R.L. Stine has spent decades scaring kids with his Goosebumps series, but now he’s adding his own touch to one of Marvel’s beloved monsters.
Marvel announced today that Stine is writing a limited, five-issue series starring Man-Thing. The swamp monster, introduced in 1971, will debut once again in comic books this March. The comedy-horror series will contain a short stories written by Stine and illustrations by a different artist each issue. Tyler Crook will design the covers. The first issue features interior artwork from German Peralta and Daniel Johnson.
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This version of Man-Thing will be quite different than the one that appeared in the previous comics: Stine’s Man-Thing is able to talk “and he’s very sarcastic.”
“R.L. Stine in the Marvel Universe—that’s an event in and of itself,” Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso said in a press release. “And is there a Marvel character more perfectly suited to his sensibilities than the monstrous Man-Thing? Stine and artist German Peralta are spinning a tale full of action, horror, humor and heart—one that’s sure to please R.L. Stine fans, Man-Thing fans, and new fans.”
Stine first teased that he would be writing something for Marvel in a Reddit AMA back in October. According to the New York Times, Stine was offered several characters to write by Marvel, but chose Man-Thing because he particularly liked swamp monsters.
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For Stine, who read comics as a kid and originally wanted to be a comic book artist before realizing he couldn’t really draw, it’s a dream come true.
“I’m going to do a lot of action and a lot of great violence and make it creepy, but I’m going to make it funny at the same time,” he said. “It’s what I try to do in my books.”
H/T New York Times