With issues #3-4, Marvel Team-Up transitions from being a bromance Spider-Man/Human Torch book to the fun Spidey+Hero-of-the-month title my generation of readers remembers so fondly. Issue #3 is Spidey and Torch, issue #4 is Spidey and the X-Men.
It starts with someone pulling an unconscious Morbius out of a canal. To thank him, Morbius bites him and turns him into a vampire. At the same time, Morbius’ girlfriend Martine is asking the Fantastic Four for help curing her man.
There’s a recap of Morbius’ history (he’s still a very new character at this point), Torch goes out looking for him. Also, Spider-Man is sick for some reason and we don’t know why.
With the stage set, we get a long fistfight, and Morbius flees.
Issue #4 brings the X-Men (minus Beast) to help Spidey defeat the living vampire.
It also adds Gil Kane as artist–this may be the only time Gil drew the mutants.
I don’t recall Jean having a pencil thin waist and giant boobs.
The X-Men still don’t have a home series–their own book is still running reprints–so Marvel is trying to figure out if they’re worth reinvesting in.
Trust me, they are.
Jean is in college, and that’s Morbius’ feeding ground. The team greets Spidey by attacking him.
After they stop in-fighting, they Morbius fight.
The team captures Morbius and gives both he and Spider-Man a transfusion that cures Spider-Man’s illness and subdues the living vampire, and then Spider-Man kisses Jean Grey.
That’s very odd. He never behaves like that. And look how jealous Professor X is.
In reference to Professor X’s reaction to the kiss Spider-Man planted on Marvel Girl ( YES, I said ‘MARVEL GIRL’, not “Jeangrey”-yeeeeeshhh-!!!!!!!! ) in that final scene, I don’t believe “jealousy” is the right word- it looks a whole lot more to ME like GLEE!!!!!! Professor X was a globe-trotting adventurer in his youth, just as Spider-Man is today, ( as in 1972 ) so he appreciates Spider-Man’s lusty, swashbuckling attitude and personality. I don’t think he’s “jealous” of him, though. If Chuck is “jealous” of anyone at all, that would have to be Cyclops, as HE is the young man who commands the lovely Jean’s affections. I personally have never been stuck in a wheelchair, but I if were, or ever am, I believe I would/will be worried about other matters besides pussy! Professor X HAS to know he cannot compete for Jean against fully-healthy stud-muffins like Cyclops and the Angel!! Not without falling back on the ol’ mind-control! And I wouldn’t put that past the Prof, either- he has used his telepathy for unscrupulous purposes on a few notable occasions, including mind-wiping Bobby Drake’s entire home town, ( and presumably, his parents ) recruiting Moira MacTaggert’s trainees for the Krakoa rescue mission, ( see “X-Men: Deadly Genesis” ) and, I deeply and personally believe, giving a slight psychic “nudge” to Ororo to recruit her lovely self off the Serengeti desert, for the same purpose! Ororo is an extremely bright young lady- why ELSE would she have left a life of ease and worship to run off with a strange man she had never heard of to another country for a life of endless danger, travail, and adversity??? That makes no sense to me, at all, unless you figure in the “mind-nudge” element. But, I am not going to be too hard on the ol’ Prof- I personally would use every trick up my sleeve to get Jean, Ororo, and Betsy Braddock into my sheets!! Yessir! Also, even though I cannot quote the exact issues in question, I don’t believe this is the only time Gil Kane ever drew the X-Men. It will come to me, eventually. Why is Mr. Ekko giving this issue such a low grade-?? ( “D” ) ‘Marvel Team-Up’#4 was, in my humble estimation, in the grand tradition of all Marvel and DC fourth issues, the single-best Marvel Comic of 1972! My affection for the Original X-Men- and great vampire stories- has absolutely nothing to do with it!! So there!!