B&B 2-in-1 Round 3: Adam Strange vs. Thor

Bill Mantlo's The Thing is 2-0 against Bob Haney's Batman, and he means to stay ahead by facing an intriguing science fiction guest-star (unusual team-ups do tend to rack up more points) with a two-parter (still, Marvel's page count in this era means it's only 10 pages more, less when you cut out the recaps).

In the black corner... it's Batman and Adam Strange, written by Bob Haney and drawn by Ross Andru and Mike Esposito, Brave and the Bold #90, You Only Die Twice!

In the orange corner... we have the Thing and Thor, written by Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter and drawn by Ron Wilson, Pablo Marcos and Marie Severin, Marvel Two-in-One #22-23, Touch Not the Hand of Seth! and Death on the Bridge of Heaven!

DING DING DING!

The Stars
Batman is a tough customer. He gets mowed down by a Thompson submachine gun, and manages to throw one last devastating punch before succumbing, not to bullet wounds, but to heart failure because, as you know, a ricochet off bone and muscle sends a pulverizing blow to the bat-ticker. Not a mark on him. And then he comes back because a journalist's comment about his obituary piqued his curiosity.
Unfortunately, Batman becomes more than a little obsessed with his reputation when Adam Strange hands him his obit from the future, and it says he will be remembered as a crook. History starts pushing him in that direction, as crooks get him to agree to lay off them in exchange for the safety of a civilian's family... on tape! A tape which is leaked to the media and effectively ruins his bat-rep. Maybe his brain was too long without oxygen? He then lets himself be sued by the crime boss for assault, leading to his having to pay damages and to Gordon (his accessory) quitting the force. Also, to a rather incredible quick-change:
Batman quits too, and the crime rate rises. Bruce Wayne even shows Alfred the door when he tries to push him back into a life of crime-fighting. As the date of his death looms, Batman decides moving to ANOTHER PLANET is the only wait to circumvent his destiny. He finds no real relief on Rann, though scientist Sardath allows him to watch Gotham from afar. He sees Alfred get threatened and knows he must bravely return to face his fate and save his friend. Once he's done so, he realizes the ripped obit might have gone on to exonerate him and place his death much later. Conclusion jumper. +6 bat-points, but none of them for brains.

Put the Thing in among the gods, and his natural personality comes out, undermining all that is grand and cosmic about everything.
Sometimes the banter is inexplicable, such as when he calls the Egyptian god of death "freezer face", but it's cute how he think the god Horus is actually called Horace. He gets into the swing of things eventually, throwing extradimensional meteors at a giant monster and following Thor's "For Asgard!" with his own brand of divine trash talk.
And he shows that his brave banter isn't just a front - Ben IS brave - when he throws himself into the void to make the monster follow him, thankfully returning with Thor's boomerang hammer while the creature is lost forever. +8 points

The Guests
After a Zeta Beam accident, Adam Strange finds himself in Earth's future just long enough to rip a part of Batman's obituary out of a newspaper. With no thought to the Temporal Prime Directive, he stupidly hands the fragment to Batman. But he comes through in the end, letting the Bat stay at his pad, and taking him out on safari.
And when the end seems nigh, Strange has Batman's back, karate-chopping bad guys from the shadows. That's a good friend, if not a particularly sensitive one. +4 bat-points

Thor is his usual cosmic trash talker, and that's all kind of good, of course, but he does get his ass handed to him by the Devourer. No, where he racks up all the points is as Don Blake, super doctor! This guy finishes a critical operation while an Egyptian death god jumps into his O.R., showering him in broken glass and killing a couple interns.
Patient's life FIRST. Of course Thor has that boomerang business at the end, so he's not completely useless. +7 points

The Villains
Batman only faces ordinary crooks, but their plan to rid Gotham of its two greatest crimefighters works surprisingly well. And they DO kill the Batman that first time, even if they miss their shot the second. For a while, crime is on the rise and Bruce Wayne is paying fines. Extra points for a thematically appropriate secret HQ (see below). +3 bat-points

Seth, the Egyptian God of Death, is crashing an operation, disguised in a trench coat and hat, because he wants revenge against Thor for cutting off his hand in a previous adventure. He was meant to be an analog of Loki, damn it! Not Tyr! He's already hung his brother Horus from the rafters in Heliopolis and forced his parents to watch, and now he's bringing armies of dead groupies back to life so they can grope at the Thunder God and friend.
This guy is thoroughly evil, using his touch of death to create musical sonatas made up of screams, and he's released an unstoppable giant god-eating monster. This thing's so big, all the good guys can do is punch its ankles to no effect, while taking punches such as these:
In the end, Seth loses control of the beast, and in fear of himself dying, frees his brother who had originally captured the beast. Well, Horus is a little out of it, so it's a good thing the other heroes were there. Seth disappears rather discreetly from the story after that. +7 points

Odds vs. Ends
From Brave and the Bold:
-Don Blake makes a cameo in the Batman story! He's only there to steal the Caped Crusader's thunder by declaring him dead before the end of the contest!
-1 bat-point
-The Gotham Times has some pretty groovy headlines.
Even if they do go on forever. +1 bat-point
-If Gotham is essentially New York, its version of Ellis Island is rather unsubtly called Immigrant Island. -1 bat-point
-However, it fits in thematically with the immigration of both Batman and Adam Strange to Rann! +2 bat-points
-It's always cool when Alfred gets to save the day.
Tied to a chair, no less. Bestest butler ever (sorry Benson, Mr. Belvedere and Blackadder). +3 bat-points

From Marvel Two-in-One:
-Lettering by Karefree Karen Mantlo. Alliteration is all well and good, but I've got my kids' grades to think about. -1 points
-There's a strange sequence in which the Human Torch deduces that if cryogenics can keep a body from deteriorating before getting it to a doctor, then the opposite must be true as well! He puts Blacksun's body inside a "heat shield" and it works! Well past the Silver Age here... -2 points
-Have to admit, Heliopolis' answer to the Bifrost Bridge is pretty cool.
And much less likely to look like something on a 6-year-old girl's wall posters. +2 points

Farewells and Scoring
After becoming roommates on Rann, it's no surprise Batman and Adam Strange would leave each other on good terms. I guess they didn't live together quite long enough to get on each other's nerves.
Even when he's got a Zeta Beam waiting, Strange always takes the time for a proper handshake. +2 bat-points

As for Thor, he sends Ben back to Midgard, but doesn't follow. At least, not as his godly self.
"Let that mortal sap Don Blake deal with him, the Mighty Thor understands not what yon orange rock mortal sayeth half the time." +2 points

It looks like Ben's done well once again. Adam Strange racks up a score of 19, And Thor? 23! Magic wins over science! It's now 3-0 for the Thing against the Batman! Next week, two guest-stars with the word "Black" in their names, same bat-time, same thing-channel!