"THAT'S ABOUT The SIZE Of THINGS..."

The Thing as he was meant to be

Not counting the cover or a head shot on the splash page, the above panels feature The THING's very first appearance in The FANTASTIC FOUR #1.  Look at the size of him!  When artist JACK KIRBY first drew him, the Thing was intended to be a huge, lumbering monster, not the small cuddly teddy bear he later became. It seems that Jack always had difficulty in maintaining the sizes of characters in relation to one another.

The Thing - reduced in stature in this early reprint

For example, in the FF, BEN GRIMM as the Thing often appears far smaller than REED RICHARDS, but is sometimes shown as the towering figure he was first envisioned as.  Over time, Kirby came to identify with the character because of his own short stature, but I don't think that he deliberately intended to transform Ben into a comicbook representation of himself - it just happened. Having happened however, I think Jack simply continued the practice once he noticed what he'd done.

It wasn't only in the FF that this problem occurred, it also happened in The HULK mag, where RICK JONES sometimes appeared to be far taller than Hulkie - even making allowances for ol' Greenskin's lurching, slumping posture.  Also, in the first issue of The AVENGERS, the last panel shows a clearly upright Hulk figure as being smaller than IRON MAN and THOR - and if you study Jack's work, you'll see many other examples of this kind of inconsistency.

Tall Thing

Stan also must've noticed the Thing's seemingly-shrinking stature over the course of monthly issues, as when the first half of the FF's origin was reprinted in their very first Annual in 1963, he had SOL BRODSKY (or LARRY LIEBER) revise some panels, particularly on the page in which the Thing first appeared.  This was obviously to bring Ben's height into line with then current issues of the monthly mag.  I have to be honest - I don't like the idea of a small Thing - I prefer him to be the towering figure he was initially drawn as.

Small Thing

Jack wasn't the only artist who sometimes made the Thing seem too small.  Take a look at the following panels by RON WILSON from the first issue of the Thing's own magazine in the early '80s - going by the height of the door frame, Ben appears to be only around 5' 4", which simply isn't tall enough for the him to be as imposing in the way he was originally intended to be.  He's a monster, not a midget!

Anyone care either way?  Let rip in the comments section.

The THING COVER & SPLASH PAGE GALLERY - PART ONE...

Images copyright MARVEL COMICS

I re-read The THING #1 last night - thirty-one years after first reading it back in 1983.  Quite enjoyed it too.  Riding high on the success of his FANTASTIC FOUR run, JOHN BYRNE was given a new mag in which to relate the adventures of the Fabulous FF's most popular member, BEN GRIMM.  I enjoyed the early issues, right up until Ben left the team in the wake of the BEYONDER saga and spent a period on an alien world where he could transform back and forth between The Thing and his human self at will.  The mag sort of lost its way after that, but I persevered right up until it was cancelled with its 36th issue, which means I can now present a cover and splash page gallery for you to pore over at your leisure.

So, here's part one - don't forget to come back for the second instalment, appearing right here on this, the absolute best blog in the entire universe - if the voices I keep hearing in my head aren't lying to me.  (And why would they?)  Anyway, enjoy!

Page one wasn't really up to much - nor was it a 'splash' page in the true
sense of the word. Page two met the description, so here it is in all its glory