Marvel Two-In-One Annual #1 Review - Marvel Monday

Writer: Chip Zdarsky
Artist: Declan Shalvey
Publisher: Marvel Comics
Release Date: June 13, 2018
Cover Price: $4.99
Review by: Dispatchdcu (read all of his awesome reviews!)

The issue opens with Ben and Doom sneaking into Doom’s Castle but in a different universe. They tracked the signature of one of the Reeds to here so they followed his signature and found a dead Reed Richards all strung out and a Doom that literally just killed that universes Thing. 


Ben tries to go toe-to-toe with that Doom but fails miserably. Our Doom puts up a good fight for a while until they resort to hand to hand combat to see which Doom is the better Doom. The alternate universe Doom has our Doom dead to rights until he falls on the corpse of the alternate universes Reed Richards and finds a small device attached to his waste. He pressed the button to find himself standing in front of the Council of Reeds. If there is any Hickman fans reading this review or that simply read this issue, they literally just screamed out “Holy #%$&!”. The council is back in full effect. 

Now even though the Council of Reeds are back, they have learned from their mistakes and now keep family close and try to better each world with more compassion than before. Also, it’s really awesome how the Council meets. Doom didn’t leave to meet with them when he pressed the button on the device. His body was duplicated and sent to the Council creating two Dooms; one battling the alternate universe Doom in combat and the other with the Council of Reeds. This was created by them so the Reeds would still be able to be with their families while their duplicates were creating advancements for societies. Then later, the two will merge back together with memories of both experiences. I’m not going to lie; that’s just pure craziness to even create this idea. Way to go Chip! That was extremely creative. 

So, our Doom with the Council asks for help from the Reeds to figure out what’s been going on with him. Our Doom realizes that something is wrong with him but he doesn’t know why. Part of the reason our Doom came along for the ride with Ben and Johnny was to find other Reeds to help him figure out what’s wrong with himself. So, one of the Reeds helped Doom by going into his mind and finding repressed memories that showed Reed talking to Doom immediately after Secret Wars. And again, Hickman fans, like myself, were probably going nuts to see the connections to Secret War. 

We find out that our Reed told our Doom his plans about recreating the multiverse, fixing Dooms mistakes, as well as exploring each one to see what’s out there with his family. Doom basically told Reed that Doom would never stop looking for him and would always try to destroy him. So, our Reed used his powers given to him by the Molecule Man to recreate the multiverse to then repress Dooms memories. He then altered Dooms mind, as well as everyone else’s memories to think that he and Sue were dead. Reeds thinking was that if Doom thought he was dead, maybe Doom would move on and actually try to help humanity for the better. And as it turned out, he was right. That’s exactly what Doom has been doing since Secret Wars. 

After gaining this information, our Doom went back to the fight with the other alternate Doom and killed him. Doom freed Ben and they met up with Johnny and Rachna to go to another universe. But now, our Doom knows that Reed and Sue are alive. It’s only a matter of finding them. I can only predict that Dooms obsession will lead them all to Reed and Sue. 

This issue was so great. We got references to Secret Wars finally making the event seem actually important to comics. And, we got references to Hickman’s amazing run on Fantastic Four with the Council of Reeds. How could you beat that? We also get answers as to why Doom basically tries to be a good guy, because Reed repressed memories from the end of Secret Wars and made Doom feel like he had no other options anymore. He tried being God and it didn’t take. He’s always tried to defeat Reed but he’s gone too. Doom was looking for something new out of life. It honestly makes sense. 

Now, where do we think it’s going from here? Personally, I think Doom will find Reed and Sue if only just to show Reed that Doom is smarter and more capable than Reed could ever imagine. Basically, because of Dooms pride alone, he’ll find Reed and Sue. But I still can’t pinpoint what Rachna wants. She’s doing this for some reason and continues to find Reed after Reed knowing they aren’t the ones they are looking for. But why? I hope we find out in two weeks. 

If you like what you heard, love talking all types of comics, and are interested in joining a comic chat group, hit me up at dispatchdcu@gmail.com or @dispatchdcu on twitter. Catch you all later! Peace

Bits and Pieces:

Zdarsky has been doing a phenomenal job on Marvel 2 in 1 and this issue continued that trend. This book still remains at the top of my pull list and it should be at the top of all of yours too. Pick this up, I have no doubt you’ll love it. 

9/10