Mr. Carpenter

Emerging from the swampy, psychedelic depths of Steve Gerber and Jim Mooney's Man-Thing in 1975, Mr. Carpenter is a quietly intriguing figure from Marvel's Bronze Age — an era when that muck-encrusted corner of the Marvel Universe was home to some of the most daring, offbeat storytelling in comics. With only a handful of appearances spread across Man-Thing and The Savage She-Hulk, he's a rare and curious presence, sharing pages with the likes of Ted Sallis, Richard Rory, and the shambling horror of the Man-Thing himself. He may not have the page count of Marvel's heavy hitters, but for collectors who love the strange, atmospheric fringes of the Bronze Age, a character this scarce and this well-connected is exactly the kind of hidden gem worth tracking down.