Jeff McClelland, From Jimmy Durante to Michael Chiklis: The Thing Comes Full Circle

(In The Amazing Transforming Superhero)

What a facile article... especially compared to the Captain America chapter. It starts well, with McClelland acknowledging the problem of "revision" as a term, and the importance of reaffirmation and attempts at consistency in the legitimizing process of reintroduction. However, suggests that The Thing's relative unchangedness is the exception which proves the rule - rather, I would argue that it's an key element in all franchises.

Otherwise, the article is decidedly un-academic and reveals very little analysis, with the author constantly deferring to the opinions of journalists and industry workers - hardly the best sources. Comic book creators say stupid things like "The Thing doesn't need to be reinvented," which evidently is not true. McClelland takes everything at face value.

He also has an annoying habit of talking about The Thing as though he's a real person rather than a character, which is fine in fan discourse (I certainly do it all the time) but very out of place in a collection of essays: "For better or for worse, The Thing is who he is," indeed. Come on.