Monday, June 15, 2020

Essential Marvel: Man-Thing, Vol. 1 by various authors and illustrators

(pb, graphic novel; 1971-75, 2006, collects Savage Tales #1, Astonishing Tales #12-13, Adventure into Fear #10-19, Man-Thing #1-14, Giant Sized Man-Thing #1-2 and Monsters Unleashed #5, 8-9)

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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