Steve Gerber’s The Man-Thing delivered an interesting spin on the bog-beast concept and ventured into a wide range of tales that included cosmic epics as well as moments of human introspection.
What Is It?
The Man-Thing was a comic book character that first appeared in Marvel’s black and white magazine Savage Tales and that focused on a swamp monster which had similarities to DC’s the Swamp Thing (more on that below) as well as the original comic book bog beast the Heap. There have been several permutations on the Man-Thing’s origin, but the original story found biochemist Dr. Ted Sallis coming into contact with an experimental chemical (later retro-fitted to be a version of the Captain America super-serum) after his car crashes in the swamp in the Florida Everglades. After the accident, he finds himself transformed into a mindless muck-monster who comes to be known as the Man-Thing. Sallis’ mind is completely lost and the hideous creature that emerges wanders aimlessly through the swamp mostly trying to avoid contact with others. When he does encounter other creatures though, his powers of empathy allow him to feel the emotions of those around them and when he feels fear (which usually happens when people come face-to-face with this creature), it causes the Man-Thing pain and his touch burns his victims (leading to the series tagline “Whatever knows fear burns at the Man-Thing’s touch!”). The creature is not aggressive, though, and he usually prefers to keep his distance from humans. It is later revealed/retro-fitted that his origin had some mystical intervention and that he was intended to be the guardian of the Nexus of Realities.
Character First Appearance: Savage Tales #1 (1971)
Created by: Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Gray Morrow, Steve Gerber
Original Run:
Savage Tales #1 (1971)
Astonishing Tales #12-13 (1972)
Adventures Into Fear #10-19 (1972-73, Steve Gerber stories begin with Issue #11)
Man-Thing (Vol 1) #1-22 (1974-75, All Steve Gerber Stories)
Giant-Size Man-Thing #1-5 (1974-75, All Steve Gerber Stories)
Legacy
During the 1970s, comic books began to experiment with the medium as the Comic Code slacked off from its rigid control of their content and creators began to push the boundaries a bit. The Man-Thing was one series that definitely ventured into the fringes, especially with writer Steve Gerber at the helm, as it delivered stories ranging from grand cosmic battles to brooding personal inner conflicts to social railings to psychological soul-searchings.
A Closer Look
The character of the Man-Thing began as a Stan Lee idea that was fleshed out by Roy Thomas and then brought to life with a script by Gerry Conway and art by Gray Morrow. The character would first appear in an uncelebrated backup story in the first issue of the Savage Tales magazine. He would then make sporadic appearances in other titles before landing an ongoing strip that began with Adventures into Fear #10. His first appearance in that title would once again be scripted by Gerry Conway, but with the next issue Steve Gerber would take over the strip and seriously alter the course of the Man-Thing’s story.
Gerber was a young gun in the Marvel Bullpen who had shown a flare for writing stories a bit different than what you would expect from the average comic book of that day. He had tackled titles such as Sub-Mariner, The Defenders, and The Guardians of the Galaxy and had done some innovative things with those runs. But with The Man-Thing, Gerber really found his muse and he would stick with this character for 39 issues (after Adventures into Fear #19, the Man-Thing would jump to his own title). And what a run that was! He began his tenure on the strip delivering some of the expected muck-monster-type tales, very much in the vein of what DC was doing with The Swamp Thing. But it only took him a few issues to veer into more cosmic storylines that resulted in a journey across multiple realities and a battle to save the universe!
That was still fairly early in Steve Gerber’s run with the character and he would continue to take his readers on a wild ride as he delivered a wide variety of stories and a myriad of colorful and unique characters including the Foolkiller, Thog the Nether-Spawn, the Mad Viking, a suicidal clown, a hillbilly gorgon, and more. Steve Gerber’s celebrated character Howard the Duck also first appeared in The Man-Thing strip and would quickly go on to fame in his own book. And while The Man-Thing series definitely had its ups and downs during Gerber’s tenure, it was never boring and it stretched the boundaries of comics in those days, taking on topics not usually found in the four-color pages like depression, suicide, social inequality, bullying, censorship, and more. Gerber even wrote himself into the final issue of the series (#22), claiming that he had not been writing the stories but had actually been reporting what he had witnessed.
The Steve Gerber issues of The Man-Thing have since attained cult status, even if they are rarely celebrated among mainstream comic book fans. When it comes to muck-monsters, Alan Moore’s run with the Swamp Thing is rightfully considered a classic, but Gerber’s Man-Thing definitely deserves some attention as well. He took a potentially mundane character that could have descended into an encounter-of-the-month formula and instead spun it into a wild series of cosmic encounters and human introspection, and it should be counted as a classic as well.
Cancelled Too Soon?
Steve Gerber essentially wrapped up his run with the character in the twenty-second issue of the title, but if sales had been strong enough I’m sure the series would have continued, even if Gerber chose to back out. He was already butting heads with Marvel execs at that time which would lead to a full-fledged battle over the rights to the Howard the Duck character. (Spoiler alert: Marvel kept the rights.) He was also notorious for missing deadlines, though he did manage to complete every issue of The Man-Thing during his tenure including the Giant Size volumes. He may have felt like he was finished with the character at that time, though he would go on to write a few more stories that included the muck monster in later years (see below).
The Story Continues:
The Man-Thing returned in his own title in the late 70s for a short run and would go on to make additional appearances in other titles. When Gerber returned to Marvel in the 80s he wrote a back-up Man-Thing series in Marvel Comics Presents 1-12 and had him appear in a few other titles as well. In 2005, the character headlined a low-budget feature film, but that was not well-received. In 2012, the three-part mini-series The Infernal Man-Thing was published with a script by Gerber and artwork by Kevin Nowlan. That was a sequel story to “Song-Cry of the Living Dead Man” which appeared in Man-Thing #12 and was originally planned as a 1980 graphic novel. It finally made it to print in mini-series format four years after Gerber had passed away. Since then, Man-Thing has guested in other Marvel titles and made an appearance in the 2022 Disney+ Werewolf by Night film.
Interesting Facts:
The Man-Thing character actually predated the first appearance of DC’s swamp monster the Swamp Thing by a few months. Len Wein, who created the Swamp Thing (and later Wolverine), was Gerry Conway’s roommate at that time and he wrote the second Man-Thing story which would have appeared in Savage Tales #2. That magazine was cancelled after its first issue, but the story eventually saw publication in Astonishing Tales #12. Len Wein, however, did not feel that Swamp Thing and the Man-Thing were too similar in their origins, and he did end up taking the DC character in a very different direction during his tenure with the series.
The name Man-Thing had previously been used for unrelated characters that appeared in Marvel’s sci fi anthology series Tales of Suspense (issues #7 and #11).
Where Can You Read It?
Gerber’s entire run has been collected into three volumes that are available in trade paperback and eBook format. All but The Infernal Man-Thing was previously released in two black-and-white Marvel Essentials volumes, but those have since gone out of print. Those are still available from third-party sellers, though, and I personally believe the black-and-white versions enhance the moody atmosphere of the original stories.
