Appearing in "The Yancy Street Golem"
The Present:
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Yancy Street Golem (Joseph) (First appearance; dies)
Other Characters:
- Daily Bugle (Referenced)
- Fantastic Four (Mentioned)
- Sue Richards (Mentioned)
- ⏴ Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards) ⏵ (Only in flashback)
- Johnny Storm (Referenced)
- Hydro-Man (Morris Bench) (Mentioned)
- NYPD (Mentioned)
- Jessica's unborn child (Mentioned)
- Franklin Richards (Mentioned)
- Valeria Richards (Mentioned)
- Alicia Masters (Referenced)
- Norfolk Street Gang (Referenced)
- Suffolk Street Gang (Referenced)
- Yancy Street Gang (Only in flashback)
- Mrs. Loew (First appearance)
- Mr. Loew and his friends (Mentioned)
- Mrs. Loew's grandfather and great-grandfather (Only appearance; photo)
- Geronimo (Invoked)
- Joseph (Mentioned)
Races and Species:
- Humans (Main story and flashback)
- Monkeys (Mentioned)
- Mutants (Mentioned)
- Human-Demon Hybrids (Referenced)
Locations:
- Earth (Main story and flashback)
- United States of America (Main story and flashback)
- New York (Main story and flashback)
- New York City (Main story and flashback)
- Manhattan (Main story and flashback)
- Lower East Side (Main story and flashback)
- Broome Street and Orchard Street (First appearance) (Only in flashback)
- Houston Street (Only in flashback)
- Bowery (Referenced)
- Delancey Street / Yancy Street (Main story and flashback)
- Minnie's coffee shop (First appearance)
- Ratner's (Referenced)
- East Houston Street and Ludlow Street (Referenced)
- Katz's Delicatessen (Referenced)
- Suffolk Street (Referenced)
- Norfolk Street (Referenced)
- Midtown (Only in flashback)
- 42nd Street (Only in flashback)
- Baxter Building (Only in flashback)
- 42nd Street (Only in flashback)
- Financial District
- Lower East Side (Main story and flashback)
- Brooklyn Bridge
- Manhattan Bridge (Shadow only)
- East River
- Manhattan (Main story and flashback)
- New York City (Main story and flashback)
- New York (Main story and flashback)
- China (Referenced)
- Earth Orbit (Referenced)
- Czechoslovakia (Mentioned)
- Moldau River (Mentioned)
- United States of America (Main story and flashback)
Items:
- Fantastic Four Uniforms (Main story and flashback)
Synopsis for "The Yancy Street Golem"
Ben Urich and Jessica Jones of the Pulse newspaper are investigating a series of strange attacks that have been happening on Yancy Street. Suspecting that this muscle is super-powered they have called in the Thing, who grew up on Yancy Street to help them solve the mystery. They explain that nine people have been injured so far from large heavy objects being dropped on them from the buildings above. The only clue they have is that the attacks happen on rainy evenings. Ben agrees to walk around the nieghborhood to see if he can attract the attackers attention while Ben and Jessica follow up on other leads to the story. Ben is concerned because the Jones woman is pregnant, but she assures him that she can handle herself.
As Ben walks down the rainy streets of Yancy Street he thinks about that attackers tactics. It reminds him of a similar style of attack the Yancy Street Gang would engage in when he was a kid. When a rival gang member was on their turf, the gang would pelt him with rotten produce and rocks from the roof tops and eventually swarm him and leave him back on his own street as a warning to others, but they never seriously hurt anybody. Lost in thought, the Thing is suddenly struck in the head with a chunk of rock. Furious, he strips off his hat and jacket to face his attacker. He briefly glimpses a massive form on the roof before it pulls away from view.
The Thing races to the roof and comes face to face with his attacker: A Golem of Jewish myth that is slowly coming apart in the rain. While the Thing battles it out with the creature, Urich and Jessica Jones meet with Mrs. Lowe a local who explains that her husband had brought the Golem to Yancy Street from the "old country" to defend the resident Jews from their enemies. However as time went on, the enemies they couldn't handle disappeared and Mrs. Lowe's husband buried the Golem beneath a building where it remained undisturbed for decades until rainwater seeping into the building foundation allowed the Golem to revert back to a softer state to move around. Without any direction or guidance, the Golem then started to attack those it preceived as a threat to the nieghborhood.
The Thing continues to fight the Golem when he thinks back to the early days just after his transformation into the Thing. Ben recalls how Reed told him he was stronger and more durable than ever before and that only exceptional beings using magic could be able to harm him. This causes Ben to realise what he's facing and causes the Golem to take a pause when he calls it "Joseph". With the battle over, the Thing then convinces the Golem that times have changed and the Golem is no longer needed to protect his people as they have a new protector -- The Thing. Ben then leads the Golem out into the East River where it walks off and dissolves in the waters below. When Ben Urich and Jessica Jones catch up to him, Ben is unhappy with the conclusion of the evening and tells them never to call him for help again.
Notes
Continuity Notes[]
- The Thing's connection to Yancy Street has been known since Fantastic Four #15. He was identified as a former member of the Yancy Street Gang in Thing #1.
- Jessica Jones is depicted as pregnant in this story which occurred after a one-night-stand with Luke Cage in Alias #1. Jones discovered she was pregnant in Alias #28. She eventually gives birth to her daughter in The Pulse #13.
Chronology Notes[]
The Baxter Building flashback in this story additionally affects the chronology of the featured character as follows: