After babysitting Wundarr, the Thing teams with Captain America and soon finds himself fighting the Badoon in the far-flung future. This Steve Gerber story is a bit of a mess, with solid-but-unspectacular art support from Sal Buscema and Frank Giacoia.
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Infected by a toxin from Morbius’ blood, Spider-Man fights the X-Men – and then must be saved by the mutant heroes. This fairly typical story from Gerry Conway is elevated by the dynamic art of comics master Gil Kane.
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When the Justice League’s very first foes reappear, new Leaguers must battle original members before the team can stand united against the threat. Gerry Conway’s story does its job, but the real treat here is the art of George Pérez, Jim Aparo, Joe Kubert and others.
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Lex Luthor and Brainiac both get solid revamps in this 45th anniversary issue of Action Comics. Creative talent for this outing includes Cary Bates, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson, Marv Wolfman, Gil Kane and others.
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An industrialist inventor’s effort to launch a tidal power station runs afoul of the Sub-Mariner – and the Magaia. Throw in Daredevil and Black Panther and this annual – by the creative team of Marv Wolfman, Chris Claremont, George Tuska and Frank Chiaramonte – still falls short of entertaining.
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Attempting to cheer up a classmate who has the seasonal blues, Superboy takes him to a parallel Earth without Christmas. This Christmas tale from Paul Kupperberg and Kurt Schaffenberger leads off a pair of so-so tales.
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Things go from bad to worse as Spider-Man finds himself imprisoned, with Hulk and Woodgod, within the mysterious Tranquility Base. Bill Mantlo’s script is just so-so, but the big draw here is a young John Byrne’s quickly improving art.
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Clea’s efforts to reveal the Defender’s past to Valkyrie reintroduces the team to past perils. This Giant-Size outing features classic Golden and Silver age work from the likes of Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Bill Everett and Steve Ditko, along with a gorgeous framing sequence penciled by Jim Starlin.
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As Captain America lies dying, the rest of the Avengers find themselves the target of the Assassin’s evil plot. Tony Isabella brings his unexpectedly strong two-parter to a surprise conclusion (or two), with less-than-sterling art (mostly) from Don Heck.
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The Assassin targets Captain America – just the first step in a plot to take down all of the Avengers. The first of two surprisingly strong fill-in issues by Tony Isabella, with less-than-exceptional art from Don Heck and John Tartaglione.
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