Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up, Vol. 4

Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up #4

by Gerry Conway

No one in the Marvel Universe knows how to make friends...and enemies...and frenemies...like the Amazing Spider-Man! And he's going to add to the ranks of all three, beginning with an Iron Fist kung fu clash. Then, Nighthawk, Valkyrie and Doctor Strange join in the battle against Jeremiah and his Church of Blood. Never wanting to leave a corner of Marveldom unexplored, the monsters are unleashed with Man-Wolf, Frankenstein's Monster and the Beast. We're even including Spidey's Giant-Size adventures with (or is it against?) the Punisher and the Man-Thing. Meanwhile, the Human Torch takes MTU's headline spot in a battle of fire and brimstone and the Big Man and Sons of the Tiger close out another Masterworks extravaganza! COLLECTING: MARVEL TEAM-UP (1972) 31-40, GIANT-SPIDER-MAN (1974) 4-5

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Superheroes, Spider Man

280 pages, Hardcover

Published January 22, 2019

About the author

Gerard Francis Conway (Gerard F. Conway) is an American writer of comic books and television shows. He is known for co-creating the Marvel Comics' vigilante the Punisher and scripting the death of the character Gwen Stacy during his long run on The Amazing Spider-Man. At DC Comics, he is known for co-creating the superhero Firestorm and others, and for writing the Justice League of America for eight years. Conway wrote the first major, modern-day intercompany crossover, Superman vs. the Amazing Spider-Man.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fun-filled dose of team-up action! Sure, with the episodic nature of the series (nobody but Spidey ever hangs around for more than two issues) you don’t get to go too in-depth plot-wise but you get a ton of action from heroes who might not otherwise work together. I get a real kick out of this format and with great art throughout from Sunny Sal Buscema, I’m one happy comicbook camper.

Teaming up in this volume are Spider-Man, Iron Fist, the Punisher, the Human Torch, the Son of Satan (that’s Daimon Hellstrom to you refugees from the MCU), Nighthawk, Valkyrie, Dr. Strange, Man-Thing, Frankenstein’s monster, Man-Wolf, the Beast and the Sons of the Tiger. Quite the catch, true believers!

My next book: Dock Leaves

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Marvel Masterworks: Marvel Team-Up, Volume 4 collections Marvel Team-Up #31-40 and Giant-Size Spider-Man #4-5.

I snapped this up for $24 bucks, which sounds like a great deal considering the cover price is $75. I kinda wish I had my money back.

There have been a lot of Marvel Team-Up issues I've liked over the years. Unfortunately, only a couple were in this collection. The stories in here are average at best and while I love Sal Buscema, he has never been one of my favorite Spider-Man artists.

The high points of this collection are the two Giant-Size Spider-Man issues. The stories are better and Ross Andru is easily the best Spider-Man artist of the 1970s.

[Blindzider · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the MTU stories in general don't amount to much, the couple multi-part stories in here by Conway were pretty decent. He tries to add a little depth and human emotion into the reason for the conflict. He also references the main title, Amazing Spider-Man (which he was writing at the time), helping you to place the story in continuity.

There are a couple stories written by Bill Mantlo, which were standard MTU: a very flimsy reason for the heroes to meet each other and then mostly action to stop the bad guy.

Buscema's layouts weren't all bad but the finished look varied by inker. Colletta's work just didn't appeal to me, although it did retain more of Sal's art style. Esposito's just looked cleaner to me.

This volume also included the full 1975 Marvel Calendar with some classic art pieces in it. A nice gem.

[Dave · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume collects MTU #31-#40 & Giant-Size Spider-man #3 & #4. A vast array of entertaining team-ups featuring Spider-man, The Human Torch, and many Marvel first and second tier heroes.
My favorites were #36 & #37 which had Spidey teaming with the Frankenstein Monster and Man-Wolf. Such an odd combo of teammates that really made for a fun read. Honorable mention to the two part Spidey/Torch and Spidey/Sons of the Tiger from #39 & #40. I owned #40 for decades and never really knew the set up for the back nine so it was cool to read the entire story.

[MoonKnight · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun!!!

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

The spy hijinks were fun but not sure about Mantlo coming in at the end. His Spidey is a bit too yuck yuck for my tastes.

[Kris Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff.

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Primarily written by Gerry Conway, who was also writing Amazing Spider-Man, this is the most relevant Marvel Team-Up has felt, often tying in nicely with Spider-Man's main book.

[Kiera Safford · Rating 5 out of 5]

Punisher and human torch!! Two of my faves

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a couple of weak issues in this one, but overall most of the stories are a lot of fun. Of particular note is an unusual Spider-Man/Frankenstein's Monster team-up that lasts for two issues. The last three issues collected in this volume were written by Bill Mantlo, whose stories always drip with fun. Mantlo had a good ear for Spidey's bantering dialogue and his plots are strong, often including unusual twists.