Marvel Two-In-One (1970’s)

Marvel Two-in-One continued from the team-up stories starring the Thing in the final two issues of Marvel Feature and lasted for 100 issues from January 1974 through June 1983. Seven annuals were also published. Artist Ron Wilson began his long association with the title with issue #12 (November 1975) and worked on it throughout its run. With issue #17, the series had a crossover with Marvel Team-Up #47, which featured Spider-Man. The second Marvel Two-in-One Annual was a crossover with Avengers Annual #7 both of which were written and drawn by Jim Starlin. The “Project Pegasus” storyline in Marvel Two-in-One #53-58 saw the introduction of the name “Quasar” for the Wendell Vaughn character and the transformation of Wundarr into the Aquarian.

Many notable comics creators contributed to the series, including Steve Gerber, Frank MillerJack Kirby (who did pencils on several covers during its run), John Byrne, John BuscemaGeorge Pérez and Marv Wolfman.

Marvel Two-In-One ended after one hundred issues and was immediately replaced with a Thing solo series.

The Thing (1983)

The cancellation of Marvel Two-in-One led to the Thing’s first completely solo series, which ran for 36 issues. The Thing was originally written by John Byrne and later, Mike Carlin. The series also featured art by Ron Wilson and later by Paul Neary. It elaborated on Ben Grimm’s poor childhood on Yancy Street in its early issues, and chronicled the Thing’s later foray into the world of professional wrestling. It also featured a major storyline offshoot from Marvel’s Secret Wars event, in which the Thing elects to remain on the Beyonder‘s Battleworld after discovering that the planet enables him to return to human form at will. A full third of the series’ stories take place on Battleworld.