Man-Thing Vol. 5 #1 ()
R.L. Stine (W), Daniel Warren Johnson (a) and German Peralta (a)
Cover by Tyler Crook
Man-Thing talks and orks in Hollywood
Beloved writer R.L. Stine (Goosebumps, Fear Street) brings his special brand of horror to Man-Thing! After working for years, Man-Thing has regained his ability to speak and has taken Hollywood by storm... But when an ancient and mysterious danger threatens the swamp, Man-Thing is going to have to choose between his new life and celebrity, and the world he used to call home... PLUS! A bone-chilling new horror story, written by the master himself, R.L. STINE, and illustrated by the incomparable Daniel Warren Johnson!
Lots of variant covers for #1:
The New York Times broke the news that Manny will return in a series beginning in March 2017, written by R. L. Stine, the author of the "Goosebumps" novellas for children.
For Mr. Stine, 73, writing the five-issue series is something of a lifelong dream. 'My first ambition was to be a comic book artist,# he said. 'I started doing these little comic books in the fourth grade: 'Super Stooge,' the dumbest hero on earth.' Though he shared the stories with his classmates, he quickly realized he had no talent for illustration. 'I was terrible,' he said. 'I had no choice but to be a writer.'
The new Man-Thing series, with covers by Tyler Crook and interior artwork by German Peralta and Daniel Johnson, is inspired by the iconic horror comics of the 1950s like Tales From the Crypt, of which Mr. Stine was a big fan.
Marvel offered Mr. Stine several characters, but he quickly settled on Man-Thing because of his fondness for swamp monsters, which have been frequent characters in "Goosebumps" stories. Despite being a horror series - aimed at teenagers and older - Mr. Stine hopes to bring some comedy.
"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," he said. "It's what I try to do in my books." In the first story, Man-Thing heads to Burbank, Calif., wondering why he is not starring in a major motion picture. In the new series Man-Thing will no longer be mute. "He can talk and he's very sarcastic," Mr. Stine noted.)
Best taken as a What If tale of a Manny unlike any we've met before. It's funny, but not five issues funny, and the twist in the tale in the final issue is so similar to one in a well known book and movie adaption that I'm surprised Marvel's editors let Stine get away with it.