The weekend of June 5 & 6, 1971, the Hampton Grease Band played the Fillmore East with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. I was in Frank's dressing room jamming with him when John Lennon and Yoko Ono walked in, and meeting them all was memorable, but the highlight of the weekend for me was the phone conversation I had with Steve Ditko. Steve was the original artist and co-creator of Spider-Man, and is widely-known as the most reclusive figure in the world of comics. (In 2007, the BBC did a documentary entitled In Search of Steve Ditko and was only able to unearth three photos of him from the then 80 year-old's life, and he refused to be filmed for the documentary). Surprisingly, though, I was able to find Steve’s number in the New York phone book, and even more surprisingly, he answered the phone when I called to ask if I could hire him to do the cover art for a planned second Grease Band record. At the time, I wasn’t aware of his Ayn Rand-influenced, Objectivi...

1971 When I said Marvel heroes were more into confrontations than team-ups, look no further than this Stan Lee-penned two-parter! I can’t say Gene Colan quite got down the dynamics of Spider-Man in action. Off-model costuming is sort of interesting, though? But I like his work on the principles here in Captain America and the Falcon #137 (cover date, May 1971) . His faces are quite expressive. That’s great, because personal motivations drive everything here. Cap’s melodramatic misunderstanding with Sharon Carter helps set off partner Falcon’s self-doubt. It’s this questioning of his self-worth- his desire to define himself outside his legendary team mate- that leads the Falcon “To Stalk A Spider-Man!” Colan's Spider-Man fights like Daredevil. Cool panel though! By this point, he and Cap have been partners in over a year’s worth of stories. Sam Wilson, social worker by day, came back from Red Skull’s Exile island with his trained falcon, Redwing, and ground...

Captain (Ms.) Marvel - Thanos - Avengers! Best Spider-Man Team Ups, 1977 So, the game goes, team-ups with Spider-Man during the year 1977. Imagine if Spider-Man could’ve even once met the Superfriends, or just apppeared with Batman, drawn by Steve Ditko and Alex Toth. Ah well, when you’re a kid, publishing universes are yours to blend like phonics. 1977. How'd that go...“Night Fever,” Three’s Company….come and knock on our door, dun-na-nuh-na-nuh-na-here we go! Marvel Team-Up #56 I guess 1st true 1977 calendar date releases. MTU probably shipped first in the rotation of new books? See, by that year, a different Spider-Man comic book series from Marvel published a new issue each week. Marvel Team-Up, Amazing Spider-Man, Peter Parker(bear w/ me it’s long), The Spectacular Spider-Man, and Marvel Tales. Marvel Tales settled into a groove of reprinting Amazing Spider-Man stories in order from about five years before, and remained so until 1982, the year the ti...

Spider-Man and Dr. Strange share co-creators, but once alone did those creative minds blend the mystic and the meddler: in the pages of Amazing Spider-Man Annual #2. These Ditko aces were held all along, now- how would Stan Lee deal? Both characters had been introduced, Spider-Man in 1962, and Doctor Strange in 1963, under the creative guidance of the duo of Stan Lee and Steve Ditko. While Steve drew other characters (and Lee, never any), these two were driven by his ideas and influence. By this year, most of the plotting of both strips seems to have fallen into the artist's purview. I wonder whether Lee or Ditko thought of teaming these two, first? At what point did this become the story -which would be the only one featuring them both, again, by their original co-creators? (I'd written this the morning of July 6th, the last time all of us didn't know Steve Ditko died. I then re-read my precious issue as I've planned now for weeks, to coincide with the week ...

OK, Best Spider-Man Team-Ups of the Years brings you a quartet of comics this time out, so Face Front! First, the two-parter that won the spotlight: 1978’s Best, with the grand prize, Spider-Man with Mighty Thor versus The Living Monolith in Marvel Team Up #70! What epic spectacle, the great in power shaking the city while our point-of-view character, Spidey, at one point hitches a ride on Thor’s hammer, Mjonir! That scene’s homaged on the very cover of Marvel Team-Up #148, where I first caught that tactic with my young eyes. So, Marvel Team Up #68 set up the return of Havok, the X-Man whose origins share the source of power with the villain of our piece, the archeologist who also shares mutant solar-absorbing abilities. But should Havok fall…! Let’s say, Thor is just about the only cavalry who’d have a chance. The 1972 first pairing of the god and the graduate, Marvel Team-Up #7, was my choice of winner in that year! Here, it’s my 2nd favorite Spider-Man/ Thor story. ...

A chance to talk to artist Tom Mandrake? I should mark the occasion by finding some of his back issues at my local comics shop, What If? (That's the Rome, GA, store's name, for realz, but don't you love that sentence?) OUr fearless shop owner Jason helps me search by my request, and through the back issue bins I dig with another person for the first time in a lil' minute. He takes out this DC Comic for $5 and says, "this one has his early work, AND look at all the people..." He then named just a few, and handed me Superman and Batman: Heroes Against Hunger. For my budget purposes, I had to consider there's but a single page of Tom's work there. Yet, I wanted to think on what it might've meant to young Mandrake, invited to create a round-robin entry alongside such a proud array of talent. I didn't expect much of the story, and I already had the single Spectre I found (#28), New Mutants (#13- his first Marvel series), and Firestorm...

Captain America is such a wonderful touchstone to cultural values, history, and an enduring sense of decency fostered in a time we try to preserve in us. I knew I had to participate in my country’s culture today by discussing someone whose courage transcends politics. He’s just the sort of fellow we need to make real from our own hearts and determination. From soldier to teacher to playground child to handicapped shut-in, to believe in Cap gives an intangible form to what we admire in ourselves in the face of adversity. Yes, in his stories, he’s a hero who finds a way to win. Along the way, he finds a way to never quit! In my selection for Spider-Man’s most awesome team-up of 1981, I went with the spirit of Marvel Comics Group at that time. Frank Miller was completing the new, rather basic crime noir Daredevil; John Byrne began a back-to-basics approach with Fantastic Four. I might’ve cocked an eye at first, how Cap spouts historic object lessons throughout. But isn’t this a ...