Issue(s): Thing #27
Cover Date: Sep 85
Title: "The Thing and the Thunderiders"
Credits:
Mike Carlin - Writer
Ron Wilson - Penciler
Paul Ryan - Inker
Mark Gruenwald - Editor

Review/plot:
They're back for the first time -- the fabulous Thunderiders!

It's actually Team America, but what the hell are they doing in a Thing comic? Well, guess who's trying out for the team.

We last saw Team America getting trained by Professor X in the Danger Room. Against all odds, they never joined the X-Men but instead changed their name and went back on the road. It's not really said why they change their name, but the meta-reason is that Marvel probably lost the license to the Team America name. In story, maybe it's because founding member Honch has left the group.

Ben wants to join the team because he's found the Tarianna lookalike he's been searching for. Her name's Sharon Ventura. The Thing gets tongue-tied and can't even talk to her...

...so Vance suggests trying out for the team so that he can spend more time with her.

The Thing's competition is Richie "Champ" Champuolion.

Champ has a better showing, but it's reasoned that the Thing needs a better bike to show his stuff properly, plus the Thing will be a better draw anyway. So he's chosen over the Champ (and over perennial contrarian Wolf's objections).

Whether it's because of Wolf's negative feelings or something else, the group's collective avatar the Marauder, with Champ as the host, shows up and attacks the Thing.

It takes help from the Thunderiders and Vance to defeat him.

Honch is as far away as Washington D.C. (I'm not sure exactly where we are this issue, but last issue took place in "Sandusky", possibly the one in Ohio), but can still feel the link form when the Marauder manifests.

The twist for the issue is that Sharon is actually quitting the team and the Thing was auditioning to be her replacement.

Surprisingly enjoyable considering the subjects.

Even though it's still Wilson on art, Sharon only looks superficially like Tarianna to me.

She will soon become the new Ms. Marvel and eventually the She-Thing, but we don't learn too much about her this issue.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 5 - first Sharon Ventura. Team America become the Thunderiders

Chronological Placement Considerations: Pushing this back up due to some dependencies with Thing #28. See that issue's Considerations section for more details.

References:

• Sharon Ventura looks like exactly like Tarianna, a figment of the Thing's imagination while he was on the Secret Wars Battleplanet in Thing #12 through Thing #22.
  
• The Thing is still upset over finding Alicia with Johnny in Fantastic Four #277 and learning the truth about his powers from Reed in Thing #23.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

Paul Ryan overpowered Ron Wilson's pencils to the point that Shary didn't resemble Tarianna. Otherwise, everything looked great.

I actually like Paul Ryan's inks here over Ron Wilson. Wilson is a solid artist, but I think he's at the bottom rung of publishable art (I don't mean this as a knock, there have been far worst artists who have been published) for me. His quality is good enough that I'll read it, but anything worse and it'd be a big knock against buying the book. I think Ryan's inks elevates Wilson's art quite a bit.

One reason Sharon may not look like Tarianna, is that Tarianna had red hair while Sharon's is more of an orange (perhaps intended to be strawberry blonde).