Startling Stories: The Thing - Night Falls on Yancy Street #2

Rain-soaked Yancy Street sets a moody, noir-tinged stage for issue two of this four-part Marvel series, with Dean Haspiel's cover framing the scene from a striking low angle — the Thing's rocky, blue-eyed face peers up through a rain-slicked reflective surface, while the massive soles of his feet loom overhead against a stormy urban skyline. It's a clever, disorienting composition that captures Ben Grimm as both imposing and oddly vulnerable, caught in the downpour with glimpses of a woman's image reflected alongside him. Evan Dorkin and Haspiel bring a street-level, human warmth to Marvel's ever-lovable orange powerhouse, and this 2003 installment looks like exactly the kind of thoughtful, character-driven storytelling the "Startling Stories" banner was made for.