Skull The Slayer #8 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 8, November 1976

Despite its editorial column “Skullduggery” clearly suggesting that this bi-monthly’s Seventies audience were enthusiastically supportive of Bill Mantlo’s “great idea… [of] bringing back Skull and his crew to the original lost-in-time concept”, and “Marvel Comics Group” receiving “more than five-fold” the number of letters it was getting six months earlier, Issue Eight of “Skull The Slayer” is not only a rather overly-wordy book full of exposition explaining the origin of the Incan ‘god’ Viracocha. But it is also the final edition in the series, and as such disappointingly ends with an exasperatingly abrupt cliff-hanger: “Take them to the dungeons, children! Bind them well! For soon the false Son of the Sun will find himself bound to an altar -- as sacrifice to the Children of the Night!”

In fact “Riders On The Sky!” contains quite a few frustrating disappointments, not least of which is a somewhat incongruous cover illustration of a long-haired Samson-like Scully battling Pteranodon-flying archers which purportedly consists of an “initial sketch” by Marie Severin, followed by the perceptible pencils of Jack Kirby (and Frank Giacoia). This foreboding suggestion that the seventeen-page periodical’s creative team are slightly ‘off-key’ sadly persists within Bill Mantlo’s dialogue-heavy narrative, to the point where even the righteously resentful Raymond Corey is depicted supposedly enjoying his elevation “to the status of Gods” by surrounding himself with semi-clad native women simply because “it has advantages even this stiff-spined physicist can appreciate.”  

Fortunately, not all of the Brooklyn-born writer’s storyline dwells upon the trained soldier’s verbalised misgivings concerning his facially-disfigured host’s all-powerful dominion over the City of Gold. For once the disgraced Jaguar Priest Villac Umu has escaped his incarceration and spearheaded a coup against Captain Cochran’s “godhood” this comic finally makes a welcome return to what it seemingly does best by having Skull, his power belt glowing, battling Pterodactyl-riding Samurai in a terrifically action-packed sequence alongside his three companions.

Somewhat regrettably, Sal Buscema’s artwork for this Archie Goodwin edited publication, is equally as inconsistent as Mantlo’s characterisation of its supporting cast. The comic’s opening splash panel depicting the “five-year Prisoner of War in ‘Nam” stood atop a temple watching “the Inca warriors dance in the court yard of the Temple of the Sun” is incredibly dynamic, as is the Inkwell Award-winner’s drawing of the “great obsess cur” Oomatay beating his prisoner. Yet by the time Viracocha has presumably been dispatched by an arrow in his very own Throne Room and Ann Reynolds is wrestling with the heavily-armoured warriors of medieval Japan, the New Yorker’s pencilling has become distinctly angular and somewhat stiff in appearance.

Writer: Bill Mantlo, and Artists: Sal Buscema & Sonny Trinidad

Skull The Slayer #7 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 7, September 1976

Featuring a ferociously fearsome Stegosaurus, numerous bloodthirsty native savages, the power-mad machinations of a Jaguar-skin wearing Inca King and even a pair of viciously hungry prehistoric Pteranodons, there is little to suggest that Issue Seven of “Skull The Slayer” is a Bronze Age publication on the very cusp of being cancelled; even if the seventeen-page periodical does contain the somewhat ominous announcement inside Stan’s Soapbox that the comic book’s creator and champion “Marvel-ous Marv Wolfman” is “swapping our editor’s chair for a full-time writing schedule here at the bullpen.”

Admittedly Bill Mantlo does interrupt his captivating “Bury My heart In The City Gold” storyline mid-way through the action with twenty-five seemingly superfluous, tiresome panels depicting Freddy Lancer’s selfish scheme to ‘settle a score’ with the titular character, whilst rescuing Senator “Stoneface” turner’s son in the process. But the dreary dialogue-heavy scene set “two or so million millennia later than then” is soon over, as the Brooklyn-born author continues to ‘change the direction’ of this magazine from that of his “out of touch” predecessor, Steve “one-and-only shot at scripting Skull” Englehart, and “get Scully back up against those lizards of his.”

Indeed the Eagle Award-winner’s “unique sci-fi fantasy” narrative proves a far cry from being just “another line of inferior material” as some readers feared and even provides the super-hero’s supporting cast, Raymond Corey, Ann Reynolds and young Jeff, the opportunity to fend for themselves within a sub-plot featuring a heavily-netted fauna-filled pit, flying reptiles and a long-dead soldier’s grenade belt. Buoyed by such an incredibly compelling script, is it little wonder that the creative team (over)confidently declared that the magazine “may even reach issue two hundred” in its letters page “Skullduggery”?

This edition makes it equally as clear that Sal Buscema “was as thrilled at a return to the original concept of Skull as” Mantlo was. For whether the New Yorker’s breakdowns, coupled with Sonny Trinidad’s embellishments, are simply depicting an irate senator, fuming monarch of a lost civilisation or decidedly determined doctor’s secretary, every single one of the New Yorker's numerous panels are crammed full of dynamic energy;  “I sure hope I’m doing this right because it’s a good bet I’m not going to get a second chance!”

Writer: Bill Mantlo, and Artists: Sal Buscema & S. Trinidad

Skull The Slayer #6 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 6, July 1976

Finally ridding himself of his predecessors’ controversial notion that “the untouched world of the prehistoric past” within which Jim Scully finds himself trapped is actually populated by robots and extra-terrestrial governed time-travelling towers, Bill Mantlo’s storyline for Issue Six of “Skull The Slayer” settles into an enjoyable romp ‘down river’ which seems far more in keeping with series creator Marv Wolfman’s original vision for the comic book. Indeed once the Black Knight automaton pinions Slitherogue to a castle wall through the belly with his great sword and the alien peevishly activates the self-destruct to his technologically advanced citadel, the plot soon leaves such foolish fancies far behind and instead begins to build a compelling storyline based upon the titular character’s jungle survival savvy from his military training in Guatemala and Vietnam.

Admittedly the Eagle Award-winner’s narrative isn’t entirely free of its own contrivances however, as the introduction of Corporal Lancer and the bullish Senator ‘Stoneface’ Turner “fifteen hundred miles” from where the antediluvian survivors’ plane crashed “somewhere off Bermuda” attests. This potentially interesting ‘modern-day’ interlude, presumably designed to introduce a subplot the title’s future cancellation would never see explored, was clearly written in order to reacquaint the magazine’s audience with how the publication started courtesy of a six-panel summary piece. But just why a United States congressman would be on board a naval vessel so significantly far from where his son’s plane disappeared in "the Devil's Triangle" makes no sense whatsoever and is disconcertingly co-incidental in the extreme.

Fortunately Mantlo soon gets things back on track by depicting the ex-soldier and his friends facing a canoe packed full of heavily-armed Inca warriors on a river teeming with carnivorous killer fish. This suspenseful sequence proves a genuinely pulse-pounding read and culminates with the super-strong Scully dynamically besting an ichthyosaur armed with little more than a hunting blade. The co-creator of Rocket Raccoon even finds time during all this action for Doctor Raymond Corey to finally settle his differences with the “great white hunter” and step away from some of the physicist’s previously distasteful prejudicial rhetoric; Welcome back, great black egghead! Believe it or not -- I was actually starting to miss you!”

Sadly “Swamp!” is though disappointingly let down by some of Sal Buscema and Steve Gan’s artwork. The duo’s imaginative depictions of the Slayer battling the large marine reptile whilst his companions ferociously tackle the waterway’s blood-thirsty natives are wonderfully dynamical and full of energy. Yet when it comes to the sedentary moments within the text, such as the close-ups of Jim warming to a grateful scientist who “tries smiling for the first time in his life”, then the pencilling appears crude and awkwardly inert.

Writer: Bill Mantlo, and Artists: Sal Buscema & Steve Gan

Skull The Slayer #5 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 5, May 1976

Despite in many ways being something of a bizarre reboot of the ‘fatal’ events which befell this comic’s supporting cast in its preceding edition, Bill Mantlo’s storyline for Issue Five of “Skull The Slayer” is arguably as entertaining as it is action-packed. For whilst the Brooklyn-born writer ludicrously brings all three of the titular character’s companions back to life at the whim of the sinister Slitherogue, his surrounding narrative depicting a dynamically-charged demonic fist-fight, and castle-top melee between knight-bearing winged-horses and Morgan Le Fay’s fork-tongued scaly-skinned minions proves as enjoyably engrossing an experience as any “Marvel Comics” book reader of the Seventies could surely have wanted.

Indeed this seventeen-page periodical’s only real weakness is that both ‘set pieces’ concerning “the great Jim Scully” battling alongside the Black Knight, Merlin and King Arthur are disappointingly cut somewhat short on account of the combatants all seemingly being “what thou hast termed a robot” as opposed to being the genuine article. A situation which results in the vast majority of these “chrome-an’-bolts automaton[s]” suffering a swift end on account of a piercing lance, sharp sword or even an ignoble burn out…

Only time-travellers Jeff Turner, Ann Reynolds and physicist Raymond Corey seemingly appear to be “flesh and blood” rather than “nuts and bolts”, and even these personalities struggle to generate any lasting apprehension as to their fate on account of having ‘died’ previously and then subsequently been re-formed from their “transmuted” energies; “How else do you explain three people you saw get killed, now living again…”

Disappointingly Mantlo’s explanation as to why the murderous “kid… girl, and… egghead” return to the side of the “mad dog killer” at the conclusion of this book is also frustratingly unimaginative. One minute Ann is furiously directing her friends not to “try [and] take him alone” but to assail the Slayer with swords and a bludgeon, and the next, simply because the ex-soldier picks up the injured doctor, the “team” have nonsensically elected Skull their leader and joined him in an effort to “get out of this tower”?

Just as erratic as parts of the script to “Magic, Myth And Madness!” is the artwork by Sal Buscema and Sonny Trinidad. The duo’s drawings of the Black Knight and the super-strong hero battling “the evil creatures of Slitherogue” are wonderfully animated and full of crunching blows. Yet whenever the narrative's pace slows or a panel wholly focus’ upon the visage of Marv Wolfman’s co-creation, the sketching becomes noticeably poorer and significantly less disciplined.

Author: Bill Mantlo, and Artists: Sal Buscema & Celso L. "Sonny" Trinidad

Skull The Slayer #4 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 4, March 1976

Having firmly established the premise behind this time-travelling mid-Seventies title by authoring the narrative of its opening three issues, Editor Marv Wolfman somewhat disconcertingly hands over the writing reigns for “Time Out Of Mind” to Steve Englehart and was doubtless then mortified to see not only the sudden rather arbitrary and contrived demise of James Patrick Scully’s entire supporting cast. But additionally the twisting of the titular character’s already rather prickly personality into that of a completely cold-hearted self-centred survivor. A man who seemingly would rather run and sacrifice Ann Reynolds to a grisly death at the hands of their Ancient Egyptian pursuers than fight at Raymond Corey’s side in order to try and rescue her; “The game today is kill or be killed. Nothing else!”

Indeed having spent some considerable time siding with the Vietnam veteran during his numerous altercations with the contentiously prejudicial doctor, this particular seventeen-page periodical swiftly spins the reader’s allegiance on its head and worryingly shows the superhero to be nothing more than a ‘combat trained killer’ who “doesn’t feel a thing!” Certainly it is hard to forgive the scorpion belt-wearing adventurer for turning his back upon the injured blonde-haired secretary, whether “there’s nothing we can do for her” or not. Whilst the bitter remorse Skull the Slayer later feels as he watches his companions fall beneath the blades of master Slitherogue’s robots does little to erase his earlier contemptuous belief that the scientist didn’t remain behind to “die protecting her… like a man!” But rather because Corey watched “too much television.”

Equally as galling is Englehart’s abrupt introduction of Merlin and the Black Knight into what had, up until this edition, been a thoroughly enthralling tale of Prehistoric civilizations and monsters. This “robotic nightmare of King Arthur’s Time” badly jars with the series’ former direction and also rather belittles the tragic grisly deaths which occurred just a few panels earlier. In fact it is hard to imagine a more perplexing, less engaging turn of events, than the “modern day man” being miraculously confronted with the two fairly standard stereotypical medieval depictions. Truly the “far-reaching House of Ideas” were right to label this magazine’s contents as being concerned with “a world of time gone mad” on its front cover.

Arguably Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito’s artwork for such a “Peril Of The Pyramids” is just as inconsistent as the American author’s script. For whilst Scully’s battle with the Ancient Egyptian warriors imprisoning Doctor Corey is full of “Bam!” and “Tok!”, as is the hero’s subsequent fist-fight with Merlin’s armoured guardian, the Brooklyn-born illustrator’s handling of anything more sedentary in pace, such as the numerous close-ups of the Slayer’s face, is far less successful.

Author: Steve Englehart, and Artists: Sal Buscema & Mike Esposito

Skull The Slayer #3 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 3, January 1976

The last of three issues written by series creator Marv Wolfman before he became ensconced within Seventies “Marvel Comics” politics as Editor-in-Chief, “Tumult In The Tower Of Time!” proves to be an incredibly exhilarating read even though it contains several bemusing twists within its narrative which make little to no sense whatsoever with the storyline that preceded them. Indeed despite the utterly implausible nature of a Prehistoric world suddenly populated by a purely robotic Tyrannosaurus Rex and containing an unfathomably tall barbican where “every level of this tower-- is another time” the Brooklyn-born author’s script still somehow manages to jell together in order to provide “Skull The Slayer” with an astonishingly enjoyable seventeen-page ride.

It is certainly hard to think of much else the two-time Eagle Award-winner could give his super-strong titular character to do within so short a time frame, as the “little dinosaur hunter” not only plays rodeo cowboy with a gigantic primordial horned horse, flees a herd of rampaging carnivores and confronts a party of Pharaoh’s armoured warriors from “Ancient Egypt”. But he also appears to be imbued with the curiosity of a 'pulp fiction' investigator as he examines a grave-yard filled full of the staked out rotting corpses of “air force pilots [and] ship’s captains” who’ve “been dead for years”, before ascending an alien pylon, covered in identical writing to “the stuff” in the cave where he found his scorpion-powered belt and which is so tall that it “goes through the clouds and above.”

Disappointingly the New Yorker’s handling of Jim Scully’s supporting cast though is not quite so successful, especially when it comes to the trained soldier’s primary antagonist, the bigoted braggart Raymond Corey. The African-American physicist’s blatant prejudice towards the group’s “great white leader” increasingly grates upon the nerves, and it becomes increasingly hard to understand just how, given their stressful circumstances, the Vietnam veteran doesn’t make good on his promise and batter the Doctor; especially after the adventurer saves the ‘loud-mouthed’ “past-master of good cheer” from falling to his death over a cliff edge and is verbally abused by the scientist in return.

Fortunately Steve Gan’s pencilling more than makes up for any failings with Wolfman’s penmanship, with the “naturalised Filipino of Chinese origin” producing some highly-charged action-packed panels as the tale unfolds. In fact his sequence depicting James somersaulting himself off of the back of his antediluvian ride and then slowing down his momentum by cartwheeling through some nearby trees is extremely-well drawn.

Writer/Editor: Marv Wolfman, Pencils: Steve Gan, and Inks: Pablo Marcus & Steve Gan

Skull The Slayer #2 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 2, November 1975

Written by two-time Jack Kirby Award-winner Marv Wolfman, “Gods and Super-Gods” represents everything both good and bad about “Marvel Comics Group” publications during the mid-Seventies. On the one hand the Brooklyn-born author’s narrative concerns an entertainingly corny concoction of modern day man, cave-dwelling cannibals, long-dead extra-terrestrials and an assortment of dinosaurs from “two hundred and twenty-two million years” ago. Whilst on the other the New Yorker populates this eighteen-page periodical with some astoundingly one-dimensional protagonists, such as Jeff Turner, a young runaway whose “domineering father… thinks he owns me!”

Indeed it is hard to sympathise with any of this title’s lead characters, as all of them carry some dislikeable ‘chip upon their shoulders’, even the beautiful Ann Reynolds, who having come “top in my class… was told they didn’t hire young girls because we’d be trained and then we’d leave within a year once we were married!” Such a crass chauvinistic attitude is as prehistoric as the historically inaccurate, heavily-fanged Brontosaurus Jim Scully faces at the conclusion of this issue.

However nothing arguably compares to the hateful attitude of Doctor Raymond Corey, whose belief that “every white man’s out to put you down!” makes the scientist seemingly appear to be just as much of a racist as the bigoted prejudicial people he resents; “Don’t worry white jungle god -- we’ll get on our knees to thank you! Or would you prefer we sacrifice some native girls to your magnificence?” Such an obnoxious disagreeable group of ‘heroes’ makes it incredibly hard for the reader to actually care about any of these hapless time-travellers, especially when they spend the vast majority of their ‘screen time’ bickering or threatening one another.

Fortunately Wolfman does still manage to imbue Issue Two” of “Skull The Slayer” with plenty of action sequences. “Murderer” Scully’s fist-fight with a number of the cave-dwelling “sub-microscopic morons” and subsequent defeat of "five tons of rampaging Styracosaurus" is as dynamically thrilling as any bibliophile could want. Whilst the adventurers’ exploration of an alien-made chamber, complete with the decaying corpse of a long-dead ‘Martian’ and tantalising wall etchings, proves a suspenseful compelling read.

Somewhat disappointing however has to be the artwork of Steve Gan. The “naturalised Filipino of Chinese origin” is perfectly capable of drawing some truly outstanding looking panels, such as Jim and his compatriots being savaged by a “Bucking Bronto” whilst swimming through “the murky green waters” of a primordial river. But the penciller then ruins the impact of such illustrations by producing some truly poor pictures, complete with misshapen-heads and odd-looking limbs, on the very next page.

Creator/Writer: Marv Wolfman, Artist: Steve Gan, and Letterer: San Jose

Marvel Two-In-One #36 - Marvel Comics

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE No. 36, February 1978

Disappointingly a rather water-logged Benjamin Grimm sums up the quality of this seventeen-page nonsensical narrative by Editor Marv Wolfman in the book’s opening panel by exclaiming “Wotta revoltin’ development this is!” For “A Stretch In Time” not only concludes the Thing’s two-part prehistoric adventure with “Skull the Slayer and his band of time-lost travellers” but also appears to show the two-time Jack Kirby Award-winner’s writing at its most unimaginative.

Indeed the Brooklyn-born writer appears to be so uninspired by his own storyline that having extensively depicted the super-heroes outrunning an especially carnivorous Tyrannosaurus Rex in order to try and reach “the plane that brought us here” in the previous issue, he abruptly has them both find “the charred ruins of the Lockheed Hercules lying in a jungle plain” and unbelievably return "to Ben Grimm’s experimental jet” with "the batteries and parts they need” within the space of a single text box. Considering the group were last seen wearily dragging themselves ashore having fallen down “a blamed waterfall” following an encounter with some ludicrously fanged sauropods, it is inconceivable that the rest of their exploration of this antediluvian world was "uneventful". At the very least they must surely have encountered more of the primordial fauna…

Instead, less than halfway through the comic, Wolfman miraculously has “the anxious five” fly their hastily repaired “super-sonic jet… up into the scarlet skies” and immediately travel back through the Bermuda Triangle to modern-day Miami. Such woeful lazy insipid writing by the co-creator of Blade is both incomprehensible and unforgivable. Doubly so when it means that the Shazam Award-winner then has to populate the rest of the magazine with a tired, poorly thought out battle sequence between the Jaguar Priest and a semi-powerless Reed Richards; as Jeff shouts “I don’t believe it…”

Fortunately such a bland apathetic adventure is at least given some life due to the remarkable pencilling of Ernie Chan. The Filipino-American artist’s illustrations, especially his dynamic portrayal of Mister Fantastic and the “lumpy orange gorilla” battling a flock of giant-sized pterosaurs above Cape Canaveral, are as wonderfully vigorous and vibrant as his blending of flying lizard with space-flight technology is historically inaccurate.

Writer/Editor: Marv Wolfman, Artist: Ernie Chan and Colorist: Michele Wolfman

Skull The Slayer #1 - Marvel Comics

SKULL THE SLAYER No. 1, August 1975

It is somewhat easy to understand why it took creator/writer and colorist Marv Wolfman four years to sell the basic notion of this comic book “to someone… anyone.” For despite the support of “Rascally” Roy Thomas, another “dinosaur buff”, and a determination to have the title sell “month after month”, the rudimentary storyline to Issue One of “Skull The Slayer” is still arguably little more than the unoriginal tale of a group of Bermuda-bound passengers somehow crash-landing back in time to the Jurassic period.

However, whereas the two-time Jack Kirby Award-winner originally envisaged thrusting “an entire mid-town Manhatten office building into a Prehistoric setting”, “The Coming Of Skull The Slayer!” published storyline contains a rather more intriguing, compelling narrative. Something which perfectly demonstrates Wolfman’s belief that the eighteen-page adventure “was worth the wait” as his “ideas matured, some concepts grew, some changed” and “all hopefully improved.”

Much of this early success is down to the Shazam Award-winner's creation of James Patrick Scully, a disillusioned Vietnam veteran who has been wrongfully arrested for the murder of his drug-addicted brother. Indeed the vast majority of this “book that would make you go Arrgh!” focuses solely upon the titular character, and provides Skull with an especially edgy backstory which not only provides an explanation as to why he would attempt to unbelievably overpower a Tyrannosaurus Rex with a decidedly thin-looking spear and a large rock. But also why the trained fighter would so readily try and adapt to the life of a hunter-gatherer; “Sergeant Scully of the dinosaur patrol reportin’ in, sir.”

Interestingly though, despite his ability to ‘acclimatise’ to his surroundings, wrestling a bovine-like mammal to the ground in the process, Wolfman’s “star” is actually quite the anti-hero and repeatedly demonstrates his mantra of putting himself first by battering his military escort as their plane breaks apart in the sky and failing to search for any other survivors because ‘he’s tabbed enough charred corpses in his five years’. The “bright boy” even demonstrates some mental instability by bursting into hysterical “insane cackling laughter” on a couple of occasions when his dire lonely situation strikes home and he realises “he’s totally out of his league.”

Unfortunately the Brooklyn-born writer’s overly-used and jargon-filled narration isn’t anywhere near as engaging as his creation. Indeed the New Yorker’s nasty habit of explaining everything in some sort of ‘Seventies jive talk’ becomes infuriatingly off-putting extremely quickly and ruins not only the intensity of an arguably contentious backstory. But also the drama of Scully’s perilous primordial predicament.

Possibly the highlight of this Bronze Age bi-monthly though is artist Steve Gan’s wonderfully drawn ‘great giant reptiles’. The Star-Lord co-creator really conveys a sense of scale and bestial dynamism to the primeval world’s carnivorous inhabitants, especially that of the tyrant lizard as it hunts Scully through the undergrowth. As a result it is very clear why Wolfman would state within the comic’s editorial “Old Funny Animals” that “when the final art came in, I finally let out my sigh” as “Steve Gan had done a fantastic job.”

Creator/Writer/Colorist: Marv Wolfman, Artist: Steve Gan, and Letterer: Pablo Marcos

Marvel Two-In-One #35 - Marvel Comics

MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE No. 35, January 1978

Straight from this book’s spectacular Ernie Chan cover depicting Skull the Slayer and Ben Grimm battling a party of African warriors and a ferocious dinosaur, “Marvel Comics Group” editor Marv Wolfman seems to have been determined to deliver a no-nonsense highly enjoyable action-packed read to this title’s audience. Admittedly the Brooklyn-born writer’s story starts off with a somewhat clunky awkwardly written one-page preamble which swiftly establishes that the United States Air Force have ‘recruited’ the Thing to fly their “sleek, experimental R-37 supersonic “Bird of Prey” in order to “penetrate the Bermuda Triangle” and locate a missing jet plane. But such a considerably contrived set of kooky circumstances is easily forgivable when it means that within the space of a few panels, the former test pilot’s aircraft is trapped within the jaws of “an overgrown canary” and shockingly transported back in time to the age of prehistoric monsters, or rather “roughly one quarter of a billion years before they invented television”.

Having abrasively pulled one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four into his version of ‘Jurassic Park’, the Shazam Award-winner wastes absolutely no time in preparing the ground for the unlikely team-up of The Thing with his very own co-creation, Jim Scully, a Vietnam veteran whose alien Scorpion power belt grants him super-strength. Indeed Wolfman’s introduction of the herculean adventurer proves to be just as much a breathless non-stop escapade as that of Aunt Petunia’s blue-eyed nephew as he wastes no time prevaricating over the fact that “Enter: Skull the Slayer And Exit: The Thing!” directly follows on from the events published in the eighth and final edition of “Skull The Slayer”. But instead prefers to bring the reader up to date as to how that cancelled comic book ended by way of some concise scribbled footnotes found within the margin.

As a result just as soon as Ben Grimm’s battered ‘oarless craft’ comes to land, the rock-like human mutate is bashing “bad guys” and together with Scully, thwarting the machinations of the power-mad Jaguar Priest. Rather impressively such pulse-pounding all-action antics then continues unabated for a further eleven pages as the phenomenally strong duo wrestle a giant pterodactyl to the ground and attempt to fend off a hungry Tyrannosaurus Rex with a few well-aimed punches. 

Uncharitably, such a propensity for preposterous predicaments does occasionally sway Nostalgic Marv’s storyline a little close to all-out farce, especially when despite being able to previously ‘lay out a carnivorous theropod with one little clobber’ The Thing ends up running for his life away from one. But so sudden a conclusion to such a titanic 'classic' confrontation would have deprived the reader of some truly glib comments by a back-peddling Benjamin; “Er, anyone got an army hidin’ in the bushes somewhere?”

As one would expect from so notable a guest artist as Ernie Chan, the pencilling within Issue Thirty Five of “Marvel Two-In-One” is wonderfully dynamic and crammed full of both energy and life. Of particular note are the amazingly animated dinosaurs the Filipino-American comic book artist conjures up, with the baleful red-eyed Tyrannosaurus proving to be especially impressive, if a little unrealistically agile. In fact it is hard to imagine Skull the Slayer’s own magazine selling as poorly as it did if the predominantly ‘Swords and sorcery’ illustrator had drawn it.

Writer/Editor: Marv Wolfman, Pencils: Ernie Chan and Colorist: Michele Wolfman