Say it ain't so, Stretcho! Ben Grimm is cured of being the Thing, only to find himself replaced by Luke Cage, Hero for Hire! The elements of this story are almost so ridiculous that they hardly need to be commented upon, but here's a break down of the story for you.

Right after Ben loses another fight to the Hulk, he becomes human again. Reed, feeling that the Fantastic Four requires four super human individuals, hires a scab, Luke Cage, to take Ben's place. (Whatta revoltin' development for the super-hero union.) Ben, who spends a lot of time these days whining about how much he would like to be human, spends the entire story resenting how he was replaced. Meanwhile, Luke immediately has his mind controlled by the Puppet Master and turns against the team. When all is done and settled, Luke bows out of joining the team after all, leaving Reed to construct a "Thing suit" for Ben to wear.

Now, I don't know about you, but I think the idea of a suit of armor designed to make Ben look like the Thing again is rather silly. Why not give Ben something like Iron Man's armor? Is there some inherent power to being bulky, rocky, and orange? Does it make any sense that in the following storyline Galactus changes Ben back into the Thing instead of just killing him? How strong was this Thing armor really if Ben's transformation into the Thing breaks it? Why does it make a lot more sense for Ben to just hang out and be glad to be human like he does in Walt Simonson's Fantastic Four? How many more questions can you ask about this whole business?

Wait... yes, I see it now! Reed represents the imperious bourgeousie, creating the inventions and running the team, thus owning the means of production! Ben is nothing more than the loyal proletariet, who desires nothing more than to go back to work and live in the comfort of the capitalist system that made him the thing he is! Johnny's heading down that same road! Don't do it, son! Revolution is the key! Together, we build a stronger tomorrow for all people! No, no, wait, I'm wrong. Never mind.

Are you kidding? The blue-eyed idol of millions reduced to the Feeble Foursome? But look at the evidence!

In this storyline, Ben is cured of being the Thing. (Now exactly what the mutagenic process triggered by these cosmic rays is that allows him to recover from such a traumatic transformation so smoothly is a bit beyond my scientific knowledge.) Then all he does for the entire story is complain about it until he's finally made the Thing again by Galactus in Fantastic Four #175. Before that, however, he still swings into action, tackling both the Wrecker and Luke Cage with his normal human strength. Both times, he gets his clock cleaned quickly. Does this guy have rocks in his head? He holds advanced college education, yet somehow he feels he can take on guys who toss around more than 10 or 20 tons barehanded?