Siskoid and Shag’s coverage of Marvel Team-Up continues with issue #148 (December 1984) by Cary Burkett, Greg LaRocque and Mike Esposito, starring the Spider-Man and the Mighty Thor! It’s “A Child Shall Lead Them!”.
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Fun episode fellows. I never knew this book left some plot points dangling until you brought it up. Back in the day I missed this issue as well as the following issue with Cannonball. The next issue I came across was the infamous final issue. (Infamous to me anyway.) I’ve since completed a full run of Team-up, but I guess I never got around to reading some of them. I’ll have to rectify that soon.
Don’t have much else to say, just wanted to pad out the comment section, for the GREATEST superhero team-up book of all time.
If you were put off with Spider-Man wearing his black suit in corner boxes when he wore his red and blue suit on the cover/in the issue….what really threw me was when Marvel used the Spider-Man black suit head (the one on the corner box on this cover) to replace the UPC symbol on the direct market issues of Marvel Tales. This was when Marvel Tales reprinted the classic Steve Ditko issues. Marvel should have broken out the old school Spider-Man for those at least.
I was introduced to Spider-Man, Hulk and Thor at the same time in a three pack my mother bought me. I immediately became fans of Spider-Man and the Hulk, but five-year-old me was put off by Thor’s long hair.
I got a cross over idea here it is . It all starts when Tony stark creates machine that shows what if and he shows Thor a world where Thor had come to earth as teenager and started his career and was fused with a young Donnie Blake (a teen would never call him self Donald .) and one Donnie meets funny man playing a recorder coming out a police box with a young boy playing the bag pipes that’s right it’s young Thor meets Doctor who . And the three and up going on an adventure and end up on the Star Jammers ship where there fighting yeti’s oh no you what means ? Can a young Thor , the second doctor , jamie and there new friends stop the yetis and find the intelligence controlling them and their agent before it’s too late for the universe.
Great show guys! I don’t understand people saying these issues are forgettable. It’s been over 35 years since I read this issue and I still hate Tony.
I love when people go for a ride on Mjolnir (that sounded dirtier than I meant it to). I don’t like Jeff Loeb’s Red Hulk book, but I do like when Rulkiana Jones grabs Thor’s hammer as it’s returning to him and he uses it to gain momentum for a mega punch.
I think the Black Abbot had potential, but he was maybe too similar to the Master of the World from Alpha Flight.
Thor’s best depiction in the nineties wasn’t in his own book, but in Busiek’s Avengers run, which should have been in the character history; “Ultron, we would have words with thee” is probably the most iconic Thor moment between Ragnorok and the Cap/Thor sequence in Avengers Endgame.
Thank goodness, we’re finally done with the Black Abbott. Hated that character. Give me Stegron over that schmuck any day of the week.
I can feel where Shag’s coming from regarding Thor. I was never interested in him growing up, even though I loved Adventures in Babysitting. His mythological origins seemed incongruous with the rest of the Marvel Universe, where heroes received their powers from altered genetics in some fashion. He felt overpowered and kind of aloof in the way that I *thought* Superman was when I first got into comics. I never took much interest in Thor until Marvel announced they were making a movie to be part of their new shared universe.
So, I decided to tackle the character with the stories everyone said was his greatest era: the Walt Simonson run. I scored the hardcover omnibus on a discount one Free Comic Book Day and read it at night in bed. (And not for nothing, but that thing was so big it hurt my damn breast bone sitting on my chest while I read it. That run and the movie were enough to get me interested in his further adventures. I read smatterings of the Lee/Kirby, Len Wein, and John Buscema stories and I found them very enjoyable.
But… while this may sound blasphemous to fans and collectors of a certain age, I no longer think Walt Simonson produced the greatest Thor run. That honor belongs to Jason Aaron and the many artists he worked with on his seven plus year run with the character. Every issue surprised me, because he kept doing things that I didn’t think could work and he made them work. I thought making Jane a She-Thor was so dumb until I gave it a shot and holy $#@% that was good. I thought the saga of the God Butcher would be forgettable but that resonated from the first issue of his run to the last. And there were a couple of emotional beats during that time that nearly brought me to tears. The final statement, “the reason for the thunder” in his final issue made me sit down and think about it for an hour after I read it. One of the all-time greatest extended runs in comics and I would put it up with any of the other legends in comics.
I respectfully disagree with you on the Jason Aaron run, Ryan. Where Simonson lovingly went back to the source material (Eddas, Sagas, etc.), Aaron decided he knew better and not only completely disregarded previous Marvel history for no good reason (other than continuity requires effort), he threw out the actual Lore. Freya is NOT Odin’s wife nor Thor’s mother, “Thor” is his name not a title, there are no “spice elves” or any of that other Alfheim garbage, etc., etc. The only thing worse that any of that is “Fear Itself”.
While I’m really glad you enjoyed it, I find this run to be one of the major problems with “modern” comics. In an age where research is super easy to do, each creative team seems to want to completely ignore what came before and do their own thing, regardless of whether it makes sense for the character or not.
“Where would Norse Mythology be without Marvel comics?” It would still be a religion. Ásatrú (modern Icelandic for “Æsir Faith”) came about in 1972 in Iceland. This has little, if any, connect to the Marvel comic character. Would this faith be as widespread as it is today without the comics (specifically the Simonson run)? Probably not. It would still exist, though.
Now speaking of Simonson… Shag. You have NEVER read THE best run on Thor? You’re right. I AM disappointed.
I am also not much of a Thor fan but I did pick up and enjoy some issues during the Walt Simonson run.
I remember jumping into the middle of the “Thor wears full body armor because he can no longer heal and gets mashed into paste by Fin Fang Foom” storyline and really enjoying it. And also the “Frog Thor” storyline because of the lighthearted craziness of it.
But the “I say thee nay!” over the top characterization always disinterested me.
That being said, I did have a Thor Mego doll I picked up at the local department store. I picked it up because he was wearing sweat bands on his wrists and those were a huge fashion accessory in the late 70s … at least in my town. And the Thor costume looked great on my Lizard Mego doll.
1. I like thor a lot somtimes and not a lot others
2 while WALT simonson IS the best, Thor was helped more by StAN lee’s writing ticks than a lot of other hero “Oh no if I LOSE my hammer for 60 second I TURN back into lame surgon Don Blake!! is better than Iron man “uurk hit in chest too hard…PERHAPS…CONSIDER…MOVE TO SUBURBS!!” But not quite as good as Hulk turning back to banner if he gets too mad
3 yes before anyone asks this wheelchair user LOVED the idea of becoming thor by smashing your cane on the ground
3a OH DEAR stan Got a LOT OF miles out “can Jane foster love a cripple!? OH come now he’s NOT a “CRIPPLE ” He’s Richard Chamberland with a funny walk
4 as to this issue I can explain the plot hole hospital/prison thing. You recall how last month Kang fiddled with nomad’s mind. My friends who watches Kang? That’s right! Imortuss! He notices Black ABBOT (WHO as we noted has grown in VERY QUICKLY. IF this continued he’d be a universal threat. BUT right now? He’s just a dude with mental powers? How do we keep mental powers from getting better? Make him confused and able to concentrate (ie keep moving the battle back and fourth between two universes. OTHERWISE BA wins takes control of thor kills the Avegers and ff finds out about the watcher, Absorbs the Watcher’s power though Thor’s hammer, finds Warlock’s gave and makes the infinity gauntlet 7 years early!
Alas, poor Black Abbott, we hardly knew ye, because really why bother. But I still enjoy the issue’s art and the great Thor moments, so no regrets buying it back in the day.
I first saw Thor in reruns of the Marvel Super-Heroes cartoon, and then in Avengers comics. I also happened to get the Thor’s Treasury featuring Mangog, which honestly blew my mind, so it got lots of re-reads. I haven’t read much of his solo series, except for Simonson’s run which I bought sporadically, and was on the short list of things to try when I started my Marvel Unlimited subscription. I do need to go finish Jason Aaron’s run, because I got into it specifically for Jane Foster’s series, and didn’t go back after completing that.
Kurt Busiek’s handling is another high watermark, where I have to throw in JLA/Avengers. Of course, it was a continuation of his Avengers series in many ways, but I couldn’t have asked for a better interpretation of Thor’s interaction with DC characters. Dang, I haven’t re-read that series yet in 2025! Better get cracking.
The symbiote subplot is building to it trying to reattach themself to Spidey in Web of Spider-Man #1. The end of that conflict leads right into the Venom’s origin, although that’s revealed/retconned years later. And Spidey is not wearing a cloth black costume for a while yet. In Web of, the symbiote disguises themself as the red-and-blue costume to trick Peter into wearing them. Nothing creepy about that, symbiote!
Ok, I agree Web Of was the lesser of the Spider-Man series and absolutely a step down from MTU, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying it most of the time. I’m a simple guy.
For a Thor team up, I really enjoyed his match with Captain Marvel/Shazam in DC versus Marvel, but to give it a twist, the Asgardians are manipulated by magic Nazi stuff (Spear of Destiny and the like) into helping briefly in WW2, and the Marvel family arrives to fight them. The gods and figures behind the initials in SHAZAM face off with Odin and his royal court, while the Marvels face Thor and the Warriors Three and Sif. Eventually the spell is broken, and Thor punches Captain Nazi while Captain Marvel slugs Master Man, etc etc etc. Plus, I also want to see Don Blake become a mentor to Freddie Freeman, even if some continuity needs to be squished.
I resented Web of Spider-Man from the off – yet another solo book instead of a team-up. I remember at the time Marl claimed they’d still have a fair few visiting characters – did they heck as like. At least the Thing didn’t already have a solo book when Marvel Two-in-One went kaput… it was still a rotten idea.
As for this issue, I must say, Greg LaRoque was so lucky to have classic craftsman Mike Esposito inking him, Spidey and Thor looked amazing. Decent layouts from Greg, and the pic of Thor tossing the hammer is indeed a knockout.
I was never that invested in the black costume, having not got beyond Secret Wars #1.
Great episode. Echo the feelings that I am amazed Shagg has never read the Simonson run. Growing up, I too wasn’t that interested in Thor. I remember getting #300 since it was an anniversary issue and thought I would try it out. Meh. Didn’t read it until I saw 337 and then never missed it while Simonson was on it. Those issues are long gone, but I did lug my humongous Omnibus to a show a number of years a go to get him to sign it.
And agree that Jason Aaron had a great run (last time I read Thor) but I can’t put it above the Simonson run.
PS for more info on Cary Burkett, I refer you all to BFR Episode 495 (the last issue), where we did a Bat Family History on him. He has been a radio producer / part time radio host in Harrisburg PA for nearly 40 years since he left comics.
Yes, I am actually commenting and adding to Shag’s response count, because only he cares about that. And if that’s all he has to look forward to, please let this poor attention-starved man have it.
While watching Avengers: Endgame, when Spidey webbed on to the Captain America-thrown Mljonir (YAY!), I thought of this comic, and in particular its cover.