MARVEL TEAM-UP #42 (1976)
by Bill Mantlo & Sal Buscema
Last issue Spider-Man was tangled up in the Salem witch trials, managing to do… absolutely nothing the entire issue.
Spider-Man has a different synopsis.
This raises a weird point about last issue… Cotton Mather is a real person from 1692, how DID he get his hands on Doom’s 20th century time machine!?
As you might imagine, a 17th century mob armed with pitchforks isn’t much of a challenge for Vision.
But this isn’t Spider-Man’s finest moment. I mean, it’s not like this is his book or anything, right?
Not that Scarlet Witch is anything spectacular.
At least Vision is taken out by Witchslayer’s magic.
They all end up in prison, where another prisoner tells them how the witch hunt started.
You know… maybe it’s just me, but if you’re doing a story involving the Salem witch trials, the last thing you want would be making the witch hunters COMPLETELY RIGHT.
Writing a story where it turns out that the witches were innocent and the real monsters were the children is… uhm… apparently a thing.
I’m not joking, by the way. THIS IS LITERALLY THE PLOT OF A SPIDER-MAN STORY.
But enough about that! Time to bust out Vision and Scarlet Witch. Who was just barely injured from being shot in the face.
Come on, Spider-Man! You were put in a 17th century prison by a wizard! Be impressed, dammit!!!
They do manage to escape, leaving one of the supposed witches take care of the Scarlet Witch (oh, the irony!), when they run into Witchslayer’s master: the Dark Rider.
In case you were afraid the villains weren’t lame enough.
Doctor Doom joins the party, because it’s about time someone makes at least a slight attempt at being entertaining.
And it’s already over! Nothing happened, except blaming a historical tragedy on evil children.
Continues in part 3.
No Doom categories since this is just a cameo.
Historical significance: 0/10
Both Witchslayer and Dark Rider only appear in this storyline.
Silver Age-ness: 9/10
Just like last issue, this almost peak Silver Age on the Marvel scale.
Does it stand the test of time? 0/10
I have a really hard time believing this was readable in 1976. This is really, really bad… you’ve got Spider-Man in a time travel story! That’s not something that happens often to him, DO SOMETHING WITH IT!!!