Legion of Monsters: Man-Thing #1

April 9, 2007

Quick Rating: Fair
Title: A Flower in Alien Soil & Morgue Amore
Rating: Parental Advisory

The return of Man-Thing and Simon Garth: Zombie.

Writers: Charlie Huston & Ted McKeever
Art: Klaus Janson & Ted McKeever
Colors: Giulia Brusco & Chris Chuckry
Letters: Rus Wooton
Editor: John Barber
Cover Art: Greg Land
Publisher: Marvel Comics

The purpose of Marvel’s Legion of Monsters specials seems to be to re-establish their monster characters as legitimate horror franchises. If this is, indeed, the goal, Simon Garth: Zombie has a bright future. Man-Thing, however, is boring as ever.

In the lead story, a young girl comes to work for a control freak who is as obsessed with his garden as he is with controlling the Florida town where he lives. She uncovers a terrible secret that… well… to be honest, doesn’t make the slightest bit of logical sense.

Too many people dismiss Man-Thing as a Swamp Thing rip-off, which I don’t think is fair. For one thing, Man-Thing was actually the character to premiere first. For another, the characters are actually quite different. Man-Thing’s problem is not that he’s derivative. Man-Thing’s problem is that the writers who have tackled him, almost universally, have tried to overcome the obstacle of having a lead character who can neither speak nor think by overwriting the hell out of the expository captions. It’s like reading an old EC comic without the imagination or black comedy, which essentially leaves a lot of words that just makes you want to put the book down and take a nap.

The only thing that brings this story up from a “poor” rating is a really, really strong Zombie story by Ted McKeever. The story is basically a day in the life of the Zombie – found dead somewhere, taken to a hospital, escaping… living his horrible, empty existence, seeking the one thing he can’t “live” without. As a pure horror story, it works. It’s creepy, it’s disturbing, and McKeever’s art style is perfect for it.

I don’t know if Marvel has plans for the “Monster” characters beyond the one-shots, but if they do, I hope they give the Zombie more weight than Man-Thing, because while I do believe that any character can be made interesting under a good enough writer, I’ve yet to find one that can make Man-Thing interesting to me.

Rating: 6/10