Marvel Team-Up No. 1 review: Freaky Friday with Spidey and Kamala
By Alex Widen
Ready or not, Marvel Team-Up is back! Can Spidey and Ms. Marvel work together?
Marvel Team-Up No. 1
Writer: Eve L. Ewing
Artist: Joey Vasquez
Colorist: Felipe Sobreiro
Cover Artists: Stefano Caselli & Triona Farrell
If it’s a new month, it must mean a stab at reviving a franchise! In this case, it’s Marvel Team-Up, a title which hasn’t had a fresh volume since 2006. Yet this time it isn’t just about protecting a trademark; this revival may press at the heart of expectations and market realities within mainstream superhero comics. Beyond a fun yet simplistic plot between Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel, the real question will be whether this tried-and-true format will work in a market with 4-6 issue arcs in which finding either character in other, more “important” comics is as easy as pie.
Image by Marvel Comics
Marvel Team-Up originally debuted in 1972, at a time when Marvel had far less control over the market than they do now, and the company was still trying to sort out what worked. In this case, various editors wanted to produce a second Spidey series due to the tremendous success of Amazing Spider-Man. While Marvel published a two issue Spectacular Spider-Man magazine in 1968, Marvel Team-Up represented a way to do a second Spidey book while also showcasing other characters within their universe on a monthly basis.
Image by Marvel Comics
Fifth Time’s the Charm?
The concept of an ongoing series teaming up popular superheroes (that weren’t team books) was nothing new; DC Comics had been publishing World’s Finest (a Batman/Superman team up book) since 1941. It was a way to test the waters for a secondary Spidey series while also being able to switch gears should that format crash. It also allowed for Spider-Man to “introduce” lower-tier characters to other readers. Two years later, Marvel tried a similar format with the Thing, the most popular of the Fantastic Four, who headlined Marvel Two-In-One.
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Marvel Team-Up ran for 150 issues from 1972-1985, and Spider-Man headlined all but seven of them — Human Torch and Hulk headlined the rare exceptions. By the 1980s, then editor-in-chief Jim Shooter cited lagging sales to cancel the book and replace it with Web Of Spider-Man — which by then was Spidey’s third comic series, since a monthly Spectacular Spider-Man title had since proven successful. Marvel Two-In-One had ended similarly two years earlier, with Thing getting his own solo series instead. Ever since, Marvel has struggled to make a monthly team-up book work.
Image by Marvel Comics
In 1995, the series returned in spirit and cut to the chase, simply being titled Spider-Man Team-Up. A proper Marvel Team-Up attempt began in 1997, but neither incarnation lasted beyond 11 issues (with Namor the Sub-Mariner taking over the last third of the latter). By 2005, rising writer Robert Kirkman (yes, The Walking Dead‘s creator) revived the series for two years. Now in an era where multi-issue arcs were the norm, he weened the series off Spider-Man midway through to focus on more characters and introduce some long term threats. He even snuck in an inter-company crossover between Spidey and Image’s Invincible. But not even Kirkman could save it.
Image by Marvel Comics
Just Another Day in the Life!
Can a new take on Marvel Team-Up work for 2019, in an era where it’s hardly difficult to find Spidey or Ms. Marvel in more than one comic, and where every story has to be “important?” Or can a simple concept of two random heroes running into each other and battling some nonsense together still fly? Eve L. Ewing (Ironheart) gives it her best shot, teaming up the series’ perennial star with the company’s hottest teenage heroine. So what if this isn’t really their first team up?
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As with most Marvel Team-Up tales, the plot is fairly basic. Both Peter Parker and Kamala Khan are starting out their days in their respective zones. Peter is an underachieving graduate student who is still trying to juggle being a superhero with being a wage earner. He’s encountered economic woes due to ramifications from the time Dr. Octopus took over his identity. Struggling to simply leave his house to give a keynote speech for a pal at Empire State Universe, Peter whines about what it was to be young. Did he forget what a mess his teenage years were?
Image by Marvel Comics
Kamala Khan, meanwhile, is such a teenage superhero. She winds up yelling at her mother without meaning to over some chores that weren’t done. She also nearly misses her school bus for a field trip, and while her best pal Bruno saves a seat for her, Kamala’s now responsible for them all being late. While Bruno is excited to hear a speech by Dr. Yesenia Rosario as well as share some time with Kamala, the young Ms. Marvel wishes she was all grown up so she’d have more control.
Image by Marvel Comics
Seriously, Has Dr. Warren Ever Seen a Jackal!?
The blunt plotting doesn’t end there. Dr. Yesenia Rosario is a friend of Peter Parker’s, who despite her genius is almost as clumsy and awkward as he is. Despite Peter having literally the biggest supporting cast in all of Marvel Comics, Yesenia is yet another new pal readers have never seen before, and likely won’t ever see again. She’s introducing a fantastic new device which stores a person’s personality brain waves into “the cloud” for safekeeping. While it will be useful for various diseases, it’s the sort of obligatory fantastic device that super villains are always trying to steal.
Image by Marvel Comics
Right on the cue, a costumed villain appears! Marvel Team-Up historically featured some lower-tier or even wholly original villains. And a few of them managed to go far, such as Arcade. Police detective Jean DeWolff even debuted there! This time, however, one of Spidey’s biggest enemies, the Jackal, pops in right on stage to steal Yesenia’s gizmo. This is less than two years removed from the Clone Conspiracy crossover. To say this is fairly random is an understatement!
Image by Marvel Comics
The Jackal, or Professor Miles Warren, has always been a bit of an odd duck. The strangest thing about him isn’t his obsession with Gwen Stacy or Spider-Man’s DNA. Rather, it is the fact that his costume looks nothing like a jackal. At best it looks like the Grinch with a BowFlex body. At worst, he resembles a poor man’s Green Goblin. While Miles Warren debuted in 1965, he didn’t first appear as the Jackal until 1974; less than a year after the Green Goblin had infamously died.
Image by Marvel Comics
Superior Spider-Man Would Be Unimpressed!
From their own perspectives, both Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel leap into action as soon as they can. The former was alerted due to his “spider-sense,” and the latter noticed a guy in a furry, green costume with a speedo took the stage. And while Spidey is eager to pummel the Jackal into submission, Ms. Marvel is still a little starstruck by being so close to a legendary superhero. This, despite the fact that the pair have met once before, and even had a big Avengers/Champions adventure together.
Image by Marvel Comics
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The big (or at least moderate) twist is that Dr. Rosario is a little “genre savvy.” Realizing she lives in a universe where any scientific gizmo more advanced then a toaster oven is a target for super villains, she installed a remote destruct device inside her prototype should it ever be stolen. Unfortunately, all this does is provide the reasoning for a plot device so old, it literally dates to the 19th century. While the Jackal is subdued, Spidey tries to undo the self destruct sequence on the machine, leading it to explode. Now he and Kamala’s minds have swapped bodies! How original.
Image by Marvel Comics
To say that this debut issue by Eve Ewing has some problems is putting it mildly. On the positive side, her zeal for the project is obvious. Having worked on a previous Ms. Marvel issue, she has a good voice for the young heroine, as well as Bruno. Yesenia Rosario also quickly introduces herself as a smart yet relatable character. It’s her depiction of Spidey which can be hit or miss. By and large, Spider-Man acts a tad too immature at times, which is hardly rare, yet still frustrating.
Image by Marvel Comics
There Is a Better Plot in Here, Somewhere!
Yet the biggest problem with this issue is its by-the-basics plot. A children’s book which is made of thick cardboard and 100 words total may have a deeper plot than this. It is a standard “villain steals a thingie” plot, followed by “the mind swap-plot” for a cliffhanger. And out of all villains who would want to steal such a device, the Jackal is a poor choice. A gadget which stores and transmits minds digitally is old hat for super villains; Jackal himself has invented similar stuff to program his endless clones of Spider-Man and even himself. Maybe Miles was just too lazy to rebuild one?
Image by Marvel Comics
And the statement that the mind-swap plot dates to the 19th century is not hyperbole. One of the first instances of it in “modern” popular culture was the novel Vice Versa, written by Thomas Anstey Guthrie in 1882. Freaky Friday, by Mary Rodgers, was a children’s book from 1972 which has been adapted to stage and screen (four times). Even young readers who are just getting used to fiction will see “the mind-swap plot” about 500 times before they reach third grade. Out of all the ways in which Spider-Man and Ms. Marvel could have shared an adventure, this is a poor choice.
Image by Marvel Comics
The art and issue format choices by Joey Vasquez is at least more interesting. This issue is designed as a “flip book” where readers can start the story from either Peter or Kamala’s perspective before they meet in the middle. While there are some hiccups with dialogue not syncing up, it’s a gimmick which at least momentarily distracts from the routine plot. The covers are identical, but the bar-code with the issue’s price is for the Spidey section. He is their money man!
Image by Marvel Comics
Can Marvel Team-Up Be a Gateway Comic for New Readers?
Vasquez and Felipe Sobreiro handle the characters well, and excel at the action sequences. Spidey is shooting web-projectiles rather than standard webbing for most of this battle, which is different. Ms. Marvel’s size changing and elasticity seem to be a boon for nearly every artist who handles her. Even the Jackal doesn’t look too bad, considering his utterly ridiculous costume. Bruno’s arm brace is colored incorrectly for several pages, but at least the error is fixed midway.
Image by Marvel Comics
Marvel Team-Up was a fun yet simplistic series which struggled to find a place in the Silver Age. It remains to be seen whether it can still work in the modern day “4 issue or bust” format. Tales as basic as this simply don’t benefit from being stretched out beyond one or two issues. The moral of both Peter and Kamala learning to appreciate their current stations via this wacky experience has been laid out as bluntly as a jackhammer through gelatin. Perhaps Peter experiencing life briefly as a teenage girl may give him some perspective, considering his at times caddish behavior towards women (i.e. Debra Whitman), but that may be a generous hope.
Image by Marvel Comics
Next. See the last appearance of Ms. Marvel in her new No. 1!. dark
In 1972, Marvel Team-Up was a means to have Spidey appear twice a month, back when such a thing was a novelty. In June alone, Spider-Man will have a library of some 13 comic books, where he personally appears in at least 4-5 of them (not counting team books or crossovers). Even Kamala, between her own title, Champions, and Marvel Rising, will now appear in four comics a month for an entire season. As cool as both are, this risks stretching their audiences thin. Therefore, if Marvel Team-Up is to thrive, it has to have either unique alliances or innovative staging. This debut issue, while earnestly produced, achieves neither so far. Better luck next time!