Issue(s): Marvel Two-In-One #3
Cover Date: May 74
Title: "Inside Black Spectre!"
Credits:
Steve Gerber - Writer
Sal Buscema - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Review/plot:
Steve Gerber clearly had no shame about using the new Two-In-One series to promote his other books. Issue #1 featured an unlikely encounter between the Thing and the Man-Thing. #2 used the Sub-Mariner, introducing his new costume to a wider audience. And this issue is a crossover with the Black Spectre storyline running through Daredevil. I have no problem with this; i actually think it's pretty cool. But compared to, say, the first three issues of Marvel Team-Up (all featuring the popular Spidey/Torch combination), it's pretty apparent that the idea was to use this book to drum up interest on those series (which weren't doing that well, for what it's worth. Sub-Mariner will be cancelled in a few issues and Daredevil was at risk as well).

Beginning with last issue, Steve Gerber made Wundarr a member of the cast of this book...

...and in this issue it's an explosion generated by Wundarr that gets Daredevil involved with the Thing. Mr. Fantastic creates a new costume for Wundarr to prevent future explosions; between this and Namor, Reed is quite the costume designer, although one wonders why he keeps making costumes with open chests.

Daredevil is nearly killed by the explosion so he shows up at the Baxter Building to give Reed a piece of his mind...

...but backs off when he realizes why it happened. He then leaves, gets attacked by a hypnotized Black Widow, and then heads back to the Baxter Building to try to "borrow" the Fantasticar so that he can chase the Black Spectre's super-blimp. The Thing catches him...

...but agrees to give him a ride.

The two make it to the blimp (which, it turns out, is entirely made of metal; not really a blimp at all), and attack Specter. The Thing is more than a match for Spectre, even unimpressed by Nektra's hate-filled strength...

...but he winds up getting hypnotized by the Black Spectre's leader, the (not-yet-revealed) Mandrill.

Daredevil is much less effective against Nekra, especially since he's disturbed by the Black Widow's seeming betrayal...

...and the two heroes are put back in the Fantasticar and dropped with the engine shut off. Daredevil recovers in time to stop from crashing.

Matt Murdock also goes on a date with Foggy's sister Candace this issue. They go to a play where the actors have been hypnotized by the Mandrill into killing themselves and each other. Matt watches from the audience, unable to stop them because he doesn't want to jeopardize his secret identity.

Not sure if that was meant as a deliberate commentary on secret IDs or just some awkward writing. Surely Matt could have done something.

Despite that and some other goofiness, it's a fun issue. Gerber has a good handle on the Thing, and Mr. Fantastic's aloofness is handled nicely as well.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - Wundarr gets a new costume

Chronological Placement Considerations: Takes place between Daredevil #109-110.

References:

• When Daredevil first shows up at the Baxter Building, Mr. Fantastic is too wrapped up in Wundarr to give him the time of day. The Thing passive-aggressively notes that it's been "years" since they last saw Daredevil. I think that would have been Hulk #153, although there's no footnote.
  
• This story picks up from Daredevil #109. Daredevil gets the story about Shanna's father's death and her theory that the Mandrill has taken control of her father's diamond business and is using it to fund Black Spectre.
  
• Shanna has been dealing with the Mandrill since Shanna the She-Devil #4. She was sidetracked in Ka-Zar #2.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Is this the only time Mandrill's power affects a male? As I understand it, his pheromones could only control women.

The play Murdock attends is a typical piece of Gerber weirdness, but when you think about it, it doesn't really have anything to do with Black Spectre's scheme to take over the country.

You're right about the Mandrill's powers. The Marvel Appendix says that the Black Spectre "mechanically hypnotized" the Thing, Daredevil, and the actors. That's not actually said in the story, and it doesn't come from the Handbooks either, and it doesn't really fit with that panel of the thing being hypnotized above. But i guess it's as good an explanation as any.

Since the blimp was metal, I wonder if Gerber wasn't doing a backhanded Led Zeppelin reference.

This was an interesting read at work today. It was really funny with DD being mistaken for Captain America then explaining he's Dr. Doom. Along with his attempt to make Ben release him.

So the play was really damn jarring with murder and suicide.