"No Choice of Colors!" is the title of the first story in the twelfth issue of the Adventure Into Fear comic book series published by Marvel Comics. The story was written by Steve Gerber with artwork by Jim Starlin and inks by Rich Buckler. It was lettered by John Costanza and edited by Roy Thomas. The second story is a reprint feature called "The Face of Horror" by writer Stan Lee and artist Russ Heath. This issue shipped with a February, 1973 cover date and carries a cover price of .20 cents per copy.
The Man-Thing spots county sheriff Wallace Corlee pursuing a black man named Jackson through the swamps. He fires a shot, which tags Jackson in the shoulder and he falls into the murky water. He manages to swim to an embankment and makes it to shore. Corlee loses sight of him, but is determined to get his man. The Man-Thing, curious by this spectacle, lumbers off in Jackson's direction. Finding Jackson unconscious, some aspect of Ted Sallis' memory comes to the surface, and the creature fashions a crude sling for Jackson's injured arm. Jackson awakens, but is not scared of the Man-Thing. Suspecting that Man-Thing may have helped save his life, he is actually grateful.
Jackson tells Man-Thing his story, about how Wallace Corlee is racist cop, who seeks to keep the black man down. Jackson earned his ire, when he became friendly to a white woman that Corlee had set his sites on. After Jackson concludes his story, the Man-Thing rises and lumbers off - leading Jackson to shelter. As they walk, a large snake attacks Jackson. The Man-Thing pulls the creature off his new friend and smashes it to the ground, killing it.
The noise attracts Sheriff Corlee to the area. Corlee is so intent on getting Jackson, that the presence of the Man-Thing doesn't even phase him. He accuses Jackson of having murdered a fellow police officer. Jackson confesses to having killed a man. The Man-Thing doesn't know which one to believe, so he turns away. Corlee fires a shot and kills Jackson. Despite the sheriff's glee, something sets the Man-Thing off and he attacks Corlee, prompting the sheriff to express extreme fear, "Fear so thick, so foul -- that it blots outs all else". He takes Corlee in his arms and crushes him to death, which his acidic touch burns the sheriff's body. Afterward, the Man-Thing lumbers back off into the night.
A 37-year-old man named Derck has gone through life suffering from extreme ugliness. This has led to severe self esteem issues and a penchant for driving people away. He goes to a plastic surgeon, who tells him that he is too ugly for even his processes to work. He gives him a card for a physician in London named Basil Blake, who might be able to help him, but he charges $10,000 per operation.
Depressed because there is no way he could ever afford the money for the airfare, let alone the operation, Derck throws himself in front of an oncoming vehicle in the hopes of ending his life. The motorist strikes Derck, then gets out of his car to see if he is okay. Derck is still alive, and attempts to blackmail the man, declaring that he was at fault for hitting him. The man offers to give him $500, but when Derck sees how much the man actually has in his billfold, he tries to squeeze him for more. When the man refuses, Derck strangles him to death. The police arrive to arrest him, and Derck learns that the man he just killed was Basil Blake - the very physician who could have cured his ugliness. But there is no cure for the ugliness rotting within.
Topequa is a fictional location created specifically for this story.
"No Choice of Colors" addresses themes of racism as well as social commentary on the inequity between white law-enforcement officers and black suspects. Although Wallace Corlee is presented as the primary antagonist of the story, it also reveals that Jackson is also racist and is in fact guilty of the crime that Corlee accuses him of.
