Marvel Two-in-One #18: Dark, Dark Demon-Night!
Plot: Bill Mantlo & Scott Edelman
Story: Bill Mantlo
Artist: Ron Wilson
Inker: Mooney-Adkins
Letterer: Ray H.
Colorist: H. Paley
Editor: M. Wolfman
The Guest Star:
the Scarecrow
The Villain:
an unnamed demon who presumably serves Kalumai
Guest Shots:
None
The Set Up:
Ben is out with Alicia at a late-night gallery opening, dressed to the nines in his tux. He's introduced to Jess Duncan and Harmony Maxwell, who tell him of his earlier adventures where he met The Scarcrow (whose painting hangs on the gallery wall). Ben claims to disbelieve the mumbo-jumbo (and is annoyed to be missing Space 1999 on TV!), but as the evening goes on and on he gets more and more creeped out by the whole thing. Meanwhile, one of the guests becomes possessed, knocks out Jess's brother Dave, and leaps into the portrait of the Scarecrow that hangs into the gallery. As Ben and Alicia are about to leave, screams ring out and a flaming demon materializes out of the Scarecrow painting.
Ben is noticeably uncomfortable with the supernatural aspects of this whole thing, particularly when the demon's blasts burns his unstable molecules Tux. As he faces down the demon, an eerie laughter floats from the window and Ben glances over to meet the Scarecrow...
Clobberin' Time?:
Pg 26, panel 2. Edging the Scarecrow aside, Ben rejoins the fight: "Gangway, straw man! It's Clobberin' Time!"
Petunia's Patch:
No Petunia mention in this issue. However, some kind soul (Jackie Frost of West Monroe, LA) does, in a letter printed on the letters page, demand her future appearance in MTIO.
Things of Interest:
The Scarecrow first appeared in Dead of Night #11, and later again in Marvel Spotlight #26. Yup, this is another character having his loose ends wrapped up in the pages of MTIO. Still, with only two prior appearances of the Scarecrow, its hard to say if this issue was intended to wrap up the character or give him one more shot at succeeding. This issue is not quite his last appearance to date- he does shows up again in Dr Strange issues 31, 38, and 40, somewhere in the mid 1990s, with a change in character, a new name, and a complete loss of flavor. I can't quite recommend those later issues for anything but the completist.
The letters page includes Marvel Value Stamp #3, Series B.
Here's a slight oddity for you... Someone has been selling on eBay some "production art" which are basically transparencies apparently(?) used at the printers to print the comics. Ever curious, I picked up one for the title page of MTIO 18, which turned out to be three transparencies: the entire page, the text from the page, and everything but the text. Why you'd need separate sheets for the text and the art, I have no idea. Kind of cool, but I certainly wouldn't recommend spending more than a few bucks for one, if you are as curious as I. In any case, here they are:
