This weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog will take a look at some of the very early stories in Marvel Team-Up.
MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #1 (March 1972)
Title: Have Yourself a Sandman Little Christmas
Villain: Sandman
Synopsis: On Christmas Eve, Spider-Man and his old friend the Human Torch find themselves caught up in a battle with their mutual enemy Sandman. At that time the villain was still wearing the special costume his fellow Frightful Four member the Wizard made for him, which gave him the power to mix other chemicals with his sand body, thus increasing his power. Misty Knight makes her (retconned) first appearance.
NOTE: I wrote a VERY lengthy review of this story for the Christmas season of 2016 HERE.
MARVEL TEAM-UP Vol 1 #2 (May 1972)
Title: And Spidey Makes Four
Villains: The Frightful Four
Synopsis: The Human Torch (Johnny Storm) is still very depressed over the end of his romance with the member of the Inhumans called Crystal.
NOTE: Crystal had been the Torch’s love interest for years and had even replaced Invisible Woman in the Fantastic Four during Sue Storm-Richards’ first pregnancy. Crystal would later marry the Avenger Quicksilver at a ceremony attacked by Ultron HERE.
The escaped Sandman reunites with his teammates in the Frightful Four (as you could guess, the supervillain version of the Fantastic Four) – the Wizard and the Trapster. Originally, the Inhumans member Medusa had been their 4th member back when she was a misunderstood villain.
With Medusa having gone straight and quit, the team needs a 4th member (the woman Thundra would not join until December 1972) so Sandman, Wizard and Trapster capture and enthrall Spider-Man. The Human Torch is the only Fantastic Four member on hand at the Baxter Building, and the hypnotized Spider-Man gets Johnny to let him into the building and the villains force their way in with him. Continue reading
WHEN RANKED TEAMS CLASH – Last night the number 4 team in the nation – the NORTHWEST MISSISSIPPI COLLEGE RANGERS – took it on the road against the 14th ranked PEARL RIVER COLLEGE WILDCATS. The Wildcats led 7-0 in the 1st Quarter and 14-7 by Halftime, but the Rangers shut them out from there. The 3rd Quarter ended in a 14-14 tie and the final tally was NMC 21 PRC 14. 
KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES – The (6) JONES COLLEGE BOBCATS visited the COPIAH-LINCOLN COLLEGE WOLFPACK. A 10-0 Bobcats advantage at the Half became a 10-10 deadlock in the 3rd Quarter. An action-packed 4th saw Jones College prevail by a score of 23-17. 
SHANE (1966) – David Carradine starred as the iconic gunslinger Shane in this 1966 television series adapted from the 1953 Alan Ladd movie.
If you’re not familiar with the movie, Shane is a gunfighter who longs to settle down and pursue the non-violent life he would have lived if things had turned out differently for him. He falls in with the Starrett family, who are among the Wyoming homesteaders getting leaned on by dishonest ranchers who want them off “their” land. 
ROOSTER: SPURS OF DEATH – This cosmically bad and tasteless movie was completed in 1977 but not released until 1983, presumably because there’s never been much demand for films from the ugly subgenre of cockfighting flicks. (Cocksploitation?) 
THE EMPEROR OF THE AIR (1910) – Written by George Glendon, this is a story about two visionaries – the German-American tycoon Hans Kreutzer and the Italian inventor Anatole Lonari. 
ACU CONQUERS DIVISION TWO – The annual tradition of NAIA college football teams upsetting teams from higher divisions has continued every week so far in 2022. Yesterday the ARIZONA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY FIRESTORM visited NCAA Division Two’s FORT LEWIS COLLEGE SKYHAWKS. The Firestorm stunned the Skyhawks, leading them 28-9 at Halftime before winning the game 52-12. 
MINERS TOPPLE DIVISION ONE – In a similar vein, NCAA Division Two’s MISSOURI S&T MINERS traveled to face Division One’s DRAKE UNIVERSITY BULLDOGS. This much tighter game saw a scoreless 1st Quarter followed by a 7-0 Miners edge at the Half. The Bulldogs came back to tie things up 14-14 in the 4th Quarter. In Overtime, Missouri S&T won out 17-14. 
NUMBER ONE TAKES A FALL – Down in NCAA Division Three, the 6th ranked UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN AT WHITEWATER WARHAWKS welcomed the number 1 team in the nation – the UNIVERSITY OF MARY HARDIN-BAYLOR CRUSADERS. A 7-7 opening Quarter tie became a 14-10 midpoint lead for the Warhawks. The Crusaders went up 24-21 in the 3rd, but with 13 seconds left in the 4th, UW-Whitewater won the game 28-24. 
SHANNA THE SHE-DEVIL Vol 1 #1 (December 1972) 
She disarms and subdues the poachers, then she and her two leopards – Ina the Spotted and Biri the Dark – escort the hunting party to the border of the reserve. She orders them to leave the area, then resumes her professional care for the animals of the jungle. 
TAKING DOWN NUMBER TWELVE – The PITTSBURG (KS) STATE GORILLAS traveled to face the 12th ranked UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-KEARNEY LOPERS. A 7-0 Lopers lead in the 1st Quarter became a 21-14 advantage for them by Halftime. The Gorillas went on top 28-14 going into the 4th Quarter, then won the game by a final score of 35-28. 
MARATHON MEN – In this game the UNIVERSITY OF CHARLESTON GOLDEN EAGLES visited the FAIRMONT STATE FALCONS. The Golden Eagles led the Falcons 21-7 at the Half but Fairmont State came back to knot things up 28-28 to end Regulation. The 1st Overtime ended in a 35-35 deadlock and the 2nd with the score 38-38. Neither team mustered points in the 3rd OT, and the University of Charleston won with a Safety, 40-38, in the FOURTH OVERTIME. 
CHASE (1973) – This cop show from the 70s had an odd history and ultimately wasted an initially promising premise. 
Officer Steve Baker (Michael Richardson) was a former race car driver who handled the car chases. Officer Norm Hamilton (Reid Smith) was a Vietnam War veteran and helicopter pilot who handled aerial activities. And Officer Fred Sing (Brian Fong) was a hotshot motorcycle cop long before CHiPS hit the airwaves. 
Recently Balladeer’s Blog covered Robert E. Howard’s stories about his overlooked characters James Allison and Turlogh Dubh. This time around I’m taking a look at another neglected creation of Howard, best known for his Conan, Kull and Solomon Kane stories. 
EL BORAK – This character’s real name was Francis Xavier Gordon, an old west gunfighter from El Paso, Texas, who wound up traveling much of the world outside of the United States. Gordon settled in Afghanistan where his prowess with swords and pistols made him a tolerated outsider and earned him the nickname El Borak. 
THE DAUGHTER OF ERLIK KHAN – First published in the pulp magazine Top-Notch in December, 1934. El Borak was hired by a pair of scurvy Britishers to guide them to a nonexistent captive friend of theirs. They secretly plan to loot the treasure of Mount Erlik Khan in the city of Yolgan. 
