team-up
{{Short description|Collaboration between two different superheroes in a same comic book}}
File:Shield and Wizard.JPG 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.{{cite book |last=Reynolds |first=Richard |date=1994 |title=Super heroes: a modern mythology studies in popular culture |publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi |page=129 |isbn=978-0-87805-694-1}}
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.{{cite web |url= https://www.cbr.com/marvel-comics-universe-stan-lee/|title= How Stan Lee Helped Create the Modern Superhero Universe|author= Brian Cronin|date= November 13, 2018|publisher= CBR|access-date=November 13, 2018}} In international comics, the Phantom teamed up with Zigomar in 1939.{{Cite web |date=2020-07-03 |title=Zigomar |url=https://thephantom.fan/comics/zigomar/ |access-date=2023-04-20 |website=The Phantom |language=en}}
The team-up was an important worldbuilding narrative device, one that allowed for the creation of a shared universe concept.
Select comics with team-ups
{{Main category|Team-up comics}}