Issue(s): Marvel Two-In-One #35, Marvel Two-In-One #36
Cover Date: Jan-Feb 78
Title: "Enter: Skull the Slayer and Exit: The Thing!" / "A stretch in time..."
Credits:
Marv Wolfman - Writer
Ernie Chan - Penciler
Ernie Chan - Inker

Review/plot:
These issues wrap up the storyline from Skull the Slayer, which was cancelled in 1976. Until i read these issues i didn't realize that the Skull the Slayer series should be included in my project here since it begins and ends (here) in the modern era.

On his way home from London, the Thing stops at Cape Canaveral, Florida, to help look for a plane that went missing over the Bermuda Triangle, and he winds up at sargasso of time, which contains dinosaurs, Aztec priests, and the cast of the Skull the Slayer book, including Jim Scully himself, antagonistic scientist Raymond Corey, Scully's girlfriend Ann Reynolds, and young Jeff Turner.

The Thing is able to prevent Skull's group from getting killed by the priests (and note that they recognize him)...

...and then the group fight their way through dinosaurs and similar...

...to salvage parts from their plane to repair the Thing's plane so they can all leave the area.

More challenging than any of the external threats is the endless bickering between Corey and Scully.

But they do make it out of the Triangle, and luckily (impossibly?) arrive back in the present day. They do have an Aztec priest leading a pack of pteranodons hot on their heels...

...but by this point Mr. Fantastic has arrived at Cape Canaveral again and he's able to help out. This is despite the fact that his powers are seriously on the wane.

The priest seemingly falls to his death (but as Kveto points out, it's said that he survives and is captured by the police)...

...and now that they are back in the present, Corey decides that Scully isn't such a bad guy after all. Scully does agree to turn himself in for the death of his brother.

Mr. Fantastic says he'll contact Ka-Zar and have the pteranodons sent to the Savage Land.

The next issue blurb says they have no idea what's happening next.

Marvel Two-In-One continues to be the book that wraps up random cancelled series, but you really can't complain about the Thing fighting dinosaurs drawn by Ernie Chan.

Adding the "trampoline" panel Mark refers to below:

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - brings Skull the Slayer back to the present day.

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Skull cast is said to have been in the Triangle area for about 2 years. This begins with the cast of Skull the Slayer still prisoners of the Jaguar Priest (who, note, is Aztec now instead of Incan)...

...but see the Considerations on the Skull the Slayer series. Basically i'm assuming that either this scene isn't a direct continuation of that cliffhanger or time moves differently in the Bermuda Triangle zone (or they just came out a little later than expected). For the Thing and Mr. Fantastic, see the Considerations section for Fantastic Four #176; this takes place during that issue. Indeed, when the Thing says, "Here we are back in Fun City", according to the Marvel Index, that is the Thing and Reed arriving back from the Bermuda Triangle from these issues. A footnote only says that this takes place before FF #178 (when Mr. Fantastic loses his powers) and that we should direct complaints about "any mistakes in continuity" to "the Marvel Higher Board of Errors, Judgements and Penalties Division". Oh that only such a department really existed! There really was no consideration for leaving gaps in the FF stories to make room for these Marvel Two In One issues, and so you go from the Thing having no powers to the FF being in space to Mr. Fantastic having no powers to the FF breaking up, all with nothing in the way of breaks. Which is why the Index had to resort to finding the really outrageous gap in FF #176.

References:

• The plane the Thing was looking for contained the cobalt bomb that Gideon Mace pretended to have in Power Man #45.
  
• The Thing compares his visit to the Bermuda Triangle area to the alternate Earth he visited in Fantastic Four #161.
  
• The actual footnotes are for the Jaguar Priest, who was introduced in Skull the Slayer #8, and Raymond Corey believing that Jim Scully was guilty of killing his own brother, an event depicted in Skull the Slayer #1. But both of those links point to the same entry, and really the entire series is relevant, since it's concluded here.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

I liked these stories: skull the slayer comes off as an arrogant jerk (no wonder his book got cancelled) but Ben is always putting him in his place. Like you say, the Thing vs dinosaurs is a winning combo with ernie chan art.

A dialogue box explains that the jaguar priest fell in the ocean and survived. the cops picked him up and jailed him. I've always wondered exactly what crime they charged him with?

They could probably charge him with attempted murder since he seemed to be attacking Ben, Scully and co. over the territory of the present day United States.

I'm pretty sure he'd get off on the idea that he'd just been torn from a time period 2 million years in the past and might not be thinking in his right mind. A junior lawyer could argue any number of extenuating circumstances, such as it was actually the pteradactyles that caused the trouble. He was just along for the ride.

Well, it only says the police had him in custody. He was probably immediately turned over the SHIELD without a fair trial.

(BTW, thanks for pointing out that he survived.)

"Kiss my swimsuit"?

Ernie Chan was good on the dinosaurs; not so much on the superheroes. The panel with the Thing bouncing off Mr. Fantastic Trampoline doesn't come off nearly as dramatic as it's described to be.

Actually, Gruenwald revived Skull the Slayer in the 90s, as a new Blazing Skull in Captain America. Or do I misremember?

Lord Byron, you're correct. That happens circa Cap #420 and Quasar #45.

Has anyone ever compiled a list of the cancelled series that were wrapped up in the pages of Two-in-One?

FNORD - The Marvel Bullpen Bulletins for issue #36 talks about the chronological problems that occur in various Marvel comics. They suggest doing exactly what you're doing here. I'm sure they never envisioned it being done in such a monumental and awesome way as this site. Thanks again for all your hard work. It absolutely increases my enjoyment of the Marvel Universe.

Power Man #46 had a footnote saying that the results of the search for the real cobalt bomb-plane would be revealed here, but that doesn't happen. The Thing does go searching for the plane, but he never finds it. Or were we supposed to believe that the same plane was carrying both Skull and the bomb?