The Thing is not having a good day. He’s landed in an alternate reality where Dr. Doom used the Ovoid trick to become Galactus and consumed the universe itself, something has happened to that world’s Human Torch that no one will talk about, and Mr. Fantastic has become a depressed, despondent shell of the man we know. What more can possibly happen? As King Kirby might have said, “Don’t ask, just read it!”
MARVEL 2-IN-ONE #5
Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Penciler: Valerio Schiti
Inker: Valerio Schiti
Colorist: Frank Martin
Publisher: Marvel Comics
What You Need to Know:
Last time, Ben, Johnny, and Rachna’s search for Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman took them to an alternate Earth where the story we know as the original “Galactus Trilogy” ended with the Thing dead, the Torch missing, and Dr. Doom inhabiting the body of Galactus with all of Galactus’s power—and all of his hunger! Doom’s triumph left the universe an almost empty blackness, the Fantastic Four destroyed—and Reed Richards a broken man.
What You’ll Find Out:
Shocked, horrified, and angry at the state of affairs in this alternate world, Bashful Ben totally wails on the bearded and bedraggled counterpart of Reed until alter-Reed snaps and pours out his despair over the impending return of Doom-as-Galactus. Just then, who should show up but Sue Richards, Director of SHIELD, at first looking almost like a Jim Steranko woman with her hair falling down over one eye. (Which begs the question of what happened to Nick Fury in this world. Did he morph into Samuel L. Jackson and get zapped into fairy dust like Mace Windu? But I digress.)
Meanwhile, Johnny gets on the comm link to Rachna, who last issue ran off on a scavenger hunt after the source of some mysterious energy readings, and tells her to high-tail it back to SHIELD Headquarters. Rachna’s search has brought her to the hospital room of an unknown, comatose figure. But we’ve no time to sort that one out now. Back at SHIELD, we get a sweet moment with alter-Sue having a “reunion” with our Johnny before all hell breaks loose.
The sky over Manhattan is full of silver Dr. Dooms on surfboards—“the Heralds of Doom!” They’re battling a mixed assortment of Marvel super-heroes wearing SHIELD insignia, prompting this strangely recombined FF made up of half of “our” FF and half of the FF of this other world to go into action. There’s a nice little moment when the Ms. Marvel of this world gapes, in complete, wide-eyed wonder at them, calling out their name: “It’s them…THE FANTASTIC FOUR!” She even says their name in a display-type logo font; not the real Fantastic Four logo, but a logo, which impresses upon us that she understands she is not looking at just any heroes; she knows she is beholding THE heroes—the ORIGINAL ones. She is suitably gobsmacked at being in the presence of THE FANTASTIC FOUR themselves, knowing them for the heroes among heroes that they are. We’ll get back to that in a moment.
The silver Dooms have come to herald “the Grand Devouring,” which can’t mean anything good for Earth. In the course of the battle, the Thing reveals that the Torch’s powers and his own strength are fading (after Reed saves Johnny from a sudden flame-out) because of the entanglement of the FF’s powers and their separation from “our” Reed and Sue. That’s when Rachna shows up with yet another surprise: the Dr. Doom from our world has somehow followed her, the Thing, and the Torch to this world! Exactly how he managed this is not stated, but we remember that the last time we saw “our” Doom he was rudely shunted away to Antarctica after getting too close to the Mad Thinker’s current plans, a subplot to whose follow-up I’m looking forward. Wolverine, who is an insufferably bloodthirsty and vulgar little runt in this world the same as in ours, tries to jump Doom, and it is another satisfying moment when Doom simply wraps him up in an energy vortex, effectively tossing him in the trash can. Good riddance to bad rubbish. So, the “reformed” Dr. Doom, his face healed by the Reed Richards of our world at the end of the last Secret Wars, and the traumatized and weary Reed of this alternate world, make common cause against the evil that is closing in on Earth. Finally, Reed does what Reed does best and comes up with a plan. It will require the Thing and the Torch calling in some extra help. Which brings us to another thing we’ve been wondering about…
Somewhere out in the heartland, a farmer is at work in the field when he finds he has two visitors—namely the Thing and the Torch. The farmer turns out to be none other than Norrin Radd of Zenn-La, who has shed his Simoniz and taken up the simple life. Even more of a surprise is that he’s married to The White Queen! Yes, THAT White Queen, the former mistress of the Hellfire Club from The X-Men, who’s now toting a rifle and doing her best impression of Calamity Jane. No, really. What the morally upright ex-Silver Surfer would see in this character is yet another mystery, but there she is. While her telepathic scan of Ben and Johnny’s minds reveals that they’re for real and they need Norrin’s help, the dread silhouette of Doom-as-Galactus looms ominously over Manhattan, and an epic conclusion looms over our story for next issue.
What Just Happened?
This issue takes place in the shadow of the announcement that just hit the news last week: Marvel is going to restore The Fantastic Four to monthly publication over the summer. This all-new Marvel 2-in-One, as we surmised from the beginning, is the preamble to the return of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Certain scenes in this issue make its timing perfect. Coinciding with the big announcement, it is a reunion of a sort-of/kind-of Fantastic Four in advance of the real reunion yet to come. Aside from that, all of the pieces of this present story have been moved into place for a grand finale next issue. But there are still the nagging questions of what happened to Galactus himself when Dr. Doom did the body switch—and the fate of the alternate Human Torch, which no one wants to say. You may think the release of the Avengers: Infinity War movie is the big upcoming event, but this reviewer is more keyed-up for the conclusion to the saga of “The Fate of the Four.”
Rating: 9/10
Final Thought: The art of Valerio Schiti slips just a little bit this issue, getting a bit quirky in the sequence in which the Thing is losing his temper on alter-Reed. It makes one want to see what a John Byrne or an Alan Davis might have done with that scene. I guess the tableau of Benjy venting his wrath on an already mentally beaten-up Reed is enough to make anyone’s drawing style go a little wonky. The rest of this issue’s story and art makes up for this.
And really…that moment of Ms. Marvel reacting to seeing the Fantastic Four—in a way—together again in battle makes us want to hear it set to dramatic music, perhaps by John Williams. Over the last decade or so, the status of the Fantastic Four has been unjustly devalued and eroded. They have for various reasons been wrongly relegated to a secondary status in their own world among the other Marvel characters who wouldn’t exist without them, and it is LONG past time to redress this demotion. In that little moment, Ms. Marvel realizes whom she’s looking at and knows what this means. People, including young heroes just starting out, should be a little awestruck when they see the Fantastic Four, considering who they are, the places they’ve been, the things they’ve done, the trails they’ve blazed. The Fantastic Four are very special and very important. Too often people forget, these characters ARE Marvel comics. The FF is the book that defined what a Marvel comic book IS. The revival of Marvel 2-in-One has stood as a reminder of that, and with this issue and the next, it’s “clobbering” the point home. August is coming.
Follow us on Twitter and Like us on Facebook!
Join our Age of Social Media Network consisting of X-Men, Marvel, DC, Superhero and Action Movies, Anime, Indie Comics, and numerous fan pages. Interested in becoming a member? Join us by clicking here and pick your favorite group!