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Team-up

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The Shield and the Wizard met in Top Notch Comics #5. It was the first team-up between superheroes.

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

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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] In international comics, the Phantom teamed up with Zigomar in 1939.[3]

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

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In other media

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References

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  1. ^ Reynolds, Richard (1994). Super heroes: a modern mythology studies in popular culture. Univ. Press of Mississippi. p. 129. ISBN 978-0-87805-694-1.
  2. ^ a b Brian Cronin (November 13, 2018). "How Stan Lee Helped Create the Modern Superhero Universe". CBR. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  3. ^ "Zigomar". The Phantom. 2020-07-03. Retrieved 2023-04-20.