Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #4: "A Time Of Titans"

It's been nearly a year since I last read and reviewed an issue of this series which is surprising because I've enjoyed its over-the-top goofiness a great deal.

And this one promises soul-searing action! How can I resist??

At the end of third issue, in the afterglow of having vanquished a threat together, Doctor Doom and Namor appeared poised to renew their partnership. Let's see how well that's held up.

So that's about a C-.

The sheer power of their exchange is noticed by a passing navy ship and brought to the attention of a dude named Simon Ryker. It is hinted that Ryker created (or will one day create) the cyborg Deathlok. That's a cool reference there. 

During the battle, Doom is tossed into the side of the ship. When Namor attempts to chase after him, Doom blasts the avenging son out of the sky. Ryker therefore sees the opening he was hoping for.

Doom is peeved by the affront and tosses Ryker around a bit. Then accepting that Namor and he are not meant to be pals, he flies off.

Ryker will evidently use the energy he siphoned from Doom to create his perfect soldier so he's happy enough. 

Namor...Not so much... 

That's it! He is so DONE with the surface world!

Until the next issue of this series, that is. It seems Doom left Namor a parting gift and the prince will need the help of the Fantastic Four to deal with it. It kind of all works against the "super-villain team-up" theme but it should be fun!

Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #3: "If Vengeance Fails!"

The introduction to Orka in the previous post, and his similar origin to that of Tiger Shark put me in a villainous mood so we'll move ahead today in the Super-Villain Team-Up series.

The ending to the previous issue had suggested that an enraged Namor would be kicking a lot of ass at the beginning of this one following the death of his close friend Betty Dean at the hands of...*ugh*...Dr. Dorcas. So let's get right into the thick of things!

Well, that's disappointing.

There was a writer switch between these two issues, from Tony Isabella to Jim Shooter. I can't imagine that this is what Isabella had in mind in continuation of his cliffhanger from issue #2.

Doctor Doom, who had sought to assist Namor in the previous issue in order to make him an ally in the future, eventually steps in to interrupt the beating and takes the Sub-Mariner to (relative) safety.

Namor takes some time to recover and once he has, Doom explains that he plans to help the prince get revenge for the death of Betty Dean.

This is not entirely altruistic, of course. Doom knows that Namor will not partner with him towards world domination if Dean's death is not avenged.

Doom attacks the villain army at Hydrobase by air, in his ship, causing a distraction that allows Namor to release the hostages held there. Namor is particularly interested in one hostage named Tamara for reasons that totally escape me at this point. He is incensed to find out that she has been taken away for "questioning" so he crashes that party.

That done, Namor rushes back to fight the villains alongside Doom. But even though Doom gave him a weapon that could immobilize Tiger Shark, Attuma and yes, even Dr. Dorcas, Namor smashes it against the rocks and starts swinging instead.

I don't know how he managed that move combination.

For that matter, I don't know why he chose to take a shot at Dorcas at all when Attuma is standing right there. Who do you think is the bigger threat?? I suppose since Dorcas was the one to pull the trigger on Betty Dean, Namor's temper overrode his strategic sense.

Attuma actually kind of disappears from this whole skirmish. It ends up being Namor against Tiger Shark and Dorcas.

By Poseidon's beard, I hope Dorcas is dead...

So in the end, Namor and Doctor Doom make a pretty good team, right?

Or perhaps not...

I've looked ahead and the next issue will be written by Bill Mantlo and the one after that by Steve Englehart who would carry it from there for a while. Some stability might have made this book a little better but as it is, it's still kind of fun.

Super-Villain Team-Up #2, "In The Midst Of life...!"

I am at times surprised at how some books that you expect to be significant in a character's history turn out to be duds while some that seem to be little more than brainless distractions actually have far more impact. This book belongs in the latter category.

Part of the reason for my enjoyment of the first issue of this series was that Namor was the most prominent character. The opposite is true in this issue but it's quality over quantity.

Following the breakdown of the very brief union between Namor and Dr. Doom, the Atlantean prince returned to Hydrobase only to find it under siege by a number of his past villains; Attuma, Tiger Shark and...Dr. Dorcas. Well, the first two would be bad enough...

That's Betty Dean-Prentiss walking us through the graphic above. See, Dr. Doom has been watching the proceedings from a camera inserted in a robot fish (it actually makes a lot of sense when you think about it).  He had been seeking an opportunity to make Namor indebted to him and he sees one here.

So Doom shows up at Hydrobase and encounters Betty, a long-time friend of the sub-mariner, who gives him the scoop. With her guidance, Doom breaks his way into the lab in which Namor is chained up.

The villains were expecting them though. They're all gloating and stuff when Betty gives them a verbal middle finger. Chicken-shit that he is, Dorcas backhands her one across the face which wakes up the Avenging Son.

Dorcas, being a chicken-shit and all, figures he'd better deal with Namor ASAP. He plans to shoot Namor dead while the prince is an easy target but he can't even do that much right.

Good job, asshole. You have legit badasses Tiger Shark and Attuma ready to go and you pull this stunt.

At least you inadvertently created some awesome. The book concludes on the panel below.

I've been reading a lot of books from that era. They tend to be filled with melodramatic, overstated, verbalized internal dialogue. I would have expected something along the lines of "The fiend killed someone who was very dear to me and I will not rest until he has been brought to justice! So swears the prince of the blood, the avenging son, the one true sub-mariner, Namor of Atlantis!"

Instead, writer Tony Isabella and artists Sal Buscema / Fred Kida rely on the simple act of looking up, silently. Everyone in the fictional room, and reading this book, knows that hell will be unleashed in short order. If I'm a kid reading this in 1975, I can't friggin' wait to get the next issue.

Betty Dean was a not huge deal in the "current" Marvel era. But during Namor's adventures of the 40s and 50s she was a regular presence. They did eventually incorporate her into the silver age continuity and she served as a guardian of sorts to Namorita to the point that Namorita took on Betty's last name of Prentiss.

So Dean meant something and she was killed off in the second issue of a long-forgotten book. Ah well. We can't all go out in a blaze of glory.

Super-Villain Team-Up (1975) #1

This title may sound familiar if you've stumbled here before. A couple of months back, I picked up a different issue of SVTU.  Marvel published two giant-sized editions, for the most part reprinting material from a few years prior, before making the book a bi-monthly regular.

The giant-sized book sucked, but how about this one?  Let's find out!

Attuma AND Tiger Shark? This CAN'T suck!

Oh, Dr. Dorcas, too. Okay, so maybe it can suck in parts...

The book opens with Namor and Doc Doom arguing about who is partnering with who (whom?). Regretting a very recent decision to work alongside Doom, Namor bails.

Low blow. Namor should have turned around and beat his ass down. I'm fairly certain that Latveria will never make a list of great places to live, either.

At least Doom recognizes his error quickly. He reminisces about all the times he's been defeated by inferior folk in the past and swears to make this partnership work. He fires a fish-rocket camera thing to follow Namor around and record the prince's activities, presumably to sweet-talk him later. No, for real!

For no reason I could identify, Namor heads to a joint called Hydrobase and when he gets there, he's caught in some energy field. He gathers the strength to demolish the machine creating it...

...Then is approached by some douche named Jennings.

Oh, THAT Jennings! Still have no idea who he is, Len.

They are interrupted by Atlantean barbarians who are defeated by Namor in no time. Namor recognizes them as Attuma's men and Jennings confirms that Hydrobase has been taken over by Attuma and his horde. Namor calls bullshit on that and says he'll see to it that freedom is restored, but...

The trinity of evil reveals itself! Namor recovers his wits, flings both Tiger Shark and Attuma into the ocean to fight them and, naturally, ignores Dr. Dorcas.

As logical as that might seem, it comes back to bite him in the ass. Namor holds his own against two mighty opponents but Dorcas blasts him from behind with a very convenient weapon.

Yeah, imagine!

To be continued.

That was much more fun than the giant-size book I read a while ago, helped by the fact that it was Namor-heavy.

Who will rescue the Avenging Son now?! If only someone had tracked his movements with a fish-cam!

Oh, right!  Looking forward to that.

Giant-Size Super-Villain Team Up (1975) #1

There had been a bit of interaction between Namor and Dr. Doom in the Black Panther books I read recently hinting a some tense history between the two characters. As a result, I'd been looking forward to reading Super-Villain Team-Up quite a bit but I'm sorry to say it turned out to be rather disappointing.

"Three titanic tales" told over 68 pages for $2 (digital). So far so good. Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott on creative duties sounds like a win too.

We get a recap of the events of recent (at the time) issues of Fantastic Four which led to Doom plunging from space and into the ocean where he is found, rescued and revived by Namor. Doom's reaction?

Arsehole. I'd have corked him in the chin right there and then.

Instead, Namor chooses to ignore the insult, and Doom's own reminder of a past betrayal, to suggest they are natural-born allies. While Doom contemplates this we flashback to...Sub-Mariner #20. It appears as though the entire issue is reprinted here.

Okay, so in THAT issue...Namor is ranting and raving in the city (presumably New York) following a recent battle. The military is after him so he beats a rare retreat and ends up at...The Latverian embassy.

Doom attempts to recruit Namor to his side to, basically, take over the world. Namor, at this point, had no desire to take over the surface world again, so he bluntly refuses the offer.

Doom, then, orders his henchmen remove every drop of water from the mansion, right down to the ice cubes, in order to keep Namor weak and therefore force him into submission.

You picked wrong Atlantean to pull that trick on, Doom! Namor attacks nonetheless and the two monarchs scrap for a while.

  Doom, of course, has every advantage (including home turf) so Namor turns the tide (so to speak) by starting a fire. The fire department displays incredible response time, Namor gets a good soaking from the fire hoses, and beats it.

And that's the end of the flashback. The book then reprints another story in which Doom had unsuccessfully teamed with another villain, Diablo. Namor does not appear in that story at all.

After all that reminiscing, Doom refuses Namor's offer by blasting him into the wall. You've got to give it to him, the dude has a way of making a point. And so they scrap again.

Doom, claiming he can't be bothered to fight (even though he started it), leaves the ship. Namor lets it all go, reasoning that Doom will go on failing at his own plans and come crawling back to him one day.

And that's about it. The story can be broken down to Namor saying "join me" followed by Doom responding with "screw you". And the logic involved with both the question and the response is questionable.

The reprinted material from Sub-Mariner #20 includes about a page-long cameo of Dorma and Triton of The Inhumans. That was a pleasant surprise.