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"Climate of Fear" Part 3
The Thing from Another World: Climate of Fear #3 (Dark Horse)
Script by John Arcudi
Pencils by Jim Somerville
Inks by Robert Jones
Cover by John Higgins |
MacReady stands revealed as a Thing!
Story Summary
As MacReady's blood test seems to reveal him as a Thing, he
turns the attention away from himself by suggesting the
Argentine soldier, Cruz, is one because he was the one who
buried Deseado, who did turn out to be a Thing. MacReady
still has his flame thrower strapped to his back and
immediately torches Cruz, who Things-out. Cruz's head
escapes out a window until the troops burn it out of a tree
outside. In the meantime, MacReady has escaped into the
forest and a search for him begins. In the woods, MacReady
wonders whether or not he is a Thing.
Back at the station, Childs continues the blood tests of the
Argentine personnel. One of them turns out to be a Thing and
is torched. The rest are confined to their quarters "for
their own protection".
In the woods, MacReady uses the flame from his flame thrower
to test his own blood once again (but we don't see the
result), while, at the station, Quintana grabs up a hidden
machete in his quarters and heads out, frustrated at the
American team's orders to keep the rest of them confined. He
goes to Dr. Viale to tell her of his intention to confront
the Americans and she ridicules him, which just sends him
off in a fit of hurt and anger. Viale, feeling ashamed of
behaving that way towards him, heads out after Quintana.
Searching for him, she finds MacReady stumbling out of the
woods instead. He tells her he tested himself again and he's
negative--still human. He's about to prove it to her when
Childs steps into the picture as well. MacReady tells him
he's clean, that the ashtray used to hold his blood must
have been contaminated with Thing cells somehow. Childs
replies that he knows all that...because, "I infected it!" he
says as he Things-out!
CONTINUED IN THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD: CLIMATE OF
FEAR #4
Didja Notice?
Somehow, the group seems to now know that Dr. Deseado was a
Thing even though he showed no signs when he was shot and
"killed" in
"Climate of Fear" Part
2. Possibly they found his grave was disturbed and empty
after MacReady and the soldiers returned from the abandoned
airfield with Childs (assuming the Thing did not cover up
the grave again to make it appear undisturbed).
On page 2, it almost seems as if MacReady torches Cruz
merely on suspicion of being a Thing (and as a cover to his
own escape into the forest). Yes, the flame thrower proves
Cruz is a Thing as he burns, but did MacReady really know
that simply because Cruz was the one who buried Deseado?
On page 7, MacReady has fled into the forest and insists to
himself that he is still MacReady, that he would know if he
were one of the Things. As we know from the short story
"The Things", that is not
necessarily true.
In
"Climate of Fear" Part
2, Simm was referred to as Colonel. Here, he is referred
to as Commander; this makes more sense since Childs says his
team is composed of Navy men and the Navy does not have a
rank of Colonel. I think we can assume the earlier Colonel
reference was a misprint.
On page 13, Simm mentions F-14s. The F-14
is a fighter craft of the U.S. Navy
introduced in 1974 and retired in 2006.
Also on page 13, there appears what seems to be an aircraft
carrier of the U.S. Navy called the U.S.S. Buffalo. There
has never been a U.S. aircraft carrier by that name (though
there is a Los Angeles-class nuclear submarine by that name
commissioned in 1983 and still in service).
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