Posted By Dan Greenfield on Nov 9, 2025 | 8 comments

The beloved writer turns 74!

By JIM BEARD

As much as I love the classic Marvel Team-Up title, it took me way too long to realize I was a Bill Mantlo fan.

I mean, Bill was only the third writer on the book (if you don’t count Roy Thomas’ turn on Issue #1), coincidentally around the same time I had begun to buy comics myself (after my dad was picking them up for me). I admit, though, that I didn’t always look at the credit boxes back then, being more focused on the stories and art. But today, I very proudly acknowledge Bill as the creator of some of my most favorite MTU moments, ones that have stuck with me to this day.

Cover by Ron Frenz and Al Milgrom. Interiors by Frenz and Mike Esposito.

One of the things I dig the most about him as a writer is his obvious love for the lesser-known Marvel characters; more specifically, the weirder ones.

Bill brought such lower-tier luminaries in, like the Sons of the Tiger, Killraven, Deathlok, and Jack of Hearts — how could you not love him for that? And when it comes to his own creations, he’d be hard to beat for oddballs. Check out this line-up of Mantlo characters:

Rocket Raccoon

Bug of the Micronauts

Captain Jean DeWolff

Hypno-Hustler

Rom the Space Knight

Sabra

The U-Foes

White Tiger

And yes, Woodgod. That’s right, Woodgod. He’s who I’m here to talk about today, in fact.

Bill’s “Salem Saga” in MTU #41-44 (and its two-issue coda in #45-46, natch) stands as probably my most-favorite story in the title, but there’s also a little gem I’ll call the “Woodgod Trilogy” that shouldn’t be relegated to the shadows of dim memory. As a way of celebrating Bill’s birthday — he was born Nov. 9, 1951 — I’d like to let it shine through this article.

The three-issue arc, Marvel Team-Up #53-55, from 1976, acts as a kind of sequel or continuation to two other stories of Bill’s, Marvel Premiere #31 and Marvel Team-Up Annual #1. In terms of the latter, MTU #53 occurs only one day after the events of MP #31, which just happens to be the debut of Woodgod, absolutely one of the oddest of the Mantlo oddballs.

Cover by Dave Cockrum, with John Romita alterations. Interiors by John Byrne and Frank Giacoia.

Long story short, MTU #53 and #54 tell the tale of the Incredible Hulk stumbling upon the genetically engineered “man-brute” in a seemingly deserted town and stirring up a brouhaha with him. Spider-Man, fresh off his work with the X-Men in the Annual, gets involved as only a friendly neighborhood arachnid can. Trouble (and some hilarity) ensues.

Woodgod, as Bill explains in #53’s letters page, is obsessed with what he calls “scream,” the hurt and the pain and the anger he feels are constantly being visited upon him by a cruel world. The word is used a lot in those first two issues, almost to the point of annoyance. That said, it’s a fascinating concept of Bill’s and he drives the point home with wild abandon.

Cover by Gil Kane and Mike Esposito. Interiors by Byrne and Esposito.

In all the tumult of those two issues, you get another Mantle staple: the team-up that’s not really a team-up.

See, Bill had this interesting thing he did on the title: some Marvel gnashing of teeth between the superstars, a miss of the minds, a team-up that wasn’t really a team-up, per se. This is in clear evidence throughout the Iron Man tale of MTU #48-51 where May Parker’s nephew might rather beat Tony Stark’s face in than work with him. It made for a prickly, yet fascinating narrative. Marvel Team-Up #53 continued that theme with the Hulk roping both Woodgod and Spidey into his circle of rage, even remembering that “Bug Eyes” fought him in the past. It’s not until the next issue that a little “let’s try to work together” came across.

Cover by John Romita and Aubrey Bradford. Interiors by Sal Buscema, Esposito and Dave Hunt.

And then Bill pulled the other string. Just when you thought he was the master of the non-team-up, he’d swing Spidey into a textbook hand-clasp that saved the day, albeit between two heroes you’d never really ever imagined would get along. Spider-Man and Warlock in MTU #55 is the poster child for this. Their battle against the Stranger on the moon belies the previous issue’s theme of non-cooperation.

Cover by Cockrum. Interiors by Byrne and Hunt.

Sadly, that was Bill’s swan song on the book. He didn’t return to it until six years later for a two-issue go-round with his Jack of Hearts and the X-Men’s Kitty Pryde, and then that was it for him and the classic Marvel Team-Up. His tragic accident in 1992 forestalled any more team-ups, either true ones or false.

Here’s a thought: Pick up some of those MTUs he wrote and dive in for a nostalgic tour of when the book was in the hands of a consummate pro who embraced the Marvel idea of “not everyone gets along” and “conflict is the key to drama.” I think you’ll find those issues of Bill Mantlo’s to be a fun look at a classic era — and eye-opening in their intriguing construction.

Boy, do I miss that guy’s writing.

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MORE

— 13 GREAT BILL MANTLO STORIES: A Birthday Celebration. Click here.

— 13 Multi-Part MARVEL TEAM-UP Masterpieces. 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. Check out his tour of Marvel Team-Up, Walking the Wider Web, available here.