Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
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Marvel Two-In-One #77
Issue(s): Marvel Two-In-One #77
Cover Date: Jul 81
Title: "Only the swamp survives!"
Credits:
Tom DeFalco - Writer
Ron Wilson - Penciler
Chic Stone - Inker
Review/plot:
Nick Fury asks the Thing to test a new experimental plane. He agrees...
...and crashes over the Everglades. The Man-Thing shows up, but you know, he's the Man-Thing, so he doesn't do much.
The Thing is passed out, dreaming of when he was in World War II and met the Howling Commandos.
Not a lot going on here. Not sure why this was reprinted. It does re-affirm that the Thing was in World War II, however, which by 1981 makes him over 50 years old. I actually think it's kind of cool for Reed and Ben to be in their 50s, but Marvel eventually drops the idea of them having been in WWII because of the sliding time scale.
Quality Rating: C-
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: The Thing spends an extended period of time training for this mission, and the MCP places the beginning of this, prior to the training, before Fantastic Four #229 and the rest after Fantastic Four #231.
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: Adventures of the Thing #4
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Comments
You could argue that, since all the WWII stuff takes place in Ben's dream, it's just him imagining what it would've been like to fight in the war and not a recounting of actual events.
Or it took place on Earth 2. Whichever.
In the Man-Thing part of the story, there are two characters called Paul Pasko and Martin Curry, who are evidently meant to refer to DeFalco's old DC writing crony Marty Pasko. Ironically, Marty Pasko would be the first to write the revived Swamp Thing title in 1982(and would embarrassingly be virtually the only writer to criticize Alan Moore's work on it, in the pages of Amazing Heroes).
Marty Pasko embarrassed himself in other ways as well. Neal Adams held a creator's rights summit at his studio in 1978, and although it's noteworthy for a number of reasons - Jim Shooter vs. Paul Levitz on the long-term health of the industry, attendance and commentary by Steve Ditko [!!!] - the part that always sticks out for me is how Marty Pasko starts ranting about the end of the comics industry. "They'll turn the sixth floor of Warner Communications into a parking lot before they'll accede to these demands!" Chris Claremont tells him to calm down. Most if not all of these demands have been acceded to in the last few decades.
Comics Journal #42, it's a very revealing look at the professionals of the time. And yeah, Marty Pasko is now just 'the guy Alan Moore replaced.'
Not to me. Martin Pasko will forever be the guy who wrote most of the good Superman stories back in the 1980s.
But yeah, his Swamp Thing stories were simply not all that good, particularly when compared with Alan Moore's.
I don't mean to trash Marty Pasko if you liked his stories. It's just that he stuck out as someone who was 100% wrong on where creators rights were headed, and was reduced to a footnote in history by being replaced by Alan Moore. No disrespect to Pasko, who made the best decisions he could under the circumstances. I can't honestly say I would have made different decisions if I were in his place, and he does have a career in comics that is worth respecting.
As an aside, Pasko wrote a memorably silly Superman story in which he turns into, like, Super-Crocodile, so I'll give him points for that...
http://www.circesfunhouse.com/Superlizard_splash.jpg
@ Oliver_C - I had that issue! It was one of the first comics I ever had and by the time my brother gave it to me, it no longer had a cover. Good times!
I would suggest moving this issue. Right now it is smack between Defenders #97 (where Man-Thing begins investigating a dimensional rift) and Defenders #98 (where Man-Thing has been possessed and Citrusville has been pulled into the rift). This issue is easily moved before or after that.
Agree. Thanks Jake.
