When Was the Thing First Called the 'Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed Thing'?

CBR

When Was the Thing First Called the 'Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed' Thing?

By Brian Cronin

Published Apr 30, 2019

In their latest spotlight on notable comic firsts, CSBG reveals when the Thing first referred to himself as the 'Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed' Thing

In "When We First Met," we spotlight the various characters, phrases, objects or events that eventually became notable parts of comic lore, like the first time someone said, "Avengers Assemble!" or the first appearance of Batman's giant penny or the first appearance of Alfred Pennyworth or the first time Spider-Man's face was shown half-Spidey/half-Peter. Stuff like that.

Today, based on a suggestion from reader Chaim K., who I am afraid that I kind of hate now because this one proved so difficult to answer, we find out when the Thing was first referred to as the "Ever-Loving, Blue-Eyed" Thing.

The trick here, of course, is that when the Thing started out, he was a brooding sort. He was clearly the breakout character from the series, hence him getting a pin-up in the second issue, but note how serious he was...

(That pinup, by the way, was later re-done in Marvel UK to add the "Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed" description to it, so don't be fooled into thinking this pin-up was the debut of the phrase!

Slowly but surely, after the introduction of a girlfriend for the Thing, he began to act less like an outsider and more, well, you know, LOVABLE.

And sure enough, in Fantastic Four #35 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Chic Stone), the Thing is referred to as "Ever-Lovin'" for the first time...

Three issues later, he refers to himself as blue-eyed for the first time (up until this point, he actually had only ever called the Human Torch "Blue-Eyed" before - his actual eyes never really seemed to get much attention, so I dunno if they were even determined what color they were before this point)...

Hilariously enough, the "ever-lovin'" phrase is used in that same issue, so we could have had this all wrapped up very quickly!

Alas, it was not. Thanks a lot, Chaim!

Fantastic Four #48 (by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee and Joe Sinnott) broke out pretty much all of Thing's catchphrases at the time, including "Clobbering Time" and mentioning his Aunt Petunia...

Fantastic Four #53 has him call himself the bashful blue-eyed Thing...

Ten issues later, he's the blushing blue-eyed Thing...

Fantastic Four #74 taunted me by once again using the phrases each, but separately...

Finally, in Fantastic Four #84, the Thing refers to himself as "Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed"....

You might note that he doesn't actually say specifically "Ever-Lovin' Blue-Eyed THING," but come on, this is clearly the answer, even if he doesn't say the exact phrase. You agree, right, Chaim?

EDITED TO ADD: Enough people asked for the specific usage that I put even MORE work into this one and in Fantastic Four #119 (by Roy Thomas, John Buscema and Joe Sinnott), the Thing adds in "Thing" to the phrase for the first time, but he also includes another term in the middle...