The Thing began by being subject to embittered, violent rages, but those tantrums evolved from being threatening into childish and even cute and endearing displays of emotion.
“Although the Thing later softened his animosity toward the human race and actually became rather cuddly, he always betrayed familiar tendencies toward anguish, loneliness, and self-pity,” wrote Bradford W. Wright in his book Comic Book Nation: The Transformation of Youth Culture in America.
Dragon Man is a similar character, but this powerful monster is not an adult acting out. This artificial entity, alone in a world he never made, has the actual emotional fragility and vulnerability of a child.
He became something special, a touching menace after Sue Storm’s empathic understanding grasped his true nature.
“Fantastic Four 35 is truly a landmark issue, and one that I remember first reading in one of the Lancer paperbacks,” recalled J.A. Fludd. “The Human Torch starts touring colleges, and during the FF’s visit to Empire State University, Diablo returns and hijacks a professor’s experiment, bringing Dragon Man to life. Plus, with the subplot about the Sub-Mariner (which went back to issue 4) resolved, Reed pops the question to Sue!”
Elsewhere on America’s newsstands that month, in Journey into Mystery 112, Thor helpfully weighs in on a debate between rival fan clubs about who is stronger, he or the Hulk.
In Strange Tales 129, the Thing and the Human Torch squared off against the rather lackluster “Terrible Trio” of Yogi Dakkor, Handsome Harry Phillips, and Bull Brogin, while scientists on TV mock Dr. Strange as a charlatan.
In Sgt. Fury 14, the Howling Commandos faced the mirror-image foes that are so common in comics — Baron Strucker’s Blitzkrieg Squad.
In Rawhide Kid 44, the hero battled the Masked Maverick as Marvel’s western titles continued to flirt with the melodramatic trappings of the newly popular superhero comics.
That month, eight of Marvel’s 11 titles featured superheroes. Three years before, none of Marvel’s eight titles had.
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