{"id":28205,"date":"2023-06-26T09:00:52","date_gmt":"2023-06-26T09:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=28205"},"modified":"2023-06-22T17:26:31","modified_gmt":"2023-06-22T17:26:31","slug":"marvel-two-in-one-masterworks-volume-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2023\/06\/26\/marvel-two-in-one-masterworks-volume-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Two-In-One Masterworks volume 6"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\" \"\"\"\"
\nBy\u00a0Mark Gruenwald<\/strong>, Ralph Macchio<\/strong>, Jerry Bingham<\/strong>, Ron Wilson<\/strong>, George P\u00e9rez<\/strong>, Michael Netzer<\/strong>, Frank Springer<\/strong>, Gene Day<\/strong>, Pablo Marcos<\/strong>, Chic Stone<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN: 978-1-3029-3293-0 (HB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing, or battling (often both) with less well-selling company characters – was not new when Marvel awarded their most popular hero the same deal DC had with Batman<\/strong> in The Brave and the Bold<\/strong>. Although confident in their new title, they wisely left options open by allocating an occasional substitute lead in The Human Torch<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

In those distant days, editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since superheroes were actually in a decline, they may well have been right.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, after the runaway success of Spider-Man<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong>s guest vehicle Marvel Team-Up<\/strong>, the House of Ideas carried on the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm<\/em> \u2013 the Fantastic Four<\/strong>\u2019<\/strong>s most popular star. They began with a brace of test runs in Marvel Feature<\/strong> #11-12 before awarding him his own team-up title, with this sixth stirring selection gathering the contents of Marvel Two-In-One <\/strong>#61-74, covering March 1980-April 1981.<\/p>\n

Preceded by a comprehensive and informative reverie in Ralph Macchio\u2019s Introduction, the action resumes with the title continuing to rectify its greatest flaw. The innate problem with team-up tales was always a lack of continuity – something Marvel always prided itself upon. Writer\/editor Marv Wolfman had sought to address this during his tenure through the simple expedient of having stories link-up through evolving, overarching plots which took Ben from place to place and from guest to guest. The trick was perfected in the vast-scaled, supremely convoluted saga known as The Project Pegasus Saga<\/strong> – as featured in the previous volume.<\/p>\n

A stellar epic began in #61 with \u2018The Coming of Her!\u2019 <\/em>(by Mark Gruenwald, Jerry Bingham & Gene Day) as time-travelling space god\/31st<\/sup> century Guardian of the Galaxy Starhawk<\/em> became embroiled in the birth of a female counterpart to artificial superman Adam Warlock<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The distaff genetic paragon awoke fully empowered and instantly began searching for her predecessor, dragging Ben Grimm\u2019s girlfriend Alicia<\/em> Masters <\/em>and mind goddess Moondragon<\/strong> across the solar system, arriving where issue #62 observed \u2018The Taking of Counter-Earth!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Hot on their heels, The Thing and Starhawk catch Her just as the women encounter a severely wounded High Evolutionary<\/em>, and discover the world so carefully built and casually discarded by that self-created science god has been stolen\u2026<\/p>\n

United in mystery, the strange grouping follow the planet\u2019s trail out of the galaxy and uncover the incredible perpetrators but Her\u2019s desperate quest to secure her predestined, purpose-grown mate ends in tragedy when she learns \u2018Suffer Not a Warlock to Live!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

Clearly on a roll and dedicated to exploiting Marvel Two-in-One\u2019<\/strong>s unofficial role as a clean-up vehicle for settling unresolved plotlines from cancelled series, Gruenwald & Macchio then dived into \u2018The Serpent Crown Affair\u201d <\/em>in #64.<\/p>\n

\u2018From the Depths\u2019 <\/em>(illustrated by P\u00e9rez & Day) sees sub-sea superhero Stingray<\/em> approach FF <\/strong>boffin Reed Richards<\/em> in search of a cure for humans who had been mutated into water-breathers by Sub-Mariner<\/strong> foe Doctor Hydro<\/em>: a plotline begun in 1973 and left unresolved since the demise of the Atlantean prince\u2019s own title.<\/p>\n

Richards\u2019 enquiries soon found the transformation had been caused by The Inhumans<\/strong>\u2019 Terrigen Mist, but when he had Ben ferry the mermen\u2019s leader Dr. Croft<\/em> and Stingray to a meeting, the trip was cut short by a crisis on an off-shore oil rig, thanks to an ambush by a coalition of snake-themed villains.<\/p>\n

The \u2018Serpents from the Sea\u2019 <\/em>(art by Bingham & Day) were attempting to salvage dread mystic artefact the Serpent Crown<\/em>, and would brook no interference, but luckily the Inhumans had sent out their seagoing stalwart Triton<\/em> to meet the Thing\u2026<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, alternate-Earth \u201cFemizon\u201d Thundra<\/em> had been seeking the men responsible for tricking her into attacking Project Pegasus but had fallen under the spell of sinister superman Hyperion<\/em> – a pawn of corrupt oil conglomerate Roxxon<\/em>. At that time, their CEO Hugh Jones<\/em> possessed – or had been possessed by – the heinous helm\u2026<\/p>\n

With the situation escalating, Ben had no choice but to call in an expert and before long The Scarlet Witch<\/strong> joins the battle: her previous experience with the relic enabling the heroes to thwart the multi-dimensional threat of \u2018A Congress of Crowns!\u2019 <\/em>(P\u00e9rez & Day) and a devastating incursion by diabolical primordial serpent god Set<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n

With Armageddon averted, Ben diverted to Pegasus to drop off the now-neutered crown in #67 and found old ally Bill Foster<\/em> had been diagnosed with terminal radiation sickness due to his battle with atomic foundling Nuklo<\/em>. Thundra, seduced by promises of being returned to her own reality, wises up in time to abscond from Roxxon in \u2018Passport to Oblivion!\u2019 <\/em>(Gruenwald, Macchio, Ron Wilson, Day & friends), but hasn\u2019t calculated on being hunted by Hyperion. Although outmatched, her frantic struggle does attract the chivalrous attentions of Ben and superhero-neophyte Quasar<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n

Marvel T-I-O<\/strong> #68 shifted gears with The Thing meeting former X-Man<\/strong> The Angel<\/em> as they stumble into – and smash out of – a mechanise murder-world in \u2018Discos and Dungeons!\u2019 <\/em>(art by Wilson & Day), after which \u2018Homecoming!\u2019 <\/em>finds Ben contending with the time-lost Guardians of the<\/strong> Galaxy<\/strong> whilst striving to prevent the end of everything. The proximate cause is millennial man Vance Astro<\/em> who risks all of reality to stop his younger self ever going into space\u2026<\/p>\n

Issue #70 offered a mystery guest team-up for \u2018A Moving Experience\u2019 <\/em>(Gruenwald, Macchio, Mike Nasser\/Netzer & Day) as Ben is again mercilessly pranked by old frenemies The Yancy Street Gang<\/em>, and ambushed by genuine old foes when he helps Alicia move into new digs. Then, the so-long frustrated Hydromen finally get \u2018The Cure!\u2019 <\/em>(Wilson & Day) after Ben and Reed travel to the Inhuman city of Attilan.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sadly, a cure for the effects of Terrigen is also a perfect anti-Inhuman weapon, and when the process is stolen by a trio of freaks, the trail leads to a brutal clash with a deadly Inhuman renegade wielding \u2018The Might of Maelstrom\u2019 <\/em>(Gruenwald, Macchio, Wilson & Chic Stone). The pariah is intent on eradicating every other member of his hidden race and just won\u2019t stop until he\u2019s done\u2026<\/p>\n

In Marvel Two-In-One <\/strong>#73, Macchio, Wilson & Stone tie up loose ends from the Pegasus epic as Ben and Quasar pursue Roxxon across dimensions to another Earth where the rapacious plunderers have enslaved a primitive population and begun sending their pillaged oil back here via a \u2018Pipeline Through Infinity\u2019 <\/em>(#74), whilst Gruenwald, Frank Springer & Stone celebrate the festive season with \u2018A Christmas Peril!\u2019 <\/em>as Ben and the Puppet Master<\/em> are drawn into the Yuletide celebrations of brain-damaged, childlike, immensely powerful Modred the Mystic<\/em>\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Fiercely tied to the minutia of Marvel continuity, these stories from Marvel\u2019s Middle Period are certainly of variable quality, but whereas some might feel rushed and ill-considered they are balanced by some superb adventure romps still as captivating today as they ever were.<\/p>\n

Bolstered by house ads and original art and covers by Bingham, Day & P\u00e9rez; with biographies for the legion of creators contained herein. Most fans of Costumed Dramas will find little to complain about and there\u2019s lots of fun to be found for young and old readers.
\n\u00a9 2021 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio, Jerry Bingham, Ron Wilson, George P\u00e9rez, Michael Netzer, Frank Springer, Gene Day, Pablo Marcos, Chic Stone & various (MARVEL) ISBN: 978-1-3029-3293-0 (HB\/Digital edition) Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. The concept of team-up books – an established star pairing, or battling (often both) with less well-selling company characters … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Marvel Two-In-One Masterworks volume 6”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[222,54,182,189,72,79,231],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ant-man","category-fantastic-four","category-guardians-of-the-galaxy-graphic-novels","category-inhumans","category-marvel-masters-masterworks","category-marvel-superheroes","category-the-thing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-7kV","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28205","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28205"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28205\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28211,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28205\/revisions\/28211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}