HISTORY OF COMICS 102 HOSTED BY “DOC” SCHAEFER
You know, it’s simply amazing what a simple $1.00 comic can cause a fella to remember. What seems like a lifetime ago, comic team ups were not an everyday occurrence. And comics like Justice League of America #21/22 made us all go batsh*t crazy at the newsstand or drugstore. Over in the DC Universe, the Brave and the Bold title had been treating us to random team-ups since Issue #50 in 1963. (Yes, I can hear you screaming what about issue #28 -First Justice League 1959? An argument can be made but what I’m talking about is truly random team-ups. Green Arrow/Martian Manhunter, Metamorpho and the Metal Men, etc.)
And while the Marvel heroes could be found making cameos or bit rolls in stories, It wasn’t until December of 1971 that Marvel gave the fans a team-up book of their very own in Marvel Team-Up featuring Spider-Man. It’s success lead to the creation (in 1974) of Marvel Two-In-One. But like any new title, it had to be tested first. I mean, sure everybody loved the Thing in the Fantastic Four but could he carry his own title? And so Marvel green lighted a trial of sorts in the pages of Marvel Feature #11 & 12 (1973). After fighting the Hulk (again) and teaming up with Iron Man (early Thanos appearance, ding,ding,ding!) Old Ben Grimm was finally given the go ahead which brings us to this little gem. I’d like to believe that the idea of the Thing meeting the Man-Thing was a little joke between Roy Thomas and Steve Gerber. The best part of this story was that fact that the Molecule Man turned both creatures back into their human forms for a good part of the issue. Month after month, Marvel Two In One provided the readers with unique team ups like the original Guardians of the Galaxy, Doc Savage, Brother Voodoo, and the Yancy Street Gang. The series would last 100 issues with 7 Annuals. And up until that last issue, we readers could never help ourselves and immediately flipped to the last page to see the blurb as to who would be joining the Thing the following issue. All this history for just a dollar. As I said before, simply amazing!