Marvel Two-In-One #1 Presents:
The Thing and The Man-Thing - “Vengeance of the Molecule Man”

Original Release Date: January 1973

Words: Steve Gerber
Art: Gil Kane
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Jean Izzo
Colors: G. Roussos
Edits: Roy Thomas

What’s this? A newspaper article with a creature named the “Man-Thing” featured? That’s just too close for comfort for the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed guy known as The Thing! Why, how in the world could another creature have a name so similar to his? It’s blasphemy!

If there’s one thing any person that owns a business doesn’t want, it’s an angry Ben Grimm in their store! The Thing doesn’t mean to take his anger out on the store, but this just isn’t going to work out for him! Another creature sullying his name like this?? Well, fortunately, this ain’t just a store, it’s also a bus terminal.

Ben grabs the nervous manager and pulls him close; he wants his ticket to New York cancelled. Instead, he wants to head to where this “Man-Thing” is: Florida. Pronto!

The bus eventually arrives and Ben climbs aboard. The poor manager of the terminal sits down on the sidewalk and wonders why his store had to deal with the likes of that guy. Never again! Hopefully…

On the bus, Ben begins to wonder if he isn’t being a little oversensitive. It doesn’t take long to answer his own question: when ya look like him, a good name’s all you’re gonna have. With some crazy muck-monster in Florida terrorizing the place with so similar a name, well, it just won’t do. He’s gotta protect his interests, ya know?

Elsewhere, at this very time, on a different planet we visit the death bed of the notorious Molecule Man! There, with him, while he relays the story of his existence, is another man: the Molecule Man’s son! Within minutes of recounting his hatred for the Fantastic Four and Earth’s heroes, the original Molecule Man dies.

The son, angry that his father, a man whom should have been king of the universe, would die so early, sets off to put things right. Inside his father’s old laboratory, the son turns the machines on that made his father the powerhouse that he was: the man that could control the very molecules that make up everything! In a matter of minutes, the machines bathe this young man in atomic particles. When the event is over, a new Molecule Man arises, prepared to do the things that his father could not; prepared to destroy the Fantastic Four, in honor of his father!

With a mission in mind, the new Molecule Man teleports to Earth. Unfortunately, instead of reappearing in New York City, home of the Fantastic Four, MM finds himself in the Florida Everglades! Why, he wonders, did he arrive here? Before an answer can present itself, the Molecule Man glances across the swampy area and is shocked to see the horrifying creature known only as the Man-Thing!!!!

Within that instant of shock, the Molecule Man drops his spectacular wand, the very thing that allows him to channel his tremendous power. Suddenly, he begins to shake, his skin begins to whither: he is aging at a rapid rate!

Somehow, the space-time differential between his planet and Earth has caused him to age rapidly! But the wand, that is the answer! It’s the key to staying young; to keeping his power! Forgetting about the creature, MM reaches for the wand, grasps it, and instantly regains his power and youth! Looking back to Man-Thing and realizing this creature does not possess intellect, MM trudges through the swamp past it.

The Man-Thing can only feel the emotions of others; none of his own. It’s a cruel circumstance that brought this monstrous creature to life; even crueler that his life is not much of one. He can, however, become curious; as the Molecule Man passes him by, he follows.

Nearby, a bus is forced to stop; its passenger, Ben Grimm, says this is his stop: a lone bridge on the long stretch of the Everglades. The bus driver initially resists, but The Thing can be… persuasive.

Outside of the bus, Ben jumps over the guard rails of the bridge and lands in the swamp below. Before he can move much further, vines erupt from trees in the swamp, grabbing hold of him. Ben doesn’t have to wonder very long why this is happening: Molecule Man presents himself.

The Molecule Man blocks Ben’s attempts to slug him, but doesn’t much pay attention to the horrendous creature behind him: the Man-Thing. The beast may not have the ability to understand much, but he does know evil; he can sense it. With Molecule Man in front of him, the Man-Thing grabs him up and, with tremendous strength, tosses the villain across the swamp toward the concrete bridge that Ben just came from.

Molecule Man, realizing his death could be upon him, changes the very make-up of the concrete bridge into a foamy substance his body can easily bounce off of. Back on his feet, MM points his wand at the two creatures and blasts. Within an instant, The Thing is turned back into his human form as is Man-Thing into Ted Sallis.

Before their very eyes, MM disappears, announcing his mission to destroy the Fantastic Four! Ted asks what just happened; he has no idea where he is or how he got there. Ben fills the former Man-Thing in on what’s going on, but Ted tells him he just doesn’t remember anything that’s happened.

Elsewhere, the Molecule Man is still in the swamp. For some reason, his wand is malfunctioning; it just won’t get him out of the swamp and to where he wants to be: New York.

Back across the swamp, Ben and Ted make their way. Ted explains that before he turned into Man-Thing, he was working on a secret project at a lab located in the Everglades. He figures if they can reach his lab, he might be able to create something that could defeat MM and save them from returning to their monstrous states.

They walk on through the evening and, instead of finding Ted’s lab, reach the city of Citrusville. As the two stroll through the city, looking for a place that Ted could possible use instead of his lab, they once again find themselves in the presence of the Molecule Man! This time, the nut is using his wand to make the very street come alive and whisk him on his way.

MM recognizes the two and decides to demonstrate for Ben his intent for the Fantastic Four. MM uses his wand to turn a nearby citizen into a faux copy of Reed Richards. The man protests, but MM does not listen as he stretches this poor joe’s body to and fro, before finally murdering him!

Ben, furious over the death of an innocent man, races toward MM, but before he can reach him, the villain points his wand and turns Ben back into the orange rock-monster Thing. Ted Sallis jumps in the way, telling Thing there’s no use, MM is just toying with him! He can’t be beat with brute force! The Thing’s got no use for Ted’s words, so he slings him out of the way.

The force of his landing turns the tables for the normally gentle Ted Sallis; his body twists and morphs into the mindless monster, the Man-Thing! With nothing but vengeance in its mind, the Man-Thing slaps the taste out of the Thing’s mouth. It doesn’t do much to Ben, except make him angry; in the next instant, his fist is sent into the stomach of the Man-Thing and out its backside!

The Thing is surprised to find that the Man-Thing isn’t a creature like one would suspect; he’s truly made of nothing but muck! Ben shakes his head, telling the poor mindless creature that no one should have to live like that.

The Molecule Man marvels at the pity the Thing has over Man-Thing; his laughter rings out. The Thing takes the handful of muck that he received from the punch to Man-Thing and flings it at MM, knocking his precious wand from his hand. Instantly, MM cries out, realizing he is doomed without it; before he can reach it though, he withers away into nothingness!

The Thing picks up the wand, thinking that perhaps he could use it as MM had to turn Man-Thing back into his living self, Ted Sallis. Unfortunately, it just doesn’t work for him.

The Man-Thing turns its back on Ben and makes its way across the city to the swamp, its home. Ben tells a nearby kid to take a look at the only creature in the world that’s got it worse than him.

*****

Another issue in the books for this column, kids. And boy, was it a pretty good one. I hear a lot of people give Marvel Two-In-One some flack for not being that great of a title, but it’s my opinion that it’s pretty good stuff.

This particular tale is exceptionally good. The Thing’s motivation for going to the Everglades to find Man-Thing may be a bit silly, but it fits right in with his character. The Man-Thing is just one poor creature; you end up sympathizing a lot for the beast, especially after he’s turned from Ted back into it at the end of the book.

Who better to write this book than Steve Gerber, who wrote much of the Man-Thing series? You may also be familiar with Steve for creating Howard the Duck (in the pages of Man-Thing, no less!) and the subsequent battle for the rights of the character. With Jack Kirby (who had also been slighted by Marvel) on his side, the two created a memorable book to benefit his suit against Marvel, Destroyer Duck. There’s a good bit of info on the web about that, so Google it if you’re interested.

The legendary Gil Kane is here for the art. If you’re not familiar with Gil, then you’re probably not too familiar with a lot of Marvel stuff from the 70’s. He’s probably best known for his run on The Amazing Spider-Man, having drawn some pretty important issues there. He’s also known for his work on the Silver Age
Green Lantern, where he drew the first appearances of Hal Jordan.

Yet another legend on this book is inker Joe Sinnott, who, by the time he retired, had pretty much inked just about every major title Marvel ever produced.

Marvel Two-In-One isn’t a deep title; nope, it’s actually pretty fun and humorous book (the Thing takes center stage, so it has to be funny!). So, if you’re into the fun stuff that Marvel was doing in the 1970’s, then you’ll probably enjoy it; if you weren’t around for or haven’t experienced the lighter side of 1970’s Marvel, then this is a pretty good place to step in. It’s not too heavy on requiring you know everything about a character, so it’s an easy read.

Anyway, Marvel released a black-and-white, Essential Marvel Two-In-One not too long ago, so if there’s ever an excuse to read it, that’s it!