Fear #14
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFear #14 (cover-dated June 1973) is the debut issue of Dakimh the Enchanter, the millennia-old sorcerer and former pupil of the Atlantean prophetess Zhered-Na who would become one of the Man-Thing mythos' most enduring supporting figures and the personal mentor of Jennifer Kale. The issue also marks the first appearance of Mongu the Gladiator of the dimension of Sandt, and it is the issue where the Man-Thing is explicitly confirmed by Dakimh to be the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities — a cosmological designation that underpins the character's entire subsequent mythology. As the final issue of the bimonthly run to carry a back-up reprint alongside the lead story, #14 stands at a structural turning point in Steve Gerber's increasingly ambitious, fully original horror-mythology arc that would culminate in Howard the Duck's debut just five issues later.
In the sweltering swamps of Florida, Joshua Kale and his grandchildren Jennifer and Andy stumble upon a horror that defies reason—while across the country, ordinary people are consumed by inexplicable violence. As demons from the underworld stir, threatening to break through into our world, the fate of humanity rests on the shoulders of the Man-Thing, the ancient guardian of cosmic secrets. In *The Demon Plague!*, the line between man and monster blurs in a battle that could end all things.
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The issue was written by Steve Gerber and penciled by Val Mayerik — the art team that had come together on Fear #13 and would carry the Man-Thing through the remainder of the Adventure into Fear run — with inks by Chic Stone, colors by Stan Goldberg, and letters by Artie Simek, all under editor-in-chief Roy Thomas. Gerber, by his own account, worked in a largely intuitive, improvisational mode, allowing supporting characters like Jennifer Kale and Dakimh to emerge organically from story to story rather than from a fixed outline; one blogger's analysis of the issue notes that the subtle 'glint in Dakimh's eye' noticed by Jennifer at the close of #14 was likely planted without Gerber having yet decided how the enchanter's true allegiance would resolve, a detail that paid off only in Fear #15. Issue #14 was also the last in the bimonthly Man-Thing run to include a back-up reprint story, a vestige of the anthology format the series had inherited from its pre-#10 incarnation.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of Dakimh the Enchanter (Steve Gerber/Val Mayerik), the pre-Cataclysmic Atlantean sorcerer and pupil of Zhered-Na who becomes Jennifer Kale's mentor and a recurring figure across Man-Thing, Howard the Duck, and Doctor Strange titles.
- First appearance of Mongu the Gladiator, the undefeated champion of the dimension of Sandt, who later reappears as a recurring antagonist in Incredible Hulk #210–211 and Avengers Annual #22.
- First appearance of the other-dimensional realm of Sandt, depicted as a barbaric, Roman-style gladiatorial world where Dakimh served as court sorcerer to its Emperor.
- This issue explicitly establishes Man-Thing (Ted Sallis) as the guardian of the Nexus of All Realities, a concept pivotal to Gerber's entire Man-Thing cosmology, with Dakimh confirming the creature was prophesied by Zhered-Na as Earth's defender against demons of Sominus.
- Credited creative team: script by Steve Gerber, pencils by Val Mayerik, inks by Chic Stone, colors by Stan Goldberg, letters by Artie Simek, edited by Roy Thomas.
- Issue #14 is the last in the bimonthly Man-Thing run within Adventure into Fear to include a back-up reprint story; beginning with #15 the lead feature expanded and the series moved toward monthly publication.
- The story title is 'The Demon Plague!' The cover art is by Alan Weiss.
- The issue has been reprinted in: Eclipso (Arédit-Artima) #46 (1974, French edition); Chiller Pocket Book (Marvel UK) #9 (1980); Essential Man-Thing Vol. 1 (2006, black and white); Man-Thing Omnibus (2012); Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2015); and Adventure into Fear Omnibus (2020).
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Reprints
↩ Reprints Mystery Tales #14 (1953)
Reprinted in Eclipso #46 (1974), Chiller Pocket Book #9 (1980), Superaventuras Marvel #26 (1984), Essential Man-Thing #1 (2006), Man-Thing Omnibus #[nn] (2012), Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection #1 (2015), Adventure into Fear Omnibus #[nn] (2020), Marvel Masterworks: Man-Thing #1 (2024)
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