Allen Christian looks back at a neglected Marvel classic…
This month saw the return of the Fantastic Four to their own title for the first time in over three years. If you’ve been following along, you’ll know that the road to this revival began late last year with a new book entitled Marvel 2-in-One, starring the Thing and the Human Torch. You are likely even aware that this title references the original Marvel Two-in-One that ran from 1974-1983. The original book is hardly what one would refer to as “obscure” within the comics world, but neither is it a book that is often referenced, or presented as prime reading to younger readers (i.e. anyone that wasn’t buying comics between 1974 and 1983). Given the Fantastic Four revival, as well as Marvel finally beginning to reprint these stories under their “Epic Collection” imprint, now seems as good a time as any to take a look back at this fantastic book, and the comics climate that it lived in.
In the summer of 1970, after nearly nine years and having drawn 103 monthly issues and six annuals, Jack Kirby walked away from the comic book that birthed the Marvel Age. Sure, Stan Lee stayed on as the writer of the Fantastic Four for another couple years, leaving briefly and returning even more briefly, but the magic was dead. John Romita and the Buscemas couldn’t quite bring the flair that “King” Kirby brought to the title he co-created with Lee in 1961. No one could truly replicate the unique combination of cosmic weirdness and heartfelt camaraderie that lay at the core of Lee/Kirby FF. For the next decade, the book changed hands several times, with artists and writers cycling in and out of the book, few staying around more than a year. Most creators did their damnedest to recapture the past glories of the book; an ironic effort, in that the key to the success of Fantastic Four was that it never looked back, and typically only retread old ideas when Lee and Kirby felt they could genuinely bring something new to them. Needless to say, the 70s saw a sharp decline, if not in interest, at least in innovation in the “World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.” No amount of Silver Surfer knock-offs like “Gaard” or convoluted tales of three-way wars across dimensions were really going to cut it.
All of that is not to say that the book did not remain successful. Fantastic Four remained the #2 title in the Marvel line (behind Amazing Spider-Man, naturally), and was the home of fan-favorite character, the Thing. Though financially successful, and arguably still a good comic, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would argue that Marvel’s flagship title wasn’t lost in the post-Kirby wilderness. Meanwhile, the rest of Marvel’s line was experiencing a creative resurgence and an explosion in publication. With publisher and Marvel/Atlas/Timely founder Martin Goodman handing over publishing responsibilities to Stan Lee, the Marvel line grew rapidly. Given the resurgence of classic monster movies in Hammer Films’ horror line, monster comics became big business for Marvel. And with Roy Thomas stepping into Lee’s vacated editor-in-chief title, creators like Steve Englehart, Steve Gerber, and Jim Starlin were given more reign to introduce new and psychedelic concepts, not just to niche titles and characters like Warlock, Man-Thing, and Captain Marvel, but into mainline A-titles like Captain America and Avengers. Cosmic odysseys and existential romps began populating more and more of the Marvel line, while out of place melodrama pairing with recycled Kirby-tech to fill the pages of Roy Thomas’s and Gerry Conway’s Fantastic Four runs. It’s easy to see why the legacy of 1970s FF is mostly one of mediocrity.
However, with the book still selling and the Marvel line expanding, it only made too much sense to bring Aunt Petunia’s favorite nephew into a title of his own. Initially not thought to be the break-out star of the Four (with the success of Spider-Man, Stan Lee thought teenage Johnny Storm was well suited to the task, regularly making him the point-of-view character in the main title, and spinning him off into his own feature in the pages of Strange Tales), Ben Grimm’s cigar-chomping, blue collar sensibilities endeared him to Marvel readers in the pre-Wolverine era. In the summer of 1973, to test the idea of running the Thing in his own title, issue #11 of Marvel Feature saw the replacement of the foundering Ant-Man solo series with a team-up of the Thing and the Hulk, mimicking the format of the successful Spider-Man team-up book, cleverly titled Marvel Team-Up. This initial outing is a dull and senseless retread of the classic Thing vs. Hulk rivalry. It is, however, beautifully illustrated by Jim Starlin, who then pairs up with writer Mike Friedrich in issue #12, teaming the Thing with Iron Man and delving further into Starlin’s ongoing Thanos saga (a key crossover of which will appear in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #2).
With issue #12, Marvel Feature saw cancellation in order to make way for an honest-to-god Ben Grimm solo series… sort of. Marvel Two-in-One Presents the Thing… would continue the team-up book format begun in the last issues of Marvel Feature, meaning our recurring star would perpetually be sharing the limelight with a revolving door of Marvel greats, and more than a few obscure upstarts. With issue #1, the aforementioned Steve Gerber takes up writing duties. Continuing the precedent set by Starlin & Co. in the final issue of Feature, Gerber immediately begins crossing over with his concurrent work on the Man-Thing character. Thing seeks Man-Thing, ostensibly to beat him up for having “Thing” in his name. Of course, the two join forces to fight the Son of Molecule Man, whom they watch age into dust.
Gerber further crosses over his character in issue #2, which is co-headlined by Namor the Submariner, whose solo title Gerber was also writing, and is centered around Wundarr, a Superman analog with the mentality of a toddler, first introduced in Gerber’s Man-Thing feature. For nine issues, Steve Gerber brings his brand of existential weirdness to the “idol o’ millions.” From fighting giant rats with the Sorcerer Supreme, time traveling with Captain America and the Guardians of the Galaxy, hunting hypnotic assassins with Daredevil, hanging out with Asgardians, to spending Christmas with Ghost Rider, Gerber certainly kickstarted the 100 issue series with a lot of flavor. Thereafter, writers would come and go, many doing one-shot issues crossing over with whatever other books they may have been working on at the time. Notables include the ever-underrated Bill Mantlo and the properly rated Marv Wolfman. Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio team up for a few notable runs, as well. There have also been some fantastic one-offs, such as John Byrne’s first Fantastic Four related scripting work in issue #50, a memorable issue where the Thing of the present battles the mushy old Thing of the past.
Art duties for the books start with a revolving door of creators of varying talents. From slawarts like Herb Trimble and Sal Buscema to proficient, if disinterested, industry veterans like Gil Kane and George Tuska. Most notably, however, was the up-and-coming Ron Wilson, who would become the series regular after issue #12, and continue chronicling the exploits of Ben Grimm after the cancellation of MTIO when John Byrne launches a fresh solo title in 1983, eponymously titled The Thing, running for three full years at 36 issues. Were it not for the fact that he followed Jack Kirby on a character that is largely believed to be modeled after Jack Kirby, Wilson’s work on The Thing would have to be considered definitive. Inking duties change often, but as with Fantastic Four, the best and seemingly most regular contributor is Joltin’ Joe Sinnott.
In an era where Marvel comics were handed off from their original creators to a batch of fans-turned-pros, who brought with them new levels of hyper-continuity, morphing their favorite titles into melodramatic soap operas, sweeping space operas, and psychedelic existential screeds, Marvel Two-in-One stood for a hundred issues as a beacon of something increasingly rare, and by the end of its run something nearly extinct: comics for comics’ sake. Sure, the weirdness is here too, but these are pulp stories. There’s even an issue with Doc Savage! If it’s a lengthy, weighty comics saga you’re searching for, this might not be the book for you. If you’re wishing the 70s had been kinder to the Fantastic Four, or you’re just looking for a good ol’ clobberin’ time, scratch up some Two-in-One issues any way you can.
As stated above, Marvel began reprinting these books in color in their new “Epic Collection” format this month. A beautifully printed edition, Volume 1 contains most of the material you would find in Volumes 1 & 2 of the Marvel Masterworks collections, which are all pricey, and Vol. 1 is currently out of print. If you’re a Marvel Unlimited subscriber, I’m afraid their catalog of MTIO is spotty, with only 44 issues and only one of the seven annuals. Though, if you have a bit of patience, issues tend to crop up there a few months after new print editions hit the shelves.
Allen Christian
