1980: MARVEL (UK) TEAM-UP

1980 was a good time to be Spider-man in the UK.  Not only was his 1973-launched weekly still going strong, it was also joined by the monthly SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOK digest AND this short-lived weekly (as well as specials and annuals).

MARVEL TEAM-UP diverted the easily-accesable self-contained US TEAM-UP reprints from the Pocket Book (which itself snaffled them up from the well-established weekly) and made them the core strip in this new weekly.  As Spider-man was almost always 50% of any team-up (occasionally stepping aside for The Human Torch), it ensured regular appearances.

SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOK back-tracked to the sixties, reprinting Spidey's chronological appearances beginning with US AMAZING FANTASY 15.

MARVEL TEAM-UP also included reprints of MS. MARVEL, MORBIUS THE LIVING VAMPIRE, THE FANTASTIC FOUR, WHAT IF and a rotating spotlight feature, beginning with JACK OF HEARTS.

Ant Man, formally of HULK COMIC, was subsequently added to the line-up.

A spin-off Winter Special, MARVEL TEAM-UP WINTER SPECIAL '80 was published concurrently.

Team-Up suffered from some erratic dating, correcting cover-dates twice and issuing one edition without a date.

The weekly folded in March 1981, unsurprisingly folding into SPIDER-MAN AND HULK WEEKLY to become the clumsily-named SPIDER-MAN AND HULK WEEKLY INCORPORATING TEAM-UP, latterly simplified to SPIDER-MAN AND HULK TEAM-UP (even through they do nothing of the sort).

UPDATE 1-JULY-2012: According to the UK fanzine BEM (issue 29, August 1980) M T-U was originally going to be called SPIDER-MAN AND THE SUPER-HEROES, published in parallel with the existing weekly (which was currently in its SPIDER-MAN AND HULK WEEKLY incarnation).  The name change was presumably the result of potential confusion between the two weeklies (and the SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOK) and, possibly, because it was nearly identical to a previous incarnation of Spidey's weekly.

ISSUE 1

11 September 1980

FREE GIFT: Loosely-inserted sticker

ISSUE 2

25 September 1980

FREE GIFT: Loosely-inserted sticker

ISSUE 3

25 September 1980

FREE GIFT: Loosely-inserted sticker

Issue 3 has the same cover date as the second, suggesting the first two issues were delayed for a week and the dates were altered from issue 3 to reflect reality.

The Human Torch, rather than Spider-man, appeared in the main Team-Up strip BUT the Web Slinger appeared in the What If story instead.

ISSUE 4

2 October 1980

ISSUE 5

15 October 1980

The cover-dates again go askew with this issue, jumping from 2 October (issue 4) to 15 October (issue 5).

ISSUE 6

22 October 1980

ISSUE 7

29 October 1980

ISSUE 8

5 November 1980

ISSUE 9

12 November 1980

ISSUE 10

19 November 1980

ISSUE 11

Undated

This issue is undated but should have displayed 26 November 1980.

ISSUE 12

3 December 1980

The cover states "still 12p" so, inevitably, the cover price increased by 2p the following week.

ISSUE 13

17 December 1980

Cover price increases to 14p.

ISSUE 14

17 December 1980

ISSUE 15

24 December 1980

ISSUE 16

31 December 1980

ISSUE 17

7 January 1981

ISSUE 18

14 January 1980

ISSUE 19

21 January 1981

ISSUE 20

28 January 1981

ISSUE 21

4 February 1981

ISSUE 22

11 February 1981

ISSUE 23

18 February 1981

ISSUE 24

25 February 1981

ISSUE 25

4 March 1981

Merger announcement.

MARVEL TEAM-UP WINTER SPECIAL 1980