The Thing #3: Playing for Keeps
Writer: Dan Slott
Penciller: Andrea Di Vito
Inker: Andrea Di Vito
Letterer: Dave Lanphear
Colorist: Laura Villari
Editor: Tom Brevoort
Guest Shots:
Alicia Masters, Arlo North, Matt Murdock, Carlotta LaRosa, Tony Stark, Constrictor, Nighthawk, Arcade's Thing robots
The Villains:
Arcade, Miss Locke, Mr. Chambers, Brynocki, Arcade's Hulk robots
The Set Up:
We join the story in progress with Ben and friends trapped on Arcade's Murderland, as Nighthawk and Constrictor stand in a forest of dismantled cute-and-cuddly, if heavily armed, forest animal robots.
Clobberin' Time?:
"Aye, it be Clobberin' Time" (pg 7 - you'll have to get the context for youself).
On page 12, Ben also tells Nighthawk to "shut yer beak and get clobberin'."
Petunia's Patch:
No Petunia.
Things of Interest:
Quote of the issue: "Puny Banner is the strongest one there is!"
Lots of nice mentions of the histories of Nighthawk, Constrictor, and the Thing, including a shout out to the Sandman MTIO issue (#86).
Ben and Carlotta ends badly, as I think we all knew that it would. What alarms me, however, is the mention at the end that Alicia still loves Ben. Let it die, already! The two have run the relationship into the ground so many times; can't we just move on? Please? Apparently not, so I can only hope Mr. Slott does it well and takes it somewhere.
Complete aside - by coincidence (apparently) Arcade's next appearance has him trapping Wolverine and the Black Cat on a mysterious Murderland-like island. The Arcade entry in Marvel Official Handbook 2007 Update #1 places that three-part series (which just barely followed this one) before this, and makes both, logically enough, the same island.
I rather like Brynocki's fate, though I'm not quite sure where they can possibly use that character again after that end. He does make a great sidekick to Arcade.
Hulks vs. Things = stroke of genius.
