Review- THE THING: PROJECT PEGASUS (MARVEL PREMIERE CLASSIC VOL. 37)

THE THING: PROJECT PEGASUS (MARVEL PREMIERE CLASSIC VOL. 37) (Marvel, 2009; Hardcover)

Collects Marvel Two-In-One Nos. 42, 43, 53-58 (cover dates August, 1978- December, 1979)

Writers: Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio

Artists: John Byrne, George Perez, Sal Buscema, Gene Day, Joe Sinnott and others.

All right, Marvel...you got me. This is a triple dip. First came the old Thing: The Project Pegasus Saga trade paperback, then the Essential Marvel Two-In-One phone books, and now this hardcover. This was a $10 box deal at a comic convention. I love these overprinted runs that Marvel was doing for a while there. I snagged this, brand new and in near mint condition, all for a Hamilton.

Project Pegasus was a timely topic during it's original publication, since this was the Government (of the Marvel Universe's United States) alternative energy research facility. Macchio and Gruenwald named it after the Mobil logo, which was the mythological horse, Pegasus. Irony and all that. They were way more clever than they had to be for this title. This concept holds up extremely well here in the 21^st Century. The more things change...

This is a great read, worlds better than much of Marvel's current output. These cats, writers and artists, were all great storytellers. The Thing is a loveable buffoon, and Black Goliath becomes the new Giant-Man here. You also have Quasar, the son of the 1950s Marvel Boy. I love all of the continuity references throughout the book. There also lots of cool B-list villains, such as Klaw. This is a good time, and as such, I give this my highest recommendation.

The OCD zone- I love the Marvel Premiere Classic line of hardcovers. Nice paper, decent restoration, and sewn binding at a reasonable MSRP. There is something strange about the paper in this book, though. It is inconsistent, being almost Marvel Masterworks smooth at times, while having a slightly rougher feel at other points in the book. I can only guess that the smoother textures were when the Chinese were using the finer, virgin Amazon rainforest trees for their paper. Either that, or they had extra mercury from the recalled thermometers in the ink vats. Maybe a better consistency with the mixture of lead paint chips or asbestos tiles. Or perhaps the child working the printing presses was extra emotional that day, adding more tears to the mix at some points of the process than others. 

 

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