Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Review- SPIDER-MAN: MARVEL TEAM-UP BY CLAREMONT & BYRNE


SPIDER-MAN: MARVEL TEAM-UP BY CLAREMONT & BYRNE (Marvel, 2011; Softcover)

Collects Marvel Team-Up Nos. 59-70, 75 (cover dates July, 1977- November, 1978)

Writers: Chris Claremont with Ralph Macchio (co-writer, #75)

Artists: Penciler- John Byrne; Inkers- Dave Hunt, Bob Wiaceck, Ricardo Villamonte, Tony DeZuniga, and Al Gordon

Claremont and Byrne are the Lennon and McCartney (or Simon and Garfunkel) of comics. They brought out the best in each other and created memorable comics that read great today. If space aliens landed on Earth and asked me “What are comic books?”, I would give them Lee/Kirby Fantastic Four, Lee/Ditko Spider-Man, and Claremont/Byrne X-Men.

The battle with the Super Skrull in #61-62 is the direct result of the occurrences in #59-60. I love how Claremont and Byrne continually feed ongoing plotlines, sneaking little seeds in there which bear fruit down the road. They cleverly used #63-64 to tie up all of the loose ends of the recently cancelled Iron Fist series which they were working on. They give Captain Britain his first US appearance in #65-66, where they also introduce the villain Arcade, who goes on to appear in many different titles.


#69-70 feature the return of The Living Pharaoh from the Thomas/Adams run of The X-Men. The Living Pharaoh once again seeks to capture the mutant Havok in order to steal his power, only this time he succeeds and becomes the Living Monolith. His battle with Thor is incredible. #79 was omitted due to the fact that it featured Red Sonja, who Marvel no longer has the license for. Thankfully it was collected in the Spider-Man/ Red Sonja hardcover back in 2008.


I had an absolute blast rereading this stuff and strongly recommend this book...if you can find a copy. It is sadly out of print.
Junk Food For Thought rating: 5 out of 5.

The OCD zone- Nothing unusal to report here.

DVD-style Extras included in this book: The front and back cover of this book minus the trade dress. (2 pages)

Linework and Color restoration rating: 4 out of 5. Everything looks good except for #64, 65, and especially #68. The latter is in desperate need of linework reconstruction. A few more volumes in the Marvel Masterworks line should fix this.

Paper rating: 5 out of 5. I love the paper that Marvel uses in these books of classic material. Dull matte finish coated stock with minimal sheen.

Binding rating: 4 out of 5. Perfect bound trade paperback.

Cardstock cover coating rating: 5 out of 5. The usual thick laminated cardstick that Marvel uses on all of their softcovers.

This book is out of print but the same material is also spread across the following books:
http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Marvel/ESSENTIAL-MARVEL-TEAM-UP-TP-VOL-03/JUN090656

http://www.instocktrades.com/TP/Marvel/ESSENTIAL-MARVEL-TEAM-UP-TP-VOL-04/NOV120798

1 comment:

  1. This was a really fun book. I could read stuff like this over and over and over again, and never get tired of it.

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