From Fantastic Four #350, "The More Things Change, or it's the real Thing..." Written and pencilled by Walt Simonson, inks by Allen Milgrom. This issue also wrapped up the Kristoff/Doom war that had been running for years by then, and gave Doom a great redesign that was never seen again.
Ben first mutated into this version of the Thing in Fantastic Four #310 in 1988. Steve Englehart's version of the Four had Ms. Marvel (who mutated into the She-Thing in the same issue) and Crystal taking the spots of the semi-retired Reed and Sue. It didn't really take, and Ben would be turned into a human again for a while there, as we saw the other day.
Like I've said before, sometimes I can go long stretches without reading Fantastic Four, so I wonder: was this the last time Ben was turned into the armadillo-style Thing? And, did no one like it, at all, ever? In the review of the much-maligned First Appearance Thing figure over at OAFE.net, yo points out "It's not like they [then, Toy Biz] can make Tiger Stripe Thing or Weapon X Thing, you know? Thing's Thing. That's it." Hmm, maybe. But I can't recall anything made of this version of the Thing. No action figures, definitely. As near as I can tell, not even a Heroclix or a Bowen bust, and Bowen's made busts of Machine Man and the Jackal, so that tells us something. I don't personally have the First Appearance Thing, but I have three other Legends versions: the initial one, the initial one with the trench coat, and the one with the different head from the FF box set. All Toy Biz, although Hasbro has made a couple more since.
Over at Comics Oughta Be Fun! Bully has started 365 Days with Ben Grimm, which is a daunting task but a noble one. How many armadillo-Things do you think we'll see? Um, two or three would be fine, yeah: Walt Simonson brought it out for a second before the end of his all-too-brief run--in the end, Ben simply reverts to his "normal" Thing form, noting someone upstairs prefers him that way. I'm guessing, but I think Keith Pollard was the artist in those first new look issues; and Jeff Purves got to draw a very different Hulk vs. Thing battle: The Grey Hulk versus the stronger new Thing. Still, there's no telling: Bully may go for armadillo month, for all we know.
I loves me the Armadillo Thing. (And yes, there'll be appearances by him in 365 Days with Benjy!)
ReplyDeleteAnd hey, that would be a great Thing figure. I'd also like one of Ben Grimm in his "Thing" power suit from the late 1970s...pop off the Thing's head and there's Bashful Benji!