Merry Christmas, Groove-ophiles! Hope you're enjoying a wonderful day with family and friends (whether you celebrate Christmas or not--everyone needs a wonderful day with family and friends, right?)! It's time to unwrap the big present--and I do mean big, since this story was first published in
Marvel Treasury Edition #25 (December 1979)! "Spider-Man Vs. The Hulk at the Winter Olympics" was a 64 page, tabloid-sized extravaganza featuring Marvel's "TV heroes" at the
1980 Winter Olympics held at Lake Placid New York. While
Spidey and
Greenskin did fight each other (Marvel style) near the end of the story, their main nemeses were the
Mole Man, the
Lava Men, Kala, and some new baddies with names like
Landslide, Digger, Boulder, and
Water Witch. The whole magilla was a pretty cool idea as plotted by Mark Gruenwald, Steven Grant, and Bill Mantlo, and scripted by Mantlo. The art by Herb Trimpe and Bruce Patterson was solid, with some seriously sweet double-page spreads, taking advantage of that gi-normous printing size. Rip off that wrapping paper and enjoy, Groove-ophiles!
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| Can you pick out all the cameos on this page? |
Too bad the Bullpen Gang didn't have a crystal ball, though--then they could have worked in
The Miracle On Ice. Of course, that self-same crystal ball might have warned them that
President Carter was going to pull the U.S. out of the 1980 Summer Olympics--which would mean they wouldn't have created the Treasury Edition that was to become Marvel's first mini-series,
Contest of Champions! Oh, and they might have put Bill Sienkiewicz on the
front cover instead of the
back cover (no offense Al Milgrom and Jack Abel)! And have a holly, jolly day!
