Giant-Size June! G-S Super-Villain Team-Up #1

Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #1 (March 1975)
"Sub-Mariner Rising!" et al.
Roy Thomas-John Buscema/Joe Sinnott (pt. 1),
Roy Thomas-JohnBuscema/Johnny Craig (pt. 2) [reprints Sub-Mariner #20]
Larry Lieber/Roy Thomas-Larry Lieber and Frank Giacoia/Vince Colletta (pt. 3) [reprints Marvel Super-Heroes #20]

Doug: After Karen has led us through our previous forays into Giant-Size June, it's now my turn to serve as tour leader. I'm pretty excited about today's topic. While we've somewhat maligned the Giant-Size format as a short story of new material packed in with one or two reprints, this issue is no different -- but it works.

Doug: Scribe Roy Thomas offers some backstory to the genesis of Super-Villain Team-Up. Seems he was talking with Stan Lee about getting some baddies together when he began to leaf through his bound edition of Fantastic Four comics. Drawing inspiration from the re-introduction of Namor in FF #4, Doom's debut in #5, and their short-lived alliance in #6, he decided to give it a whirl. Now this was transpiring as Giant-Size Super-Stars #1 was hitting the shelves (that title would become GS FF #2), and Stan was excited about the larger page count. Suddenly feeling the need to expedite the process, Roy drew on two stories involving Doom and Namor that he'd previously written and then commissioned Big John Buscema to draw framing sequences. Even though GS SVTU #1 contains only 10 pages of new story, it's really a fun read.

Karen: I wonder if this may be what Roy called a 'super-giant' back in Giant-Size Super-Heroes #1, as it is 68 pages for 50 cents. Of course, it's mostly reprint, which is a bit of a bummer. I'll admit though, that the framing sequence is well done -and the art is gorgeous.

Doug: The basic premise is this -- Doom's body is rocketing earthward, the good Doctor unconscious. This picks up immediately following the events of Fantastic Four #144, where Doom had battled Darkoth the Death-Demon on a space station. Doom's armor protects him from burning up upon re-entry, and he lands with a mighty splash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Well, well, well -- who should happen by but the Avenging Son himself? Namor, who had been looking for Doom, brings him aboard the Atlantean cruiser and resuscitates him using some high tech defibrillator. Of course, Doom doesn't awake happy, and the shouting commences.

Doug: Namor offers an alliance with Doom, and as Victor ponders it, we segue into a reprint of Sub-Mariner #20. Now I had never read that issue, so I was not in the least offended by its inclusion in this story. I'll go further and say I appreciated Roy's effort at wrapping his new material around the old. Although G-S Avengers #1 dealt with the Whizzer, a WWII-era hero, the reprint included dealt with Cap and the Original Human Torch; a reprint of the All-Winners Squad might have been more appropriate.

Doug: The plot of the Subby reprint is that a de-powered Namor finds himself taking refuge in the Latverian Embassy in New York -- this to evade National Guard troops sent of course to capture him. What ensues is a nicely-spun tale of Doom attempting to subjugate the Sub-Mariner, only to have the tables turned on him. Roy really crafted a great story then, and it serves nicely for the set-up for this Super-Villain Team-Up ongoing series. I especially liked seeing the pencils of John Buscema, separated by a few years and under the influence of two different inkers -- Johnny Craig in the reprint and Joe Sinnott in the "present". I have to say I liked Craig's treatment better.

Karen: I had never read this story before either; I was never a big fan of the Sub-Mariner in his own title, although I enjoy him as a guest star. But now I find myself going back and buying a lot of stuff I passed up back in the day. I could see adding Sub-Mariner to the list. I have to disagree with you on the art though; I like Sinnott's heavier inks.

Doug: Back in the cruiser, we see Doom and Namor continuing to negotiate. Doom wonders to himself if another alliance is a good idea, as he reflects on another time when he joined forces. The next reprint is from Marvel Super-Heroes #20 and features Diablo the alchemist. This one's not as good a story, although it does benefit from Thomas' hand in the production. But Larry Lieber's art is more of a throwback to the Silver Age and is offsetting to Buscema's work. The highlight of the story is a partial retelling of Doom's origin from FF Annual #2 and a plotline involving Doom's childhood love, Valeria. There's a nice resolution at the end, making this issue not a total loss.

Karen: I'll admit it: for this review I only skimmed the second story. As you say, the art is off-putting. Besides, I never cared for Diablo. The origin sequences were interesting though.

Doug: This one closes out with more fisticuffs between Doom and Namor, and Doom's sudden departure from Namor's presence. Determined, Namor heads to open seas where he proclaims, "Go - try your own schemes - and when you have failed, you shall see that our twin destiny is written in fiery letters across the cosmos: The Sub-Mariner and Dr. Doom shall fight again, side by side -- and they shall topple the World!!"

Karen: The fight at the end of the issue is fantastic - I especially liked the panel where Doom is choking Subby! You really feel like this is a fight to the death, unlike so many other comic fights. These guys are both bad guys, or at least in Namor's case, more of an anti-hero -so the rules of conduct go out the window!

Doug: The next issue is actually Giant-Size Super-Villain Team-Up #2, and then it moved into the regular-sized ongoing that would be a favorite of mine throughout it's lifespan.

Karen: Yes, I loved that book too. Come to think of it, I think GSSVTU #2 also connected to Roy's previous work on Doom, by including the Doomsman from Astonishing Tales. The ongoing series was one of the more free-wheeling books out there, where you never knew what to expect. There were lots of guest-stars, like the FF and Avengers, and new characters, like the Shroud. I always wished it had run longer than 17 issues.

BAB Two-In-One: Dystopian Demolishers and Mighty Marvel Westerns!

Karen: Continuing along with our stroll down Deathlok-memory lane, we're up to issue 32 of Astonishing Tales. Last time we were lucky enough to have Klaus Janson doing the inking; this time, the entire art job is credited to "Rich, Keith, Bob McLeod, and the whole blamed bullpen" -and it shows! A very uneven looking book to say the least. Bill Mantlo picks up the scripting chores and does a good enough job. Deathlok is in pursuit of a courier who may hold the key to finding a surgeon who can restore the cyborg to normal -at least, that's what Deathlok is hoping for. Hope is about all he has left at this point, and his desperation causes him to take a number of risks, most of which his computer mind protests against.

Karen: As for the rest of our cast, Mike Travers breaks back into Ryker's facility -housed in the Pan Am building (if you're under forty, you may not have any idea what that means). Travers works his way through assorted guards and thugs to get to poor Nina, whose brain is still hard-wired to Ryker's computers. That whacky Ryker is still using his network of big brother cameras to follow Deathlok's movements, but loses contact when the cyborg enters the subway system. It appears that Ryker is going to have some sort of surgery, and really isn't focusing that much on his erstwhile creation.

Karen: Deathlok uses his infra-red vision, which he hadn't even realized he had, to track the courier across New York City. He fights off the usual cannibals only to run into lobotomized cyber-thugs, who have unfortunately found the courier first. Although Deathlok wipes out the attackers, the courier dies, before Deathlok can learn about the surgeon from him. Frustrated, he takes the man's briefcase, which at least is filled with money. But to just add to his misery, the computer in his head informs him that it is counterfeit. The guy just can't catch a break!

Doug: If'n yuh thought I wuz gonna sooner or latuh give ya a little lead from the Bronze Age, then yer durn tootin' right cuz today's tale comes from April 1973 -- and was made by Larry Lieber (words and pencils) and George Roussos. We're lookin' at Rawhide Kid #110, "The Sightless Gun!"


OK, enough cowboy dialect! I was never a Western fan -- born too late to have gotten in on the Davy Crockett craze and never warmed to the genre in the Marvel Age of Comics. However, just to broaden my horizons, I came across this magazine and thought it might be fun to stretch myself a bit for one of our Two-In-Ones. So here goes!


Larry Lieber crafts a fun little 14-page story that although new (at the time), could easily have been written in the 1950's. It's a simple tale that involved the Kid, some bandits, and a couple of tweens. I could see how appealing this might have been to the Mickey Mouse Club crowd; I wonder, however, how this magazine was selling as the Bronze Age and all of its innovations were underway... Rawhide comes across a payroll robbery, and as he's about to intervene the bandits shoot the carrier. Riding down to check on the man as the robbers hightail it away, the Kid decides that he'd best get the man medical attention before pursuing the bad guys. I thought it was a little strange that the Kid went back into town alone to fetch the doctor, rather than taking the injured man with him. At any rate, the Kid brings the doctor back to the site of the robbery, and is assured that the injuries will be dealt with abruptly.


Now free to pursue the bandits, the Kid picks up their trail. Along the way, he comes upon a cabin inhabited by a couple of kids whose parents had been "killed by renegade injuns". Ah, yes -- Bronze Age political incorrectness! The young man is in awe of the Kid, and asks him to show him his draw. The Kid obliges, shooting some rocks off a fence, but telling young Billy that his brains are as important as his gun. The Kid takes his leave, and tracks the outlaws to a cave.


Once in the cave, the Kid finds the stash of loot. However, he trips a wire that fires a pistol, grazing himself on the side of the head. As the Kid rises, he discovers that he's lost his sight! Staggering about the cave, he loses his balance and falls over a ledge. As fate would have it, young Billy and his sister Bess have decided to follow so they can watch Rawhide round up the bandits. They find the Kid's horse, Nightwind, and enter the cave. Soon they find Rawhide and assist him out of the hole. They hear voices, and decide to attempt to evade the robbers.


As Billy and Rawhide leap a narrow chasm, Bess freezes in fear; she's shortly grabbed by the bad guys and used as a hostage -- the Kid must come outside the cave to duel in order to get her back. Knowing he can't win without his eyes, Rawhide asks Billy if he can tell time (see, this would have been great in the '50's -- no digital clocks!). Billy assures him that he can, and they craft a plan. Upon emerging from the cave, the Kid asks Billy to tell him where the gunman is -- at 2:00, Kid! Bang -- Rawhide fills him full of lead! And, while diving to evade the gunfire from the other robber, the Kid hits his head on a rock, miraculously restoring his sight! Bang, bang -- fills the other guy full of lead!

And even though the hero didn't get the girl, 'cause that would be nasty since she's like 12 years old, all is restored to order in the Wild West!