Posted By Dan Greenfield on Sep 10, 2024 | 6 comments

A BIRTHDAY SALUTE: One of comics’ greatest writers was born 72 years ago, on Sept. 10, 1952…

By JIM BEARD

I wouldn’t be so bold to label this little article a team-up between legendary comic scribe Gerry Conway and myself, but he did provide me with a lot of back-up through my childhood, penning so many of the titles and characters I loved on both sides of the publishing fence and rescuing me from boredom so many times I feel I owe him this tribute.

Gerry was one of those guys I felt like I knew back in the 1970s. His name, like Marv Wolfman’s, Elliot S. Maggin’s, Denny O’Neil’s, and others, seemed ubiquitous to me, a familiar “face” when I cracked the cover of a new comic my dad would bring me, as well as an almost-guarantee of everything I loved about those four-color mags. One of the coolest things about him, as I already mentioned, is that he worked for both of the Big Two and for a kid like me who pretty much would read anything from anybody, it was good to know I could always find that Comfortable Conway Corner of Comics to retreat to.

That said, I think I tended to think of Gerry more as a DC dude back in the day, but while researching and writing my new ode to Marvel Team-Up titled Walking the Wider Web — available here — I was reminded of his efforts to build the concept I think of as one of my most favorite of the superhero genre: the team-up. And he was there at the beginning of MTU, as well as stepping in at a very interesting time during The Brave and the Bold’s long history (as I detail in my Breaking Bold and Brave, available here).

So, here’s to Gerry Conway, one of the greats, on the occasion of his birthday. I’ve pulled together 13 different team-up issues he wrote for the Big Two, and while I concentrated on the very best two titles in that theme, I also tossed in a couple of side-steps just for variety. I mean, who’s keeping score, right?

Excelsior! B&B seeing you!

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Marvel Team-Up #4 (Sept. 1972). Gerry was the first writer to jump on the MTU bandwagon after Roy Thomas wrote #1, and I think that this tale is as good a place as any to start with his work on the title. Gerry had just taken the helm of Amazing Spider-Man when this came out, and there’s some interesting connective tissue in the story to Spidey’s life therein.

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Marvel Team-Up #5 (Nov. 1972). Not all of Gerry’s MTU stories exhibited true team-ups, but this actually features one, as well as being the wall-crawler’s very first meeting with the sensational synthezoid.

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Marvel Team-Up #8 (Sept. 1972). The Cat never really got her due, did she? Yeah, she went on to become something of a fan-favorite as Tigra, but she never truly clicked with readers in her yellow-and-blue period. I’m so glad she got a little extra love from Gerry here.

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Marvel Team-Up #28 (Dec. 1974). After an initial nine consecutive MTUs in ’72 and ’73, Gerry took a break from the book but returned in ’74 to pen another 10. This one’s a bit… controversial due to its patently unbelievable ending, but for me it’s pure comic books.

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Marvel Team-Up #29 (Jan. 1975). Spidey was regularly stepping down from starring in his team-up title around this time, allowing Conway to explore the dynamic of the Human Torch heating up the spotlight. It’s another non-team-up here, but the real fun is how well Johnny and Tony get along in the tale… or don’t.

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Marvel Team-Up #31 (Mar. 1975). Just when you were super-confused about whether or not Gerry was for or against his co-stars playing nice with each other, he released this story into the wild. If you’re an Iron Fist fan, you have to read this one… and make sure you check out that wacky one-hit wonder of a villain.

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Marvel Team-Up #32 (Apr. 1975). This is another issue with the Torch taking top billing from Spidey as he meets none other than the Son of Satan, the Marvel character voted Most Likely to Never Be Invited to a Church Bake Sale. Me personally? I love the dude.

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Giant-Size Spider-Man #4 (Apr. 1975). Yes, now it can be told—this is why Spidey was moonlighting from MTU: this team-up sporting extra pages. And boy, is this one of my Conway favorites. Gerry brings in his co-creation, the Punisher, and introduces a bad guy you’d love to punch… again and again and again.

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Marvel Team-Up #33 (May. 1975). You can say this about Gerry: In MTU he really kept you guessing about brotherly love, or the absence thereof, in the mag. Nighthawk’s at his jerky best here, and ol’ Webhead ain’t too much better. Maybe they were made for each other?

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Giant-Size Spider-Man #5 (July 1975). Didja know this is Spidey’s first meeting with the macabre Man-Thing? And to make matters even sweeter, the webslinger and muck monster do the monster mash with the Lizard! Who says it wasn’t the Marvel Age of Looking for a Detergent to Get Slime Out of Spandex?

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The Brave and the Bold #158 (Jan. 1980). Flipping over into the Eighties and to that other company, didja know that Gerry was the very first writer to take on the mag immediately following Bob Haney’s being unceremoniously dumped from it after decades? Gerry was writing Wonder Woman at this time, so this team-up goes down smooth like a tall drink of cool water… from Paradise Island, natch.

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The Brave and the Bold #161 (Apr. 1980). I like this one, I really do. It’s a clever set-up of having Batman and Adam Strange exchange their places on their respective planets to tackle the other’s bailiwick. Gerry does a fine job with the story, and you can’t beat that Jim Aparo art.

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The Brave and the Bold #171 (Feb. 1981). One of the mandates A.H. (After Haney) was that B&B would have some new guest-stars and not always the same-olds. Gerry brought in a real doozy with Scalphunter, but what I think he should really be credited for here is the use of that old Batman stalwart Professor Carter Nichols and his unique version of time-travel.

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MORE

— Dig These 13 Bountiful BOB KANIGHER BRAVE AND BOLDs. Click here.

— 13 Great TEAM-UP COMICS by MIKE W. BARR. Click here.

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When JIM BEARD’s not editing and publishing through his two houses, Flinch Books and Becky Books, he’s pounding out adventure fiction with both original and licensed characters. In fact, he’s put words in the mouths of Luke Skywalker, Superman, Fox Mulder, Carl Kolchak, Peter Venkman and the Green Hornet… and lived to tell about it. His latest pop culture non-fiction tomes are Breaking Bold and Brave, available here, and Walking the Wider Web, available here.