb. 1977) THE THING AND BLACK GOLIATH Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Does Anyone Remember… the Hijacker?”

Writer(s): Jim Shooter and Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Little-known Marvel villain the Hijacker barrels into Stark Enterprises’ West Coast lab as the Thing is testing an experimental spacesuit for scientist Bill Foster, a.k.a. Black Goliath.

Villain(s): The Hijacker Guest-star(s): Tony Stark, Ant-Man (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • A flashback cites the Hijacker’s clash with Ant-Man (Hank Pym) in Tales to Astonish #40 (Feb. 1963).

• Marvel’s short-lived Black Goliath title had recently concluded with issue #5 (Nov. 1976).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #25 (Mar. 1977) THE THING AND IRON FIST Cover: Jack Kirby (p) and Joe Sinnott (i), with alterations by John Romita, Sr. Story Title: “A Tale of Two Countries!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Sam Grainger (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: A grapple from a Goodyear blimp hijacks the Thing from a crowded New York Jets game, and he is thrust, along with Living Weapon Iron Fist, into a mission to liberate an Asian queen from a despot.

Villain(s): General Chonga, warriors S’Kari and Mongo MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #26 (Apr. 1977) THE THING AND NICK FURY, AGENT OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Cover: Jack Kirby (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Fixer and Mentallo Are Back, and the World Will Never Be the Same!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Fixer and Mentallo infiltrate S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters while the Thing is there and kidnap Ben, with a breach of the Baxter Building in mind.

Villain(s): The Fixer, Mentallo Guest-star(s): S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Dum Dum Dugan and Valeria DeFontaine; Deathlok (cameo) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in MTIO #27.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #27 (May 1977) THE THING VS. DEATHLOK, GUEST-STARRING THE FANTASTIC FOUR Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “The Day of the Demolisher!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Deathlok is snatched from his future timeline by the Fixer and Mentallo and reprogrammed to assassinate the U.S. President Jimmy Carter at his presidential inauguration.

Villain(s): Fixer, Mentallo; Deathlok Guest-star(s): Nick Fury; Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch); Spider-Man (flashback); Impossible Man; President Jimmy Carter Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #26.

• Continued in MTIO #28.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #28 (June 1977) THE THING AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Story Title: “In the Power of the Piranha!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and John Tartaglione (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Thing’s mission to find medical assistance for Deathlok is interrupted when he crosses paths with the Sub-Mariner, who’s involved in a conflict with his old foe Piranha.

Villain(s): Piranha the Man-Killer; Piranha-Men Guest-star(s): Nick Fury; Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch; Deathlok Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #27.

• The Thing references his most recent encounter with Namor, from Super-Villain Team-Up #7 (Aug. 1976).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #29 (July 1977) THE THING AND SHANG-CHI, MASTER OF KUNG FU Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Two Against Hydra!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Sam Grainger (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: In London, the Thing discovers the abduction of the doctor whose help he seeks for Deathlok, leading him into an encounter with Shang-Chi and their team-up to fight the kidnappers, actually agents of Hydra.

Villain(s): Hydra Guest-star(s): Deathlok, SpiderWoman (cameo)

Team-Up Index

243

Team-Up Trivia: • The colorist credit is left blank in the credits, suggesting a last-minute, rush coloring job.

• Continued from MTIO #28.

• Continued in MTIO #30.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #30 (Aug. 1977) THE THING AND SPIDER-WOMAN Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Battle Atop Big Ben!” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): John Buscema (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The newly created Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew), in the thrall of Hydra, is brainwashed into combat against the Thing in London.

Villain(s): Hydra; High Evolutionary (flashback) Guest-star(s): Nick Fury Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #29.

• A flashback cites Spider-Woman’s origin and recent introduction in Marvel Spotlight #32 (Feb. 1977) • Continued in MTIO #31.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #31 (Sept. 1977) THE THING ALONE AGAINST THE MYSTERY MENACE Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “My Sweetheart— My Killer!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Sam Grainger (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Hydra transforms Ben’s girlfriend Alicia into a spidermonster to fight the meddlesome duo of the Thing and SpiderWoman.

Villain(s): Hydra Guest-star(s): Spider-Woman Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #30.

• Continued in MTIO #32.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #32 (Oct. 1977) THE THING AND THE INVISIBLE GIRL Cover: George Pérez (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Story Title: “And Only the Invisible Girl Can Save Us Now!” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Sam Grainger (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Sue Richards arrives in London to assist the Thing and Spider-Woman in their battle against the mutated Alicia.

Villain(s): Hydra, Alicia Masters as the spider-monster Guest-star(s): Spider-Woman, Deathlok (cameo) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #31.

• Continued in MTIO #33.

244

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #33 (Nov. 1977) THE THING AND MODRED THE MYSTIC Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “From Stonehenge… with Death!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: While visiting Stonehenge, Alicia, now restored to normal, and the Thing stumble across elemental demons and a mysterious magician.

Villain(s): Merlin’s elementals (Aero, Hydro, Fire, Mud) Guest-star(s): Spider-Woman Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #32.

• The story concludes with a plug for the new Spider-Woman title written

by Wolfman and illustrated by Carmine Infantino.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #34 (Dec. 1977) THE THING AND NIGHTHAWK Cover: John Buscema (p) and Klaus Janson (i) Story Title: “A Monster Walks Among Us!” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Thing and Nighthawk of the Defenders face off against a grotesque extraterrestrial monster possessing an uncanny link with Earth children.

Villain(s): Alien monster Guest-star(s): Deathlok; Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #33.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #35 (Jan. 1978) THE THING AND SKULL THE SLAYER Cover: Ernie Chan Story Title: “Enter: Skull the Slayer and Exit: The Thing!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ernie Chan Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: On a special mission for the Air Force to find a plane missing in the Bermuda Triangle, the Thing is transported to the primitive world of Skull the Slayer.

Villain(s): Dinosaurs; Jaguar Prince Guest-star(s): Deathlok; Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan Team-Up Trivia: • Wolfman created the Thing’s gueststar for a sword-and-sorcery comic, Skull the Slayer, which ran from issue #1 (Aug. 1975) through 8 (Nov. 1976).

• Continued in MTIO #36.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #36 (Feb. 1978) THE THING AND MR. FANTASTIC Cover: Ernie Chan Story Title: “A Stretch in Time…”

The Team-Up Companion

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ernie Chan Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Thing successfully returns Skull and his displaced entourage from the primal past, but Skull’s adversary follows him into the contemporary world, with dinosaurs in tow.

Villain(s): Jaguar Prince, dinosaurs Guest-star(s): Skull the Slayer Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #35.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #37 (Mar. 1978) THE THING AND MATT MURDOCK, ATTORNEY-AT-LAW Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Game Point!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The Thing is placed on trial for collateral damage caused during one of his superheroic feats, and is defended by Daredevil’s blind alter ego, lawyer Matt Murdock.

Villain(s): Alex Stone, Judge O’Brien Guest-star(s): Quasar (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The Thing is reading Stephen King’s The Shining at the beginning of the issue.

•M urdock does not appear as Daredevil in this story.

• While in jail the Thing is befriended by a youth named Eugene Everett, who shadows his new pal “Rocky” through issue #40’s resolution of this storyline.

• Continued in MTIO #38.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #38 (Apr. 1978) THE THING AND DAREDEVIL Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Thing Behind Prison Bars” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman (co-plot) and Roger Slifer (co-plot, script) Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Having failed to exonerate his client the Thing from charges against him, lawyer Matt Murdock investigates the case in his superhero identity of Daredevil.

Villain(s): Alex Stone; Mad Thinker’s android bodyguards, Mad Thinker Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Thundra, Reed Richards of Counter-Earth (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #37.

• Continued in MTIO #39.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #39 (May 1978) THE THING AND THE VISION Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Story Title: “The Vision Gambit” Writer(s): Roger Slifer

Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Mad Thinker manipulates the Thing and Daredevil into conflict with the Vision as part of his mission to replicate the Vision into an unstoppable army of android assassins.

Villain(s): Mad Thinker, Mad Thinker’s androids, duplicates of the Vision Guest-star(s): Daredevil; Hulk (flashback); Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback); Yellowjacket Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #38.

•O n Hank (Yellowjacket) Pym’s Avengers bookshelf is The Cosmic Trilogy by Roger Anton Wilson.

Published in 1977, the book was Part One in the author’s “Final Secret of the Illuminati” trilogy.

• Continued in MTIO #40.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #40 (June 1978) THE THING AND THE BLACK PANTHER Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Story Title: “Conjure Night!”

Writer(s): Roger Slifer (plot) and Tom DeFalco (script) Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Jim Shooter Synopsis: The Thing and the Black Panther investigate the abductions of some of New York’s foremost black citizens and discover the involvement of a supernatural menace.

Villain(s): Vampire Zuvembie Guest-star(s): Matt Murdock; Yellowjacket Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #39.

• T’Challa (the Black Panther), under the name “Luke Charles,” is moonlighting as a teacher of black history.

• Continued in MTIO #41.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #41 (July 1978) THE THING AND BROTHER VOODOO Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Story Title: “Voodoo and Valor!”

Writer(s): Roger Slifer (plot) and David Anthony Kraft (script) Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Jim Shooter Synopsis: A real-world figure— Haitian dictator Idi Amin—is behind last issue’s kidnapping of prominent people of color, leading the Thing and Brother Voodoo on a rescue mission.

Villain(s): Idi Amin Guest-star(s): Black Panther; Dr. Spectrum, Iron Man, Thor (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #40.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #42 (Aug. 1978) THE THING AND CAPTAIN AMERICA Cover: George Pérez (p) and Terry Austin (i)

Story Title: “Entropy, Entropy…”

Writer(s): Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Sal Buscema (breakdowns) and Alfredo Alcala and Sam Grainger (finishes) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Does Wundarr have a connection to the infinitely powerful Cosmic Cube? As scientists at Project Pegasus probe Ben’s former ward, the Thing and Captain America pursue the villain who has stolen the Cube, Victorius.

Villain(s): Victorius, Entropists cult, the Entropic Man Guest-star(s): Wundarr Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of the research facility Project Pegasus, a.k.a.

Project P.E.G.A.S.U.S. (Potential Energy Group/Alternate Sources/ United States).

• Continued in MTIO #43.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #43 (Sept. 1978) THE THING AND THE MAN-THING Cover: John Byrne (p) and Walter Simonson (i) Story Title: “The Day the World Winds Down” Writer(s): Ralph Macchio Artist(s): John Byrne “and friends” Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: The monstrous Man-Thing mucks up matters for the Thing and Captain America as they attempt to regain the Cosmic Cube from the super-strong Victorius and the horrific Entropic Man. Villain(s): Victorius, the Entropic Man; Entropists; A.I.M. (flashback) Guest-star(s): Captain America; S.H.I.E.L.D. (flashback), Ka-Zar (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Early installment of what would become known as the “Project Pegasus” storyline.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #44 (Oct. 1978) THE THING AND HERCULES Cover: Bob Hall Story Title: “The Wonderful World of Brother Benjamin J. Grimm” Writer(s): Marv Wolfman Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: While volunteering as a camp counselor, the Thing regales a group of children about his epic odyssey with the man-god Hercules to liberate Zeus from enslavement by the monstrous Manduu the Merciless.

Villain(s): Mythological beasts, Manduu Guest-star(s): Human Torch, Zeus MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #45 (Nov. 1978) THE THING AND CAPTAIN MARVEL Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Bob Layton (i) Story Title: “The Andromeda Rub-Out!” Writer(s): Peter Gillis

Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Mar-Vell’s cosmic awareness alerts him to an interplanetary threat to the Thing as Ben’s old adversary, Boss Barker, from a planet that mimics America’s Prohibition Era of gangsters, returns for revenge.

Villain(s): Boss Barker Team-Up Trivia: • A sight gag shows a “The Thing and Farrah [Fawcett-Majors]?” society newspaper headline.

• Sequel to Fantastic Four #91 (Oct. 1969).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #46 (Dec. 1978) THE THING AND THE INCREDIBLE HULK Cover: Keith Pollard (p) and Bob Layton (i) Story Title: “Battle in Burbank!”

Writer(s): Alan Kupperberg Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: If the Hulk can have his own TV show, why can’t the Thing?

That’s the question on Ben’s mind as he heads to Hollywood with stardom on his mind.

Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch; Howard the Duck, Karen Page; cast of TV’s M*A*S*H; Archie Bunker Team-Up Trivia: • The Hulk television show in question is the live-action The Incredible Hulk starring Bill Bixby as David Bruce Banner and Lou Ferrigno as the Hulk, which ran from 1977 through 1982.

• Daredevil supporting cast member Karen Page lands a role on TV’s Incredible Hulk.

• Hollywood agent Joe Jusko is named after the comic artist best known for his painted covers for Marvel magazines.

•B en is offered a sitcom, Thing in the Family, an All in the Family gag that includes cameo star Carroll O’Connor as Archie Bunker.

• In the real world, the Thing was popular enough to get his own TV show shortly after this story saw print.

Hanna-Barbera’s animated “Thing” segment of the Flintstones spinoff Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, featuring a teenage Ben Grimm turning into the rocky orange superhero, premiered in the fall of 1979.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #47 (Jan. 1979) THE THING AND THE YANCY STREET GANG Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Happy Deathday, Mister Grimm!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Chic Stone Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Malevolent metal men lead the Thing to fight alongside his old neighborhood rivals, the Yancy Street Gang.

Villain(s): The Corporation, Mr. Carnation; robots; Machinesmith Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of the Machinesmith using that name, although he had previously been seen as evil robotist Samuel “Starr” Saxon, beginning in Daredevil #49 (Feb. 1969).

• Continued in MTIO #48.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #48 (Feb. 1979) THE THING AND THE JACK OF HEARTS Cover: Chic Stone Story Title: “My Master, Machinesmith!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Chic Stone Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: By the luck of the draw, it’s up to the Jack of Hearts to save the Thing and the Yancy Street Gang from their captivity by Machinesmith.

Villain(s): Robots, Machinesmith, Mr. Carnation, the Corporation Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #47.

• As extensive flashback references several of the energy-blasting superhero Jack of Hearts’ scattered previous appearances, beginning with his premiere in Deadly Hands of Kung Fu #22 (Mar. 1976).

• MTIO editor Roger Stern, as writer of Captain America, would later tie in the Machinesmith/Starr Saxon with Daredevil rogue Mr. Fear in Captain America #249 (Sept. 1980).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #49 (Mar. 1979) THE THING AND DR. STRANGE Cover: Bob Budiansky (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Curse of Crawlinswood” Writer(s): Jo Duffy Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: As houseguests in an eccentric family’s eerie castle, the Thing and Dr. Strange have a paranormal encounter with a sinister mystic.

Villain(s): Ennis Tremellyn, Kemo Team-Up Trivia: • This story and its Crawlinswood estate are inspired by Collinswood and the daytime gothic horror soap opera, Dark Shadows (1966–1971).

• Ben uses a sonic fishing pole that was introduced in Fantastic Four #54 (Sept. 1966).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #50 (Apr. 1979) THE THING BATTLES THE THING Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Remembrance of Things Past” Writer(s): John Byrne Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern

Synopsis: After another of Reed Richards’ failed attempts to revert the Thing to his human form, Ben uses Dr. Doom’s time platform to travel to the past to attempt the reversal on himself in the early stages of his Thing mutation.

Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic Team-Up Trivia: • While artist Jack Kirby modified the Thing’s appearance throughout the early issues of Fantastic Four, in this story those changes are regarded as the Thing’s mutations.

• A Byrne-scripted sequel to this story appears in MTIO #100 (June 1983).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #51 (May 1979) THE THING GUEST-STARRING THE BEAST, MS. MARVEL, NICK FURY, AND WONDER MAN Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Full House— Dragons High!”

Writer(s): Peter B. Gillis Artist(s): Frank Miller (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: The Thing and his poker buddies get a bum deal when S.H.I.E.L.D. comes under attack during their game.

Villain(s): General Pollock, Pollock’s soldiers; Nuklo (flashback) Guest-star(s): Dum Dum Dugan; Captain America, Iron Man (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • On sale the same day as MTIO #51 was Daredevil #158, Frank Miller’s first issue as DD artist.

•S .H.I.E.L.D. agent Dum Dum Dugan grouses about “Godzilla duty,” a reference to S.H.I.E.L.D.’s appearances in Marvel’s Godzilla comic of the late 1970s.

•P ollock and his forces pilot the flying Sky Dragon once used by the arch-villain the Yellow Claw.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #52 (June 1979) THE THING AND MOON KNIGHT Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “A Little Knight Music!”

Writer(s): Steven Grant Artist(s): Jim Craig (p) and Bob McLeod (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Ex-CIA agent-turnedmercenary William Cross— Crossfire—unleashes a plot to eliminate superheroes starting with the Thing, attracting Moon Knight’s attention.

Villain(s): Crossfire Guest-star(s): The Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Beast, Yellowjacket, Wasp) (fantasy); the Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing) (fantasy)

Team-Up Index

245

Team-Up Trivia: • First appearance of Crossfire.

• A different character named Crossfire, a costumed adventurer created by writer Mark Evanier and artist Dan Spiegle, emerged at Eclipse Comics in the mid-1980s.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #53 (July 1979) THE THING AND QUASAR Cover: John Byrne (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Pegasus Project, Part One: The Inner War!” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Ben Grimm becomes the security chief for Project Pegasus, a scientific study site and prison for supervillains, and meets the cosmically powered Quasar.

Meanwhile, Thundra is recruited to become a lady wrestler.

Villain(s): Crusader (flashback); Thomas Lightner; Texas Twister, Vamp, Blue Streak (flashback); Nuklo, Solarr Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback); Thundra, Wundarr, Deathlok Team-Up Trivia: • The Thing’s weight, per a Project Pegasus security scan, is 227.2 KG (500 lbs., 14.24 oz.).

• First appearance of Dr. Jeannine O’Connell, Project Pegasus facilitator.

• The Thing mistakes Quasar for the Crusader, who the FF fought in Fantastic Four #164 (Nov. 1975).

• A late-Golden Age Marvel book, Marvel Boy #1 (Dec. 1950), is cited in Quasar’s origin flashback.

• The letters page is displaced by a full-page cutaway blueprint of the Project Pegasus facility.

• Co-writer Mark Gruenwald would later write a solo Quasar series, which ran 60 issues from 1989–1994.

• Continued in MTIO #54.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #54 (Aug. 1979) THE THING AND DEATHLOK Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Pegasus Project, Part Two: Blood and Bionics” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Deathlok invades Project Pegasus and tangles with the Thing, while Nuklo is freed by Dr. Lightner and Thundra wrestles a quartet of female furies.

Villain(s): The Grapplers (Poundcakes [Pound-Cakes], Titania, Screaming Mimi, Letha); Thomas Lightner; Nuklo Guest-star(s): Quasar, Thundra, Dr. William “Bill” (Black Goliath) Foster

246

Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #53.

• Deathlok’s ray blast draws blood from the Thing.

• First appearance of the Grapplers.

• Continued in MTIO #55.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #55 (Sept. 1979) THE THING AND GIANT-MAN Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Pegasus Project, Part Three: Giants in the Earth” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): John Byrne (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: The former Black Goliath (Dr. Bill Foster) becomes Giant-Man and teams with the Thing to halt Nuklon’s rampage through Project Pegasus. Meanwhile, Titania defeats Thundra in the wrestling ring and Wundarr returns.

Villain(s): Nuklo; Titania; Tiger Shark (flashback) Guest-star(s): Quasar, Thundra, Wundarr; Goliath (flashback); Man-Thing (flashback); Ms. Marvel (flashback); Namorita (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #54.

• As with issue #51, Ben is involved in a superhero poker night that is interrupted.

• First appearance of Bill Foster as Giant-Man. • Continued in MTIO #56.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #56 (Oct. 1979) THE THING BATTLES THUNDRA Cover: John Byrne (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “The Pegasus Project, Part Four: The Deadlier of the Species!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Thundra and her fellow lady wrestlers, the Grapplers, invade Project Pegasus.

Villain(s): The Grapplers (Titania, Poundcakes, Screaming Mimi, Letha); Dr. Lightner; Nuklo (flashback) Guest-star(s): Quasar, Giant-Man, Wundarr Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #55.

• Continued in MTIO #57.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #57 (Nov. 1979) THE THING AND WUNDARR Cover: George Pérez (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “The Pegasus Project, Part Five: When Walks Wundarr!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern

The Team-Up Companion

Synopsis: The Thing and his allies suspect that Project Pegasus has a mole behind its recent attacks, and Wundarr wanders the complex.

Villain(s): Thundra and the Grapplers (Titania, Poundcakes, Screaming Mimi, Letha), Solarr, Electro (in hospital bed), Dr. Lightner and Blacksun (flashback), Klaw Guest-star(s): Quasar, Giant-Man Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #56.

• Although cover-billed as the Thing’s co-star, Wundarr plays a minimal role in this issue’s chapter and is cover-featured only in an inset box.

• Electro is hospitalized at Project Pegasus from wounds sustained in Amazing Spider-Man #187 (Dec. 1978).

• Continued in MTIO #58.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #58 (Nov. 1979) THE THING AND THE AQUARIAN Cover: George Pérez (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “The Pegasus Project, Part Six: To the Nth Power!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: The formerly childlike Wundarr matures into the messianic Aquarian, and Project Pegasus’ resident rat, Dr. Lightner, morphs into the “living space warp” Nth Man. Villain(s): Klaw, Solarr (flashback), Nth Man, Blacksun (flashback) Guest-star(s): Quasar, Giant-Man, Thundra, Human Torch (flashback), Captain America (flashback), Deathlok (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #57.

• First appearance of the Aquarian and Nth Man. MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #59 (Jan. 1980) THE THING AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Bob Budiansky (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Trial and Error!”

Writer(s): Marv Wolfman (plot) and Ralph Macchio (script) Artist(s): Chic Stone (p) and Al Gordon (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Ben and Johnny cross paths with an adventurous young man anxious to accomplish daredevil activities before he turns 30.

Team-Up Trivia: • The Thing is shown reading the Conan the Barbarian newspaper strip by Roy Thomas and Ernie Chan.

• The World Trade Center is on fire in the story, which was published over 20 years before the twin towers fell and thousands died during the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #60 (Feb. 1980) THE THING AND THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN Cover: Bob Budiansky (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “Happiness Is a Warm Alien!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: Statues at a gala featuring Alicia Masters’ sculptures of FF villains mysteriously come to life.

Villain(s): Yancy Street Gang; Ultron, Dr. Doom, Sandman, Diablo, Blastarr, Wizard (statues); Bull Brogan, “Handsome” Harry Phillips, Yogi Dakor; Puppet Master Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic; Impossible Woman; Mark Gruenwald, George Pérez, Ralph Macchio (kitchen staff) Team-Up Trivia: •O n the wall in Ben’s room is an old Golden Gloves boxing poster for a pre-Thing Ben Grimm vs.

Bruno Kelso bout. Ben’s boxing past would later play a role in MTIO and The Thing.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #61 (Mar. 1980) THE THING AND STARHAWK Cover: George Pérez (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “The Coming of Her!” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: From a giant cocoon emerges the golden-skinned Her, who searches for her missing mate Him (Adam Warlock), pulling Ben into a cosmic storyline involving the mutant from the future, Starhawk.

Villain(s): Her; Thanos (flashback) Guest-star(s): Hulk and Dr. Strange (flashback); Him (flashback); Guardians of the Galaxy (Charlie-27, Vance Astro, Martinex, Yondu, Nikki) (flashback); Moondragon; Warlock (flashback); Spider-Man (flashback); Captain Marvel (flashback); Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Scarlet Witch) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The cover and story premise harken back to “The Coming of Him!” in Fantastic Four #67 (Oct. 1967).

• The Her storyline continues subplotts from Incredible Hulk Annual #6 (1977).

•S tarhawk and guest-star Moondragon previously met in Avengers #176 (Oct. 1978), during “The Korvac Saga.”

• Continued in MTIO #62.

• Gruenwald explains in issue #69’s letters column that MTIO #61–63 was conceived and partially produced a year and a half earlier, but delayed to accelerate the release of the “Project Pegasus” multiparter.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #62 (Apr. 1980) THE THING AND MOONDRAGON Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Taking of CounterEarth!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The awakening of Her and the abduction of Alicia Masters lead the Thing and his cosmic cronies to Counter-Earth and an encounter with the High Evolutionary.

Villain(s): High Evolutionary; Thanos (flashback) Guest-star(s): Starhawk, Her; Warlock (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #61.

• Continued in MTIO #63.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #63 (May 1980) THE THING AND WARLOCK? Cover: George Pérez (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “Suffer Not a Warlock to Live!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Her resurrects her mate, Him, a.k.a. Adam Warlock, who perished in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2.

Villain(s): High Evolutionary; Prime Movers of Tarkus, Sphinxor Guest-star(s): Her, Starhawk, Moondragon Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #62.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #64 (June 1980) THE THING AND STINGRAY Cover: George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Story Title: “The Serpent Crown Affair! Part One: From the Depths” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Hydrobase scientists are mysterious turning into amphibianmen, leading the Thing and Stingray to investigate.

Villain(s): Dr. Hydro (flashback); the Grapplers (Titania, Poundcakes, Screaming Mimi, Letha) (flashback); Serpent Squad (Sidewinder, Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder) Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic; Human Torch and Invisible Girl (on wall panels alongside rest of FF); SubMariner (flashback), Triton (flashback); Thundra, Hyperion; Aquarian Team-Up Trivia: • Split cover with co-stars in solo panels.

• Ben breaks up with Alicia Masters to spare her from endangerment from his super-foes.

• Dr. Walter (Stingray) Newell– related flashback to Sub-Mariner #31 (Nov. 1970).

• This story overlooks Reed and Ben’s previous knowledge of Hydrobase, as shown in SuperVillain Team-Up #7 (Aug. 1976).

• Thundra’s subplot continues elements from the “Project Pegasus” storyline.

• First appearance of the Serpent Squad.

• Continued in MTIO #65.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #65 (July 1980) THE THING AND TRITON Cover: George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Story Title: “The Serpent Crown Affair! Part Two: Serpents from the Sea” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): George Pérez (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The villainous Serpent Squad will stop at nothing to obtain the power-inducing artifact, the Serpent Crown.

Villain(s): Serpent Squad (Sidewinder, Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder) Guest-star(s): Stingray; Thundra, Hyperion; Avengers (Black Panther, Vision, Ms. Marvel) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #64.

• Continued in MTIO #66.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #66 (Aug. 1980) THE THING AND SCARLET WITCH Cover: George Pérez (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “The Serpent Crown Affair! Part Three: A Congress of Crowns!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Roxxon Oil head honcho Hugh Jones wears the Serpent Crown and uses it to control the U.S. Congress. Can the Avengers’ Scarlet Witch help Ben and his aquatic allies save the day?

Villain(s): Serpent Squad (Sidewinder, Anaconda, Black Mamba, Death Adder); Hugh Jones and Roxxon; Set; original Serpent Squad (Cobra, Eel, Princess Python, Viper) (flashback); Sub-Mariner, Viper, Living Laser, Krang (spectral duplicates) Guest-star(s): Stingray, Triton; Agatha Harkness; Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Beast, Hellcat, Vision, Scarlet Witch) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #65.

• First appearance of Set. • A sequel to “The Serpent Crown Affair!” appears in Marvel Team-Up Annual #5 (1982).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #67 (Sept. 1980) THE THING VS. HYPERION Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Passport to Oblivion!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Gene Day and Friends (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Thing and Hyperion go at it after the homesick Thundra hijacks the Nth Projector to use it to return to her homeworld of Femizonia.

Villain(s): Nth Project Guest-star(s): Quasar, Giant-Man; Thor (flashback); Thundra, Mr. Fantastic Team-Up Trivia: • The cover co-bills the Thing “vs.”

Hyperion, while the title page posits the Thing “and” Hyperion.

•C ontinuing a subplot from the previous issue, the Thing deposits the dangerous Serpent Crown at Project Pegasus for safekeeping.

•B en plans to reconcile with Alicia, with whom he broke up in MTIO #64, but sees her with another man.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #68 (Oct. 1980) THE THING AND THE ANGEL Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Dave Simons (i) Story Title: “Discos and Dungeons!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Thing and onetime X-Man Angel must escape a danger-fraught citadel owned by a former member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Villain(s): Magneto robot, armored knight robots; Toad-King; Magneto (flashback) Guest-star(s): Human Torch; Scarlet Witch (robot) Team-Up Trivia: • The credits mistakenly cite Gene Day as inker, an errata notes in MTIO #70’s lettercol.

• The Thing disco-dances on page 1.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #69 (Nov. 1980) THE THING BATTLES THE GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Gene Day (i) Story Title: “Homecoming!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Vance Astro time-travels from the future to the Thing’s era to attempt to alter his past, putting Ben in conflict with his former allies, the Guardians.

Guest-star(s): Invisible Girl, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch; Captain

America and Vision; Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Man, Storm, Aquarian, Captain Marvel Team-Up Trivia: • Participating members of the Guardians of the Galaxy are Starhawk, Vance Astro, Yondu, Martinex, Charlie-27, and Nikki.

• Ben references the Thing/Thing story from MTIO #50 as a parable to warn Vance against attempting to alter the intransmutable past.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #70 (Dec. 1980) THE THING AND ?!

Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Dave Simons (i) Story Title: “A Moving Experience” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Mike Nasser (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Thing receives some behind-the-scenes assistance from the Yancy Street Gang when encountering two of the PsychoMan’s former henchmen.

Villain(s): Live Wire, Shellshock Guest-star(s): Human Torch; Scarlet Witch (robot) Team-Up Trivia: • While cover-billed as a mystery “team-up,” the title page is billed as “The Thing and the Yancy Street Gang.”

•B en reconciles with Alicia Masters, resolving their breakup in issue #64, and prepares to move her into the Baxter Building for her safety.

• L ive Wire and Shellshock appeared alongside the Psycho-Man in Fantastic Four Annual #5 (1967).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #71 (Jan. 1981) THE THING AND MR. FANTASTIC Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Cure!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Reed Richards and scientists from the Inhumans’ home of Attilan collaborate to find a cure for the amphibian mutations of Hydrobase staff, but Maelstrom has other ideas.

Villain(s): Phobias, Gronk, Helios; Maelstrom Guest-star(s): Triton; Quicksilver and Crystal; Gorgon, Karnak; Stingray Team-Up Trivia: • Continuation of themes from “The Serpent Crown Affair!” in MTIO #64–66.

• Ben is pleased to discover that his former FF teammate Crystal, now married to Quicksilver, is pregnant.

• Continued in MTIO #72.

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MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #72 (Feb. 1981) THE THING AND THE INHUMANS Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “The Might of Maelstrom” Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The emergence of the lethal Deathurge leads Black Bolt to join his fellow Inhumans and the Thing in their struggle against Maelstrom.

Villain(s): Phobias, Gronk, Helios; Deathurge, Maelstrom Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #71.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #73 (Mar. 1981) THE THING AND QUASAR Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Pipeline Through Infinity” Writer(s): Ralph Macchio Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Thing and Quasar reunited to investigate the Nth Command’s recent attack on Project Pegasus and are sent to a prehistoric alternate reality.

Villain(s): Nth Command, Roxxon Oil Team-Up Trivia: • Continues the “Project Pegasus” storyline.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #74 (Apr. 1981) THE THING AND THE PUPPET MASTER Cover: Frank Springer Story Title: “A Christmas Peril!”

Writer(s): Mark Gruenwald Artist(s): Frank Springer (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Miniaturized by the mentally ill Modred the Mystic, the Thing and his old enemy the Puppet Master must work together to fend off destructive toys.

Villain(s): Puppet Master (as co-star), Modred the Mystic, High Evolutionary (flashback) Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch; Aquarian, Namorita, Wendell Vaughn (Quasar), Walter Newell (Stingray) Team-Up Trivia: • This issue’s guest-stars are attending the Fantastic Four’s Christmas party.

• Previous MTIO teammate Modred (#33) was reduced to a childlike mental state in Avengers #187 (Sept. 1979).

• The writing team of Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio bid readers adieu in this issue’s lettercol.

248

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #75 (May 1981) THE THING AND THE AVENGERS Cover: Alan Kupperberg (p) and Joe Sinnott (i); George Pérez alteration of Thing’s head Story Title: “By Blastaar— Betrayed!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Ben’s poker game with the Avengers is interrupted by a trip to the Negative Zone when FF foes Blastaar and Annihilus unite.

Villain(s): Annihilus, Blastaar, Super-Adaptatoid Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch; Scarlet Witch (flashback), Captain Marvel (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Participating Avengers in this issue are Captain America, Iron Man, Wasp, Beast, and Hawkeye.

• Double-sized issue featuring a 38-page story.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #76 (June 1981) THE THING AND ICEMAN Cover: Jerry Bingham (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “The Big Top Bandits” Writer(s): Tom DeFalco (plot) and David Michelinie (script) Artist(s): Jerry Bingham (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: A visit to the circus puts our heroes in conflict with the Ringmaster and his fellow sideshow supervillains.

Villain(s): Ringmaster and the Circus of Crime (the Clown, the Flying Gambonnos, Cannonball, Princess Python, Tarrax the Tamer, Fire-Breather) Guest-star(s): Giant-Man; Spider-Man, Hulk, Daredevil (flashback); original X-Men (Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Beast, Angel) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Giant-Man, though not co-billed, is cover-featured as the Thing’s second co-star for the issue.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #77 (July 1981) THE THING AND MAN-THING Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Bob Wiacek (i) Story Title: “Only the Swamp Survives!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Dazed after the experimental plane he is piloting crashes in the swamp, Ben Grimm encounters Man-Thing and recalls his World War II meeting with Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos.

Villain(s): Nazis (in Sgt. Fury segment)

The Team-Up Companion

Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch; Nick Fury; Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos (flashback parallel story); Giant-Man, Quasar (hallucinations) MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #78 (Aug. 1981) THE THING AND WONDER MAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Monster Man!” Writer(s): Tom DeFalco and David Michelinie Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Incensed over the appropriation of his likeness in the new Monster Man TV show starring Simon (Wonder Man) Williams, the Thing takes his beef to Hollywood.

Villain(s): Xemnu the Titan; the Lethal Legumes from Planet Twilo Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch; the Beast, Matt Murdock; the Defenders (Dr. Strange, Hulk, Sub-Mariner) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • TV’s Monster Man program features the titular star and his sidekick Kid Monstro, plus villain Captain Chlorophyll “and Jim Shooter as the Beaver.”

• TV producer Ted Silverberg is a play on then-network executve Fred Silverman’s name.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #79 (Sept. 1981) THE THING AND THE BLUE DIAMOND Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Shanga, the StarDancer!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: A cosmic nomad invades an American vacation hamlet, offering an embittered elderly superhero a last hurrah.

Villain(s): Shanga Team-Up Trivia: • Ben recalls his previous encounter with the then-younger Blue Diamond, then a member of the Liberty Legion, during the World War II–set MTIO Annual #1 and MTIO #20.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #80 (Oct. 1981) THE THING VERSUS THE GHOST RIDER Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Call Him… Monster!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: A clash with the flameskulled, hellfire-riding motorcyclist Ghost Rider makes sympathetic Ben count his blessings despite his own monstrous curse.

Guest-star(s): Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Man (as Alicia’s statues); Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Girl Team-Up Trivia: • Ghost Rider’s human alter ego, stunt-rider Johnny Blaze, is performing at Shea Stadium’s “Auto Show ’81.”

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #81 (Nov. 1981) THE THING AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “No Home for Heroes!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Visiting the Bowery where he once wandered the streets as an amnesiac, Namor crosses paths with the Thing and they uncover a plot to test a deadly contagion, Virus X, on the homeless.

Villain(s): Synthoids, M, A.I.M. Guest-star(s): Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback); Quasar, Giant-Man Team-Up Trivia: • Alicia Masters moves out of the Baxter Building into her own studio apartment.

• A flashback to Fantastic Four #4 (May 1962) retells Namor’s reemergence as an amnesiac discovered by Johnny Storm.

• A Kryptonian leprosy called Virus X appeared in several Silver and Bronze Age Superman stories, most notably Superman #156 (Oct. 1962) and a serial in Action Comics #363–366 (May–Aug. 1968).

Its symptoms included a green, mummified appearance for the Man of Steel, not unlike the Thing’s mutation in MTIO, although Thing’s skin did not turn green like Superman’s.

• Continued in MTIO #82.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #82 (Dec. 1981) THE THING AND CAPTAIN AMERICA Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “The Fatal Effects of Virus X!” Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: As the Thing mutates after his exposure to Virus X, a potential cure for Giant-Man’s cancer may provide the answer to saving Ben Grimm.

Villain(s): A.I.M., M.O.D.O.K. Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Giant-Man; Fantastic Four (origin flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #81.

•B en recalls the FF’s origin from Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961) in a flashback.

• Writer Tom DeFalco, with artists Arvell Jones and Sam de la Rosa, told an alternate version of this story in “What If the Thing Had

Continued to Mutate?” in What If? #37 (Feb. 1983). In that tale, Ben Grimm returns to his human form and Giant-Man replaces him on the FF roster.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #83 (Jan. 1982) THE THING AND SASQUATCH Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Where Stalks the Sasquatch!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Thing heads to Canada to seek a cure for Giant-Man’s cancer by enlisting the assistance of radiologist Dr. Walter Langkowski, also known as the battling behemoth Sasquatch.

Villain(s): Ranark the Ravager Guest-star(s): Giant-Man; Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Girl; Shaman Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in MTIO #84.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #84 (Feb. 1982) THE THING AND ALPHA FLIGHT Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Cry for Beloved Canada!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: While the life of Giant-Man hangs in the balance back in New York City, the Thing joins forces with Canada’s Alpha Flight to battle an evil witchdoctor.

Villain(s): Ranark the Ravager Guest-star(s): Giant-Man; Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl; Snowbird (pictured) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #83.

• Participating members of Alpha Flight are Vindicator, Sasquatch, Shaman, Aurora, and Northstar.

• After random appearances in X-Men, Alpha Flight would eventually spin off into their own series initially written and drawn

by John Byrne, commencing with Alpha Flight #1 (Aug. 1983).

• Continued in MTIO #85.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #85 (Mar. 1982) THE THING AND SPIDERWOMAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “The Final Fate of Giant-Man!” Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) and the Thing face the irradiated supervillain responsible for Giant-Man’s cancer.

Villain(s): Atom-Smasher; Stilt-Man, Vulcan (flashback) Guest-star(s): Giant-Man, Mr. Fantastic; Aquarian, Quasar, Thundra (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from MTIO #84.

•C ritically ill Bill Foster recalls past superhero adventures, with flashbacks to Black Goliath #1 (Feb. 1976) and other issues. He is cured in this story.

•F oster’s protégés and friends, the Whiz Kids (Herbert Bell, Talia Kruma, Dale West, and Celia Johnson), appear.

• DC Comics also has a character named Atom Smasher, the former Nuklon of Infinity, Inc., Albert Rothstein, godson of the Golden Age Atom.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #86 (Apr. 1982) THE THING AND SANDMAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Time Runs Like Sand!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: In a poignant tale mostly set in a pub, Sandman reassesses his lawless life while he and the Thing throw back beers.

Villain(s): Sandman; Hydro-Man, Mud-Thing (flashback) Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic; Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback); Spider-Man (flashback), Hulk (flashback), Machine Man (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The cover’s “It’s Miller time!”

Thing comment and “Time to Relax” cover blurb reference topical Miller Beer advertising.

• Sandman recounts his criminal past going back to his first appearance in Amazing Spider-Man #4 (Sept. 1963).

• Sandman had most recently teamed with supervillain Hydro-Man, the two merging into the single menace Mud-Thing, in Amazing Spider-Man #217–218 (June–July 1981).

• This begins a series of stories featuring a reformed Sandman that appear in various titles.

THE THING AND THE IMPOSSIBLE MAN Story Title: “Farewell, My Lummox!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Synopsis: The Impossible Man and his wife, the Impossible Woman, want to start a family.

Guest-star(s): Franklin Richards, Impossible Woman, Impossible Kids Team-Up Trivia: • Sequel to MTIO #60.

• Franklin and the Impossible Kids watch The Mickey Mouse Club on television and wear Mickey Mouse ears.

• Franklin laments the cancellation of his favorite TV show, Monster Man, a nod to MTIO #78.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #87 (May 1982) THE THING AND ANT-MAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “Menace of the Microworld!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: After the Thing disappears into a subatomic world, Mr. Fantastic recruits Scott Lang, the new Ant-Man, to go on a rescue mission.

Villain(s): Lizard Men, Zorak; Dr. Doom (flashback) Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch; Invisible Girl (flashback), Henry Pym as Ant-Man and Yellowjacket (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The Thing smokes Dutch Masters cigars.

• The bedroom of Scott Lang’s daughter Cassie is decorated with Hulk and Star Wars posters and action figures, plus a KISS pennant. She is wearing a SpiderMan T-shirt.

• The villain, the Lizard Man Zorak, bears no relation to the Space Ghost villain of the same name.

Villain(s): Ultima, the Word Guest-star(s): Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, S.H.I.E.L.D.; She-Hulk (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • The Word and his daughter Ultima previous appeared in writer Kraft’s Savage She-Hulk #9 (Oct. 1980).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #90 (Aug. 1982) THE THING AND SPIDER-MAN Cover: Ed Hannigan (layouts) and Al Milgrom (finished art) Story Title: “Eyes of the Sorcerer” Writer(s): Jan Strnad Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Dueling magicians from another realm cross over into Manhattan, their conflict at the Central Park Renaissance Fair creating chaos that attracts the Thing and Spidey.

Villain(s): Sardeth the sorcerer, knight demon, cave demon Guest-star(s): Solomus the sorcerer

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #88 (June 1982) THE THING AND SHE-HULK Cover: Alan Kupperberg (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Disaster at Diablo Reactor” Writer(s): David Anthony Kraft Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: A villain intends to decimate Los Angeles by blowing up a nuclear reactor, and the Thing and She-Hulk rally to stop him.

Villain(s): The Negator Team-Up Trivia: • At the time of this issue, She-Hulk was transitioning from solo star to team member. Her original series had been cancelled with issue #25 (Feb. 1982), and she had just gueststarred in Dazzler #14 (Apr. 1982).

After MTIO #88, she would appear in the three-issue limited series Marvel Super Heroes Contest of Champions, then join The Avengers with issue #221 (July 1982).

• She-Hulk’s 1957 pink Cadillac figures heavily in the story.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #91 (Sept. 1982) STARRING THE THING Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “In the Shadow of the Sphinx” Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Jon D’Agostino (i) Editor(s): Mark Gruenwald Synopsis: The Thing is off to Egypt, where he faces the Sphinx, the towering villain that has “returned to conquer this world—or crush it!”

Villain(s): The Sphinx; Galactus (flashback) Guest-star(s): Dr. Strange, Mr. Fantastic; Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • T he cover comically implies that Batman is the issue’s co-star, as the Sphinx’s similarly shaped shadow is cast across a bound and incredulous Thing.

• This is essentially a solo Thing story featuring guest-stars.

• The Sphinx’s origin from Nova #7 (Mar. 1977) is recounted in a flashback.

• Mark Gruenwald is credited as editor on the title page, where as Jim Salicrup retains his editor’s notation atop the letters page.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #89 (July 1982) THE THING AND THE HUMAN TORCH Cover: Alan Kupperberg (p) and Rick Magyar (i) Story Title: “The Last Word” Writer(s): David Anthony Kraft Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Chic Stone (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Thing and the Torch struggle to resist the sway of a persuasive criminal cult headed by the Word.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #92 (Oct. 1982) THE THING AND JOCASTA Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “This Evil Returning—!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and “A. Sorted” (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Robotic Avenger Jocasta seeks the FF’s aid after becoming concerned that she is losing control of herself.

Villain(s): Ultron

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Guest-star(s): Machine Man; Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch; Captain America; Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man, Beast) (flashback); statues of various Marvel characters Team-Up Trivia: • Machine Man is cover-featured as a co-star.

• Several unnamed inkers are credited as “A. Sorted.”

• The issue picks up where the previous issue left off, with the Thing departing Egypt.

• Among a group of protestors outside JFK Airport is someone with a “Bring Back Stan Lee!” picket sign.

• Ultron is resurrected from his imprisonment in Avengers #202 (Dec. 1980).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #93 (Nov. 1982) THE THING VERSUS MACHINE MAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “And One Shall Die—!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and “D. Hands” (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Ultron-controlled Thing battles Machine Man, and Jocasta must stop their fight.

Villain(s): Ultron, clones of Ultron Guest-star(s): Jocasta; Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Girl (flashback); Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Scarlet Witch, Vision) (flashback); statues of various Marvel characters Team-Up Trivia: • Several unnamed inkers are credited as “D. Hands” (“D” for “Diverse,” a multi-artist pseudonym previously used in Marvel credits).

• The Invisible Girl is mistakenly shown in a flashback to the previous issue, but she did not appear in MTIO #92.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #94 (Dec. 1982) THE THING FEAUTURING POWER MAN AND IRON FIST Cover: Ed Hannigan (layouts), Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “The Power Trap!”

Writer(s): David Anthony Kraft Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Ricardo Villamonte (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: Their investigation into the disappearance of a wealthy industrialist leads the Heroes for Hire into a team-up with the Thing.

Villain(s): War Gods (street gang); J. Mann Incorporated Guest-star(s): The Watcher (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Power Man and Iron Fist, and later the Thing, are hooked on an arcade video game called “X-Factor.”

A few years later, Marvel would introduce X-Factor #1 (Feb. 1986), a new series starring the original X-Men.

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MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #95 (Jan. 1983) THE THING AND THE LIVING MUMMY Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Chic Stone (i) Story Title: “The Power to Live…

The Power to Die…” Writer(s): David Anthony Kraft Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (p) and Jon D’Agostino (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: The mysterious Crown of Halthor possesses Ben’s girlfriend, Alicia Masters, whose form is overtaken to become the bride of Nephrus, the ancient Egyptian high priest.

Villain(s): Bride of Nephrus (Alicia), Nephrus Team-Up Trivia: • A flashback recounts the Living Mummy’s origin, from Supernatural Thrillers #5 (Aug. 1975).

• A visual gag makes a joke about the writer’s initials, as a “DAKKOOM!” sound effect is featured.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #96 (Feb. 1983) FEATURING THE THING Cover: Ed Hannigan (layouts), Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Visiting Hours!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Mike Esposito (i) Editor(s): Linda Grant and Lance Tooks Synopsis: While the Thing is hospitalized to recuperate from his boxing bout with the Champion, a steady stream of superhero well-wishers and supervillain troublemakers complicate his convalescence.

Villain(s): Gladiator (flashback), Champion (flashback); Mad Thinker; Mecho-Marauder, Mirage, Mole Man and Moloids, Shellshock, the Grapplers (Titania, Screaming Mimi, Poundcakes, and Letha), Dr. Doom, the Melter, Blacklash, the Beetle, M.O.D.O.K., Constrictor, the Rhino Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Girl; Captain America, Iron Man, Bill Foster (Giant-Man), Spider-Man, Daredevil, Thor, Ant-Man, X-Men (Colossus, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Sprite), Hulk, Avengers (Vision, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, Wasp), Sasquatch, Sub-Mariner, Sandman Team-Up Trivia: • Continuation of Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7.

• From his hospital bed Ben watches the TV soap opera One Life to Suffer.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #97 (Mar. 1983) THE THING AND IRON MAN Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Dave Simons (i) Story Title: “Yesterdaze!”

Writer(s): David Michelinie Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Jon D’Agostino (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: Silver Screen Productions recruits the Thing to star in a monster

The Team-Up Companion

movie, but apparently another motive is behind the offer.

Villain(s): Dinosaurs, Ted Silverberg Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Invisible Girl Team-Up Trivia: • The movie the Thing is recruited for is titled Mechagrub Meets Goddangit.

• A gag features the soundstage for “John Carpentry’s The Mess,” riffing off the real world’s highly publicized production problems during the filming of the John Carpenter movie, The Thing.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #98 (Apr. 1983) FEATURING THE THING Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and John Byrne (i) Story Title: “Vid Wars!”

Writer(s): David Michelinie Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco and Al Milgrom Synopsis: The alien Sharilla, a statuesque law enforcer from K’rith, enlists the Thing to help defend her world from the destructive Gh’unji, not realizing her reality is a video game come to life.

Villain(s): Gh’unji (the Gobbler) Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl Team-Up Trivia: • While cover-billed as a Thing solo issue, this is a Thing/Franklin Richards team-up.

• The “Gobblers” in the story and its popular “Pak-Man” arcade game are inspired by the then-current wave of “Pac-Man fever.”

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #99 (May 1983) THE THING AND ROM Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and John Byrne (i) Story Title: “Ghost Stories for a Rainy Night” Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Kevin Dzuban (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco Synopsis: The injured Spaceknight seeks the Thing’s help in combatting his foes the Dire Straits.

Villain(s): Dire Straits, Firefall Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback); Power Man, Iron Fist (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Guest-writer Mantlo was also the scribe of Marvel’s Hasbro Toys tie-in title, ROM: Spaceknight, which was set in the Marvel Universe.

• The Thing (with the FF) previously met the Spaceknight in ROM #23 (Oct. 1981).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #100 (June 1983) THE THING AND BEN GRIMM Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Afternath!”

Writer(s): John Byrne

Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia Kevin Dzuban (i) Editor(s): Tom DeFalco, Al Milgrom Synopsis: The alternate reality that the Thing once believed to be his own past has been taken over by the Red Skull and an army of Nazis.

Villain(s): Alternate-world versions of the Red Skull and Nazis, plus Galactus, Dr. Doom, the Mole Man and Moloids, Sythezoids Guest-star(s): Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl; Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, Captain America (flashback); alternateworld versions of the Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Spider-Man), X-Men (Wolverine, Cyclops, Colossus), Dr. Strange, Avengers (Iron Man, Thor, Beast, Vision, Scarlet Witch), Hulk, Sub-Mariner, Black Panther Team-Up Trivia: • While the cover co-bills the Thing and Ben Grimm, the indicia read “MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE FEATURING THE FANTASTIC FOUR.” • Double-sized issue featuring a 38-page story.

• Sequel to MTIO #50.

• Leads in to The Thing #1 (July 1983).

• Last issue of the series.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #1 (1976) THE THING AND THE LIBERTY LEGION Cover: Jack Kirby (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “Their Name Is Legion!”

Writer(s): Roy Thomas Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Sam Grainger, John Tartaglione, and George Roussos (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The Thing time-travels to 1942 to stop the Nazis from using their stolen Vibranium to win World War II, and is assisted by the Liberty Legion.

Villain(s): Skyshark, Master Man, U-Man; Slicer; Baron Zemo (flashback); Adolf Hitler (flashback) Guest-star(s): The Watcher (flashback); Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch (flashback); the Invaders (Captain America and Bucky, Human Torch and Toro, and Sub-Mariner) (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from Fantastic Four Annual #11 (1976).

• The Liberty Legion consists of Blue Diamond, Jack Frost, Miss America, the Patriot, Red Raven, the Thin Man, and the Whizzer.

• Continued in MTIO #20.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #2 (1977) THE THING AND SPIDER-MAN Cover: Jim Starlin Story Title: “Death Watch!”

Writer(s): Jim Starlin Artist(s): Jim Starlin (breakdowns) and Joe Rubinstein (finishes) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: Urban adventurers Thing and Spidey are drawn into a cosmic

conflict to aid the Avengers in their quest to stop the mad god Thanos’ plot to obliterate Earth’s sun.

Villain(s): Thanos Guest-star(s): Warlock, Captain Marvel, the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, Beast, Scarlet Witch, Moondragon, Vision), Lord Chaos and Master Order, Gamora, Pip the Troll, the Ultimate Avenger Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from Avengers Annual #7 (1977).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #3 (1978) THE THING AND THE MAN CALLED NOVA Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “When Strike the Monitors!”

Writer(s): Mark Wolfman Artist(s): Sal Buscema (breakdowns) and Frank Giacoia and Dave Hunt (finishes) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: A race of alien giants called the Monitors invade Earth with plans of conquest, leading the cosmic teen hero Nova and the Thing to join forces to stand against them.

Villain(s): The Monitors Team-Up Trivia: • Writer Wolfman would more famously reuse the name “Monitor” for his catalyst character behind DC Comics’ epic 1985–1986 crossover event and 12-issue maxiseries, Crisis on Infinite Earths.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #4 (1979) THE THING AND BLACK BOLT Cover: Joe Sinnott Story Title: “A Mission of Gravity!”

Writer(s): Alan Brodsky (plot) and David Michelinie (script) Artist(s): Jim Craig (breakdowns) and Bob Budiansky and Bruce Patterson (finishes) Editor(s): Roger Stern Synopsis: An amnesiac Graviton mutates into a giant capable of creating miniature black holes, and the Thing and the Inhumans’ mute superman Black Bolt unite to defy him.

Villain(s): Graviton Guest-stars: Medusa, Lockjaw; Jarvis; the Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Black Panther, Wonder Man, Beast, Wasp, Yellowjacket) (flashback); Nick Fury, President Jimmy Carter Team-Up Trivia: • The story’s title is presented “with apologies to Hal Clement.” Clement, the pseudonym of sci-fi author and astronomer Hal Clement Stubbs, was the author of the seminal 1953 novel, Mission of Gravity.

• A bonus letters page cites that this Annual’s story occurs before the events of Fantastic Four #207 (June 1979), which involves the capture of Medusa. The text page also touts the “Project Pegasus” storyline occurring in MTIO.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #5 (1980) THE THING AND THE HULK Cover: Alan Kupperberg (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “When a Stranger Calls!”

Writer(s): Alan Kupperberg Artist(s): Alan Kupperberg (breakdowns) and Pablo Marcos (finishes) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: When his Fantastic Four allies are incapacitated by gamma radiation, Ben Grimm turns to gamma expert Dr. Bruce Banner for help—and where there’s Banner, the Incredible Hulk can’t be far behind!

Villain(s): The Stranger; Pluto and his minions Guest-stars: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch Team-Up Trivia: • The title above is actually the cover copy. This 34-page story is told in five chapters, each with its own title but no overall story title.

• The Hulk’s origin is retold in a flashback.

• MTIO #1 is available for $6 in 1980 in a back-issue dealer ad in the Annual. Its value in the 2021–2022 edition of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide is $125 in NM– condition.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #6 (1981) THE THING AND THE AMERICAN EAGLE Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Walter Simonson (i) Story Title: “An Eagle from America!”

Writer(s): Doug Moench Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Gene Day (i) Editor(s): David Anthony Kraft Synopsis: Wyatt Wingfoot seeks the Thing’s aid in resolving a tribal disagreement steeped in an ancient legend of combatting giants, while Jason Strongbow, the American Eagle, stalks Ka-Zar in the Savage Land. Their paths intersect to clash with the villainous Klaw.

Villain(s): Klaw, Ward Strongbow Guest-stars: Wyatt Wingfoot, Ka-Zar Team-Up Trivia: • “Rampagin’ Ron Wilson” receives a creator credit for the American Eagle.

• American Eagle appears only sporadically in the Marvel Universe after this high-profile premiere. He is next seen in Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1 (June 1982).

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE ANNUAL #7 (1982) STARRING THE THING Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “And They Shall Call Him… Champion!”

Writer(s): Tom DeFalco Artist(s): Ron Wilson (p) and Bob Camp, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Dan Green, Armando Gil, and Chic Stone (i)

Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The Thing is transported

by Proja, the Promoter Supreme, along with other Marvel heavyhitters for an intergalactic boxing bout against “the living spirit of competition,” the alien combatant Champion.

Villain(s): Ultron (statuette sculpted

by Alicia Masters); Proja, Champion Guest-stars: Primary guest-stars: Thor, Doc Samson, Hulk, Colossus, Sub-Mariner, Sasquatch, Wonder Man; with Vision and Scarlet Witch; Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch; Spider-Man (statue); X-Men (Prof. X, Wolverine, Cyclops, Storm, Nightcrawler, Sprite); Avengers (Captain America, Iron Man, Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Wasp) Team-Up Trivia: • Doc Samson is one of the main guest-stars but does not appear on the cover. His name is misspelled “Sampson” in his first panel.

• The Thing makes the covers of Sports Illustrated and Time magazines.

© DC Comics.

SHOWCASE #55 (Mar.–Apr. 1965) DOCTOR FATE AND HOURMAN Cover: Murphy Anderson Story Title: “Solomon Grundy Goes on a Rampage!”

Writer(s): Gardner Fox Artist(s): Murphy Anderson Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Solomon Grundy escapes from Green Lantern’s power-ring– created prison and, in a berserker rage, goes looking for his arch-foe, crossing paths with Hourman, Doctor Fate, and eventually Green Lantern himself.

Guest star: The “Original” Green Lantern Villain(s): Solomon Grundy Team-Up Trivia: • Editor Julie Schwartz’s revival of the Golden Age characters.

• Story is set on Earth-Two. •D octor Fate and Hourman are magically compelled to fight each other.

• Winner of the 1965 Alley Award for “Best Novel.”

SHOWCASE #56 (May–June 1965) DOCTOR FATE AND HOURMAN Cover: Murphy Anderson Story Title: “Perils of the PsychoPirate” Writer(s): Gardner Fox Artist(s): Murphy Anderson Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Having learned the manipulation of emotions from his dying cellmate, the new Psycho-Pirate uses the Medusa Masks for a crime wave and to puppet the behavior of Doctor Fate and Hourman.

Villain(s): The Psycho-Pirate (Roger Hayden); the original Psycho-Pirate (Charley Halsted, shown as a dying convict); Wotan (as an illusion)

Team-Up Trivia: • Editor Julie Schwartz’s revival of the Golden Age characters.

• Story is set on Earth-Two. • Once again, Doctor Fate and Hourman are compelled to fight each other.

© DC Comics.

ALL-NEW COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-54 (1978) SUPERMAN VS. WONDER WOMAN Cover: José Luis García-López (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Story Title: “Superman vs. Wonder Woman,” told in chapters labeled as U.S. military reports Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): José Luis García-López (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Editor(s): Joe Orlando Synopsis: A previously untold adventure occurring during World War II, Superman and Wonder Woman uncover plans to develop a nuclear bomb. Their disagreement over the deadly weapon leads to a battle between the two heroes.

Villain(s): Japanese and Nazis, Baron Blitzkrieg, Sumo the Samurai Guest-star(s): Uncle Sam (symbolic cover appearance); Queen Hippolyta; Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, Albert Einstein, President Franklin D. Roosevelt Team-Up Trivia: • The team-up is published in the tabloid-sized format. The story is 72 pages.

• The story is set on Earth-Two, although not stated as such, and its Superman is drawn as the more familiar Earth-One version, most notably with his telltale stylized “S” chest insignia.

• Baron Blitzkrieg had recently been created by writer Conway in the Wonder Woman story in World’s Finest #246 (Sept. 1977).

ALL-NEW COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-56 (1978) SUPERMAN VS. MUHAMMAD ALI Cover: Neal Adams (working from an original cover layout by Joe Kubert) Story Title: “Superman vs.

Muhammad Ali” Writer(s): Denny O’Neil (story) and Neal Adams (adaptation) Artist(s): Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano and Terry Austin (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: An alien race called the Scrubb threatens to attack Earth if a depowered Superman and Muhammad Ali do not fight for the privilege of facing their champion, Hun’Ya, in an intergalactic boxing ring.

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251

Villain(s): Rat’lar, the Scrubb (alien race), Hun’Ya Guest-star(s): George Foreman (flashback); President Jimmy Carter; Herbert Muhammad; Adam and Alanna Strange; Howard Cosell; Pallas Athene, the Greek goddess of wisdom; numerous DC heroes (most in alter egos), DC employees and comic creators, and multimedia celebrities observing the fight on its wraparound cover Team-Up Trivia: • The team-up is published in the tabloid-sized format. The story is 73 pages.

• A cover key identifies 172 ringside personalities depicted on the wraparound cover.

• Ali deduces Superman’s Clark Kent identity, as he privately reveals at story’s end.

ALL-NEW COLLECTORS’ EDITION #C-58 (1978) SUPERMAN VS. SHAZAM! Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “When Earths Collide!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Rich Buckler (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A White Martian intends to revive his dead race by using energies produced by his planned destruction of Earth-One and Earth-S, and tricks Superman and Captain Marvel into conflicts while he implements his plans.

Villain(s): Karmang the Evil, Black Adam; unnamed costumed Metropolis villain; the Quarrmer (a.k.a. the Sand Superman) Guest-star(s): Supergirl, Mary Marvel; the wizard Shazam Team-Up Trivia: • The team-up is published in the tabloid-sized format. The story is 72 pages.

• This is Superman’s second encounter with the original Captain Marvel, after JLA #137.

• The Quarrmer’s origin story, Superman #233, is referenced.

© DC Comics.

SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #2 (Dec. 1975–Jan. 1976) THE CREEPER AND WILDCAT Cover: Dick Giordano Story Title: “Showdown in San Lorenzo!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Ric Estrada (p) and Bill Draut (i) Editor(s): Gerry Conway Synopsis: Wildcat, secretly former heavyweight champ Ted Grant, and the Creeper are initially at odds until joining forces to rescue kidnapped boxer Japhy Shim.

Villain(s): Proteus

252

Team-Up Trivia: • 64-Page Giant format: one new story plus reprints.

• The cover was originally planned to spotlight only Creeper and Wildcat; prior to publication its art was truncated and boxed, the final cover co-featuring the Batman/Deadman team-up from The Brave and the Bold #79.

• According to The Amazing World of DC Comics #6, the Creeper/Wildcat tale was originally conceived as an issue of 1st Issue Special.

SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #3 (Feb.–Mar. 1976) THE FLASH AND HAWKMAN Cover: Frank Brunner Story Title: “The End of the World!”

Writer(s): Steve Skeates Artist(s): Ric Estrada (p) and Wally Wood (i) Editor(s): Gerry Conway Synopsis: Hawkman is mutated into a gorilla and nearly squeezes the life out of the Fastest Man Alive.

Villain(s): Gorilla Grodd Guest-star(s): Hawkgirl, Solovar of Gorilla City, Black Canary Team-Up Trivia: • 64-Page Giant format: one new story plus reprints.

• This cover is Frank Brunner’s only DC Comics art.

• One-time Plastic Man/Spider-Ham scribe Skeates’ sense of humor is on display with his story’s pun-titled chapters: “Gorilla My Dreams,” “Six and Seven Apes,” and “Planned It for the Apes.”

SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #11 (June–July 1977) THE FLASH AND SUPERGIRL PLUS: THE ATOM Cover: Alan Weiss (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Story Title: “The Other Side of Doomsday!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Alan Weiss (p) and Joe Rubinstein (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Iris West Allen (wife of the Flash), Jean Loring (girlfriend of the Atom), and Linda (Supergirl) Danvers mysteriously disappear from a Women’s Symposium, leading Flash and Atom to trail them to a bizarre living planet and an encounter with an old JLA foe.

Villain(s): T. O. Morrow Team-Up Trivia: • 52-page format: 34-page all-new story.

• DC publisher Jenette Kahn cameos as the mistress of ceremonies at Ivy University’s Women’s Symposium.

SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #12 (Aug.–Sept. 1977) GREEN LANTERN AND HAWKMAN PLUS: THE ATOM Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Jack Abel (i) Story Title: “The Eternity Pursuit” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Arvell Jones (p) and Bill Draut (i)

The Team-Up Companion

Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The Atom’s quest to find his missing love takes him and his Justice League co-stars to two different alien worlds fraught with dangers.

Villain(s): The Dhrune, the Aurians (two alien races) Guest-star(s): The Flash and Supergirl (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • 5 2-page format: 30-page all-new story, with a three-page Hawkman reprint.

SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #13 (Oct.–Nov. 1977) AQUAMAN AND CAPTAIN COMET GUEST-STARRING: THE ATOM Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Jack Abel (i) Story Title: “Ragnarok Night” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Arvell Jones (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: Part Three of the Atom storyline finds Jean Loring on Earth, her dimension-hopping ordeal adversely affecting her mind. Meanwhile, the heroes are dispatched to different environmental crises across Earth.

Villain(s): The Wind Pirate; Secret Society of Super-Villains, Grodd, Star Sapphire Guest-star(s): Kid Flash; Flash, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Hawkman (flashbacks); Funky Flashman Team-Up Trivia: • 52-page format: 34-page all-new story.

• The Atom ventures into the brain of Jean Loring, as he did with Batman’s brain in The Brave and the Bold #115.

SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #14 (Dec. 1977–Jan. 1978) WONDER WOMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Jack Abel (i) Story Title: “The End of the Quest” Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Arvell Jones (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The Amazing Amazon assists the Atom in challenging a supervillain who takes advantage of the chaos caused by Jean Loring’s bending of reality.

Villain(s): Giant robots; Secret Society of Super-Villains, Grodd, Star Sapphire, Floronic Man Guest-star(s): Flash, Supergirl, Green Lantern, Hawkman, Aquaman, Captain Comet (flashback); the Creeper; Funky Flashman; Queen Hippolyta; Solivar and apes of Gorilla City Team-Up Trivia: • 52-page format: 34-page all-new story.

• Ray Palmer and Jean Loring become engaged, marrying in Justice League of America #157 (Aug. 1978).

•P age 34 is a full-page pinup by Jones and Tanghal revealing next issue’s team of the Flash and the New Gods (Orion, Lightray, and Metron).

SUPER-TEAM FAMILY #15 (Mar.–Apr. 1978) THE FLASH AND THE NEW GODS Cover: José Luis García-López Story Title: “The Gulliver Effect!”

Writer(s): Gerry Conway Artist(s): Arvell Jones (p) and Romeo Tanghal (i) Editor(s): Paul Levitz Synopsis: The New Gods of New Genesis turn to Earth’s Fastest Man Alive for help when Orion is transformed into a Promethean giant.

Villain(s): Darkseid, Hagdar the Mad, Ice Weirds, hive-minded trolls Guest-star(s): Highfather, Jezebelle Team-Up Trivia: • 52-page format: 35-page all-new story.

• Superman’s guest-appearance in Forever People #1 is footnoted when Flash discovers a Mother Box. • Final issue of the series. A Supergirl/ New Doom Patrol team-up planned for Super-Team Family #16 would be serialized in Superman Family #191–193.

© Marvel.

GIANT-SIZE SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #1 (Mar. 1975) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Encounter at Land’s End!” Writer(s): Roy Thomas Artist(s): John Buscema (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: Namor rescues a befallen Dr. Doom and tries to convince his fellow monarch to become his ally. Doom’s scornful response: “I remember… that we are sworn and deadly FOES!” Villain(s): Darkoth the Death-Demon (flashback) Guest-star(s): Silver Surfer (flashback); Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch, Thing (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • 68-page format: ten-page all-new story framing truncated reprints, from Sub-Mariner #20 (Dec. 1969) and the Doom-starring Marvel Super-Heroes #20 (May 1969).

•F ootnoted flashbacks place the new story between Doom’s appearances in Fantastic Four #144 (Mar. 1974) and 155 (Feb. 1975).

GIANT-SIZE SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #2 (June 1975) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “To Bestride the World!”

Writer(s): Roy Thomas Artist(s): Mike Sekowsky (p) and Sam Grainger (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas

Synopsis: Doom has reconsidered Namor’s invitation to join forces, and the two must work together to defend Castle Doom from an assault by an old foe.

Villain(s): Faceless One (flashback); Andro, Lord of the Androids; Andro’s androids Guest-star(s): Thing (flashback), Lockjaw (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • 68-page format: 32-page all-new story, accompanied by a reprint from Amazing Spider-Man #8 (Jan. 1964).

• The Dr. Doom image from the cover was repurposed for a 7-Eleven Slurpee cup.

• Andro is actually the Doomsman, who battled Dr. Doom in Astonishing Tales #1 (Aug. 1970)– 3 (Dec. 1970).

• Last issue of the Giant-Size series.

Story continued in traditional format in Super-Villain Team-Up #1.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #1 (Aug. 1975) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Ron Wilson (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Slayers from the Sea!” Writer(s): Tony Isabella Artist(s): George Tuska and Bill Everett (p) and Fred Kida (i); George Evans (p) and Frank Springer (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Namor, wary of his troubled alliance with Doom, is attacked by a trio of his aquatic enemies.

Villain(s): Andro’s androids (flashback); Dr. Hydro (flashback); Attuma’s minions, Attuma, Tiger Shark, Dr. Dorcas Guest-star(s): Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Human Torch (flashback); Thor, Hulk, Spider-Man, Quicksilver, Daredevil, Silver Surfer (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Ongoing series in traditional 32-page format. Two interlocking chapters.

• Continued in SVTU #2.

• Grand Comic Book Database indexer Nick Caputo theorizes that the pages credited to penciler Bill Everett are instead the work of artist Bill Lignante, from an unpublished Sub-Mariner story produced in the late 1960s but sampled in 1970’s Marvelmania Magazine #3.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #2 (Oct. 1975) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “In the Midst of Life…!”

Writer(s): Tony Isabella Artist(s): Sal Buscema (p) and Fred Kida (i) Editor(s): Len Wein Synopsis: Namor is held captive at Hyrdrobase by his assembled enemies… but can the Scion of the Sea count on his ally Dr. Doom for a rescue?

Villain(s): Attuma, Tiger Shark, Dr. Dorcas, Saru-San

Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from SVTU #1.

• Death of Sub-Mariner supporting cast member Betty Dean Prentiss.

• Continued in SVTU #3.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #3 (Dec. 1975) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Ed Hannigan (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “If Vengeance Fails!”

Writer(s): Jim Shooter Artist(s): George Evans (p) and Jack Abel (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Sub-Mariner, avenging the murder of his one-time love Betty Dean (Prentiss), and Doom wage war on Namor’s aquatic foes.

Villain(s): Attuma, Tiger Shark, Dr. Dorcas, Saru-San, Kor-Konn Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from SVTU #2.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #4 (Feb. 1976) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Story Title: “A Time of Titans” Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Jim Mooney (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Well, that team-up didn’t last long—Namor and Doom are locked in raging combat!

Villain(s): Simon Ryker, Symbiotic Man Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in Marvel Spotlight #27 (Apr. 1976), a Sub-Mariner solo story by Bill Mantlo and Jim Mooney that advances SVTU #4’s subplot involving Simon Ryker’s creation of the Symbiotic Man.

Cover: Jim Starlin (p) and Alan Weiss (i), with John Romita, Sr. revisions of FF Story Title: “Prisoner!”

Writer(s): Steve Englehart Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Jack Abel (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: Sub-Mariner battles the Fantastic Four as the FF attempt to help liberate Namor from his allegiance to Dr. Doom.

Villain(s): The Shroud Guest-star(s): Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Invisible Girl, Human Torch); Henry Kissinger Team-Up Trivia: • Sub-Mariner has officially returned to his classic look, in his green swimming trunks.

• A cover blurb teases “The Most Unexpected Guest-Star of All!”— a cameo by U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Writer Steve Englehart was noted for his inclusion of real-world political figures in his 1970s Marvel stories, including President Richard M. Nixon as the ultimate villain behind the Captain America “Secret Empire” storyline.

• Continued in SVTU #7.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #7 (Aug. 1976) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Klaus Janson (i) Story Title: “Who is… the Shroud?”

Writer(s): Steve Englehart Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Pablo Marcos (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: The mysterious Shroud comes into conflict with Dr. Doom.

Guest-star(s): The Shroud, Henry Kissinger, Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Invisible Girl, Human Torch), Namorita, Spider-Man, Daredevil, Hulk, Thor Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from SVTU #6.

• Flasbhack origin of the Shroud.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #5 (Apr. 1976) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Rich Buckler (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “…And Be a Villain” Writer(s): Steve Englehart Artist(s): Herb Trimpe (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Marv Wolfman Synopsis: An ailing Namor turns to his frenemies the Fantastic Four for help, while a mysterious masked man lurks the shadows in search of Doom.

Guest-star(s): Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, Thing, Invisible Girl, Human Torch); the Shroud, Medusa (flashback), Triton (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Continued from Marvel Spotlight #27.

• Last issue featuring Sub-Mariner in his 1970s black costume.

• Introduction of the Shroud.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #8 (Oct. 1976) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Marie Severin Story Title: “Escape!”

Writer(s): Steve Englehart Artist(s): Keith Giffen (p) and Owen McCarron (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Shroud turns to Namor as an ally against Dr. Doom, and the pair seeks assistance from the Ringmaster and his Circus of Crime.

Villain(s): The Ringmaster, the Circus of Crime (Clown, Human Cannonball, Great Gambonnos); Rajah Mahadevu Guest-star(s): The Shroud, Namorita Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in Avengers #154 (Dec. 1976) and SVTU #9.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #6 (June 1976) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #9 (Dec. 1976) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER

Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Dan Adkins (i) Story Title: “Pawns of Attuma!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Jim Shooter (breakdowns) and Sal Trapani (finished art) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Avengers battle Dr. Doom… but are there two Dooms now plaguing the world?

Villain(s): Attuma; Prince Rudolfo (as Dr. Doom); the Ringmaster, the Circus of Crime (Clown, Human Cannonball, Great Gambonnos); Rajah Mahadevu Guest-star(s): The Shroud; the Avengers (Iron Man, Captain America, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Wonder Man, Beast); the Whizzer, Namorita Team-Up Trivia: •C ontinued from SVTU #8 and Avengers #154 (Dec. 1976).

• Continued in Avengers #155 (Jan. 1977) and concluded in Avengers #156. Sub-Mariner and Dr. Doom cross over into those Avengers issues.

•C o-star Sub-Mariner does not appear on the cover.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #10 (Feb. 1977) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Gil Kane (p) and Ernie Chan (i), with John Romita, Sr. alterations Story Title: “The Sign of the Skull!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Red Skull returns and invades Latveria, forcing his archenemy, the heroic Captain America, into a partnership with the Latverian lord, Dr. Doom.

Villain(s): Prince Rudolfo, Attuma (flashback), the Red Skull Guest-star(s): Captain America; the Avengers (Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Wonder Man, Beast) (flashback); the Whizzer (flashback), the Shroud Team-Up Trivia: • Co-star Sub-Mariner does not appear on the cover, aside from a corner-box headshot.

•C ontinued in Avengers #156 (Feb. 1977) and SVTU #11.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #11 (Apr. 1977) DR. DOOM AND THE RED SKULL Cover: Dave Cockrum (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Story Title: “My Ally, My Enemy!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Shroud’s enmity with Dr. Doom rages and the Red Skull’s takeover of Doom’s domain is challenged.

Villain(s): Prince Rudolfo, Attuma (flashback), the Red Skull Guest-star(s): The Shroud, Captain America, Sub-Mariner Team-Up Trivia: • Continued in SVTU #12.

Team-Up Index

253

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #12 (June 1977) DR. DOOM AND THE RED SKULL Cover: Dave Cockrum (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Death-Duel!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The conflict between Dr. Doom and the Red Skull shifts to a clash between the titans on the Moon.

Villain(s): Prince Rudolfo Guest-star(s): The Shroud, Captain America, Sub-Mariner Team-Up Trivia: •C ontinued from SVTU #11.

• The Red Skull’s space suit bears a swastika chest emblem.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #13 (Aug. 1977) DR. DOOM AND THE SUB-MARINER Cover: Keith Giffen (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “When Walks the Warlord!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo (co-plot, script) and Keith Giffen (plot) Artist(s): Keith Giffen (p) and Don Perlin (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The Warlord Krang has overtaken Prince Namor’s undersea kingdom and Dr. Doom joins his ally Sub-Mariner to defend Atlantis.

Villain(s): Warlord Krang Team-Up Trivia: • Final appearance of Sub-Mariner as the co-star.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #14 (Oct. 1977) DR. DOOM AND MAGNETO Cover: John Byrne (p) and Terry Austin (i) Story Title: “A World for the Winning!”

Writer(s): Bill Mantlo Artist(s): Bob Hall (p) and Don Perlin and Duffy Vohland (i) Editor(s): Archie Goodwin Synopsis: The lord of Latveria has devised a way to become “Doom Supreme” and command subservience, but frees Magneto from his control and issues a challenge to the mutant master of magnetism.

Guest-star(s): The X-Men (Cyclops, Wolverine, Storm, Colossus, Nightcrawler, Banshee) (flashback); the Avengers (Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Beast, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Scarlet Witch, Vision, Wonder Man); the Champions (Ghost Rider, Black Widow, Iceman, Angel, Hercules, Darkstar) Team-Up Trivia: • Last issue of the series. Continued in The Champions #16 (Nov. 1977).

• Marvel Graphic Novel: Emperor Doom—Starring the Mighty Avengers (1987), by David Michelinie and Bob Hall, featured a similar theme of world domination and gueststarred Sub-Mariner.

254

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #15 (Nov. 1978) DR. DOOM AND THE RED SKULL Cover: George Pérez (p) and Joe Sinnott (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Team-Up Trivia: • Revival as a quarterly reprint title, a legal maneuver to keep DC Comics from trademarking “Super-Villain” as in its series Secret Society of Super-Villains.

• Re-presenting an edited two-part Dr. Doom story (guest-starring the Red Skull) from Astonishing Tales #4 (Feb. 1971) and 5 (Apr. 1971).

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #16 (May 1979) THE RED SKULL AND THE HATE MONGER Cover: Al Milgrom (p) and Frank Giacoia (i) Story Title: “Shall I Call Thee Master?”

Writer(s): Peter Gillis Artist(s): Carmine Infantino (p) and Bruce Patterson (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: A new criminal alliance is forged with a deadly mission: the recreation of the all-powerful Cosmic Cube.

Villain(s): Arnim Zola (flashback) Guest-star(s): Captain America (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Series revival; now published annually.

• Continued over one year later in SVTU #17.

• Artist Infantino slips in a sight gag with the Flash newspaper, named after the DC character for which he was most famous.

SUPER-VILLAIN TEAM-UP #17 (June 1980) RED SKULL AND THE HATE MONGER, WITH ARNIM ZOLA Cover: Keith Pollard (p) and Al Milgrom (i) Story Title: “Dark Victory” Writer(s): Peter B. Gillis Artist(s): Arvell Jones (p) and Bruce Patterson (i) Editor(s): Jim Salicrup Synopsis: The co-stars’ villainous conspiracy involves the clone of Adolf Hitler (Hate Monger) becoming one with a re-created Cosmic Cube.

Villain(s): Thanos (flashback); M.O.D.O.K., A.I.M. (flashback) Guest-star(s): Captain America (flashback); Iron Man and Captain Marvel (flashback), Drax (flashback); S.H.I.E.L.D.; original Human Torch and Toro (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Origin flashback of Hate Monger.

• First appearance of A.I.M.’s Dr. George Clinton, based upon the Funkadelic musician.

• Last issue of series (really, this time).

• Writer Gillis continued elements from this story in Captain America Annual #7 (1983).

The Team-Up Companion

© Marvel.

WESTERN TEAM-UP #1 (Nov. 1973) THE RAWHIDE KID AND THE DAKOTA KID Cover: Larry Lieber (p) and Vince Colletta (i), with John Romita, Sr. alterations Story Title: “Ride the Lawless Land!”

Writer(s): Larry Lieber Artist(s): Larry Lieber (p) and Vince Colletta (i) Editor(s): Roy Thomas Synopsis: The hot-headed Cliff Morgan, a.k.a. Dakota Kid, is out for blood once his rancher brother is killed by rustlers.

Can the Rawhide Kid keep this eager young gunslinger out of trouble?

Villain(s): Logan, rustlers; Luke Thomson Team-Up Trivia: • 1 4-page new story, probably an inventory Rawhide Kid tale, accompanied by one Western reprint.

•S ole appearance of the Dakota Kid, although the character was noted in the encyclopedic one-shot, Marvel Westerns: Outlaw Files #1 (2006).

• Last issue of the series.

•O riginally this was to be an ongoing series. At least one other team-up, Rawhide Kid/ Gunhawk, was planned, announced at the end of Reno Jones, Gunhawk (formerly Gunhawks) #7 (Oct. 1973), the final issue of that series, but it never came to pass.

© DC Comics.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #198 (Nov. 1970) SUPERMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Curt Swan (p) and Murphy Anderson (i) Story Title: “Race to Save the Universe!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and the Flash are compelled by the Guardians of the Universe into a race to offset the disruptions to reality created by aliens called the Anachronids.

Villain(s): The Anachronids Guest-star(s): Guardians of the Universe, Batman (cover only) Team-Up Trivia: • This is the third Superman/Flash race, following Superman #199 (Aug. 1967) and The Flash #175 (Dec. 1967).

• Superman and the Flash had recently met (but not raced) in Superman #220 (Oct. 1969).

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #199 (Dec. 1970) SUPERMAN AND THE FLASH Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Race to Save Time” Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and the Flash’s intergalactic race is complicated when a deadly connection between the Phantom Zone, home to Krypton’s cutthroats, and the Anachronids is revealed.

Villain(s): The Anachronids, Phantom Zone villains (Kru-El, Jax-Ur, General Zod, Prof. Vakox) Guest-star(s): Guardians of the Universe, Bruce Wayne and Alfred, Diana Prince and I-Ching, Batman (cover only) Team-Up Trivia: • While their first two races ended in draws, this Superman/Flash race has a victor.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #200 (Feb. 1971) SUPERMAN AND ROBIN Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Prisoners of the Immortal World!”

Writer(s): Mike Friedrich Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and Robin, along with quarrelling hawk-and-dove brothers, are transported to another planet by a pair of aliens whose Immortalizer device siphons Superman’s energies.

Villain(s): Kartal, Migg Guest-star(s): Batman (flashback) Team-Up Trivia: • Robin’s history is retold in a onepage flashback.

• Includes a “200 Issues of the World’s Finest Comics!” “dialogue” between Superman, Batman, and Robin, written by E. Nelson Bridwell.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #201 (Mar. 1971) SUPERMAN AND GREEN LANTERN Cover: Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “A Prize of Peril!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman and Green Lantern become competing galactic gladiators to determine which hero should be the guardian of Earth’s outer space.

Villain(s): Felix Faust Guest-star(s): A Guardian of the Universe, Green Arrow, Doctor Fate, Jor-El (fantasy), Atom and Hawkman Team-Up Trivia: • A giant Jor-El spanks a tiny, childlike Superman in a bizarre illusion sequence.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #202 (May 1971) SUPERMAN AND BATMAN Cover: Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Vengeance of the Tomb-Thing!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Superman’s bizarre behavior in assisting tomb raiders lures Batman to an ancient desert to investigate.

Villain(s): Rogue Superman robot, Bedouin Brahk, King Malis the Mummy Team-Up Trivia: • The first of three Superman/Batman team-ups during this team-up phase of World’s Finest.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #203 (June 1971) SUPERMAN AND AQUAMAN Cover: Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Who’s Minding the Earth?”

Writer(s): Steve Skeates Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A race of mutating dolphin-men threaten to turn Earth into a waterworld, requiring the Sea King Aquaman and Superman to join forces.

Villain(s): Dolphin-men Team-Up Trivia: • Several months earlier, the heroes co-starred—in a story set during their teenage years—in Superboy #171 (Jan. 1971).

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #204 (Aug. 1971) SUPERMAN AND WONDER WOMAN Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Journey to the End of Hope!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: After Clark Kent and Diana Prince are matched by a computer dating service, Superman and Wonder Woman are whisked to a dystopian future which they attempt to keep from becoming a reality in their own timeline.

Villain(s): Sentient computer Guest-star(s): I-Ching Team-Up Trivia: • This story occurs during Wonder Woman’s powerless “Diana Prince” era.

• Just prior to this team-up, I-Ching guest-starred in Superman #240 (July 1971)–242 (Sept. 1971), with Wonder Woman guest-starring in Superman #241–242.

• Superman and Diana briefly consider their romantic attraction.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #205 (Sept. 1971) SUPERMAN AND THE TEEN TITANS Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “The Computer That Captured a Town!”

Writer(s): Steve Skeates Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Titans fall under the sway of a mind-controlling computer in the small town of Fairfield, a segregated throwback to a repressive past, attracting Superman’s attention.

Villain(s): Richard Handley/ Computer Team-Up Trivia: • The Titans participating are Kid Flash, Wonder Girl, Speedy, Mal, and Lilith.

• A splash page warning alerts readers to the altered, prejudiced behavior of the Titans.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #206 is a reprint giant featuring “Superman and Batman Enter Weird Adventures on Other Worlds.”

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #207 (Nov. 1971) SUPERMAN AND BATMAN Cover: Curt Swan (p) and Murphy Anderson (i) Story Title: “A Matter of Light and Death!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Clark Kent puts out a contract on Superman, and the Man of Steel enlists the World’s Greatest Detective to discover what’s happening during his super-blackouts.

Villain(s): Clark Kent (possessed), Dr. Light Guest-star(s): Zatanna WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #208 (Dec. 1971) SUPERMAN AND DOCTOR FATE Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Peril of the PlanetSmashers!”

Writer(s): Len Wein Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Desiring to eliminate his vulnerability to magic, Superman travels to Earth-Two for Doctor Fate’s assistance, but becomes embroiled with Fate’s battle against the planet-smashing alien mages, the Buudak.

Villain(s): The Buudak Guest-star(s): Zatanna Team-Up Trivia: • This issue features Zatanna’s second cameo appearance, in two consecutive issues, both scripted

by Wein.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #209 (Feb. 1972) SUPERMAN AND HAWKMAN Cover: Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “Meet the Tempter— and Die!” Writer(s): Mike Friedrich Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: The Winged Warrior and Man of Steel engage in dangerous ego-trips under the manipulation of the devilish Tempter.

Villain(s): The Tempter; Kandorian villains Kro-Al, Ven-Mor, and Reb-Ko Guest-star(s): Hawkgirl WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #210 (Mar. 1972) SUPERMAN AND GREEN ARROW Cover: Neal Adams (p) and Dick Giordano (i) Story Title: “World of Faceless Slaves!”

Writer(s): Elliot S! Maggin Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: A scheming mystic transplants Superman and Green Arrow into a power struggle in an ancient kingdom of sword and sorcery.

Villain(s): Effron the Sorcerer Team-Up Trivia: • This story is a sequel to Maggin’s “What Can One Man Do?” from Green Lantern #87 (Dec. 1971).

• Maggin penned a sequel to this team-up in Action Comics #437 (July 1974), which reunited Superman and Green Arrow in another battle with Effron.

• Art error: Green Arrow is drawn maskless on the final panel of page 8.

• Maggin’s villain is named after his friend, fellow Brandeis University student Mark Effron.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #211 (May 1972) SUPERMAN AND BATMAN Cover: Neal Adams Story Title: “Fugitive from the Stars!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Policemen from another world come to Earth and reunite the World’s Finest heroes for their help in a global search for the alien refugee Sarah Jongueler.

Villain(s): “Law enforcers” from the planet Krush Guest-star(s): Supergirl Team-Up Trivia: • Beginning this issue, World’s Finest reverts to its earlier stacked logo, with the co-stars’ names appearing in type above the logo rather than in individual logos.

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #212 (June 1972) SUPERMAN AND MARTIAN MANHUNTER Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “…And So My World Begins!”

Writer(s): Denny O’Neil Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: An encounter with J’onn J’onzz (Martian Manhunter) and his Martian ally Bel Juz leads Superman to join them on their mission to aid other Martians enslaved by mighty aliens called the Thythen.

Villain(s): The Thythen Team-Up Trivia: • With this story scribe O’Neil resumes the saga of J’onn J’onzz and his people, whose planet, Mars, was war-ravaged in Justice League of America #71 (May 1969).

WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #213 (Aug.–Sept. 1972) SUPERMAN AND THE ATOM Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “Peril in a Very Small Place!”

Writer(s): Elliot S! Maggin Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Trapped in a subatomic universe jeopardized by a powerconsuming force, the Atom is aided

by Superman, who reduces his size with a Kandorian shrinking ray.

Villain(s): The Absorber (a.k.a. the Genesis Molecule) Guest-star(s): Julius Schwartz (as a cop), Dick Dillin and Joe Giella (proprietors of an art supply shop) WORLD’S FINEST COMICS #214 (Oct.–Nov. 1972) SUPERMAN AND THE VIGILANTE Cover: Nick Cardy Story Title: “A Beast Stalks the Badlands” Writer(s): Denny O’Neil and Steve Skeates Artist(s): Dick Dillin (p) and Joe Giella (i) Editor(s): Julius Schwartz Synopsis: Assigned to a news story in the badlands of Montana, TV reporter Clark Kent is reunited with the Western hero the Vigilante, and as Superman joins him in a struggle against the supernatural menace of a werewolf.

Villain(s): Johnny (the werewolf) Guest-star(s): Batman; Denny O’Neil (as a newspaper reporter) Team-Up Trivia: • Superman previously met the Vigilante in Justice League of America #78 (Feb. 1970), also written by O’Neil.

•G uest-star Batman immodestly admits he’s been undergoing “a refresher course in supernaturalism” and recognizes Johnny’s lycanthropy from news footage.

• Final issue of the Superman team-up format.

Team-Up Index

255

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Neal Adams • Jim Aparo • Mike W. Barr Eliot R. Brown • Nick Cardy • Chris Claremont • Gerry Conway • Steve Englehart • Kerry Gammill • Steve Gerber • Steven Grant • Bob Haney Tony Isabella • Paul Kupperberg • Paul Levitz • Ralph Macchio • Dennis O’Neil Martin Pasko • Joe Rubinstein • Roy Thomas • Len Wein • Marv Wolfman and many other all-star writers and artists who produced the team-up tales that so captivated comics readers during the 1960s, 1970s, and early 1980s.

TwoMorrows Publishing Raleigh, North Carolina 978-1-60549-112-7 $39.95 in the US

Printed in China

The Team-Up Companion examines team-up comic books of the Silver and Bronze Ages of Comics—DC’s The Brave and the Bold and DC Comics Presents, Marvel’s Marvel Team-Up and Marvel Twoin-One, plus other team-up titles, treasuries, and treats—in a lushly illustrated selection of informative essays, special features, and trivia-loaded issue-by-issue indexes.

TEAM-UP CREATORS

MICHAEL EURY

He needs a brave ally, a bold companion.

Side-by-side, two-in-one, they become an unbeatable team.

TEAM-UP INDEXES

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TEAM-UP trivia

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BOB HANEY, COMICS’ MOST OUTRAGEOUS WRITER! AND MEET THE FAN WHO TEAMED WITH THE MAN OF STEEL!