Happy Wednesday, folks!
We made it halfway through the week already! Time to celebrate with a synopsis of the seventy-sixth issue of Marvel Two-In-One. The cover showed the Ringmaster leading several of his associates against the Thing and Iceman, with a special appearance by Giant Man. The tale was titled "The Big Top Bandits." The issue had a cover date of June 1981.
The story started at a circus, where Ben Grimm, Alicia Masters, and Ben Foster (aka Giant Man) were having a grand time. Ben had already won several prizes and was thoroughly enjoying himself. The trio stopped for ice cream when Grimm overheard a fellow patron complaining that a strength competition might be rigged. He went over to the booth and decided to put one fist down, causing the weight to knock the bell at the top of the tower off its mooring. Ben then asked that his prize be given to the people who had complained earlier.
Alicia chided her boyfriend for showing off, which was observed by a clown riding a unicycle. The circus worker then hightailed it to the big top, where he met fellow members of the Ringmaster's Circus of Crime: Tarrax the Tamer, the Flying Gambonnos, Cannonball, the Firebreather, and Princess Pythona. The clown asked where their leader was and was informed that he was in the back working with his new machine.
The clown made his way to the Ringmaster, who was tinkering with a large device that had one of his trademark hypnotic discs affixed to it. He informed his boss that the Thing was there, news that set his employer off instantly. The Ringmaster thought back to their humble beginnings in a small family-owned circus in Europe before the Second World War changed things drastically and caused his move to America.
After losing his parents in the Blitzkrieg, the Ringmaster started over in a new country, but eventually found himself resorting to crime to survive. He and his crew ran across other heroes like Daredevil, Spider-Man, and the Incredible Hulk over the years. The Ringmaster was defeated every time, but he swore this would change, confident that his new hypnotic eye would catapult him to criminal greatness.
Unlike his previous similar weapons that relied on visual contact, this new weapon would prey on brain waves, making it much easier for the Ringmaster and his associates to loot the unsuspecting public at large. He was determined to not let the clown's news interrupt his progress. After all, as he declared, the show had to go on.
Elsewhere in New York, a refrigerated truck stopped long enough to let its rear passenger, the former X-Man and Champion known as Iceman (real name: Bobby Drake), exit. He rode a slide of ice into a nearby alley before changing to his human form. A few minutes later, Bobby arrived at Terri Sue Bottoms' front door in time for their date. Drake was trying to live a normal life, but secretly longed for the excitement of his superhero days.
Back at the circus, Ben was excitedly describing the events in the big top to Alicia. Things grew quiet once the Ringmaster turned his hypnotic eye on the crowd. This eye still depended on visual contact, so the blind Ms. Masters was unaffected. She tried to revive the enthralled Grimm and Foster as the Ringmaster's lackeys were removing money and other valuables from the patrons.
Tarrax grabbed Alicia at one point. Her screams broke Ben out of the trance, and his anger quickly grew. Tarrax soon found him flying through the air, right toward the acrobatic Gambonnos. Alicia's scream was heard outside the tent by Drake and Bottoms, who were trying to enter even though the show inside had already started. Bobby ordered Terri to run, letting a small ice slick out behind them, which the attendants barring their entry slipped on. Drake asked his date to call for help, while he sought to assist in a different way.
Iceman soon appeared inside the big top, and went right to work attacking the Circus of Crime members. Pythona's pet wrapped its slender body around the Thing, while the performer named Cannonball aimed right for Grimm's rocky hide. All he received was a dented helmet for his efforts.
That distraction gave Ben enough time to use the snake to play crack the whip before the animal served as a temporary bond to wrap up a trio of circus workers. Iceman was doing well until the Firebreather melted his ice slide. He landed inside a net set for him by the Gambonnos, but it was child's play for him to freeze the net enough to make it shatter. Drake then froze the swings that the aeralists used, causing them to collide in mid-air.
Iron Jack Baker ran at the Thing holding a heavy dumbbell, not realizing how easily the Thing could lift him and the weight together. Tarrax dispatched his jungle cats at the heroes, as the Ringmaster summoned the clown to take Alicia as a hostage. A gas globe enabled him to elude the Iceman and nab the girl.
Stilt walkers weren't enough to stop Drake, but by then Grimm saw his lady love in the Ringmaster's clutches. He ran for her as the villain released his trance on the crowd just as the rest of the circus animals were let out of their cages. Foster was among those awakened, and he didn't hesitate to grow in size and don his Giant Man costume. His secret identity wasn't worth much to him then, knowing he was slowly dying of radiation poisoning. He caught the Cannonball with one large fist and sent him hurtling through a newly-made hole atop the circus tent.
Ben was handling the beasties long enough for Bobby to create ice cages to contain them. The Ringmaster was now activating his hypnotic eye machine. It made moving difficult for the heroes, but Iceman managed to coat the eye's surface long enough for it to explode spectacularly.
The Ringmaster barely had enough time to mourn the loss of his latest creation before the clown persuaded him to escape. Ben threw a circus tent peg at their van, preventing it from ever working again. A few minutes later, Bottoms arrived with members of the local police. Things were swiftly wrapped up. Foster felt a bit envious of Ben's life, but knew that his efforts meant something that day.
Bobby reunited with Terri. Both were thankful to be together again, as were Ben and Alicia. Foster joined them for the trek home.
This issue and ROM: Spaceknight #19 were my first non-Star Wars Marvel comics. I remember reading these issues at the doctor's office where my mom was waiting for a prenatal exam a few months before my brother was born. I loved the storytelling and the artwork in both, and they introduced me to the Marvel Universe. This was a good jumping-on point for me, and it fueled my desire to collect the entire run, a goal that took several years to accomplish, but was well worth the effort.
Jerry Bingham never drew many comic books, having abandoned the field in the 1990s for more commercial art projects, but I always felt that he was a very underrated artist. He could have easily been a regular on a newspaper comic strip or comic book title if he wanted to. Iceman was between teams at the time. He was a founding member of the X-Men and the short-lived Champions. A few years later, he would become part of the New Defenders before helping to form X-Factor and returning to the X-Men fold.
The Ringmaster and his recruits still appear in different Marvel mags from time to time. I later saw them in issues of Ghost Rider and the Sensational She-Hulk. Their appearances are usually light-hearted and resolved quickly.
That's all I have for you today. Tomorrow, I'll talk about the seventy-seventh issue of Marvel Two-In-One. Ben volunteers for another test flight, one that takes him to Florida, where a certain swamp-dwelling character lives. His adventure will remind him of another excursion back in his younger years that had him fighting alongside another guest whom we've seen in this series before. Until then, have a great week and don't forget to be kind to one another.
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