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Quote1 Calm thyself mortal. Thy life has not ended yet. Quote2
Hercules

Appearing in "The City Stealers!"

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Synopsis for "The City Stealers!"

Spider-Man is web-slinging across the city, fretting about finding an apartment building. While not far away, Hercules is walking along the docks, remarking on how bizarre the standards are on Earth. Soon two heroes thoughts are disturbed when the entire island of Manhattan begins to shake. While Spider-Man saves the life of a woman who falls out a window of the Empire State Building, Hercules saves a drunk who falls into the water. The quake soon ends quickly as it started. Determined to find out what happened, Spider-Man swings to Empire State University where he changes into his civilian identity of Peter Parker. There he listens in on a meeting being held by Dr. Aldritch, the professor of seismography. There he learns that not only should an earthquake be impossible in this region, they actually experienced two that happened at different points of the city.

Having gotten the answers he needed, Peter departs and changes into Spider-Man once more to investigate one of the locations. Meanwhile, Hercules is assessing the damage caused by the quake along Wall Street when another earthquake begins again. Ripping up the street, Hercules spies a mechanical being drilling into the ground. While at the opposite end of the city, Spider-Man encounters another. When he tries to stop it, his webbing and powers are no match for the armored foe and he is quickly knocked out. When Spider-Man wakes up, he finds himself chained up by these so-called City Stealers along with Hercules.

Unlike Spider-Man, the demi-god allowed himself to be captured in order to find out what these beings were up to. Now that he has been taken to their hideout, he breaks himself free. However, he is felled by an energy blast by one of the City Stealers. Spider-Man demands to know what they have been up to and learns that they have unmoored the entire island of Manhattan and are now tugging it away by a massive submarine. Seeking to stop them, Spider-Man finally breaks free from his shackles just as Hercules is coming around. The pair overpowers their captors and rip apart their armor to find elderly men inside, who claim that they were forced to do the bidding of their masters. With the battle over, Hercules -- miraculously -- pulls the entire island of Manhattan back in place. With the city back, the pair turns their attackers over to the authorities. Before departing, they are visited by the mayor of New York.

Although the mayor thanks them for saving New York, he asks who will fix the various tunnels and bridges. Exhausted after their ordeals, the two heroes depart, telling the mayor to see if Reed Richards might be interested in helping him out with his problem.

Notes

Continuity Notes[]

  • Spider-Man makes mention of the fact that he is looking for a new apartment. He had been living with Harry Osborn from Amazing Spider-Man #46137, after a mental break caused Harry to become the Green Goblin and blow up the apartment they shared. At the time of this story, Peter had been crashing at Flash Thompson's house as seen in Amazing Spider-Man #138. Peter will find a new apartment in Amazing Spider-Man #139.
  • The City Stealers (who were only referred to by that name in the title and on the cover) had secretly been equipped by a group referenced only as They. This group was revealed to be They Who Wield Power in Incredible Hulk #241.
  • At the end of this story, Hercules states that he has dire things to deal with. He is referring to recovering the Runestaff from Kano Than. Those events occur in Thor #231235.
  • The last seven pages of this issue contain story elements (like the villains explaining their plan to steal Manhattan Island to hold it for ransom, the island actually being moved and Hercules single-handedly dragging it back to its spot in New York Bay) that could not possibly have occurred as described. A hint that it perhaps wasn't meant to be taken at face value can be found at the bottom of the last page in the form of a Special Note from Ye Editor which states that that was exactly the way that Merry Gerry had told the story to them and, quite frankly, they weren't sure if they believed it, either. The implausibility of those story elements led to it being included in Marvel No-Prize Book #1 which listed these reasons why it was a plot device that just didn't work:
    • Manhattan Island can float (if severed from its bedrock foundation).
    • The floating island could be pulled through the Narrows even though that strait is smaller than the island is wide.
    • Hercules could tow the floating island back into place.
    • Hercules was stupid enough to put it back with the Battery pointing towards the Bronx.
  • The impossibility of this story caused it to later be partially retconned.
    • In Incredible Hulk #241, the rulers of the hidden city of El Dorado, the triumvirate known as the Brotherhood of They, were holding Bruce Banner captive and secretly planning to use the Hulk's power to reenergize their city's Flame of Life. To that end, Prince Rey taunted Banner by revealing that They had guided many pawns into schemes which caused violent geophysical activity that had stimulated the power of the sacred flame. The prince specifically mentioned that one of their pawns would have split New York City asunder with earthquakes if the man-god Hercules had not braced himself against the city's foundations and absorbed the generated shockwaves with his own immortal body, adding that the son of Zeus had since boasted of his feat in more grandiose terms.
    • In Marvel Team-Up Annual #6, the City Stealers received a page in the gallery of foes from past issues of Marvel Team-Up that was included after the main story. In that profile page, the City Stealers were described as two meek little men who had been given a pair of powerful cybernetic suits of armor by the mysterious group known as "They" and had used them to become earthquake-making extortionists who had threatened to topple Manhattan's mightiest buildings until they had been stopped by Spider-Man and the man-god Hercules. This profile also mentioned that Herc had recounted the story in more outrageous terms.
    • The profile on Damage Control that was published in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z Update #2 mentions the City Stealers as having nearly shaken Manhattan apart with tremors in the hopes of stealing the entire island as plunder and that Damage Control had helped fix the ravaged city.

Publication Notes[]

  • This issue contains a letters page, Mail it to Team-Up. Letters are published from Brian Schuch, Bob Wayne, Evan Peter Katten, Bob Parker, and Eugene Vaughn.

See Also

Links and References

References


  • The Marvel Value Stamp Site [1]
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