Written By: Walter Mosley
Art By: Tom Reilly
Colors By: Jordie Bellaire
Letters By: VC’s Joe Sabino
Cover Art By: Tom Reilly
Cover Price: $3.99
Release Date: December 15, 2021
The Thing #2 pits Ben Grimm against Brusque in a brawl for the ages to protect Amaryllis Dejure. When Brusque unleashes a hidden power to win the fight and steal Amaryllis away, Ben hunts the pair to the sewers under NYC and the long-forgotten underground city of New Manhattan. What secrets does this hidden city hold for the ever-lovin’ blue-eyed Thing?
Was It Good?
The Thing #2 is coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs, banana cakes crazy. Truly, I don’t know what to make of this comic. It’s either a work of genius so far over my head that I can’t figure it out or a work of madness.
[Spoilers Ahead]
When last we left Thing, Brusque arrived on the scene to fight for Amaryllis Dejure on stage, in the middle of a Broadway show. Brusque, as we later learn, has an unhealthy obsession with Dejure after he fell in love with her poster. Now, he’s come to interrupt Thing’s date to claim Dejure for himself.
Toe-to-toe, Thing would still come out on top. However, Brusque pulls out a small vial filled with white light on a necklace chain that he received from Mot in the first issue. Whatever body part on Thing that touches the vial instantly loses strength, and Brusque knocks Thing out.
Mind you, all this happens in a theater filled with people, yet nobody reports the fight, and Thing is left unconscious in the theater for, as stated, about 12 hours. A young boy covered Thing up with a tarp, and that somehow shielded him from all detection. Get that boy to Hogwarts!
When Thing comes around, the boy explains what happened and leads him to where he followed Brusque – into the sewers. There, Thing finds “New Manhattan”, a city populated by the disenfranchised who want to live out their dreams away from the oppression of the surface dwellers. The city was built by robber barons who were dissatisfied with their fortunes and felt capitalism didn’t give them enough power to live like kings, so they created their own city to live as gods. (I’m not kidding. That’s the explanation.)
Thing first meets Lamplighter Ford, New Manhattan’s mayor, who leads Thing to the underground Fort where Brusque is hiding out with Dejure. The Fort is a safe spot for danger for New Manhattan’s citizens and it’s also (somehow) their light source. The mayor explains he’ll help the Thing because Brusque used to live among them until he left to get Dejure, and when he returned, he killed dozens of New Manhattan citizens as payback for refusing to help him. When Thing gets to the Fort and confronts Brusque, they engage in another brutal brawl. However, when Brusque pulls out the light vial, the boy tosses thing a metallic glove that somehow stops the vial’s effects and allows Thing to snatch the vial away.
Brusque begs for the vial back until his black heart explodes from his chest and he disintegrates. Thing, Dejure, and the boy start to leave but the mayor and his armed citizens stand in their way. They conclude that letting anyone leave, after what Brusque did, is too dangerous. Before the scene escalates into violence, the mayor keels over dead from a heart attack.
-The End-
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Final Thoughts
The Thing #2 is like a bizarre fever dream from the deep recesses of a deranged child’s mind. It’s either so esoteric that it escapes the comprehension of the average mortal, or it’s a work of pure chaotic insanity. I beg you to read it simply to marvel (no pun intended) at it with your own eyes.
Weird Science Marvel Comics 