Comments on: The 16 Best Team-Up Book Runs: # 6-4

By: Blackjak

Blackjak — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:17:49 +0000

I LOVE the Cerebus blloon, floating along behind the Superman one!

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:47:21 +0000

Damn it!

Doctor Bob’s right about B & B 102. I don’t have a copy anymore (it got stolen along with 98% of the rest of my single issue team-up books) and I was working off notes that were not particularly well organized and over a year old.

Once I’m past # 1, I’ll do at least one follow up post on the dozen-or-so runners up that I really like or have been mentioned in the comments.

Actually, I don’t think there have been any runs mentioned in the comments that I don’t really like.

And I’ll admit to the one run that could-very-well be eligible that I haven’t read any of.

By: hueysheridan

hueysheridan — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 01:25:23 +0000

I’m guessing that its way too late, but here’s my vote for Robert Kirkman’s Marvel Team-Up run to be included in the final four. It has a lot of the things you praise these other runs for having – good art, interesting villains and continuing stories. And, IMO, it has one element that really makes it stand out for me – tons of ambition.

Besides Waid and Perez’s B&B relaunch, it’s the most recent attempt at this sort of thing and it definitely had the most modern sensibility, which makes it ironic that it has been overlooked so far.

By: Edo Bosnar

Edo Bosnar — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:20:37 +0000

Hmmm, not that I didn’t like the Giffen issues in DCCP (they’re probably my favorites right up there with the Starlin run and that action-packed Omac team-up drawn by Perez), but if a few issues dotted throughout the series count as a “run”, then I don’t see why we can’t declare that awesome 4-issue arc in MTU (the Black Widow amnesia story) by Claremont, S. Buscema and Leialoha a run and place it somewhere in the top three.

By: doctor bob

doctor bob — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:01:34 +0000

I thought Neal Adams did more than ink B&B 102 – I was under the impression he did the majority of the pencils after Jim Aparo fell ill.

By: chad

chad — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 20:30:33 +0000

loved the ambush bug teams ups espically the one where he switched bodies with supes and supes learned how hard it is to be ambush bug. the others on the list though the writers were just phoning them in

By: Matt D

Matt D — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:52:33 +0000

I’m pretty sure FVL just mentioned he’s bringing back White Rabbit in ASM (past her minor role in Mr. Negative) if anyone REALLY cares that much.

As for how Starlin’s DC Presents could be farther down than these, I get it.

You’re basing two of the runs on artists. My brain doesn’t work that way. Makes sense, then.

By: David

David — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 18:41:56 +0000

That first Batman/Deadman Adams was a revelation at the time, returning Batman to being a detective and mysterious, after the TV series had nearly destroyed him for some of us. I remember feeling myself an emotion echoed in many of the responses in the follow-up letter column, a feeling that this was the way Batman was supposed to look and act – with a great deal of the credit going, surprisingly ( considering how goofy his previous writing on B&B and particularly on Teen Titans had been) to Bob Haney. I think that it was as a result of the overwhelmingly positive response to this that Adams then became a staple on Batman and Detective, with Denny O’Neil completing the process of the rejuvenation of Batman. This was the point at which reading Batman became pleasurable and exciting.

By: Bill Reed

Bill Reed — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 16:26:21 +0000

Wow, DeMatteis pulled a lot of stuff from his MTU days into his later run on Spectacular, didn’t he? Neat.

I’ve gotta track down these Giffen DCPs. I’ve got every Ambush Bug appearance from his solo stuff onwards, but the early ones I’ve yet to track down.

By: Sijo

Sijo — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:57:11 +0000

I used to love Keith Giffen’s stuff. When he was funny, he was FUN-NY! But when he was bad, O-BOY… Seriously, I’ve never seen any other comics creator see-saw that bad. He gave us Ambush Bug and The Super Buddies; but he also gave us the dark Adult Legion and the *positively criminal* reworking of Amethyst. (note: I’m not sure if he’s to blame for that last one.) I sometimes wonder if he suffers from maniac-depression. It would certainly help to explain his grumpy attitude…

But let’s focus on the positive: I really need to track down those Giffen DCCP issues, I have the one where he switches bodies with Superman but I missed the Legion of Substitutes one somehow. And I agree, the fact that they were offbeat made them all the more interesting.

By: Greg Burgas

Greg Burgas — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 14:35:12 +0000

When I write the X-Men (still waiting for the phone call, Joey Q!), I have a nifty idea for the White Rabbit. I have read a grand total of one comic with her in it (and I can’t even remember which one it is; and I’m discounting her cameo in She-Hulk a few years ago), but I love her. That’s a great cover.

By: Michael P.

Michael P. — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:57:56 +0000

As I remember, Marvel editorial at the time effectively split the Spider-Man supporting cast between the three books, giving the Bugle to Amazing and ESU to Spectacular, leaving Team-Up to basically make up the concept of Aunt May’s boarders. (Peter David did a nice subplot with one of them during the Sin-Eater saga a while later.)

And I distinctly remember telling you that “criterion” is singular, while “criteria” is plural.

By: The Crazed Spruce

The Crazed Spruce — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 13:28:32 +0000

That Substitute Heroes teamup is one of my all-time favourite comics, hands down. I didn’t think Giffen did enough issues to count as a “run”, though. Glad to see it made the list.

(And 3 and 2 are Aparo’s B&B and Byrne’s Action Comics, right?)

By: Mary Warner

Mary Warner — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 07:04:39 +0000

I was one of the first people to mention the White Rabbit here, so I hope you’re not too upset with me for getting all that pleading started.
You’re right that DeMatteis overdid the life-changing revelations (he did that on Defenders, too), but when you read them one-at-a-time, they hold up pretty well. Mainly what I love about DeMatteis on Team-Up (and on some of his other books) was that he rarely did the same sorts of stories everyone else did. He tried to be different, and he succeeded most of the time.
(And I thought Faustus being defeated by his own Mother-obsession on DeMatties’s final story was a really cool idea, but the story itself was too gimmicky. [And if you've read the story, I don't have to explain what the gimmick was.])
The supporting cast of old people you mentioned became regular characters in the other Spidey books for the next couple of years, too. But aside from Nathan Lubensky, they didn’t get used much except as window-dressing.

This is the first time I’ve actually seen Ambush Bug. I knew he had a cult following, but other than that, I had absolutely no idea who he was. I can definitely see his appeal.
I like his confusion about Superman’s cape giving one the ability to fly. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work?

(Whenever I hear jokes about people believing capes allow you to fly, I always think of Doctor Strange. His cape really does have that ability, but it’s the only one I know of.)

By: stephen cade

stephen cade — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:19:09 +0000

Back during the JLA/JLE/JLI days whenever anybody expressed surprise or amazement that DeMatteis was scripting a very funny book, an easy answer/antidote would be to point out MTU 131–I love that issue.

By: steev

steev — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:09:33 +0000

I was starting to think this article got abandonded.

As far as the Giffen issues go, I wouldn’t really count a handful of sporadic issues a run but it does sound interesting. I remember illusions to those those issues in an ambush bug issue but I always thought it was a stint on superman kieth did that I wasn’t aware of.
I always avoided the brave and the bold based on the name. When I was a kid it always reminded me of a soap opera.

By: Aaron Thall

Aaron Thall — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 06:01:17 +0000

Hmmm… I dunno… Not enough White Rabbit for my tastes.

By: MarkAndrew

MarkAndrew — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:47:05 +0000

Oh yeah. Geez. Totally wasn’t thinking there. I ever read most of his Deadman stuff when I was researching this. Thanks!

By: Matt Bird

Matt Bird — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 05:43:44 +0000

Thanks for another great article. I love that DeMatteis/Gammill run.

Two notes: for number five you start off by saying “Brave and the Bold” when you mean “DC Comics Presents”. And Neal Adams had already done lots of DC Comics before B&B, including Deadman and the Spectre. I think his DC debut was on Bob Hope or Jerry Lewis or something like that. B&B was, however, his first interior Batman work.