We Could Be Heroes: Marvel Two-In-One 5

Marvel Two-In-One #5 (September 1974)

"Seven Against the Empire!"

Steve Gerber-Sal Buscema/Mike Esposito

Doug:  I wonder what readers who had purchased Marvel Super-Heroes #18 thought about the cover and corner box of this issue?  If you just got back from making that leap, you saw that the original Guardians as conceived by Gene Colan look nothing like the dudes backing up Ben and Cap here.  Does anyone know who did the re-design on the costumes?  Was it Sal, or the Jazzy One?  And as long as I have your art ear, let me toss a huge kudo in the direction of Mike Esposito.  Espo's inks really complement Sal's pencils in a way that Frank Giacoia's just didn't last issue.  I commented then that Ben's face was sometimes off to me -- no problems in that regard here.  The Thing is one of the toughest characters to get "right", from shading the rocks to the huge unibrow to movements of his mouth.  Today's team does a bang-up job.  OK -- let's commence kicking some "baboon" tail!

Karen: I found a comment on the letters page of MTIO #6 that states that Dave Cockrum was responsible for redesigning Vance Astro and Yondu, although no mention was made of Charlie 27; one might assume he redid him as well. Also, the Guardians' spaceship was a Cockrum creation -- it might be more obvious once we show it. I have to say, I greatly prefer the "new" look over the original. I also agree with you about Mike Esposito - he complements Sal much better in this issue than Giacoia did in the previous one.

Doug:  At the end of our first chapter, the heroes had journeyed to the year 3014 to assist the Earthlings in freeing themselves from the fascist Badoon.  Doctor Doom's time machine, under the calibration of Mr. Fantastic, had sent Ben, Captain America, and Sharon Carter into the future to fight alongside the woman known as Tarin.  Now in the throne room, restrained by the automatonic Zoms, the interrogation begins.  Cap is subjected to a memory probe, which looks an awful lot like the hair dryer my mom used to sit under at the beauty shop on Saturday mornings.  And come to think of it, she used to tell sweeping stories in those days, just like Cap here!  Hmmm...  Anyway, Gerber uses this as a plot vehicle to get any jumpers-on up to speed on what has gone before.  And in the days of spotty distribution, it's probably a good idea as opposed to a waste of space.  The Grand Poobah is most upset to find that these intruders are not only Earthlings, but heroes to boot.  And one -- a symbol of liberty!  Not so good when you're a totalitarian reptile.

Karen: Your reference to the beauty salon hair dryer is an apt one, but I couldn't help but think of the interrogation scene in Logan's Run - which didn't come out til 1976! Regardless, it's an effective method for recapping the story so far. And when I first read this story, I was glad for its inclusion, as I didn't have the prior issue! 'Spotty distribution' indeed!

Doug:  As the goon squad discusses the dire straits knocking at their door, Ben awakens in full clobbering mode.  He despatches the big green robot instantly and Cap shakes off his own cobwebs in time to lend a hand.  The Badoon are caught totally off-guard, but the leader is able to get enough wits about him to give the "Kill them!" order.  As the Zoms charge in with guns, Ben takes out four of them with one mighty punch.  We next see two pages of all-out action, as Zoms and Badoon converge on our fleeing heroes.  Ben grabs a car (that doesn't look futuristic at all -- 1000 years in the future and still rubber tires?  What happened to George Jetson's ride that folds up into a briefcase?) and hurls it into a crowd while Agent 13 grabs a blaster and shows that she's not just a pretty face.  Cap does his usual Cap-like stuff, and we land out of this scene and into the HQ of the underground.  Tarin has come for their aid.  The leader, Zakkor, is skeptical of her story of a very-much alive Captain America.  But as they argue, another member of the resistance bursts in and corroborates the story.  Zakkor is apologetic to Tarin, and then gives the order to summon back to Earth -- the Guardians of the Galaxy!

Karen: Ben really looks great here - massive, rocky, and powerful. Was he always so impulsive? I guess so. You're right about the car though; it seemed rather mundane, but then, that goes hand in hand with our impressions of the supposedly futuristic cityscape from last issue. Perhaps depictions of such things were not Sal's strength.

Doug:  You know how the first time you saw something "known" as it existed in a prior form and it was just weird/off/strange?  Like if you started watching the Brady Bunch in prime time (like me) and then later saw the episodes from when the kids were much younger?  Or in another example, if Elton John's "Pinball Wizard" was the first version you loved?  Well that's what it was like for me the first time I ever saw an image from Colan's Guardians story.  What a difference!  And as we said at the top, this version was very much "new and improved".  The creative team does a nice job, in only seven panels, of introducing us to each of the four team members and helping us to know their personalities.  We've said it a million times that today's creators could get a lesson from Silver and Bronze Age writers and artists.  Vance Astro gives Martinex the order to turn the very Enterprise-like Captain America around and head back to Earth.

Karen: Super-heroes in space! What's not to like? Yes, the ship looked suspiciously like the Enterprise, but if you're going to steal, steal from the best. I really like the colorful uniforms, and here's another little bit that almost certainly seems borrowed from Trek -the little star insignia on Vance, Charlie, and Yondu's outfits. I liked how Gerber had Vance recognize Cap by his "fighting stance" - he really must have been a huge Cap fan as a kid back in the 20th century!

Doug:  The only thing better than super-heroes in space would have to be "Pigs in Space".

Doug:  On Earth, it just goes from bad to worse for our lead characters, as the Badoon rally and pursue.  As one of the slithery guys beats it toward the panic button, he gets an arrow right in the back.  And Steve Gerber makes sure we know -- that guy is dead.  The topic of heroes killing villains came up in our recent X-Men reviews, and given that this story is about five years ahead of that one, I felt this was even more surprising that this is so definitive in a Code-approved, for-sale-in-a-supermarket comic book.  As this issue's guest-stars finally burst onto the scene, it's a free-for-all.  We again get some background/characterization for each of the Guardians, specifically in regard to their powers.  For those keeping score, it would be another 11 months before the team would grace both Giant-Size Defenders #5 and Defenders #26 in August 1975.  I have the team's full run in Marvel Presents but have not read it yet.  I think an interesting side conversation today would be a comparison of which team was more successful in the Bronze Age -- the Guardians or the Inhumans?

Karen: One thing I was wondering, and I don't recall reading in any magazine or on-line anywhere, is what prompted a revival of the Guardians? Was it Gerber's idea, or was it something that Roy Thomas came up with? Roy was the Marvel king of recycling old characters, particularly ones that hadn't done well. Perhaps one of these recent collections of the early Guardians stories might comment on that? In any case, we do get to see each team member in action and it's pretty clear what they can do. I did read their run in Marvel Presents -I might have missed an issue or two at the time - and I enjoyed them more than the Inhumans, probably due to the space and future aspects.

Doug:  After the two groups finally put down the Badoon, there is time for introductions.  Vance Astro is very excited to meet his boyhood idol, Captain America.  Say what?  Astro then narrates his own origin story, and how a 20th Century boy (cue the T-Rex song) came to be a hero a millennium later.  And I must say, there are a lot of words on the page!  Talk about text-heavy.  But it's fine -- seriously, you got some bang for your quarter, unlike the lack of bang for your four bucks nowadays.  As Vance finishes, Cap says it's time to alert the underground fighters.  Before he can finish his thought, the renegade army is standing just to their side.  Vance marvels at how Cap and the Thing, in seven hours, have given these people the courage to break seven years of Badoon bondage.  Cap begins to formulate a plan -- and you know Ben's hearing none of it.  After all, It's Clobberin' Time!

Karen: Boy, this segment sure took me back. Vance was born in 1962. He left Earth in a rocket going a million miles an hour in 1988. Now in 1974, when I read this, I guess that seemed possible -just barely. But here it is 2013, and the U.S. doesn't even have any heavy lift rockets to get up to the International Space Station -we have to rely on the Russians! Where's the bright sparkly future we were promised? OK, I'm done grumbling.  It took one thousand years for Vance's rocket to reach  Centauri-IV, but when he got there, Earthmen were waiting for him. Seems some genius invented faster than light travel while he was in hyper-sleep. That sure seems like a straight-up 70s downer. Although I suppose that's from the original story in Marvel Super-Heroes #18. Did it seem to do a disservice to the Guardians that it was Cap and Ben's efforts that rallied the people and not theirs? They just show up and take out a few zoms and badoon and suddenly the humans are ready to fight. I suppose they provided the kind of motivation that the "local boys" couldn't. And of course, the clobbering.

Doug:  And clobber they do.  Ben and Charlie-27 team-up against the now-repaired big ugly robot while the rest of the team does their thing in a nice splash page of the brouhaha.  It's over soon enough, with the Lordsire captured.  He spouts some typical bravado, claiming that the heroes have only taken back the New York area -- the Badoon are still in control of the entire planet, solar system, and galaxy.  Ben says he just doesn't get it, and Cap soliloquizes about free men yearning for liberty and the inherent power in that.  And just as quickly as this adventure began, it ends.  The time machine returns, and our 20th Century heroes fade to black.

Karen: It's a pretty quick wrap-up, but really, what more needs to be shown? The Guardians and the rest of humanity have a tough fight ahead of them, but we know they'll win -'cause Cap said so! This is a well-worn issue from my collection, one I read many times over, and I still enjoy it today. I've always liked the Guardians, and wish we'd gotten more of them in the Bronze Age.

Doug:  I enjoyed this issue better than the first installment, but I have to question the pacing (I guess that's what I'll question -- maybe it's the spacing) of each issue.  As we said last week, in MTIO #4 we spent what seemed to be half of the book in the park, with the Wundarr/zoo part of the story -- which served as the vehicle to get Cap and Ben teamed up.  Then in the concluding chapter, the featured heroes, the Guardians of the Galaxy, were only really in the story for the last eight pages or so.  In other words, we got "set-up" again for better than half of the book.  All sewn together it's not a bad use of 40 pages, but each of the two issues just felt a bit odd.  I'll also say that Gerber did a better job with Ben's "voice" in this issue than we had both remarked last issue.  And I'll finish where I began, with the art.  Sal Buscema may be a journeyman or everyman artist -- rarely do we hear him spoken of with the star power of an Adams, Steranko, or his big brother John.  But find me anyone who worked between 1970 and 1980 who was more steady, more reliable, and got the job done right every time.  Tough to beat Sal Buscema, kids.