Marvel Team Up #138
Spider-Man and Sandman star in Spidey's monthly team-up title, which was pretty unusual back then. Spider-Man regularly teamed up with other heroes, but a villain sharing top billing was pretty much unheard of. The cover advertises this issue as “Beginning an exciting new chapter in the life of Sandman!” Don't be fooled, I say, because for such a strong concept, this issue is pretty damn dull.
There had been hints in an earlier issue of MTU that Sandman wasn't all bad; the Christmas story where all he wants is to visit his sick mother. After he gets away, Spider-Man and the Human Torch decide to let him go in the spirit of the holidays. Sandy's heel turn wasn't just some out of the blue thing, and there is a rich vein of good story potential just waiting to be mined.
Sandman wants to go straight, but the heroes don't trust him and Marvel's freak show of a criminal underworld is ready to kill him to keep him quiet about their operations. Maybe the Kingpin or even a throwaway villain like the Wizard can't afford to let a potentially valuable pawn like Sandman remove himself from the board. That's your story, right there.
So, why bring back the Enforcers as villains? Even with two new members, these guys are just as lame, low-powered, and visually uninteresting as ever. If I was writing the first adventure of a super-criminal hanging up his gloves, I would want an opponent that poses a credible threat, like the Shocker or, hell, even Stegron the Dinosaur Man, not some low-level human thugs that no one except a few hard core Marvel zombies care about.
The issue opens with some fun swipes/homages to Spidey’s first battle with Sandy, but it doesn’t do much to raise any eyebrows beyond that. Twelve issues before cancellation this issue was probably a warning sign. Not Defalco’s strongest offering script-wise and the LaRocque/Esposito art doesn’t do anything for me.
Despite the underwhelming start, a reformed Sandman was one change that I wish would have stuck at Marvel. Not because he would be a great, rehabilitated villain to give his own solo series a la Venom or Sabre-Tooth, but because Flint Marko could have been a legitimately interesting supporting character in any number of larger stories.