2 out of 5

Yes yes, another “I bought it for the Gerber” book.  I sort of wonder how deep the ‘plot by’ title goes, because this pulls – of course – from three old Gerber books – two Marvel Two-In-Ones (hey, one featuring Dr. Strange and The Thing) and a Defenders issue, and I’ve only read one of those… so perhaps this was some story sketch that had been floated about the Marvel ether by Gerbie, and then somehow Brandon Thomas got to script it finally.  Who knows.  I do know that the story itself doesn’t read that well.  It starts fun – a girl plays a harmonica, instantly soothing a street fight ‘tween a couple of New Yorkers, and then a kid nabs the harmonica and goes a’runnin’, leaving a path of fears coming to life in his wake… ’cause, y’know, magic harmonica and all.  Penciller Michael O’Hare does a great job with swooping, cartoony pencils, like a more fluid and varied Ringo, and really gets his characters and panels moving without going all anime herky-jerky with it.  And Marvel’s loving use of Udon studios at the time means really bright and clean inks and colors.  So the art gets an extra star.  When Strange and The Thing alight to the fears ravaging the streets of NY, it seems like we’re in for a few pages of good ol’ comic romp, but it just amounts to a couple tepid battles and then a sappy ending.  I get that one shots are hard to pack in everything, but it totally can be done.  Leaning a bit more on the potential of the story (since the artist would’ve been able to handle it) would’ve helped.