Issue(s): Marvel Two-In-One #16, Marvel Two-In-One #17
Cover Date: "Into the Savage Land!" / "This city -- afire!"
Title: Jun-Jul 76
Credits:
Bill Mantlo - Writer
Ron Wilson / Sal Buscema - Penciler
Dan Adkins / Mike Esposito - Inker

Review/plot:
There had been complaints in the lettercols that this series has lost the continuity and character development that made the early Gerber issues good, and similar complaints have been made of Marvel Team-Up. Bill Mantlo has been a sort of permanent fill-in writer on both titles, so it seems in response to those complaints he's devised a crossover between the two titles. There were some scheduling problems with the books resulting in the stories getting swapped, which is why you see regular Team-Up artist Sal Buscema drawing issue #17 here and then regular Two-In-One artist Ron Wilson drawing the final part of the story in Marvel Team-Up #47, and in fact the end blurb for MTIO #16 refers readers to MTU #47 even though it was actually continued in MTIO #17.

Having a crossover between titles doesn't really address continuity concerns, and there's little in the way of character development in these issues, so the complaints do keep coming after this. Another complaint is the use of the storytelling device in Two-In-One where Mr. Fantastic would detect some catastrophic disturbance somewhere in the world and then just send the Thing out to investigate, as happens in issue #14 and here.

This time, the problem Richards detects doesn't even seem to be on our planet.

Issue #16 is really a prelude. The villain of the piece doesn't appear in this issue and the guest star, Ka-Zar, just kinda waves and walks away at the beginning of #17.

The Thing heads to the Savage Land (it's said that the Thing knows how to get there thanks to info that Professor Xavier gave to Reed Richards) to investigate the disturbance, teams-up with Ka-Zar to fight an allosaurus...

...and some goons in some kind of armored vehicle.

There is a guy that wants to be a super-villain. He's even picked out a name...

...and is just waiting for the volcanic disaster that Reed Richards has detected so that he can absorb its power and become "a being made of living fire". But he winds up falling into the lava before it can happen.

With issue #17, which really should have been Marvel Team-Up #47, we have Spider-Man returning from his multi-issue time-travel adventure.

He seems to recall his time in 17th Century Salem well enough but the events with Killraven and Deathlok seem to be slipping away.

Spidey and the Thing don't even properly team-up in issue #17. In the beginning of the issue we see the Thing taking leave of Ka-Zar to further explore the volcano problem, and then facing off against the Basilisk.

Then we focus on Spidey returning from the future and then finding out from Mary Jane that a giant volcano has appeared in the Hudson River!

Peter nearly gives away his secret ID when talking to MJ...

...and then does indeed swing, among other things...

...over to find the Basilisk holding an unconscious Thing.

To be continued!

Quality Rating: C-

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: A note on the opening splash in issue #16 says that this takes place before Fantastic Four #166. Nick Fury has a voice-over on that panel as well, so i'm listing him in the Characters Appearing. The MCP place this between Ka-Zar #13-14; the Thing says that he had read a newspaper report saying that Ka-Zar was in England but that seems to be out of date information. This should be Spider-Man's next appearance after Marvel Team-Up #46 (it's also worth noting that Peter Parker's apartment is not yet furnished). This story continues directly in Marvel Team-Up #47.

References:

• Spider-Man's time-travel arc lasted from Marvel Team-Up #41 through Marvel Team-Up #46.
  
• The Basilisk previously appeared in Marvel Team-Up #16-17.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

If MJ just told Peter she knew then that scene with him on the phone wouldn't have been so awkward.

Yo dog, we heard you liked Team-Up books, so we're teaming up your Team-Up book with another Team-Up book!

That said, it makes sense to team up Team-Up books if you wanted to team up the protagonists of separate Team-Up books. Yeah, I don't know why I made this comment, peace.

During the Revenge of the Sinister Six, Spider-Man would recall his adventure with Deathlok. I guess at least some of his memories came back, or maybe seeing a version of Deathlock in the present "unlocked" them.