Marvel Team-Up is an American comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The series featured two or more Marvel characters in one story. The series was originally published from March 1972 through February 1985, and featured Spider-Man as the lead "team-up" character in all but ten of its 150 issues, and in six of its seven Annuals. It was the first major ongoing spin-off series for Spider-Man, being preceded only by the short-lived The Spectacular Spider-Man magazine. Of the issues that did not star Spider-Man, the Human Torch headlines six issues (#18, 23, 26, 29, 32, 35); the Hulk, four (#97, 104, 105, and Annual #3); and Aunt May, one (#137). Publication of most of the issues starring the Human Torch coincided with that of Giant-Size Spider-Man, an alternate Spider-Man "team-up"-themed series by the regular Marvel Team-Up creative team. When cancelled with #150 in 1985, the title was replaced by Web of Spider-Man. The second series was published for 11 issues from September 1997 through July 1998 and originally featured Spider-Man; Namor the Sub-Mariner was the featured character starting with #8. From 1995 to 1997, a quarterly series titled Spider-Man Team-Up fulfilled much the same purpose as the original title. The third Marvel Team-Up series, written by Robert Kirkman, began publication in January 2005 and frequently featured Spider-Man. This volume often reintroduced lesser-known Marvel characters that had fallen into obscurity. The spirit of Marvel Team-Up was carried on by Avenging Spider-Man and later by Superior Spider-Man Team-Up. Publication history Comics journalist Jonathan Miller summarized Marvel Team-Up in a retrospective article: The series debuted with a March 1972 cover-dated issue featuring Spider-Man and the Human Torch in a story by writer Roy Thomas and artist Ross Andru. Spider-Man and the Human Torch were originally the permanent headliners on the series, but the creators found this format limiting, and after just three issues the Human Torch was dropped in favor of a rotating co-star slot. The main artists on the series for the first several years were Andru, Gil Kane, Sal Buscema, and Jim Mooney. In 1974, Marvel started publishing Giant-Size Spider-Man, which was a quarterly 68-page comic that lasted for six issues which complemented Marvel Team-Up. The series featured team-ups, with each issue featuring a new story with a back-up reprint, except the last issue, which only featured a reprint. Due to the limitations of the typically single-issue team-up stories, the