This & That: Marvel Two-In-One #26

Martinex1: Let me start off by saying, what Redartz and I are about to review is not a great comic.   It cannot be classified amongst the masterpieces by Lee and Kirby, or the seminal work by Claremont and Byrne, or the darker stories by Frank Miller, or any of the Bronze Age top 100.   But this issue and title remain one of my all-time favorites partially because it fit into a very nostalgic memory from my youth and partially because it is just good-old-fashioned Marvel fun from the middle of the 1970s.

Marvel Two-In-One was a second tier book, but it starred one of the icons of modern comic history: Ben Grimm the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing.  I contend that the Thing defined a set of characteristics that were adopted and morphed into many future comic superstars.   Ben had the gruff exterior physically manifested, hiding a heart of gold, a caring nature, and a certain sadness.  He chomped cigars and played poker and tussled with wiseguys from  Yancy Street.   He quipped and bantered and had a handful of catch phrases.   He was the center of the Marvel Universe as a cornerstone of the Fantastic Four as well as a "pal" to a variety of super-folk.  His rocky exterior gave him a singular identity and his personality derived from his look.  It can be explored (perhaps in today's comment discussions) how much he shaped the Marvel Universe and some later arrivals like Wolverine.

MTIO was not always a powerhouse book; it struggled finding a style and an audience.  It probably hit its peak around the Project Pegasus arc with masterful storytelling and art by George Perez and John Byrne.  The earlier chapters were lesser works often with simple concepts and standard execution.   Heck, the first issue of the series hinged on Ben being upset that a swamp monster would dare be called "Man-Thing" thus chipping away at his cultivated identity as the Thing.

But I digress.  The issue in hand is MTIO #26 starring the Thing and Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.   I first picked up this very minor gem in one of those three-pack poly bags at the local Jewel-Osco when I was around age nine.   Much of my end of the review is seen through that prism of early collecting.  The book was cover dated April of 1977 and was scripted by Marv Wolfman with art by Ron Wilson and inks by Pablo Marcos.   It is the first part of a two-part story and it contains a handful of my favorite characters.

Redartz: This book falls into that large category of comics I read once, when purchased off the stand, and then never read again. Upon reading it now, it almost seems like a brand new experience (for good or ill, there is nothing about the book that stuck in my memory).

Martinex1:  When I ripped into the package four decades ago, this book was the middle issue sandwiched between an Amazing Spider-Man and the Invaders.  I couldn't believe that the Thing and Nick Fury had their own book.  I was not worldly enough to understand the team-up concept, but I was familiar with both characters as they had been shared with me in various forms in comics I received from a dear cousin.  

Redartz:  My first thought: the cover is a little weak in my opinion. It seems a bit cluttered, with the logo filling nearly half of the cover, then all the glass shards, and background buildings, and word balloons. The Grand Comic Book Database credits the cover to Wilson and inker Frank Giacoia. Another case of  “maybe a different inker." And perhaps a solid background would have more clearly (and starkly) framed the falling Fury.

Martinex1: I had a different impression and liked the frantic and frenetic nature of the cover.   When I was young I knew of the Thing of course from the Fantastic Four, and I found Nick Fury fascinating as I followed his earlier career in the Howling Commandos and in books like Strange Tales and guest appearances in the Avengers. 

Redartz:  Writer Marv Wolfman has a good feel for the characters and their voices.  One odd thing I noticed, Ben Grimm and Nick Fury have very similar speech patterns; their dialogue could almost be interchangeable. Perhaps that stems, partially, from their shared wartime experience and rough-and-tumble personalities. It makes sense they would have a certain level of friendship


Martinex1:  The two headliners are rather similar; both are hard as nails WWII vets who enjoy a cigar and don't mind telling it like it is.   Not surprising that they would be friends.   They meet in a cute scene in which Ben is chowing down on his fourth pizza when Nick and his sidekick Dum Dum Dugan appear in the pizza parlor and together they ride the counter stools down to a secret S.H.I.E.L.D. lair.  Nick has come to inform his friend that his name has come up in some recent espionage around a couple of career criminals.

Redartz:  The story does have numerous humorous (say that three times fast!) touches, appropriate for a title starring the ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing. From the pizza parlor opening onwards, the tone is one of lighthearted action; building to a more dramatic level towards the end.

Martinex1: I enjoyed the schematic supplied of the layout beneath the pizza shop.   Those were little tidbits Marvel would employ from time to time that I would pour over.  

Redartz:  I agree; those diagrams were helpful to the reader, especially one who may have been less than familiar with S.H.I.E.L.D. 

Martinex1: The big-bads of this piece are the duo of Fixer and Mentallo.  The villains were lower level science and ESP agents tied to HYDRA who planned a S.H.I.E.L.D. coup way back in Strange Tales 142 and 143 (the tale was reprinted in Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. #18).  I was aware of that ancient story as it was amongst the first comics gifted to me.   The villains have an interesting relationship and dichotomy.   The Fixer "can make anything out of anything" as Fury describes it.   And Mentallo is a low-level telepath and manipulator who is enhanced by some of the Fixer's gadgets.  They have both broken out of their prisons and clues reveal they have their eyes set on Ben Grimm.

Redartz:  I vaguely remember the Fixer and Mentallo from those Strange Tales issues years ago, but like the subject book today, it's been too long to recall much. The threat they posed seemed minimal at first, but Wolfman reveals the master plan slowly, and it effectively surprised this reader at the finale. And the two villains do make a rather effective team...

Martinex1:  The creeps set out to capture the Thing but for what purpose is left unsaid.   They fly on futuristic disks up to the Helicarrier and cut a hole in its hull with a cold light torch in order to infiltrate the vessel.   They are fully aware Ben and Nick are on board.

Martinex1: The villains use servo-pods, dastardly devices that latch to the faces of the victims and turn their minds and bodies over to the control of Mentallo. Fixer and Mentallo manage to hook these devices to a herd of S.H.I.E.L.D. agents as well as the Thing, putting them in the driver's seat. I liked that the pods were modifications of a device that Fixer once employed against Nick Fury, but were further designed for more aggressive use. Hey, if it works why change it?

The gang heads back to the Baxter Building, with a mind-wiped Thing still in tow, and attempt to activate Dr. Doom's time machine (man, this issue has everything and a box of cats)!

Redartz: I didn't see the Dr. Doom time machine use coming. And the Fixer's face-grasping devices were painful to watch in action, but were memorable weapons. I did wonder, though, two things:

1) Mentallo referred to a vision from Spider-Man; can't for the life of me think of what he's talking about. Obviously there was some appearance I missed somewhen.

2)  How did the Fixer know to summon Deathlok, of all people, from the future?   Granted, that bit of plot may have been revealed in the next issue. I'll take that on faith.

Martinex1:  I think both of your questions could have been cleared up with an editorial caption box for that panel and statement by Mentallo.   Spidey met Deathlok in Marvel Team-Up #46 just about a year prior. Mentallo picked up on that knowledge from Spider-Man, though the hero himself forgot his travel to the future. That tidbit is a big clue to the final splash page, so maybe they left the note and detail out on purpose.  Avid readers of the titles may have intimated what was to occur.

Speaking of that, Marv Wolfman throws so much comic background, action history, and character quirks, into the dialogue that it was easy to jump into this issue.  In the first pages Ben and Nick's discussion not only establishes their character timelines and relationships but within twenty or so panels establishes the details of S.H.I.E.L.D. workings but also the motivations and the escape processes of the villains.   I commend the way Wolfman packed this issue; he even included the mailman Willie Lumpkin in the Baxter Building scene.

Redartz: Thanks for the clarification there, Marti! Makes more sense now. And  the inclusion of Willie Lumpkin was a very nice touch. Good to see some elements from the mainline Fantastic Four book included in MTIO, from time to time.

Martinex1:  I thought Ron Wilson really carried his weight here.   Some of the facial expressions and frowns are distinctively in Wilson's style, but the action and layouts were well rendered.  I really like the scenes with Fixer and Mentallo floating on the disks and taking down the many guards.   I also liked the dynamic nature of Nick Fury taking charge in the floating headquarters.   And I think that Wilson pencils a nice Thing, very consistently portraying the difficult-to-draw character. 

Redartz:  My impression of  the art, kind of like the story. is that it is generally solid, really sharp in places, and a bit off in others. I enjoy Ron Wilson's pencils, but Pablo Marcos perhaps isn't the best inker for him. It may be the printing, or just my copy, but the art seemed a bit muddy in places. I really liked the panel of the Fixer and Mentallo flying their discs over the snowy peaks (seen above); it had a bit of a Jack Kirby / John Buscema feel. Also the last page appearance of Deathlok was nicely depicted. On the other hand, occasionally Ben's look is somewhat askew.  In this panel, it looks like his eyebrow ridge is coming loose.

Martinex1: Hah! I never noticed that.   I thought Pablo Marcos was okay here.  He keeps some of his scratchy and shadowy inking in moderation.  But I have to say that I think issue #26 is much better than part two in issue #27.   It looks like an entirely different art team there (and not in a good way).  Marcos' inks definitely overtake the pencils in the next issue.

Martinex1:  The mid-story finale comes when the Thing is manipulated to kill Nick Fury leading to the cover scene.   Nick removes the pod from Ben's forehead and ends the risk, but not before the Fixer and Mentallo can enact their plan with the time machine and release Deathlok the Demolisher on the modern world. 

When I first saw that futuristic nightmare I was blown away.   A weird cyborg with an American flag patch and  a couple of rayguns - surely Nick Fury and Ben Grimm were in for some trouble!   Great way to leave me hanging - the heroes were no better off than when they started the adventure; in fact they now had three formidable villains to face instead of just two.

Again I have to give Marv Wolfman credit.  I definitely got at least 30 cents worth of reading in and he had me begging for the next issue (unfortunately that issue would turn out to be a huge letdown on so many fronts). And with the final splash of the first chapter Ron Wilson and Pablo Marcos delivered a punch (and I do say that in the final splash Marcos complimented Wilson well).  I do admit, as I stated above, that nostalgia has bumped up my appreciation of this book.

Martinex1:  Before we share our final thoughts,, here are few brief notes on MTIO issue #27 and the conclusion of this romp because I don't think that issue deserves a full review.   Fixer and Mentallo sic Deathlok on Jimmy Carter (yes President Jimmy Carter) at the 1977 inauguration.   While the premise could be tense, it is entirely mishandled in my opinion.   Nick Fury drops out of the story as the heroes  just seem to shrug off their loss to the villains as "oh well, time to get on with other things."  Ben goes to the inauguration with the rest of the Fantastic Four; coincidentally he attends with little knowledge of the villains' master plans.   And the rest plays out like a fifth-rate FF story.  Even with the "assassinated" Carter turning out to be the Impossible Man - with absolutely no clues of such being left previously.   It is a ham-fisted and rushed tale that shows in the plotting and art.   These two issues are like two very different sides of a coin.   I mention the art because in part two Wilson's characters take on weird poses, strange facial expressions, and odd body shapes.   There is a scene where Ben Grimm in a tuxedo seems to be relatively the same size and shape as Johnny or Reed; there is literally no bulk to him except for his head and hands in a couple of panels.  And here Pablo Marcos goes wild with cross-hatching and shadows and thick lines.  I am not sure if the production was rushed, but it sure gives that impression. 

Martinex1:  The Good:  The first issue is packed with good characterizations, funny banter, and the best use of some B-Level thugs in Fixer and Mentallo.   Both Nick Fury and Ben Grimm seem spot on; their interaction is priceless and they should be teamed like this more often.   The art is good and dynamic with plenty of detail thrown in.

Redartz: The Good: The story reveal. I really was impressed how the plot details were eked out bit by bit, and by Wolfman's obviously thorough knowledge of the characters' backstories.

Martinex1: The Bad:  What happened in the follow-up issue #27?   Everything went wrong in the conclusion.  Maybe too many ideas were crammed into too few pages.  But at the very least they could have had Fury participate a bit more.

Redartz: The Bad: Not  bad, per se, but the art did seem to me to suffer some clunkiness at times.

Martinex1: The Ugly:  Deathlok!  As Ben says, "Cripes!  He's even uglier than me!"

Redartz: The Ugly:  I cringe upon imagining the Fixer's control devices clamping on my face!

Martinex1: So Redartz any final thoughts on this foray into Two-In-One territory?

Redartz:  The story is decent overall; a pretty typical mid-level Bronze Age comic. Another half hour enjoyably spent with a couple old friends.

Martinex1:  So there you have it!  And for all of the BITBA readers out there - what were your memories of this story or MTIO?  Do you find the series to be a nostalgic favorite?  Did it hold up well over the years?   And where does the Thing place in your pantheon of hero classifications?

Cheers! And until Marvel reinvigorates the team-up, make mine BITBA!