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This Man... This Monster!

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"This Man... This Monster!"
Cover art to Fantastic Four #51.
Art by Jack Kirby.
PublisherMarvel Comics
Publication dateJune 1966
GenreSuperhero
Title(s)Fantastic Four #51
Main character(s)Fantastic Four
Creative team
Writer(s)Stan Lee
Artist(s)Jack Kirby
Inker(s)Joe Sinnott
Letterer(s)Artie Simek
Editor(s)Stan Lee

"This Man... This Monster!" is a Fantastic Four story co-plotted by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, written by Lee, drawn by Kirby and published by Marvel Comics. The story debuted in Fantastic Four #51.

Plot

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Roaming the streets, Benjamin Grimm, the Thing, is invited into the home of a scientist. The scientist gives Ben coffee laced with a sedative, and Ben falls asleep on the man's sofa. The man uses a device to transfer the Thing's powers to himself, causing himself to look like the Thing and Ben to become human. A few days later, the imposter Thing goes to the Baxter Building in hopes of proving himself superior by defeating the Fantastic Four. Ben arrives at the Baxter Building to warn the Fantastic Four, but Reed Richards and Susan Storm believe him to be the imposter so he storms out.

Meanwhile, at Metro University, Fantastic Four member Johnny Storm and his friend Wyatt Wingfoot get involved in an argument with football star until it is broken up by the coach. The coach suggests that Wyatt join the team on account of his father's athletic prowess, but Wyatt refuses.

At the Baxter Building, Reed tests a portal to an antimatter dimension. He has the imposter Thing hold his safety tether, and the man is surprised to see Reed pursuing scientific advances at personal risk without seeking publicity. He decides to save Reed and pull him back, but he waits too long and the tether snaps. The imposter Thing leaps in to save Reed, sacrificing himself to throw Reed back through the portal.

Ben goes to visit his girlfriend Alicia Masters, hoping that she will still recognize him because she is blind and will not be affected by his appearance. As he knocks on her door, he reverts back to the Thing upon the imposter's death. He returns to the Baxter Building and they realize that Ben, the real Thing, is still alive. Reed expresses his gratitude for the imposter's decision to save him.

Creation

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"This Man... This Monster!" was published in Fantastic Four #51, written by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby.[1] Lee and Kirby worked on the comic book series Fantastic Four, about the superhero team the Fantastic Four, from 1961 to 1970.[2] Issue #51 came approximately half way into their run, during a period of highly celebrated work on the series between 1965 and 1967.[3] Joe Sinnott inked the story and Artie Simek was its letterer.[4]

The image of Reed exploring the alternate dimension for the first time has become well known among comic book art. It features Reed and his speech bubble laid atop a collage of psychedelic art.[4] When drawing the scene, Kirby left a note describing how the scene should be written: "Reed drifts in dimensional space—it's both weird and beautiful".[5] Kirby also reserved a full page for an illustration of Reed's portal device.[6]

Themes and analysis

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"This Man... This Monster!" emphasizes characterization over action, and the characters' superhuman abilities are used sparingly.[7] It opens with Ben standing solemnly in the rain, lamenting his monstrous form.[8] Evil versions of characters are common in Marvel stories,[4] and the villain of "This Man... This Monster!" is one of many villains by Lee and Kirby who achieve redemption by sacrificing themselves.[9]

"This Man... This Monster!" reflects on several themes that are common in Fantastic Four. It incorporates a balance between external exploration and internal reflection.[4] It suggests that things beyond daily life are achievable but require courage to find them, and it presents family, friendship, self-image, and worldview as defining motivations for one's actions.[6] The story also considers what it means to be a monster; Ben's character is one of self-pity, resenting that his body is made of stone.[5] Ben potentially reverting to human form was a long-running plot point in Fantastic Four.[8]

Reed's exploration of an alternate dimension invokes the concept of the sublime as the page illustrates the space and Reed describes the dimension's infinite nature.[10] Kirby has frequently invoked such vastness and cosmic scales, including his depictions of Asgard, Galactus, and Ego the Living Planet.[11]

Kirby's art reflects common techniques that he used, including heavy machinery made up of complex geometric shapes and crackling energy now described as Kirby Krackle.[11]

Reception and legacy

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"This Man... This Monster!" is one of the most positively received issues of the Fantastic Four series.[7][1] Comics Should Be Good ranked Fantastic Four #51 as the most iconic Thing cover.[12] The comic book critic Douglas Wolk described the plot as nonsensical but considered this unimportant relative to the story's message, emotional resonance, and artwork.[6] Writer Peter David uses "This Man... This Monster!" to exemplify plot structure in a comic book in his book Writing for Comics with Peter David.[13]

Comic book writers Mark Waid and Jerry Ordway consider "This Man... This Monster!" to be their favorite Fantastic Four story, with Waid complimenting its structure. Kurt Busiek described it as one of the best alongside The Galactus Trilogy.[14] The story was one of eleven issues selected by Marvel Comics for its 1992 collection The Very Best of Marvel Comics.[15]

The dimension Reed explores in the story is revisited in future comics, where it is called the Negative Zone.[8] The storyline in which Johnny and Wyatt interact with the football coach was abandoned after the story's publication and never referenced again.[6] The first issue of Ms. Marvel, featuring Carol Danvers, was titled "This Woman, This Warrior!" in reference to "This Man... This Monster!" as part of its attempt to brand the series through nostalgia.[16]

The unnamed scientist in the story was given a name, Ricardo Jones, in an issue of Web of Spider-Man 25 years after the story's publication.[8] The graphic novel Fantastic Four: Full Circle by Alex Ross reintroduces Ricardo Jones as a memory, after his corpse is transported back into the Baxter Building.[17]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Wolk 2021, pp. 50–51.
  2. ^ Wolk 2021, p. 49.
  3. ^ Wolk 2021, p. 50.
  4. ^ a b c d Wolk 2021, p. 51.
  5. ^ a b Wolk 2021, p. 52.
  6. ^ a b c d Wolk 2021, p. 54.
  7. ^ a b Dalton 2011, p. 38.
  8. ^ a b c d Wolk 2021, p. 53.
  9. ^ Dalton 2011, p. 39.
  10. ^ Bukatman 2019, p. 19.
  11. ^ a b Bukatman 2019, p. 20.
  12. ^ "Top Five Most Iconic Thing Covers | Comics Should Be Good! @ Comic Book Resources". Goodcomics.comicbookresources.com. 2009-09-20. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2011-04-20.
  13. ^ David, Peter (2009). Writing for comics & graphic novels (Rev. ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio: Impact. ISBN 978-1-60061-687-7.
  14. ^ Klaehn, Jeffery (2022-09-03). "Talking the Fantastic Four: 'a comic that broke ALL the rules'". Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 13 (5): 811–823. doi:10.1080/21504857.2021.1918737. ISSN 2150-4857.
  15. ^ Weiner, Robert G. (2008). Marvel Graphic Novels and Related Publications: An Annotated Guide to Comics, Prose Novels, Children's Books, Articles, Criticism and Reference Works, 1965–2005. McFarland. p. 144. ISBN 978-0-7864-5115-9.
  16. ^ Wolk 2021, p. 303.
  17. ^ Ross, Alex (w), Ross, Alex (a). Fantastic Four Full Circle (November 2022). Marvel Comics.

References

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