Issue(s): Man-Thing #5, Man-Thing #6
Cover Date: May-Jun 74
Title: "Night of the laughing dead" / "And when I died...!"
Credits:
Steve Gerber - Writer
Mike Ploog - Penciler
Frank Chiaramonte - Inker

Review/plot:
We are at the point in Man-Thing where we have clown-ghosts. We are also at the point where we have Mike Ploog. So, you win some and you lose some (unless you like clown-ghosts, in which case you win some and you win some more).

Ploog has a cartoony style that i mostly like although sometimes it doesn't quite fit the tone of the more horror-oriented stories in this book. And his Man-Thing is adorable.

But this issue is about a clown.

The Man-Thing, Richard Rory, and Ruth Hart are pretty much incidental to the story, which has a suicidal clown...

...whose death causes some mystical powers to cause the clown's life to be re-enacted in play format by the clown's girlfriend, the mean circus owner, his loyal strongman, and the book's cast.

When the play is over, the powers are unsatisfied, saying, "You have not shown sufficient motivation for your crime of suicide. And thus, being neither a good man nor bad -- yet showing no sign that time in my realm would change you -- we herewith consign your soul to total death. Oblivion."

Luckily, the clown's girlfriend declares her love for him, and that's enough for the mystical entities.

A bit stretched out at two issues, but ambition-wise it teeters somewhere between pretentious and innovative and it's easy to see how the book had a following.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A

References:

• The Man-Thing has saved the lives of Richard and Ruth in Man-Thing #2 and during the last arc, so they tentatively trust him at this point.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: Essential Man-Thing vol. 1

is this it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7qG3ETDs8I

Man thing is an odd choice for children's records

Yes, that's the issue. Forget Man-Thing; i can't believe they made a story where a clown commits suicide into a children's record.

Since issue #5 ends on a cliffhanger that leads to the play/trial in issue #6, the ending is changed for the record with the clown saying that now that he's dead he's free to laugh and laugh forever.

The revised ending to the record is way more disturbing than a suicide. "I can laugh, and laugh...forever! You'll hear me in your nightmares, kids!"

Also remember this on Power Records. Had something like this come out in today's market, would need a "rated T for Teen" stamp. Ol' Carrot Nose was a strange choice for the kids' market. Personally, I have always thought of the horror adaptations Power Records did, "The Monster of Frankenstein" was the best.

By the way, fnord12: ADORABLE?? That's definitely not an adjective I'd use to describe Man-Thing. I don't even think a "Hello Kitty" rendering could make Ol' Carrot Nose 'adorable"! How about Mike Ploog's Man-Thing is more "comely" or "distinguished" than others. My God, I'd better quit before making matters worse!