Marvel Team-Up #117
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeMarvel Team-Up #117 marks the first published appearance of Professor Power (Anthony Power), a right-wing ideologue and presidential adviser who becomes one of the more politically charged villains in the Bronze Age Marvel universe, going on to antagonize Captain America, the Defenders, and X-Factor across the decade. Although Professor Power had been operating behind the scenes in the preceding Captain America and Defenders crossover, this is the issue where he steps out of the shadows and is named on the page for the first time. The story is also one of the genuinely early Spider-Man and Wolverine team-ups in the ongoing Marvel Team-Up series, pairing two characters who were ascending to the top tier of Marvel's roster at precisely the moment Wolverine was breaking out as a solo star. Together, those two hooks give the issue a durable place in late Bronze Age collecting history.
In "Scents and Senses!", Spider-Man and Wolverine are ambushed by a bizarre force of modern-day Roman soldiers serving the enigmatic Professor Power. Hunted through a hidden forest castle filled with deadly traps and mechanical guardians, the two heroes must make a tough choice: pursue the villain or intervene to save innocent lives caught in the crossfire. Written by J. M. DeMatteis and illustrated by Herb Trimpe with inks by Mike Esposito, this 1982 adventure blends action and moral tension, ending with a sudden twist that leaves the castle vanished. The cover by Bob Layton and Joe Rubinstein captures the clash of ancient and modern in bold, dynamic style.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The issue was written by J. M. DeMatteis and drawn by Herb Trimpe on breakdowns with Mike Esposito on finishes, under editor Tom DeFalco — the same creative pairing that had been steering Marvel Team-Up since DeFalco brought DeMatteis aboard the title as a relative newcomer and worked to connect it more tightly with Amazing Spider-Man and Spectacular Spider-Man. DeFalco, who would later become Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, was at this point building DeMatteis's early career on the title; the issue appeared on stands in May 1982 with a cover date matching DeMatteis's broader Captain America/Defenders crossover arc, in which Professor Power's shadow had already been cast across several titles. Wolverine's placement in the issue created a continuity puzzle with the then-ongoing Uncanny X-Men storyline, and Marvel's own reading-order resources note that the story was editorially slotted between pages of Uncanny X-Men #161 to resolve the conflict — a small but telling indicator of how tightly packed the X-office's publishing schedule was by 1982.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First published appearance of Professor Power (Anthony Power), a historian, author, and former presidential adviser turned far-right supervillain — created by writer J. M. DeMatteis and penciller Herb Trimpe.
- Story title is 'Serpents and Senses!' — Part 1 of a 2-part arc concluding in Marvel Team-Up #118; the arc ties directly into the Captain America #268 and Defenders #106 crossover in which Professor Power's agents had previously operated off-panel.
- One of the earliest Spider-Man and Wolverine team-ups in the ongoing Marvel Team-Up series, significant because Wolverine was simultaneously ascending to star status via his 1982 Chris Claremont/Frank Miller solo miniseries.
- Interior art by Herb Trimpe (breakdowns) and Mike Esposito (finishes); cover pencilled by Bob Layton and inked by Joe Rubinstein — the same Joe Rubinstein then inking the landmark Claremont/Miller Wolverine limited series.
- Edited by Tom DeFalco under Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter; DeFalco had recruited DeMatteis to give Marvel Team-Up a more consistent creative voice and to tie it into the broader Spider-Man line.
- Marcy Kane, indexed in the catalog also under the name Kaina, appears in a cameo role — consistent with the Grand Comics Database's dual-name listing for the character.
- The two-part story (issues #117–118) was later reprinted in Marvel Tales #243 and #244, and story pages from this issue were partially adapted for Marvel UK's Super Spider-Man TV Comic #484 (June 1982) in a mixed colour/black-and-white format.
- Professor Power's backstory — a son returned from Vietnam as a psychological casualty, driving a father toward extremism — reflects the politically engaged storytelling DeMatteis became known for in the early 1980s, and the character went on to appear across Captain America, the Defenders, Spectacular Spider-Man, and X-Factor.
Cast · 7 characters
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Reprints
Reprinted in Marvel Special #10 (1982), Super Spider-Man TV Comic #484 (1982), Edderkoppen-album #1 (1983), Edderkoppen Superseriealbum #9 (1983), Spindelmannen superseriealbum #9 (1983), Spiderman #35 (1984), Marvel Tales #243 (1990), Die Spinne Comic - Album #15, Homem-Aranha #36, Σπάιντερ Μαν [Spider-Man] #322
Key issues in Marvel Team-Up
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