Random Back Issues #161 - The Thing #2

Once an idol of millions, now a janitor. 

We looked at the final issue of this book 4 years ago, but today, Ben's still on the FF, his ultimately disastrous stint on Battleworld yet to come. He's cleaning up after some big fight with Annihilus that also involved the Avengers. Ben finds what at first glance is Annihilus' skull, but it turns out the bug-guy was wearing a mask all along (feel like that's been retconned, but maybe not.)

In a hurry to get to the hospital and check on Alicia and Franklin, Ben crumples 20 tons of wreckage into a beach ball-sized package and dumps it in a waste disposal unit Reed built that will break it into its component molecules, to be used for whatever 'gizmo' Reed decides to build next. Grab a trench coat, hat and some slacks and Ben's out the door, only to run into Willy Lumpkin, who is a little weary hauling all the FF's fan mail. Still, it beats the route that would have him delivering mail to Nixon. There's one letter addressed to "Ben Grimm" and labeled Priority Mail, so Willy hands it over and Ben reads something during the cab ride that bothers him.

At the hospital, Franklin is in stable condition, but there's no timetable for his recovery, so Ben's off to visit Alicia, who has one arm in a cast and a lot of bandages around her head. She can tell something's wrong, and we learn what the letter is about via flashback! To college, where Big Football Star Ben Grimm marches into a science lab and picks up Reed Richards, carrying him off for a night of fun.

Don't get your hopes up, this is '80s Marvel. Shooter's still in charge, so they're meeting some girls. One, Alynn Chambers, is Ben's girlfriend, while the other has heard 'oodles' about Reed from Ben. Reed's not stoked about hitting the student pub, no doubt calculating the number of brain cells it'll kill, but which Ben attributes to Reed thinking of his landlady's niece, that he met last summer (Sue.) Two weeks later, Alynn's waiting outside the locker room as Ben gets ready to take the field. She won't say what's wrong, only promising she loves him, then telling him to pretend she was never in his life at all. Sure, sounds simple. Reed bumps into Alynn and asks if she's going to sit with him to watch the game, but Alynn only cries and bails.

Ben apparently has a great first half, but when he notices Alynn isn't in the crowd as he returns to the locker room, it busts his concentration. They lose, his coach gives him a bunch of crap, which is pretty lousy when Coach admits Ben carried whole games by himself. Let someone else win the damn game once in a while!

Ben throws his helmet so hard it shatters against a locker, and storms out. Reed catches up later and advises Ben to tell Alynn how he feels. Ben tries, even proposes, and she turns him down. Alynn wants to be big in Hollywood, and to make it happen, she'd probably neglect him. Better to break it off now. She leaves, he chucks the ring into a pond, which is kind of a shitty thing to do with his mother's ring.

In the present, we learn Alynn became a huge star, one of the most beautiful women in movies. Alicia figures this is the big kiss-off from Ben, but he assures her that's not it. He's just scared of seeing Alynn again, now that he's the Thing. Not unexpected, but a little limp for all this build-up. That evening, Alynn arrives, revealing she had a stroke eighteen months ago that she's so far hidden from the press. She regained some use of her right side, but the droop in her face and slur in her voice are here to stay. She wants to know how Ben deals with it.

You might think, as I did, she means how does to deal with stares and whispers? Sooner or later her condition will be revealed, and that's what people will do when she passes on the street. Otherwise, his condition of "being a rock guy" is not really the same as her having a stroke. He hasn't lost any function of his body to my knowledge.

Maybe I'm wrong, because the caption on the next page reads, 'Sadness and memories begin the night, but with the Thing's support, Alynn Chambers realizes that even though her beauty has passed away, she will go on.' So she thinks she's ugly now, and wants to know how Ben deals with that? Ooof. Ben really dodged a bullet when she turned him down. Probably a relief to return to the hospital, where Reed's come to a decision. If you just felt a chill down your spine at those words, I don't blame you.

Franklin's powers are closed down, which makes him vulnerable. So Reed, Sue and Franklin will leave the FF, and find a small town where they'll live under assumed identities. The thing to note is Reed says 'I have decided on a course of action,' which strongly implies he didn't bother to discuss this with Sue, Franklin's mother. Her expression is more surprised than anything that says, "I am in firm agreement with this plan I definitely had input on."

The other thing I notice, the editor's note at the start of the issue refers readers to FF #257 for the big fight, and the blurb at the end also refers the reader to FF #257 to see the continuation of half the group packing up and leaving. They really didn't waste any time making things happen in comics back in the day, that's for sure.

{11th longbox, 78th comic. The Thing (vol. 1) #2, by John Byrne (writer/inker), Ron Wilson (penciler), Bob Sharen (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)}

Sunday Splash Page #345

"Self-Aggrandizing," in Marvel Two-in-One Annual #7, by Tom DeFalco (writer), Ron Wilson (penciler), Bob Camp, Mike Esposito, Frank Giacoia, Dan Green, Armando Gil, Chic Stone (inkers), George Roussos (colorist), Jim Novak (letterer)

The last, and best-remembered, of Marvel Two-in-One's 7 Annuals. The Champion (at this point presented simply as a powerful being from another dimension, rather than as the Elder of the Universe he'd become in Engelhart's Silver Surfer) wants to test Earth's worthiness in a challenge of athletic competition, as befits one who devoted himself fully to that pursuit. So he gathers a bunch of the physically strongest heroes on Earth to face him, one at a time, the Earth's survival on the line.

(I know Genndy Tartakovsky did a version of this in a "Dial M for Monkey" cartoon on Dexter's Lab, but I wonder if Akira Toriyama knew anything about it when he had the Cell Games in DBZ.)

Of course, like any guy that talks big about wanting people to bring it, the Champion's very specific about the rules and conditions under which it can be brought. Vision's disqualified for not being within the Champion's prescribed 'life-class.' Namor is sent away because he refuses to train, Doc Samson because he gets kayoed by the training-bot.

Well, OK, hard to argue with that one.

For all his claim of skill, the Champion restricts the challenge to boxing, rather than open it up to any type of fighting. When the Hulk charges, intending to manhandle Champion, he's disqualified because Champion won't soil his hands with a 'mindless brute.' Thor's out for using a weapon, even though he's made it pretty clear he's not putting down the hammer (and can't because he'd still turn into Don Blake in 60 seconds if he did.) The only ones who really box against the Champion are Sasquatch, Colossus, and finally, The Thing.

Beyond that, DeFalco really plays up the challenge, as Reed Richards' devices confirm the Champion is more powerful than Galactus, and the Champion can erect an impregnable force dome around the boxing ring that no one can get through. The first hit Ben takes, he declares was a harder punch than the Hulk or Silver Surfer ever landed on him.

I think the story is usually lauded as a great Thing story for his unwillingness to give up. The ref calls the fight after the 3rd round, but Ben drags himself across the ring, leaving a bloody spit trail behind him, still insisting he hasn't lost. But the Champion touts The Thing as the best among the heroes because he's the only one who understands the spirit of competition, possesses the spirit to play by the rules, to survive and win at any cost.

Setting aside some of that seems contradictory - Can you be willing to pay any price to win and follow the rules? - I'm not sure it tracks. I can see the argument Namor and Thor were too haughty and proud to play along, even with the world at risk. Thor's more insulted at the boxing trunks he has to wear than anything else. But I think most of the others understand the stakes. The narration makes clear the Hulk's been trying to keep his temper reined in, that Colossus and Wonder Man are scared (for different reasons) but going to try their best. I guess the point is Ben Grimm's the only one actually excited at the prospect of this fight, but even that, Sasquatch also talks about having been a world-class athlete and how he's missed pushing his limits. But that's more about challenging himself than testing him against someone else, maybe?

Ron Wilson drew several issues of the monthly Marvel Two-in-One, and would draw plenty of issues of The Thing's subsequent solo book, but the gaggle of inkers doesn't help him here. Some panels are pretty good - the one of Ben, hands taped, marching towards us, the knockout punch Champion lands on Sasquatch - other panels look half-finished or the characters are awkwardly posed or positioned. I don't know which inkers did which pages, so I don't know who to wish Wilson had been able to work with for the entire issue.

And there's a lot to get through, between the set-up, the training, the build for the fight, the other heroes' attempts to intervene, and the actual fights, so much of the story is crammed into small panels, alongside a lot of dialogue. But Wilson works around it, using short, wide panels to demonstrate the Champion's strength, when he knocks Ben the length of the ring (and the panel) with one hit. Or zooming in for a close-up on Ben's battered face (weird to see him with a black eye) as he climbs out of a hole in the ring.

Saturday Splash Page #83

"Contemplate the Void," in The Thing (vol. 1) #11, by John Byrne (writer), Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott (artists), George Roussos (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)

Ben Grimm, always the best of the FF, had his ongoing in all but name for 100 issues with Marvel Two-in-One, but Marvel eventually canceled that and gave him a book his with name in big letters on the cover. The Thing ran for 36 issues in the mid-80s, so not nearly the lifespan of his team-up book, but better than any of his teammates have ever managed as solo stars.

John Byrne and Ron Wilson were the initial writer/artist team, although Mike Carlin ended up writing roughly half the issues, mostly in the back half. The first 10 issues revolve around various one or two-part adventures. Ben and Lockjaw trying to protect Crystal's daughter Luna, from her maniac of a dad. Ben trying to talk sense into some angry teens from Yancy Street. I don't know if the backstory Ben provides here, about his brother dying in a gang fight and Ben being a ne'er-do-well for years after was something Byrne created here, or if that was already established.

Then Secret Wars happened, and Ben found out that on Battleworld, he could shift between the Thing and Ben Grimm at will. When Reed and Johnny return home (with their new teammate She-Hulk), Ben stays behind. The next year of the book is Ben wandering a Battleworld that is both increasingly bizarre and troublingly familiar. What appears to be Dr. Doom shows up at one point, Ben spends an issue being harassed by some punk kids in some cross between Yancy Street and the cantina from Star Wars. Despite his stated wishes, Ben keeps finding himself in situations where he has to change back into the Thing.

Eventually, everything falls to pieces, including the planet, as the Thing returns to Earth. Only to find Alicia and Johnny are living together, and Reed Richards had certain knowledge of Ben's subconscious condition that sure woulda been helpful for Ben to know sooner. Which kicks off the final year of the book, where Carlin writes most of it, as Ben leaves the FF and New York entirely, and just wanders. It's a bit like the first year, except instead of people coming to the Thing with problems, he stumbles into them as he goes.

It's most notable for being the time period where he joins the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, something a number of wrestling-obsessed comic writers have returned to over the years. Carlin adds the teenage version of Vance Astro, who in one timeline becomes the 30th Century Guardians of the Galaxy's Major Victory, but here will become the New Warrior Marvel Boy. It's also when Sharon Ventura meets Ben. She'd eventually gain super-strength from the Power Broker and join the women's division of the UCWF as Ms. Marvel (Danvers I think being out in space as Binary at this time), and eventually joining the FF with Ben during the Englehart run.

Ron Wilson is the penciler until the final three issues, at which point Paul Neary takes over. Most of the first year's adventures on Earth are inked by Hilary Barta, while Joe Sinnott takes that responsibility for most of the Battleworld issues. Sinnott's shadows are heavier, but he seems to soften and round the Thing out more. The Thing is shorter, broader, smoother. Wilson and Barta's version is rougher, rocky plates not uniform in height, the eyes ringed by darkness, the brow ridge more prominent.

Could be that on Battleworld, with Ben reluctant to become the Thing, he's trying to retain some of the fleshy softness of Ben Grimm even when he transforms. During the Barta issues, Ben's clearly still struggling to accept himself as the Thing, and eventually pushes Alicia away. He's not at home in his skin, angry and frustrated and rough to the touch. That might not hold up, but it does get harder for Ben to make the switch the longer he stays on Battleworld. He's not finding any sort of balance or peace between the parts of himself. Instead, he's in a situation where the two sides can actively war against each other.

Random Back Issues #73 - Fantastic Four #179

Oooh, swing and a miss there, Johnny.

The FF are coming off a narrow victory over the Frightful Four. Real narrow, even with the help of Thundra, Tigra, and (unwittingly) the Impossible Man. But it's not a complete victory because Reed Richards, who has lost his powers somehow, is floating in the Negative Zone in his underwear. In his place, is the Reed Richards of Counter-Earth. Rather than stretching powers, he can transform into a giant purple guy (with green trunks, which explains why he left Reed his blue underwear but took the rest of the costume) called the Brute.

He stomped Reed, tossed him into the Negative Zone, and assumed human form. The FF are none the wiser, even when they gather for a team meeting (their) Reed arranged. Brute doesn't know what it was for, but when he snaps at them over Thing and Thundra's arguing, he's able to play it off as stress, and Sue sends everyone else away. Not like Reed being a bossy, condescending jerk is that unusual. For Brute's part, he's just ecstatic to be able to hold Sue again, since his Sue is in a coma. He plans to let her live, but kill the others, not realizing Sue is starting to notice something's off.

The rest of the team is busy watching "The Bionic Woman". Well, except Ben and Thundra. She won't stop trying to get him to admit he should dump Alicia for her, since she's a better physical match. Ben calls her a 'drag', then a 'wet blanket' and a 'millstone'. He does apologize, admitting he's distracted wondering whether he should go ahead and propose to Alicia, or let her go. Thundra, not reading the room, encourages him to dump Alicia and hook up with her instead, so Ben storms off, musing that Thundra might make a swell date - for King Kong.

Tigra slips in just before the elevator doors close, but it's not to flirt. Instead, she's wondering why Reed hasn't rescued his other self from the Negative Zone, something Ben admits to wondering himself. They head off to get some food and discuss it further. 

Reed's stuck in the Negative Zone, wondering why his friends haven't rescued him. Because you're an unpleasant person to be around, Reed. But he tells himself to snap out of it, reminding himself, 'you didn't come out of World War Two just a few medals shy of Audie Murphy by standing around feeling sorry for yourself!' This is actually the second reference of the issue to Reed serving in World War 2. Reed finds some rocks floating in space that just so happen to resemble flint, and creates a fire. Which attracts some sort of bat thing he snatches out of the air, kills, cooks, and eats.

Back in NYC, Ben and Tigra are at dinner, although he seems more interested in, as she puts it, 'shocking the rubes', by eating his steak with his hands, and lighting a cigar of the next table's candles. Right about then, Tigra notes Ben's kind of cute. before Ben can come to grips with being pursued by three women, and robot runs by carrying a safe. Oh thank goodness, something to hit. The robot chucks the safe at them, but Ben catches it easily and throws it back. The robot turns out to be really hot as well, so when it catches the safe, the whole thing melts. Ben tries a direct assault, only to get baked and pummeled.

Tigra manages to buy him some time with a kick to the face (weird that worked when it shrugged off a punch from the Thing), and the fight continues to the East River. Ben throws it onto a garbage scow and smashes it and the barge with one final punch. At least in this issue, there's no hint of who sent the robot or why, as Ben notes it must have cost more than the money that was in the vault it stole.

The issue wraps up with Sue more certain than ever the Reed in their bed isn't hers, and Reed being attacked by Annihilus. Also, the Impossible Man has decided he's a Humphrey Bogart fan, which partially explains his appearance in Spider-Woman a few years later.

[4th longbox, 121st comic. Fantastic Four #179, by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway (writers), Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott (artists), George Roussos (colorist), Joe Rosen (letterer)]