When Even the Gods Give Up

 

cover art by Ron Wilson

The credits for Marvel Two-In-One #23 (January 1977) include Bill Mantlo as writer for the first 6 pages and Jim Shooter finishing it up from there. Ron Wilson is the artist, but with Marie Severin listed as giving an assist. But, despite having several hands the in the pot, the end result is a fun and satisfying story full of great art (including a couple of epic splash pages), great action and a defining character moment for Ben Grimm.

The last issue ended with Seth, the Egyptian god of death, sending an army of undead against Thor and Ben while in the operating room of a New York hospital. Seth is using the army to weaken his opponents while bringing them a bridge between dimensions. It's not the rainbow bridge to Asgard, but it seems to serve a similar purpose. There's a fun implication that each pantheon has its own bridge leading to its own kingdom.

Seth has his brother Horus hanging from chains, while their parents (Isis and Osiris) are held prisoner. This is the start of Seth's conquest of the universe. And it looks as if he might pull it off, as he is able to hold off attacks from both Ben and Thor.

Set summons up an all-powerful monster called the Devourer. But this works against him, as the Devourer plans to destroy everything, including Seth. In desperation, Seth releases Horus, who had once traped the Devourer. But Horus is too weak to do anying, while Osiris and Isis are fatalistically accepting their doom.

In the meantime, Thor is stunned by the Devourer, leaving Ben standing against the monster on his own.

And, by golly, if you want to get on Ben Grimm's nerves, then you can't do a better job than just giving up when the chips are down. Annoyed by the fatalism of the gods and realizing that the monster wants to kill Horus first, Ben grabs Horus and jumps off the bridge into endless interdimensional space.

The Devourer unthinkingly jumps after them. Thor, who has regained consciousness, throws his hammer near Ben, who is able to grab it and be brought back to the bridge. This leaves the Devourer falling into space forever.

From there, the two heroes return to Earth, where Dr. Donald Blake "arrives" in time to care for the patient that Ben and Johnny had brought to the hospital.

As I already said, it's a great issue. The art is fantastic, the action plays out in a logical (well, according to Comic Book Logic) manner, the pacing is lightning-fast and Ben's willingness to sacrifice himself if necessary by jumping off the bridge is typical of his inate heroism and one of the reasons he is one of the hearts of the Marvel Universe.

Next week, we jump back over to the DC Universe to continue our look at Green Lantern.