Between the Fly, Blue Devil, and this; 1986 was a great year for practical special effects.

I don't think I loved this issue at first glance, but it might be winning me over. From 1986, The Thing #31, "Devil Dinosaur: the Movie!" Written by Mike Carlin, breakdowns by Ron Wilson, finishes by Kim DeMulder.

The Thing's sparring match with bald wrassler/copyright infringer Mr. Clean gets broken up, by an official from the National Safety Commission, who seems like an officious toad but has a point: Ben gets thrown into what would have been the crowd, and probably would've taken out several spectators. Still, the official says there's a workaround; a transparent shell, that they can set up in two weeks; which means Ben might have some time off. Troublingly, Ben has a dizzy spell, while taking some razzing from young Vance Astro (prior to his New Warriors days) as he packs to go visit Sharon Ventura, who was filming a movie out in the Pacific. Even Ben isn't sure what their relationship was, but she is happy to see him, and had several friends, so how bad could it be? Although, he might change his tune, when a dinosaur suddenly appears!

Ben punches out "Devil Dinosaur," and immediately realizes his error: it was a special effect for the movie! Ben is contrite, but Sharon is the one to get yelled at: although the FX guy claims it's like fifty grand worth of work, she brushes it off as a few hours work, whatever. Still, maybe Ben didn't have to leap into action for every little thing...The next day, Sharon is suited up ala "Moon Girl," and picked up by prop pterodactyls; and Ben rushes to save her from a fall--ruining a shot, as she would've hit a hidden airbag. Pouting on the beach, Sharon visits him to let him know it was okay, but Ben is momentarily distracted by something out in the water. Nah, couldn't be!

Later, the sets are mysteriously leveled, forcing the crew to pull an all-nighter to rebuild them: Ben thinks that should maybe be looked into, but his help isn't exactly welcome. The next day, as Sharon prepares for a shot, Ben sequesters himself in a trailer, hits the fridge, and resolves to ignore whatever was going on. Not even Godzilla himself was going to get him out there--hey, wait a minute! This was the Doctor Demonicus mutated Godzilla, that showed up a few times after his Marvel series. While Sharon and the other actresses flee, the FX guy sacrifices Devil, sending him by remote to interrupt the attacking not-Zilla, who loses interest and heads back into the ocean after smashing his foe. Regardless, the producers call it: they were pulling out, and they'll sell the footage to Ripley's to recoup their losses.

Sharon initially tells Ben it was nothing, but has to admit yeah, that was not business as usual today. Still, she isn't quite ready to start seeing Ben; which isn't surprising, since he brought up his fantasy girl Tarianna. "You look exactly like my fantasy girl" is a red flag, Ben!