MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #36

"A STRETCH IN TIME..."
Writer/Editor: Marv Wolfman | Artist: Ernie Chan
Letterer: Joe Rosen | Colorist: Michele Wolfman

The Plot: In the prehistoric river, Skull, Ann, Jeff, Doctor Corey, and the Thing escape from the angry brotosaurs, but find themselves pulled toward a waterfall. Skull saves Ann and Jeff, while the Thing saves Corey. The group continues on their quest to raid the crashed military transport for parts. once they have the equipment they need, they head back to the Thing's experimental craft and repair it. The group takes off, but they are pursued by the Jaguar Priest, riding a pterodactyl, with several more pterodons following. The Thing guides his craft through the time warp, back to present day Cape Canaveral, but the Jaguar Priest and his pterodons follow.

Mister Fantastic greets the group on the Cape's airfield and joins them in their fight against the Jaguar Priest's dinosaurs. The Priest's pterodactyl grabs Ann, but the Thing commandeers another dino and follows. While Mister Fantastic and Skull fight the pterodons on the ground, the Thing rescues Ann. The Jaguar Priest is taken away by the police, and Mister Fantastic suggests sending the pterodons to the Savage Land. Skull prepares to turn himself in to the police as well, to stand trial for the death of his brother.

Continuity Notes: There are three footnotes in this story; one to the last issue when Skull notices the Jaguar Priest, and one to SKULL THE SLAYER #1 when Corey mentions that Skull is still wanted for his brother's death. The third is a lengthy affair in which Marv Wolfman tries to explain how Mister Fantastic appears in this story with his powers intact (albeit weakening), when he had apparently lost them in contemporaneous FANTASTIC FOUR installments.

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE #35

"ENTER: SKULL THE SLAYER AND EXIT: THE THING!"
Writer/Editor: Marv Wolfman | Guest Artist: Ernie Chan
Letterer: John Costanza | Colorist: Michele Wolfman

The Plot: The Thing is summoned by the Air Force to Cape Canaveral, Florida in order to pilot an experimental plane into the Bermuda Triangle in search of a missing jet carrying a cobalt bomb. As he flies the craft, the Thing is attacked by a pterodactyl and pulled into a temporal warp. He crashes on an island in time to come to the aid of Skull, Ann, Jeff, and Doctor Corey, who are about to be executed by the Jaguar Priest.

The Thing, Skull, and company fight off the Jaguar Priest's minons and then escape into the jungle. They fight off a pterodactyl and then head to the Thing's crashed ship, but find it cannot be repaired. At Jeff's suggestion, the group heads out to find the Army plane that brought Skull and company to the island, in hopes of using some its parts to fix the jet. But on the way, they're attacked by a tyrannosaurus rex. The group escapes by jumping into a river -- but when they emerge from the water, they find themselves surrounded by a herd of brontosauruses.

Continuity Notes: The "missing plane carrying a cobalt bomb" thing was apparently a multi-title plotline! The Thing recalls that the Air Force thought it had been found in Chicago in POWER MAN #45, but that was a false alarm. Later when he crashes on the prehistoric island, the Thing compares it with an "other Earth" he visited in FANTASTIC FOUR #161. One panel later, a quick recap of Skull's situation references SKULL THE SLAYER #8. Leter in the issue, a footnote appears to SKULL #1 when Corey and Jeff discuss Skull's status as a wanted man.

Speaking of SKULL #8, it seems Captain Cochran was unceremoniously killed off since that issue ended. The revelation comes with a footnote from Marv Wolfman which seems to essentially say, "I didn't create that character and I have literally zero interest in writing him." It's kind of funny, though also a bit callous toward Bill Mantlo's storyline.

DETECTIVE COMICS #444 - 448

"BAT-MURDERER" | "BREAK-IN AT THE BIG HOUSE" | "SLAUGHTER IN SILVER"
"ENTER: THE CREEPER" | "BEDLAM BENEATH THE BIG TOP!"
Writer: Len Wein
Art: Jim Aparo (Chapters 1 - 3); Ernie Chua & Dick Giordano (Chapters 4 & 5)
Editor: Julius Schwartz

I believe DC's first intentional attempt to "Marvelize" their line came in 1977, when Steve Englehart was hired to bring his AVENGERS-honed sensibilities to the pages of JUSTICE LEAGUE OF AMERICA (and as part of that deal, he also scripted several issues of DETECTIVE COMICS, which we'll begin to examine here in just a couple weeks). But in 1975, an earlier, "under the radar" Marvelization occurred. It only lasted a few months, but it's clear that DETECTIVE COMICS' new writer, Len Wein, was intent on bringing some of that Marvel flavor to DC's Caped Crusader.

The opening chapter of this five-part serial sees Batman working to thwart a crime ring whose leader turns out to be Talia. Batman, who happens to be holding a gun he lifted from the Daughter of the Demon, shoots her dead. The police attempt to arrest him, but the Masked Manhunter flees to clear his name. Chapter two finds our hero breaking into Gotham's new state-of-the-art prison to question an incarcerated Ra's al Ghul about the incident. But after al Ghul boasts that he did indeed engineer Tali'a death and Batman's frame-up, the Demon's Head kills himself, framing Batman for a second murder and sending the Caped Crusader on the lam once more.

Aside from the fact that it seems incredibly odd that an international terrorist like Ra's al Ghul is being held in jail in Gotham City of all places, these opening chapters are pretty good. Commissioner Gordon goes a bit overboard in accusing Batman of murder and not even considering, even after all their years of working together, than he could be innocent -- and Batman flies off the handle in the same scene, grabbing Gordon's lapels like a madman and raving about his innocence.

WRATH OF THE SPECTRE: ADVENTURE COMICS #437, 438, 439, 440, WRATH OF THE SPECTRE #4

"THE HUMAN BOMBS AND...THE SPECTRE"
"THE SPECTRE HAUNTS THE MUSEUM OF FEAR"
Script: Michael Fleisher | Art: Ernie Chan & Jim Aparo
Art Continuity: Russell Carley | Letters: Jim Aparo | Colors: Adrienne Roy
Editor: Joe Orlando

Ernie Chan (credited as Ernie Chua) provides guest pencils for two consecutive stories, and the work is excellent. A few years ago I read the majority of the BATMAN and DETECTIVE COMICS issues published in the seventies, and Chan had a long run on the character around that time. He was inked most frequently, as I recall, by Frank McLaughlin during that run, and while the work was good, it can't even begin to compare with Jim Aparo over Chan. Aparo's heavy blacks maintain the visual continuity from previous Spectre chapters, while Chan's layouts lose nothing from the previous all-Aparo chapters.

The stories are more of Fleisher's usual, featuring a gang who turns people into human bombs (and poor Gwen just happens to be one of them), and then a deranged taxidermist who kills people in order to stuff them and add them to his "exhibits". All villains meet suitably grisly ends.