Essential Defenders volume 5

Essential Defenders volume 5 consists of issues #92 to #106 plus Marvel Team-Up #101, #111 & #116 and Captain America #268. Absolutely everything is written by J.M. DeMatteis bar one back-up story in Marvel Team-Up by Mike W. Barr and all the Defenders issues are drawn by Don Perlin. The Marvel Team-Up issues are drawn by Jerry Bingham, Steve Ditko and Herb Trimpe whilst the Captain America issue is drawn by Mike Zeck.

This is one of the thinnest of all the Essential volumes and by some way the shortest of the seven Defenders releases, making it all the more noticeable that it only carries fifteen issues of the regular series (even though one of them is double-sized). Half the additional issues are frankly non-essential, with Marvel Team-Up #112 seeing Spider-Man join with Devil-Slayer to battle the Serpent Men and recover an artefact from the temple of the Spider-People, whilst the rest of the Defenders are held captive. It's all rather convoluted and has no bearing on the regular series; worse still it ends on a cliffhanger that is unresolved here (or for that matter in Essential Marvel Team-Up both because that part of the line hasn't got this far yet and also because issue #112 features King Kull, a licensed character whose adventures are now restricted by rights issues). Issue #116 is a Spider-Man team-up with Valkyrie that's a follow-up both to a previous team-up with Thor and also to some revelations in then recent issues of Thor's own title that showed Valkyrie and he to have had a past together which they have now forgotten. Whilst it's hard to dispute the strong Defenders nature of either issue, especially as they're written by the same writer as the regular series, they are simply not necessary for following the ongoing storylines and feel as though they were only included here to make up the page count.

The same cannot be said of the other two extra issues included here. The Captain America issue is the first half of a two-part crossover that serves as a memorable climax to the volume and so is best discussed later. But Marvel Team-Up #101 opens the volume and quickly sets a theme that will recur throughout it. It features Spider-Man teaming up with Nighthawk as the latter comes under attack from a robot modelled on his university girlfriend Mindy, leading him to discover she is still alive. This causes the start of a long crisis of confidence for Kyle that is depicted throughout this volume as he comes to doubt himself and his successes, despite at one point literally saving the universe through the power of argument. A temporary paralysis during the daytime adds to his problems and the result is that he drifts away from the Defenders in the hope of either discovering a cure or coming to terms with his disability, finding himself and helping Mindy overcome both her mental health problems and her very mixed feelings about him. Over the course of the volume Kyle drifts in and out of the Defenders' orbit, showing how integral he has become to the group and how one can never truly leave one's friends no matter how oppressive one's own demons are.

Indeed demons are a recurring theme throughout this volume, both without and within, and it's not only Nighthawk who has to face up to them. Over the course of these issues Hellcat, Daimon Hellstrom the Son of Satan, Devil-Slayer and new character Gargoyle all have to confront one aspect of their past or another. Patsy faces up to her hatred of her mother only to be confronted with further revelations that suggest her paternity is not what she was previously led to believe and gets transformed more than once into a more literal Hellcat. Worse comes when she and Daimon Hellstrom are increasingly admitting their feelings for each other only for Satan to claim her as his daughter, making such a relationship incestuous if the claim is true - and its veracity is not settled within this volume. Daimon has to face down his father in final confrontation but in doing so discovers that despite everything his father cares for him and cannot destroy him. Giving in to his darker nature, Daimon embraces his heritage and departs for Hell. Left on Earth, Patsy rejects all dark magic, symbolically folding her Shadow Cloak in upon itself until it disappears. Daimon spends several issues trying to purge his humanity through various torments before he can be accepted into Hell but ultimately is unable to slay an innocent child and so rejects his father, who nevertheless accepts this as part of necessary balance.

The main new Defenders in the volume are Gargoyle and the Beast, with Daimon Hellstrom the Son of Satan and Devil-Slayer also returning for an extended time. Gargoyle comes with a tragic backstory, as Isaac Christians is the last of the line that founded the small town of Christianboro. As Mayor he watched the town in a seemingly permanent downward spiral and turned to black magic to save it, entering into an alliance with the demon Avarrish only to wind betrayed and trapped in the body of a gargoyle. There's a strong element of tragedy to his tale as he seeks to come to terms with both his new body and his past, whilst also slowly earning the respect of his fellow Defenders. A touching moment comes in a hospital visit when a child pulls away his disguise and accepts his appearance. Christianboro is ultimately bedevilled by Null the Living Darkness, a creature that has been manipulating the ghosts in the town. Gargoyle saves it, nearly at the cost of his own life but he is healed by the forgiveness of his family's spirits.

Devil-Slayer also arrives with backstory aplenty, starting with his ex wife's turning to a faith healer in Israel called the Messiah who has been tricked by demons from the Six-Fingered Hand. Devil-Slayer's past also comes back in another way as we learn how he came home from Vietnam only for his life to descend into ruins and he ended up a mob assassin. However his attempt to kill a reporter, Ira Fate, instead only got Fate's wife and child and now Fate wants revenge, with help from demons. In the showdown Devil-Slayer is about to take revenge for the kidnap of his own wife until he's reminded of his own responsibility for the chain of events. The Beast also shows up at the end of the volume, briefly bringing along Wonder Man when extra help is needed. Initially the Beast seeks help to restore his old girlfriend Vera Cantor from poisoning and the destruction of the Resurrection Stone, with Mr Fantastic also lending a hand to face the Giver of Life who resides within the remains of the Stone. After this, the Beast decides to hang around, finding the atmosphere of the Defenders to be the most pleasant of any of the groups he has been a part of. There are also brief returns by various past Defenders, most notably Namor the Sub-Mariner with the Silver Surfer also showing up in time for the issue #100 celebrations.

There's less of the out and out wackiness of early periods of the title but the group still finds itself caught up in many fantastical situations, starting with an adventure in which Eternity has temporarily given three parts of himself mortal existence to better understand life but now the parts are refusing to be reabsorbed despite their prolonged absence meaning the destruction of the universe. It's a tale that combines both a very traditional formula of splitting a group in three to deal with individual parts of the problem and then reunite them for the showdown with a pretty fantastical situation that is ultimately resolved by words not action. Nebulon returns in an attempt to conquer the world via a disguise to seduce Namor and use the armies of Atlantis but the ruse is soon exposed.

The major storyline involves the "Six-Fingered Hand" but instead of a literal giant hand with six fingers, it is in fact the name of a coalition of demons named Avarrish, Fashima, Hyppokri, Puishannt, Unnthinnk and Maya. Over successive issues, they put the Defenders through the wringer with a series of battles including one to restore Dracula's control of his kingdom in Transylvania. Another sees them take on Asmodeus Jones, a satanic heavy metal musician who has Johnny Blaze the Ghost Rider amongst his support crew. The Man-Thing also shows up when possessed by Unnthinnk in Citrusville as a prelude to the transformation of the whole Earth into Hell. Maya is soon revealed as being actually Mephisto, working with Satan, Thog and Satannish. This is, I think, the first time Marvel made a concerted effort to sort out the various characters who are all based on the Devil but appear under wildly different names and in varying forms, making any semblance of continuity impossible to follow. Here we have the revelation that the various demons are all separate manifestations of Satan, thus allowing each to exist separately though it leaves open the problem that particular stories and characters haven't always been clear just which manifestation appeared. The battle with the demons occupies the double-sized issue #100, with former Defenders the Hulk, Namor and the Silver Surfer all brought in to up the excitement and add to the anniversary feel.

The last main storyline revolves around Nighthawk, or rather Kyle as he appears mainly out of costume, and the mysterious agency called the Central Information Bureau that has captured Mindy and others to harness their latent psychic powers. The sinister head of the agency, August Masters, takes steps to manipulate Kyle's life by both ending the long-running government investigations but also preventing any meaningful action being taken in time against the C.I.B. The climax comes in a crossover with Captain America as most of the Defenders and Cap get captured with Masters revealing himself as a rogue "patriot" seeking to start a new world war by using the psychics to attack the Soviet Union. With the aid of Daredevil the remaining Defenders come to rescue the others but the C.I.B. base's self-destruct sequence has been activated and Kyle winds up using the psychic powers to save his fellow heroes but at the cost of his own life. The final page showing the other heroes alive but realising Kyle is not makes for a truly sad ending to the volume but a point of final redemption for Kyle.

This volume encompasses a fairly dark period for the Defenders with a clear emphasis on character building and demon confrontation over and above the out and out bizarre and wacky situations that have been more prevalent in earlier years. But it shows a strong grasp of the main characters whilst at the same time effortlessly absorbing the likes of Gargoyle or Devil-Slayer to make them feel completely at home in the title. Although some of the group members are not given the strongest of attention here, making the Marvel Team-Up issue's throwaway references to Valkyrie and Thor's shared past frustrating as they're not explored here, each of Nighthawk, Hellcat, Daimon Hellstorm the Son of Satan, Devil-Slayer and Gargoyle gets a strong character arc that explores what makes them tick, shows them confronting their past and/or their heritage and making each of them a much stronger character as a result. The situations and threats function well to advance these developments, making for a very strong and coherent volume. It's just a pity it's padded out by two Marvel Team-Up issues that are at best unnecessary and at worst irritatingly for what they leave out. Otherwise, this is one of the best periods for the Defenders.

Essential Captain America volume 7

Essential Captain America volume 7 is made up of issues #231 to #257. The writing is mainly by first Roger McKenzie and then Roger Stern with plotting or scripting contributions by Jim Shooter, Michael Fleisher, Chris Claremont and John Byrne, and other issues by Peter Gillis, Paul & Alan Kupperberg, Mike W. Barr, Steven Grant and Bill Mantlo. The art sees the end of Sal Buscema's run and the entirety of John Byrne's plus other issues by Fred Kida, Alan Kupperberg, Frank Springer, Don Perlin, Rich Buckler, Carmine Infantino, Jerry Bingham, Gene Colan and Lee Elias. Additionally issue #257 included a couple of filler reprints from Not Brand Echh #11 & #12, both by Marie Severin. Also reprinted are a handful of letterspages on which Roger Stern expounds his approach to the character and series. The labels see a separate post.

This is another volume that shows that when Cap gets a good committed creative team then things can start to gel with firm foundations and a strong string of exciting adventures, but that also when a team leaves suddenly the book quickly sinks back into the quagmire of fill-ins, aimless wandering, excessive flashbacks and sub par adventures. Still the good in this volume strongly outweighs the bad.

The volume starts off with a multi-part storyline in which Cap faces off against the National Force, a bunch of modern day American neo-Nazis who brainwash crowds into support for their racial war. In the process, it is revealed that the National Force's Grand Director is the Captain America of the 1950s under the influence of Doctor Faustus. Over the course of successive issues Cap is forced to face down foes who were once friends and a man with his own face, with little help save for Daredevil. At one point Cap himself is brainwashed and winds up fighting for the National Force with a swastika painted on his shield. It's a chilling image that underlines how easy it is to take patriotism and unity and turn them into divisive weapons of hate. Equally chilling is the way that individual members of the National Force choose to incinerate themselves rather than risk capture.

But as well as the National Force seeking to purge America of "undesirable" elements, the storyline also serves as a grand clearing out of a lot of elements of Captain America's mythology. The very first pages see the Falcon confirm that he is going solo for now. Over the course of these issues Cap also cuts on his formal ties to S.H.I.E.L.D., though he accepts one final mission under a fill-in writer that takes him to the Himalayas where he has to rescue a telepathic girl from the Mind-Master and a whole range of henchmen, some more real than others. As Steve Rogers, Cap briefly revives his role as a police officer only to abandon it, symbolically stripping off his uniform in the commissioner's office and leaving it there as he goes into costumed action. The 1950s Cap is underused in the story, providing little more than a shock cliffhanger and a chance to clear him out as well when he seemingly kills himself by incineration. But even more shocking are the fates of two of Captain America's partners. A flashback in issue #236 reveals how, as a test to demonstrate his brainwashing was totally complete, the 1950s Cap accepted an order to shoot and kill Bucky. He may not have been the original Bucky, but that's due to a latter-day retcon and nonetheless he was the partner of the Captain America of the day. Casually killing him off in a flashback in which he doesn't even get to speak feels like a quick sweeping away of the character as part of a grand clear out of just about all the elements in Cap's life. Then the following issue goes on step further.

Earlier in the story Sharon has succumbed to the brainwashing and become another of the National Force spreading hate and fear on the streets. She is part of a group that gets into a confrontation with Cap but then she disappears and is not clearly seen when the others incinerate themselves to a crisp, leaving her fate uncertain. After the defeat of Faustus and the Force, Cap gives a press conference to explain his actions whilst under the influence of the brainwashing, and is then taken aside and shown news footage of his earlier fight. There he sees Sharon incinerate herself. It's a dark moment, made all the worse for taking place in the back of a news van as Cap plays the tape over and over again, realising there's nothing he can do for her now. Their relationship often came under pressure because their work often kept them apart, yet here they were so close to each other and he didn't even see her fate. It's a time when a major character's death in flashback works well, but coming so soon after the casual disposal of the 1950s Bucky and the dropping of so many other aspects of Cap's life and the result is a full cleaning of the slate over just seven issues.

The slate doesn't remain blank for long though. After some time away off panel, Steve soon finds a new home, a new career and a new supporting cast. Settling in a flat in Brooklyn, he goes into business as a freelance artist, leading to many a good joke about how artists struggle for work and have to deal with all kinds of bizarre clients. His portfolio case makes for a good hiding place for his shield in a change from forever hiding it on his back. Meanwhile Steve's building contains a variety of other tenants, each with their own career and back story making for a good supporting cast. The motherly figure of the building is Anna Kapplebaum, a survivor of the Holocaust who was saved in the camps by Cap's intervention many years ago; although she doesn't make the connection she finds she somehow recognises Steve and takes an instant liking to him. She is forced to relive her memories when the camp doctor, Dr Mendelhaus, resurfaces and is sought both by neo-Nazis based in Latin America and by Nazi hunters. In the resulting confrontation she finds herself facing her former tormentor holding a pistol. Less developed at this stage is Mike Farrell, a fire-fighter. Then there's Josh Cooper, a teacher of children with special needs. And, although she doesn't arrive until the Stern-Byrne run, there's Bernie Rosenthal, a glass blower who was at university with Mike. She almost has "future girlfriend" written on her forehead, taking an instant liking to him but getting frustrated with his frequent disappearances, including when he gets a phone call summoning him to the United Kingdom just when they're on the sofa together. It's a good mix of likeable characters who give Steve a strong life away from the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. as well as offering strong story potential such as when one of the pupils at Joe's school suddenly dies and his father goes a grief-fuelled act of vengeance against members of the education board, the social security officer and his son's teacher, blaming them all for the death.

Roger McKenzie's run fizzles out in a sea of fill-ins with Cap facing a number of forgettable foes such as Bobo and Big Thunder, local mobsters trying to drive a man out of his home when he's the last tenant in a building and then trying to create a reputation by defeating Cap. Or there's the Manipulator, a being with two faces that subjects Cap to hallucinations after being hired by revenge seeking ex-police sergeant Muldoon. Or Adonis, a man whose attempt to replace his body goes disastrously wrong. The fill-ins at the end of the volume aren't much either, with Cap returning to a British castle where he dealt with a rocket during the war and now he has to deal with shrinking rays and the mysterious Druid. Or there's the Master of Matrix Eight, another neo-Nazi group headed by a former assistant of Baron Zemo. More notable is the first encounter between Cap and the Punisher, making for a strong contrast in their crime-fighting methods yet also showing some of the similarities between the two men.

But the big highlight of this volume is the run by Roger Stern and John Byrne. It comprises just nine issues (#247 to #255) and yet it delivers a high octane run that quickly grasps the core concept of Cap and proceeds to put him through a good mix of adventures with grand scale threats and closer, more personal moments. It also manages to deliver two memorable anniversary issues, both for issue #250 and for the character's fortieth anniversary in issue #255. Amongst the highlights is a sorting out of Cap's origin in the very first issue. In the space of just four pages much of the confusion added in the last volume is swept away as a set of artificially implanted memories, with Steve's roots as a New York child of poverty during the Great Depression restored, and to back it up Cap discovers his old army trunk and journal. Later issue #255 contains a retelling of Cap's origin and summation of his career, with much of it even produced directly from the pencils, producing a suitably retro Golden Age feel. Details are sorted out such as the name of the inventor of the Super Soldier Serum or the reasons behind the early changes in the costume and shield. The result is a comprehensive version of the origin that can stand as the definitive without too much querying. (Although it does seem to implicitly delete the adventure in Newfoundland right before Cap went on ice for decades, though that's an addition to the saga that's best forgotten.)

Issue #250 came out in a presidential election year and sees the New Populist Party attempt to draft Cap as their candidate for President after he saves their convention from terrorists. There are some subtle jabs at both the standard procession of serving politicians as candidates, at the usual assumption by third parties that only they can offer anything positive, and also at the desire for a leader that people trust and respect regardless of his experience and positions. It's one of the more gentle parodies of US politics that Marvel have done over the years but it allows Cap to make an assertion of his role in serving the American dream over and above the nation in reality.

The rest of the run puts Cap up against a number of different foes in some unusual combinations such as Machine Smith and Dragon Man plus robotic versions of both Baron Strucker and various Marvel heroes, or Mr Hyde and Batroc who find they have very different approaches to threatening New York City for money. But the highlight comes as Cap visits the UK where the vampire Baron Blood is once more stalking the land and threatening his brother, the original Union Jack. The story serves as a climax for both one of Cap's former fellow Invaders and his arch nemesis but also as a rebirth for a hero's spirit. Overall this is a well drawn and strongly scripted run with both creators firing at all strength and it well deserves its reputation.

This volume somewhat encapsulates the problems that the series has had over the years with the best creative teams rarely lasting long and a sea of weaker runs and fill-in issues leaving things in a mess with underdeveloped elements in the present and awkward additions to the character's past. But it also shows how it is possible to get beyond many of the problems by making a concerted effort to clear up messier points and clarify the past, allowing for the character to be taken back to his basic position as a champion for the American dream. Here we get both good clean-ups and one of the strongest, if shortest lasting, runs yet seen in the series, making for a volume where the good heavily outweighs the bad.

Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents Superman Team-Ups volume 1

For a special Christmas post it's time for another look at things over at the Distinguished Competition.

Although I had already encountered many US comic stories reprinted for the British market, about the first ever actual US comic I can remember seeing was an old issue of the Superman team-up series DC Comics Presents. It was issue #75 in which he teamed up with Arion, Lord of Atlantis in a tale spanning many thousands of years. Having looked at the first volume of Batman's team-ups last year it's natural to now turn to Superman's.

Showcase Presents DC Comics Presents Superman Team-Ups volume 1 does as it says on the tin and reprints the team-ups from the first twenty-six issues of the title, originally published between 1978 and 1980. Just as Showcase Presents The Brave and the Bold Batman Team-Ups volume 1 covers the era of Batman's popularity surge with the TV series, this volume covers the period in which the first Superman movie came out and reaches almost the release of the second.

There's quite a lot of creators on this volume with issues written by the likes of Martin Pasko, David Michelinie, Len Wein, Paul Levitz, Steve Englehart, Cary Bates, Denny O'Neil, Gerry Conway, Mike W. Barr, Marv Wolfman and Jim Starlin. The art is a mixture of Starlin, Jose Luis Garcia-Lopez, Murphy Anderson, Curt Swan, Dick Dillin, Joe Staton and Rich Buckler. That's a pretty impressive set of names suggesting this wasn't considered a throwaway title even if the lack of a continuing creative team is a worrying sign. (And yes, there's a separate post for some of the labels.)

Looking back it's surprising how long it took for Superman to get a regular rotating team-up title. For a couple of years at the start of the 1970s World's Finest had switched from the regular Superman/Batman team-up to Superman and rotating guest-stars but even in that short run Batman and/or Robin showed up quite a bit anyway. Otherwise the late arrival of such a book is surprising when Batman and, over at Marvel, both Spider-Man and the Thing had all had team-up books for some years. The imminent arrival of the first Superman movie was clearly the driving force behind the book finally appearing and, presumably, surviving the DC Implosion of 1978 which hit the company just a couple of months after the series launched. But the movie itself doesn't seem to have influenced the content of the series which instead sticks to the standard comic portrayal of Superman. For that matter Wonder Woman is also clearly based on her comic portrayal rather than that of the TV series, which was then in its final year.

As is standard for a team-up title, here's the list of guest-stars:

1. Flash
2. Flash
3. Adam Strange
4. Metal Men
5. Aquaman
6. Green Lantern
7. Red Tornado
8. Swamp Thing
9. Wonder Woman
10. Sgt. Rock
11. Hawkman
12. Mister Miracle
13. Legion of Super-Heroes
14. Superboy
15. Atom
16. Black Lightning
17. Firestorm
18. Zatanna
19. Batgirl
20. Green Arrow
21. Elongated Man
22. Captain Comet
23. Doctor Fate
24. Deadman
25. Phantom Stranger
26. Green Lantern

With the exception of Doctor Fate all the characters are the Earth 1 versions. This selection of guests is drawn very much from the better known end of the DC Multiverse with most of the big name Justice League members represented. With Batman accommodated by the regular team-up in World's Finest the most obvious absentee on the list is the Martian Manhunter. Although time travel appears a lot in the volume the stories and guest stars are rooted in the present day apart from Sgt. Rock who only appears when Superman is thrown back in time to 1944. Also appearing in issue #11, though not billed on the cover, is Marc Teichman, the fictional winner of a Daily Planet prize to spend time with Superman and based on a reader who won a prize on the letters page to be depicted fictionally. There are some cameos by various Justice League members but otherwise the only notable guest-star who doesn't get headlined is Krypto the Superdog, making a rare appearance in Kal-El's adulthood.

There's little in the way of ongoing development in this volume, not least because no writer does more than three issues consecutively. At this stage Clark Kent was working for both the Daily Planet and the WGBS TV station, and we see most of his supporting cast including Lois Lane, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, Lana Lang and Steve Lombard. However they are all primarily used as part of the general background rather than actually driving any of the stories. The first two issues form a single story and a few of the later issues are linked with Superman following up on foes in a second issue even though the first's guest star doesn't come with him. One of the few long term consequences comes in issue #17 when at the end of their adventure together Superman suggests Firestorm should join the Justice League; however this proposal is not followed up here and is presumably continued in the contemporary Justice League of America.

The foes themselves are a mixture of original one-off characters to serve an individual tale and longstanding foes, often key parts of the guest star's rogues' gallery. New foes used here include the Volkir and Zelkot, two alien races who evolved from the same common ancestor but who have now been at war for thousands of years, the Skrynians, an alien race from a dying planet seeking a new world with a suitably cold climate, Frank Rayles, a rich crook and brother of an astronomer, the Sabromians, a set of alien invaders, Hugh Bryant, a lonely alien who has been trapped on Earth for millions of years evolving into the planet's dominant life form at any given moment but now devolving backwards into those forms, Caligro the Great, a failed magician embittered by the success and fame of the heroes, Doctor Horus, an anthropologist whose mind has drawn in both his house and people visiting, Bo Force, a crooked oil magnate, the Masters, an alien race who use an infection to turn humans into their own kind, Starstriker, a mutant seeking to activate his own mental powers, El Muchacho, a mischievous imp, Mr. Genarian, a mobster seeking to prolong his life, and N'Gon, an alien seeking extra power to destroy its duplicate counterpart. Note just how many different alien races are used in this volume. Existing foes seen here include Kaskor, Adam Strange's longstanding enemy, Chemo, the Metal Men's old foe, I.Q., an old Hawkman foe but here appearing against the Metal Men, Ocean Master, half-brother of Aquaman, Star Sapphire, the alien warrior possessing Green Lantern's girlfriend Carol Ferris, the Weaponers of Qward, old foes of Green Lantern, Solomon Grundy, the lesser known Earth 1 version of the swamp monster, Killer Frost, Firestorm's recurrent foe, and Tala, the soul seeking demoness enemy of the Phantom Stranger. And there are the generic foes such as the German soldiers in the team-up with Sgt. Rock. Superman's recurring foes seen here are limited to Intergang, the Metropolis based criminal organisation. There's also a brief appearance by the Reverse-Flash, who in black and white looks almost identical to the Flash bar the background colour on their chest symbols.

The one recurring storyline involves Clark's old friend from his Smallville days, Pete Ross and his son Jon. Pete has known of Clark's identity for many years but concealed his knowledge. Now he turns to Superman for help when Jon is kidnapped by aliens and taken to an alien world. Superman promises to rescue Jon but the Legion of Super-Heroes intervene because Jon's kidnap and separation from his father is a crucial moment in history. This creates a terrible dilemma for Superman and his decision to leave Jon there is one that sits uneasily with him for some time. It also leads to a rupture in his friendship with Pete as the latter turns on him and seeks vengeance then succumbs to madness. Later on in the volume Tala seeks to possess Superman's soul, digging at this incident as it is his greatest failure; however Superman resolves to put things right by bringing Jon home whilst the Phantom Stranger battles Tala. Seeing his son again cures Pete's madness and anger, a little too instantly, and there's a reconciliation between the old friends. It's a pity that this storyline is wrapped up so quickly as Pete could have made for quite an interesting recurring adversary who knows Superman's identity and has a strong personal history of friendship with the Kryptonian that not even the Lex Luthor of this era had. And unlike Luthor his motivation would be a lot more sophisticated than an accident that made him bald.

One of the general rules in these stories (and indeed much of DC in this era) is that it is not possible to time travel to a moment in time when one is already present and so it's not possible to meet one's own self. In general this rule is followed even though it can cause problems but there are two times when Superman encounters Superboy. On the first occasion the space-time continuum is temporarily disrupted, suspending the natural law until the two Kal-Els make physical contact and restore the normal order. Later Pete Ross switches his mind with Superboy's and consequently both the mind and body of Superboy are able to co-exist in the present day with Superman, being able to interact and make physical contact. In general the rule can work to put a restraint upon time travel powers and also constrain the excesses of writers, but it's a little unsatisfactory when it can be circumvented so easily.

In general Superman and his guest stars work well together. Either the guest star has sufficiently comparable power that they contribute strongly to the action or else the situation requires other skills such as detection. The one guest star who feels underused is Black Lightning as his appearance involves dealing with Hugh, whose devolution makes him ever stronger and so by the end of the tale it seems as though Black Lightning is just a bystander as Superman resolves the menace. This may be a consequence of the team-up being seemingly written quickly to meet fan demand on the letters page. On several occasions Superman's powers are temporarily weakened or suspended by events, adding to the tension but also helping to level the playing field. With most of the heroes it's clear that Superman has a long history of working with them, though for the Metal Men this is their first meeting with him.

The page lengths of issues vary a bit, ranging from seventeen to twenty-five pages. It's most notable in the first few issues, clearly due to the title almost immediately getting caught up in DC's expansion plans to only for the DC Implosion to suddenly come along and cut them back. This also sees the series, and DC in general, go through exactly the same cycle as Marvel did earlier in the decade whereby the price and page count both rise for a brief period only to fall back but with the price for the shorter issues higher than before. One sign of overall coherence is that despite the rapid turnover of writers and artists, there are no major mistakes or announcements of forthcoming guest stars who either show up late or not at all.

A team-up book from this era is never going to be the best place to sample a company's overall story structure. However this volume does give a strong glimpse at both the characters and talent at DC at this time. It may have taken Superman a long time to get a team-up title but once established it presents a generally coherent set of adventures that don't lag or descend into excessive formula. All in all this is a good sampler of the DC universe in this period and an example of a title that managed to get things right pretty quickly.

Essential Power Man and Iron Fist volume 2 - creator labels

We have yet another volume with lots of creators so here's a separate post to carry the labels for them.

Omitted material: Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales

Marvel Fanfare was one of Marvel's earliest prestigious series. Printed on high quality glossy paper and distributed only in the direct market at a high price (US $1.25 in 1982 when regular Marvels cost US $0.60) it was an anthology that featured stand alone tales by many of Marvel's top talent on characters they didn't normally work on. Naturally it contained Spider-Man stories from time to time, and he appeared on the cover of the first issue, recoloured and reused as the cover of the collected edition Marvel Fanfare: Strange Tales. Although this collection has a stand-alone title and no volume number, in all other regards it's in the standard Classic format, containing the first seven issues of the series including three Spider-Man strips.


Marvel Fanfare #1-2 written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Michael Golden

This story sees Peter Parker sent by Jonah as part of an expedition to the Savage Land alongside the Angel and Tanya Anderssen, the childhood sweetheart of Karl Lykos, the man who became Sauron after being infected when saving her from pteranodons. There they discover a plot by a group of neo-mutants to conquer the Savage Land using a device that can devolve beings to their primordial beings. Both the Angel and Spider-Man are devolved, Spidey into a giant spider creature, but they are saved by Ka-Zar and Karl, the latter who absorbs the devolver's energy into himself, restoring them but transforming himself permanently into Sauron. Peter and the Angel head home whilst Tanya stays to find a way to cure or destroy Sauron.

This story feels as though it was conceived as an issue of Marvel Team-Up and left over when Claremont's run there ended. Spider-Man is rather redundant to the overall plot which is focused heavily on Tanya and the Angel. Peter worries at first about his identity being discovered if he uses his powers, yet later on the monster in a tattered Spider-Man costume is un-devolved back into him and nobody seems to even comment on how blatant a give-away this is. The storyline continues into issues #3 & #4 featuring the X-Men, both written by Claremont and drawn by Dave Cockrum and Paul Smith respectively. Sauron now leads the neo-mutants who are ultimately all defeated and devolved back into the swamp savages they originally were. Overall this second half is just an okay X-Men tale but the first half is a very poor Spider-Man story bar the scene where Peter manages to regain some control of the monstrous form and begs Ka-Zar to kill him.


Marvel Fanfare #6, written by Mike W. Barr and drawn/co-plotted by Sandy Plunkett

Once again we get a Marvel Team-Up style story, and this time it's a sequel to issue #21. Spider-Man and the Scarlet Witch are captured and brought to a mystical dimension by the wizard Xandu who has now found the Wand of Watoomb and now uses it to revive his wife Melinda's body but can't bring his spirit back. So he transplants the Scarlet Witch's soul over and plans to make her his wife anew, whilst toying with Spider-Man for revenge. However Melinda's spirit returns and drives Xandu insane, giving Spider-Man the chance to knock him down and take the Wand. Spider-Man, the Scarlet Witch and Melinda all return to Earth via the Wand.

This story again feels like its more natural home would be in another title but it's surprisingly well constructed with Spider-Man in a key role. The art feels rather Ditko-esque at a time when nearly every rendition of Spider-Man followed Romita, whilst the story may take the character out of his comfort zone but no further than many other team-ups.


Other stories contained in this volume include:

• A Daredevil tale written by Roger McKenzie and drawn by Paul Smith (#1)
• A Mr Fantastic story written by Roger McKenzie and drawn by Trevor von Eeden (#2)
• A Hawkeye adventure written by Charlie Boatner and drawn by Trevor von Eeden (#3)
• A Deathlok tale written by David Anthony Kraft and drawn by Michael Golden (#4)
• An Iron Man story written by David Winn & David Michelinie and drawn by Michael Golden (#4)
• A Doctor Strange adventure written by Chris Claremont and drawn by Marshall Rogers (#5)
• A Captain America tale written by Roger McKenzie and drawn/co-plotted by Luke McDonnell (#5)
• Another Doctor Strange story, this time written by Roger Stern and drawn by Charles Vess (#6)
• An Incredible Hulk adventure written by Steven Grant and drawn by Joe Barney (#7)
• Another Daredevil tale, on this occasion written by Bill Mantlo and drawn by George Freeman (#7)

...and each issue contains a single page "Editori-Al" written & drawn by editor Al Milgrom as he talks to the readers about the series and the creators working on it.

Overall the impact of the series is rather lost in collected editions. At the time this was a very expensive series on high quality paper with work by some of the industry's top talent, but three decades on and most of the creator's stars have passed whilst the paper used here is standard and it costs about the same as similar sized tradepaperbacks. But the stories themselves are generally very good and it's amazing that such a series worked so well despite the factors being against it.

A few Essential previews

In the interests of completism, there are a few issues of the various Spider-Man titles that haven’t yet been reached in their own title’s Essential volumes but have been reprinted in other Essentials. A quick run through them, with all the headline stars of Marvel Team-Up listed:

First, there’s the handful of issues included in various other Spider volumes that we’ve already covered:

• Marvel Team-Up #97 (Hulk and Spider-Woman) – Essential Spider-Woman volume 2
• Amazing Spider-Man #268 – Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 1
• Amazing Spider-Man #293 – Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 2
• Spectacular Spider-Man #132 – Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 2
• Amazing Spider-Man #294 – Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 2
• Spectacular Spider-Man #131 – Essential Web of Spider-Man volume 2

What this list shows above all else is that Essential Web is somewhat ahead of the other titles and running into the era when crossovers between the Spider-Man titles were common. It probably should be paused until the others can catch up.

However there are also seven other issues that have been reprinted in other Essential volumes but not the series’ own and we turn now to them:

Marvel Team-Up #80, featuring Spider-Man and Dr. Strange and Clea, & #81, featuring Spider-Man and Satana, by Chris Claremont and Mike Vosburg, reprinted in Essential Marvel Horror volume 1

This two-part story sees Dr. Strange turned into a werewolf to capture his soul as a result of a previous adventure, and it takes Spider-Man, Clea and Satana (the devil’s daughter) to free him. As might be expected this is full of the magic and weirdness associated with Dr. Strange, but Spider-Man gets drawn in for personal reasons when Peter and Cissy Ironwood are attacked by the werewolf in Central Park, hospitalising Cissy, and then he finds himself compelled to stay to restrain Dr. Strange’s physical form whilst Satana performs her magic. At the end Satana dies, giving her life to save Dr. Strange and Spider-Man and resolving the conflict between her human and demonic sides. With four billed characters and a few supporting cast members this is quite a packed story but ultimately it feels like the resolution to Satana’s story more than anything else, presumably due to previous titles featuring her being cancelled. She’s not a character I’m familiar with so I don’t know if she’s been brought back to life since. As a general Team-Up story this isn’t bad, but it isn’t worth getting Essential Marvel Horror just for the sake of this one.

The story is also this blog’s first encounter with Cissy Ironwood, bar a one page feature in Amazing annual #16, and in fact is her first actual appearance following a mention in Team-Up #79. (Her surname is spelt “Ironwode” here but “Ironwood” in other appearances.) Cissy is by far the most obscure of all of Peter Parker/Spider-Man’s girlfriends as she only appeared in the pages of Team-Up and was hardly ever mentioned in the other titles. There’s not much to learn about her from her brief appearance in these two issues bar that her name is short for Priscilla and from the conversation at the start it appears to be an early date. However note that the story came out the same months as Amazing #191-192 and thus in the middle of Peter and Betty Brant’s affair. With Mary Jane having also remained on the scene somewhat for some months after rejecting Peter’s proposal we either have our hero playing the field all at once or poor communication between the various Spider-writers (or a lot of head scratching for fans to work out a chronological order that reduces the number of women at any one time).

Marvel Team-Up #101, featuring Spider-Man and Nighthawk, by J.M. DeMatteis and Jerry Bingham, and a solo Nighthawk back-up feature by Mike W. Barr and Steve Ditko, reprinted in Essential Defenders volume 5

I’ll take the back-up feature first. At just five pages it feels like emergency padding. Regular Marvel comics increased from seventeen pages of story to twenty-two in this period, but I’m not sure if this is the first issue affected or not. The story is a simple tale of Nighthawk overcoming doubts about himself as he saves a crippled girl from a collapsing wall, and nothing really to remember. However the art is by Steve Ditko, who had recently returned to Marvel but refused to draw his most famous creations, instead working on more obscure heroes and features. Sadly this and other back-up features in various Spider-Man annuals are about the nearest to a second Ditko run the character and series will ever see.

The lead story is focused on Nighthawk facing his past as he gets attacked by a robot resembling his university girlfriend who died in a drunken car crash and then lured to a reunion at the old university. Spider-Man gets caught up in events at the former and then tags along because he recognises Nighthawk’s guilt over his actions. Once at the university it transpires the girl survived but Nighthawk’s family paid her off and suppressed that fact, and she’s seeking revenge. Spider-Man saves the day when he appeals to her true feelings for Nighthawk, buried by anger and bitterness, and both start to bury her past. Once again Spider-Man is given a slight reason for intruding into a rather personal affair, but his saving the day justifies his presence.

Marvel Team-Up #111, featuring Spider-Man and Devil-Slayer, by J.M. DeMatteis and Herb Trimpe, reprinted in Essential Defenders volume 5

Spider-Man gets caught up in a plot by the Cult of the Serpent Men, one of the ancient races that inhabited Earth, to recover their race from the realm of limbo. With the rest of the Defenders captured, Devil-Slayer recruits Spider-Man to first recover an artefact from the temple of the Spider-People, the remains of another ancient race, and then to use it to defeat the Serpent Race and free the other Defenders. However it’s all a set-up to trick Spider-Man, the only human that the temple’s magic recognises as similar to the Spider-People, into obtaining the artefact for the Serpent Men. Spidey sees through the deception, frees the real Defenders and destroys the artefact, with the remaining Serpent Men banished to Limbo. At the end Dr. Strange discovers Spider-Man was bitten by one of the Serpent Men, with grave consequences... (which aren’t followed up in Essential Defenders). This is a somewhat convoluted story with deceptions all over, and it’s a pity Spider-Man didn’t get a chance to team up with the real Devil-Slayer, another obscure Defenders member. It’s hard to tell if the impersonation was accurate and the character really is a hard edged jerk, or if that was just the impostor. Otherwise this is a confused run around that throws Spidey into some grand mythology of the Marvel Universe but doesn’t take the opportunity to expand on his role in it, such as exploring just how far he resembles the Spider-People and how their survivors regard him.

Marvel Team-Up #116, featuring Spider-Man and Valkyrie, by J.M. DeMatteis and Herb Trimpe, reprinted in Essential Defenders volume 5

This is the follow-up to the previous issue (not reprinted in Essential Defenders) where two rival aliens fought over a weapon that ultimately destroyed them both, with Spider-Man and Thor mixed up. Now the two aliens’ spirits have fused into one and want revenge, so the entity possesses Valkyrie’s sword and in turn the Valkyrie herself, then seeks out Spider-Man to attack him. At the end Thor shows up and, amidst pondering the recent revelation that he and Valkyrie were once lovers but then had their memories wiped by Odin, he helps destroy the sword and banish the entity into a space warp. Once again it’s an unusual team-up because of Valkyrie’s possession and none of the protagonists really knowing just what’s going on.

There’s a nice scene where Spider-Man comments on these situations:

*Sheesh* If I had a dime for every time somebody has tricked another super-type into trying to clobber me – I’d be one rich web-slinger!
But these kinda phony set-ups always end the same way!
We stop beating each other over the head long enough to compare notes, and then we track down the goon responsible for the dirty works!

It’s good to see him occasionally acknowledge the formulaic nature of many stories.

Marvel Team-Up #119, featuring Spider-Man and Gargoyle, by J.M. DeMatteis and Kerry Gammill, reprinted in Essential Defenders volume 6

This isn’t really a team-up so much as a comparison between heroes. Following Spider-Man’s recent appearance in Defenders, he and the Gargoyle head to New York where they prevent a gang mugging an old woman. The heroes then go their separate ways, with the Gargoyle befriending the woman and helping her and her daughter come to terms with her life and impending death. Meanwhile Peter learns that Nathan has left Aunt May after hearing of another friend’s death, and goes to a theatre in a slum where in better days he performed in his youth. Unfortunately the gang from earlier evaded arrest and now confront him. Spidey slowly picks them off one by one when Aunt May appears and berates the remaining. When the gang, but not May or Nathan, see Spider-Man they flee again. Later Spidey and the Gargoyle bump into each other and reflect on their experiences. A caption on the opening page said this would be a different team-up from normal and it certainly is. There’s limited action and instead a strong focus in characters and situations, focusing on how they face up to mortality. All in all it’s a nice little character piece that also takes May and Nathan that little further forward as they prepare to leave the rest home and open a boarding house (yes sometimes there were developments in Team-Up – not many but they did happen).

It’s actually surprising that these last four issues wound up in Essential Defenders as apart from Nighthawk’s story they don’t appear to add much to the characters. I can’t help suspecting the primary aim was to pad the volumes out (they also include an issue of Captain America and an Avengers annual) in order to allow volume 6 to end at the point when the Defenders are transformed into the New Defenders (which was quite a radical change, introducing a more formalised team structure rather than the “non-team” grouping that had previously existed).

Amazing Spider-Man #274, by Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, reprinted in Essential Ghost Rider volume 4

This was the final Spider-Man crossover with Secret Wars II and comes at a point when the all-powerful Beyonder is preparing to wipe out all of existence. The demon Mephisto seeks to stop this (as wiping destroys the souls he covets) and agrees a challenge with the Beyonder – each would have a champion in a duel and if Mephisto’s champion wins then the Beyonder will wait for twenty-four hours. The Beyonder’s champion is Zarathos, the spirit of vengeance previously bonded to the first Ghost Rider (hence the story’s appearance in that volume), whilst Mephisto’s is Spider-Man – precisely because he is an ordinary human. Zarathos has to get Spider-Man to renounce his responsibility in some way, with the test selected to be to prevent an assassination attempt on the Kingpin. Zarathos torments Spider-Man by appearing to him both in his own form and disguised as the likes of Norman Osborn, Peter’s parents, Captain George Stacy, Gwen Stacy and finally Uncle Ben, each reminding Spider-Man of his past failures and trying to weaken him. It’s a story set on two entirely different levels, with Spider-Man never aware of the wider significance of his turmoil. Instead he just keeps on trying in the face of tremendous odds, no matter what Zarathos throws at him, to the amazement of Mephisto. It’s a twist on the classic tale of a hero facing temptation in the form of a demon, but Spidey remains true to his inner core values, no matter what it costs him and no matter how odious the person he has to save, eventually knocking Zarathos aside and then preventing a gunman shooting down the Kingpin. This is a triumph of the will and a reaffirmation of just what makes Spider-Man tick. The wider context of the battle to save existence for at least another twenty-four hours is far less interesting in this context. What matters is that Spider-Man has proved himself without even realising he was being tested. This is one of my all-time favourite Spider-Man stories.

Overall these issues are a mixed bag. The ones from Team-Up are relatively representative of the series as a whole – some intense, personal tales with small, focused casts and some world saving ones with huge numbers. But they’re not such important stories that one can’t wait for the next volumes of Essential Marvel Team-Up to reach them. The Amazing issue is more intense, though as it’s some thirty-six issues later than the end of the most recent volume and part of the first massive Marvel crossover it may be best to also wait for it to be reached in the normal course of events.

Essential Punisher volume 1 - creator labels

We have a volume with a lot of creators, so here's a separate post to carry the labels for some of them.

Essential Spider-Man volume 10 - creator labels

Again we have a volume with a lot of creators, so here's a separate post to carry the labels for some of them.