How about Secret Society of Super-Villains, which for all practical purposes was Captain Comet + guest star vs. the Secret Society? That run, along with DC Special 6, also fills in loose ends in Super-Team Family, which you already have on your list.

So who was the guest star in the Marvel Two-in-One?

I'm guessing Black Panther?

Sphinx?

It was the Sphinx. I remember buying that book and I was convinced that Batman was going to meet the Thing in it! It was quite a disappointment to find a pretty lousy Sphinx resurrection story. BTW, MTU #61 (pictured above) was the first ever comic I bought. A real fun start to my collecting career!

I’m compelled to do it. I’m afraid that if I examine my motivations here too closely I’ll find out there’s something really wrong with me. (Nervous chuckle.)

Maybe. But a lot of us have this going on. The hunt, the actual act of assembling a collection, is entertaining in itself. Whenever Julie and I are out trolling for rare books and I write up those episodes, no one chimes in with, "What the hell are you getting those books for? The writing sucks!" Everyone understands that the object is mostly a MacGuffin-- it just has to be something you like having around, and that it's a bit of a challenge to track down.

In comics, my MacGuffin tends to be the 70's Marvel black-n-white stuff. Deadly Hands of Kung Fu, Marvel Preview, Planet of the Apes... the ones unlikely to get Essential'd.

I used to collect DC Presents, Marvel Team Up, Marvel-Two-in-One and Brave & The Bold, and wouldn't mind completing my runs on them one of these days. Still, I'm NOT going after anything that barely qualifies as a Team Up book! Good luck with that, Mark!

What about the issues of Cable/Deadpool when Cable was thought dead and Deadpool teamed up with a different character each month?

What about DC's '90s Showcase series? Although many issues led with a solo story, sometimes they a Batman supporting character or Superman supporting character team up with another character (e.g. Rose & Thorn + Green Arrow).

How about Marvel Action Universe. It has Spider-Man, Iceman and Firestar.

I don't know but I think you could also add Marvel Comics Presents to that list. It had team up stories with Wolverine and Nightcrawler, Ghost Rider and Cable, Ghost Rider and Werewolf by Night as well as others I'm sure.

Yeah, there was a period of a couple of years where Marvel Comics Presents was a Wolverine team up on one side and a Ghost Rider team up on the other (it was a flip book). It's kind of an odd one though since it started without the team up concept and just short serials with any character, then added consistently reoccurring characters (Wolverine, of course), and then added the team ups.

Oh and try Alpha Flight No. 15 and 16. Now before you say wait a minute Alpha Flight, understand I mean the first series in which a lot of the early issues only starred one maybe two characters from the team and felt more like Team Up or Solo books rather than a series about a Team sometimes. Anyway, 15-16 has a story arc concerning for the most part Marrina and Puck from the team and Namor. It definately feels like a team up book.

Gah. Stupid Underline tags. I don't understand why Wordpress does that weird grey thing when I try to underline.

Secret Society....etc... feels more like a team book, with Captain Comet and friends being incidentals.

Maybe I should try and do all the crossovers, though, so I have complete stories. At least all the non-major event Legends/Crisis/Secret Wars crossovers. And probably not the stuff like the Golem and the Scarecrow Demon stories that were started elsewhere and wrapped up i Two In One. Lemme see.... you're right that Secret Society crossed over with Super-Team Family... Super Villain Team-Up crossed over with the Avengers, John Byrne's Action crossed over with Booster Gold and I think the main Superman title, Marvel Two In One Annual Crossed over with Fantastic Four Annual, (and Two In One crossed over with Team-Up. )

There's probably a bunch more that I'm blanking. If there's not TOO many, I'll probably count 'em.

The Guest Star in Marvel Two In One 91 was. indeed, the Sphinx. (Who I'd never even HEARD of before. Super-lame.)

Deadpool and not Cable does look like a team-up book. I'll edit it onto the list.

DC Showcase feels more like a try-out book than a team-up book, if that makes any sense. I have a few issues of the Silver Age Showcase on my list with Doctor Fate and Hourman but I read they were originally supposed to be published in Brave and the Bold, but got bumped for a Metamorpho solo story in 57-58. So they kind of counted as Brave and the Bolds.

Marvel Action Universe is a one-shot, which I arbitrarily excluded. (Mostly because I couldn't think of all the ways to catalog them.)

I'm also excluding any book that has the name of one character in the title, and since Alpha Flight is a team, I'm sticking it under the same umbrella-rule. This sounds closer to the team-up book model than the examples I gave Wonder Woman, Marvel Adventures Hulk... But not quite.

If 15 or 16 were called Alpha Flight Family I'd count them.

Does anyone happen to know off the top of their heads WHICH Marvel Comics Presents issues would count? I have # 100, which is a pretty cool Wolverine/Ghost Rider/Doctor Doom/Nightmare team-up, all drawn by Sam Keith. I didn't know there were more like it.

Thanks for sharing, MarkAndrew! I remember an issue of Back Issue from a few years back that had a pretty comprehensive history and list of Team-Up books.
Also, do you include non-Marvel or DC team-ups, like First Comics Crossroads? Those had meetings like Jon Sable andBadger or Grimjack and Judah the Hammer. Some of them were pretty fun.

Yeah, Back Issue # 6 I think. Pretty great issue. (My checklist is much, much more comprehensive, though.)

And I've been looking for more non-Marvel/DC team-up books, but couldn't find any. Crossroads is definitely going on the list.

That's funny.... when I first saw the cover for MTIO 91, my first thought was, "It's the Sphinx." I *never* thought the guest star might be Batman. In fact, the fact that such a thing was implied I never even guessed until I read this column. But now it seems obvious. Boy, am I dumb.

I used to have a thing for hoovering up all the crossovers I could find (either inter company or inter film franchise). I eventually gave up in favour of runs of individuals I liked (and an over abundance of Aliens and Predator).
Got some good books out of it though. The GI Joe/Transformers set in WW2 is great and the first Batman/Predator is art. Proper, no bull, art.

Don't forget the web of spider-man issues with the outlaws. Plus superman vs spider-man and didn't spidey team up with a bunch of heroes in the return of the sinister six story? What about the new fantastic four or that avengers issue were captain america, ant-man, captain marvel/ rick jones, and silverclaw teamed up only to find out "cap" was the taskmaster?

Plus there was the misfits in amazing spider-man and in an issue of marvel age, plus the new warriors had some team-up stories.

"The GI Joe/Transformers set in WW2 is great " They also team-up a bunch of times in the 80s and 90s. The transformers have also team-up with avengers, spider-man (transformers #3), death head, Dr who (thanks to death head), and in two issues of the uk transformers saved the real ghostbusters from starcream!

Didn't the ninja turtles team up with a few other comics? In an issue of garfield magazine back in the 80s they did a comic story called "garfield meets the teenage mutant ninja turtles"!!! Garfield even gets a ninja weapon (a pizza cutter) and tries to steal the turtles pizza at one point!

"and in two issues of the uk transformers saved the real ghostbusters from starcream!"

Holy f-ing god. That's the kind of stuff I started my spree for.

TMNT also teamed up with Cerebus & the Flaming Carrot.

that last one was me.

Oops i misspelled starscream. Sorry.

How about DC's Double-Shot specials from the 90's? There were about 4 from 98...they weren't bad.

At one point I owned a perfectly bizarre "The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Meet Archie" comic, from back when the TMNT book was one of Archie's bigger sellers.

I still have that somewhere. That's really all I have to say, and my dog is quite adamant that I leave anyway, so I can't extrapolate.

I think the issues are as follows. Marvel Comics Presents No. 48-50, 52-61, 64-71, 96-122. There was a run of the current Black Panther where he had numerous Guest stars like Blade. I think it was a 3 part story.

Black Panther 10 Luke Cage, 11 Shang Chi, and 12 Blade. It may not say Black Panther and but it might as well.

Not Eligible never mind.

Thanks Relias. That's another agh... 49 books for my list, making MCP this the largest single group of team-up books outside the big four. (Still, these should be fairly common. And cheap. I hope.)

Lee
That’s funny…. when I first saw the cover for MTIO 91, my first thought was, “It’s the Sphinx.” I *never* thought the guest star might be Batman. In fact, the fact that such a thing was implied I never even guessed until I read this column. But now it seems obvious. Boy, am I dumb.

On the other hand... You were absolutely right, and I was completely wrong. :

DunC
I used to have a thing for hoovering up all the crossovers I could find (either inter company or inter film franchise). I eventually gave up in favour of runs of individuals I liked (and an over abundance of Aliens and Predator).
Got some good books out of it though. The GI Joe/Transformers set in WW2 is great and the first Batman/Predator is art. Proper, no bull, art.

One of those was Dave Gibbons and Andy Kubert, right? (Dunno if it was the first one.) That was all kinds of cool. Maybe I'll do crossovers next.

gaastra
Don’t forget the web of spider-man issues with the outlaws. Plus superman vs spider-man and didn’t spidey team up with a bunch of heroes in the return of the sinister six story? What about the new fantastic four or that avengers issue were captain america, ant-man, captain marvel/ rick jones, and silverclaw teamed up only to find out “cap” was the taskmaster?

Plus there was the misfits in amazing spider-man and in an issue of marvel age, plus the new warriors had some team-up stories.

The Marvel Age one might count. The others, like Fantastic Four, I'm arbitrarily excluding. If it was called "Fantastic Four Family" or "Fantastic Four team-up" it'd be on the list. (Because, y'know, I've already GOT more than 750 books on my list.)

Tom
How about DC’s Double-Shot specials from the 90’s? There were about 4 from 98…they weren’t bad.

Oh shoot. I own the Atom/Impulse one and I'd seen the Robin one, but I wrote them off as one-shots. But if their were four of them (and they were named as a group) that counts for serial nature. I'll edit them on.

Also try this... DC Superstars No. 2 Adam Strange and Hawkman and No. 10 Superman and Batman.

I own # 2. It's a reprint of old Adam Strange stories, so I don't think I can count it. (Good book, though. I bought it cause Cheeks the Toy Wonder, my blogging idol, had it on his 50 Best DC Comics EVER list.)

# 10?

http://www.comictreadmill.com/CTMBlogarchives/2005/2005_Individual/2005_07/000874.php

Yeah, I pretty much need to own this.