Marvel Two-in-One Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Home Page: MTIO #9

Marvel Two-in-One #9: When a God Goes Mad!

Script: Chris Claremont
Plot: Steve Gerber
Artist: Herb Trimpe
Inker: Joe Giella
Colorist: Janice C.
Letterer: C. Jetter
Editor: Len Wein

The Guest Star:
      Thor
The Villain:
      the Puppet Master; Radion, the Atomic Man
Guest Shots:
      Wundarr; Namorita; Mr. Fantastic; Human Torch; Invisible Girl
The Set Up:
      Ben, Wundarr, Nita, and Nita's roomate Annie are all at a puppet show together. Though the puppets give Ben the creeps, a good time his had by all, at least until Ben is mobbed by a gaggle of excited Thing-loving kiddies. After discovering that the Fantasticar got ticketed and then nearly getting hit by a fast flying Thor, Ben's day is less than made. Meanwhile, we see that our puppet master was indeed The Puppet Master, and with the aid of a mysterious cowled companion he takes advantage of the passing of Thor to mold a puppet of that god and force him to attack the FF. Thor quickly takes out Reed, Johnny, and Sue, and only when he's ordered to inflict the killing blow does he finally come to his senses. He changes to his civilian identity of Dr. Don Blake and begins ministering to the wounded, which is when Ben finds him.
     With Thor's change to human form, the Puppet Master has lost his ability to control him. Dr. Blake tells Ben what has happened, and then dashes away to change back to Thor and investigate, at which point the Puppet Master and his associate regain control of Thor, who immediately attacks Ben, of course...

Clobberin' Time?:
      Nope. Not in this issue.
Petunia's Patch:
      Nope. Not here either. No Clobberin' Time, no Petunia- no wonder I only gave this a rating of one!
Unofficial Index:
      The Thing and Human Torch last appear in Marvel Team-Up #32 while Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl last appeared in MTIO #8. The Torch next appears in MTU #35, and the other three next appear in FF #158. The overall order for this is: MTIO #8, MTU #32, MTIO #9, MTU #35, FF #158.
     Thor appears here between Thor issues #234 and #235. Namorita, Annie Christopher, and Wundarr all last appeared in MTIO #8. Namorita next appears in Super Villain Team-Up #9, while the other two next appear (with Namorita) in Ms. Marvel #15.
     The Puppet Master (seen here with the performance alias H. Deuty) last appeared in Marvel Team-Up #6 and next appears in FF #170 after controlling things behind the scenes in FF #168-169. Radion first appears here, and next appears in Iron Fist #3.
     Also seen here is the FF's Fantasticar.
Things of Interest:
      Chris Claremont is thanked in the letters page as a fill-in scripter for this issue (and next) to let Steve Gerber catch up on his work load. Mr. Gerber never quite makes it back, however...
     Radion has later appearances in Iron Fist 3 and 4. He's cured by the end of those, and then makes a completely uncredited return appearance in these pages- as Dr. Henri Sorel at Project Pegasus in issue 55. If you didn't put it all together on your own, though, you'd never know...