The Classics - Marvel Two-In-One #50

John Byrne first came to the attention of comics fans through fanzine illustrations, and then his work started appearing in Charlton Comics, including Space: 1999 and backup stories in E-Man.

He soon made the leap to Marvel, where he did excellent work drawing Iron Fist - and eventually he gained a reputation as one of the industry's top artists through his imaginative work on the New X-Men.

Then he did something really shocking. In 1981 he left the X-Men and started writing and drawing the Fantastic Four, becoming one of the (then) rare breed of writer/artists.

You never know what to expect when someone not known for their writing suddenly takes over the writing duties. I suspect many fans were shocked at how good Byrne's writing was. He led the FF into a resurgence of popularity the book hadn't seen since the days of Lee and Kirby.

But he had to prove to the editors that he could handle the assignment, so he tackled the 50th issue of Marvel Two-In-One, which was devoted to team-up stories featuring the Thing and other Marvel characters. This issue, cover dated April 1979, was (if I recall correctly) sort of a try-out for Byrne taking over both writing and drawing assignments (he had drawn the FF before, working with other writers).

He was more than ably assisted here by the legendary Joe Sinnott on inks. The art captured that classic Kirby feel without being a copy of Kirby's style.

The story is an entertaining done-in-one issue that features Reed Richards trying to find a cure for The Thing's rocky condition. The search leads the modern-day Thing to travel into the past for a fateful encounter with the original Thing - the craggy character as he appeared in the first issue of the FF.

It's a fun story that runs with the classic Marvel twist - two heroes meet, have a misunderstanding, and fight. But there's much more going on here, and Byrne lays out some surprising rules for time travel in the Marvel Universe.

It's a short tale, told with intelligence, lots of action and humor.

It was a good omen for the great stories ahead for the team of Byrne and Byrne.

Grade: A