Marvel Two-in-One #99
Published and © by Marvel, May 1983
Title: “Ghost Stories for a Rainy Night”
Synopsis: The Thing and Rom team to battle a coven of Wraith witches and the reanimated armor of a fallen spaceknight.
Writer: Bill Mantlo
Penciler: Bob Hall
Inker: Kevin Dzuban
Review: Bill Mantlo writes a tight team-up tale, bringing together his signature character, Rom, with Two-in-One star the Thing. The characters share a lost-humanity dynamic, and Mantlo does a good job striking the requisite emotional notes. He also gets good mileage from the ghost-story theme, and, of course, it doesn’t hurt that the Dire Wraiths make great villains. The art is surprisingly solid, with Bob Hall’s journeyman pencils benefiting from the clean inks of the relatively little known Kevin Dzuban. While not spectacular, this issue is a fine example of a later Marvel Two-in-One – and a can’t-miss story for Rom fans.
Grade: B+
Cool factor: It’s Rom, spaceknight … a guilty pleasure you really don’t need to feel guilty about.
Notable: Because of the rights issues, this issue has not been reprinted in a collected edition at the time of this review’s publication.
Collector’s note: According to the Grand Comics Database, there is a 75¢ Canadian variant of this issue. … According to MyComicShop.com, there is also a Mark Jewelers variant.
Character quotable: “Thank you, my friend, for enlisting this day to aid me in the Wraith war.” – Rom, spaceknight of Galador
Editor’s note: This review was originally published by Comics Bronze Age on July 2, 2009.
