The Thing: The King of Yancy Street - with Logan Crowley
We’re back with another episode of Trade School! This time, we’re talking about The Thing: The King of Yancy Street! Our host this week is Logan Crowley!
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Edited by Case Aiken
Scored by Bret Eagleston
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⏱️ YouTube Chapters
00:00 Welcome and Introduction
00:45 Understanding Ben Grimm
01:32 Tony Fleecs and the Character Work
02:27 The Missing Niece
03:23 An ’80s Marvel Throwback
04:19 Ben’s Moral Conflict
05:11 Final Recommendation
05:31 Single Bound Promo
Transcription
00:00
Welcome to Certain Point of View's Trade School, where each episode a different host talks about a comic book trade paperback that they loved and why they love it. Hello everyone, my name is Logan Crowley from the Single Bound podcast available on Spotify and I will be your guest instructor at Trade School tonight. And I just wanted to talk about a. What is a really new comic that I think flew under a lot of people's radar last year? It is the Thing, King of Yancey street by Tony Fleeks and Justin Mason. Tony Fleeks, a lot of you may be familiar with as the author of Local man, which is itself a really good comic, but is, you know, is an image book and could be somebody else's episode of this at some point.
00:45
King of Yancey street, though, I think is one of the best thing comics in a long time. I don't know of many other books in the last 20 years that really understood the character that Ben Grimm is the way that this one does. Think that the early Thing comics, early Fantastic Four comics, benefited so much by the fact that the Lower east side of Manhattan was a very different place in the time that those creators grew up. And I think that you had more writers in the bullpen that were like him culturally, that were kind of rough and tumble, had big hearts, but definitely had a. Had a mean streak to them. And I don't know that in the kind of.
01:32
I think the pipeline for comics these days is sort of like rich parents, children flunk out of being screenwriters and fall into being comic writers. Definitely isn't everyone. But I do feel like that's the stereotype right now. If I'm going to be very reductive, which I guess I am, I don't know that those writers always necessarily understand a guy like Ben and understand what Yancey street was as well as it seems like Tony Fleeks does. You know, I don't know his background. I know he used to write My Little Pony, which makes everything I'm saying very funny. But honestly, this comic is good enough that I might read My Little Pony if this is what he is capable of, because it just really is an exceptional character piece. To sum up the plot very briefly, without getting into anything too specific or spoilery.
02:27
The Thing is approached by a childhood bully who used to beat him up when he was very small, who wants him to help him find his niece now that Ben has superpowers and his niece has gone missing. And that kind of embroils Ben in this gauntlet of super villains. Very, very similar to the warriors, if you've seen that movie. And I think there's some very intentional pulls from it as he tries to solve this mystery and protect himself against all of the super criminals that 1980s Marvel could throw at him. Which is also one of the coolest things about this book is it is set not in the 80s, but it is set in what Marvel was in the 80s. So when characters show up, they have their 1980s designs, they have their 1980s status quo.
03:23
And it's clear that Tony Fleeks did his homework because it flew feels it has all the good Parts of a 1980s Jim Shooter era Marvel comic while still feeling new and fresh in all the ways that you want. Modern comics too. And as the guy who has decided to designate himself as the intellectual defender of superhero fights, this has some absolutely incredible superhero fights that also do what a superhero fight is supposed to do, which is it shows you something about the character and how he approaches the world and sees things. We get to see how smart and fast on his feet. Ben is in a tight spot, but it also lets you see two opposing philosophies come into contrast with each other in a physical way, which is done fantastically in this book.
04:19
As Ben is constantly budding into people who oppose him philosophically, but also parts of him that oppose each other. Does he need to be helping this guy who was so awful to him when he was vulnerable as a kid? And how much does that person need to be held responsible as an adult for transgressions they committed as a child? And how much it is, you know, Ben's problem if he wants to be that mature about it. It's a really interesting story with a lot of kinetic action and a good fast pace. I highly recommend it. And I think it actually just went on trade a couple months ago, so, you know, now is the time to pick it up. Yeah, can't recommend it enough. Thank you so much for listening.
05:11
Thank you so much to Case for giving me the opportunity to shout out this new kind of underappreciated gem. I hope that this grows to be a book that people really love to have on their shelves. I definitely have already touched back on it and reread it just since it came out the first time. And happy reading everyone.
05:31
We love digging into epic comic book runs, but what about the art of the single issue? Single Bound is a new podcast series hosted by married couple Amy and Logan as they review single issues of comics. And if the title also makes you think of Superman, you're not Alone as the man of Steel is Logan's favorite character and a regular topic of discussion on Single Bound. Listen and subscribe on Spotify and YouTube and follow the show on Instagram @singleboundpodcast.cpov certainpov.com.