The Thing Volume 1
In 1983, Marvel canceled the long-running title Marvel Two-In-One which featured the Thing teaming up with a different Marvel hero each issue. It was replaced with The Thing, a title that originally worked as a companion piece to John Byrne’s run on Fantastic Four. The first 23 issues were written by John Byrne and drawn by Ron Wilson.
To start, the title took a look at previously unexplored aspects of Ben Grimm’s life. Issue #1 explained way the Thing was constantly tormented by the Yancy Street Gang, revealing that he used to roll with the gang before he was adopted by is uncle and given a better way of life. Issue #2 delves into the first woman Ben fell in love with, a woman named Alynn Chalmers, and reconnects him with her years later to learn that he future dream of being an actress was abruptly ended after a stroke left her disfigured. Issue #3 and 4 tried to answer the mystery of the Inhuman’s loyal teleporting dog, Lockjaw. Byrne’s take was that Lockjaw was a normal humanoid until e was exposed to the Terrigen Mist and transformed into the doglike form we all know. This was later written off as a joke by Peter David during his run on X-Factor. Issue #5 and 6 tried to make the Puppet Master a more threatening foe by recreating him as a shape-shifting clay creature that could enslave those whose form he takes. It was a great way to make the Puppet Master into a more legitimate threat, but more on that later.
Issue #7 was a gag issue as it was Marvel’s annual Assistant Editor’s Month, an event that saw wackier ideas being a staple across the entire Marvel line. Issues #9 and 10 had Grimm possessed by an Egyptian sorcerer, it suggests that he is the reincarnation of a legendary Egyptian warrior… It’s not good. Issue #10 acted as a prologue to Marvel Super-Heroes Secret Wars explaining how Ben, Johnny, and Reed were kidnapped by the Beyonder.
Secret Wars ended with the Thing deciding to stay behind on Battleworld having She-Hulk succeed him on the team. The reason why the Thing decided to stay was that he was able to change back and forth from his human and Thing forms, thinking that Battleworld was the cause. Bryne next wrote a sprawling 12 issue epic titled Rocky Grimm, Space Ranger. The story featured the Thing traveling across Battleworld to liberate the people of that world from the tyranny of the evil Grimm the Sorcerer. Along the way, he meets Tarianna, his ideal woman. Ultimately, in Thing #22, the Thing has to sacrifice is ability to return to human form to stop Grimm the Sorcerer and Ultron. He learned that Battleworld was being shaped by his unconscious mind and everything and everyone (except Ultron) was a figment of his imagination. Issue #23, the Thing returned home and learned that not only has Alicia moved on and is now in a romance with Johnny Storm, but Reed had been hiding the fact that Ben always had the ability to change back and forth between human and Thing form, and Battleworld had nothing to do with it. These all developments angered the Thing that he decided to leave the Fantastic Four for good and severed all ties.
Unfortunately, John Byrne stopped written the Thing after this issue and everything went downhill from there.
Mike Carlin took over as writer for the rest of the series and it was… rough… the Thing went on the road fighting the Rhino, leprechauns and the Taskmaster. He also began stalking a woman named Sharon Ventura who was the spitting image of his imaginary woman Tarianna on Battleworld. This leads to a battle with the Thunderiders, whom she worked with. Following after her, the Thing then joined the Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation, because why not? Wrestling was hugely popular at the time. Still, the idea couldn’t save the further decline of this title. After a Secret Wars II crossover issue, the Thing went on to battle Godzilla (no joke), Vance Astro, and the New Grapplers. In issue #34, the Sphinx was brought back primarily to return the Puppet Master back to his normal boring bald bucktoothed self. In issue #35 Sharon Ventura becomes a superhero herself, becoming the second (and least interesting) character to call herself Ms. Marvel. The series ends with issue #36 where the Thing is stricken with a strange malady that was causing him to mutate further. The series was canceled and the plot thread was followed up in West Coast Avengers and eventually in Fantastic Four #296, which neatly omitted the Thing’s problem and had him return to the Fantastic Four.
The Thing would not get his own series again until 2006 when the Thing was given a second (shorter-lived) series.
