Issue(s): Marvel Team-Up #18
Cover Date: Feb 74
Title: "Where bursts the bomb!"
Credits:
Len Wein - Writer
Gil Kane - Penciler
Mike Esposito & Frank Giacoia - Inker

Review/plot:
A scientist named Paxton Pentecost revives the very dangerous Blastaar.

He wants Blastaar's help with something, but he's not stupid enough to think that Blastaar will work for him willingly, so he's built in a safety measure.

Pentecost wants revenge on a business partner. He designed a fully automated adamantium factory called FAUST (which stands for Fully Automated Unit of Structural Technology)...

...but his partner, who funded the operation, pushed him out of the business.

FAUST is one of the primary reasons for the later invention of "secondary adamantium " (mentioned in the first Marvel Handbook's Book of Weapons). Clearly the whole point of adamantium is that it can't be damaged, so Blastaar shouldn't be able to do what he's doing here.

At one point, it's said that this building is made out of "an adamantium alloy" so maybe we can use that to support the secondary adamantium theory.

Meanwhile, since Pentecost used gamma radiation to revive Blastaar, the Hulk has been getting tingles.

He runs into the Human Torch, who has already failed to stop Blastaar.

The Torch convinces the Hulk that his tingles are due to Blastaar (which happens to be true, but Johnny didn't know that), and, well... Hulk smash.

That's adamantium again that the Hulk is manhandling.

Terrible art in this issue. I did like the Hulk's reaction to seeing the Torch.

Len Wein will come back to FAUST again four years later, where it'll have converted itself into a dangerous super-computer.

An opening blurb apologizes for the lack of Spider-Man in this issue. I like the idea of Marvel Team-Up being Marvel Team-Up, and not Spider-Man Team-Up, but obviously Marvel didn't feel comfortable with that.

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - first FAUST

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place during the period where Johnny has split from the FF and is hanging out with Wyatt in protest of Mr. Fantastic's treatment of Franklin's mutant powers. The MCP places this between Fantastic Four #142-143 and Hulk #172-173.

References:

• Blastaar was first seen in Fantastic Four #63.
  
• He subsequently fought the X-Men in Uncanny X-Men #53.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

i agree fnord, i always thought using spider-man in MTU was dumb. Spidey was the ultimate lone wolf, mistrusted misunderstood by all but with MTU he wound up working with every hero in the MU.
but i guess MTU wouldnt have worked without a regular.

I like the name "Paxton Pentecost." It sounds bad-ass until you realize that Pentecost was a happy religious celebration. Make way for Ernesto Eid-al-Fitr and Yvgeniy Yuletide!

Had Hulkie ever seen Johnny in his red suit before? I guess the "4" on the chest might have been a giveaway, but still.

"Terrible" art? All I see is kick-ass classic Gil Kane. (Albeit not helped by mediocre inking, it's true. [You may have guessed I'm not a member of the Mike Esposito Fan Club.])

Foom #3 described the non-Spider-Man teamup as "an experiment in audience awareness".

It would have been nice to have a regular revolving team-up book. But my guess is that Marvel took one look at the sales figures without Spider-Man and said, forget that, Spider-Man's gonna be in every issue.

I'm with Dan...Esposito's inks are way too dry for Kane's pencils.

Gil Kane said he preferred to ink his own pencils. I never liked his inking style nearly so much as I like his pencils, but when I look at this it helps me understand why he preferred to ink his own. I'm guessing that most pencilers at Marvel weren't usually given much choice about who would ink their work during this period.