Confronting One's Self: A Review of Marvel Two-in-One Annual 2018 (Mild spoilers)

written by Chip Zdarsky
drawn by Declan Shalvey
colored by Jordie Bellaire

Having defeated Doom-Galactus in the first story arc, the motley crew of Ben Grimm aka the Thing, Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch, Victor Von Doom aka the Infamous Iron Man and their scientist companion Rachna Koul continue their search across the multiverse for the missing Reed Richards, Susan Storm and their two children. In one world, Doom and Ben split up from Johnny and Rachna as each pair follows different signals from their devices. The path Doom and Ben follow leads them to that world's Reed, who has met a grisly fate at the hands of that world's own Doom, leaving Victor to confront...himself. On the ropes and fighting for both his and Ben's lives, Victor finds help from a most unexpected source.

I have read seven issues of this series now, counting this annual, and I have to say that Chip Zdarsky has crafted one of the most eminently readable comic books series I've seen in a while. This is someone who really gets what makes the Fantastic Four such a compelling set of characters, even in a story that focuses mainly on their primary antagonist. I love the voice Zdarsky gives Doom, and the glimpse he offers at how far Doom has come since he decided to take up the mantle of hero, even as events may well have been set in motion that could well unravel that particular journey. It would be hard to elaborate without spoiling a bit of a twist.

In any case, Zdarsky handles the writing duties beautifully, but he is helped in no small part by his third superstar artist since debuting this series, the highly capable Declan Shalvey. This is my first time reviewing a book illustrated by Shalvey; I picked up the trade paperback of his brief run on Moon Knight with Warren Ellis, as well as a collected edition of his work on Deadpool with Gerry Duggan, but because both of them were a few years old I never bothered to review them, even though I enjoyed his artwork quite a bit. It's not quite as clean as Jim Cheung's linework or as striking as Valerio Schiti's soft renderings but it's definitely got its own quirky appeal, and I especially enjoy Shalvey's take on the Thing. It may just be for an annual, but I'm grateful for these 30 pages with this very talented artist.

Given that the cat's long been out of the bag and the Fantastic Four are already destined to reunite, I suppose it's bound to happen in these very pages, and soon, but whatever the book's fate may be after that happens, I have to say that while it's around and being penned by Chip Zdarsky, as long as Zdarsky can keep up this level of storytelling, and as Marvel can keep finding these fantastic artists for him to work with, this book will remain to be one that is well-worth reading every month.

9/10