The Thing #9
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeThe Thing #9 is historically notable as the culmination of the two-part Egyptian spirit possession story that ran through issues #8–9, making it a showcase for Alicia Masters — Ben Grimm's blind sculptor girlfriend — as the true protagonist who resolves the crisis through empathy and moral argument rather than brute force, a striking creative choice that inverted the expected superhero formula. The arc belongs to the pre-Battleworld phase of the solo series, when writer John Byrne was establishing the emotional and character-driven register that distinguished the book from its team-up predecessor, Marvel Two-in-One. While the issue does not introduce new characters, it deepens the bond between Ben and Alicia and demonstrates the series' ambition to use its supporting cast in substantive ways.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
The Thing solo series launched in 1983, spun directly out of the ten-year run of Marvel Two-in-One once that book concluded, giving Ben Grimm his first true ongoing solo title. John Byrne served as writer for the series' early issues, with Ron Wilson — a longtime visual steward of the Thing — handling pencils, inked here by the legendary Fantastic Four veteran Joe Sinnott and edited by Bob Budiansky. Issue #9 was the back half of a two-parter that began in #8, continuing a supernatural Egyptian-themed storyline; both issues were produced and released in the months immediately before the first Secret Wars limited series began reshaping the title's direction starting around issue #11.
Trivia · 8 facts
- Cover-dated March 1984 (on-sale approximately March 10, 1984); part of the series' Volume 1 run (1983–1986).
- Written by John Byrne; pencilled by Ron Wilson; inked by Joe Sinnott; colored by George Roussos; lettered by Jim Novak; edited by Bob Budiansky.
- Concludes the two-part story begun in Thing #8, in which the spirit of an ancient Egyptian slave takes possession of Ben Grimm's body and goes on a rampage.
- Alicia Masters — Ben's blind girlfriend — drives the issue's resolution: she navigates the chaos, persuades a police inspector not to summon the Avengers, and ultimately convinces the possessing spirit to relinquish control at the United Nations building.
- No new character first appearances are recorded in this issue.
- The issue predates the series' celebrated 'Rocky Grimm, Space Ranger' Battleworld arc, which begins around issue #11 as a tie-in to the original Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars (1984).
- At least two reprints of this issue exist, per the Marvel Database.
- Both direct-edition and newsstand variants were distributed for this issue, as was standard for Marvel's Copper Age output.
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Reprints
Reprinted in The Thing Classic #1 (2011), The Thing Omnibus #[nn] (2022), Die Fantastischen Vier #21
Key issues in The Thing
Variants (2)
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