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| Publisher |
Marvel |
| Artist |
Ron Wilson |
| Writer |
Bill Mantlo |
| Published | November 1976 |
This issue has a great start: two stories, told in parallel panels side by side down the page.On the left, we find Ben and Johnny in the present (1976) at home in the Baxter Building, where a woman has come to them for aid. On the right, we find Doc Savage in the past (1946) at home in his Empire State Building headquarters where a mysterious woman has come to him for aid. Both women faint, and we learn that Ben's visitor is Janice Lightner, while Doc's is Lucinda Lightner. Both relay their stories: in the present, Janice is the twin sister of Thomas Lightner, a brooding engineer. In the past, Lucinda is the husband of Raymond Lightner, a disturbed Nobel Prize winning astronomer (and, by the by, Lucinda is pregnant). In the present, Thomas is obsessed with his father's theroies, and has rebuilt the 'sky cannon' that killed his father. In the past, Raymond has just built his 'sky cannon'. In both the past and the present, they're planning on testing it that night, and simultaneously in both times a blackout occurs, making everything pitch black except for a flicker from up the Hudson where the Lightner mansion is.With both stories still continuing side by side, Ben, Johnny, and Janice get into the Fantasticar and head north, while in the past Doc, Monk, and Renny all pile into the Autogyro and head north. As each approaches the mansion, each is hit by a blast from the sky cannon, and suddenly both stories merge into one as all six people find themselves falling to the ground together. The beam, deflected back to earth, strikes the father and son in each time period, merging them into one being... Blacksun!