Marvel: Best Man-Thing Comics to Read This Halloween Season

The Man-Thing is Marvel‘s resident swamp monster. A monstrous creation forged during Marvel’s experimentation with horror comics in the early 1970s, he stalks around his swamp, drawn towards anyone who comes within proximity, and emits a strong emotion. His stories are often filled with voyeurism, burning anyone who comes into the swamp with bad intentions, since “anything that knows fear burns at the Man-Thing’s touch,” and, well, guarding the Nexus of all realities, which happens to be in the middle of his swamp.

Man-Thing is often a backseat character, existing in the background of human thriller stories, but sometimes this swamp protector leaves his home to help, or hinder, other characters from the Marvel universe. He has been a part of the Legion of Monsters, the Howling Commandos, and ran around with his good pal, Werewolf by Night, just as seen in the MCU special of the same name. However, these comics mostly avoid his team-ups or bit parts, instead choosing to focus on him and his more horror-inspired stories.

10 R. L. Stine’s Man-Thing

The Famous Author Has Man-Thing Take On Show Business

This short run isn’t scary or overly true to the source material, but it is weird, unique, short, and written by one of the most prolific horror writers of all time. R.L. Stine takes a break from writing Goosebumps to write this five-issue run about Man-Thing integrating into society.

Man-Thing leaves his swamp for one of the first times, only to stumble into Hollywood, where he is instantly discovered by a big-shot agent. He becomes an overnight success and then must deal with an internal battle of what his true calling is, being a star, or protecting his swamp from supernatural threats.

A Brutal Retelling of Man-Thing’s Origin Story

Many don’t know that the typically family-friendly Marvel Comics has an adult-oriented branch called “Max” that offers issues with far more blood and gore, among other elements intended for mature elements. Dead of Night is Max’s take on the classic Man-Thing mythos.

The four-issue run follows the plot of the original, with a scientist in a swamp working on a super-soldier serum, but this time, when things go wrong and monsters are born, the depictions are far more grotesque than ever before. Readers who want to experience Man-Thing’s origins, but done in a more modern style should start here.

8 Giant Sized Man-Thing

Longer Tellings of Golden Age Man-Thing Horror

With the Comics Code Authority holding them under a microscope and censoring anything they deemed inappropriate, Marvel cleverly began producing some titles as “magazines” instead. This just meant the comics were larger and longer than usual, and could avoid some of the censorship rules. They called a lot of these titles “Giant Sized.”

This led to what many would consider the unintentionally funniest comic series title of all time. Giant Sized Man-Thing is a six-issue run consisting of traditional pulpy Man-Thing stories very reminiscent of the original run. These are often irony-based short horror tales where Man-Thing plays observer to a twisted swamp tale until it somehow involves him as well.

7 Monsters Unleashed

Man-Thing Gets His Own Magazine With Issues #3 & #5

Another magazine from Marvel Comics, this title consisted of one long story and often a shorter B-story. Each issue would deal with a monster, with Frankenstein, a werewolf, and a wendigo all having spine-chilling issues devoted to them.

Man-Thing showed up in a handful of these, with issues three and five both being devoted to the swamp creature. Tale three is yet another retelling of the monster’s origin, but number five is a lengthy classic Man-Thing story. His attraction to human emotion, empathy, and horrific burning powers are all on display here.

6 Savage Tales #1 & Astonishing Tales #12

Man-Thing’s Terrifying Origin Story is Told in Two Anthologies

Anyone wanting to dig deep into Man-Thing or just enjoy a short self-contained story with the character should start with these two anthology comics. Both series were anthologies, with each issue containing three separate tales of varying genres.

The first issue of Savage Tales boasts the appearance of Conan the Barbarian, but less well known is that it also includes a short horror story about scientists in a swamp that is the first-ever appearance of Man-Thing. Then, this story would be continued in Astonishing Tales #12, where another disconnected story would feature the monster. It is considered that these two stories share a continuity, even if they don’t exist in the exact same canon that future solo runs would.

5 Adventures Into Fear

Man-Thing Gets the Spooky Spotlight in Issues #10-19

A slightly different take on horror anthology comic, every issue of Adventure Into Fear tells one singular story. The 31-issue run can be broken into three sections. Issues 20-31 cover Morbius, The Living Vampire, and issues 1-9 cover a different creature in almost every issue.

This leaves issues 10-19, which are all Man-Thing stories. These stories are near-perfect pulp horror stories, as they each focus on humans who end up in danger or are up to no good. Normally, in pulp horror of the era, these characters would face ironic supernatural comeuppance, but in these stories, the equalizing force is the horrifying Man-Thing. Anyone wanting some quick retro tales or swamp terror should pick any of these self-contained narratives.

4 Infernal Man-Thing

The Late Sequel to the First Solo Series

Long after Steve Gerber’s original Man-Thing run had ended and many other authors had written the creature, he still got to end his original story. Published in 2012 after Gerber’s death but picking up right after 1975’s Man-Thing #22, this modern take shares continuity with the Golden Age run.

The obvious pitch here is getting more of Gerber’s Man-Thing, but the real selling point is getting to read pulpier retro horror stories from the character’s Golden Age, drawn in a modern way with flashy new art. It’s an emotional collection of short stories both narratively and on a meta-level.

3 Fear Itself: Fearsome Four

A Bizarre Team Has to Stop The Man-Thing

Marvel loves its big events, and with every event, many of the smaller teams and characters get their own runs that take place alongside the bigger picture. This story takes place with the “Fear Itself” Marvel event, as it would have been absurd to do a whole saga built around fear and not include the character whose whole thing is burning people who feel fear.

This is a great divergence from the rest of the list as Man-Thing, losing control due to fear overload, gets to play the villain. He’s out of control and the only group that can stop or help him is a wild team of She-Hulk, Howard the Duck, and Frankenstein.

2 Man-Thing

The Original was run by Writer Steve Gerber

His first self-titled series, starting in 1974, has Man-Thing finding his place in the Marvel universe. The series tells Man-Thing’s beginnings, then features some small-scale stories of swamp horror, then eventually builds into traditional superhero action, with Man-Thing taking on a murderer’s row of super-powered enemies.

The melancholic yet empathetic nature of the monster finds its roots in these early stories, as writer Steve Gerber finally gets the opportunity to dig deeper into his creation. Anyone wanting a longer stay with the swap hero should consider pushing through the 22 issues of this original run.

1 Curse of the Man-Thing

A Big Marvel Event Centered on Our Favorite Swamp Superhero

This three-comic run is the closest Marvel has ever gotten to doing a blockbuster Man-Thing story. There is a vegetative threat sprouting up all over the world, and all of Marvel’s top heroes will have to work with Man-Thing if they want to have any chance of stopping it.

The magic here is that each issue is a large-scale event story with a different famous hero or group, each still needing the Man-Thing’s help. You have Spider-Man: Curse of the Man-Thing, X-Men: Curse of the Man-Thing, and finally, Avengers: Curse of the Man-Thing. The stories are each about saving and powering up Man-Thing, building to the perfect climax for fans who always wanted to see this weird being get a spotlight.