Project Pegasus, Part 2

The second issue involving Project Pegasus actually doesn't take place at Project Pegasus. In fact, the entire story (except for a flashback) literally takes place on a few square yards of ground in the Everglades.

I don't mean that as a criticism, though. Marvel Two-in-One #43 (September 1978) is written by Ralph Macchio, with John Byrne taking over the interior art and also drawing the cover. The previous issue was bogged down by Exposition Overload. This one, despite an exposition-necessary flashback, moves along much faster. It's mostly an extended fight scene, but there are a few nice character moments that give it some depth.

The mad scientist who stole the Cosmic Cube in the previous issue is Victorius, a former AIM member who is amped up by a version of the Super Soldier serum and has fully embraced the Cult of Entropy, which considers the idea of destroying everything a good thing. Victorius has used the Cube to resurrect the cult's dead leader at the Entropic Man, who has the ability to turn people into dust.

This leads to the first high point of the story. It's a blink-or-you'll-miss-it moment, but it demonstrates why Ben Grimm can rival Peter Parker as the heart of the Bronze Age Marvel Universe. When he finds out that the villains casually murdered an innocent couple, Ben automatically goes Medieval on them. It doesn't matter that he didn't know the couple. All he knows is that people were hurt for no reason. You don't do that when Ben Grimm is around. 

Unfortunately, these particular bad guys are powerful. Ben is knocked back into the muck of the swamp. Captain America challenges Victorius to a one-on-one fight. At this point, we find out that the mindless Man-Thing is nearby. This isn't surprising. It's not just that Man-Thing is one the cover of the book. At this point in Marvel history, it was impossible for anyone to go anywhere near the Everglades without running into Man-Thing. The guy really gets around.

When Victorius starts to lose his fight, he decides that fair fighting is for losers and asks the Entropic Man for help. E.M hypnotizes Cap, so Ben tosses his ally aside to keep him from getting zapped. This allows Entropic Man to envelope Ben, which has the unexpected result of turning him human. 

At this point, A lot of stuff happens at once. Ben begins to give E.M a good talking-to, while Man-Thing and Victorius begin to struggle over the Cube. Entropic Man begins to have second thoughts about disintegrating all of existance and we end up with a "Whoever Knows Fear, Burns at the Man-Thing's Touch" situation. That happens a lot when Man-Thing is around. 

The end result is an explosion that leaves the Cosmic Cube without power, Ben turned back into the Thing and the two bad guys turned into crystal. Neither Ben nor Cap seem to be aware that the Man-Thing has been around as they leave to take the Cube back to the Project. There's no mention of the rest of the Cultists and I get the impression that Macchio and Byrne might have forgotten about them.

So far, this has been an entertaining story with that quick highlight of Ben's character giving it a nice touch. There is one more effective bittersweet touch at the end, when Man-Thing touches the crystal and his hand becomes human. If he were only capable of rational thought, Ted Sallis might have used the crystal to turn himself human again. But the Man-Thing he has become is indeed mindless, so he simply wanders back into the swamp. 

It would be another ten issues before Ben returns to Project Pegasus, but for us, it will only be three weeks. In the meantime, next week we'll jump to the DC Universe and find out how the superheroes of World War II deal with America being at war.