Greetings, Groove-ophiles! We're gonna kick off this week with a rare teaming of
Spider-Man and
Captain Marvel (the male, cosmic one) from
Marvel Team-Up #16 (September 1973). "Beware the Basilisk My Son!" introduces a new villain named (what else?) the
Basilisk, and it has
Spidey and
Mar-Vell tracking down some powerful cosmic
Kree jewels--no, not the
Infinity Stones, believe it or not--but the
Alpha and
Omega Stones. Were they some kinda relation to the far more famous gems for which
Thanos hankers so much? Evidently not, which is either a missed opportunity or a save from an even
more convoluted back story. Anywho, it's interesting that Marvel's cosmic adventures are so tied into cosmic gems of some type or another, no? It's a fun, action-packed tale by Len Wein, Gil Kane, and Jim Mooney. It's also a set-up for a team-up with
Mr. Fantastic and
Spidey helping our Kree Captain from his predicament--with
Mole Man tossed in for good measure. Mull that over for a month or so, baby, but until then, let's dig on today's titanic tale!
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| Cover art by John Romita Sr. and Frank Giacoia |
This must be one of the earliest Marvels I got. I don't remember the cover so it must have been coverless for a long time. Really fun issue filled with fun details, like Basil Elks somehow learning the word 'cretin'.
ReplyDeleteI didn't get to read the concluding chapter until it was published in Essential Marvel Team-Up 30 or so years later.
I'd say Kane and Mooney are as unusual a team as Spider-Man and Captain Marvel.
ReplyDeleteThey were unusual but looked great together, something that couldn't always be said of those inked by Mooney's stiff brushwork. I like the early Marvel Team-Ups when they were fresh and not yet fallen into formulaic storylines. Len Wein scripting was a guarantor of quality.
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