The Thing: Freakshow

The Thing (Collected editions)

by Geoff Johns, Scott Kolins (Artist)

Ben Grimm has bad luck. He never got the grades, he never got the girl, and Cosmic Rays shoved the ugly stick down his throat. But where did this stroke of bad luck come from? Is it all in his head? Or has karma caught up with Aunt Petunia's nephew? And what does it all have to do with a carnival attended by the FF's strongman during his youth? Take a look behind Ben's bathroom door, find out just what's underneath those rocks of his and rediscover why the Thing is the collest - and grumpiest - super-hero on Earth! Also features the Thing & She-Hulk: The Long Night one-shot - written by Todd Dezago, and illustrated by Bryan Hitch and Ivan Reis!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book, Superheroes

144 pages, Paperback

First published August 3, 2005

About the author

Geoff Johns originally hails from Detroit, Michigan. He attended Michigan State University, where he earned a degree in Media Arts and Film. He moved to Los Angeles in the late 1990s in search of work within the film industry. Through perseverance, Geoff ended up as the assistant to Richard Donner, working on Conspiracy Theory and Lethal Weapon 4. During that time, he also began his comics career writing Stars and S.T.R.I.P.E. and JSA (co-written with David S. Goyer) for DC Comics. He worked with Richard Donner for four years, leaving the company to pursue writing full-time.

His first comics assignments led to a critically acclaimed five-year run on the The Flash. Since then, he has quickly become one of the most popular and prolific comics writers today, working on such titles including a highly successful re-imagining of Green Lantern, Action Comics (co-written with Richard Donner), Teen Titans, Justice Society of America, Infinite Crisis and the experimental breakout hit series 52 for DC with Grant Morrison, Greg Rucka and Mark Waid. Geoff received the Wizard Fan Award for Breakout Talent of 2002 and Writer of the Year for 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 as well as the CBG Writer of the Year 2003 thru 2005, 2007 and CBG Best Comic Book Series for JSA 2001 thru 2005. Geoff also developed BLADE: THE SERIES with David S. Goyer, as well as penned the acclaimed “Legion” episode of SMALLVILLE. He also served as staff writer for the fourth season of ROBOT CHICKEN.

Geoff recently became a New York Times Bestselling author with the graphic novel Superman: Brainiac with art by Gary Frank.

Reviews

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geoff Johns and Scott Kolins, fresh from DC's Flash, were a dream team back in the early 2000s. A real working class hero, this Thing series is everything it should be. It would have been nice to see more of Johns exploring the Marvel universe, but alas wasn't meant to be ~

[Subham · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was quite fun! Ben is cursing himself about his appearance and so he kinda heads out of NYC after a battle with Wrecking crew, destroying every communications devices and all and comes to town where there is some circus and people appreciate his presence, he feels good about it but then the more secrets we learn about the town like the Kree and Skrulls present and how Ben gets involved in that and maybe a new watcher being born and How Ben is the chose one is the crux of the story. Good book and really cool concepts. And kinda comes full circle with Ben realizing despite his appearance, things may not change but he is a hero who will always save others. I like how self introspecting this book is and has such cool moments and starts out small but becomes cosmic and the new villains introduced here are really cool!

[Josh Busby · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very fun solo tale of ol' bashful Benjy, the Scott Kolins artwork alone is worth an extended peak, man. I L-O-V-E-D Kolins' work on "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" and was SUPER pleased with his take on my favorite member of my "other" favorite super-team.

Also, the inclusion of the bonus one-shot "The Long Night" co-starring Ben & the She-Hulk was quite a good bit of fun as well!

Not great, not life-changing, but two stories I certainly enjoyed!

[Peter Derk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great art, and the premise is cool until we get about halfway through and it turns into a bunch of nonsense about aliens and shit. Although the surprise in what they're fighting over is pretty cool.

I always liked The Thing. He's ugly as hell, scary looking, and a nice guy. Somehow the Fantastic Four rolled the dice, Johnny Storm was good-looking and got flame powers that didn't burn his face off. Sue Storm got powers that didn't affect her appearance, and in fact she could use to enhance. Couldn't she just disappear those "problem areas" whenever she wanted? I'm putting forth the theory that she's got a more normal body, but she's constantly using her powers to carve herself down into a supermodel. And Mr. Fantastic? He could make himself any shape he wanted. Which, by the way, doesn't this mean that Mrs. Incredible, who is also stretchy, has a big ass on purpose? She knows what she's doing. She knows exactly what she's doin'. Itty bitty waist? Round thing in a face? That's her visual catchphrase.

But The Thing you feel for. He got powers too, but he can't turn them off, can't just be a normal guy. And the true hell of it is that he seems like he really does want to be a normal guy.

I've had this argument with several people. Let's see what Goodreads thinks:

Here's a hypothetical: You are given the option to be The Thing and have his life. So you get to travel through dimensions and space and shit. You're a pirate for awhile (don't ask). All these big adventures, BUT, you're The Thing. Your sense of touch is almost gone. Hot and cold are difficult to distinguish. You break shit all the time on accident. Sex seems pretty out of the question.

Would you trade your life to live Thing life? And I'll even throw in the option to get THING LIFE tattooed across your rocky stomach, provided it's in Old English font.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really pretty art, and a story that got me surprisingly emotional. Such a simple idea, and exactly the sort of thing I wanted from a Thing solo miniseries: a character focused story in which the Thing stumbles across a weird bigger story, but keeps its attention on its hero. The Thing is loveably written, making the mean flashbacks (intentionally) painful and his present day kindness all the more touching, aided by the heartstring-tugging character of the Albino.
Very nice little story, very easy and sweet read, it's a shame not many of the other reviewers got as much as I did from it.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun: Scott Kollins does great work drawing in here, with a great ink, color, and lettering team. It's a vignette, but one of the better Ben Grimm tales. Geoff Johns brief turn at Marvel was marked by good storytelling. After fifteen years, I finally completed the set of four issues and they are a great read.
See if you can find this, in the back issue bin, probably easier than in trade paperback.
Recommended.

[Will Cooper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah, this is fine. Thing is a "freak" so he heads out by himself and has an adventure. Not too deep a dive.

[Nick Callebaut]

Versión española - Oneshot

[Kurt Lorenz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thing/She-Hulk: The Long Night, ☆☆☆
The Thing: Freakshow, ☆☆☆

[Nicholas Fossum · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it, cute , funny , action filled and beautiful art

[BRAMBILLA SIMONE · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Jetzt verletze ich dich!"

[Subu · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible....what did I just read !!!!

[Adam Graham · Rating 2 out of 5]

Geoff Johns has written some great comics. This isn't one of them. He doesn't get the Thing as a character and his attempt to retcon in this circus freakshow doesn't work. When combined with bad art work, this book is eminently skippable.

[Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Thing decides he needs a vacation from being considered the monster of the group. He hops a train to the middle of nowhere and ends up in a small town where a Freak Show from his childhood is waiting. However there is more to this small town then meets the eye and The Thing finds himself in the middle of an intergalactic war.

So I had absolutely no real knowledge of the Kree/Skrull War so this book kind of threw me for a loop. It was a nice story and I liked the tie in to Ben's past. I also liked that he was able to make something right for himself. However I was a teeny bit annoyed that the book never really addressed whether he was actually cursed or not, and I was kind of curious.

This book also included a one shot starring The Thing and She Hulk. I liked the story and I think that it's really interesting to see the parallels between the two of them but I have to admit I found some of the fight scenes a little bit confusing to look at. Other then that definitely a fun story.

[Travis · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Thing has a bad day, decides to get away from it all and ends up in a very odd little town in the middle of nowhere.
Where have the town folk gone and what's up with those cows?
A fun little old fashioned romp with some really nice art. One of the best things Johns did during his short time with Marvel comics.

[Mark Smiley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice artwork, nice story. Could have stuck to the main storyline and been fine, but they went a different route to add more excitement and the message of everyone getting along was a little obscured. But, the good guys won. Oops, spoiler alert

[Alicia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Silly.

[Timo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad, not too good story with not too good, not too bad art.