Marvel Two-In-One #1-5

Marvel Two-In-One #1-5

Originally released in 1974

Written by Steve Gerber

Art by Gil Kane (#1-2), Sal Buscema (#3-5)

I decided to follow up yesterday's Swamp Thing comic with a look at his Marvel counterpart, Man-Thing. (both characters were created around the same time, and their creators were roommates)  I picked the second-most innuendo-laden Marvel comics title that I could think of, "Marvel Two-In-One Presents: The Thing and Man-Thing." (the most innuendo-laden title being "Giant-Size Man-Thing")

The Thing must have been really popular in the seventies, to get an entire book dedicated to having him travel the Marvel universe and cross paths with a ton of superheroes from just about every walk of life. (if someone was going to get a book like that, I figured it would be Spider-Man)  His encounters range from street level superheroes like Daredevil, to the mystic corner of the Marvel universe with Man-Thing, to warriors of the distant future of 3014 with the Guardians of the Galaxy. (not Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon, and company - this group includes Yondu, and Captain America is an almost mythological symbol that they named their spaceship after)

The first issue has the Molecule Man's son traveling to Earth to seek revenge on the Fantastic Four, who were responsible for the Molecule Man being banished to a section of space that caused him to rapidly age until he died.  I'm not sure how that will be explained given that the Molecule Man is alive in Secret Wars roughly a decade later; Molecule Man's son also falls victim to the rapid aging and dies by the end of the issue, so he doesn't become the new Molecule Man. (maybe he's some sort of disembodied consciousness)

Despite the similar backstories and concepts (both Swamp Thing and Man-Thing were scientists who were caught in fatal accidents, fell into a swamp, and became beings of plant life), Man-Thing differs in one key aspect - unlike Swamp Thing, he doesn't really have a consciousness, acting on impulse and barely having any thoughts at all.

I'm not sure if Steve Gerber dislikes Superman, or if he came up with a humourous parody that he wanted to use.  Issue 2 includes Wundarr (who had been introduced in Man-Thing), a character with a backstory that's almost identical to Superman aside from two key differences.  The Krypton stand-in didn't explode despite the warnings of Wundarr's scientist father, and Wundarr was kept in an isolation pod for 22 years, so he has the developmental skills of an infant. (it gets more than a little awkward when Namorita, Namor's cousin, is attracted to him, though this was before finding out that his language and understanding are akin to a toddler)

For the second, third, and fourth issues, Ben effectively has to look after him, though I guess they figured that this wasn't working, because Namorita takes over as Wundarr's caretaker at the start of issue 4.  Beyond that, the series has roughly been what one would expect - the Thing fights alongside or against various superheroes, mostly in New York.

Gerber has a good handle on Ben's voice, and it seems like there's no shortage of potential ideas for him to work with.  The art is consistent, and some of the sound effects that are used (like "THWAMO") are entertaining.  Some of the plot points tie into other series, such as Black Widow being brainwashed by a cult in the Daredevil crossover, though this series doesn't dwell on it.  There are occasionally issues in this series where one story leads into another, though, with issue 4 having the Thing team up with Captain America and issue 5 having Captain America and the Thing go into the future in order to meet the Guardians of the Galaxy and save the New York of 3014 from the Badoon Empire.

These issues were exactly what I expected, and I had a good time with reading them.  While I do like being surprised and having my expectations messed with, there are times where I'm in the mood for something more straightforward, and this definitely fit that bill.  It was almost relaxing, in a way.