Category Archives: From The Longbox
From The Longbox – Ads From The Past
Attitudes sure have changed since 1979. I found this ad in Doctor Strange #35, June 1979.
From The Longbox – Marvel Team-Up #74
Marvel Team-Up #74
On of the things I love about comic books is that every once in a while the do stand alone issues. That is, an issue that does not have to do with an ongoing story or really mess with any type of continuity. That was really the basis for a series called Marvel Team-Up. Volume 1 ran from 1972 to 1985, with volume 2 in 1997 and volume 3 in 2005. The ideas was to take two characters (Spider-Man being on of them for all but 9 issues) out of their normal stories and let them have a one issue adventure. This gave light to some lesser known characters. Or…..it could feature The Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players.
This issue is completely absurd…and I love it. Peter Parker and Mary Jane get tickets to go see Saturday Night Live being performed. The guest host? Stan Lee, the number one man at Marvel Comics. Right there is a conundrum to wrap you heads around. A fictional character is going to a real life show to see a real life comic book writer who just happens to be the man who created said fictional character. Moving on…
The story centers around John Belushi getting a mysterious ring in his fan mail He puts it on, but then can’t get it off! It turns out, the ring was meant for the villain The Silver Samurai! (turns out it was suppose to go to J.B. Lu-shi. get it?) So the Silver Samurai and his henchmen go after the SNL cast one by one. But what they didn’t expect is for them to fight back! Or to get help from Spider-Man!
The climax of the book is when the Silver Samurai faces off against John Belushi’s Samurai! (didn’t see that coming…or did you?) Don’t worry, no SNL cast members were hurt during the making of this comic. And I must say that at no time does comic book Bill Murray look like Bill Murray. The others they kind of get in the ball park. In this panel to the left what is suppose to be Bill Murray looks more like Dr. McCoy from Star Trek.
Silliness reigns in the issue, including Garrett Morris fooling the henchmen by dressing up as Thor. Now I just need to find the issue of The Avengers where they visit Late Night with David Letterman.
Marvel Team-up #74 was written by Chris Claremont with art by Bob Hall.
