Sunday, July 30, 2006

Life is a rock ...


... but the radio rolled me!!!

I have been looking at some of my guys and was wondering how they got named, granted I didn't name two of the four guys in the picture,but it is always a mystery. Why did Jack Kirby and Stan Lee name the rock covered guy Ben Grim? Why was his codename "The Thing" ? I think that The Thing was loosely based on The Heap from Airboy Comics, especially in the early days before his rocky exterior became more uniform and boilerplate. I love the Jack Kirby version of The Thing, it's what I grew up with, I am a little weirded out by the movie version, which this figure is based on, because he looks too much like a guy with rocks glued to him ... the Kirby version looked like a guy MADE out of rocks. Does that make sense? I always loved the 90s Hall of Fame version of Rock n Roll, he's a cool fuzzhead, even with the limited movements the HOF Joes have. I know he's based on the comics and 3.75" versions of Joe, but what's up with that name?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey Brine!

Nice Blog ya have here :)

As for why Rock n Roll is called that, well I think it had to do with the fact that he was the Joe's heavy machine gunner.... like "yahoo rock n roll!" Or something. ;)

I liked the HOF Rock n Roll too, I swapped his head onto a Classic Collection Joe body so he could enjoy more articulation.

Echo Team said...

Man, the Thing looks cool next to the Joes. I'm starting to regret not picking one up for $3
Stan Lee is a creative genious, but was/is heavily influenced by DC Comic characters such as Superman and Batman. If you watch the Sci-Fi Channel's "Who Wants to be a Superhero" Stan alludes to Clark Kent in the first challenge (change into your costumes inconspicuously) and he also compares the Secret Lair of the contestants to the Bat Cave.
ET
PS: Great Blog Brine!