Issue(s): Marvel Team-Up #15
Cover Date: Nov 73
Title: "If an eye offend thee..."
Credits:
Len Wein - Writer
Ross Andru - Penciler
Don Perlin - Inker

Review/plot:
The issue starts with Peter and MJ on a date at Madison Square Garden to see Ghost Rider's Motorcycle Extravaganza (i love Peter getting creeped out by that Spidey balloon).

Spider-Man teams up with Ghost Rider...

...to fight a guy with a giant eyeball for a head.

And it turns out to only be a helmet, not a real giant eyeball. Kind of a shame. Granted, he is horribly disfigured, in an accident he wrongly blames Roxanne Simpson's father for.

The bad guy doesn't even make the cover, so i guess they didn't really have a lot of faith in him.

As Spider-Man's first encounter with Ghost Rider, it's kind of a let down. Spider-Man just assumes GR is wearing a mask the whole time until the very end. It'd be much cooler if everyone was freaked out by Ghost Rider because he looks so scary and demonic. If people just assume he's wearing a mask, he must really not look all that menacing.

This storyline is part of a long running conspiracy style plot that is eventually resolved in Hulk #238-242. Lann, Prince Rey, and Tyrannus are behind-the-scenes in this story.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 4 - First Orb. First part of the They saga.

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place after Spidey's fight with the Kangaroo in Amazing Spider-Man #126.

References:

• Peter goes to the motorcycle show to wind down after his 'caper with the Kangaroo' in Amazing Spider-Man #126.
  
• Ghost Rider's origin was told in Marvel Spotlight #5

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Am I right that this is the first reference to "They" (not to be confused with "Them" of STRANGE TALES fame)?

That's correct Matthew. That's what i meant with the "This storyline is part of a long running conspiracy style plot..." line. At the Hulk entry i linked to i list all of the parts of that storyline, and this is the first one.

I guess i should note that in the Historical Significance section.

Maybe you have to increase the Historical Significance Rating, because The Orb is becoming an important character with the Original Sin storyline, these days...

Agree, Midnighter. Even before that, Jason Aaron had been using the character a lot. Thanks.

So there are people in NYC who are willing to buy Spider-Man merchandise, hmmm? And there are just as obviously people who are willing to bootleg Spider-Man merchandise. Lotta money being made, and Peter's not seeing a dime. Gotham City doesn't have any unauthorized Bat-merchandise.

Holy crap! I thought Orb was just a really crappy villain created for Solo Avengers. He existed before? And they brought him back? I have to repeat the last comment I made, on a different issue. Who thought THAT was a good idea?

Personally, I've always loved the Orb, goofy as he is. However, my understanding is that this Orb, Drake Shannon, is a different Orb from the one Jason Aaron uses. That one isn't wearing a mask; he really has a giant eyeball for a head. How he breathes, speaks, and hears is a mystery. Speaking of masks, I think the whole trope around this time of people thinking Ghost Rider is wearing a mask might be better understood in terms of the mystical Seventies belief that most people are blind to the mystery and wonder around them.

I think the Orb was probably a homage to Biljo White's fanzine character the Eye.

Roy Thomas notes the similarity between the two characters in his introduction to the Marvel Masterworks volume that reprints this issue. He calls it "probably coincidental."

I like the Orb too. I only read this story in whatever Marvel Treasury it was reprinted in, but he's got a solid red leather suit, an eyeball for a head, and he's riding a motorcycle. Is it even possible to visually design a better villain if your name isn't "Jack Kirby" or "Steve Ditko"? He may be a crappy villain, but the design is a lot cooler than, say, Ghost Rider.

Agreed that the Orb has an awesome visual. That's probably why years after the original Orb was killed a new one was introduced who looked almost exactly the same but who was written as a more competent villain.

Perhaps I'm just being silly, but I'd like to have seen the eye helmet utilized like a mood ring, changing color depending on the wearer's emotional state.