MARVEL TEAM-UP #68

Stan Lee presents: SPIDER-MAN and MAN-THING!

”THE MEASURE OF A MAN!”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Bob Wiacek
Letterer: Bruce Patterson | Colorist: Phil Rache | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Spider-Man observes Man-Thing inside a habitat at a circus, then flashes back to earlier that night when, as Peter Parker, he and Mary Jane Watson attended the circus and were almost roughed up when Peter accused the circus’s owner of kidnapping and holding the beast against its will. Then, in the present once more, Spider-Man meets a sympathetic guard and busts Man-Thing out over the protestations of the owner and his goons.

Thanks to Dr. Curt Connors, Spider-Man flies Man-Thing down to Florida aboard a chartered plane, but the craft is shot down over the swamp. Leaving the plane’s pilot and co-pilot to await rescue, Spider-Man follows Man-Thing into the swamp to what appears to be a decrepit shack. But in actuality, the building is a massive mystical tower under the control of the villainous D’Spayre.

D’Spayre apparently kills Man-Thing, then uses his powers of fear on Spider-Man. But when Man-Thing reappears and is slain over and over by D’Spayre, constantly regenerating himself only to die again, Spider-Man overcomes D’Spayre’s magic and beats the villain to a pulp. The tower’s inhabitants, Dakimh the Enchanter and his apprentice, Jennifer Kale, stop Spider-Man and banish the tower to another dimension.

UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS, VOLUME 1

Hardcover, 2006. Collects 1975-1980's GIANT SIZE X-MEN #1, UNCANNY X-MEN #94-131, and UNCANNY X-MEN ANNUAL #3.

Well that's pretty straightforward, isn't it? Long before the X-Men became a bloated franchise with a dozen or more titles on sale each and every month, there was simply UNCANNY X-MEN. (Technically back then it was just called X-MEN, but I'll call it UNCANNY throughout all collected edition reviews to avoid confusion with 1991's sister title, X-MEN.)

This is the first printing of the first edition of the UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS. I believe the first edition had a second printing at some point, and there's a more recent second edition which has something like one extra model sheet in the back, but for our purposes I'm covering the original, released in 2006 when Marvel's Omnibus program was in its infancy. The physical descriptions at the end may not be of much help to anyone looking to pick up the current printing of this volume, but my coverage of the contents should be accurate to what you'd get if you went out and grabbed the second edition.

And what of the contents? Well, as I've said before, although the X-Men of the nineties are the X-Men I grew up with, and are technically "my" X-Men... the X-Men of the seventies through the early eighties are the X-Men, as far as I'm concerned -- and what we have here is a handsome collection of their earliest adventures.

Since there's only one series collected here, with one "giant size" issue and one annual, the contents are pretty straightforward: We begin with GIANT-SIZE X-MEN #1, then proceed with UNCANNY X-MEN issues 94 - 124, ANNUAL #3, and finally issues 125 - 131.

TRANSFORMERS: WAR AND PEACE #3

"COLD WAR"
Writer: Brad Mick* | Pencils: Pat Lee | Inks: Rob Armstrong
Backgrounds: Edwin Garcia | Layout Assists: Ferd Poblete
Colors: Espen Grundetjern, Alan Wang, & Gary Young | Letters: Paul Villafuerte

The Plot: In the past, somewhere on Cybertron, Shockwave is attacked by Sharkticons and rescued by Scourge. In the present, Shockwave has the ancient Autobot Alpha Trion prisoner. On Earth, Jazz's team searches Alaska for Scourge's pod, but finds no trace of him or of it. They are secretly observed by human military operatives who have captured Scourge.

The Dinobots crash-land on Cybertron, observed by Autobots Hot Rod, Blurr, and Springer. Meanwhile, Shockwave sends Rumble and Frenzy on a secret mission, then argues with Ultra Magnus over the fates of the captured Autobots. Elsewhere, the Dinobots are found by Decepticons Octane and Sixshot. In a Decepticon detention center, Rumble and Frenzy carry out Shockwave's mission -- freeing the captive Stunticons -- but are stopped on their way out by Starscream.

An Autobot council debates Perceptor's recent findings that Shockwave's machinations may be behind Cybertron drifting through space. Ultra Magnus urges them to challenge Shockwave's authority, but the meeting is interrupted when it's discovered the Stunticons are wreaking havoc elsewhere. Ultra Magnus gathers a team to stop the escaped prisoners.

The Dinobots, having defeated Octane and hijacked Sixshot, head for parts unknown. Meanwhile, Shockwave orders the Autobots brought to him while Ultra Magnus is occupied. But Autobot loyalists free the prisoners instead, taking Optimus Prime one way and the rest of his team another. Meanwhile, the Dinobots lay siege to Iacon. In tunnels beneath Cybertron, Prime's guide, Sandstorm, is killed by the Decepticon Runabout, who is in turn eaten by a Sharkticon which turns its attention to Optimus.

POWER MAN AND IRON FIST #50

LUKE CAGE: a child of the streets… DANIEL RAND: a son of the mystic city of K’un-Lun… Two men from different worlds—both reborn with strength and power beyond belief! And together, no one can stop them!

”FREEDOM!”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artists: John Byrne & Dan Green
Lettering: Denise Wohl | Coloring: Francoise Mouly | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: At Jeryn Hogarth’s luxury apartment, a party is held to celebrate Luke Cage’s exoneration. Misty Knight and Colleen Wing offer him a position with their company, Nightwing Restorations, but Cage declines. Moments later, Cage’s girlfriend, Claire Temple, breaks up with him, having been used as a pawn against Cage one time too many.

Cage’s heartbreak is short-lived as his old foes, Stiletto and Discus, crash the party. The vigilantes believe Cage has dodged the law and want him dead. Danny Rand changes to Iron Fist to assist Cage against his enemies. The fight heads outside, where Iron Fist is nearly killed. Meanwhile, Cage takes out Discus. The arrival of the police startles Stiletto, who shoots Lt. Rafael Scarfe. Believing Scarfe dead, Misty prepares to execute Stiletto, but Cage stops her.

Scarfe, alive, chastises Misty and then Cage, Iron Fist, and the Daughters of the Dragon enjoy some champagne in the ruined apartment as Cage accepts the offer to join Nightwing Restorations.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #67

Stan Lee presents: SPIDEY and TIGRA!

”TIGRA, TIGRA, BURNING BRIGHT”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Dave Hunt
Letterer: Annette Kawecki | Colorist: Dave Hunt | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Suffering from insomnia, Spider-Man swings over Manhattan. He is lured into a trap and captured by Kraven the Hunter, and awakens later in Kraven’s lair to find the villain has Tigra the were-woman in his thrall. Kraven sics Tigra on Spider-Man, but the web-slinger breaks the villain’s control over her.

Kraven retreats, revealing his lair to be an abandoned animal park, still fully populated by a number of beasts, which Kraven sets on a stampede toward the heroes. Tigra reaches Kraven but he beats her; however Spider-Man catches up and saves Tigra’s life. The wall-crawler is nearly run over by Kraven’s animals but survives, after which he knocks the Hunter out.

Continuity Notes: Spider-Man last battled Kraven in PETER PARKER, THE SPECTACULAR SPIDER-MAN #2.

The webbed wonder recognizes Tigra from the Daily Bugle’s files. He was under the impression she was working with the Fantastic Four, but a footnote states she only associated with them for issues 177 – 183 of their magazine.

X-MEN COLLECTED EDITIONS REVIEWS

As I typed up my review of the X-MEN/AVENGERS: ONSLAUGHT OMNIBUS last week, I got to thinking: I've reviewed the UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS volume 2 and the X-MEN: INFERNO PROLOGUE hardcover. Why haven't I covered the UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS volume 1 or the proper X-MEN: INFERNO volume? For that matter, I've wanted for some time to write about the X-MEN BY CLAREMONT & LEE OMNIBUS collections. So to those ends, I've decided I might as well tackle all my X-Men hardcovers!*

This isn't going to be a regularly scheduled thing, though. My plan is to do roughly one book per month, but on no set date (other than that they will be on Sundays). I'll aim for somewhere around the first couple weeks of the month, but that won't always happen depending on other scheduled items. I'm going to go in chronological order, so we'll start next weekend with UNCANNY X-MEN OMNIBUS volume 1. Then it's a big jump to ASGARDIAN WARS and MUTANT MASSACRE in one go, and it'll be on from there, until we get all the way up to the mid/late nineties with OPERATION: ZERO TOLERANCE.

TRANSFORMERS: WAR AND PEACE #2

"BROTHERS' BURDEN"
Writer: Brad Mick* | Pencils: Pat Lee | Inks: Rob Armstrong
Backgrounds: Edwin Garcia | Layout Assists: Ferd Poblate
Colors: Espen Grundetjern & Alan Wang | Letters: Paul Villafuerte

The Plot: Ultra Magnus's team surrounds Autobot headquarters and demands the Autobots' surrender. Meanwhile, the Decepticons return to Cybertron, where Shockwave prepares to reintegrate them into society. On Earth, Optimus Prime surrenders his forces to Ultra Magnus, but not before secretly dispatching seven of his warriors to nearby Portland for an unknown purpose.

On Cybertron, chief scientist Perceptor finds that the planet has left its orbit and is moving. Meanwhile, Shockwave explains to the Deceptions that all Transformers now possess energy converters which allow the planet itself to provide them with unlimited power. On Earth, Ultra Magnus loads the captured Autbots aboard his shuttle, where they're reunited with Prowl's group, and takes off. In the Arctic, Grimlock finds a secret Decepticon base where Megatron was constructing a space shuttle, and sees his fellow Dinobots there as well, in stasis.

On Cyberton, most of the Decepticons join Shockwave's cause, while Starscream plots against him and captures Soundwave. Ultra Magnus makes his final approach to the planet and is informed by Shockwave that the Autobots will be deactivated upon landing.