Marvel Two-in-One #47: Happy Deathday, Mister Grimm!


Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciller: Chic Stone
Inker: unidentified, presumably Chic Stone
Letterer: Diana Alberg
Colorist: Bob Sharen
Editor: Roger Stern

The Guest Star:
      the Yancy Street Gang

The Villain:
      Machinesmith; the Corporation

Guest Shots:
      Mr. Fantastic; Invisible Girl; Human Torch; Franklin Richards; Agatha Harkness

The Set Up:
      Members of the Yancy Street Gang are imprisoned and being beaten by a Mr. Carnation and some thugs. The captured Yancy Streeters had tried to send a message to the Thing, and the thugs had caught them. Unbeknownst to the thugs, another message had gotten through, however.
     At the Baxter Building, Ben is playing a blindfolded game of tag with his nephew Franklin, and the other FFers are using their powers to make it more difficult. Its Ben's birthday, and after the game finishes and a cake is demolished, the mailman delivers a birthday package from the Yancy Streeters with a mysterious message: "Keep Away, Thing!" Obviously, something is up, and Ben hops a jet-cycle and goes to Yancy Street.
     We cut away to Mr. Carnation's base, where a mysterious figure in the shadows tells him that Ben's presence was the whole point of the day's events.
     Ben, meanwhile, is shot out of the air by a missile. On the ground below, he is attacked by a variety of mechanized devices, from remote controlled semi-rigs to robots. As a somewhat stunned Ben faces down the robots, the Yancy Street Gang breaks free and comes to his rescue...

Clobberin' Time?:
      No Clobberin' Time in here, sorry.

Petunia's Patch:
      Page 23, panel 3- As mysterious robots crawl out of the sewers, a stun-gassed Ben comments, "Huh? Now what in the *koff* name o' my aunt Petunia?"

Things of Interest:
      This is the first part of a two-part story, which concludes next issue.
     Well, immediately after I comment on him in last issue- on page 10, here's Willie Lumpkin again!
     Hmm. This issue really misses the presence of a guest star (the Yancy Streeters don't cut it), and the Yancy Streeters themselves are a little odd- the construction helmets are not a look I ever pictured them sporting!