Issue(s): Marvel Team-Up annual #3
Cover Date: 1980
Title: "Monster in the meadow / Payoff / Heroes for Hire / The men and the machine / Confrontations"
Credits:
Roger Stern - Writer
Herb Trimpe - Penciler
Mike Esposito / Bruce D. Patterson / Frank Springer / Dave Humphrys, Al Milgrom, & Bruce D. Patterson - Inker

Review/plot:
Don't be fooled by the Frank Miller cover; it's a Herb Trimpe interior. Kind of a disappointment, but Trimpe is always good on the Hulk, and hey, it's a Roger Stern story. The book is broken down into chapters, with each inker getting a chapter.

Nightshade convinces the Hulk that she's his friend.

It's a good scheme and it's surprising that villains don't try it.

But Luke Cage and Iron Fist have been hired to guard whatever mcguffin Nightshade is after, and after some initial fisticuffs...

...Cage does a good job talking the Hulk down...

...even though Machine Man, who the Hulk really doesn't like, is also there (The company that hires Power Man & Iron Fist is actually the insurance company that Machine Man works for. In fact, the agent working the case is Brock Jones, who is the minor super-hero known as the Tornado Torpedo. Luke Cage identifies him as a former Pro Football player. There's no indication that he's active as the Torpedo in this issue).

Describing Nightshade, the Hulk tells Luke that she looks "like you", meaning that she's black.

Brief cameo by Spider-Man just checking out a crime that's already been taken care of by Cage and Fist...

...but otherwise it's another issue of Marvel Team-Up without Spidey.

Quality Rating: B-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Hulk starts and stops this issue leaping through the wilderness. The appearances of Luke & Danny are context free. For Machine Man, i've placed this between issues #15-16. Beginning with #16 Machine Man has lost an arm and is then looking for Sunset Bain and then has a problem with his face, and in #19 he's no longer working at the insurance company, so this works better before all that starts.

References:

• The Hulk and Machine Man fought previously in Hulk #235-237.
  
• Changing from Aaron Stack to Machine Man in a train station rest room, Machine Man compares the smell to a pursuit through the sewers in Machine Man #14.
  
• Power Man & Iron Fist ran into Nightshade in Power Man & Iron Fist #51-53.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I know absolutely nothing about Dave Humphrys.

John Byrne was the announced artist for this, but left due to taking over Captain America. Trimpe was only available because Shogun Warriors got cancelled.

Brock Jones was the third Torpedo (see Daredevil 127).

The other two Torpedoes only appear in one story each, though. So at the time i didn't want to mark this one with a III designator.

Will be covering the other Torpedoes soon. Well, the first one soon and the second one "soon".

Or maybe you were pointing out that i accidentally called him "Tornado" instead of "Torpedo" in this entry. If so, thanks! Fixed it.

I notice a lot of superheroes compare their experiences to previous ones. Do they get a sense of deja vu and just want to let us know?

Dave Humphrys may have been an understudy for Josef Rubinstein. He inked along with Joe on the second story in PPTSSM #49.