5 months later, Howard comes hurtling back to Earth, and lands in the American city that has most become associated with the foul-mouthed fowl: Cleveland, Ohio. A lot of strange, strange things are about to happen in Cleveland. But, as with the previous comic, today's comic is much more the Man-Thing's story. Howard sort of defeats a "Man-Frog" intent on destroying humanity. That's about it.
The Man-Thing story, however, reminded me why I've often seen Steve Gerber as both a man of his time and a man ahead of his time. Today's issue deals with Man-Thing being drawn to nearby Citrusville by the emotions surrounding the death of a local teen. At one point in the story, the boy's journal is made public. In the comic, rather than have copious text boxes over panels, the boy's story is told in a series of text pages, all illustrated with symbolic accountings of the story. It's a move I've seen Mr. Gerber use a couple of times, often to great effect. He pulls us out of the lull that can overcome a comics reader, in much the same way that coming across a series of comic pages in a novel might ask a reader to think more about the medium within which they're meshed.
The subject of the journal, as it turns out, is the boy's account of having been made to feel ashamed of his body since his earliest memories. Parents and family, teachers, classmates, all of these people end up being complicit in his death, their taunts driving him to find solace in food which, eventually, impedes the working of his heart so much that it one day stops. It's rare to find tales of male eating disorders, and given the era of this comic, it's downright miraculous. Except that Steve Gerber was both a writer of, and before, his time. When one mentions the series Man-Thing, the fact of the title is often met with disbelief and amusement. But Mr. Gerber's run on this series is one of the most astute and artfully-crafted comics I've read. I sometimes think if we just changed the name, people might pay more attention.
There is a part of me that wonders, too, if the body-shaming was in some ways standing in for another taboo societal issue that would certainly not have found its way into a mainstream comic. There are occasional references throughout Edmond Winshed's testament of behaviours that were discouraged by those around him. What one might call more effeminate behaviours, behaviours that would have been associated with homosexuality at the time (i.e., playing with a kitchen or dolls instead of guns). And even if that's simply me reading through my own lens, the mark of a great piece of writing is that is is open, and receptive, to many different interpretations.
Unwittingly, I think I've just discovered a new favourite comic. I'll add it to the ever-growing list! Wonderful, poignant, everything I look for in a Man-Thing story.
More to come...
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