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Marvel Two-In-One #5

Sep 1974
Steve Gerber, Sal Buscema

Story Name:

Seven against the Empire!


Synopsis

Marvel Two-In-One #5 synopsis by Peter Silvestro
Rating: 3 stars

New York, 3014: The Zoms deliver their unconscious prisoners—Thing, Captain America, and Sharon Carter—to their Badoon overlords. The leader Drang questions them but Cap awakens and insists he is a free man. So they employ the Memory Probe, a dome placed over Cap’s head which displays on a large screen a recap of last issue. Caught up on the plot, the baddies decide that these heroes from the past must be executed immediately. But Thing, now awake, punches out the big monster, knocking it into a machine where it is electrocuted (but doesn’t die). Ben, Cap, and Sharon fight their way out of the palace, past Zoms and Badoon soldiers, but they realize they are vastly outnumbered and so flee down an alley where they find a hiding place….

Meanwhile, Tarin is trying to convince Zakkor, leader of the resistance, that the real Captain America is there but Zakkor is understandably skeptical. Then a messenger enters with a recording of Cap, Ben, and Sharon fighting the bad guys and Z is convinced so he contacts the Guardians of the Galaxy in space. Zakkor shows the Guardians (Vance Astro, Yondu, Charlie-27, Martinex) the recording of Cap and the others in action so Astro sets a course to take their ship back to Earth at full speed….

In Manhattan, Ben, Cap, and Sharon are finally located by the Badoon but the Guardians arrive in the nick of time and there’s a battle in which the heroes triumph. Vance Astro tells Cap how they met back in 1972 when Astro was a kid; he explains that he was an astronaut in suspended animation for hundreds of years and now he is kept alive by his copper foil suit. Then Tarin, Zakkor, and the other resistance fighters join them and they invade the palace and take on the Badoon. Thing and Charlie-27 defeat the big monster with their combined strength. The resistance is victorious, they realize they have only recaptured one city but it’s a start. Cap gives them a pep talk and the three heroes go to the meeting place just in time for Reed Richards to bring them home with the time machine….



 

Review / Commentaries


Marvel Two-In-One #5 Review by (May 21, 2024)

Review: Wow! The brand-new Guardians of the Galaxy from 1974! A heroic group that would find more success, including an ongoing title that lasted 62 issues, despite not being all that interesting. And setting them in the 31st century ensured that no crossovers or guest appearances could take place without a great deal of manipulation. It would be a couple of decades before a new team would catch on, with a little help from the MCU but these guys were pretty much generic sci-fi. And here in their second appearance, they are generic sci-fi heroes fighting generic sci-fi aliens with the usual revolutionary cliches, reaching total victory in under 24 hours. Yeah, we know Cap could do it but it still seems lame.

Comments: Part two of two parts. This future is designated Earth-691. Believe it or not, this is only the second appearance of the original Guardians of the Galaxy, introduced in MARVEL SUPER-HEROES #18, appearing next in GIANT-SIZE DEFENDERS #5, followed by DEFENDERS #26-29. The letters page includes one by future comics writer Robert Rodi, who has worked for MarvelDC, and others.




> Marvel Two-In-One comic book info and issue index

Elektra

Excelsioring your collection:
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Holy smokes, Batman!
(The Boy Wonder)

Sal Buscema
Mike Esposito
Petra Goldberg
John Buscema (Cover Penciler)
Mike Esposito (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Additional Credits
Letterer: Annette Kawecki.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Captain America
Captain America

(Steven Rogers)
Thing
Thing

(Ben Grimm)

Plus: Charlie-27, Martinex (Martinex T'Naga), Tarin, Vance Astro (Vance Astrovik).