Review- ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL. 4

ESSENTIAL MARVEL TEAM-UP VOL. 4 (Marvel, First Printing, 2013; Softcover)

Collects Marvel Team-Up #76-78, 80-98 and Marvel Team-Up Annual #2, 3 (cover dates December, 1978- October, 1980)

Writers: Chris Claremont, Steven Grant, Bill Kunkel, Allyn Brodsky, Alan Kupperberg, Roger McKenzie, Marv Wolfman, and Roger Stern

Artists: Pencilers- Howard Chaykin, Don Perlin, Mike Vosburg, Sal Buscema, Bob McLeod, Gene Colan, Rich Buckler, Mike Nasser, Pat Broderick, Carmine Infantino, Tom Sutton, Mike Zeck, Jimmy Janes, Alan Kupperberg, Will Meugniot, and Herb Trimpe; Inkers- Jeff Aclin, Juan Ortiz, Frank Giacoia, Gene Day, Steve Leialoha, Frank Springer, Bob McLeod, Luis Eduardo Barreto, Josef Rubinstein, Bruce D. Patterson, Pablo Marcos, Jim Mooney, Mike Esposito, Alan Kupperberg, Al Gordon, Jack Abel, Dave Humphreys, and Al Milgrom

Things start out strong with a slew of Chris Claremont-penned stories. #79 was omitted because it features Red Sonja, who is currently licensed to Dynamite. That Claremont/Byrne issue was reprinted in the Spider-Man/ Red Sonja hardcover back in 2008. Some fans have a love/hate relationship with Claremont's work, but the fact of the matter is when he was in his prime he could bury any comic book writer out there. Like the old western series The Guns Of Will Sonnett used to say, no brag, just fact.

Claremont keeps things moving briskly along while peppering future subplots. I enjoy how Peter Parker's personal life has an entirely different side to it here than it does in the other spider-titles of the day. The art chores are handed off like a baton, and most of it well done. This being the '70s the deadline was more important than the work, and sometimes it shows. I think that most of the artists did the best that they could given the time constraints. Nearly every single Bronze Age journeyman got a crack at this book. The list of creators above is a who's who of late '70s/early '80s comics.

Status Quo!

#93 features my beloved Werewolf By Night in a rematch with the Tatterdemalion, last seen in Werewolf By Night #10 back in 1973. Alan Kupperberg turns in the best issue in the entire book with #96's team up with Howard The Duck. In this issue the man called Status Quo wages war on the fads of the day, and it is a laugh a minute. Things wrap up nicely with Annual #3, a great story where Power Man and Iron Fist cross paths with the Hulk and Machine Man. It's the only issue collected in this book which does not feature Spider-Man.

Spider-Man and the Beast fighting the Killer Shrike and the Modular Man. 

This was one of the final books issued in the Essential line, with the line being shuttered in 2013. These 500 page black and white books were cheap fun. The black and white was a drag but the pulp paper made them feel like comic books. The Epic line has replaced the Essentials, offering full color and nicer paper for twice the price. I used to buy these Essentials as placeholders for when the material was properly reprinted in color anyhow. Think of this shuttered line as either beefy coloring books or poor man's artist's editions.

Junk Food For Thought rating: 4 out of 5.

The OCD zone- This is the part where I go into tactile sensations and materials used in physical media. Those with heart conditions, high blood pressure, or women who are pregnant should exit my blog at their earliest convenience, as their safety cannot be guaranteed beyond this point.

Linework restoration: The film must have been in great shape, as there are very few line or word balloon dropouts here. These books were roughly 500 pages for $19.99 MSRP, so the restoration budget was likely nil.

Paper stock: Thick pulp paper. While I love high end collected editions, there is a part of me that would be a sucker for restored full color comics printed on cheap paper like this.

Binding: Perfect bound trade paperback. There are reports of some of these books falling apart. My only experience is with that is the first printing of Essential Marvel Team-Up Vol. 1.

Cardstock cover notes: Laminated cardstock cover.