In the not-so-distant future, Col. Luther Manning manages to seize control of his cyborg body and escape from his creator. Rich Buckler and Doug Moench tap into the zeitgeist of the era with their new creation Deathlok.
READPower Man, Iron Fist and Machine Man scramble to recover a computer “super-circuit” stolen by the Hulk. A ho-hum affair by Roger Stern, Herb Trimpe and a host of inkers.
READSpider-Man and the Human Torch team on Christmas Eve in an effort to thwart the Sandman’s not-so-nefarious plan. Roy Thomas, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito offer a fair-to-middlin’ yuletide yarn to launch one of the Bronze Age’s signature team-up books.
READThings go from bad to worse as Spider-Man finds himself imprisoned, with Hulk and Woodgod, within the mysterious Tranquility Base. Bill Mantlo’s script is just so-so, but the big draw here is a young John Byrne’s quickly improving art.
READSpider-Man battles the Prodigy, an alien villain who is promoting misinformation to trap America’s teens with unplanned pregnancies. While just a so-so as a Spider-Man story, the Planned Parenthood giveaway by Ann Robinson, Ross Andru and Mike Esposito is a telling historical relic.
READSpider-Man takes the month off as the Human Torch and Hulk team to stop a revenge plot that involves bringing back Blastaar. A fairly weak story by Len Wein gets a major assist from the strong pencils of Gil Kane.
READFour survivors on the run from the Badoon invasion join together to form the Guardians of the Galaxy. While this reprint from Marvel Super-Heroes #18 disrupts Astonishing Tales’ Deathlok serial, this tight intro tale from Arnold Drake and Gene Colon is a fine consolation.
READDiana Prince teams with Jonny Double in an effort to protect the “King of Beautiful Women.” Dated-but-eminently-enjoyable fun from Denny O’Neil, Don Heck and Dick Giordano.
READSpider-Man races to help as a football-player-turned-scientist tries to save his daughter from kidnappers. Will either man be in time? Len Wein delivers a strong done-in-one story here, with solid support from Ross Andru and Mike Esposito.
READMiracle Man converts an American Indian reservation into Bethlehem in a plot to one-up God in the Immaculate Conception department. This typically madcap Steve Gerber outing fails to suspend readers’ disbelief, while the journeyman art from Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito does little to raise this Christmas tale out of the eggnog.
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