Know you this, grotesquerie! I came not of my choosing! Nay, I was summoned! And like she who called me forth from the Abyss, you, too -- shall feel my power! 
Appearing in "Night of the Nether-Spawn!"
Featured Characters:
Supporting Characters:
Antagonists:
- Nether-Spawn (First appearance)
Other Characters:
- Jennifer and Andy's grandfather (Mentioned)
- Dr Strange (Mentioned)
- Unnamed Bullies
Races and Species:
Locations:
- Earth
- United States of America
- Florida
- Everglades
- Man-Thing's Swamp
- Nexus of All Realities (First appearance)
- Citrusville (First appearance) (Unnamed)
- Man-Thing's Swamp
- Everglades
- Florida
- United States of America
Items:
- Tome of Zhered-Na (First appearance)
Synopsis for "Night of the Nether-Spawn!"
Amateur witch Jennifer Kale and her younger brother Andy take one of their grandfather's occult textbooks out into the swamp and attempt to conduct a ritual. Jennifer believes that she failed her attempt at a conjuration spell, but little does she realize that she actually opened a dimensional rift freeing a demon known as the Nether-Spawn. Jennifer and Andy go to town to take in a movie, never realizing that they are now being hunted.
The Man-Thing witnesses the tableau and follows the Nether-Spawn as it hunts down the young witch. The Nether-Spawn attacks them at a movie theater, but the Man-Thing intervenes and fights with the demon. As the two battle, Jennifer and Andy flee back towards the swamp. The Man-Thing loses interest in the fight and lumbers back towards familiar ground. The demon follows him and renews their battle. Jennifer tries burning the mystic tome and succeeds in reversing the spell. A dimensional portal opens and the Man-Thing pushes the Nether-Spawn inside just before it closes back up. As the Man-Thing wanders off, Jennifer and Andy feel that in some strange way, they have made a new friend.
Appearing in "The Spider Waits"
Marvel Tales #105
Featured Characters:
- Sven (Main story and flashback)
Supporting Characters:
- Mr. O'Toole
Antagonists:
- Unnamed Lady-Spider
Other Characters:
Races and Species:
Locations:
Synopsis for "The Spider Waits"
Marvel Tales #105
Sven is a factory worker who is charged with the task of keeping his workplace free of spiders. Unfortunately, Sven suffered a harrowing incident as a child and is deathly afraid of them. As an adult however, he manages to overcome his fear and takes great delight in killing every spider he can find. After work, he meets a woman at a bar who pays him ten dollars to clean the spiders out of her parlor. When he arrives at her house, he realizes that the lady is actually a spider-woman who traps Sven inside of a gigantic web.
Notes
- First appearance of Jennifer Kale. She appears next in Fear #13.
- First appearance of Thog. He is referred to only as the "Nether-Spawn" in this issue.
- The town where the Man-Thing fights the Nether-Spawn is later identified as Citrusville in future issues.
Trivia
- This issue is the first full-story professional Marvel work for writer Steve Gerber.
- The tagline for this issue is, "The Haunter of the Swamp!"
See Also
Recommended Reading
Links and References
- Adventure into Fear article at Wikipedia
- Adventure into Fear series index at the Grand Comics Database
- Adventure into Fear series index at Comicbookdb.com
- Man-Thing profile at Wikipedia
- Man-Thing profile at Toonopedia
- Man-Thing profile at the Marvel Directory
- Man-Thing movie entry at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB)