Those Who Know Fear: Man-Thing (Dr. Theodore Sallis) Appreciation

[Johnny Peril]

A little bit of trivia; Man-Thing actually fought in a gladiator arena in another dimension back in Adventure Into Fear #14. He faced and defeated a warrior named Mongu. Hulk later fights Mongu in a different arena in Incredible Hulk #211.

[Captain Craig]

What could a Man-Thing Legacy one shot number look like?

Man-Thing v.1 1974 - 22 issues
Giant Size Man-Thing 1974 - 5 issues
Man-Thing v.2 1979 - 11 issues
Book of the Dead 1993 - 4 issues (Frankenstein back-up tale)
Man-Thing v.3 1997 - 8 issues
Man-Thing 2004 mini - 3 issues (movie prequel tie-in)
Legion of Monsters Man-Thing one shot 2007 - 1 issue
Dead of Night f/Man-Thing 2008 - 4 issues
Infernal Man-Thing 2012 - 3 issues
Man-Thing v.5 2017 - 5 issues

Legacy Numbering could start at: #67

Another ComicVine.com goofy accounting as I did not find one they listed as 'volume 4' and it wasn't many pages to sift through.
His team up appearances in Franken-Castle, Thunderbolts and Howling Commandoes of SHIELD wouldn't count per other examples not counting for characters.
Do you count the Adventure Into Fear('73) issues though, where he started? If so that's 10 issues to include. Legacy numbering would start at #77 then.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Wait. What? Man-Thing was a human originally too? I would never have known that if I didn't click on this thread.

I thought his origin was simply that Man-Thing was an ever present plant elemental but with nearly no active intelligence who guarded the nexus of realities.

I suppose I should've known there was more to him but dang.

I recommend when you come across a character you don't know to hit up Wikipedia. Sometimes you may strike out if the character is very minor or very new but other times there is enough in a few paragraphs to give you some insight.

Just a suggestion if you're newer to comics.

Nope. Well, sort of (started in 05 essentially). I've seen many a Man-Thing appearance but never one that introduced him as a former scientist so that's a shocker to me.

Probably one of the few things I know was his brief part in the Thunderbolts especially since he was the one who kills King Hyperion in the end.

Not your fault, cause most writers gloss over the fact that this is (or was) a brilliant scientist who lost his intelligence, memories, his sense of self, and is now a walking pile of swamp while the heroes who have done squat to help him pretend like he's happy. Earlier in Man-Thing's career it's often implied that since Ted was working on a formula for the US military during the unpopular Vietnam war he received poetic justice.

Glossing over the above stated fact is to me very disrespectful of those so-called 'writers'.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Man-Thing #17 May 1975
"A Book Burns in Citrusville!"

Richard Rory finds himself swept up in a war of intolerance

and the Man-Thing may be powerless to help.

Written by Steve Gerber. Art by Jim Mooney.

https://ohdannyboy.blogspot.nl/2008/...ney-1970s.html

“Man-Thing was my favourite that I did there,“ said Jim, “I loved working with Steve Gerber. I admired Steve’s stuff tremendously.
I thought the guy was an extremely talented writer, way ahead of his time, a little bit like Harlan Ellison. I enjoyed it immensely but
we never had much contact with each other for some reason. We almost always worked on the phone and Steve was a very articulate guy but
he never had much to say. I knew he liked my stuff, he indicated that, and I let him know that I enjoyed working with him.
I think that Man-Thing was one of the most interesting and stimulating strips I’ve ever done.

[Johnny Peril]

Well, it's over. Didn't really enjoy it although the story wasn't bad. It just had too many jokes coming from Manny, seemed more suited for Howard. Weird ending.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Man-Thing #1 Dec 1997
"Shame!" Guest-starring Doctor Strange.
The Nexus of All Realities has been shattered as a result of events of "Heroes Reborn: The Return".
In the Everglades, the locus of the Nexus of Earth, the Man-Thing stirs and is compelled to shamble towards the town of Citrusville.
As he crosses a road, he is struck by a car carrying the Burke family (Jack, Gwyneth and their adopted son, Job).
While Jack watches, the Man-Thing reconstitutes himself and trudges on. In a Citrusville motel, Ellen Sallis,
wife of the scientist who became the Man-Thing, suffers nightmares spawned from her guilt for her betrayal of her husband.

At the same time, in his Greenwich Village Sanctum, Dr. Strange discovers the crisis of the damaged Nexus while meditating.

As the Man-Thing enters Citrusville, he encounters Owen Jackson, the town drunk haunted by his guilt at molesting his own daughter years before.
The empathic swamp creature, feeling Owen's fear, as well as relief, touches the man's face, burning it. Owen does not shrink from the flames,
but instead feels purged of his shame. When the Man-Thing walks away, Sheriff Bobby Fillmore tries to gun the monster down, but to no avail.

In a bar down the street, Ellen drinks, while trying to rebuff the advances of a barfly putting the moves on her. He sees the scars on her face,
incurred when Sallis first became the Man-Thing, and when he recoils, Ellen becomes angry, slashing him with a steak knife.
He grabs her arm just as the Man-Thing bursts into the diner through the picture window. The swamp beast grabs the man by the throat burning him,
then lets him go and turns to face Ellen. Sheriff Fillmore again fires at the Man-Thing with Ellen in the line of fire.
The bullets, however, transform into butterflies, thanks to the timely intervention of Dr. Strange.

Written by J.M. DeMatteis. Art by Liam Sharp.

[Hypestyle]

.... so, has Man-Thing ever met Groot yet? Could he do a guest stint with the Guardians of the Galaxy?

[nickytesla96]

.... so, has Man-Thing ever met Groot yet? Could he do a guest stint with the Guardians of the Galaxy?

He actually appeared in All-New Guardians of the Galaxy #12 by Gerry Duggan. The Guardians come to Earth to ask around for information about the Infinity Gems. Groot visits Man-Thing and there's a really cool splash page with Man-Thing connecting the Prime Guardians to a bunch of other Guardians teams across the multiverse also searching for the Infinity Gems.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Man-Thing #2 Jan 1998
"The Journey!" Guest-starring Doctor Strange.
Doctor Strange warns Sheriff Donald Fillmore not to interfere with events surrounding Ellen Brandt and the Man-Thing. After altering the man's perceptions of reality,
he convinces the sheriff that what is at stake here is beyond human comprehension. Fillmore quietly leaves the scene. Doctor Strange then tells Ellen Brandt that the
Man-Thing is intricately tied to the veritable unmaking of reality, and that Ellen is one of the few people in existence who might be able to create an empathic rapport with the creature.
Ellen reflects upon her own life and the decisions she has made - decisions that ultimately led to betrayal and the inadvertent creation of the Man-Thing.

Meanwhile, a strange bald man with white eyes and a blackened mouth named Mister Termineus visits the motel where the Burke family are staying. The Burkes are still recovering
from their roadside encounter with the Man-Thing. Termineus is interested in their young son Job. After taking what he needs, he makes Job's parents forget that he was even there.

Back in Citrusville, Doctor Strange explains how the sudden return of certain "heroes of legend" have created cracks within the walls of reality, cracks that are widening with alarming
speed and threaten to destroy all realities. At the hub of this crisis is the Nexus of All Realities, the virtual birthplace of the Man-Thing. The Nexus too however, has been shattered and
needs to be repaired. Strange convinces Ellen to help guide the Man-Thing on his path towards fixing the cracks, and in so doing, Ellen may even be able to heal the cracks in her conscious mind.

Strange returns to his Sanctum and finds Mister Termineus waiting for him.

Written by J.M. DeMatteis. Art by Liam Sharp.

[Johnny Peril]

recapped some of my favorite Man-Thing stories so now I’m going to do a tale which I believe is one of his worst. No, THE worst. I picked this up as a youngster assuming the cover was one of those deceptive ones from the 70's that was meant as a tease, boy was I wrong. This issue fulfills the dream of all Man-Thing fans that he be placed in the Himalayas <sarcasm off>.



MAN-THING VOL. 2 #2

"Himalayan Nightmare!"

Writer - Michael Fleisher
Penciler - Jim Moomey
Inker - Bob Wiacek



It starts off with two scientist guys about to test out some sort of a device in the Florida swamp. Why the Florida swamp? Who knows. Who are these guys? Doesn’t matter, you won’t see them again. Man-Thing interrupts them so they use it on him and he’s teleported to the Himalayan mountains. Why the Himalayan Mountains? Because that’s where the writer wanted him. So, in the Himalayan mountains we have an expedition searching for the Abominable Snowman. I’m not going to relate their names because it doesn’t matter. Let’s just say there is the leader, his partner and the leader’s wife. It’s the typical comic book expedition, the workers run off cause they’re superstitious, the leader is fanatical about finding the Abominable Snowman, the wife is loyal, and the partner wants to bang the wife. Fleisher was clearly trying to duplicate Steve Gerber’s style of having Man-Thing stories revolve around other characters but the thing is, Gerber’s characters were interesting and his stories were good. This is a case of shoe-horning Man-Thing into a pre-existing story. Okay, so Man-Thing is busy shambling through the snow just wanting to get the issue over with when he is attacked by a pack of wolves (cause that’s what wolves do in comics) and since there needs to be some action and this is still his comic he kills a few.

The expedition, or rather the three people left, are trudging along through an ice storm until the leader gets blown over the cliff. Although he manages to survive he’s immediately attacked by a Himalayan Brown bear. (I actually called B.S. on this when I first read it but after Googling it I discovered there is an actual sub-species but they hibernate during winter, so it is kind of B.S.) Manny is drawn to the strong emotions so he and the bear go at it and the bear loses and is incinerated (because someone or something has to get burned in a Man-Thing comic).



Manny is about to burn the leader also but luckily for him he faints first. When he wakes up he’s in a cave with Man-Thing, unharmed, so he realizes that the monster carried him to shelter so he’s no longer afraid. The leader and Manny team-up and both proceed to scale the mountain (yeah, both of them) which actually takes hours.



Upon reaching the top, the leader is thankful to see his partner but the partner is not so happy to see him. The partner thought he had a clear path to the wife and plans to keep it that way so he shoots and kills him. When Man-Thing finally makes his way to the top the partner believes him to be the Abominable Snowman they were searching for and tries to shoot him in hopes of claiming a reward. The shots draw the attention of the wife (who is now a widow) and also causes an avalanche which buries both her and our swamp beast.

To be continued.

[Johnny Peril]

MAN-THING VOL. 2 #3



“THE GONG OF DOOM!”

Writer - Michael Fleisher
Penciler - Jim Moomey
Inker - Bob Wiacek

Man-Thing and the new widow survive the avalanche only to be attacked and captured by a tribe of Yeti. Taken to their village it is revealed that their leader is actually a Norwegian explorer (because we need someone who speaks English) who discovered the tribe decades ago and now fights for their survival by keeping them secret. Again I’m not going to bother with names because it’s pointless. The leader orders them burned at the stake even against the wishes of a village elder who believes Man-Thing to be their Mammoth god sent to usher in the tribe’s death.



The partner still wants the money that the body of the Abominable Snowman will fetch so he returns in a plane (and lands it on the Himalayan mountains) with more men. They promptly kill most of the Yeti (I guess no one would be interested in paying for them) and use the plane to drop a cage on Man-Thing (on top of a mountain) Man-Thing oozes through the cage kills the partner while the remaining men board the plane and make their escape as gunfire and the elder ringing a gong (hence the title) causes an avalanche killing the remaining Yeti. Man-Thing scoops up his lady friend and grabs hold of the plane’s landing gear and hitchhikes a ride out of the Himalayas.



End of story

Michael Fleisher was replaced by Chris Claremont next issue.

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

They did name drop Man-Thing in an episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Not sure if we'll ever see him though given the direction the show is going but you never know.

On the topic of "name drops" it seems some have been combing over the new Thor Ragnarok trailer. In a screen grab a totem pole shows former arena champions of which Man-Thing is at the top.

Attachment 52010

I pray this is a clue that one of the many movies post Avengers 4 2019 will be "Man-Thing"

[616MarvelYear is LeapYear]

Man-Thing #3 Feb 1998
"Christmas in Bedlam!"
It's Christmas Eve, and Eric Simon Payne, the hero formerly known as Devil-Slayer, is a patient at Rosewell Sanitarium in Charles, Massachusetts.
He has been suffering massive delusions as of late, many attributed to guilt that he feels over the death of his wife Cory.
The only person who seems capable of reaching Eric is a fellow patient known only as Sorrow.

Meanwhile in the Florida Everglades, Ellen Brandt tries to establish an empathic connection with her former husband the Man-Thing.
Ellen knows that she must guide the Man-Thing on a quest to reconstitute the shattered Nexus of All Realities, and in the process, perhaps even heal her own fractured psyche.
Unfortunately, Ellen has no idea how she is going to accomplish such a feat.

Mister Termineus appears in the swamp holding a gnarled wooden staff while wearing an old fashioned Santa Claus outfit.
He tells Ellen he wants to help her achieve her objectives and hands her the wooden staff. After doing so, Termineus disappears in a wall of fire.

At Rosewell, Eric Payne visits the mute Sorrow. Sorrow has the ability to inspire hope in others,
and Eric sees a vision of himself when he was still bearing the Shadow Cloak that allowed him to traverse dimensions.
He knows this is just a hallucination though and when the vision ends, he finds himself still a patient at the hospital.
A man wearing a Santa Claus outfit approaches Eric and unleashes all of the man's internal demons. The demons take corporeal form and begin causing havoc at the hospital.

In Florida, Ellen Brandt uses the staff given to her by Mister Termineus to transport the Man-Thing and herself to Rosewell Sanitarium.

Written by J.M. DeMatteis. Art by Liam Sharp.

[Phoenixx9]

I pray this is a clue that one of the many movies post Avengers 4 2019 will be "Man-Thing"

I would like love to see a good Man-Thing movie!

With the available technology, this could be easily accomplished. Good scripts seem to be the hard part.

[Hypestyle]

I hope for another mini series eventually. What's Neil Gaiman's take on him?