Here’s yet another Marvel Two-in-One series re-interpretation commissioned by none other than the client known as MTIO Guy, my 10th for him. Sometimes the reinterpretations are from covers from the Marvel series that starred the Thing, other times faux cover images for a What-if? issue with John Carter Warlord of Mars and Werewolf by Night, and sometimes it’s a reinterpretation of an interior page to issue #76, the first issue MTIO Guy picked up which changed his life (and made his wallet eternally thinner;-)). In this case it was the last option. He had Darryl Banks (my 15th time inking him) pencil page two of the issue, originally drawn by Jerry Bingham and inked by Chic Stone, and I was asked to ink it. The page includes Ben Grimm The Thing, his main squeeze and blind sculptress Alicia Masters, and Bill Foster, formerly known as Black Goliath who at this point had become the second Giantman after Hank Pym (who would later become Giantman again). Something interesting to me is that whenever Darryl pencils Marvel Two-in-One pages I see Gene Day or even Terry Austin in the work. Gene was an inker on the series from issues in the 50s and 60s inking over the likes of Jerry Bingham and George Perez and a favorite run to me personally, while Terry inked some of the covers.

I used my usual micron and Pitt markers, Raphael Kolinsky 8404 size 3 brush and Hunt 102 quill to do my job on this one. I finished this commission on 2-ply 11X17 board on August 16, 2012.

So, how many times have I inked the Thing besides for MTIO Guy, like with the Fantastic Four? Or Bill Foster as Giantman or Black Goliath? No idea. This is a job for the Great Chronicler himself, Lord Damon! (seriously, please?)

Damon’s dedicated research sparked this treasured reply (thanks a lot, chum!):

“The official Thing count in the commissions gallery is 17. That’s 11 you’ve done for Brian, plus one One-Minute Later where he appears with the FF vs. the Black Panther (by Velluto), plus the TWO Wyman ones I mentioned earlier, plus a Velluto-penciled Inkwell Awards cover, plus one where he appears with Spider-Man and the FF drawn by Hembeck, plus one where he and the Human Torch fight the Silver Surfer and Galactus by Ron Wilson.

Bill Foster appears a total of four times: The Darryl Banks-penciled sequential page from MTIO for Brian, plus in a costume I had Brett Booth draw for him, in the Darryl Banks-penciled Cage Match, and in “The Fallen” piece by Cedric Nocon.

Whew!

Damon”