Happy Friday, folks!
It's time for me to talk about the forty-third issue of Marvel Two-In-One. The cover depicted the villain known as Victorius grasping Captain America by the neck with one hand while holding a Cosmic Cube in his other hand, with Man-Thing in the background and the Thing in the foreground. The tale was titled "The Day the World Winds Down." The issue had a cover date of September 1978.
The story started with Victorius and his disciples standing before Captain America and Ben Grimm. The Cosmic Cube was part of their opponent's plan for entropy to rule. The bauble had just been stolen from Project Pegasus, and Ben and Cap were determined to return it to its rightful place. Victorius was also responsible for the harm caused to the heroes' friend Wundarr.
Their foe said that he'd once been a researcher who was trying to duplicate the formula that created Captain America (aka Steve Rogers). His research was eventually halted by his superiors, who claimed that the project had ended. Victorius had his doubts and continued his cause while working for Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM), a division of Hydra. He'd just made a breakthrough when a rogue SHIELD (Supreme Headquarters Intelligence and Law Enforcement Division) agent broke into the lab in an attempt to destroy the formula.
Victorius had consumed the elixir that he'd concocted before the laboratory went up in a spectacular ball of flame from an explosion. He found that the serum had given him super-strength, and he went up against Ka-Zar in his efforts to reunite AIM. He fell during the conflict and was presumably left behind by his former employer.
After several months of wandering the country by himself, Victorius happened upon a tome at a bookstore written by the cult of entropists. He agreed with their viewpoints and reformed their group (as shown in Giant-Size Man-Thing #1). Victorius later learned about the Cosmic Cube, which he figured had to be the key for fulfilling their mission of universal decay. He used the cube to transform the remains of the cult's former leader Yagzan into a being known as Jude, the Entropic Man.
The revived entity obeyed Victorius' commands and soon found a pair of lovers and enthralled them. Jude raised a hand and turned the couple to dust. Ben was enraged by this tale and lunged at his foe. He was knocked out, but Cap rose to defend him. Victorius floated the Cosmic Cube in the air above him before tossing off his robe to take on the legendary Avenger.
Their conflict was observed by the man who was once Ted Sallis and was now the Man-Thing. As the battle continued, the Man-Thing's curiosity grew, and he lumbered toward the hovering cube. Jude and his associates saw the creature's approach and knew he had to be stopped.
By the time the Thing woke up, the Man-Thing was examining the Cosmic Cube that he now held in one hand. Victorius had stopped fighting Captain America long enough for Jude to hypnotize Rogers. Grimm ran to his friend and eventually caught up with and tossed Cap from the Entropic Man's path.
The Thing was swallowed up by Jude's body and emerged moments later as Ben Grimm. He cursed out Jude right before he was struck from behind by Victorius. Cap returned to renew the fight, but Victorius broke free and wrestled for control of the cube with the Man-Thing.
Before long, Victorius expressed fear as he was torn between fighting for the cube and the Entropic Man's grasp. As long-time Marvelites know, whosoever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing's touch. The villain and his revived former cult leader were later frozen in place, leaving the trio of heroes alone.
Steve grabbed the cube from the muck, which was now seemingly nothing more than a typical paperweight. He pocketed the device and walked back to the plane with Grimm. The Man-Thing had reformed itself and reached out to touch the radiant crystal that had once been entropists. Doing so returned that hand back to its normal, original shape and size, a feat that the being pondered briefly before wandering off alone once more.
This was one of the first issues of Marvel Two-In-One that I ever read. I picked it up from the discount box at my local comic book shop, and I believe it was my introduction to John Byrne's artwork. He's remained one of my favorite illustrators, and I enjoyed how well his drawings moved the story along. The Man-Thing is an underrated character, and I don't think we really know enough about his human identity. This was his first appearance in this series since MTIO's debut issue. Victorius was later revived, but he hasn't appeared in much of anything since this storyline. It's a pity, because if he had been revived sooner, he could have returned to appear in other Marvel mags and be introduced to other prominent characters of the time.
That's all I have for you today. Tomorrow, I'll kick off the weekend with a summary of the forty-fourth issue of Marvel Two-In-One. This one's a bit of a flashback, as Ben regales several adoring children with a tale of one of his more recent exploits that involved the cooperation of someone who's been both a Champion and an Avenger. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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