Issue(s): Thing #3, Thing #4
Cover Date: Sep-Oct 83
Title: "Turning point" / "I, monster!"
Credits:
John Byrne - Writer
Ron Wilson - Penciler
Hilary Barta - Inker
Ann Nocenti - Editor

Review/plot:
Shooter gets a thanks for suggesting the story to issue #3.

In the first story, Crystal and Lockjaw appear at the hospital where the Thing was about to visit Alicia.

She's upset because Quicksilver has decided that he's not happy with having a human baby, and he's decided to subject Luna to the Terrigen Mists. The Inhumans are apparently a primitive backwards society in which the father gets to make that decision even over the objections of the mother.

The Thing agrees to put a stop to it. A big battle ensues...

...but ends when Lockjaw speaks. It turns out he isn't just a big dog; he's actually an Inhuman who was turned into a dog-like creature when he was exposed to the mist.

This, and the Thing's own impassioned pleas about not risking turning a human into a monster, is enough to convince Quicksilver to not risk exposing Luna to the mist. Much later, Peter David will invalidate this story by having Quicksilver state that the whole episode was a practical joke played on the Thing, and Lockjaw really is just a big dog.

Next issue, instead of taking him directly home, Lockjaw teleports the Thing to a small southern town in the US where a hideous young mutant named Lucas is persecuted by the local townsfolk.

The mutant's mother is killed...

...and Lockjaw takes the mutant to the moon.

A good pair of stories, focusing heavily on the "monster" aspect of the Thing.

In a set up for the next set of Thing solo stories, we see the Puppet Master forming a new body for himself out of radioactive clay.

Quality Rating: B

Historical Significance Rating: 2 - revelations about Lockjaw that are later (unsatisfactorily) reversed

Chronological Placement Considerations: We know that Thing #2 took place concurrently with issue #257. In issue #4, the Thing calls home to the Baxter Building where the FF's secretary Roberta says that Mr. Fantastic is still at Avengers' Mansion. The FF doesn't discover that Reed is missing until Fantastic Four #259, which takes place the same day as #257 (issue #258 is the Dr. Doom interlude). That makes the timeframe for all of these issues very tight. They all have to occur while Mr. Fantastic is presumed to be at the Avengers Mansion, and therefore in a single day. Fantastic Four #259 starts with the Thing getting off of a plane returning him home from the southern US.

References: N/A

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

The problem with the Lockjaw-as-Inhuman reveal is that the Inhumans would have known this all along, but chose to treat him like a big dog in every way anyway. Not to mention that Lockjaw was apparently choosing to behave like a dog as well...

The cover to #4 showed Lucas with two hands(though you kinda have to squint at it), but inside the book he's got one hand and a shorter deformed arm.

But the problem with PAD's retcon is that the Inhumans would have to decide that Luna possibly being disfigured would be the perfect occasion to play a practical joke on Ben. Plus, Karnak and Gorgon were present when Lockjaw spoke- PAD had them speaking into a transmitter when Lockjaw spoke.

Although PAD presents it as a practical joke, is it possible the Lockjaw ventriloquism was the Inhumans' way of resolving the dispute without more disruption? They may have publicly felt like they had to affirm Quicksilver's paternal right, but perhaps privately they preferred to see their sister get her way. I don't have the issue, so I'm not sure how plausible this patch might be.

I'm one of the few PAD fans who was never a fan of PAD-Factor, but Lockjaw really should be a dog.

Walter, i think it would be a good retcon. Maybe they told Quicksilver it was a prank to keep him from getting too mad about undermining his decision, but they really did it for the reason you suggest.

Is it really a problem that the Inhumans - even the "good" kind who are friends to the FF - would act in ways that seem inhuman to us? There are lots and lots of ways Inhuman society is far from ideal.

Originally I didn't like the Byrne reveal, but have now decided it's far better than the current status. This website gives good reasons for it: http://zak-site.com/Great-American-Novel/lockjaw.html

Just be sure to click on continue where the site author deals with that issue.

I am a big fan of Chris Tolworthy's site but whatever the merits of Byrne's story vs. Lockjaw as a dog, i think Marvel's position now is that he's a pet (e.g. inclusion in the Pet Avengers).

Lucas seems to be based somewhat on Byrne's unused design (and possibly backstory) for Caliban: http://johnbyrnedraws.tumblr.com/post/42328714058/concept-drawing-of-caliban-by-john-byrne-from

Having myself been born with a growth disorder and knowing the feeling of being ostracized due to appearance, the "I, Monster" story really touched me on a personal level.

How does this square with Byrne's alleged desire to keep characters the way their creators made them? Not to well I think.