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
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. 
SHOWCASE Vol 1 #73 (April 1968) 
Jack gets tipped off about the abduction of Vincent Yatz, a scientific genius who recently defected from the Soviet Union to the United States. 
Our hero learns that Devlin will be covertly turning the captured Yatz over to Major Smej that night using a costume party attended by the rich and powerful as cover. Jack Ryder throws together a costume from leftovers he buys at a costume shop – the yellow, green and red sheepskin cape/stole ensemble that will become his Creeper outfit going forward. 
DETECTIVE COMICS Vol 1 #27 (May 1939) 
The Lambert son (no first name is ever given for him and his father) insists he’s innocent and that his father was receiving threats from a criminal syndicate muscling in on the family’s firm, Apex Chemical Corporation. The dead man’s partner Steve Crane starts getting threats now and wants police protection. 
SAVAGE SHE-HULK Vol 1 #1 (February 1980) 
Jennifer is bleeding out and will die before any ambulance can arrive, so Bruce breaks into a nearby doctor’s office and uses some of the equipment inside to donate some of his own blood to Jen to save her life. An ambulance gets Jennifer and Bruce to a hospital and she stabilizes. 
For this weekend’s light-hearted, escapist superhero post here’s a look at another Marvel Comics character that never became a hit for some reason.
MARVEL PRESENTS Vol 1 #1 (October 1975) 
That man’s thoughts tell us he is Ulysses Bloodstone and that the fragment of an alien gem in his chest unerringly leads him around the globe whenever monstrous creatures are about to strike. While television news crews and the police look on, Bloodstone battles the enormous beast. 
TALES OF SUSPENSE Vol 1 #14 (February 1961) 
The sole occupant of the alien vessel was a member of the Kigor race, large crab-like creatures of great intelligence who walked erect. Outnumbered on a hostile planet, the Kigor used its alien technology/ powers to transfer its mind into the enormous statue to try surviving. 
For this Saturday’s light-hearted and escapist superhero post, here’s a look at the gamma-powered Doc Samson, a potentially great character that Marvel Comics never quite managed correctly. 
INCREDIBLE HULK Vol 1 #141 (July 1971) 
In a laboratory, Dr. Samson triggers the restrained Bruce Banner’s transformation into the Hulk, and uses his Cathexis Ray Generator to drain all of that gamma energy from him, curing Bruce of being the Hulk permanently. Next, Samson uses a tiny fraction of the stored gamma energy to turn Betty Ross back into her normal human state. 
Eric July aka YoungRippa59 has launched what he’s calling the Rippaverse. July has been touting this independent publishing project for quite some time and, after investing $200,000 of his own money and, having now raised well over 2.25 million dollars more, went live with his website on July 12th. UPDATE: He is now over 3.7 million dollars. People know a good thing when they see it.
Rippa’s first superhero is called Isom and his 96-page debut book is lengthy enough to deserve the term Graphic Novel. And this is just the start of a brand-new superhero universe that Eric vows will compete with Marvel and DC eventually. 
Marvel has let it be known that they will be doing a Thor vs Hercules clash for the next Thor movie as they at last move the Marvel Comics version of Hercules into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. 
JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY ANNUAL Vol 1 #1 (October 1965) 
The story opens up like a few other old Norse myths, with Thor and Loki on fairly friendly terms and traveling together in search of adventure. While trying to make their very first visit to the realm of the Greco-Roman gods on Mount Olympus they encounter a few Frost Giants and easily defeat them. 
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