MAN-THING #2
Main Story: The Muck Run Amuck
Writer: R.L. Stine
Artist: German Peralta
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Back-Up Story: Drive The Horror Highway
Writer: R.L. Stine
Artist: Christopher Mitten
Colorist: Rachelle Rosenberg
Letterer: VC’s Travis Lanham
Cover Artist: Tyler Crook
Variant Cover Artists: Mike Deodato Jr & Frank Martin
Release Date: 03/29/17
Rating: Rated T+
Price: $3.99
While working for Project: Gladiator, a project designed to recreate the Captain America Super Soldier Serum Dr. Theodore “Ted” Sallis was betrayed by the woman he loved. Dr. Sallie broke protocol and brought his girlfriend (later retconned to be his wife) Ellen Brandt, who was secretly working with Advanced Idea Mechanics (A.I.M.) who wanted the serum for their own. Dr. Sallis having memorized the formula destroy the notes and took off with the only vile of it. Fearing for his life and hoping the formula will save him he injects himself with it, but crashes into the swamp where the formula merges with the swamp and magical forces transforming him into Man-Thing.
Dr. Sallis’ brilliant mind was lost, only surfacing on rare occasions. While reacting on instinct against his attackers his face is scarred with acid that at times of great violent emotions he secrets. After years of being a mindless Man-Thing, Dr. Sallis’ consciousness has managed to re-emerge along with his ability to speak, it now he is faced with another Man-Thing.
Plot: It is Man-Thing Vs Man-Thing and only one will emerge from the battle. Can Dr. Sallis retain his mind and everything he has worked so hard to recover or will the Man-Thing win? The emergence of the second Man-Thing isn’t all that is wrong, the balance in the Swamp is disrupted and only Man-Thing can save it.
Story: Marvel has done a bang up job by landing R.L. Stine, and having him write this book. Stine writes Man-Thing as if he has done so all of his life. I feel when reading this book that Stine also understands how to write for old readers of Man-Thing like me, as well as that growing crop of new readers.
The narration here really helps the new and the old reader alike get to know not just the story, but Dr. Sallis as well. This is not saying that the story was perfect, as I felt at time it did get a bit exposition heavy, and some plots were just left there. But I do like the mystery of what happened to Oldfather, and the Nexus.
The back-up story was really a nice treat. We get this bonus story “from R.L. Stine’s Chamber of Chills” and I enjoyed it! These are little short horror stories from R.L. Stine and this time we have a guy on a highway where you are not sure where it is going, even after a mysterious woman appears in his passenger seat. Stine has a great way of taking these unexpected twist that really make you wish he had more pages for them.
Art: The art for the main story while it lacked details at times, I thought really fit the tone of the story, the setting and the character. I feel the same for the back-up story but also note that the back-up is just that a back-up and not the main focus. But for me the MVP of the art team would be the colorist. Rosenberg really did an excellent job setting the mood with the colors.
She took me from the mucky settings of the swamps, where I felt like I was standing there because of the colors. I felt the mood through them. Then she took us onto a highway where the colors invoked the eeriness of a lone haunted highway. For me to capture either is great, but to transition from one to the other is beyond compare.
Verdict: Overall I find myself truly enjoying Man-Thing more than I ever have. Then throw-in an original story from R.L. Stine’s Chamber of Chills and you have a great hit for Marvel. The only downside is that this is only a limited series and not an ongoing. I recommend this book for new and old fans alike.
Rating: 4 stars