Missed Issues: Capsule Reviews of Marvel Two-in-One #s 3, 4 and 5

written by Chip Zdarsky
illustrated by Valerio Schiti
colored Frank Martin

I would have been happy to buy and review these issues when they came out, but unfortunately I neglected to put them on my regular "pull" list and had to hunt them down in back-issue bins. Anyway, I quite enjoyed them so, even if it's several months late I'd like to weigh in on them.

Ben and Johnny, having found the Multisect, the dimension-hopping device left behind by Reed Richards in issue #2, begin their quest to find Reed, Sue and the kids (which, as Ben knows, is simply a quest to keep exploring, considering that, as far as he knows, Reed and Sue are gone for good). In issue #3 they try to address the issue of Johnny's fading superpowers by visiting a specialist who "treated" a similar problem for the Avenger Hercules in the past, a reclusive scientist named Rachina Koul, who was actually introduced in issue #1. Rachina's diagnosis of Johnny's problem is that his power may be fading because Reed and Sue are gone and his powers are actually somehow tethered to theirs. The fact that Ben's strength appears to be waning may bear this theory out. The solution: use the Multisect and find them.

In issue #4, Ben, Johnny and Rachina use the Multisect and land in a reality that looks very much like their own, only it isn't, and Ben and Johnny learn to their horror just how different things are when they meet the Reed of that world and he tells them exactly what has happened. The Ben of this world has been killed, and Johnny is basically a shell of a man, all in a vain effort to stop Galactus from destroying that particular Earth. Only Doctor Doom stopped him by doing the unthinkable, but was able to save the earth from extinction, although that may not be the case for very long.

In issue #5, Ben and Johnny decide to take action against Doom/Galactus and his heralds, who are now on the verge of extinguishing the very earth that Doom promised to save from Galactus. Seeing the FF together again, the remaining heroes rally, although even that may not be enough.

I started this series because of Jim Cheung, but I have to say that, even in his absence, Zdarsky and fill-in artist Valerio Schiti have managed to continue to make this book readable, and in fact, now that Marvel's finally announced the impending return of the FULL Fantastic Four, I read these issues with renewed interest, wondering out loud if the whole family would be back or if this "alternate universe" Reed and Sue would take the place of the lost ones. It's unlikely, I suspect, but it might be an interesting take on the characters.

I'll be happy to see Cheung back next issue for the end of this particular story, but these issues were worth the effort it took to hunt them all down.

8/10 (all three issues)