This week Chris and Walt talk about teams, what makes a good comic book team, why do some teams work and other teams not? The boys explore the world of comic book teams.
Please let us know what you thought of the show. Leave us a comment in the comments field below and please let’s keep the comments clean and civil.
What’s your favourite team? Which characters are the best team member?
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Did you guys forget about the DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes, with Superboy?
While there is no comparison between Marvel and DC when it comes to relatable characters and teams, Adventure Comics, Superboy and after #197 renamed Superboy and the Legion of Super-heroes were unforgettable to me.
Marvel did the 60’s-onward better than DC did and that’s why they are more relatable I think character-wise.
Hey guys
One “team” you didn’t mention are The Illuminati. Although only loosely affiliated, they had a pretty big impact in the months leading up to Secret Wars (2015) and, of course, in their efforts to get the Hulk off world, leading directly into Planet Hulk. I’ve had a fun time trying to track down their appearances, not because they may be worth a lot of money when other collectors get on the bandwagon, but because the stories are just so damned good, with some great contributions from the likes of Hickman and Bendis. I just don’t know why it took so long for someone to figure out that the greatest minds in the Marvel Universe would make a perfect team-up!
Soccer – 11
Football – 11
Baseball – 9
Volleyball – 6
Hockey – 6
Basketball – 5
50 is not a team. That’s an underwear convention. It would be interesting to consider who would be best suited for offence (ala Wolverine) vs defence (Dr. Strange)… or the bench (3-D Man).
Charlie- you have forgotten about 43-Man Squamish [ refer to Mad Magazine #95 for details ]
Best team of all time – The Blackhawks ! The original team from Military Comics #1 is the incarnation I am referring to. Just wait until the Spielberg movie is released….ummm……maybe?
Second best is Daredevil & the Little Wise Guys from Lev Gleason. Gleason produced some of the best comic books of the Golden Age ! This stuff should be turned into a movie !
Even more good teams! Hey Mel, good call on the illuminati but as you know, they don’t really exist – conspiracy theory.
I liked that point: are comic books just soap operas? I had that thought a few months back when reading a run of Spidey from #194 to the #230 issues, Al Milgrom, Denny O’neil…it was days of our lives with a fight flown in!
Good entries into our teams lists. activejim, I can’t believe we forgot about the Legion! That was also a favorite of mine too. But again, that seems to be a team that is awesome together, but apart… I dunno. Would you read a series devoted to Lightning Boy? (Lad? Man? I forget where they ended with that one.)
I just finished watching episodes 1 & 2 of Hawkeye… and it was pretty darn good. It’s based on the newer Matt Fraction run, but there were lots of references for the newer and older fans alike. Key books to be watching are:
• Avengers #19
• Daredevil #9, 10 (v2)
• Anything Kate Bishop
Also, lots of rumours of the Kingpin and other characters showing up… so yeah, Spidey #50.
In particular, I’m interested in Hawkeye #1, the 1st solo Kate Bishop series. This was a $250 book in a 9.8 a few months ago, but has dipped to $200. Normally, I would underprice my books for a quick sale, but I’ve priced this one aggressively. If it doesn’t sell by the end of the TV series… I see lots of opportunities in the near future as Marvel appears to be building up this character.
Only 6 episodes in this series, ending in late December, leading into the holidays and the Book of Boba (I just like saying “Book of Boba”). I’m gonna guess that the series ends with Yelena showing up looking for Hawkeye as per the end of the Black Widow.
I suspect Walts store is adorned with lots of purple with bow and arrows everywhere, just in time for Black Friday. In general, print may be in decline but it’s still an exciting time to be a comic fan!
The secret to a good team is the clubhouse! Individual characters don’t have clubhouses and very few of them fight multiple villians at the same time.
Chris O.: Lightning Lad became Lightning Lord.
DM: The Legion’s clubhouse was just the rear end of a yellow rocket stuck into the ground. I wonder if they ever had an origin story which told how the rocket ended up like that.
DM
That is a brilliant and often-overlooked point. While The Legion has the butt end of a crashed rocket as their clubhouse, over at Marvel the FF have the Baxter Building, the Avengers have Avengers Mansion, and the X-men have Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. That’s a pretty classy bunch of clubhouses indeed! Of course, some of my childhood friends would say that it isn’t a real clubhouse if girls are allowed, but I did eventually convince most of them that girls are actually pretty cool!
Its Brilliant. The Legions un-superhuman counterparts might hang out in an abandoned wreck of a van or some such thing. Remember, these are teens of little means. We must find out if there is a back story with the Crashed rocket. Jack Kirby, George Perez, Sal and John Buscema, Curt Swan, Dave Cockrum….this is what makes a Great Super team book. Consistency and able to meet Dead lines and draw multiple characters happily . Bob Brown did some decent Avenger stuff too. Rich Buckler too, when engaged and meeting deadlines ….but this seemingly was hard for him, I never warmed up to John Bryne myself, but he did some good stuff