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.....For the first forty-plus years of the Thing's existence, his religion was never expressly stated. Stan Lee has mentioned in the past that he never gave it any real thought, but that was not the case for Kirby. He always considered the Thing to be Jewish, and, in fact, Kirby once portrayed the Thing wearing the traditional Jewish skull-cap and prayer shawl and holding a prayer book. The drawing hung in Kirby's home. After Lee and Kirby left the book, a few stories showed the Thing celebrating Christmas (and he appeared on the covers of various Marvel Christmas celebrations), but his religion was never specifically mentioned. Finally, in 2002, in a fill-in issue of The Fantastic Four, writer Karl Kesel asked permission from editor Tom Brevoort to do a story about the Thing's past and expressly refer to his Jewish heritage. Brevoort consented, and the issue, Fantastic Four #56, was a lovely examination of the Thing's background (which echoed Jack Kirby's, right down to growing up on the Lower East Side of New York and a brother who died far too early, plus the Thing's name is Benjamin Jacob Grimm—the first name is Kirby's father's, and the middle name Kirby's birth name).
..........— Brian Cronin, author. Was Superman a Spy?: And Other Comic Book Legends Revealed (2009).
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