Skip to content
Menu
  • Secret Origin!
Menu

MTU 079

Posted on December 1, 2020January 20, 2020 by spiderdewey

Meanwhile over in Team-Up, a very different kind of story, also drawn by Byrne and inked by the sure hand of his X-Men inker Terry Austin. And it features the creepy old man’s dream come true, Red Sonja. Chris Claremont still providing the script. It’s weird to me that this run doesn’t get as much love. Granted, by its nature, Marvel Team-Up is a lesser book than X-Men, but as one of Marvel’s most beloved creative teams of all time, you’d think everything they did would be hallowed.

Anyway, this is an extra weird one, as Spidey teams up with a character from the ancient past through the magic of comics! The issue begins with Peter attending the Daily Bugle Christmas party, but before we can go any further, we have to pause on one line of dialogue, because it is the beginning of what’s become a recent fascination for me.

Who’s Cissy? We don’t know yet. This, as far as I know, as near as I can tell, is Chris Claremont randomly dropping a new love interest in Peter Parker’s life OFF PANEL. I don’t believe she’s been mentioned before this, but we’ll be seeing her very soon. As strange as it may sound, it’s never going to make more sense than it does right now. So, anyway. Daily Bugle Christmas party. MJ also shows up at the Christmas party. Why? I dunno. They seem surprised to see each other, which makes makes sense given their lack of contact in ASM. Also:

What’d I tell you about people going “mmmmmmmm”? Anyway, there’s a new display of ancient arifacts about to debut at the museum, and through one of those ancient artifacts, the soul of the evil wizard Kulan Gath possesses a helpless security guard, so when our heroes arrive on the scene, the museum starts to look like the end of Ghostbusters. No one’s being allowed into the museum, so it’s time for Pete to slip away and do some investigating. The museum is filled with an atmosphere of creepy dread, and Byrne really is in rare form. 

She doesn’t know, but she could almost know. Always fun to track. As Spider-Man fights a bunch of monsters, feeling his will and energy failing as he does but not knowing why, a glowing sword can catch Mary Jane’s eye and turn her into the she-devil with a sword.

Now, look, friends. I first saw this story in a collection of team-ups I had as a very young man. I can’t sit here and tell you Red Sonja didn’t have an effect on lil 12-or-something-year-old me. Especially with lecherous ol John Byrne doing everything he could within the Comics Code Authority to show off all of Sonja’s assets. But I like to think that, even aside from that, this is a pretty memorable issue, just because of how well the art team expresses the growing dread and almost Lovecraftian horror of the situation. Anyhow, this is a tough team-up, since our heroes don’t speak the same language, but Gath uses his magic to make sure they both understand him.

Big X-shaped restraints! It is a Claremont comic! And then Spidey breaks loose at the last second in a dramatic show of strength! It IS a Claremont comic! Spidey swings him & Red Sonja out of harm’s way, and then start dodging around as Gath attempts to zap him with his magic whatever, before accidentally finding the perfect way to stop him by tackling him outside.

I gotta say, Sonja didn’t get to do much in this. Mostly she got carried around by Spider-Man or captured. She deserved better. Wouldja believe that, in the 2000s, Marvel would do a crossover with Dynamite, the current owner of the rights to Red Sonja comics, doing a 5-issue sequel to this story, now including Venom? It honestly wasn’t too great, but having seen this story at a formative age, I was way excited for it. But! What if I further told you these events will actually be coming back to haunt Spidey much sooner than that? Seems weird? Well, it is, but that’s for later.

As seen on the splash page, this one specifically says it takes place on December 22, 1978. I was 3 months old.

  • Charlie Snow
  • Chris Claremont
  • Joe Robertson
  • John Byrne
  • Kulan Goth
  • Marvel Team-Up
  • Mary Jane Watson
  • Red Sonja
  • Spider-Man
  • Terry Austin
  • Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recent Posts

    • SM 62
    • ASM 405
    • WEB 128
    • ASM 352
    • ASM 351

    Archives

    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • April 223

    Categories

    • 1960s
    • 1970s
    • 1980s
    • 1990s
    • Uncategorized

    Tags

    Alex Saviuk Al Milgrom Amazing Spider-Man Aunt Anna Aunt May Ben Reilly Ben Urich Betty Brant Bill Mantlo Black Cat Bob Sharen David Michelinie Doctor Octopus Flash Thompson Frank Giacoia Gerry Conway Glory Grant Gwen Stacy Harry Osborn J. Jonah Jameson Jim Mooney JM DeMatteis Joe Robertson John Romita John Romita Jr Kate Cushing Keith Williams Kevin Tinsley Kingpin Len Wein Liz Allen Marvel Team-Up Mary Jane Watson Mike Esposito Nathan Lubensky Ned Leeds Roger Stern Ross Andru Sal Buscema Spectacular Spider-Man Spider-Man Stan Lee Todd McFarlane Tom DeFalco Web of Spider-Man

    Meta

    • Log in
    • Entries feed
    • Comments feed
    • WordPress.org
    ©2022 | Design: Newspaperly WordPress Theme