Nostalgia can play tricks on you sometimes. I have so many fond memories of reading Marvel Team-Up as a child (issues #103 and #119 come to mind immediately) that I tend to pick them up when I see them cheap, assuming that I'll witness some comic book greatness. Not so this time out. Mr. DeMatteis rarely lets me down, but this story left me feeling litigious. I rarely expect more than enjoyably clean pencils from reliable old Herb Trimpe, but this book featured some of the wonkiest artwork I've seen in recent memory. I imagine Mike Esposito should share some of the blame.
This one is just a sloppy mess, carrying over some mystical crap from the previous issue. I never like all the magic hoodoo in Spidey stories and it really does not work here at all. Valkyrie sword is possessed making the blondest Defender a little less than friendly to the neighbourhood Spider-Man. The facial expressions had me tempted to throw it in the trash. She's supposed to look demonic, but all I see is Betty Cooper on the toilet. In the end, Thor and Valkyrie kiss for some cryptic Norse reason and we cross our fingers for the next one. Avoid.
Nostalgia can play tricks on you sometimes. I have so many fond memories of reading Marvel Team-Up as a child (issues #103 and #119 come to mind immediately) that I tend to pick them up when I see them cheap, assuming that I'll witness some comic book greatness. Not so this time out. Mr. DeMatteis rarely lets me down, but this story left me feeling litigious. I rarely expect more than enjoyably clean pencils from reliable old Herb Trimpe, but this book featured some of the wonkiest artwork I've seen in recent memory. I imagine Mike Esposito should share some of the blame.
This one is just a sloppy mess, carrying over some mystical crap from the previous issue. I never like all the magic hoodoo in Spidey stories and it really does not work here at all. Valkyrie sword is possessed making the blondest Defender a little less than friendly to the neighbourhood Spider-Man. The facial expressions had me tempted to throw it in the trash. She's supposed to look demonic, but all I see is Betty Cooper on the toilet. In the end, Thor and Valkyrie kiss for some cryptic Norse reason and we cross our fingers for the next one. Avoid.
1 comment:
Once again you match my feelings on a title pretty accurately. When I was young, I really really liked Marvel Team-Up. As I picked up more and more issues at discount prices these past few years, however, I realized that my feelings were based on a lucky draw early on. Good issues: Spidey and X-Men (vs. Juggernaut), Spidey and Adam Warlock (vs. the Gardener... on the moon!), Aunt May and Franklin Richards (during Assistant Editor's Month).
I've found most of the other issues to be pretty abysmal.
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