Thing

As of Guardians of the Galaxy #15, by Brian Michael Bendis and Valerio Schiti, the titular team officially no longer exists. Their ship has blown up, they're all stuck on Earth, and they've gone their separate ways. So naturally Ben Grimm is spending time in the city of his birth, but Manhattan isn't the same without his family, the Fantastic Four, living in it.

It feels almost too clichéd to be worth saying: whether you're naming a favorite superhero or a favorite comics monster, the Thing is no surprise for the top of either list. In fact the archetype of the monster as member of a superhero team started with him, and with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who introduced the character in Fantastic Four #1. He wasn't exactly the first superheroic monster, but he was the first one who wasn't a loner, and the first whose gruff but self-conscious demeanor contrasted with the sunnier dispositions of his non-monstrous teammates.

From Wally West and Linda Park, to Harley Quinn and Mistah J, we're asking you to vote on comics' most famous couples so we can determine the best (and worst) romantic partnerships that comics have to offer. If you think the couple is star-crossed and meant to be, vote 'True Love.' If you think they've got unstable chemistry and can only end badly, vote 'Bad Romance.' In today's polls, a classic theme; beauty and the beast. Monsters and the people who love them are a recurring motif in fiction, and the tradition has proved especially popular in comics, whether it's Bigby and Snow, Bruce and Betty, or Swamp Thing and Abby. If a monstrous outcast can find love, is that the truest love of all? Or are some people too terrible to love?

Get a look at today's links after the jump.

Gaming: Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes is now available on iOS devices. Toys: A 6" Revoltech Iron Man Mark I from the first Iron Man movie is on the way in Japan (and likely internationally) for about $48 USD. Anime: Discotek Media's English dubbed Samurai Pizza Cats complete box set (52 episodes on 8 DVDs) will arrive on July 30 for about $80...

Movies: If you thought the 2005 Fantastic Four film was a departure from its Marvel Comics source material, wait until you see the unused concept art for Dr. Doom and the Thing by Constantine Sekeris. Art Shows: "Lazer Lips and Glass Helmets", an art show featuring nearly 20 new retro-futuristic pieces of artwork by Ming Doyle and Toby Cypress, will kick off a 7 p...

Though it may be hard to believe, most folks working in the comic book industry were at one time plain ol' fans who did fanboy type stuff -- case in point, former DC/Oni/Dark Horse and current IDW editor, Bob Schreck, who back in the early 1980's made a fan film titled "The Incredible Hulk Meets The Ever Lovin' Blue Eyed Thing...

In our recurring original art feature, writer Chris Sims and artist Rusty Shackles carry on the noble comic book tradition of the imaginary story by bringing you the Best Comics Ever that don't actually exist! This week, we step into the Squared Circle for the most off-beat tag-team of all...