Customer Reviews

The Thing: Idol of Millions (Fantastic Four)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Amazon is actually wrong, this book collects The Thing #1-8, the entire series, and the fact that this comic book series ended after only eight issues is a crime against nature. This was one of the best series Marvel has published in years.

After the events of the core Fantastic Four comic, Benjamin J. Grimm -- the Thing -- has discovered he's a billionaire. He sets himself up in a new swanky penthouse apartment and tries to live the good life... but the good life, he learns, is a relative term. In the course of these eight issues, he and his would-be movie star girlfriend are whisked off to the villain Arcade's newest Murderland, he slugs it out with the Trapster and Sandman, he's forced to find a way to make retribution for his childhood sins, and he becomes the subject of yet another "experiment" by his best friend. Spider-Man swings by for a visit, and Iron Man and Nighthawk pop in for a spell, Ben trades blows with Hercules in ancient Greece... plus, if a wealth of guest stars is your thing, you can't miss the First-Ever Superhero Poker Tournament in the last chapter.

Slott has an undeniable grasp on the character. He writes him brilliantly and enfuses this series with just the right balance of humor, action and heart. DiVito's artwork on the first five issues is beautiful, and while Dwyer doesn't quite measure up, the last three chapters are still strong.

This comic really was wonderful, and I'm still fuming that it's off the market.

In 2005, writer Dan Scott started a trek in a series for Ben (Thing) Grimm, which featured quirky fun and old-school action...and only lasted eight issues until low sales facilitated its cancellation.

The book contains the entire series - which featured guest appearances by a number of characters, including Spider-Man, Iron Man, Wolverine, Tigra and Nighthawk - with the final issue being a real world series of poker. The art by Andrea Di Vito and Kieron Dwyer is fantastic and this super hero could clobber the bad guys, but took it on the chin when the bottom line just didn't add up.

Aarrgh! If you blinked, you probably missed this one. In 2005, the Thing got another shot at a monthly series (his third, after the long-running MARVEL TWO-IN-ONE and the 1980s' THE THING... and not counting FANTASTIC FOUR). The critics loved this new series, and I know I did. And, as written by the excellent Dan Slott and well illustrated by Andrea DiVito and later by Kieron Dwyer (who, given, isn't as good as DiVito), this one should've lasted much, much longer than it's skimpy eight issue run. Eff you, poor sales!

Benjamin J. Grimm, aka the Thing, one quarter of the Fantastic Four, is one of the most distinctive, most recognizable superheroes out there. Underneath his swagger and jokes, Ben also touts a tragic side, and this lends him more depth and makes him even more popular with the fans - although Slott never really got a chance to delve deep into this dark side before the title got axed.

THE THING - IDOL OF MILLIONS collects the entire 8-issue run. It's already been established in the Fantastic Four title that Ben has become a gazillionaire, having gained control of his quarter of the Fantastic Four Industries. As THE THING's first issue opens, Ben has taken full advantage of this, having moved out of the FF headquarters and into swankier digs. He's even hooked up with a glamourous starlet (although you instantly see where that's headed). But his wealth and new status haven't swelled Ben's head; he's still accessible and down-to-earth. Dan Slott keeps him the same ol' blue-eyed clobberin' Thing we've all known.

As he did to great success with SHE-HULK and GREAT LAKES AVENGERS, Slott infuses a lighthearted tone in THE THING. And, much like in SHE-HULK, THE THING provides a venue in which multiple guest-stars drop in with great regularity. Slott manages to make this play out naturally. He takes advantage of Ben being one of the most established superheroes around, and as such has tie-ins with many in the cape & cowl community. In issue #1 Ben actually refers to himself as "a regular 'Kevin Bacon' of the super hero set."

Minor SPOILERS in this paragraph: The series starts with a three-parter, as Ben attends a gala event, only to be kidnapped by Arcade and, along with his fellow revelers, transported to Arcade's Murderland. Plenty of deathtraps and robots, but Ben gets help from unexpected sources. Ensuing story arcs would have Ben babysitting, returning to his Yancy Street roots (as a certain wallcrawler drops in), and time-travelling to ancient Greece (where he puts his stamp on a certain timeless piece of art). It ends with the Thing getting Bar Mitzvahed and hosting a gynormous poker game with, it looks like, all of the Marvel Universe superheroes in attendance (including the Great Lakes... X-Men). Oh, and Ben gets a pet.

One staple in the Ben Grimm mythos has always been Alicia Masters, once his blind girlfriend, now merely a very good friend. I think we all suspected that, once Ben got his own series again, their relationship would be explored in greater detail. Even though Ben had that starlet and Alicia had shacked up with some architect dude, Slott had things all set up for a romantic reconciliation. But, because of the upcoming cancellation, Slott was forced to rush that story arc. And, so, while it does get resolved, it's a bit jarring.

One of my favorite and funniest issues is when Ben has to babysit little Franklin and Valeria Richards. One minor fight breaks out, but mostly it's just a fun day-in-the-life story. I guess that's the best part about this series, that the focus is on Ben's living and enjoying of his life and hanging out with his many pals, with supervillain nonsense every now and then surfacing. Lemme say that Slott's bump of humor consistently runs thru these stories. From the Torch's skirt-chasing to how, in mid-brawl, the Thing, Sandman and Paste Pot Pete all pause to react to Spidey's arrival (Ben: "Guys, I'm sorry. I had NO idea he'd show up."). There's Squirrel Girl helping the Thing beat the Bi-Beast in a clever but smelly way. And pretty much the entire poker-night final issue is a blast. Slott, however, doesn't forsake good storytelling for cheap laughs. He knows how to pace a narrative and he's great at character development. He's even made me a bit of a Constrictor fan.

You can tell Dan Slott was very fond of this series. In an attempt to save this title, he even launched a "Pull My Thing" campaign to rally fan support. What's disappointing is that Dan Slott had some big plans for the Thing. In a Fanboy Radio interview, Slott stated that he'd already had his legitimate Thing/Hulk smashfest all set up (the one in issues #2 & 3 don't count). I was going to blurt out: "Now we'll never know!" But we're talking about comic books, where you can never say never. So, hopefully, someday soon, Dan Slott will get the opportunity to tell those long-hoarded Thing stories. But, for now, I guess I'll just enjoy his terrific writing mojo in THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and AVENGERS: THE INITIATIVE. And Ben Grimm, well, that big orange rocky Thing is still around in the FANTASTIC FOUR series.

This collection is a lot of fun for those of us who enjoyed the old Marvel Two-In-One series years ago, a team-up book of the thing and other characters. Yet it also advances the continuity some, as we see Ben and Alicia paired off together again after years of being apart. It even involves Ben getting his Bar Mitzvah, in which some readers, such as myself, might learn a thing or two about Judaism. (That's funny... the Thing doesn't look Jewish... No! I can't do that joke, can I?!) Parts of it are funny, too, and the bit with Squirrel Girl was, as Ben himself allows, "freakin' adorable".

To be honest, I was really looking forward to reading this. Ben Grimm is an excellent character with tremendous story potential and I assumed that a mini-series dedicated to him would capitalize on that potential. Unfortunately, it doesn't.
There are a few positive qualities to this comic. The art is generally appealing. I always find it difficult to relate to a comic with art that is sloppy or incomprehensible, but Andrea DiVito and Kieron Dwyer provide clean, simple illustrations that keep the book moving. The covers are particularly pleasing.
But the art isn't quite spectacular enough to make up for the writing. Dan Slott is lacking in three key areas: story, character and style. 1)His plots are ridiculous, meaningless and unsatisfying. Ben's goofy adventures on Yancy Street with Lockjaw and time-traveling antics with Hercules make this comic feel like a bad Saturday-morning cartoon. 2) In terms of character, Slott relies completely on tired cliches and half-baked After-School Special life lessons about money and girls. Ben's "growth" as a character in this comic is juvenile and utterly pointless. His dialogue is densely packed with old, worn-out catch-phrases that begin to grate on one's nerves very early. In Dan Slott's hands, Ben Grimm becomes an unsympathetic, happy-go-lucky blockhead who bumbles his way through contrived, brain-dead plot devices with no agenda or meaningful effect on the Marvel Universe. 3) Dan Slott's writing style is unacceptable. Reading his work is like dredging up a bad comic from the late 1980's. Marvel has made terrific story-telling advances in the last decade and Dan Slott seems to have missed the bus. He's not the only writer guilty of this, but there are glaring stylistic problems in his work. As I mentioned earlier, his dialogue is generally awful. With writers like Bendis, Ellis, Millar, Straczynski, Brubaker and many others setting new standards for realistic, character-advancing dialogue, there's simply no place for the remedial, unnatural speech and cheesy one-liners that define this comic. Slott's other major stylistic crime is the use of thought bubbles. Most writers don't use them at all anymore and there is a very good reason for that. Thought bubbles slow down the action of the comic, tell readers things that they should already know and make the characters much less engaging. They had their place in years past, but comics have moved past them, and Dan Slott should do so as well. Thought bubbles also seem to serve as some kind of safety-net for his bad dialogue. The spoken words in this comic have no effective subtext...ever. And so Slott relies heavily on thought bubbles to fill in the readers on everything that he is not effectively conveying otherwise. I think it's possible for a careful writer to use thought bubbles in effective ways, so long as those thought bubbles are short, snappy and entertaining (see Mighty Avengers). Such is not the case with Idol of Millions.
In general, I was extremely disappointed with this comic and I am now wary of Dan Slott's other work (including Amazing Spider-Man). If silly, goofy antics and old-fashioned cheesy jokes appeal to your comics nostalgia, then by all means read and enjoy this comic. But for my taste, Idol of Millions is not worth reading.