From
the back cover
“Whosoever
knows fear will see just how much there is to know in this compilation of
staggering swamp sagas! Explore the heights of the cosmos and the depths of the
soul with the mindless Man-Thing! Guest-starring the Fantastic Four, Ka-Zar,
Daredevil, Korrek the Peanut Butter Barbarian! And featuring the first
web-footed steps into adventure of Howard the Duck!”
Overall
review
Man-Thing,
Vol. 1 is a great comic book collection, with impressive
artwork, surprisingly nuanced lead characters as well as solid, moralistic and
ecology-friendly storytelling. This is especially impressive because of how
willing the creators of this comic series are willing to indulge in wild and
mostly effective break-the-Man-Thing-mold writing.
A few
of the issues feel like single-shot filler tales, but they are still
entertaining and the artwork visually exciting. There are also the inevitable
1970s sexist, hippie and corporate greed stereotypes, along with some
heavy-handed thematic overreaches (which further the egregiousness of the stereotypes),
but these issues are relatively few, given how many issues are contained in
this anthology.
Despite
the above caveats, this graphic novel is worth owning. Followed by Essential Marvel: Man-Thing, Vol. 2.
Issue
/ story arcs
Warning:
possible spoilers in this issue breakdown.
“Savage
Tales – ‘. . .Man-Thing!’” (#1): In the Florida swamps, a scientist
(Ted Sallis) discovers that his not-quite-developed super-soldier serum is intended
for horrific misuse in horrible ways by his employers. He tries to escape his
laboratory/camp (Project Gladiator) with the only serum sample to keep it away
from them. Complications and deaths ensue, leading to Sallis becoming the
Man-Thing.
“Astonishing
Tales – ‘Terror Stalks the Everglades!’” (#12): Ka-Zar and his
sabretooth tiger (Zabu) join Dr. Barbara Morse and Dr. Paul Allen in their
swampland search for the missing Ted Sallis. Those who helped bring about
Sallis’s Man-Thing transformation in “Savage Tales” #1, a nefarious
agency known as Advance Idea Mechanics (AIM), try to sabotage that search, kill
the search party and Man-Thing.
“Astonishing
Tales – ‘Man-Thing!’” (#13): Picking up from the cliffhanger finish
of issue 12, Ka-Zar and Man-Thing fight, realize they have a mutual enemy (AIM
agents), sort of team up, and set out to rescue Ka-Zar’s fellow search party
members (Dr. Barbara Morse and Dr. Paul Allen) from AIM soldiers. Of course,
betrayal complicates this already violent conflict, further flavoring this
pulpy tale.
“Fear
– ‘Cry Monster!’” (#10): Man-Thing rescues a swamp-abandoned baby
from his terrible father.
“Fear
─ ‘Night of the Nether-Spawn!’” (#11): After two teenagers (Andy and
Jennifer Kale) open a portal to a hell-realm with a book “borrowed” from their
grandfather, Man-Thing tries to send a demon back to its home. The book: Tome
of Zhered-Na.
“Fear
─ ‘No Choice of Colors!’” (#12): A black fugitive (Mark Jackson) flees into
the mucklands to escape a racist cop (Wallace Corlee). Both encounter
Man-Thing, whose sense of fairness and justice is briefly challenged by the
violent conflict.
“Fear
─ ‘Where Worlds Collide’” (#13): Man-Thing, Andy and Jennifer Kale (issue
11) are drawn into a netherworld via the Mists of Maalok, where Thog, demon
overlord, rules. It is a world of illusion and temptation─will Man-Thing kill
the teenagers to regain his human form, or will he remain true to his natural
convictions?
Also: Man-Thing
battles the Cult of Zhered-Na and a sand demon. The metaphysical elements of
the Man-Thing’s natural abode are revealed.
“Fear
─ ‘The Demon Plague!’” (#14): Man-Thing, Andy and Jennifer Kale (issues 11
and 13), along with their grandfather (Joshua Kale) find themselves in danger
from Kale’s fellow cultists (Cult of Zhered-Na). The reason: a missing spell
book, the Tome of Zhered-Na, “borrowed” and destroyed (in this realm) by Andy
and Jennifer in issue 11.
Also:
a murder-madness plague spreads throughout humanity. The Mists of Maalok
reappear─a netherworld portal─are again opened by Kale’s cult, and Man-Thing
and Jennifer, who have a psychic link, are brought through it to the world of
Sandt. There, an evil enchanter (Dakimh) tries to ensure that the earthly demon
plague engulfs humanity. The only person slowing its spread: Man-Thing!
“Fear
─ ‘From Here to Infinity!’” (#15): The murder-crazed/demon-sourced
plague spreads further into our world (issue 14). The history of the Cult and
Tome of Zhered-Na are revealed by Joshua Kale. His granddaughter, Jennifer, and
Man-Thing are swept into another mystical realm by the enchanter Dakimh (issue
14), who may not be as “evil” as initially thought. Jennifer and Man-Thing’s
mission: retrieve the Tome of Zhered-Na, the only thing that can stop the
four-issue cycle of madness and destruction.
“Fear
─ Cry of the Native!’” (#16): Man-Thing is caught between a construction
crew bent on ousting some of the swamp’s denizens (a group of Native Americans)
and the Native Americans, who have dug themselves in for fight. The Kale family
(Jennifer, Andy and Joshua) make a brief appearance in this issue.
“Fear
─ ‘It Came Out of the Sky’” (#17): After Man-Thing opens a crashed, gleaming
spacecraft, he frees Wundarr─a superman with a childlike mentality, also the
last surviving member of the planet Dakkam. A misunderstanding births a brief brawl
between them, one that spills out into the streets of nearby Citrusville,
Florida. Meanwhile, Jennifer Kale─her psychic link to Man-Thing still severed─has
wake-up-screaming nightmares.
“Fear
─ ‘A Question of Survival!’” (#18): A drunk driver (Ralph Sorrell) crashes
into a bus, causing it to crash near the edge of the swamp. Bus-crash survivors─Mary
Brown (a nurse), a wounded boy (Kevin Kennerman), a hot-headed ex-POW (Jim
Arsdale) and a callous war protester (Holden Crane)─try to make their way to
safety through the swamp with Sorrell, all the while screaming at each other.
Man-Thing watches all this, the men’s self-interest and clashing rage about the
Vietnam War making his head hurt, even as he tries to help Mary get the boy to
relative safety (at the Schist Construction Camp, site of various Man-Thing
battles in previous issues).
Also:
Jennifer Kale’s nightmares become shriek-worthy daytime visions. Jaxon, her
date-mate─last seen in issue 13─also makes an appearance.
This
issue is, not surprisingly, comic book-simple and anachronistic with its
extreme “microcosm” statement about Vietnam, a blessing or a curse depending on
the reader’s perspective.
“Fear
─ ‘The Enchanter’s Apprentice’” (#19): Jennifer Kale and Man-Thing’s shared
nightmare of an alternate dimension (Sominus), where a battle of unlikely foes
and allies takes place, becomes a surrealistic reality when Dakimh the
Enchanter (last seen in issue 15) takes them there, so that they might prevent
a disastrous collision of worlds. Cliffhanger finish to this one.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Battle for the Palace of the Gods!’” (#1): Man-Thing, Jennifer Kale
(apprentice to Dakimh the Enchanter) and Korrek (issue 19) battle the strange-mix
army of the Congress of Realities, led by the Nether Spawn, in a shifting,
hallucinatory realm. Daredevil and Black Widow make a fun, two-second
appearance in this tale of colliding, surreal worlds. The Nether Spawn last
appeared in “Fear“ (issue 11).
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Nowhere to Go But Down!’” (#2): Man-Thing protects a bummed-out “loser”
(Richard Rory) and a hippie nurse (Ruth Hart) from a biker gang who are
pursuing Hart. Man-Thing must also contend with a deadly house of
laser-bouncing mirrors, designed by a mercenary (Hargood Wickham, nicknamed
Professor Slaughter), who has been hired by F.A. Schist (owner of F.A. Schist
Construction), which has been trying to build an airport in the swamp since
issue 16─only to see its construction goals consistently thwarted by Man-Thing.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Day of the Killer, Night of the Fool!’” (#3): A murderous,
spandex-wearing nutjob with a messianic complex (the Foolkiller) heads to the
murklands to kill his next three targets: F.A. Schist (construction company
owner), Richard Rory (issue 2) and Ted Sallis─now the Man-Thing!
“Man-Thing
─ ‘The Making of a Madman’” (#4): The Foolkiller’s backstory is revealed
as well as Richard Rory’s history with the aforementioned nutjob, whose
stalk-and-kill mission, started in the previous issue, ends in a way he doesn’t
expect.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Night of the Laughing Dead!’” (#5): A clown (Darrel) commits suicide,
reuniting Man-Thing with Richard Rory and Ruth Hart (issues 2-4), and
introducing Ayla Prentiss (a carnival high-wire artist), as well as new
villains (Mr. Garvey, carnival owner, and his freak-tall thug, Tragg), who want
to kill Man-Thing and his allies.
Cliffhanger finish to this.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘And When I Died. . .!’” (#6): Darrel the suicidal clown, with the aid of
supernatural “critics,” forces the characters of issue 4 to reenact key events
of his life in a deadly “play”─actually a trial for Darrel’s soul.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘The Old Die Young!’” (#7): F.A. Schist and his employees finalize the
razing of his construction camp, ending a yearlong campaign to drain the swamp
and “build an airport”─in actuality, a cover for Schist’s seeking of the
Fountain of Youth, which he has not given up on. Man-Thing engages ageless,
ancient Spaniards (who benefit from said Fountain) in combat, and makes a
startling, possibly fatal, discovery about his relationship with the Fountain.
Cliffhanger ending to this.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘The Gift of Death!’” (#8): F.A. Schist and Professor Hargood Wickham
(a.k.a. Professor Slaughter) find the Fountain of Youth that Schist is so
fervidly seeking. Man-Thing, being treated by the Fountain’s kindly,
five-hundred-year-old guardians, is caught between them and Schist, who─in a
violent twist─gets his misguided, monstrous wish.
This
issue has a touch of heartbreak to it because of Man-Thing’s near-return-to-humanity,
not the first time he’s had a near-miss with resumed humanity.
“Giant
Size Man-Thing ─ ‘How Will We Keep Warm When the Last Flame Dies?’” (#1): Robed
cultists (the Entropists) attack Omegaville, an environmentally friendly,
experimental commune in the swamp. Helping─manipulated by─the Entropists is the
“Golden Brain” of Joe Timms (a.k.a. the Glob, last seen in issues 121 and 129
of “Hulk”), who goes through serious mental and physical changes. Mixed
up in all this, of course, is Man-Thing.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Deathwatch!’” (#9) to “Nobody Dies Forever” (#10): A swamp rat
(Ezekiel Tork) and his dog (Dawg) are terrorized by the incarnate jealousy and
frustration of Tork’s wife, Maybelle. Man-Thing helps Tork and Dawg fend off
her shadow self’s variable-form attacks.
“Giant
Size Man-Thing ─ ‘Of Monsters and Men!’” (#2): Vivian Schist, widow
of F.A. Schist─who died in issue 8─and his less-than-enthusiastic daughter
(Carolyn) search for the presumed-dead construction company owner. Vivian
swears vengeance on Man-Thing for his presumed crimes, and at her behest a
high-tech, clever trap is set for the anomalous creature. Man-Thing gets
unwanted freak-show trip to New York before his inevitable, raging return to
the swamps of Citrusville, Florida.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Dance to the Murder!’” (#11): Richard Rory, last seen in issue 6, meets
Sybil Mills, an escapee from a group of masked kidnappers, whose mysterious
aspects are easily espied.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Song-Cry of the Living Dead Man!’” (#12): A mentally ill man (Brian
Lazarus) fights an ineffectual battle against his personal traumas, which have
taken on the form of a money-demanding mob. He meets Sybil Mills (from issue
11), who helps him battle his weirdly realized tormentors, along with a more-confused-than-usual
Man-Thing.
“Man-Thing
─ ‘Red Sails at 40,000 Feet’” (#13) to “Tower of the Satyr!” (#14):
Man-Thing, trapped aboard seafaring ship in the Bermuda Triangle, is drawn into
a conflict between undead pirates, a curse-adept satyr (Khordes), modern
sailors, and a scientist with a forgotten, relevant-to-the-above-situation past
(Dr. Maura Spinner). This is one of the wilder storylines in the series, one whose
tone─read with the current liberal outlook─falls into a sexist groove: it’s a
woman who causes many of these problems, and, at repeated points, acknowledges
that. The plot is out-there, but so is the character of Man-Thing, so─aside
from the sexism─this is an otherwise fun, definitely-written-in-the-1970s story
arc.
“Monsters
Unleashed! ─ ‘All the Faces of Fear!’” (#5): Ellen Brandt, Ted Sallis’s traitorous,
greedy girlfriend─last seen in Amazing
Tales issue 12─is a day away from having her face-covering bandages removed
from her (a result of Man-Thing scorching her face). She is also having
nightmares about Sallis/Man-Thing, wrestling with her guilt over her actions,
mixed with a burning sense of revenge toward Man-Thing. She takes her doctor, Leonard,
to the Man-Thing-trashed A.I.M. (Advanced Ideas Mechanics) camp, site of
her former employers, who bribed her to betray Sallis. There, she and Leonard
confront her emotionally befuddled nighttime tormentor, with─surprising to her─results.
“Monsters
Unleashed! ─ ‘Several Meaningless Deaths, Part 1’” (#8): Christopher Dale,
fleeing New York City and memories of his girlfriend’s murder, ends up in the
Everglades, near Citrusville, Florida. Also a victim of writer’s block, he’s
trying to break through that. Then a sixteen-year-old girl, named Elaine (like
his dead girlfriend) pounds on his front door. She’s fleeing her murderous
father, who mistakenly thinks he’s Ted Sallis, and in a further mistake, thinks
Sallis raped his daughter Elaine. Of course, violence ensues and Man-Thing
makes his inevitable appearance.
This
is a mostly-text-with-some-illustrations work, an entertaining and Man-Thing-familiar
story.
“Monsters
Unleashed! ─ ‘Several Meaningless Deaths, Conclusion” (#9): The
mostly-text-with-some-illustrations story is wrapped up, in a satisfying, Man-Thing-true
way.
#
The
resulting movie, Man-Thing, aired on the Sci Fi Channel (now the Syfy Channel) on April 30, 2005.
Brett Leonard directed the film, from a screenplay by Hans Rodionoff. Leonard
also played a supporting character, Val Mayerick.
Conan
Stevens, billed as Mark Stevens, played Man-Thing. Matthew La Nevez played
Kyle. Rachel Taylor played Teri. Jack Thompson played Schist. Rawiri Paratene
played Pete Horn.
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