It’s safe to say that many casual comic book fans have no idea who Man-Thing is, but they’ve probably heard a “Giant-Size Man-Thing” joke or two. Man-Thing also has the undesirable distinction of having one of Marvel’s worst live-action films. Trust us, it’s pretty bad! But Goosebumps author R.L. Stine counts himself as one of the biggest fans of Marvel’s Man-Thing, and he’s jumping at the chance to write a new five-issue miniseries starring the unlikely horror hero.
My first ambition was to be a comic book artist,” Stine told the New York Times. “I started doing these little comic books in the fourth grade: ‘Super Stooge,’ the dumbest hero on earth…I was terrible…I had no choice but to be a writer.” For the new limited series, Stine is giving Man-Thing’s human alter ego, Dr. Ted Sallis, a chance to speak after spending decades being unable to do so. While a few previous comics have also given Man-Thing the ability to talk, Stine’s version will be “very sarcastic.”
German Peralta will be the artist for the series, which finds Ted attempting to break free of the Man-Thing’s curse. Marvel also released a few of Peralta’s pages, which includes a flashback to the accident that transformed Ted into a swamp monster.
Related: Infernal Man-Thing: The Legacy of Steve Gerber
“I’m going to do a lot of action and a lot of great violence and make it creepy, but I’m going to make it funny at the same time,” related Stine. “It’s what I try to do in my books.” Additionally, each issue of Man-Thing will feature a backup story by Stine and a different guest artist. For the first issue, Daniel Warren Johnson will illustrate the backup tale.
Man-Thing # 1 will be released in March 2017.
Are you excited about Stine’s new comic? Take out your Giant Sized Man-Things and let us know!
