Marvel Two-in-One #87 (May 1982) is a real blast from the past, since it features a character who hadn't been heard of since Fantastic Four #16. That's a 19-year gap.
Writer Tom DeFalco and artist Ron Wilson reach back a couple of decades to pull Pearla, Queen of Sub-Atomica, out of comic book obscurity to use her in yet another issue of Two-in-One that drips with fun. The issue starts with some shenanigans in the Baxter Building as Ben helps Reed with an experiment and ends up crashing through a floor. This scene might exist in part because the main story ran a little short, but it's funny and Ben (when he has a good writer backing him up) is always fun to hang around with.
Anyway, Ben soon inexplicably shrinks down and disappears. Reed immediately deduces that he's been taken to a sub-atomic universe. But the FF's vehicle for minuature travel was recently wrecked in an adventure with the Micronauts. Gee, if only Ant Man were around!
I like this story enough to be reluctant to point out even a tiny flaw, but what happens next is a tad contrived even in a Comic Book Universe. An ant is nearby when Reed and Johnny mention Ant Man. So the ant gets a message to Scott Lang that he's needed in the Baxter Building. The Random Ant Messenger Service just doesn't quite work for me. Of course, I'm perfectly okay with shrink rays, sub-atomic universes and a guy made out of rocks. so... Actually, I've forgotten what my point was.
Anyway, Scott comes to the Baxter Building and has to have Reed explain to him the concept of shrinking to sub-atomic levels that Hank Pym used back in FF #16--just keep zapping yourself with the shrink gas over and over and over again. "The science sounds right," muses Scott uncertainly. That line of dialogue defines Comic Book Science perfectly--come up with dialogue that makes something impossible sound possible and then just go with it.
Scott arrives in Sub-Atomica and gets into a tussle with some guards, but then discovers that Ben apparently doesn't need rescuing. He's been brought there by Pearla to fight in the arena against the king of the Lizard Men and thus save her kingdom.
But Scott soon tumbles onto the truth. Ben's duel with the Lizard Man king is just a distraction while she launches an invasion fleet. Ben is drugged so that he's pliant and agreeable to the idea of the duel, but this also means he'll be in no condition to win the fight.
Ben is in fact losing the fight when Scott shows up with some of the local insects. The bugs zap Ben, snapping him out of his stuper, after which he finishes the fight and quite handily stops the invasion fleet.
Before using an enlarging ray to head home, Ben and Scott sit everyone down for truce talks. I really like the ending with Ben expressing a realistic but not cynical opinion. He knows the talks won't make for a permanent peace, but "I ain't gonna lose any sleep over it. We did the best we could."
Next week, we'll finish up our look at the Superman/Batman team-up we began last week.
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