The Stop Button

For someone who really likes explaining things, de Vries doesn’t go into how MacReady has become an international Thing hunter.

But while his presence is narratively ludicrous, de Vries uses the character well. Oh, there’s some lame dialogue, but the issue’s sort of good. de Vries cuts back a little on how the Thing operates and behaves, but only on the telling part. He still shows this one Thing spread its control over a town. The problem is with the infected having autonomy. It doesn’t fit with the movie, or even the previous comic books. Instead, it’s Body Snatchers with tentacles.

But sort of good.

Gulacy is a fine asset on the book—he brings some professionalism to it, but it’s still a difficult plot to visualize. The Thing in a small fishing town. It’s not a particularly interesting setting.

As a mix of action, suspense and horror, it works.

CREDITS

Writer, David de Vries; penciller, Paul Gulacy; inker, Dan Davis; colorist, Matthew Hollingsworth; letterer, Steve Haynie; editors, Randy Stradley and Bob Cooper; publisher, Dark Horse Comics.