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Marvel Team-Up #26

Oct 1974
Len Wein, Jim Mooney

Marvel Team-Up #26 cover

Story Name:

The Fire This Time…!


Synopsis

Marvel Team-Up #26 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 4 stars

The Human Torch is flying over the city late at night when he spies flaming footprints in the asphalt. He traces them from a sewer to a dark alley where he discovers a Lava Man; the Lava Man takes him for an assassin sent by his enemies and there is a scuffle. Lava Man eventually realizes Johnny is not an enemy; he collapses and confesses he is dying and needs to see Thor or the surface world will be destroyed….

On his way to a meeting, Dr. Donald Blake sees a message to Thor written in flames in the sky. He makes an excuse to the cabbie, changes into Thor, and flies out to the Statue of Liberty’s torch as per the message. There he meets Johnny and his old friend Molto the Lava Man. He explains how Jinku, witchdoctor of the Lava Men, had a vision in which his people conquered the surface world. Jinku persuaded the king to follow this vision and they captured a superweapon from the Moloids, planning to use them to simultaneously activate all of the volcanoes on Earth. Molto recoiled at this and fled to warn the Avengers but Jinku caught him and zapped him with his energy staff. Molto now dies, crumbling into dust. The Thunder God then snatches up Johnny and in an instant, they are in Hawaii, watching as Mauna Loa erupts. Thor quickly carves a ditch in the volcano to draw the lava away from the inhabited part of the island while Torch absorbs the intense heat and releases it to fuse the volcano closed. That doesn’t quite accomplish the feat so Thor calls down a rainstorm to extinguish the flames. Thor detects emanations from under the ground at his feet so he and Torch tunnel down where they encounter the Lava Men and their stolen weapon. There is a fight and the two heroes are overcome….

They awaken to Jinku telling them it was all a trap so they could seize Thor’s hammer to provide the power they need to run their deadly weapons. Jinku orders Johnny tossed in a magma pit. Jinku conjures up a huge hand of stone to pick up Mjolnir and plug it into the earthquake machine. The machine starts up…for sixty seconds, the time it took for Thor to transform back to Don Blake without his hammer. So Don snatches his stick back, transforms into Thor and smashes the machine to pieces. Human Torch arrives having easily escaped the magma pit and recruited an army of Moloids to defeat the Lava Men. The good guys win, Thor warns the Lava Men not to do this again, and Jinku wants to know where his vision came from. No one knows...

…except the mysterious trio watching from another world and laughing….

--



 

Review / Commentaries


Marvel Team-Up #26 Review by (October 21, 2024)

Review: A cool comic pairing back when comics were a lot of fun. And we discover that Human Torch patrols the city at night, likely keeping millions awake as he shines in through everyone’s windows. And we’ll marvel at the ingenuity of the Moloids who have created a superweapon with a port for Mjolnir to plug into as a power source, despite there only being one Mjolnir in the multiverse. Thor was properly serious; Johnny’s comedy was toned down a bit so the issue lacks the humor Spidey usually brings to it. Still cool.

Comments: Thor’s helmet is missing its wings on the cover. Title comes from an African American spiritual, “The fire next time,” indicating God’s future judgement, in contrast to the Noahic Flood last time; none of this is relevant to the story. Molto the Lava Man was introduced in JOURNEY INTO MYSTERY #97 and returned in AVENGERS #5; this is his final appearance. Human Torch wore a red-and-yellow costume between FANTASTIC FOUR #132-159. First appearance of the mysterious They Who Wield Power, led by Tyrannus; they next appear in THE INCREDIBLE HULK #208-209, with their final appearance in TIH #238-241. Dave Hunt also contributed to the inking. The letters column has one by T.E. Pouncey, future contributor to GEEKS OF DOOM. 




> Marvel Team-Up comic book info and issue index

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Main/1st Story Full Credits

Jim Mooney
Frank Giacoia
Glynis Wein
Gil Kane (Cover Penciler)
Mike Esposito (Cover Inker)
Unknown (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Dave Hunt.

Characters

All stories. Listed in alphabetical order.

Human Torch
Human Torch

(Jonathan Storm)
Thor
Thor

(Odinson)
Plus: Lava Men, Moloids.

Thor

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