Project Pegasus, Part 1

cover art by George Perez

Marvel Two-in-One #42 (Aug. 1978--written by Ralph Macchio & drawn by Sal Buscema) introduces us to Project Pegasus, a top-secret underground government research facility dedicated to finding alternative energy sources and that probably has the worst security record of any government project ever.

Heck, they can't even keep the good guys from breaking in! The issue begins with Ben Grimm busting in, angry because an alien named Wundarr has been taken to the Project. Wundarr is superpowerful, but has the mentality of a toddler. "Uncle Benjy" has briefly been his guardian and Ben is now upset over the thought that Wundarr was brought to the Project as a prisoner and might be getting experimented on.

Wundarr will be playing a key part in future Project Pegasus stories, but here he's pretty much a plot device to get Ben to the Project and set up this issue's plot. The overall effect of this is a slow pace and a slightly disjointed feel to the issue. Also, the initial fight between Ben and Captain America (who is checking out the security situation) is fun, but really serves no other purpose other than maintaining the tradition that two superheroes should always fight each other before teaming up.

Ben is eventually reassured that Wundarr is all right, though the "boy" is terrified and doesn't understand what's going on. Reluctantly, Ben agrees to allow an experiment to proceed--Wundarr's powers are going to be used probe the Cosmic Cube, which might be used as an energy source. (Though, actually, if you have the Cosmic Cube, couldn't you just ask it for unlimited energy?)

Unfortunately, the Project's lousy security rears its head. The place has been infiltrated by a guy named Victorius, who is leader of the Cult of Entropy, which is dedicated to allowing the entire universe to dissolve away. Victorious sabotages the experiment, putting Wundarr into a coma while he steals the Cube. He then teleports himself to the Cult's meeting place in the Everglades and uses the Cube to resurrect their dead leader.

 Ben and Cap trace the Cube, arriving just in time to appear in a splash panel that sets up the next issue.

I'm reviewing the Project Pegasus stories because I enjoy them--both story and art work. But, looking back at this issue now, I can see that this first appearance of the Project is awkwardly contructed. Buscema's art looks great, but there's a lot of exposition, appearances by relatively obscure characters with only vague explanations as to who they are, and a slow pace.

All the same, Project Pegasus will be used as a source of some fun stories, so perhaps we can forgive a slow beginning.

Next week, we'll go sailing with two back-stabbing pirates. Two weeks from now, we'll visit Cave Girl once again. So it'll be three weeks before we continue with this particular story.