I’ve never been much of a Man-Thing fan myself, but Matt Stagg may be turning me around:
As a kid, the slimy visage of Man-Thing was my first look at truly abstracted horror. He was borderline anthropomorphic with his glowing red eyes, and certainly his giant tri-tentacled trunk suggested something like a nose, but to look at that slimy mess and see anything that you could in any way relate to interpersonally would be stretch.
No, Man-Thing was like some kind of southern fried Cthulhu: a representation of pure, alien chaos. Yeah, “Werewolf By Night” and “Dracula” were both spooky, but deep down, they’re both guys that you might be able to work something out with. Man-Thing? Not so much.
My older cousins bought Man-Thing and other horror/offbeat titles, and would share them with me when I would visit. I always kind of felt bad for Man-Thing, or Ted Sallis, his alter-ego … I remember an issue of Defenders where Dr. Strange went into the Man-Thing’s head and talked to Sallis, and Strange offered to use his magic to let him take control of the monster. Sallis, though, preferred not to, as he’d rather not remember everything the monster does. Which makes sense, because as Stagg notes, the best Man-Thing stories weren’t really about the Man-Thing: “… it isn’t really about the monsters, but instead it’s about the human beings who are forced to survive their encounter with the unknown.”
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:58 pm
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn, y’all.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:59 pm
Pick up Essential Man-Thing Vo1. 1. Once you have that big, thick collection in your lap, the goodness of Steve Gerber’s storytelling will spurt off the page.
Seriously, though, it’s great stuff. Give it a shot.
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:24 pm
Love Man-Thing (heh!)
When are we goona get an Ultimate Man-Thing mini-series?
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Marvel’s Horror books in the 70s were the coolest. Glad to see them using the characters again.
July 4th, 2007 at 4:45 pm
Much, much love to MAN-THING.