John Byrne originally gave this tutorial as a pinup page in the Thing #5 (1983). Byrne's third and fourth rules were especially important to artists who followed him: Avoid the Fozzie Thing! He is a monster, not a teddy bear! Keep him craggy! Nuff said.
Here's a charming pinup of the Thing and his nephew Franklin Richards that Mike Deodato drew, somewhere around 2007. Doesn't it just make you go awwwhhhhh? Nuff said.
I have a fond attachment to Marvel’s reprint titles from the 1960s and 1970s. This is where I was schooled in Mighty Marvel History, after all. Marvel’s Greatest Comics was the home to Fantastic Four reprints, and issue #39 contained the story that originally appeared in FF #52, the debut of the Black Panther.
The reprint cover was by Jim Starlin and Joe Sinnott. At first glance, you can’t determine the identity of the penciller, because Sinnott always managed to make these characters look consistent. But if you look at the Thing, his expression and his stance, it is unmistakably a Starlin Thing.
Here’s the original art to the cover. My apologies to the owner or gallery, I totally forgot where I found this scan! Nuff said.
