MARVEL TEAM-UP #7

"A Hitch In Time!"

• Writer: Gerry Conway
• Artist: Ross Andru
• Inker: Mike Esposito
• Print Date: Mar, 1973

Featuring:

Plot Summary:

The story starts out with a splash page of Spider-Man and Thor fighting an army of thuggish characters dressed in green and gold armed with clubs, axes, and other melee weapons. Between the title and the text comment that 'time is running out!' I am guessing that this is some sort of time-travel story?

More time comments on Page 2. Time.. time.. time.. Apparently the writer is telling us something in a most unsubtle fashion. Peter walks down an alleyway and interrupts two hoodlums attacking an unarmed girl. Without even putting on his costume, Peter jumps in and quickly subdues the two would-be muggers. Instead of offering any thanks or gratitude, the victim tells Peter that she doesn't want to get involved and leaves Peter standing in the alleyway with two unconscious crooks.

It's nice to see Peter go into action as Peter instead of letting this girl get molested for the few minutes it would take to change into costume. He does stop to take his shoes off which I found odd. The excuse being to be able to use his wall crawling abilities, but he never does. And honestly, he shouldn't need that to take down to unarmed thugs.

From a nearby fire escape, Thor watches the conversation before calling down to Peter. While the two talk, the sky suddenly turns an odd shade of yellow. Quickly Thor whirls his hammer around himself and Peter and creates a whirling vortex to protect them from whatever is coming. When the vortex stops, the two find themselves in a world where all the colors are reversed and time is frozen. The stars shine like crystals of coals against a chalk-white sky, while negative images of the pedestrians stand immobile like statues. Thor is shocked when Peter changes into his Spider-Man outfit, but there is no time for the two to discuss anything when a large group of gaudily dressed thugs walks comes upon them.

It's funny to see Thor trying to be patient in the face of Peter's insolence. Obviously, he's not used to mortals addressing him in such a casual fashion. One thing I didn't understand on re-reading this issue. Thor claims he has seen the negative before - the presumption being when he faced Kryllk in the forgotten past. However, the Watcher makes clear that effect was caused by his device stolen and misused by Kryllk. If that's the case, when did Thor witness its effects?

I'm not sure how Thor's vortex transported them from a quiet, nearly abandoned alley to an apparently busy college campus. When they come out of the vortex, they are surrounded by frozen pedestrians - pedestrians that weren't around when Thor started swinging his hammer.

There hasn't been any indication of whom or what these thugs are, but judging from the clothes and weaponry, I'm assuming they are more from Thor's realm than Spider-Man's.

Just as an aside, Kryllk's thugs look remarkably similar to Darkseid's para-demons over at DC.

Ah, Thor identifies them as followers of a vicious troll named Kryllk The Cruel. The fight goes well with Spider-Man and Thor more than a match for the group of trolls. While the fight rages, Kryllk tells the pair that he is responsible for the strange time-stopping phenomena via a giant relic he calls the Dark Crystal. An artifact that controls time. However, his goal is not Earth but Asgard. His gloating complete, Kryllk and his troops simply fade away like wisps of fading smoke.

For Norse trolls, they don't put up much of a fight. Spider-Man and Thor easily plow through the 20-30 trolls attending Kryllk. Kryllk, for all his gloating, is not exactly clear on why his army is passing through Earth in such a fashion. They, seemingly by coincidence, walk up on Thor and Spider-Man, battle for a bit, gloat for a while, and then vanish in a slow fade.

Thor and Spider-Man head to Avengers Headquarters. They find the Avengers frozen stiff like the rest of the world, but Thor really needs the machines in order to trace Kryllk. Spider-Man looks at the circuitry and finds it is reversed like everything else. Some quick rewiring and the monitor shows Kryllk's trail to Asgard and beyond. Because Odin has expelled him from the kingdom, Thor cannot go to Asgard himself. Instead, he sends Spider-Man to Asgard using his magic hammer, and then Thor whirls his hammer once more to track Kryllk to his lair.

I got a good laugh over Spider-Man's ability to rewiring the Avenger's computers to work even though everything is reversed and frozen.

Spider-Man finds Asgard frozen like Earth while Thor ends up an asteroid somewhere near Jupiter. Thor smashes his way into the interior of the asteroid to find Kryllk waiting with his troops and the Dark Crystal. Thor smashes through Kryllk's army easily, but he finds Kryllk to be a bit tougher. While Kryllk stands near the Dark Crystal he is protected and invulnerable to harm. Kryllk explains how he found the Dark Crystal in the caverns beneath Asgard and how the crystal explained to him how to defeat Odin and take over Asgard.

Actually, I had a better laugh that Kryllk apparently transported his army to Asgard and an asteroid circling Jupiter. The two locations, however distant, don't really seem to jive together. It's like traveling to Hoboken by way of South Korean or something.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man finds Kryllk and his army invading Asgard with the Dark Crystal. Yes, I had to read that twice to make sure I didn't miss something. While Kryllk and his army are confronting Thor on an asteroid near Jupiter, Spider-Man watches as Kryllk and his army invade Asgard.

This is the point in the story where I completely lost the plot. So, Kryllk and his army are occupying an asteroid, near Jupiter, and taunting Thor. At the same time, Kryllk and his army are in Asgard fighting Spider-Man. I knew Asgard was fantastical place, but apparently it lies outside of the realm of sense, logic, and any coherent plot.

Again, Spider-Man takes on a whole army of trolls and easily plows his way through them. Finally he breaks through the foot soldiers and tries to attack Kryllk directly. A well placed punch literally passes through Kryllk like he is some hologram. However, the punch has an effect on Kryllk in Jupiter, and he collapses clutching his chest. Thor takes advantage of the distraction by solidly slugging Kryllk in the head. This causes the world to shudder as Kryllk, his army, and the Dark Crystal vanish.

I think my brain just shut down trying to figure this out. Sorry, I'm done trying to make sense of this.

Thor and Spider-Man both find themselves summoned to the Watcher's home. The Watcher tells them that the Dark Crystal is his device before it was stolen, and Kryllk could've damaged the timestream if he continued to tamper with it. The Watcher takes back possession of the crystal, banishes Kryllk and his trolls, and returns Thor and Spider-Man to Earth.

My closing question, did the Watcher really NEED Spider-Man and Thor to intervene, or was he just going to clean up the mess regardless? It seems like Spider-Man and Thor were on the verge of victory when the Watcher just kinda snaps his fingers and says "Here, I took care of it for you! You're Welcome!" I feel like the whole convoluted story was big build up for an unnecessary deux ex machina at that end.