The volume caused a slight stir as it launched Marvel's short-lived Strange Tales imprint that was intended to be aimed toward more mature readers and published without the Comics' Code Authority stamp. This run of Man-Thing focuses largely on Ellen Sallis, wife of Ted Sallis (who became Man-Thing). The story arc revolves around Ellen's and the Man-Thing quest to reassemble the shattered Nexus of All Realities. The Nexus had been damaged by the events of " Heroes Reborn: The Return", and the continued existence of the Multiverse was threatened as a result. Guest star in this volume included Dr. Strange, Namor, and Howard the Duck.
There were originally meant to be three Strange Tales titles, one of which, Warren Ellis' SATANA, would never even see print. The other title was Paul Jenkins' Werewolf By Night (vol.2) . Man-Thing lasted 8 issues and Werwolf lasted 6 issues before both titles were canceled and were revamped and combined into the Strange Tales (vol.4) anthology series; a projected series of at least four issues where each would include full issue-length Man-Thing and Werewolf stories, plus a short horror story featuring another horror character. Only two of the four issues were printed; leaving Man-Thing's and Werewolf's intricate stories to remain hanging, unresolved to this day. Not too long after Strange Tales vol. 4 was also cancelled, DeMatteis and Sharp would reunite to sort-of tie up loose ends in the Peter Parker: Spider-Man Annual '99.
Despite MAN-THING, Volume 3 launching at a respectable 40,000 copies (the projected orders had been 20,000) it was eventually canceled when it dropped to 20,000 (the number that it had been predicted to launch at!). The entire twelve-issue story however had been written and drawn (parts nine and ten appeared in STRANGE TALES Vol 4 issue 1 and 2). Though sales figures were fair, the series garnered some great reviews and remains a fond favorite collaboration of both J.M DeMatteis and Liam Sharp.
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