Spider-Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Woman #1: Review

Jan 1981
?, (Unknown artist)

Story Name:

The Mystery of the Power Crown!


Synopsis

Spider-Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Woman #1 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

After a lovely day spent touring New York’s museums, Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson stop by 7-Eleven for a snack. Suddenly the ground shakes and Peter quickly excuses himself to change into Spider-Man and check it out. He discovers the Empire State Building being lifted into the sky by a giant anti-gravity disc. The culprit is the Wizard who uncovers an artifact buried beneath the building’s foundation, intending to deliver it to his love, the Enchantress. Spidey snatches the object away from him and guides the giant disc to slowly lower the skyscraper back into place. The Wizard catches him by surprise, grabbing him and pulling him high into the sky where our hero blacks out from lack of oxygen. The baddie then gently deposits Spidey in Central Park and absconds with the artifact, delivering it to his paramour. But the Enchantress, having gotten what she wanted, has no further need of him, and vanishes with her loot.

Outside a 7-Eleven in Washington, Captain America is greeting his fans (one adult, four kids) when he spies the Trapster gliding toward the Washington Monument. Cap races over just as the villain unearths another artifact from the ground at the base of the Monument. Trapster responds with all his weapons—explosives, glue, bolos—but Cap’s agility allows him to evade them easily. Desperate, the baddie fires an explosive toward the city and Cap hurls his shield, detonating the bomb in mid-air but allowing the Trapster to sneak up and clobber him (with a piece of turf, it looks like). Trapster snatches up his prize and delivers it to the Enchantress who has captured his affections as she did the Wizard’s. Then Trapster is knocked cold by her new partner, the stronger and dumber Rhino, and they head to their next destination--San Francisco.

In that city, Jessica Drew is sitting in her office when the waves of an earthquake sweep through. Changing to her Spider-Woman identity, she heads out and rescues people, delivering them to a first aid center set up in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven. She traces the pattern of the shocks to their source on Alcatraz Island and flies out there to discover the Enchantress and the Rhino attempting to break into the former prison. She tries to stop them but realizes she is out of her league. Meanwhile downtown, Bruce Banner is on the edge of panic; the sight of a wall falling toward a group of people triggers his transformation into the Hulk. He smashes the wall into powder and looks for a place where he can be alone. Alcatraz Island seems like the best bet and he heads there, arriving in time to prevent the villains from killing the helpless Spider-Woman. Hulk and Rhino duke it out, fighting to a standstill when the villainess blasts her ally and pretends to the Hulk he rescued her from the brutish bad guy. She has the duped Greenskin pick up the last piece of the artifact and they teleport to her palace where she helpfully fills the reader in on the origin of this artifact. Seems it is the Power Crown, broken into three pieces by Odin and scattered to prevent anyone from gaining the power to rule the mortal world. A spell placed on the pieces ensures that anyone from Asgard touching it will die, hence, Enchantress’ need for human help.

Later, the three betrayed villains compare notes and have a copy of Enchantress’ map which helpfully lists the location of her secret hideout along with those of the crown pieces. At the same time, Captain America meets with the two Spider-Heroes at the Washington 7-Eleven after they pick up his national all-points bulletin. Spidey (the man) reveals he put a Spider-Tracer on the crown piece the Wizard had, so they should be easy to find.

In her throne room, Enchantress commands Hulk to assemble the pieces of the Crown and place it on her head, but the procedure is interrupted by the simultaneous arrival of the trio of heroes and the trio of villains. A massive free-for-all breaks out. By means of clever teamwork, the heroes capture the three baddies. When Hulk resumes the act of crowning the villainess, Spidey pleads with him not to, while the Enchantress tries to persuade him otherwise. This confuses Jade Jaws so much he crushes the Crown to dust. Frustrated, Enchantress vanishes, and the four heroes return to the 7-Eleven to impress some random kids before going their separate ways.


 

Review / Commentaries

Rating:
2 stars

Spider-Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Woman #1 Review by (May 30, 2011)
Review: No one expects much from a comic book tossed together as a promotional item, especially when the creators chose to remain anonymous. This goofy little giveaway for 7-Eleven is kind of a dumb story but not much dumber than a lot of early 80s Marvel comics: lame plot, no characterization, action scenes to distract from plot holes. Yep, early 80s.

Comments: Designed as a free giveaway at 7-Eleven stores. No writing or art credits are given in the book, though the cover is clearly by John Romita. Issue includes half-page “biographies” of the four heroes on the inside covers and puzzle pages distributed throughout the book. Mary Jane is not called by name but only referred to as Peter’s “friend.”


> Spider-Man, Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, and Spider-Woman comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
DIAMOND SELECT TOYS Marvel Premier Collection: Avengers Endgame Captain America Statue, Multicolor
Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

(Unknown artist)
(Unknown artist)
?
John Romita (Cover Penciler)
John Romita (Cover Inker)


Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steve Rogers)
Hulk
Hulk

(Robert Bruce Banner)
Mary Jane Watson
Mary Jane Watson

(Mary Jane)
Spider-Man
Spider-Man

(Peter Parker)
Spider-Woman
Spider-Woman

(Jessica Drew)

Plus: Trapster.