derianl on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/derianl/art/The-Fantastic-Four-Ben-Grimm-476259858derianl

Deviation Actions

derianl's avatar

The Fantastic Four--Ben Grimm

By
Published:
1K Views

Description

The Thing is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. He is a founding member of the Fantastic Four. His trademark orange rocky appearance, sense of humor, blue eyes, and famous battle cry, "It's clobberin' time!", make him a very recognizable comic book character. The Thing's speech patterns are loosely based on those of Jimmy Durante.[1]

Michael Chiklis portrayed the Thing in the 2005 film Fantastic Four and its 2007 sequel Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Jamie Bell is scheduled to portray the Thing in the 2015 untitled Fantastic Four reboot.

In 2011, IGN ranked the Thing 18th in the Top 100 Comic Book Heroes.

Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character first appeared in The Fantastic Four #1 (Nov. 1961).

In addition to appearing in the Fantastic Four, the Thing has been the star of Marvel Two-in-One, Strange Tales (with his fellow Fantastic Four member the Human Torch), and two incarnations of his own eponymous series, as well as numerous miniseries and one-shots. The Thing was named Empire's tenth (of fifty) greatest comic book characters. The Thing joined his Fantastic Four partner and frequent rival the Human Torch in #124 (1964) of Strange Tales, which then featured solo adventures of the Human Torch and backup Doctor Strange stories. The change was intended to liven the comic through the always humorous chemistry between the Torch and the Thing. They were replaced with the "modern-day" version of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., who was then already appearing in Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos in #135 (1965). After a 1973 try-out in two issues of Marvel Feature, the Thing starred in the long-running series Marvel Two-in-One. In each issue, Ben Grimm would team with another character from the Marvel Universe, often an obscure or colorful character. The series helped to introduce characters from Marvel's lineup, by way of teaming up with the more recognizable Thing. In 1992, Marvel reprinted four Two-in-One stories (#50, 51, 77 and 80) as a miniseries under the title The Adventures of the Thing. The series was cancelled after one hundred issues to make way for a solo series. The cancellation of Marvel Two-in-One led to the Thing's first completely solo series, which ran for thirty-six issues. It was originally written by John Byrne and later, Mike Carlin. The series also featured art by Ron Wilson and later by Paul Neary. It was notable for elaborating on Ben Grimm's poor childhood on Yancy Street in its early issue, as well as chronicling the Thing's later foray into the world of professional wrestling. It also featured a major storyline offshoot from Marvel's Secret Wars event, in which the Thing elects to remain on the Beyonder's Battleworld after discovering that the planet enables him to return to human form at will. A full third of the series' stories take place on Battleworld.

In 2002, Marvel released The Thing: Freakshow, a four-issue miniseries starring the Thing, in which he takes time away from the Fantastic Four to ride the rails across America, inadvertently stumbling on a deformed gypsy boy he once ridiculed as a teenager – now the super-strong main attraction of a troupe of traveling circus freaks – and a town full of Kree and Skrull warriors fighting over a Watcher infant. The series was written by Geoff Johns and illustrated by Scott Kolins.

In 2003, Marvel released another four-issue miniseries, The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street. The story was of a less action-oriented and more character-driven and analytical type than is usual for the Thing. Some reviewers considered the story a nostalgic homage to Silver Age comics, while others found its noir-ish atmosphere "depressing".[3][4] It was written by Evan Dorkin and illustrated by Dean Haspiel.

After the success of the Fantastic Four feature film and events in the Fantastic Four that resulted in Grimm becoming a millionaire, the Thing was once again given his own series in 2005, The Thing, written by Dan Slott and penciled by Andrea Di Vito and, later, Kieron Dwyer. It was canceled with #8 in 2006.

The Thing was a member of New Avengers, when that team debuted in their self-titled series in 2010.[5] He appeared as a regular character throughout the 2010-2013 New Avengers series, from issue #1 (August 2010) through its final issue #34 (January 2013).

Image size
1536x2048px 133.18 KB
© 2014 - 2024 derianl
Comments0
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In