Thing #24 (1985): Miracle Man dies

John Byrne is replaced by Mike Carlin.  Just as well—this series wasn’t very good.  i applaud Byrne for trying and like that back in the 1980s Marvel could afford to allow a creator to try and fail, rather than cut it off after the first few issues.

What we get is a fun issue showing Thing fight Rhino.  There’s more to it than that—it’s a real fun story—but that’s the highlight.  It ends with Thing turning Rhino over to Project Pegasus, after Rhino tells Thing he just wants to be human again—not stuck in his massive grey skin.  (Nice opportunity fir some Thing-empathy there, coming right on the heels of him finding out that is best friend is dating his ex-fiancee.). Miracle Man gets Rhino to turn evil again, and thus Thing fights with him.

And as for Miracle Man…

…He ends up being another victim of Scourge. Look at that blood-dripped sound effect!

But before that, Miracle Man sees right through Ben’s trenchcoat disguise.

It is a good issue to transition to a new creative team.

We get an explanation on the letters page.  Of course we now know that the she-hulk series referred to will be one of the most brown groundbreaking pieces of work John Byrne ever did for Marvel.

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