It the Living Colossus

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caption=
comic_color=background:#ff8080
character_name=It! The Living Colossus
real_name=Robert "Bob" O'Bryan
publisher=Marvel Comics
debut="Tales of Suspense" vol. 1 #14 (Feb 1961)
creators=Jack Kirby
alliance_color=background:#cccccc
alliances=S.H.I.E.L.D. Howling Commandos
aliases=
powers=Superhuman strength
Flight
Ability to command intelligence which was forced back into its original body|

It! The Living Colossus (Robert "Bob" O’Bryan) is a fictional comic-book character in the Marvel Comics universe who first appeared in "Tales of Suspense" vol. 1, #14 (Feb. 1961), in a story drawn by Jack Kirby (writer unknown). He was revived as a continuing-series star in "Astonishing Tales" #21 (Dec. 1973).

Publication history

The Jack Kirby-drawn Marvel pre-superhero monster was revived by writer Tony Isabella in "Astonishing Tales". Dick Ayers drew and lettered the stories.

Isabella said in 2001 in "Comic Book Artist" #13, page 100, that after the Theodore Sturgeon story "It!" in "Supernatural Thrillers" #1 (Dec. 1972) had sold well, "Came the word from on high that Marvel should do a regular 'It!' series." But Marvel already had Man-Thing, so, "looking over the sales figures for recent issues of Marvel's giant monster reprint books, we discovered the issues which reprinted the 'Colossus' stories by Jack Kirby ["Monsters on the Prowl" #17, 25] sold much better than the other issues which had been published around the same time".

Isabella, in the interview above, said, "It was an honor working with Dick Ayers, one of the original 'Big Four' artists of the Marvel Universe. However, I don't think Dick was at his best here. He wasn't being treated very well by Marvel and it was showing in his work".

In an unusual storytelling technique for the time, Isabella made longer stories than the budgeted 15-page tales by inserting reprint panels or pages from 1959-61 pre-superhero monster stories. "I could expand the page count of the 'It!' stories while including backstory which would have otherwise eaten up some of those new pages".

Bibliography

*"Astonishing Tales" #21-24
*"Avengers Two: Wonder Man & the Beast" #2-3
*"Incredible Hulk" vol. 2 #244
*"Marvel Monsters"
*"Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E." #11
*"Nick Fury's Howling Commandos" #1-6
*"Tales of Suspense" vol. 1 #14, 20

Fictional character biography

It, the Living Colossus was an immense 100-foot-tall stone humanoid statue constructed by Moscow sculptor Boris Petrovski to protest against the oppressive nature of the Soviet government. It became animated initially by the mind transferral of an alien Kigor and rampaged briefly through Moscow after being attacked by the military. When the rescue party arrived, the Kigor abandoned the Colossus and returned to its home-world, leaving It inanimate. ["Tales of Suspense" #14] The statue was later transported to Los Angeles and reanimated by the Kigors, who used it to attack the U.S. army. The Kigors were defeated by Hollywood special effects designer Bob O'Bryan, a man with a physical disability, and the statue was rendered inanimate. ["Tales of Suspense" #20]

O'Bryan was later confined to a wheelchair. The statue was stolen by the evil Doctor Vault, who reduced It in size from 100 feet to 30 feet. It was then animated by the mind transferral of O'Bryan, and It battled Vault's minions and escaped. ["Astonishing Tales" #21] It then battled Granitor and alien invaders from the planet Stonus V. Alongside Fin Fang Foom, It defeated the invaders. ["Astonishing Tales" #22-23] However, It then battled Fin Fang Foom and became controlled by Doctor Vault. ["Astonishing Tales" #24]

O'Bryan was later cured, and married Diane Cummings, living in Los Angeles. As It, he battled the Hulk, The statue became controlled by Doctor Vault, and was totally destroyed in battle with the Hulk, reduced to dust. ["Incredible Hulk" Vol. 2 #244] It was later rebuilt as a robot, ["Marvel Comics Presents" #169] and reformed by O’Bryan under the control of Lotus Newmark. It later became a member of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s Howling Commandos Monster Force.

Reed Richards made a duplicate of It using the Ionic Inanimate Matter Converter. It was sent to oppose the Cosmic Cube empowered Dr. Doom ["Fantastic Four: World’s Greatest Comic Magazine" #12]

Another duplicate of It, as well as a second, brownish, version of the creature, fought on behalf of terrorist front organization H.A.T.E., defending the secret State 51 installation from the Nextwave squad. ["Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E." #11]

The Initiative

Robert is being considered as a "potential recruit" for the program, according to "Civil War: Battle Damage Report".

Powers and abilities

Bob O'Bryan becomes It, the Living Colossus through mind transferral into an animated stone statue, its composition altered by the alien Kigors. It has tremendous superhuman strength, as well as superhuman stamina and durability, and the ability to manipulate gravitons for flight. As a statue, it could survive underwater without air. However, It does have a vulnerability to nerve gas or knockout gas, forcing the command intelligence back into its original body. There is also an unrevealed time limit during which the command intelligence can remain in the statue.

Other characters

There have been other characters in the Marvel Universe known as "It". These include:
*Roger Kirk, was known as "It" (and also "The Thing That Couldn't Die"), in "Supernatural Thrillers" #1. Kirk had died in 1929 and became a swamp creature created from the reanimated human corpse and vegetation which accumulated around his skeleton. It murdered those around it until it fell into a stream, which washed the skeleton clean.
*An operation of Roxxon was known as "I.T." and was run by Albert DeVoor. I.T went under different alias on each world in an effort to ignite a nuclear war between Earth-616 (as Technologies), Earth-A (as Inter-Related Technocracies) and the Fifth Dimension (as Inter-Politan Thermodynamics) in order to generate power for Polemachus. This occurred in "Fantastic Four" vol. 1, #160-163.
*In the House of M, Ben Grimm, the only survivor of the ill-fated space shuttle flight of Reed Richards and his crew, was captured and named "It" by Victor von Doom and was a member of the Fearsome Foursome. It first appeared in "House of M: Fantastic Four" #1.
*In "Tales to Astonish" vol. 1, #92-93, a robot of unknown origins was called "It the Silent One". It was activated on the ocean floor and battled Namor. It was destroyed after a collision with a submarine.

References

External links

* [http://marvel.com/universe/It%2C_The_Living_Colossus Entry on the official Marvel wiki]