I’ve now picked up all of the Essentials except
Essential Conan (which is pretty much impossible to
find.) This was the most often requested volume of
those that hadn’t been reviewed. Essential
Avengers Vol. 3 and Essential Captain
America Vol. 1 & 2 will be reviewed some
other week.
General Information
Title: Essential Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1
Credited to: Gerry Conway, Len Wein, Gil Kane, Ross
Andru, and Friends
Original Publication Date: 2002 reprint of material
first published
from 1972-1974
ISBN: 0-7851-0828-9
Cover Price: $14.95 US, $23.95 Can
Buy from: Amazon.com
or Amazon.ca
Past comic reviews can be found here.
Premise
Various superheroes in the Marvel Universe get a
chance to team up for
one or two issues to face some odd threat.
Spider-Man appears in the
majority of the team-ups, with the occasional
appearance of Human
Torch when Spidey isn’t there.
This collects the first 24 issues of the series,
including the
following team-ups:
Issues 1-3: Spider-Man and the Human Torch
Issue 4: Spider-Man and the X-Men
Issue 5: Spider-Man and the Vision
Issue 6: Spider-Man and the Thing
Issue 7: Spider-Man and Thor
Issue 8: Spider-Man and the Cat
Issue 9: Spider-Man and Iron Man
Issue 10: Spider-Man and the Human Torch
Issue 11: Spider-Man and the Inhumans
Issue 12: Spider-Man and the Werewolf
Issue 13: Spider-Man and Captain America
Issue 14: Spider-Man and Namor
Issue 15: Spider-Man and Ghost Rider
Issue 16: Spider-Man and Captain Marvel
Issue 17: Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic
Issue 18: Human Torch and the Incredible Hulk
Issue 19: Spider-Man and Ka-Zar
Issue 20: Spider-Man and Black Panther
Issue 21: Spider-Man and Dr. Strange
Issue 22: Spider-Man and Hawkeye
Issue 23: Human Torch and Ice Man
Issue 24: Spider-Man and Brother Voodoo
High Point
The Ghost Rider issue. He’s a pretty cool hero, now
that I’ve seen
him in action. I can see why Nicholas Cage is
fighting so hard to
play the lead in the movie.
Low Point
The Cat issue. It was the most blatant of the
cross-promotions, and
I’m pretty sure she’s just a cheap knock-off of DC’s
Catwoman.
The Scores
The originality is a bit weak. It doesn’t
take much thought
to put those frequent cross-overs into their own
title, and a lot of
the team-ups started with Spider-Man swinging through
the city, to
randomly bump into someone who has already started
some sort of
investigation. I give it 3 out of 6.
The artwork is usually clean and clear. I
must confess that
I don’t like Gil Kane’s Spider-Man. (In fact, I
think that Tomb
of Dracula is the only title with Gil Kane art I
like.) Kane
does much of the art, with Ross Andru taking the
lion’s share of
what’s left. I give it 4 out of 6.
The stories being told often have contrived
beginnings and
endings, but the middle bits tend to work out well.
The multiple
issue stories, in which Spider-Man tends to actively
seek out an
appropriate hero to team up with, are generally
pretty good. I give
it 4 out of 6.
The characterization is what this book
should be about. They
had a chance to take their best known hero and stack
him up against
the rest of the Marvel Universe, with a changing
dynamic every issue.
This should have been a great showcase, but the
rushed plotlines left
the guest stars too frequently undefined. I give it
3 out of 6.
The emotional response this generated was
pretty good. Most
of the stories were entertaining, even though they
were contrived.
(Let’s face it; I knew by the concept that this would
be contrived, so
it wasn’t a big disappointment when I opened the book
and found
proof.) I give it 5 out of 6.
The flow in the middle of the issues was
pretty good, as was
the flow in the first four and in the multiple issue
story starting
wit the Captain Marvel issue. Those stories had very
natural blends
from one issue to the next. Others often felt like
they were begun
and ended in a hurry to get them in between the
latest issues of
Amazing Spider-Man. I give it 3 out of 6.
Overall, it’s an entertaining collection,
but I’d recommend
getting a volume of Essential Spider-Man
instead. I give it
4 out of 6.
In total, Essential Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1
receives 26 out of
42.
Additional Notes and Comments
Next up: I’ve got a few comics waiting in the wings,
particularly
since I realized that Get Fuzzy and
Calvin and
Hobbes qualify for reviews. Check out the
options
and then let me
know what you
want to see next.