Letters from Marvel
Two-In-One #50, April 1979
The Ever Lovin, Blue-Eyed Letters Page!
Dear people,
Pretty nice.
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #45…“The
Andromeda Rub-Out” wasn’t spectacular, but it was a fairly
good story. I didn’t guess who the Al Capone-type was until the very
end, although all the clues were certainly there. And this old
Fantastic Four villain naturally would have been a grudge against
any Kree, so Captain Marvel fit in very well. Al Kupperberg’s art
could have been better, but it really wasn’t bad. Very little to
complain about, actually…this mag is improving.
Okay, now for a few suggestions vis-à-vis future guest stars: the
Beast, Ms. Marvel, Hellcat, Machine Man, the Eternals, Jack of
Hearts, Doctor Doom, Medusa, Valkyrie, and Phoenix.
And as for villains, how about the Trapster, the Wizard, the
Acrobat, Dr. Octopus, the terrible trio of Bull Brogan, Swami Dakar,
and Handsome Harry Phillips…or maybe Iron Man’s old foe, the
original Doctor Strange?
Let us learn a little more about Ben’s past and his family. Does he
have any living relatives? Is Aunt Petunia still alive? Why does the
Yancy Street Gang hate Ben Grimm so much?
Why not let MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE develop its own supporting cast? After
all, it need not interfere with Ben’s FF adventures.
Al Schroeder
Nashville, TN
Some interesting ideas,
Al…especially as they’re not too far removed from what we have
planned for future TWO-IN-ONE tales. In just a couple of issues,
Big Ben’s mag will pick up a whole menagerie of supporting
characters. As a matter of fact, upcoming plotlines are so
downright wog-boggling, that we just can’t keep them secret
anymore! And so…
We interrupt this letters page for a
very special announcement.
With fifty fascinating issues of
MTIO under our belts, we’ve only just begun to come up with wilder
and more off-beat situations for our bashful, blue-eyed Thing. And
that’s not even to mention the wide array of ever-exotic
guest-stars!
MTIO #51, on sale in just thirty
days, teams the Thing with not one, not two, but three of the
mighty Avengers in a far-flung episode that begins at Avengers’
Mansion and goes sky high before it’s over. And as if that’s not
enough, this little yarn also features Colonel Nick Fury and the
Agents of Shield. It’s called “Full
House, Dragons High!” and it’s imagineered by Peter
Gillis, Frank Miller, and Bob MacLeod.
And then, MTIO #52 takes off with “A Little Knight Music!”, as
Benjy joins forces with the mysterious Moon Knight! And
whether you’ve thrilled to the adventures of the Crescent Crusader
in THE HULK color magazine, in MARVEL SPOTLIGHT, in SPECTACULAR
SPIDER-MAN, or in WEREWOLF BY NIGHT…or even if you’ve never seen
Moonie before…we really think you’re going to get off on this tale
of men, machines, and mayhem by Steven Grant and Jim Craig.
All of which brings us to perhaps
the most astounding, most ambitious undertaking in the history of
MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE. Beginning with issue #53, the Thing embarks of
a frankly fabulous six-part saga involving Wundarr, Thundra, and
the bizarre goings-on at Project Pegasus! That’s right, the U.S.
energy research center first introduced in MTIO #42 is still the
scene of danger and intrigue…and it’ll be drawing Aunt Petunia’s
favorite nephew into the most delightfully different adventure of
his career! In fact, it’s so different, that it takes two writers
to tell the tale! Ralph Macchio and Mark Gruenwald are the scribes
in question…and the art will be handled by the one and only John
Byrne!
So if you get the idea that 1979 is
going to be a big year for MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE…well, we must
modestly concur.
Dear Marvel,
I just noticed there is no Comics Code Authority seal on the cover
of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #45.
Okay, what did you guys do this time? There was no mention of drugs,
and since the story did not contain excessive violence, it must have
contained too much sex. I guess the Thing should stop dating
Alicia…or at least start wearing a t-shirt.
Seriously, why was the seal missing? Was it some nit-picking point
that the CCA brought up? Or was it just an error on the part of
someone in layout?
As for the story…very nice. I like seeing stories that tie up old
storylines and recap old plots, as I am a recent convert to Marvel,
and stories like these help me catch up on the fifteen years of
Marvel magic that I missed.
Bill Seligman
Brooklyn, NY
Actually, Bill, all that happened
was that the CCA seal fell off somewhere between the Bullpen and
our printers. (But we must admit, the idea about the t-shirt is
interesting!)
Dear Marvel,
One aspect of MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #47 that caught my attention was the
great usage of Marvel continuity. The references to the other
magazines (INCREDIBLE HULK, DEFENDERS, FF) served to bring the
divergent Hulk and Thing storylines together. Other good touches
were the inclusion of Karen Page (with her mention of Delazny
Studios) from the earlier issues of GHOST RIDER, and the Howard the
Duck look-alike.
As for the artwork though, Alan Kupperberg didn’t quite match his
writing this issue. While Ben Grimm was as good as many of his other
interpretations, the other members of the F.F. appeared thin and
drawn, as if they hadn’t eaten in two weeks. Bruce Banner looked
like a young college student instead of an older scientist. And the
Hulk, I grant you, may get angry quite often, but he shouldn’t
appear as if he has just escaped from an insane asylum.
Mark Ellis
Newark, DE
Sorry the art wasn’t to your
liking, Mark. But what do you think of this issue’s team of Byrne
and Sinnott? Let us know, okay?
Note: Again, Roger Stern was the
editor here.
