MARVEL TEAM-UP #60

Stan Lee presents: SPIDEY and the WASP -- together!

”A MATTER OF LOVE… AND DEATH!”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Dave Hunt
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Don Warfield | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Equinox gloats over Yellowjacket’s death as Spider-Man, Wasp, and the police look on. Wasp assaults Equinox but is rebuffed, then she and Spider-Man go to speak with his mother, Margay. Equinox follows and the group retreats to the Fantastic Four's Baxter Building for help in changing the villain back to normal. Along the way, Margay describes Equinox’s origin.

Wasp’s Avengers ID card gains the group entrance to the Baxter Building, but the Fantastic Four are away. Meanwhile, Equinox rampages through Manhattan, his actions leading indirectly to a Midtown blackout. Spider-Man and Margay make it into the FF’s lab, but Wasp is separated from them when the Baxter Building’s backup generators kick in, activating an automated defense system.

While an inexplicably more powerful than normal Wasp battles the Baxter Building’s defenses, Spider-Man and Margay rig up a harness which attaches to Margay’s blaster to amplify her potential cure. Equinox arrives in the Baxter Building and attacks, but Yellowjacket appears as well soon after. Together, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Spider-Man, and Margay cure Equinox. Then, while the rest of the group leaves, Spider-Man remains behind to clean up after the fight.

THE UNBOXING - AUGUST 2015

Only one item this time around, but at least it's topical: The POWER MAN AND IRON FIST EPIC COLLECTION VOLUME 1: HEROES FOR HIRE has arrived, and not a moment too soon, as the first three issues in this book, POWER MAN #48 - 50, will slot into the ongoing IRON FIST/MARVEL TEAM-UP review series in just about a month or so.

But beyond that immediate concern, this is a series I've had some interest in for many years. I like Iron Fist, as has been made clear over the past couple months, and I've never read any of his adventures beyond the afore-mentioned POWER MAN 48 - 50, which rounded out the old ESSENTIAL IRON FIST book. But I know the POWER MAN AND IRON FIST series is pretty well regarded as a cult classic, and it has a good pedigree of writers all the way through, from Mary Jo Duffy to Kurt Busiek to James "Christopher Priest" Owsley. I hope to see Marvel fast-track future installments in this series, as they seem to be doing with MOON KNIGHT, since it would only take about three more volumes to cover the full series.

That's it for August. September will be pretty light as well, but it'll at least include one thing I've been waiting a very, very long time for.

SUPER STREET FIGHTER VOLUME TWO

"HYPER FIGHTING"
Featuring the Work of: Jo Chen, Julian Choy, Jeffrey "Chamba" Cruz, Marshall Dillon,
James Ghio, Espen Grundetjern, Edwin Huang, Takeshi Miyazawa, Joe Ng, Ludwig Olimba,
Gonzalo "Genzoman" Ondonez Arias, Rob "Robaato" Porter, Kevin Raganit,
Arnold Tsang, Ken Siu-Chong, Hanzo Steinbach, Long Vo, Jim Zub
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko | Managing Editor: Matt Moylan
Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich

SUPER STREET FIGHTER volume 2 leads off with a really weird short story in which Akuma and Gouken duel as they discuss Ryu's recent challenges, and Akuma reveals his plans to use Sakura to unlock Ryu's dark potential. Buuut... isn't Gouken dead? Is this fight occurring in the afterlife or something? If so, does Akuma have the ability to teleport back and forth between the realms of the living and dead, a la DRAGONBALL Z's Son Goku? It's maddeningly unclear, and never gets explained in the rest of the book.

The second leadoff story, chronicling the Secret Society's absorption of STREET FIGHTER IV's S.I.N. organization, is at least a bit more satisfying from a continuity standpoint, as it reveals that in the years since Bison's tournament (remember, SFII TURBO and SFIV took place concurrently), with Shadaloo dissolved, S.I.N. has been operating autonomously -- until Bison, the Secret Society's envoy, arrives to take back the organization he founded for the Society's leader, Gill. I enjoy when these STREET FIGHTER comics acknowledge their own continuity trails, so I like to point out when it happens.

The majority of the remaining backup stories are inconsequential filler, chronicling a meeting between Ken, his apprentice Sean, and Chun-Li in Hong Kong; a goofy tale of Dan Hibiki's daily life, and a wrestling Match between Rainbow Mika and Hugo's manager, Poison. Then the final backup gives us a bit of backstory on the Secret Society and explains how Gill became their leader, taking his rival, Urien, as his second-in-command.

IRON FIST #14

The Canadian Rockies, west of Calgary…

Gunshots! Loud, staccato explosions shattering the silence of the mid-winter night…

…And then, a scream!

”SNOWFIRE”
Author: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker: Dan Green
Letterer: Annette Kawecki | Colorist: Janice Cohen | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Iron Fist and Colleen Wing flee across the Canadian tundra from a pair of mercenaries. Colleen is injured, but Iron Fist gets her to safety then flashes back to New York, where he was recently ambushed by someone very familiar with his past. Then, in Canada, he and Colleen find a weather shack and hide out.

Iron Fist flashes back again, to Colleen inviting him to Canada to help her guard Jeryn Hogarth, but when they arrived at his estate they found him the prisoner of a mercenary named Sabre-Tooth. Sabre-Tooth’s men chased the duo away from Hogarth’s grounds and into the story’s opening page.

Back in the present, another pair of mercenaries arrives looking for Iron Fist and Colleen. They subdue this pair and take their uniforms, then return to Hogarth’s estate. While Colleen frees Hogarth’s staff and destroys Sabre-Tooth’s helicopter, Iron Fist rescues Hogarth and has a rematch with the villain. Despite a sudden case of snow-blindness, Iron Fist is victorious and Sabre-Tooth is captured.

MARVEL TEAM-UP #59

Stan Lee presents: SPIDEY and the YELLOWJACKET -- together!

”SOME SAY SPIDEY WILL DIE BY FIRE… SOME SAY BY ICE!”
Writer: Chris Claremont | Artist: John Byrne | Inker/Colorist: Dave Hunt
Letterer: Bruce Patterson | Editor: Archie Goodwin

The Plot: Web-swinging home from dinner at his Aunt May’s house, Spider-Man is ambushed by a mystery assailant with fire and ice powers. Far above the city, Hank and Jan Pym -- Yellowjacket and the Wasp of the Avengers -- are preparing for a romantic evening in their penthouse apartment when Hank spots the wall-crawler falling to his doom. Yellowjacket saves Spider-Man and he comes to in the apartment.

As Spider-Man works to piece together the identity of his assailant, the villain assaults the penthouse, revealing himself as Equinox. Spider-Man, Yellowjacket, and Wasp battle Equinox out of the apartment and down into the city, where Equinox apparently kills Yellowjacket by way of a tanker truck explosion.

Continuity Notes: In an unconscious haze following Equinox’s first attack, Spider-Man dreams about his late girlfriend, Gwen Stacy.

Equinox first appeared in MARVEL TEAM-UP #23, wherein he was defeated by Iceman and the Human Torch.

MARVEL TEAM-UP BY CLAREMONT & BYRNE

What’s this? I haven’t finished the ongoing IRON FIST review series, but I’m announcing something new? Believe it, Marvelites! Back when I first jumped into this project, I decided to go with a double dose of vintage Claremont/Byrne when the proper moment came. See, just as their run on IRON FIST was coming to its end, Byrne joined Claremont -- already the regular writer of MARVEL TEAM-UP -- for a run on another venerable Marvel franchise: Spider-Man.

(What, you thought they did something else together in the seventies? I'm pretty sure it was just IRON FIST and MTU…)

The Claremont/Byrne TEAM-UP issues were collected in 2011 in a trade paperback titled SPIDER-MAN: MARVEL TEAM-UP, which I’ll be using for this project (along with a copy of the Marvel/Dynamite SPIDER-MAN/RED SONJA hardcover which contains MTU #79, the only issue not in the TEAM-UP collection). Beginning tomorrow, I’ll add MTU to the rotation, alternating issues with the IRON FIST installment from the corresponding month. IRON FIST isn’t long for this world, however, as it was canceled with issue 15. But Claremont and Byrne continued the Living Weapon’s story in MTU, before wrapping it up in POWER MAN issues 48 – 50, all of which we will cover here as well thanks to the POWER MAN AND IRON FIST EPIC COLLECTION volume 1.

So, bear with me, because I think this’ll be fun: Tomorrow will bring us MARVEL TEAM-UP #59 from July of 1977 (There was no IRON FIST in July, as the series was bi-monthly at this time). Then on Wednesday and next Monday we’ll see IRON FIST #14 and MTU #60, both from August of that year. The series will continue, following that model, until IRON FIST ends in a couple weeks. But not long after, those three POWER MAN issues will enter the rotation with TEAM-UP, and after they’ve run their course, the review series which started dedicated solely to IRON FIST will continue and conclude as a MARVEL TEAM-UP by Claremont & Byrne series.

(And remember, if you’re ever wondering about the cover month/year of an issue, check my tags at the bottom of the post.)

SUPER STREET FIGHTER VOLUME ONE

"NEW GENERATION"
Featuring the work of: Rob Armstrong, Andres S. Blanco, Jeffrey Cruz,
Steven Cummings, Marshall Dillon, Omar Dogan, Sean Galloway,
Espen Grundetjern, Andrew Hou, Edwin Huang, Joe Ng, Gonzalo Ordonez Arias,
Chad Porter, Rob Porter, Chris Sims, Ken Siu-Chong, Arnold Tsang,
Eric Vedder, Long Vo, Jim Zub
Managing Editor: Matt Moylan | Project Manager: Jim Zubkavich
Chief of Operations: Erik Ko

Note: Though it was published prior to STREET FIGHTER ORIGINS: AKUMA, I elected to cover SUPER STREET FIGHTER volume one after, in order to keep it together with volume 2.

UDON's first original graphic novel in the STREET FIGHTER world is a real mixed bag. But before we get to a critique of the content, a quick rundown of the story:

It's four years since Bison's Street Fighter tournament ended (putting this book's publication in something resembling real time, as STREET FIGHTER II TURBO began in late 2008 and SUPER STREET FIGHTER volume one was released in early 2013). The "World Warriors" have moved on with their lives, many leaving their adventuresome careers behind.

But Guile is the first fighter drawn back into the world of martial arts intrigue when he learns a group called the Secret Society, led by the mysterious Gill, is making a play to kidnap the world's greatest martial artists as part of their plan to inherit the Earth when mankind's time passes. Guile learns from Tom, his man inside Gill's organization, that Ryu tops the list of targets, and heads for Japan. There he finds a distraught Sakura and chats with E. Honda and Dan Hibiki in search of clues. Along for the trip is Alex, Tom's foster son. Guile learns where Ryu is being held and prepares to go save him, while Sakura works to harness the power of the Dark Hadou to go after her master herself, but her interest in that art draws the attention of Akuma.