Team-up
In superhero comic books, a team-up is a fictional crossover where two or more superheroes or superhero teams who usually do not appear together work together on a shared goal.[1]
Overview
The first team-up between characters published in different comics from the same publisher was published in 1940 by the MLJ Comics. Pep Comics #4, by Harry Shorten and Irv Novick, featured a story with the Shield, which was continued in Top Notch Comics #5, by Will Harr and Edd Ashe. In that comic, the Shield met the Wizard. Timely Comics would follow, with a team-up between Sub-Mariner and Human Torch. National Comics Publications took the team-up concept one step further and created the Justice Society of America, the first superhero group, composed of superheroes who starred their own comic books.[2]
The team-up was an important worldbuilding narrative device, one that allowed for the creation of a shared universe concept.[2]
Select comics with team-ups
In other media
References
- Reynolds, Richard (1994). Super heroes: a modern mythology studies in popular culture. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-87805-694-1.
- Brian Cronin (November 13, 2018). "How Stan Lee Helped Create the Modern Superhero Universe". CBR. Retrieved November 13, 2018.