STARLOGGED - GEEK MEDIA AGAIN: MARVEL TEAM-UP

Showing posts with label MARVEL TEAM-UP. Show all posts

Thursday, 15 January 2015

1980: MARVEL TEAM-UP WEEKLY (Marvel UK)

Here's a rapid romp through the US MARVEL TEAM-UP strips that appeared in the British weekly over 25 issues between 1980 and 1981:

UK Issues 1-2: Spider-man and Daredevil from US issue 25 (1974)

UK Issues 3-4: Human Torch and Thor from US issue 26 (1974) NOTE: Spider-man appears in the WHAT IF reprint (from US issue 19) instead.

UK Issues 5-6: Spider-man and the Falcon from US issue 30 (1975)

UK Issues 7-8: Spider-man and Nighthawk from US issue 33 (1975)

UK Issues 9-10: Spider-man and Valkyrie from US issue 34 (1975)

UK Issues 11-12: Spider-man and Iron Fist from US issue 31 (1975)

UK Issues 13-15: Spider-man and Doctor Strange from US issue 76 (1979)

UK Issues 16-17: Spider-man and Ms. Marvel from US issue 77 (1979)

UK Issues 18-19: Spider-man and the Black Widow from US issue 82 (1979)

UK Issues 20-21: Spider-man and the Beast from US issue 90 (1980)

UK Issues 22-23: Spider-man and Power Man from US issue 75 (1978)

UK Issues 24-25: Spider-man and Machine Man from US issue 99 (1980)

Continued in SPIDER-MAN AND HULK WEEKLY INCORPORATING TEAM-UP issue 418, beginning with:

The Human Torch and Iron Man from US issue 29 (1975)

The MARVEL TEAM-UP WINTER SPECIAL 1980 reprinted Spider-man and Red Sonja from US issue 79 (1979).

A full MARVEL TEAM-UP UK cover gallery can be found here.

1981: ON SALE THIS MONTH: MARVEL TEAM-UP Issue 19 (Marvel UK)

On sale this week in 1981: MARVEL TEAM-UP (UK) issue 19, cover-dated 21 January.

The British edition of MT-U is a bit of an oddity for me: it is, effectively, a second SPIDER-MAN weekly thanks to the Web-slinger's predictable habit of running into other Marvel characters on a regular basis.

Launched the previous September, it was part of a glut of Spider-man product being churned-out by the British Bullpen. The 1973-launched weekly was still going strong (and bolstered by the merger of the HULK's weekly in May) and had already been joined by the monthly SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOK as well as the seasonal specials and the 1980 (for 1981) edition of the annual. Just how much Spider-man was the great British public demanding?

The aforementioned POCKET BOOK had launched as a vehicle for TEAM-UP reprints but, when the weekly launched, switched to reprints of the vintage AMAZING SPIDER-MAN strips from the sixties (already familiar to several previous generations of British readers).

The Annex of Ideas must have known the long-delayed (because the studio was cashing-in by releasing selected two-part adventures as movies... as covered in previous posts) UK premiere of the live-action TV show must happen at some point so, possibly, they were anticipating that would-be windfall by filling the shops with product early. They were a year eschew with their planning, ITV didn't debut it until the autumn of the following year.

The British MARVEL TEAM-UP had been developed with the working title SPIDER-MAN AND THE SUPER HEROES but this was presumably abandoned, possibly on the advice of the news trade, on the basis that it sounded too much like the existing weekly and retailers (and punters) might not be able to tell the difference. The existing weekly had also appeared under a very similar masthead in 1976.

Team-Up was (like 1979's post-Marvel Revolution incarnation of the existing weekly) a cornucopia of costumed characters with reprints of the Fantastic Four, Daredevil, Ms. Marvel, Morbius the Living Vampire and Jack of Hearts also appearing. What If, Ant Man and Captain Universe also snuck into the mix later thanks to reprints from MARVEL PREMIERE and MARVEL SPOTLIGHT.

The first Team-up reprinted hailed from US MT-U 25 (1974) and then, thanks to the self-contained nature of most Team-Up stories (which were also appearing way out-of-sync with the Spidey adventures in the main weekly), cherry-picked subsequent strips (omitting plenty along the way).

The main strip in this issue hailed from MT-U 82 from 1979.

It ultimately ran for 25 issues before (predictably) folding into the existing weekly.

Saturday, 3 January 2015

1981: ON SALE THIS MONTH: MARVEL TEAM-UP Issue 17 (Marvel UK)

On sale this week: the seventeenth issue of the British incarnation of MARVEL TEAM-UP from 1981.

MTU-UK was an odd attempt by the British Bullpen to get Brits to buy a second SPIDER-MAN weekly alongside the existing long-runner. Quite why they felt that this would be a success is something of a mystery, especially as the long-delayed live-action series wouldn't appear on British screens until much later in the year.

It wasn't even a case of double-dipping as Marvel UK were also publishing the monthly SPIDER-MAN POCKET BOOK (which had started out as a vehicle for Team-Up reprints but switched to sixties Amazing Spider-Man strips when this weekly launched) and the traditional seasonal annuals and specials. That's a lot of Spidey for a small nation.

Of course, Team-Up wasn't officially a Spider-man comic (although it did have the working title SPIDER-MAN AND THE SUPERHEROES) but he appeared in pretty much ever issue anyway. He appeared on eleven of the first sixteen covers.

The other strips included What If, Thor, the Fantastic Four, Morbius the Living Vampire, Ms Marvel and Doctor Strange.

MTU eventually clocked-up 25 issues before merging with - no shocker - SPIDER-MAN.

This cover first appeared on US MARVEL PREMIERE issue 48 from 1979, the second of two issues to feature the dimuative superhero.

Expect to see a lot more of him this year...

Tuesday, 12 November 2013

1980: MARVEL SUPER ADVENTURE WINTER SPECIAL (Marvel UK)

The MARVEL SUPER ADVENTURE WINTER SPECIAL 1980 was a one-shot mix of The Defenders, vintage Sub-Mariner and Iron Fist.

Although none of the strips made the cut, the title was revived the following May for a new weekly featuring longer (compared with the existing pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap(ish) Dez Skinn philosophy) instalments of DAREDEVIL (shuffled from the just-dead MARVEL TEAM-UP) and Black Panther.

The weekly notched-up 26 issues before merging with CAPTAIN AMERICA.

Monday, 2 July 2012

1980: MARVEL TEAM-UP WEEKLY UPDATE

A quick heads-up about a brief update I've made to the MARVEL TEAM-UP (UK weekly) entry.

I spotted a news story in the UK fanzine BEM (issue 29, August 1980) which describes the upcoming new Marvel weekly SPIDER-MAN AND THE SUPER-HEROES.

Marvel's mandarins clearly decided that having two Spider-man weeklies (as well as the Pocket Book and the occasional specials and annuals) was a recipe for confusion amongst readers and retailers and opted for a last-minute name change.

The existing Spidey comic was currently in its SPIDER-MAN AND HULK WEEKLY phase but the planned new launch did sound awfully similar to its SUPER SPIDER-MAN AND THE SUPER-HEROES era (issues 158 - 198, 21 February 1976 - 24 November 1976) which might have confused readers and newsagents with a long memory!

See here for more on the UK edition of MARVEL TEAM-UP.

Monday, 23 April 2012

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.