Reprints X-Men #35, Amazing Spider-Man #92, Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, Marvel Team-Up #150 and Spectacular Spider-Man #197-199
Written by Roy Thomas, Stan Lee, Bill Mantlo, Chris Claremont, Bonnie Wilford, Louise Jones and J.M. DeMatteis.
Penciled by Gil Kane, Sal Buscema, Greg Laroque and Werner Roth.
Inked by Mike Esposito, Sal Buscema, Dan Adkins and John Romita, Sr.
New York has been rocked by the death of Police Captain George Stacy. He was killed by falling rubble during a fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus. Stacy's daughter Gwen and many other New Yorkers blame Spider-Man for the police captain's death. A corrupt politician named Sam Bullit is running for District Attorney. Bullit gains Gwen's endorsement when he promises to take down Spider-Man.
Gwen and Bullit visit Peter Parker's apartment and find Parker in his Spidey costume. Panicking over his secret identity being blown, Spider-Man picks up Gwen and swings away with her. He tries to explain to Gwen that he's not a killer, but she doesn't buy it. Spidey insults Parker just to make sure Gwen doesn't realize they're one and the same.
Bobby Drake, the X-Man known as Iceman, happens to see this and intervenes. They fight briefly until Spider-Man swings away. Bullit shows up and tells Iceman that Spidey must not escape next time.
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| Iceman "saves" Gwen from Spider-Man; Bullit plans to cash in on the public's fear of the Wall-Crawler. |
At the Daily Bugle, J. Jonah Jameson and Robbie Robertson have learned that Bullit is crooked. He has ties to white supremacist criminals. Jameson has withdrawn his endorsement of Bullit, which puts his and Robbie's lives in danger.
Bullit sends his henchmen to capture Robbie. Spider-Man learns of this and sets out to save Robbie, but he's attacked once more by Iceman. He tries to reason with the "animated snowman" (as Spidey calls him) and says he's trying to rescue Robertson.
Will Iceman cease his attack and help Spider-Man save Robbie? Will Bullit's crooked campaign succeed in getting him elected?
Months later, an Earthquake hits a nuclear testing facility In Nevada. We see scientists being contaminated by radiation and crushed by the quake.
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| Sen. Turner learns that it's not wise to antagonize Wolverine. |
Nearby, scientists are meeting aboard an airplane to discuss human mutation. Prof. Charles Xavier is attending this meeting and has brought his students, known to the world as the Uncanny X-Men. Peter Parker is also on the plane, covering the conference for the Daily Bugle.
Out of the crater comes a group of super-powered individuals who have adopted the names of Hindu gods! They tell the Spidey and the mutants that they are the scientists who were caught in the nuclear explosion. The gods are more than a match for the heroes, the X-Men and Spider-Man are subdued and captured.
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| Brahma explains the origin of him & his fellow gods, while the heroes try to escape. |
Their leader, Brahma, says they need more energy to survive. The only way to do that is to siphon power away from Earth, which would mean the end of life on the planet. They ask Phoenix to help them do this, but she has other ideas.
Can the heroes prevent the gods from destroying the world?
Sometime later, Cain Marko, better known to the world as the unstoppable Juggernaut recaptures the ruby that gave him his super powers. He wants to give it to his friend (and partner-in-crime), Black Tom Cassidy as a birthday present.
As expected, the ruby turns Cassidy into another Juggernaut! Tom is not happy about this and decks Juggernaut. The two Juggernauts engage in a slugfest in the streets of Manhattan. After a few minutes of battle, Cassidy realizes that his possession of the ruby has split the power of the Juggernaut between both of them: Marko's power has been cut in half.
Can the heroes prevent the gods from destroying the world?
Sometime later, Cain Marko, better known to the world as the unstoppable Juggernaut recaptures the ruby that gave him his super powers. He wants to give it to his friend (and partner-in-crime), Black Tom Cassidy as a birthday present.
As expected, the ruby turns Cassidy into another Juggernaut! Tom is not happy about this and decks Juggernaut. The two Juggernauts engage in a slugfest in the streets of Manhattan. After a few minutes of battle, Cassidy realizes that his possession of the ruby has split the power of the Juggernaut between both of them: Marko's power has been cut in half.
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| Two Juggernauts duke it out. |
Spider-Man swings by and decides to take some photos of the fight, thinking Cassidy is a superhero. But Juggernaut notices the webhead and the villainous duo goes after him. Spidey holds his own, but he's overmatched. Suddenly, the X-Men arrive to help.
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| Spidey slingshots Juggernaut into Tom Cassidy. |
Will the combined powers of the X-Men and Spider-Man be enough to stop Juggernaut and a super-strong Black Tom Cassidy?
Review:
Spider-Man and the X-Men are two of Marvel's most popular franchises. But they haven't had many classic team-ups, in the Bronze Age or otherwise. The stories reprinted here are good, but not great.
Story:
The first tale, from Amazing Spider-Man #92 is okay. Stan Lee wrote this and it takes place during a time when Gwen Stacy acted crazy and hated Spider-Man. That got old fast. But the fight scenes between Spider-Man and Iceman were pretty good. It's a typical "heroes fight because of a mistake" trope, but it works here. The subplot involving Jonah and Robbie was good too. It was good to see JJJ depicted as something other than a cartoonish buffoon who irrationally hated Spider-Man.
The story from Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, written by Bill Mantlo (with plot assistance from Chris Claremont and Bonnie Wilford), is more interesting for its "historical significance" than as a great story. Based on my research, it appears to be the first time the "All-New, All-Different" X-Men guest starred in another series.
Review:
Spider-Man and the X-Men are two of Marvel's most popular franchises. But they haven't had many classic team-ups, in the Bronze Age or otherwise. The stories reprinted here are good, but not great.
Story:
The first tale, from Amazing Spider-Man #92 is okay. Stan Lee wrote this and it takes place during a time when Gwen Stacy acted crazy and hated Spider-Man. That got old fast. But the fight scenes between Spider-Man and Iceman were pretty good. It's a typical "heroes fight because of a mistake" trope, but it works here. The subplot involving Jonah and Robbie was good too. It was good to see JJJ depicted as something other than a cartoonish buffoon who irrationally hated Spider-Man.
The story from Marvel Team-Up Annual #1, written by Bill Mantlo (with plot assistance from Chris Claremont and Bonnie Wilford), is more interesting for its "historical significance" than as a great story. Based on my research, it appears to be the first time the "All-New, All-Different" X-Men guest starred in another series.
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| Spidey & the X-Men fight Yama & Kali. |
But it's an odd tale. The villains never appeared again after this story. Xavier attends a conference held on an airplane. Why? We don't really find out why it's held on a plane, beyond "so it can further the plot" and put them in the same place as a nuclear accident. There's a man on the plane named Senator Turner. An editor's note says he's a character from Marvel's Skull The Slayer series. Mantlo also wrote some of that series, but Turner's appearance is sort of random and adds nothing.
Having said that, it's not a bad story, I enjoyed Spider-Man's interaction with Wolverine. They have very different approaches to fighting crime and Mantlo does a nice job showing that here. Spidey gets off a great zinger about how no one calls Logan "the Amazing Wolverine."
Having said that, it's not a bad story, I enjoyed Spider-Man's interaction with Wolverine. They have very different approaches to fighting crime and Mantlo does a nice job showing that here. Spidey gets off a great zinger about how no one calls Logan "the Amazing Wolverine."
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| Wolverine & Spider-Man trade barbs as the heroes enter the Hellpit. |
Louise Simonson (she was still known as Louise Jones when the story was first published) penned the Juggernaut/Tom Cassidy story and it's the highlight of the book. This was originally presented in the final issue of Marvel Team-Up and the series went out with a bang. Simonson knew the X-Men from her days editing their series and does a nice job with the characters.
It should be noted the only X-Men present are Colossus, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Rachel Summers. But Simonson succeeds in making the "B-Team" of mutants entertaining. It was interesting to see Nightcrawler take on a leadership role in this story, in the absence of Storm, Cyclops, or Xavier. Simonson's depiction of Peter Parker and Spider-Man is also good. It's consistent with the way Spidey was written in his other series in the early 80s.
Art:
The first story credits Gil Kane and John Romita, two of the best pencilers in the history of comics, as artists. It looks like Kane penciled it, while Romita inked and re-drew some of the faces. We get Kane's "perspective" style with characters that look like the ones Romita made famous. It looks great,they're a fine combination and Spider-Man's fight with Iceman is very exciting, if a bit short.
Next up, Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito handle the pencils and inks, respectively. Buscema didn't draw the X-Men very often, but he does a good job here. He and Esposito were the art team for many years on The Incredible Hulk. Their work here is as good as was in Ol' Greenskin's series. We get some nice looking fight scenes and I love the pages below where the "gods" start to dissolve.
Greg Laroque penciled the last story, inked by Esposito. It's not flashy, but it's good art, easy on the eyes. The full-page image below, featuring the X-Men's arrival is excellent.
How does it look?:
Spider-Man and the Uncanny X-Men was published back in 1996, so the reprint quality is bit of a step down compared to more recent books.
I noticed some re-colorings in the Iceman story
Here's a scan from the original issue:
And here's how the same page looks in the tpb:
I don't know why they made Bullit purple in the bottom panel. There are a few other random panels that have changes like that. Most of the rest of the tpb looks okay, so I won't "disqualify" the book on that basis. Here's another scan from the book that looks great:
Extras:
This tpb contains several stories from other "ages" of comics. We get one page of X-Men #27 that features the first ever meeting of Spider-Man and the X-Men. Next up is X-Men #35, the first full-length battle between the mutants and the webhead. The book ends with 3 stories from the 1990s.
We also get one-sentence descriptions of the stories from some of the creators.
The stories reprinted in Spider-Man and the Uncanny X-Men are not essential Bronze Age reading. But they feature some very good art and the stories are entertaining and full of action. The Juggernaut story makes it worth getting all by itself. And if you grew up reading Spider-Man and X-Men stories in the Bronze Age, you'll enjoy this book.
J.A. Morris' rating:
3 Sals.
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| Rogue absorbs Cassidy's power, becoming a Juggernaut herself. |
It should be noted the only X-Men present are Colossus, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Rachel Summers. But Simonson succeeds in making the "B-Team" of mutants entertaining. It was interesting to see Nightcrawler take on a leadership role in this story, in the absence of Storm, Cyclops, or Xavier. Simonson's depiction of Peter Parker and Spider-Man is also good. It's consistent with the way Spidey was written in his other series in the early 80s.
Art:
The first story credits Gil Kane and John Romita, two of the best pencilers in the history of comics, as artists. It looks like Kane penciled it, while Romita inked and re-drew some of the faces. We get Kane's "perspective" style with characters that look like the ones Romita made famous. It looks great,they're a fine combination and Spider-Man's fight with Iceman is very exciting, if a bit short.
Next up, Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito handle the pencils and inks, respectively. Buscema didn't draw the X-Men very often, but he does a good job here. He and Esposito were the art team for many years on The Incredible Hulk. Their work here is as good as was in Ol' Greenskin's series. We get some nice looking fight scenes and I love the pages below where the "gods" start to dissolve.
Greg Laroque penciled the last story, inked by Esposito. It's not flashy, but it's good art, easy on the eyes. The full-page image below, featuring the X-Men's arrival is excellent.
How does it look?:
Spider-Man and the Uncanny X-Men was published back in 1996, so the reprint quality is bit of a step down compared to more recent books.
I noticed some re-colorings in the Iceman story
Here's a scan from the original issue:
And here's how the same page looks in the tpb:
I don't know why they made Bullit purple in the bottom panel. There are a few other random panels that have changes like that. Most of the rest of the tpb looks okay, so I won't "disqualify" the book on that basis. Here's another scan from the book that looks great:
 |
| Rogue begins to lose herself in Juggernauts memories. |
Extras:
This tpb contains several stories from other "ages" of comics. We get one page of X-Men #27 that features the first ever meeting of Spider-Man and the X-Men. Next up is X-Men #35, the first full-length battle between the mutants and the webhead. The book ends with 3 stories from the 1990s.
We also get one-sentence descriptions of the stories from some of the creators.
The stories reprinted in Spider-Man and the Uncanny X-Men are not essential Bronze Age reading. But they feature some very good art and the stories are entertaining and full of action. The Juggernaut story makes it worth getting all by itself. And if you grew up reading Spider-Man and X-Men stories in the Bronze Age, you'll enjoy this book.
J.A. Morris' rating:
3 Sals.
