Have you ever wondered what the big deal was with Yancy Street? We all know Thing has an ever-loving place in his heart for it and that he grew up there, but what’s the big deal? Check out Gerry Duggan’s special one-shot this week to find out!
So what’s it about?
Read the preview.
Why does this matter?
There are four artists on this book all of which are great — from Greg Smallwood, to Mark Bagley, to Luciano Vecchio, to Pere Perez. It’s a solid group and they make this fun done-in-one story shine.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
That’s rough man.
Credit: Marvel Comics
This issue opens and closes with a sentimental story about Thing’s often overlooked older brother. We get the full flashback to start and it comes back around quite well. Through his life, we can see Yancy Street is a neighborhood that is tough and some don’t survive it. Others–like the Thing–are made into diamonds because of it. We see the type of person Yancy Street makes via a kid who Thing has a run-in with. He’s a bit of a brat and he’s tagged the memorial wall to Thing’s brother. That isn’t going to fly!
From there this issue kicks off with the Thing learning some well-to-do landlords are doubling people’s rent and using some muscle to kick folks out. That gives the art team ample time to draw the Thing clobbering his way to victory. The narrative does a good job explaining why people who live on Yancy Street are cut from a different cloth and the issue ends with a cute final page too.
The art is excellent throughout the book. Smallwood’s art plays around with the Kirby-style contraptions in Mr. Fantastic’s lab while Bagley gets to do a lot of the action scenes infused with his kinetic and detailed style that suits it. The opening scene detailing what happened to Thing’s brother is also well done, with an old school color style and aged paper look that suits the flashback. The use of color, by Smallwood and Erick Arciniega, is something else too. The scenes in the Fantastic Four headquarters are bright and positive, reminiscent of the old school days of comics.
What a life!
Credit: Marvel Comics
It can’t be perfect, can it?
Dare I say the action scene runs on too long? Save for a great joke involving the kid who tagged the memorial, it doesn’t add a whole lot. The team he fights is also super obscure and their powers aren’t that interesting. Still, it’s a minor quibble with the overall solid work done here.
Is it good?
Take a trip to Yancy Street and enjoy the attitude and rough-around-the-edges folk. It’s a bonafide look at why the Thing is one of the most iconic characters in comics.
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