Man, I love Bill Mantlo. The guy came up with the craziest, silliest ideas, but they are always buried in solidly entertaining comics featuring great fights and guest-stars.Let me explain Machinesmith's plan for these two issues. First, he takes over a gang of mobsters (their leader is named Mr. Carnation), the purpose? He needs them to capture the Yancy Street Gang and force them to build an army of robots. Machinesmith is counting on them contacting the Thing, who will ride to the rescue. Machinesmith's perfectly designed robots will then defeat the Thing. This portion of the plan goes off without a hitch in issue #47.
In #48, Machinesmith places the Thing under his mental control, and forces the Thing to smash the robots to prove the Thing's power. 'Smith wants to have the Thing kill the Fantastic Four, but first he's going to use the Thing to eliminate another problem; Jack of Hearts. Jack walks into an ambush, confident in his crazy costume and abilities, and he actually takes out the mind-controlled Thing. Luckily, his full force blast to Thing's face also destroyed the Machinesmith's mind-control device, just as the Yancy Street Gang busts loose. The heroes arrive to take out 'Smith, only to find out that he was a robot, the real guy is nowhere close. (I love those villains that ALWAYS seem to get away, Taskmaster is another guy like this). It's such a ridiculous, convoluted plan, but by following it, Mantlo set up some great set-pieces and a pair of cool team-ups. I know it isn't fashionable, but I'd kill for a solid team-up book like this; it's a pity Robert Kirkman's attempt at a new Marvel Team-Up didn't work.
Chic Stone's art is classic and fun. Jack of Hearts looks awesome; the guy has 4 colors on his uniform and his energy blasts are a fifth (pink). I love Marvel 70's characters. I also dig how the Yancy Street Gang's faces are constantly shrouded in shadow.
Good
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