It may be hard for many to believe, but even after writing hundreds of books over the course of several decades,R.L. Stinehas never written acomic book. Until now, that is. For the last month or so, the 73-year-oldGoosebumpsauthor has been teasing fans that his first ever comic book is coming and that it will be for Marvel. Now it has been confirmed that he will be writing a brand new, five-issueMan-Thingseries.
New York Timesgot the confirmation about the newMan-Thingseries, which will be available in March of next year.R.L. Stinetalked with them a bit about his first comic book, saying that he originally wanted to get intocomicsas an artist before becoming a writer, and that this is something of a realized dream for him. Here is what he had to say about it.
“My first ambition was to be a comic book artist. I started doing these little comic books in the fourth grade: ‘Super Stooge,’ the dumbest hero on earth. I was terrible. I had no choice but to be a writer. 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. It’s what I try to do in my books.”
Marvelapparently offered several different titles toR.L. Stine, but he settled on doingMan-Thingpretty easily, which seems to line up well with his sensibilities. This new series will reportedly draw inspiration from horror comics likeTales From the CryptandWeird Terror. As far as the art for this newMan-Thingseries goes, it will feature covers byTyler Crookand interior artwork byGerman PeraltaandDaniel Johnson.
R.L. Stinehas been writing prominently for decades and has written literally hundreds of books. So it is kind of amazing that at the age of 73 he is just now writing his very firstcomic book series, but better late than never, especially in this case. Given thatR.L. Stinehas a knack for horror themed stuff, this newMan-Thingseries seems like an absolutely perfect fit for him. The character was created in 1971 by created byStan Lee,Roy Thomas,Gerry Conway, and artistGray Morrow, with a defining run done later by the lateSteve Gerber.In case you aren’t super familiar with the character ofMan-Thing, aka Ted Sallis, here is how Comic Vine describes him.
“Ted Sallis, was attempting to recreate the Super-Soldier Serum that created Captain America. However, he was betrayed by his lover, Ellen Brandt, and Sallis had to flee from A.I.M. agents, who saw their potential of such a formula for their own evil ends. He injects himself with the serum, but after crashing in a swamp and apparently drowning is transformed into a swamp creature through a combination of his formula and, as later explained, magical forces extant in the area. Sallis' mind was apparently lost, although on rare occasions he could briefly return to consciousness within his monstrous form, and even to his human form such as when he fought Ben Grimm, who took the appropriation of his own nickname a little too personally.”
This news should definitely be welcomed by both fans ofR.L. Stineand ofMarvel Comics. Even though he has never written a comic book before, his books have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide, so he clearly knows what he is doing and it sounds like he has a good take onMan-Thing. Be on the lookout for the book in March and be sure to check out some of the preview art Marvel has released for the book below.
