MARVEL TEAM-UP #62

Stan Lee presents SPIDEY and MS. MARVEL -- together!

”ALL THIS AND THE QE2”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Dave Hunt
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Dave Hunt | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: At the Penn Station rail yard, Spider-Man defends himself against the Super-Skrull and notes that an overhead power grid briefly blocks the Skrull’s powers, which are supplied via a continuously running beam from deep space. The Skrull takes Spider-Man out and heads for the cruise liner Queen Elizabeth II just offshore, where he raids an antique dealer’s cabin to recover a cavourite crystal.

But Carol Danvers is aboard ship as well. She changes into Ms. Marvel and attacks the Super-Skrull, battling him until Spider-Man arrives. The web-slinger and Ms. Marvel join forces to snag the cavourite crystal and then recreate the power grid on a huge scale, blocking the Skrull’s power. Then they release their makeshift grid and toss the crystal back to the Skrull. It is super-charged by the deactivated beam, and transports the Skrull through a space warp.

Continuity Notes: This issue picks up exactly where the last left off. For those keeping score, Spider-Man has teamed up with four heroes to fight two villains across four issues covering a span of probably less than twelve hours. I love stuff like this.

Super-Skrull recalls Mister Fantastic blocking his powers once before in FANTASTIC FOUR #18.

Jean DeWolff and Rafael Scarfe put in cameo appearances this issue. Curiously, there's no sign -- not even a mention -- of the Human Torch.

Chris Claremont was the regular writer of MS. MARVEL at the time this issue came out, meaning there's a lot more character development for the issue’s guest star than one would normally get in a MARVEL TEAM-UP issue (this will continue for the next few issues for various reasons). In this case we get hints dropped about Ms. Marvel’s Kree heritage and her connection to the cavourite crystal.

As for the crystal, it would remain a toy of Claremont’s for some time to come. An unrefined crystal had previously been introduced in MS. MARVEL. Claremont will use this perfected crystal in upcoming non-Byrne illustrated MTU issues, where it will fall into the hands of Viper and Silver Samurai. They will get hold of it again a few years later in early issues of NEW MUTANTS, and it will ultimately play a role in resurrecting one of Claremont’s favorite villains, the Shadow King.

My Thoughts: A worthy conclusion to the Super-Skrull story, as well as to Spider-Man’s never-ending night as noted above, bringing in one of Claremont’s other regular characters, Carol “Ms. Marvel” Danvers for the big finale.

I don't believe I've mentioned this before, but Claremont has a surprisingly good grasp on Spider-Man’s dialogue. Honestly, based on his work in X-MEN and elsewhere, I would've imagined Claremont having trouble separating his own voice -- which is readily apparent in many of his characters -- from the web-slinger’s. But this Spidey reads just like Stan Lee’s version. It's impressive, and another reason to like this vintage of Claremont best of all.

There is one criticism I need to level at Claremont’s writing here, though: his incessant use of diminutive nicknames. This dates all the way back to issue 59. There, Wasp and Yellowjacket immediately took to calling Spider-Man “Spidey”. Okay, this isn't unusual. But then, through the two Equinox issues, Spider-Man and the Wasp -- even when they should've sobered up following Yellowjacket’s apparent death -- referred to Equinox nonstop as “Noxie”. Issue 61 saw Spider-Man constantly calling the Human Torch “Torchy” and began his habit, continued into this issue, of referring to Super-Skrull as “Skrully”. Add to that Ms. Marvel calling Spider-Man, who she just met and barely knows, by the familiar “Spidey”, and you get a lot of weird diminutives. And that's not even mentioning the flashback in #59 where Spider-Man refers to Iceman as (ugh) “Icey” and the omniscient narrator constantly calling Spider-Man “Spidey” too (this worked for Stan Lee, but no one else has ever been able to pull it off successfully).

It's all just very distracting and often seems out of place. And what's especially odd is that it's unique to MARVEL TEAM-UP, but not to Spider-Man within MARVEL TEAM-UP. Reading IRON FIST at this time, you don't see anyone calling the title character “Fisty”. Not one character calls Master Khan “Khanny” or Rafael Scarfe “Raffy” or “Scarfey”. So why does everyone in MARVEL TEAM-UP share this irritating tic?