The Thing and Ghost Rider Save Christmas?

Marvel Two-in-One (Vol. 1) #8
“Silent Night … Deadly Night”
Writer: Steve Gerber
Artists: Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito
Letterer: Charlotte Jetter
Colorist: George Roussos
Editor: Len Wein
Released: Dec. 10, 1974

The original Marvel Two-in-One, featuring the Thing and a rotating cast of guest stars, is one of my favorite comic series. I discovered random issues at the same flea market that introduced me to the Eternals and most of my comics that didn't come from the spinner at Waldenbooks.

Thanks to Marvel's terrific Essentials trades – phonebook-sized, black and white collections that collect chunks of classic runs at a reasonable price – I own just about every issue and have read a good portion of them. One of the gems I discovered there was Marvel Two-in-One #8, featuring a team-up between Thing and Ghost Rider on Christmas Eve.

The story opens with Ghost Rider (the Johnny Blaze incarnation) riding through the Arizona desert when his path is blocked by a camel-riding trio of wise men. They tell the flame-skulled cyclist they're following a star to find a prophesied child. He politely declines their offer to join them (one basically says, “Hey, we've got enough frankincense and myrrh to say some of it's from you”) and rides into town to investigate.

Meanwhile, the ever-lovin', blue-eyed Thing is trying to convince Mr. Fantastic to stop star-gazing and join his family for the Fantastic Four's Christmas party. Reed Richards has noted the presence of the new star in the heavens and the fact that it seems to be pointing to a reservation in Arizona that the FF's friend Wyatt Wingfoot's tribe calls home. But his rocky best pal Ben Grimm insists he'll check it out while Reed spends time with his family.

Ghost Rider has beaten him to it, finding the reservation transformed into a facsimile of Bethlehem about 2,000 years earlier and the Native Americans dressed and acting as its inhabitants. Wyatt is the innkeeper who informs Ghost Rider there are no rooms available. Just as Blaze finds a mother, father and newborn baby in the stable, a shadowy figure conjures a whirlwind to cast him out of the town.

The two heroes meet on the outskirts and commandeer the wise men's camels and attire to move into town undetected. When they deliver their gift to the child, the mystery man proclaims his scenario complete and ultimate power within his grasp.

Thing recognizes the would-be mastermind as the Miracle Man, an obscure FF villain removed from the mortal plain by the Cheemuzwa, powerful Native American mystics who taught him the fantastical powers that allow him to alter matter. Transforming nearby stable animals into massive monsters to restrain the interlopers, Miracle Man explains that he tricked the Cheemuzwa and transformed one of their number into the child. By recreating the Nativity, he believes he can attain ultimate power by controlling a new Messiah.

Before anyone can explain that he missed the forest for the trees by focusing on the details of the birth of Christ rather than the reason, the power-hungry Miracle Man declares his plans ruined by Thing and Ghost Rider interfering with his recreation. When his powers waver – possibly due to the scale on which he's using them – the heroes escape and Miracle Man attempts to destroy the reservation in a fire.

Seemingly unaffected by the flames, Ghost Rider begins evacuating the residents while Thing pursues their fleeing foe. Miracle Man increases his own strength to battle Grimm, who promptly dispatches him while delivering his trademark line.

While most of Miracle Man's changes fade, the transformed Cheemuzwa child remains and Wyatt promises the tribe will raise him. Ghost Rider rides away, wondering whether his immunity to the flames was a divine gift or a trick of Satan, who didn't want him to escape his clutches by dying while doing good.

The theology might not be 100% on track, but this is a delightfully weird story and the final issue of Howard the Duck creator Steve Gerber's run on the series. Who but Ben Grimm would get roped into an adventure on Christmas Eve just to make sure his science-obsessed pal spends time with his family? The Thing has plenty of great lines (“Hiya. We brought the kid some myrrh … whatever that is.”). Miracle Man chews the scenery with bravado that would give even Doctor Doom pause. And Blaze wrestles with issues that, according to asterisked footnotes, are playing out in his own series, though you don't need to be following it to understand the story.

This one takes the title as my favorite comic Christmas story. Although it's been a heck of a week and I'm a little behind, I'm glad I got the time to revisit it and share.

Thanks for reading, and merry Christmas!