Comic Browser:

#4
#5
#6
#7
#12
#21
#42
#43
#46
#63
#82
#96
#97
Selector

Marvel Two-In-One #6: Review

Nov 1974
Steve Gerber, George Tuska

Story Name:

Death-Song of Destiny!

Review & Comments

Rating:
4 stars

Marvel Two-In-One #6 Review by (February 9, 2021)

Review: The way each person in the subway reacted to Destiny has affected the course of their own destiny! Except that’s not what we see: the punks bullied her and the young couple fled but that didn’t change Duff Coogan’s or Sheldon Goldenberg’s destinies (Renee G’s destiny was unaffected, Alvin Denton is reserved for next issue, and no one cares about Nick Cromer, the poor schnook), it looked like Sheldon’s identity crisis and Duff’s despair were their destinies and it was Dr. Strange’s interference that convinced the two men to takes steps to alter their own destinies. So if the sorcering business ever fails, Strange can get a job as a counselor or motivational speaker. That thematic quibble aside, anything with Ben “the Thing” Grimm in it is automatically enjoyable just because he may be the most likable character in Marvel and he even gets along with Dr. Strange who can be an uppity jerk sometimes—note how he commands Destiny and she tells him he could just ask nicely. Destiny is always nice—right? Ha ha.

Comments: Part one of three parts. If Mrs. Coogan was practically a second mother to Ben Grimm, why is this her only appearance in sixty years of comics?





 

Synopsis / Summary / Plot

Marvel Two-In-One #6 Synopsis by Peter Silvestro

Doctor Strange and Clea are on a Manhattan subway platform with several other people: a drunk named Alvin Denton, two punks, Nick Cromer and Duff Coogan, a young couple, Sheldon and Renee Goldenberg, plus a young girl playing a harmonica. When she stops, the punks harass her and take the harmonica, accidentally pushing her onto the track as a train comes in. She calls to Strange to rescue the harmonica and he does, snatching it from the bully’s hand. And then the train hits the girl and she explodes in a shower of colorful sparks. Strange races home to investigate the mystery of the harmonica inscribed “Celestia”….

The Thing is woken up a by a phone call in the middle of the night; it’s his childhood caretaker, Mrs. Coogan, asking his help with something that happened to her grandson (one of the punks from the subway platform). Ben races over to hear the kid’s tale….

At the Sanctum Sanctorum, Dr. Strange uses the Eye of Agamotto to call up the girl who reveals herself to be a manifestation of Destiny. She also mentions that the people on the platform that night will have their destinies changed and only new actions can alter it. Strange flies over to the Goldenberg’s house to discover that Sheldon’s face has disappeared; he casts a spell that convinces the Goldenbergs it was just a dream and Sheldon interprets it as  his fear of losing his identity in an office job and he determines to follow his dream of writing a book….

Ben hears Duff Coogan’s story and goes outside to ponder it. He discovers his aero-car has been graffitied by the Yancy Street Gang and loses his temper. Dr. Strange arrives and the two find they are on the same case. Nearby, a rat suddenly grows to giant-size and snatches Duff Cooper out of his window. As Thing fights the rat, Strange tells Duff the rat is a manifestation of his despair at being trapped in the slums and only he can overcome that. Duff mans up and curses the rat which enables Ben to clobber it for good. Strange takes Ben home to see the harmonica but Clea tells him that she gave it to Valkyrie who said Dr. Strange had sent her for it….



George Tuska
Mike Esposito
Petra Goldberg
Jim Starlin (Cover Penciler)
Jim Starlin (Cover Inker)
? (Cover Colorist)
Letterer: Art Simek.

Characters

Listed in Alphabetical Order.

Doctor Strange
Doctor Strange

(Stephen Strange)
Thing
Thing

(Ben Grimm)



> Marvel Two-In-One: Book info and issue index

Share This Page


Elektra