Lame Superhero of the Week: Man-Thing
By James A. on May 14th, 2007
Real Name: Ted Sallis
First Appearance: Savage Tales #1 (1971)
Affiliations: Nexus of Realities, Legion of Monsters, Daydreamers
Creators: Roy Thomas, Gerry Conway, Gray Morrow
Lame Abilities: Oozing, secreting, leaking; has super mucus and the ability to sense human emotions, which are usually ones of disgust and confusion
Oozing is not a super power! No matter what that weird guy in the raincoat in the park told you. And vegetables do not make for great superheroes. Nontheless, we have Man-Thing, a slow-moving heap of vegetation who lives in the swamps of the Florida Everglades. He’s a lot like Swamp Thing (who made his debut in the same year) — except his name begins with the word “Man” and not “Swamp.” Oh, and he isn’t even half as cool.
Man-Thing began life as bio-chemist Ted Sallis, who injected himself with an experimental serum and then died in a magical swamp and blah blah blah became a super-oozing pile of muck. Though he’s one scary pile of sh*t, don’t get scared. The Man-Thing has the Touch of Fear, which means when he senses fear, he secretes a corrosive chemical that will give you one nasty burn. His catchphrase is…”Whatever knows fear burns at the touch of the Man-Thing!” If my man-thing was burning anything, or anyone, it touched, I’d get me some ointment, fast.
One good thing about Man-Thing is that he’s tasty (as evidenced in “Legion of Monsters #1″). Bet you can’t say the same for Batman.
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May 14th, 2007 at 12:52 pm
OH man I disagree- Man-Thing kicks ass!
Visually he’s very interesting, at least. The points you make are valid though. I just have a soft spot in my heart for him since I was a little cub and had his comic books.
May 14th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Don’t misunderstand me, Homie Bear. I love all the lame superheroes.
May 14th, 2007 at 4:03 pm
[...] Lame Superhero of the Week: Man-Thing - Blogzarro Sarah Silverman in Maxim Magazine - Yeeeah! Dita Von Teese in a martini glass - The Hollywood Gossip [...]
May 14th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
He’s lame and that’s that.
Now I’ve got to go find something not-lame to look at … damn that makes ME sound lame!
May 17th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
[Editor's Note: I was going to delete this guy's comment again. His first one was equally expletive laced. But since he feels so strongly I had to share it with you. Here is one hard-core Man-Thing fan giving me the business. I edited some of the curse words, but left all the misspellings alone. Blogzarro is all about free speech!]
LAME F**K!!!
You would delete my post! Stupid ass acne infested chicken and twinkie eating fat f*g who wishes he had a life but instead makes fun of GOOD charachters that he doesn’t even really know!
Try reading the series and maybe just maybe a brain cell or two will wake up and you join the HUMAN race instead of being some taco smokin ass muncher who takes it up the ass for spare change!
May 31st, 2007 at 9:32 am
Get a damn life and go buy your own comics, give your Mom a break!
NewsToob has spoken…
July 12th, 2008 at 12:54 am
to: Howard the thing
I never read Man Thing in my life but since you feel so strongly abouy it I went to my local comic store to ask for back issues to my surprise the only place to find them was at a mexican resturant they use them for toliet paper but as for your comments your dead on!
October 27th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Man-Thing was one of the most literate comics ever published. Without it, there probably would have been no Alan Moore Swamp Thing, and there certainly would have been no Sandman–Gaiman acknowledges that latter fact. Compare Gerber’s Man-Thing to the Wein or Michelinie Swamp Thing and you’ll find the latter as dated and juvenile as most comics from the period. the same cannot be said for Man-Thing, which was about as experimental as mainstream comics got. To call Man-Thing a superhero, though, is to set up expectations that the character cannot fulfill.
The Gerber run is still the best. Michael Fleisher and Chris Claremont couldn’t handle the character. J.M. DeMatteis did better, but he excessively aped early Vertigo too much, as did Liam Sharp’s artwok–too many ideas reshuffled from Doom Patrol, Sandman, and Swamp Thing, to the point of trying to turn Ellen Brandt into an Abby Arcane figure, when she had barely appeared in the stories previously.