Random Happenstance

In the prestige format Alterniverse story--oh, just call it "What If?" and be done with it--The Last Avengers Story, several Avengers are already dead or missing when the story begins. Among them, Thor and Hercules, who disappeared when they went to save Asgard and Olympus. Both gods took a mortal "second" with them, Thor picking the Thing, and Herc taking the Hulk: only the Hulk would return, but he wouldn't be the same afterwards...Still, I thought Peter David nailed the idea that Thor and the Thing would be friends, possibly since neither of them get along with the Hulk...anyway, The Last Avengers Story wouldn't fit in the scanner, so we've got an old one instead: from 1976, Marvel Two-in-One #22, "Touch Not the Hand of Seth!" Story by Bill Mantlo, pencils by Ron Wilson, inks by Pablo Marcos.

Ben spends the bulk of this issue with the Human Torch, getting last month's villain, Blacksun, to the hospital. (A brief aside: I had thought Blacksun, Thomas Lightner, went on to become D-list supervillain Lightmaster, but was mistaken. Instead, Lightner became the Nth Man--unrelated to the Larry Hama title!--then a mystic type on the Squadron Supreme's earth!) At said hospital, Dr. Donald Blake is mid-surgery when Egyptian death-god Seth comes for him, or rather his alter-ego Thor. Ben's always up to help out, but may be regretting it when Seth brings forth his armies of the dead!

I still think Captain America is Thor's favorite mortal, but it's pretty easy to see why he would like Ben, too. This issue's a bit of set-up, may have to do some scans from the conclusion later.