R.L. Stine Brings Horror And Humor To Marvel’s Man-Thing

For more than 25 years, author R.L Stine has unnerved readers with his Goosebumps and Fear Street horror book series. Now Stine is bringing his horror skills to the Marvel Universe. Stine is penning a five-issue Man-Thing series in collaboration with artist German Peralta.

The first issue of Man-Thing hits stands today and it sees the shambling swamp creature visiting someplace that even he had previously feared to tread: Hollywood. ComicBook.com spoke to Stine about what he has in store for Marvel’s Man-Thing.

What kinds of themes are you exploring in your Man-Thing series?

RL Stine: I don’t think about themes. I’m a plot guy. Just a story guy. All my books are just totally plot driven. The main theme as it develops is there’s going to be chaos on Earth unless Man-Thing can rescue Old Father. Old Father controls the swamp and he controls all order and he’s been kidnapped and dragged into the nexus of all realities. The Man-Thing, of course, he thinks, “Why me? Why do I have to be the one to go get him?”

But he has to go into the nexus which is horribly dangerous and a new reality every minute and try to find Old Father and bring him back or else there will be chaos in the world. That’s the theme.

Is that a story you were already thinking about when you started on Man-Thing or was it built around the character?

RL Stine: The second. I should say, “Oh, yes, I had a grand plan,” but to be totally honest, I kind of did it one book at a time. I would get to this part of the story and then figure out what’s the next part of the story. But once we had the nexus idea, and once we had Old Father about to be executed by an evil queen, then I had it. That was it. But when I first started out I didn’t know what I was doing. I was so pleased with the opening scene in the movie studio where he’s a total flop and they insult him and he has to leave. He scared the kids. He tested badly and he doesn’t even get a ride back to the swamp. I kind of started with that. I thought that would be a funny way to start out.

Was that seen at all a reaction to or inspired by your own experiences in Hollywood?

RL Stine: Well, I’ve never really been told not to sit on the couch or anything like that, but yeah, we’ve done a lot of movies and TV stuff so it was kind of fun to write about it.

With this being your first comics work, how has the experience been working with artist German Peralta?

RL Stine: I did a humor magazine for 10 years called Bananas. It was a humor magazine for kids. It was a lot like MAD, but except it was all in color. MAD was in black and white in those days. I did it for 10 years and I worked with a lot of cartoonists and a lot of artists. One of them is like art director of MAD right now, one of the guys I discovered. So I have worked with artists a lot, but this is the first comic book I’ve ever written.

Did you find bringing the horror atmosphere of your work to the visual medium of comics anymore or less challenging than in prose?

RL Stine: Well, you know, when you write, when I write a Goosebumps book, I try to visualize the theme. This was pretty much the same except that I didn’t really have to write the description. When you describe a room or a creepy basement or something in Goosebumps, you visualize it. Writing for the comic was really the same thing. Then it was kind of interesting to how the illustrator saw it, how different his view of it was.

Man-Thing

There’s an interesting twist at the end of the first issue when the other Man-Thing shows up. What role does this second Man-Thing play in the series?

RL Stine: Well, he’s come to drag Man-Thing back to the swamp out of Burbank and back to his old primitive life. He’s worked so hard to get out. He got his speech back and he got his memory back and he’s trying to be human. He’s trying for some other career. And his old self comes back and- I’ll give it away- and drags him back to the swamp. And he’s back to being unable to speak. He has his memory. He has his mind. But he can’t speak. And he’s a beast again. There he is in the swamp.

Then he finds out there’s horrible chaos in the swamp. Everything is out of order. There’s something horribly gone wrong, and it turns out that there’s a character named Old Father, this ancient guy who controls the order of the swamp. He keeps order. He’s been kidnapped. Man-Thing is going to have to go rescue him. Otherwise, there will be chaos over the whole Earth.

What drew you to writing Man-Thing in the first place?

RL Stine: That’s a good question. They sent me a list of characters. I thought, “God, he’s the ugliest one they ever had. He’s hideous.” He is, right? He’s gruesome.

I thought it would fun to try to get a story, to bring him to life more. And also, I always loved swamp monsters. I don’t know why. I guess it’s like very basic horror. You’re in this horrible atmosphere. The swamp is totally creepy and filled with all kinds of life forms. Then you have this beast, this creature. It’s just a very basic thing. So that’s what drew me to it.

I’ve done swamp monster books in Goosebumps. I think last year I did one called Here Comes the Shaggedy. I don’t know why I’m drawn to them.

There’s kind of a fun, humorous dichotomy between that gruesome, horrific visage and how you write Man-Thing to be rather polite and genteel.

RL Stine: Well, I do that in everything I do. The Goosebumps books, there’s something funny at the end of every chapter. I think there’s something very close between horror and humor. You get the same visceral reaction from people. They’re very closely tied together. And I love having this balance of horror and humor. I do it in all the Goosebumps and Fear Street books. That’s what I tried to do with Man-Thing.

That blend of horror and humor was definitely present in the first issue’s backup story. Will there be more of those throughout the series?

RL Stine: One in each book. Yeah, I did one in each book just for fun, just to make my life harder. And I’m not content. I could have written just one story, right? I’d be done. But no, I wanted to do a little horror story. I thought people might expect it from me.

Are they all self-contained, or do they connect in any way to each other or to the main Man-Thing story?

RL Stine: Yeah, they’re all self-contained. They’re all little short stories.

Man-Thing #1 is on sale now.

Man-Thing #1
JAN170932
(W) R. L. Stine (A) German Peralta, Daniel Johnson (CA) Tyler Crook

MARVEL WELCOMES R.L. STINE!

Beloved writer R.L. STINE (Goosebumps, Fear Street) brings his special brand of horror to MAN-THING!

After working for years, MAN-THING has regained his ability to speak and has taken Hollywood by storm…But when an ancient and mysterious danger threatens the swamp, Man-Thing is going to have to choose between his new life and celebrity, and the world he used to call home…

PLUS! A bone-chilling new horror story, written by the master himself, R.L. STINE, and illustrated by the incomparable Daniel Warren Johnson!

Parental Advisory
In Shops: Mar 08, 2017
SRP: $3.99