Issue(s): Man-Thing #11
Cover Date: Jul 81
Title: "Hell's gate!"
Credits:
Chris Claremont - Writer
Val Mayerik - Penciler
Bob Wiacek - Inker

Review/plot:
The cover to this issue was interesting enough that i picked this up before i read the rest of Claremont's Man-Thing, but that turned out to be a bit of a mistake. It was kind of impenetrable at that point. I've since read the previous issues, and this works fine as a conclusion to the Captain Fate storyline as well as a tribute to the final issue of the original Man-Thing series. Like that issue, it works the writer of the series into the issue.

Chris Claremont is scared.

His editors (Jim Shooter, Louise Jones, and Danny Fingeroth) are concerned.

He tells the story. He discovered that Dr. Strange and Clea have been defeated by a pirate (actually former Citrusville Sheriff John Daltry, now possessed by Captain Fate) .

Meanwhile, Barbara Bannister is hanging out with the Man-Thing and a John Kowalski, who has taken up the "mantle of the Grim Reaper".

He transforms Barbara into another avatar of death (as agreed in issue #10, in return for Kowalski's help in freeing Daltry).

They fight their way to the pirate's lair, where they find he's captured a whole bunch of Marvel mages, and Claremont.

The pirate summons the demon, Thog.

Thog turns the Man-Thing back into Ted Sallis, but somehow Chris Clarement got turned into the Man-Thing instead.

Barbara and Claremont-Thing fight the pirate and Thog, with Claremont-Thing eventually defeating Thog.

Then, when Dr. Strange restores Chris Claremont to human form, Ted Sallis automatically turns back into the Man-Thing instead.

And that's the story. Earlier it was implied that Barbara was getting into a Contract With Death and would be stuck as a Grim Reaper, but in the end she's allowed to walk away with Daltry (as Michael says in the comments, that is development for Kowalski's character). But after Claremont's editors hear the tale, they tell him that they've decided to cancel the book.

When i first read this, based on the cover and the fact that Claremont wrote himself into the story, i was expecting something a lot more light-hearted. It's a very dense plot. Having now read the full series, it is a decent wrap up (in retrospect, i guess picking up the last issue of a series to sample it isn't ever a good strategy. Der.).

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP place Dr. Strange's appearance between his appearances in Defenders #90 and #92.

References:

• Dr. Strange tried once before in Doctor Strange #41 to cure the Man-Thing, but he says in this issue that "you were created by an unique synthesis of science and sorcery. You can only be cured the same way." Paging Dr. Doom?
  
• As Michael notes, this issue is a tribute to the last issue of the Man-Thing's first series, Man-Thing #22. And John Kowalski previously appeared in War Is Hell #9 through War Is Hell #15 (no footnote).

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This story is a homage to Man-Thing 22. In that issue, the last issue of the first Man-Thing issue, Steve Gerber helps the Man-Thing defeat Thog, we learn that Dakimh has been feeding Gerber the Man-Thing stories and Gerber decides to stop writing the book.
John Kowalski previously appeared in War Is Hell 9-15. In those issues, Kowalski was a selfish man in his life, so when he died in the Invasion of Poland, he was forced by death to inhabit another person's body in World War II until that person died. The point of the ending with Barbara is that by releasing Barbara from her obligation, Kowalski is finally starting to change.

Sheriff Daltry will return many decades later, still possessed by Captain Fate, as part of the final arc of Captain Britain and MI-13, where his situation is resolved (re-resolved?).

Even in caricature, Jim Shooter manages to look like a giant tool!

Bet Satana was pissed when she found out Kowalski had commandeered her tights for Barbara!

Years after Claremont's run, I remember being stoked for Manny's return in the late '90s as part of the reconfigured Strange Tales horror line, with Man-Thing written by Fnord-favorite (snicker) JM DeMatties and art, if I recall, by Jon J. Muth. However, like so many other projects during the uncertain Chapter 11 days, this and the other horror titles (Werewolf By Night and Satana) were scrapped before they could gather any steam. Guess I'll have to pick up the recent mini-series by "Mr. Goosebumps" himself, R.L. Stine. I understand he has a pretty unique take on Ol' Carrot Nose.

It was Liam Sharp on pencils for Man-Thing and it starts ok but quickly becomes some of DeMatteis' absolute worst stuff (and I'm a fan). But, unlike Paul Jenkins' concurrent Werewolf by Night run, DeMatteis actually did get to wrap it up (in a Spider-Man Annual) and his 2 unpublished issues are considered canon and detailed in handbooks and stuff.

@AF Thanks for that. When you mentioned Liam Sharp's name it came back to me. I bought the first issue and it did seem promising, but my personal fave comic shop at the time had low demand for the series, therefore the owner pretty much left it off his order. Couldn't find it at any of the other shops at the time, either. Don't know why I thought of Muth, maybe he was working on something similar at the time. Sometimes my old partying habits catch up with my memory.

Muth was on Silver Surfer which was also being written by DeMatteis.

@AF Wow, you're right, thanks for jarring my memory again! I must confess at this time in my life, I was reading mostly books from the Distinguished Competition, along with the odd manga title. My primary late '90's Marvel reading was Thunderbolts, Ka-Zar, Heroes for Hire, some of the post-Heroes Reborn titles (mostly Cap), and the Jenkins/Lee Inhumans. Feel bad for forgetting these things, but I am a full-time caregiver and work full-time for a veterans' charity these days, so I do have a fairly full plate. This, my readings and writings and my Boxer are my main outlets, what an exciting life I lead!