Marvel Team-Up v.2 #10: Two in One
Plot: Tom Peyer
Script: Glenn Herdling
Artist: Pat Olliffe
Inker: Al Williamson
Letterer: Ken Lopez
Colorist: Tom Smith
Editor: Glenn Greenberg
The Stars:
Namor the Sub-Mariner and the Thing
The Villain:
the Wrecking Crew: The Wrecker, Piledriver, Thunderball, and Bulldozer
Guest Shots:
Cpt. America, Dr. Strange
The Set Up:
Ben's hanging out in a waterfront bar, near to the end of Yancy Street, celebrating the opening of a new factory. The celebration is interrupted by an emergency- one of the smokestacks is about to go over. Ben races out, and catches it just in time, only to discover the reason- Namor, the Sub-Mariner, is demolishing the factory. After a quick battle, Namor flies off, and Ben gets a call from Captain America, who explains Namor's reasons for going after the factory. Ben thinks Subby is more than overreacting a little, and heads into the factory to look for Namor.
As Namor and Ben face off in a mano a mano battle, we cut to elsewhere in the factory where the CEO is understandably a little bit peeved and panicked. He's interrupted by a few gents who have a score to settle with Namor, and are looking to get paid to do so- the Wrecking Crew.
Clobberin' Time?:
Page 14, panel 4. Dueling battle cries, as the Thing and Namor face off...
Namor: "Enough banal chatter! It is time for my appointment with Mr. Tilton."
Ben: "The only time it is, spock-ears... is Clobberin' Time!
Namor (simultaneously): "Imperius Rex!"
Ben (as Namor goes down briefly): "Hah! A full Clobberin' beats an Imperius any day!"
Petunia's Patch:
Not the most tasteful of Petunia references:
Page 3, panel 4. As Ben pushes a falling smokestack aside, he say "But seein' as how smokestacks don't tend to fall on their own this far south a' midtown, I'd bet my Aunt Petunia's panties that it got a little help..."
Things of Interest:
This is from the second volume of Marvel Team-Up, which only lasted one more issue after this, ending at issue 11. From issues 8-11, the lead character was Namor, the Sub-Mariner (it was Spider-Man in the first seven issues). This issue is the middle of an ongoing storyline, and so is a little hard to pick up (and put down) on its own.
This issue is dated June, 1998. This is long after MTIO ended, but hey, its a Ben team-up, so I went ahead and added it.
This isn't a bad issue, and could be reminiscient of the more average MTIO issues- not the bad ones, not the great ones. Since I'm kind of extending the theme of this website to Ben's non-FF team-up type appearances, this one definately qualified. Still and all, not a shining star here, sorry.
They do, however, have a nice grasp of Ben's sense of humor. There's a very nice scene in the bar, on the first page, where someone calls Ben "Mr. Thing" and Ben replies (before being interrupted) "Call me Ben. 'Mr. Thing' 's what I call my..."
If you haven't yet, please go back up to the top of this page and note this issue's title. Kudos to whomever chose the title for tribute given where tribute is due...
