Marvel’s The Thing # 1 is a masterful tribute to Ben Grimm and Jack Kirby


Thing # 1, the first independent book for the founding member of the Fantastic Four since 2006, it is now on the shelves sporting a pair of intriguing credits. Marvel has paired the artwork of the up-and-coming Tom Reilly with the writing of Walter Mosley, a 69-year-old author best known for his pulpy detective stories. It’s a standout treatment of a Jack Kirby character who was present at Marvel’s big bang 60 years ago, but also a guy who generally sits in the back seat in discussions about that publisher’s biggest characters and franchises.

Who is doing Thing # 1?

Walter Mosley, the laureate of the National Book Foundation best known for his pulp-inspired Easy Rawlins character and novel series, he is The thingWriter. Can remember a 1995 movie called Devil in a blue dress, starring Denzel Washington, That’s Easy Rawlins, and the film adapted the character’s first appearance and Mosley’s first novel. In the comics, Mosley was also behind the bulky Maximum Fantastic Four, a 2005 celebration of Jack Kirby’s artwork for Fantastic Four # 1, the founding document of the modern Marvel Universe.

Tom Reilly, who drew in pencil X Men: Instant Wonders No. 1 last year and Morbius: Blood Bond # 1 this spring, it is the artist. Jordie Bellaire provides colors and lettering by Joe Sabino.

What is it Thing # 1 upon?

Ben Grimm is in a period of transition. He and his longtime girlfriend, Alicia Masters, part ways after a misunderstanding that ends with Ben being pepper sprayed and thrown in jail after a violent public outburst. After dating, she reevaluates her relationships and pairs up with a glamorous fashion designer. A disturbing dream, however, heralds his meeting with a new enemy, who is obsessed with the same woman. Because, as Hercules observes, Ben appears to be haunted by the same evil spirit that created this enemy, who refers to himself as Brusque.

See also  29-year-old lives the dream: Played so much football manager that he is now a real professional trainer

Are there any required reading?

The Thing # 1 (2021), Marvel Comics.  NYPD with Special Equipment Show Up to Arrest Ben Grimm, The Thing

Image: Walter Mosley, Tom Reilly / Marvel Comics

Although Thing # 1 It’s not a re-introduction with a lot of tradition, it assumes some knowledge of the character and his substantial contribution to the Fantastic Four network of relationship drama. Mosley is 69 years old and read FF as a child and teenager growing up in Los Angeles. So the perspective of a longtime fan, aware of the big stuff, not so much current events, is helpful. Mosley recalls (through Ben’s dialogue) something that Mister Fantastic observed about vibranium in the original issue of Black Panther from 1966; that’s a good example of the familiarity your book expects.

Too, this ComicsXF interview with Mosley illuminates how the author thinks and feels about Ben Grimm more broadly:

When you work with the Fantastic Four, you are the pack animal that carries all the things they need. I think Ben and Sue are in the same place: they stand behind the other two. Every now and then they get their own thing, but when Sue does, she has to be alone, and when Ben does, he usually turns bad for some reason, at least back then. So I just wanted to get it out. It’s hard to write about the Fantastic Four, because it’s so much more familiar. Which I like, but I want to talk about The Thing and how important it is to everyone – just as important to me as Spider-Man to that world.

Is thing # 1 good?

It’s a slow recording, which is strange considering the dizzying pace of events in the first 12 pages of the book. That includes a cameo in Hercules jail, explained by a modest-sized expository speech bubble. The purpose of this introductory issue is to bring three characters, two of them new, together on the final page: Ben, his bounce date, Amaryllis DeJure, and a new villain, whose visual treatment vaguely reminded me of Jack Kirby’s Wrecker.

Reilly’s precise, minimalist pencil style serves the overall tone of The Thing well, as does the semi-symmetrical rock pattern he has chosen for some of Ben’s close-ups. But Thing # 1 it is even more tone than sale; I’m primarily intrigued because I guess the creative impulses Mosley wants to scratch.

The story features a practical intersection of beings from other dimensions, fabulous high-tech, mutated people, and ordinary life, the defining traits of the Marvel Age that Kirby inaugurated. It’s not as subtle as a tribute or as outspoken as a love note, but it is definitely the work of a longtime fan.

A panel that appeared

The Thing # 1 (2021), Marvel Comics.  Ben Grimm is asked for biographical details for a dating service run by a Tinkerbell-like fairy.

Image: Walter Mosley, Tom Reilly / Marvel Comics

When Ben signs up for a dating service, whose janitor is apparently Tinkerbell, they ask for his biographical information. “Race? Non-white” is a good laugh, but it also evokes how Mosley, who is black, has seen Ben Grimm since he was a young fan. Again, from ComicsXF:

When I was a child, I identified him as a brother. What I would say now is that he is not like a white American character. People don’t want him around; they are afraid. When he enters a room, they want to get away from him. When you sit in a restaurant, they say “we don’t have chairs that will fit you.” His girlfriend has to be blind because if she saw who he really is, it wouldn’t work out well. So it’s about being classified as a second-class person. Necessary – “I need your strength, I need you to back me up and be there for me” – but also, “You make me nervous.”


www.polygon.com