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Marvel Two-in-One Epic Collection
Marvel Two-in-One Epic Collection, Vol. 2: Two Against Hydra
The ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing is back, alongside the Marvel Universe's greatest stars and one from a world all his own - but first the Thing, the FF, the Invaders and the Liberty Legion travel back in time to World War II to battle the Third Reich! Then comes the Black Sun saga, spanning decades…and the cosmos itself! The action continues when Deathlok arrives on an assassination mission and the Thing must stop him! Thor, Iron Fist, Black Goliath, Nick Fury, the Sub-Mariner, Shang-Chi and Spider-Woman will all enter the fray, but can Mr. Fantastic free Deathlok's mind? And if that's not enough for The Bermuda Triangle sends the Thing back in time and he punches some dinosaurs! Collecting MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE (1974) #20, #22-36 and ANNUAL #1; and FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL #11.
- GenresComics
376 pages, Paperback
Published January 23, 2024
2 people are currently reading
22 people want to read
About the author
Marv Wolfman
2,313 books308 followersMarvin A. "Marv" Wolfman is an award-winning American comic book writer. He is best known for lengthy runs on The Tomb of Dracula, creating Blade for Marvel Comics, and The New Teen Titans for DC Comics.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 27, 2024
Marvel had two long-running Team-Up titles. This one features the Thing, Ben Grimm from the pages of the Fantastic Four, and a different guest-star (just about) each issue. Unfortunately, like most anthologies, there is a balance between the surprisingly good and the astonishingly bad. Some of the writers do come up with some very clever ways a telling a story over multiple chapters, with different guest-stars, but things (sorry about the pun) don’t always work out as intended. This volume features two multi-issue tales, a couple one-offs and then a huge, sprawling, epic 11-issue storyline that is a perfect example of what a team-up title like can be, and also the problems with what this kind of story can cause.
Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 & Marvel Two-In-One #20 - This is an arc that I’ve read so many times, I’ve lost count. Every time I re-read the Fantastic Four or Marvel Two-In-One it will get included. We’ve got the FF, the Watcher, time travel, the Invaders, all wrapped up in saving history from the Nazi’s winning WWII. And that’s ONLY the first part! Then we’ve got the Liberty Legion, more WWII, and more time traveling shenanigans. Roy Thomas writing, with John Buscema and Sal Buscema handling the art. This is a big fun sprawling story that allows a team-up between the FF and the Invaders and then the Thing and the Liberty Legion against a hoard of Nazi baddies.
Marvel Two-In-One #22-23 - This little epic is from Bill Mantlo and Ron Wilson (with some assistance from Jim Shooter on the finale). Sadly, this story isn’t complete in this volume. Issue #21 isn’t included as Marvel doesn’t have the rights to print Doc Savage stories any longer (see Marvel Two-In-One #21 and perhaps someday Marvel will be able to reprint the Doc Savage series they published, see Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, with the addition of this missing issue and Giant-Size Spider-Man #3, it would be a nice collection). The second half of this tale from #22-23 feature Thor and the Egyptian gods. Nothing particularly special about that at arc at all.
Marvel Two-In-One #24 - A typical one-off team-up with Black Goliath by Mantlo, Shooter & S Buscema. It’s nothing special, but it is a fun and fast read. It also sets up the friendship between Grimm and this third Goliath, which will get developed further in upcoming issues.
Marvel Two-In-One #25 - A typical one-off team-up with Iron Fist, this one is by Marv Wolfman and Wilson. Again nothing special here, just a contrived, forced, and cliché ridden team-up.
Marvel Two-In-One #26-36 - This is a big one. One huge, sprawling story that took 11 months to tell and created some pretty awful continuity conflicts for the guest-stars and for the Fantastic Four. But it’s still a really fun story from the talents of Wolfman, Wilson with some help from J Buscema (on one issue) and Ernie Chan (on the final two issues). It all opens with Nick Fury recruiting Grimm to help him deal with the threat of Mentallo and The Fixer. But the scheme of these former HYDRA agents is one dealing with time machines and certain cyborg from an alternate timeline. Then Deathlok tries to assassinate the soon to be inaugurated new president. It takes the help of the Fantastic Four and the Impossible Man to succeed. Then, at Fury’s request, Grimm takes Alicia to London for a vacation and to deliver the Deathlok comatose body to specialist that may be able o help him; except while in route, Grimm stops to help Namor defeat the cloned terror of Pirahna. MTIO #29-32 features the main focus of this large arc that teams Grimm up with Shang-Chi, the first Spider-Woman, and the Invisible Woman, while Alicia’s life hangs in the balance. It then takes a few more issues to tie-up all the loose ends and brings in the likes of Nighthawk (#33), from the Defenders, Modred the Mystic (see Essential Marvel Horror, Vol. 2)(#34), and then a conclusion (#35-36) for the adventures of Skull the Slayer (see: Skull the Slayer). And finally Ben Grimm’s epic 11-part adventure comes to an end (and people are still trying to make sense of the continuity errors even to this day).
Fantastic Four Annual #11, Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 & Marvel Two-In-One #20 - This is an arc that I’ve read so many times, I’ve lost count. Every time I re-read the Fantastic Four or Marvel Two-In-One it will get included. We’ve got the FF, the Watcher, time travel, the Invaders, all wrapped up in saving history from the Nazi’s winning WWII. And that’s ONLY the first part! Then we’ve got the Liberty Legion, more WWII, and more time traveling shenanigans. Roy Thomas writing, with John Buscema and Sal Buscema handling the art. This is a big fun sprawling story that allows a team-up between the FF and the Invaders and then the Thing and the Liberty Legion against a hoard of Nazi baddies.
Marvel Two-In-One #22-23 - This little epic is from Bill Mantlo and Ron Wilson (with some assistance from Jim Shooter on the finale). Sadly, this story isn’t complete in this volume. Issue #21 isn’t included as Marvel doesn’t have the rights to print Doc Savage stories any longer (see Marvel Two-In-One #21 and perhaps someday Marvel will be able to reprint the Doc Savage series they published, see Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze, with the addition of this missing issue and Giant-Size Spider-Man #3, it would be a nice collection). The second half of this tale from #22-23 feature Thor and the Egyptian gods. Nothing particularly special about that at arc at all.
Marvel Two-In-One #24 - A typical one-off team-up with Black Goliath by Mantlo, Shooter & S Buscema. It’s nothing special, but it is a fun and fast read. It also sets up the friendship between Grimm and this third Goliath, which will get developed further in upcoming issues.
Marvel Two-In-One #25 - A typical one-off team-up with Iron Fist, this one is by Marv Wolfman and Wilson. Again nothing special here, just a contrived, forced, and cliché ridden team-up.
Marvel Two-In-One #26-36 - This is a big one. One huge, sprawling story that took 11 months to tell and created some pretty awful continuity conflicts for the guest-stars and for the Fantastic Four. But it’s still a really fun story from the talents of Wolfman, Wilson with some help from J Buscema (on one issue) and Ernie Chan (on the final two issues). It all opens with Nick Fury recruiting Grimm to help him deal with the threat of Mentallo and The Fixer. But the scheme of these former HYDRA agents is one dealing with time machines and certain cyborg from an alternate timeline. Then Deathlok tries to assassinate the soon to be inaugurated new president. It takes the help of the Fantastic Four and the Impossible Man to succeed. Then, at Fury’s request, Grimm takes Alicia to London for a vacation and to deliver the Deathlok comatose body to specialist that may be able o help him; except while in route, Grimm stops to help Namor defeat the cloned terror of Pirahna. MTIO #29-32 features the main focus of this large arc that teams Grimm up with Shang-Chi, the first Spider-Woman, and the Invisible Woman, while Alicia’s life hangs in the balance. It then takes a few more issues to tie-up all the loose ends and brings in the likes of Nighthawk (#33), from the Defenders, Modred the Mystic (see Essential Marvel Horror, Vol. 2)(#34), and then a conclusion (#35-36) for the adventures of Skull the Slayer (see: Skull the Slayer). And finally Ben Grimm’s epic 11-part adventure comes to an end (and people are still trying to make sense of the continuity errors even to this day).
November 25, 2024
More of the Thing + [insert guest character here]. The title actually evolves a bit, as it uses more and more multi-issue story lines. Of course these are paired with walls of summary text blocks.
The book starts with a story that spans two annuals + #20 of the main series. The annuals are awful and I think this story could have been shorted (editors!) and fit into the main book. As such, the annuals drag on and on.
Afterwards #21 is missing, due to licensing, but it is absolutely not necessary!
Next there's a couple of one & done stories, which are nice, but the guest characters picked here are B-Tier at best.
The main part of the volume is a 11 issue continued story. However, the connections are very loose sometimes and each story stands on its own. Some fun, some boring, some bad in here.
My biggest gripe (yet again) is the portrayal of the female characters. Alicia is a damsel in distress, Spider-Woman is absolutely helpless (even though they try to promote her book here) and also Sue Storm is unsure of herself.
My favourites of this volume are: Thing + Shang Chi & Thing + Thor.
All in all this volume was weaker for me than the first, but some fun can be had here.
The book starts with a story that spans two annuals + #20 of the main series. The annuals are awful and I think this story could have been shorted (editors!) and fit into the main book. As such, the annuals drag on and on.
Afterwards #21 is missing, due to licensing, but it is absolutely not necessary!
Next there's a couple of one & done stories, which are nice, but the guest characters picked here are B-Tier at best.
The main part of the volume is a 11 issue continued story. However, the connections are very loose sometimes and each story stands on its own. Some fun, some boring, some bad in here.
My biggest gripe (yet again) is the portrayal of the female characters. Alicia is a damsel in distress, Spider-Woman is absolutely helpless (even though they try to promote her book here) and also Sue Storm is unsure of herself.
My favourites of this volume are: Thing + Shang Chi & Thing + Thor.
All in all this volume was weaker for me than the first, but some fun can be had here.
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August 28, 2024I love some bronze age Marvel but overall, this was pretty meh. It's fun to see what I would guess is some of Ron Wilson's early art, particularly the first issues, and then some great fill-ins by Ernie Chan for the Skull the Slayer wrap-up issues. But the writing seemed kind of phoned-in and I think Wilson was still finding his storytelling chops. Hey but if you like plowing through old 70s Marvel comics, that's what these are...
September 23, 2024
So that's what happened to Skull the Slayer!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews