{"id":32302,"date":"2025-02-27T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-02-27T09:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=32302"},"modified":"2025-02-26T18:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T18:40:09","slug":"marvel-two-in-one-epic-collection-volume-2-two-against-hydra-1976-1978","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2025\/02\/27\/marvel-two-in-one-epic-collection-volume-2-two-against-hydra-1976-1978\/","title":{"rendered":"Marvel Two-In-One Epic Collection volume 2: Two Against Hydra (1976-1978)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Marv Wolfman<\/strong>, Roy Thomas<\/strong>, Bill Mantlo<\/strong>, Jim Shooter<\/strong>, Ron Wilson<\/strong>, John Buscema<\/strong>, Sal Buscema<\/strong>, Ernie Chan<\/strong>, Marie Severin<\/strong>, Sam Grainger<\/strong>, Pablo Marcos<\/strong>, George Roussos<\/strong>, John Tartaglione<\/strong> & various (MARVEL)
\nISBN 978-1-3029-3176-6 (TPB\/Digital edition)<\/p>\n

This book includes Discriminatory Content<\/strong> produced in less enlightened times.<\/em><\/p>\n

Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. That concept of an established star pairing with, or battling – often both – new or less well-selling company characters was already long established 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>. In those long-ago days, editors were acutely conscious of potential over-exposure – and since super-heroes were actually in a decline they may well have been right.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, after the runaway success of Spider-Man<\/strong>\u2019s guest vehicle Marvel Team-Up<\/strong>, the House of Ideas carried on the trend with a series starring bashful, blue-eyed Ben Grimm<\/em> – the Fantastic Four<\/strong>\u2019s most iconic and popular member – beginning with test runs in Marvel Feature<\/strong> #11-12, before awarding him his own team-up title…<\/p>\n

This second eclectic compendium gathers the contents of Marvel Two-In-One<\/strong> #20 & 21-36, Marvel Two-In-One Annual<\/strong> #1 and Fantastic Four Annual<\/strong> #11, covering October 1976-February 1978. And opens without preamble on a crisis in time.<\/p>\n

Devised and delivered by Roy Thomas, John Buscema & Sam Grainger, Fantastic Four Annual<\/strong> #11 featured portentous time-travel saga \u2018And Now<\/span> Then… the Invaders!\u2019<\/em> wherein Marvel\u2019s First Family dash back to 1942 to retrieve a cylinder of miracle-metal Vibranium. It had somehow fallen into Nazi hands and had begun to unwrite history as a consequence…<\/p>\n

On arrival, the team are embroiled in conflict with WWII super-team The Invaders<\/strong> – comprising rawer, rougher, early incarnations of Captain America<\/strong>, Sub-Mariner<\/strong> and the original, android Human Torch<\/strong>. The time-busting task goes well once the heroes finally unite to assault a Nazi castle where the miracle mineral is secured, but after the quartet return to their own repaired era, only Ben realises the mission isn\u2019t completed yet…
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\nThe action carries over and continues in Marvel Two-In-One Annual<\/strong> #1 as, with the present unravelling around him, Ben blasts back to 1942 again in \u2018Their Name is Legion!\u2019<\/em> (Thomas, Sal Buscema, Grainger, John Tartaglione & George Roussos), linking up with Home Front Heroes The Liberty Legion<\/strong> (collectively The Patriot<\/em>, Thin Man<\/em>, Red Raven<\/em>, Jack Frost<\/em>, Blue Diamond<\/em>, Miss America<\/em> and The Whizzer<\/em>) to thwart Nazi raiders Skyshark<\/em> and Master Man<\/em>, Japanese agent Slicer<\/em> and Atlantean traitor U-Man<\/em> who have united to invade America.<\/p>\n

The battle proves so big it spills over and concludes in Marvel Two-In-One <\/strong>#20 (October 1976) in a shattering \u2018Showdown at Sea!\u2019<\/em>: pitting the heroes against diabolical Nazi scientist Brain Drain<\/em>, courtesy this time of Thomas, Sal B & Grainger.<\/p>\n

In many collections the tale would be followed by Marvel Two-In-One <\/strong>#21 (November 1976), which featured a pairing with legendary pulp superman Doc Savage<\/strong>. This isn\u2019t one of them.<\/p>\n

For years the tale has been embargoed: unavailable for fans due to Marvel having no access to the Man of Bronze\u2019s proprietary rights. To see it, you\u2019ll want to read Marvel Two-in-One Marvel Masterworks vol. 3<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Here we jump to MTIO #22 as Ben contacts physician Dr. Don Blake<\/em>, just as the Egyptian death god attacks Thor<\/strong>\u2019s alter ego in \u2018Touch Not the Hand of Seth!\u2019<\/em> (Bill Mantlo, Ron Wilson & Pablo Marcos): a fantastic cosmic action-extravaganza concluded with the assistance of Jim Shooter & Marie Severin in #23\u2019s \u2018Death on the Bridge to Heaven!\u2019<\/em>…<\/p>\n

The Thing then enjoys a far more prosaic time battling beside neophyte hero Black Goliath<\/strong> as a devastated downtown Los Angeles – and creators Mantlo, Shooter, Sal Buscema & Marcos – ask \u2018Does Anyone Remember… the Hijacker?\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

A new era opens as a much delayed and postponed team-up with Iron Fist, the Living Weapon<\/strong> heralds the start of writer\/editor Marv Wolfman\u2019s lengthy run on the title. Illustrated by Wilson & Grainger \u2018A Tale of Two Countries!\u2019<\/em> sees Ben and the master martial artist shanghaied to the Far East as part of a Machiavellian plan to conquer the island kingdom of Kaiwann. Naturally, they both strenuously object to the abduction…<\/p>\n

The innate problem with team-ups was always a lack of continuity – something else Marvel had always prided itself upon – and Wolfman sought to address it by the simple expedient of having stories connected through evolving, overarching plots taking Ben from place to place and guest to guest to guest. Here the tactic begins with bustling bombast in \u2018The Fixer and Mentallo are Back and the World will Never be the Same!\u2019 <\/em>(illustrated by Wilson & Marcos) uniting Ben with Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.<\/strong> to battle a brace of conniving bad guys trying to steal killer-cyborg-from-an-alternate-future Deathlok<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The good guys spectacularly fail and the artificial assassin is co-featured in #27 as \u2018Day of the Demolisher!\u2019<\/em> sees the now-reprogrammed killer targeting the inauguration of new US President Jimmy Carter<\/em>. This time Big Ben has an alien ace up his sleeve and the hit happily fails…<\/p>\n

The tempestuous Sub-Mariner<\/strong> shares the watery limelight in #28 as Ben and his blind girlfriend Alicia Masters<\/em> ferry the deactivated Deathlok to a London-based boffin for further tests. When they are shot down mid-Atlantic by a mutated fish-man, Ben must battle against and beside Namor<\/em> whilst Alicia languishes \u2018In the Power of the Piranha!\u2019<\/em> (Tartaglione inks). Master of Kung Fu<\/strong> Shang-Chi<\/em> then steps in as Ben and Alicia finally land in London. Inked by Grainger, \u2018Two Against Hydra\u2019<\/em> sees aforementioned expert Professor Kort<\/em> snatched by the sinister secret society before the Thing can consult him: the savant\u2019s knowledge being crucial to Hydra\u2019s attempts to revive their own living weapon…<\/p>\n

As part of Marvel\u2019s compulsive ongoing urge to protect their trademarks, a number of their top male characters had been spun off into female iterations. Thus, at the end of 1976, Ms. Marvel<\/strong> debuted (with a January 1977 cover-date). She-Hulk <\/strong>arrived at the end of 1979 (Savage She-Hulk<\/strong> #1 February 1980) whilst Jessica Drew<\/em> premiered in Marvel Spotlight<\/strong> #32 as The Spider-Woman <\/em>a mere month after Ms. Marvel\u2019s launch. Her cameo appearance in Marvel Two-In-One <\/strong>#29 (July 1977) heralded an extended 6-chapter saga designed as a promotional lead-in to her own series.<\/p>\n

\u2018Battle Atop Big Ben!\u2019<\/em> (#30 by Wolfman, John Buscema & Marcos) has her meet the Thing as she struggles to be free of her Hydra controllers, even as a petty thieves embroil Ben and Alicia in a complex and arcane robbery scheme involving a strange chest buried beneath Westminster Abbey. Unable to kill Ben, the Arachnid Dark Angel kidnaps Alicia, who becomes \u2018My Sweetheart… My Killer!\u2019<\/em> (#31, Wilson & Grainger) after Kort and Hydra transform the helpless sculptor into a spidery monster. In #32\u2019s \u2018And Only the Invisible Girl Can Save Us Now!\u2019<\/em> (inked by Marcos) Sue Storm<\/em> joins the repentant Spider-Woman and distraught Thing in combat to cure an out-of-control Alicia. In the wings, those two robbers continue their campaign of acquisition, accidentally awakening a quartet of ancient elemental horrors…<\/p>\n

It requires the magics of the Arthurian sorcerer Modred the Mystic<\/strong> to help Spider-Woman and Ben triumph over the horrors in the concluding chapter \u2018From Stonehenge… With Death!\u2019<\/em> before a semblance of normality is restored. Back to business as usual in Marvel Two-In-One <\/strong>#34, Ben and sky-soaring Defender<\/strong> stalwart Nighthawk<\/strong> tackle a revived and cruelly misunderstood alien freed from an antediluvian cocoon in \u2018A Monster Walks Among Us!\u2019<\/em> (Wolfman, Wilson & Marcos) before Ernie Chan joins Wolfman to illustrate a 2-part wrap-up to one of Marvel\u2019s recently folded series.
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\nMarvel Two-In-One<\/strong> often acted as a clearing-house for unresolved series and plot-lines, and #35 found Ben dispatched by the US Air Force through a Bermuda Triangle time-portal to a fantastic world of dinosaurs, robots, dinosaurs, E.T.\u2019s and more dinosaurs. \u2018Enter: Skull the Slayer and Exit: The Thing\u2019<\/em> details the short history and imminent deaths of a group of modern Americans trapped in a bizarre time-lost land. Now marooned in the past with them, it takes the intervention of Mister Fantastic<\/em> to retrieve Ben and his new friends in #36\u2019s \u2018A Stretch in Time…\u2019<\/em>, bringing this compilation to a satisfactory halt.<\/p>\n

That yarn ends the narrative thrills and chills for now, but there\u2019s still room for a brief gallery of original art and roughs by Jack Kirby, Frank Giacoia, Wilson, Marcos, Tartaglione, George P\u00e9rez, Joe Sinnott, Klaus Janson & John Buscema to delight and astound.<\/p>\n

These stories from Marvel\u2019s Middle Period are unarguably of variable quality, but whereas some might feel rushed and ill-considered they are balanced by timeless classics, still as captivating today as they always were.<\/p>\n

Even if artistically the work varies from only adequate to superb, 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. So why not lower your critical guard and have an honest blast of pure warts \u2018n\u2019 all comics craziness? You\u2019ll almost certainly grow to like it…
\n\u00a9 2024 MARVEL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Marv Wolfman, Roy Thomas, Bill Mantlo, Jim Shooter, Ron Wilson, John Buscema, Sal Buscema, Ernie Chan, Marie Severin, Sam Grainger, Pablo Marcos, George Roussos, John Tartaglione & various (MARVEL) ISBN 978-1-3029-3176-6 (TPB\/Digital edition) This book includes Discriminatory Content produced in less enlightened times. Above all else, Marvel has always been about team-ups. That concept … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Marvel Two-In-One Epic Collection volume 2: Two Against Hydra (1976-1978)”<\/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":[222,337,290,54,355,117,79,174,213,219,107,249,318,169,155,100],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ant-man","category-deathlok","category-dinosaurs","category-fantastic-four","category-invaders","category-jack-kirby","category-marvel-superheroes","category-nick-fury","category-iron-fist","category-s-h-i-e-l-d","category-science-fiction","category-shang-chi","category-spider-woman","category-spy-stories","category-sub-mariner","category-thor"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-8p0","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302","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=32302"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32307,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32302\/revisions\/32307"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}