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Essential Marvel Two-in-One #4
Essential Marvel Two-in-One, Vol. 4
Ben Grimm, the Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing, is back and better than ever in the fantastic final volume of Essential Marvel Two-in-One! Thrill to some of the wildest exploits ever experienced by the Idol of Millions as he journeys around the globe and beyond! From the sands of ancient Egypt to the Canadian wilderness, join Ben and his pals as they participate in everything from micro world melees to championship cosmic bouts. Guest-starring Spider-Man, Alpha Flight, the Sandman, Thor and many more! COLLECTING: MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE 78-98, 100, ANNUAL 6-7
- GenresComicsMarvelComic Book
608 pages, Paperback
First published June 10, 1983
About the author
Tom DeFalco
2,517 books108 followersTom DeFalco is an American comics writer and editor, well-known for his association with Marvel Comics and Spider-Man.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 17, 2019
Very nice collection of the end of the series impressive run. Good stories and art. These were great team up stories that gathered most every hero in the Marvel Universe into some adventure with the Thing over the series run. Recommended
August 1, 2026
The end of the Marvel Two-in-One series. It had its share of bad stories, but was much better than I would have expected. A classic series in its own way.
It was also the place where cancelled comics and unfinished stories came to find completion. Which, added to it's unevenness, but made it interesting in other, often unexpected ways.
It was also the place where cancelled comics and unfinished stories came to find completion. Which, added to it's unevenness, but made it interesting in other, often unexpected ways.
January 14, 2019
The Fantastic Four's "The Thing" goes on a bunch of team up adventures for the last time, and it's generally a fun albeit forgettable mix of convoluted forced set-ups and whimsical wrap ups, but there are some borderline gems hidden amongst the bubble gum fun.
(IF you want nostalgic fun that reminds you of the 1960s Marvel, this is top of the line. Don't come here expecting even John Byrne's FF, let alone like X-Men or something)
The Thing is the constant here, and it's a little silly, as his main hallmarks are his 1950s style one liners and his ability to punch anything. Not going to create award winning depth, but he's a likable and root-worthy protagonist, and so it's a positive feeling I guess. John Byrne got more mileage out of it in the same time frame in his "Fantastic Four". Here, if we touch the pathos of being a Thing instead of a Man, it's only to let it go and go on a brief beat-em-up adventure.
The best stories, like that one story where the Thing is in the hospital and a cavalcade of Marvel heroes have to stop villains from breaking into his room, sort of acknowledge the form and build it to its comic heights.
A lot of the stories are more in the middle, where the Thing seems to be giving a brief audience to B-listers (awesome B-listers I think) like Wonder Man, or Machine Man, or whomever else didn't have their own book for two long, and then they fight some generic baddy and they win, never to meet again.
Even the big stars, like Captain America or X-Men universe guys, seems very forced and almost run of the mill stories that avoid lasting impact or change that'll go to next month.
But even these stories are good, or at least not to leave you in the negative. There are a few duds, like that one annual where they really wanted to launch some Native American type hero, and it just got too prose ridden. Meh. But mostly, fun fluff, but FLUFF all the same.
Ron Wilson drew like every Thing related thing, and I'm always in the mediocre level with his art. But it does justice to all the guest stars, and it has a flow to it. Expect little, get more.
Tom DeFalco was a better writer than the people doing it before, doing some self-referential stuff, trying to build a bigger universe in other issues.
But this is playing it safe, repeating a theme of people who like Ben "The Thing" Grimm. And it's not a bad idea, or executed.
I'm a fan going in and a fan of this too, but be wary based on your enthusiasm.
A self-acknowledged biased 5/5
(IF you want nostalgic fun that reminds you of the 1960s Marvel, this is top of the line. Don't come here expecting even John Byrne's FF, let alone like X-Men or something)
The Thing is the constant here, and it's a little silly, as his main hallmarks are his 1950s style one liners and his ability to punch anything. Not going to create award winning depth, but he's a likable and root-worthy protagonist, and so it's a positive feeling I guess. John Byrne got more mileage out of it in the same time frame in his "Fantastic Four". Here, if we touch the pathos of being a Thing instead of a Man, it's only to let it go and go on a brief beat-em-up adventure.
The best stories, like that one story where the Thing is in the hospital and a cavalcade of Marvel heroes have to stop villains from breaking into his room, sort of acknowledge the form and build it to its comic heights.
A lot of the stories are more in the middle, where the Thing seems to be giving a brief audience to B-listers (awesome B-listers I think) like Wonder Man, or Machine Man, or whomever else didn't have their own book for two long, and then they fight some generic baddy and they win, never to meet again.
Even the big stars, like Captain America or X-Men universe guys, seems very forced and almost run of the mill stories that avoid lasting impact or change that'll go to next month.
But even these stories are good, or at least not to leave you in the negative. There are a few duds, like that one annual where they really wanted to launch some Native American type hero, and it just got too prose ridden. Meh. But mostly, fun fluff, but FLUFF all the same.
Ron Wilson drew like every Thing related thing, and I'm always in the mediocre level with his art. But it does justice to all the guest stars, and it has a flow to it. Expect little, get more.
Tom DeFalco was a better writer than the people doing it before, doing some self-referential stuff, trying to build a bigger universe in other issues.
But this is playing it safe, repeating a theme of people who like Ben "The Thing" Grimm. And it's not a bad idea, or executed.
I'm a fan going in and a fan of this too, but be wary based on your enthusiasm.
A self-acknowledged biased 5/5
October 5, 2018
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.
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.
February 20, 2025
The problem with team up books is that much of the time it depends on how much you like the star character (and with me and Ben Grimm, the answer is A LOT) and how much you like the guest star. And in this book... well... the other books had more gems than flops. On top of that were many multi-issue stories some of them being true epics. While there is some of them border on that... for the most part they are no more than two issue stories. Not only that... most of the stories don't exactly have headliners. There were plenty of stories here that were entertaining enough but felt like 'let's write the last two issues of X characters book... and put The Thing in them. That way if the book gets cancelled, we can add a bit more with him and run it in MTIO.' And there are few stories in this collection that feel like 'we need to house clean away this ongoing plot writer X started in this book... because this character is going to be showing up in title Z, but the new writer doesn't want to deal with it. '
But then there is the bane of Marvel Two-In-One.... issues where Ben teams up with a member of the Fantastic Four. I'm not against the idea in THEORY but I'm generally of the opinion that if a story COULD be an issue of the Fantastic Four than it should be an issue of Fantastic Four.
However, there are plenty of gems in here too. The Thing and Sandman. The annual where he fights The Champion. The issue with Ben in the hospital. But it could have been so much better.
But then there is the bane of Marvel Two-In-One.... issues where Ben teams up with a member of the Fantastic Four. I'm not against the idea in THEORY but I'm generally of the opinion that if a story COULD be an issue of the Fantastic Four than it should be an issue of Fantastic Four.
However, there are plenty of gems in here too. The Thing and Sandman. The annual where he fights The Champion. The issue with Ben in the hospital. But it could have been so much better.
November 9, 2023
What a bittersweet end to the run! I had fallen out of love with comic books by the time that many of these saw their original print and so I was unaware of what transpired as I "put away childish things". As a much older man (approaching 59 y/o), these relics of my youth take on greater importance. I am grateful for the opportunity to revisit and/or read them for the first time. Far too much time has passed for me to want to do a complete catch-up, but volumes like this are well within my wheelhouse. This one was up-and-down, but ended on a memorable note. I would definitely recommend it, especially for fans of the tortured persona of Benjamin J. Grimm, aka The Thing. There are a lot of insights that we would not have been given otherwise.
September 13, 2021
Great ending to a great series
June 19, 2023
Love team up comics!
Back in the day, when I was young, getting into comics and broke, team up books were a way to see a whole bunch of different heroes cheaply.
Marvel two in one was one of the best.
Ben Grimm works great, as he's got an everyman POV of the craziness of the MU, he was a very popular character and had connections to all kinds of corners of the MU, so any story can work without feeling too forced.
Lots of fun big adventures, as well as the comic was used to clean up loose threads from other comic series that got cancelled.
All kinds of great stuff.
Back in the day, when I was young, getting into comics and broke, team up books were a way to see a whole bunch of different heroes cheaply.
Marvel two in one was one of the best.
Ben Grimm works great, as he's got an everyman POV of the craziness of the MU, he was a very popular character and had connections to all kinds of corners of the MU, so any story can work without feeling too forced.
Lots of fun big adventures, as well as the comic was used to clean up loose threads from other comic series that got cancelled.
All kinds of great stuff.
September 23, 2023
Sometimes I think that I am jaded and cynical and too hard on Marvel these days. Gosh, maybe my tastes have changed and I am “over” superhero comics. Then I'll read something like this book, which is material that I have mostly never read before, and it becomes apparent to me that I am not over superhero comic books, it's that many modern Marvel Comics simply suck balls.
This series is the yin to Marvel Team-Up's yan. The Thing teams up with random second stringers each month, and the series has a real supporting cast for a while. The general vibe of this series is offbeat. Pretty much anything goes. I really enjoyed how this weaved in and out of ongoing Fantastic Four plotlines. I also enjoyed how the Thing's temper kept getting him in trouble.
Tom DeFalco writes the bulk of the issues collected in this book, and he is something of a Marvel scholar. DeFalco studied at the altar of Silver Age Marvel and learned the lessons of Stan Lee well. He knows what makes these heroes tick and he knows how to expand on continuity without making it the focal point of the story. It sounds so simple to do but is actually quite difficult to pull off.
Most of the artwork is handled by the team of Penciler Ron Wilson and Inker Chic Stone. Wilson stuck around even after this series was cancelled and relaunched a few months later as The Thing. Both provide excellent, “true” Marvel house style art.
This is the fourth and final book in this line. Aside from the licensed issues being omitted*, we have the entire run collected. Vol. 1 of the Marvel Masterworks line was released a year or so ago. It would take at least 8 more volumes to collect this entire series in that format. Bring it!
*#99 is omitted from this collection due to the fact that it has ROM, Spaceknight in it.
These chunky 500 page black and white phonebooks are the height of pre-2003 trade paperbacks, meaning that they are ever so slightly shorter than standard trade paperbacks. Most sane folks wouldn't notice such a thing...
This series is the yin to Marvel Team-Up's yan. The Thing teams up with random second stringers each month, and the series has a real supporting cast for a while. The general vibe of this series is offbeat. Pretty much anything goes. I really enjoyed how this weaved in and out of ongoing Fantastic Four plotlines. I also enjoyed how the Thing's temper kept getting him in trouble.
Tom DeFalco writes the bulk of the issues collected in this book, and he is something of a Marvel scholar. DeFalco studied at the altar of Silver Age Marvel and learned the lessons of Stan Lee well. He knows what makes these heroes tick and he knows how to expand on continuity without making it the focal point of the story. It sounds so simple to do but is actually quite difficult to pull off.
Most of the artwork is handled by the team of Penciler Ron Wilson and Inker Chic Stone. Wilson stuck around even after this series was cancelled and relaunched a few months later as The Thing. Both provide excellent, “true” Marvel house style art.
This is the fourth and final book in this line. Aside from the licensed issues being omitted*, we have the entire run collected. Vol. 1 of the Marvel Masterworks line was released a year or so ago. It would take at least 8 more volumes to collect this entire series in that format. Bring it!
*#99 is omitted from this collection due to the fact that it has ROM, Spaceknight in it.
These chunky 500 page black and white phonebooks are the height of pre-2003 trade paperbacks, meaning that they are ever so slightly shorter than standard trade paperbacks. Most sane folks wouldn't notice such a thing...
May 17, 2012
In the 1970s, there were few comic series that could match the scope of imagination and the not-knowing-where-you'll-end-up nextness like MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE. I was fortunate enough to read a few issues in my childhood from my older brother's comic collection, but now that I am an adult I am able to collect the series for myself. I will begin by saying that the Thing was always my favorite Marvel character. That having been said...
The fourth edition of MTIO was an enjoyable and fun read. It helps illustrate (no pun intended) why the 1970s Marvel Comics are among my favorites. The Thing continues to go through life, unaware of the adventures he will find outside his membership in the Fantastic Four and the characters that Marvel pairs him up with are as interesting as the stories contained within this volume. I appreciated the feeling of fun while reading this...something I am increasingly aware thatthe comics industry has often pounded out of their finished material in more modern times. The stories are themselves, sometimes dated...but overall the direction that the Thing is taken is like the feeling you get when you remember those special moments in your childhood where you hope that the feeling could never end.
Not for everyone, as the complexities of the stories begin to depend heavily on Marvel history, what has gone on before and in other comic series. If you can overlook this, MTIO Volume 4 makes for a welcome addition to the Essential MTIO collection.
The fourth edition of MTIO was an enjoyable and fun read. It helps illustrate (no pun intended) why the 1970s Marvel Comics are among my favorites. The Thing continues to go through life, unaware of the adventures he will find outside his membership in the Fantastic Four and the characters that Marvel pairs him up with are as interesting as the stories contained within this volume. I appreciated the feeling of fun while reading this...something I am increasingly aware thatthe comics industry has often pounded out of their finished material in more modern times. The stories are themselves, sometimes dated...but overall the direction that the Thing is taken is like the feeling you get when you remember those special moments in your childhood where you hope that the feeling could never end.
Not for everyone, as the complexities of the stories begin to depend heavily on Marvel history, what has gone on before and in other comic series. If you can overlook this, MTIO Volume 4 makes for a welcome addition to the Essential MTIO collection.
September 16, 2013
Si tratta di storie inedite in Italia. Per lo più storie gradevoli, ma penalizzate dall'aspetto grafico spesso non all'altezza. Comunque una buona lettura consigliata agli amanti della continuity marvel.
July 24, 2014
Fun stuff. This was one of the more inventive series the early 80's, the team-up format and the character if The Thing giving the writers free rein to play with different comic book genres and situations.
June 23, 2015
#84 only.
November 4, 2020
Shanga the star dancer
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews