Fantastic Four Giant-Size Adventures #1 (2009)
Written by Paul Tobin
Artwork by Dustin Weaver
You may at first be wondering why Benjamin is looking quite different here, why he’s suddenly going by the odd moniker “Thing Thing”, and why so many bizarre things begin to befall him, including a literal downpour of wheels of blue cheese (each with a neat slice removed)?
We discover at the end that it was all a dream – whew!
But then we hear Sue blaming Ben’s oneiric misadventures on his earlier, and apparently quite selfish, consumption of all the blue cheese in the First Family’s (surprisingly modest) kitchen. Why would she think this (other than sheer annoyance)?
Blue cheese is famous for its blue/green streaks of mold (not to mention its potent aroma).
While it is true that some molds &/or fungi can send one right into Wonderland, someone should let Sue know that luckily the mold in blue and other moldy cheeses won’t make you sick or loopy at all.
As to why Benjamin’s dreaming brain was channeling Hergé, I can’t really say.
Mr. Tobin? Mr. Weaver? Any explanation would be most welcome.
UPDATE: I have been informed that Mr. Weaver has indeed provided an explanation:
It’s what happens when Ben Grimm eats a whole wheel of blue cheese and reads Tintin before going to bed. Or it’s what happens when Paul Tobin has 2 extra pages in Fantastic Four Giant-Size Adventures #1 and asks me if I want to do a short homage to Herge.
Paul is a studio mate of mine at Periscope Studio and has written a whole lot of Marvel books including: like ALL of the Marvel adventures books, or something like that. I don’t know. He writes a lot of them. And since I joined the studio he and I have found we have a mutual love for European comics. He has one of the best graphic novel collections I’ve ever seen.
When Paul mentioned the idea of doing The Thing as Tintin I thought- that is a strange and fantastic idea, and, despite the fact that I already had my hands full with X-Men, I said yes. I had to do it… I couldn’t let someone ells do it, right? An opportunity to draw Tintin meets the Fantastic Four doesn’t come along to often. Another thing I liked about the idea was that I would get to ink and color it as well.
So I did it, and it was a blast. It’s short but I really tried to chock it full of comic book goodness.
And chock-full of comic book goodness it is (only just now that I’m noticing the copy of Explorers on the Moon on the kitchen counter).
Well done, Mr. Weaver!
Chef’s Note: Happy National Moldy Cheese Day!