Fear #15
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFear #15 is the capstone of Steve Gerber's first sustained Man-Thing arc, the issue in which the series graduated to a full nineteen-page story format by abandoning the backup reprints that had padded earlier numbers — a structural milestone that reflected editorial confidence in the feature's commercial legs. The issue delivers the first appearance of the Atlantean sorceress Zhered-Na (in an extended pre-Cataclysm flashback), the first on-page appearance of the true Tome of Zhered-Na, and the first appearance of the imp demon Yopp, collectively laying the mythological scaffolding that would underpin Marvel's supernatural corner for decades. Gerber uses the issue to complete Jennifer Kale's transformation from curious teenager into a genuine mystical heir — Dakimh literally robes her as a new Zhered-Na — cementing her as one of the earliest fully realized female sorcerer protagonists in mainstream Bronze Age comics. That mythology paid forward all the way to the 2024 Disney+ series Agatha All Along, where Jennifer Kale appeared as a major character, demonstrating the durability of world-building that started here.
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Steve Gerber had been writing Man-Thing since Fear #11, partnering from issue #13 onward with penciler Val Mayerik, whom Gerber credited as a genuine creative collaborator rather than a hired illustrator. Roy Thomas served as editor-in-chief overseeing the run, and Frank McLaughlin stepped in as inker for this issue, with the cover painted by Frank Brunner — part of the wave of younger artistic talent flowing into Marvel's horror titles in the early 1970s following the 1971 Comics Code revisions that reopened horror as a viable genre. The decision to drop backup reprints with this issue, moving to a full-length format, was driven by strong enough sales to justify the production cost of all-new pages, giving Gerber the room to tell a more ambitious, flashback-heavy story than any prior chapter in the arc. Gerber's working method at the time was improvisational enough that at least one contemporary observer noted the Dakimh subplot's resolution felt like it may not have been fully planned when it was set up the issue before.
Trivia · 10 facts
- First appearance of Zhered-Na, the ancient Atlantean sorceress-prophetess whose mythology anchors the entire Cult of Zhered-Na corner of the Marvel Universe, appearing in an extended pre-Cataclysm flashback set roughly 18,000 B.C.
- First on-page appearance of the true Tome of Zhered-Na, the mystical grimoire previously only referenced by name since Fear #11.
- First appearance of Yopp, an imp demon from the dimension of Sominus.
- Atlantean rulers Kamuu and Queen Zartra appear for the first time, exclusively in the Zhered-Na flashback sequence.
- Issue #15 was the first in the series to run a full 19-page story, dropping the backup reprint pages that had appeared in earlier numbers — a format milestone driven by the feature's sales performance.
- Creative team: writer Steve Gerber, penciler Val Mayerik, inker Frank McLaughlin, cover by Frank Brunner, colors by Petra Scotese (Goldberg), letters by Artie Simek, edited by Roy Thomas.
- The story closes out the Cult of Zhered-Na's active role in the series and severs the psychic bond between Jennifer Kale and Man-Thing established earlier in the arc, resetting the status quo for subsequent issues.
- The issue has been reprinted in Essential Man-Thing Vol. 1 (2006, black and white), the Man-Thing Omnibus (2012), Man-Thing by Steve Gerber: The Complete Collection Vol. 1 (2015), and the Adventure into Fear Omnibus (2020), as well as in a French black-and-white reprint in Eclipso #48 (Arédit-Artima, January 1975).
- Captain America and Spider-Man appear only as visions/hallucinations during the demon-induced global madness subplot, not as active participants in the story.
- Jennifer Kale, who debuted in Fear #11, later made her live-action debut portrayed by Sasheer Zamata in the 2024 Disney+ series Agatha All Along, with her origin rooted in the mythology established across this arc.
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Reprints
Reprinted in Eclipso #48 (1975), 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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