It never seems right to me, an issue of Marvel Team-Up with the Human Torch as the lead instead of Spider-Man. Eventually it was all Spidey, but during the first forty issues Johnny had five team-ups with Spidey (including the first three issues) and six of his own, including this one: from 1975, Marvel Team-Up #32, "All the Fires in Hell...!" Written by Gerry Conway, pencils by Sal Buscema, inks by Vince Colletta.
This issue was set December 31st, 1974; and surprisingly Johnny wasn't on his way to blackout drunk: he tries to contact his pal Wyatt Wingfoot, only to find he's possessed by a demon. This sort of thing just happened back then. With Ben a little sketched out by his adventure last week with Ghost Rider, and figuring Reed and Sue weren't the guys for this one, Johnny calls in a surprising backup: Daimon Hellstrom, the Son of Satan!
Could be wrong, but I feel like Marvel gave him a lot of push too, even though he never got to the level of Ghost Rider. The conclusion seems a little rushed--not unlike the last issue of Team-Up we checked out--but not bad. Even though it also feels weird to me to see Johnny think something through and not be kind of a jerk.
Wait, so Johnny was the original lead for Marvel Team-Up AND he didn't act like his typical self??? Must be a Skrull. Yeah, definitely a Skrull. Seriously though, I'm shocked considering I always thought Spidey was the main team-up guy of the MU.
ReplyDeletePoor Damien though. You're right, he never really got up to at least the Ghost Rider's level of fame and attention despite being a really good character on his own. I think he's prime for a comeback with Warren Ellis back behind the driver seat, even if it's for a brief run like he did for Moon Knight.
There were a couple non-Spidey MTUs after this (with the Hulk and Spider-Woman as the lead characters) but yeah, Spidey and Ol' Blue Eyes Grimm are the main team-uppers for Marvel.
ReplyDeleteDamien's cool but I always liked Satana better.