Thursday, October 4, 2018

Essential Marvel Two-In-One Volume 4


Volume four completes my run of Marvel Two-In-One. This early 80s series starring the Thing of the Fantastic Four was really entertaining and by the end of this book, I was sad to see ol' Ben Grimm go.

Featuring stories starring some very familiar and some quite obscure guest stars. Just about every story was a winner. Bill Mantlo and Tom DeFalco got very creative in these stories almost exclusively penciled by Ron Wilson.

Some highlights:

The Thing is laid-up in a hospital bed. Mr. Fantastic is fearful that some of the FF's enemies might take advantage of Grimm's grim condition and attack him. As the superhero community goes to visit Thing, they intercept the baddies until there's a massive battle royale outside the hospital!

The Thing and his nephew Franklin Richards are having a fun day together at the local arcade. There, the two meet a video game programmer who accidentally takes The Thing to an alien world that seems an awful lot like the video game he and Franklin were just playing.

Lastly, in a moving story, The Thing and his arch-enemy The Sandman bond over brews while Flint Marko reveals his secret origin. Will this be a crucial turning point for a villain on the edge?

I really enjoyed both this series and this volume. The biggest problem for a few of the stories was the endings. I think the writers had so many ideas that they ran out of space to give a couple adventures adequate endings. On at least several occasions, the fighting lasts until the very last page. If the story was to end on a cliffhanger, that would be one thing. But most of the stories were one-and-done issues.

Great fun, awesome art, and exciting ideas and character. Just a little bit rough on the total plotting.

Worth Consuming!

Rating: 8 out of 10 stars.

No comments:

Post a Comment