Fantastic Four 40
“The Battle of the Baxter Building”
Published: April 1965
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby:
Inks: Vince Colletta
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Frank Giacoia

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 40 picks up where FF 39 left off, more or less, in one of the few multi-issue adventures so far. While Mr. Fantastic and Daredevil split up at the end of FF 39, now they’re working together again to battle Dr. Doom, who has taken control of the Baxter Building and is using Reed’s devices against the (literally) powerless team. While Daredevil acts as a distraction, Reed joins Johnny and Sue in evading the defenses in the Baxter Building lobby. They are eventually joined by Ben, in human, form and as Daredevil fights Doom, the team works their way up to the top of the building.

There Reed uses the power stimulator the team last used in fighting the Skulls, in FF 37, to re-power the team, including a reluctant Ben. One again the Thing, Ben then battles Doom single handedly, eventually tearing apart his armor. Before he can hurt or kill Doom, the rest of the team intervenes, and Doom slinks off in defeat. But as the rest of the team rejoices, a bitter Ben quits the team.

What’s going on here?

Another issue that’s pretty much wall-to-wall action, save for about three panels of character development at the end. There’s another (rare) guest appearance from Daredevil, but he fades into the background in the second half of the book. The Thing is really the star of this issue, and his battle with Doom takes up more than five pages. It’s another early version of a Thing-Doesn’t-Quit sequence, which becomes a defining part of Ben’s character. We saw a bit of it in FF 17, when Ben, in human form, penetrated Doom’s aircraft, and then in FF 25-26, when he fights the Hulk.

In this issue, Stan and Jack set up Ben’s story arc when Reed subjects him to the power stimulator, without giving him a choice in the matter.

His transformation is suitably dramatic, and Jack devotes a half splash to his return as the Thing:

In the battle, we get some never-say-die from Ben:

Then, after he defeats Doom, he realizes what he has sacrificed and quits the team in disgust.

Deus Ex Machina

After all the angst last issue about the FF losing their powers, and Reed’s feverish attempts to reconstruct their power through artificial means, the are restored surprisingly easily. So easily, in fact, that Ben and Daredevil have the same questions we do.

Reed’s explanation falls a bit flat, too. If the stimulator was all they needed to regain their powers, why didn’t Reed just make a new one instead of building a Thing robot and a flaming flying suit for Johnny?

The sexist sixties

Sue is ready for her fainting couch again.

It’s (not) Clobbering Time!

Further evidence that his signature line really hasn’t been baked into Ben’s character yet. If ever there was a place to say it, it’s here:

Who’s the new guy?

Vince Colletta takes over the inking in this issue. Colletta is both of one comic’s most prolific inkers and most controversial, particularly for his sometimes slap-dash handling of Kirby’s work. It’s explained in great detail here. It’s hard to see a big drop off here from Franck Giacoia’s inks in the last issue, but we’re still just killing time before we get to Joe Sinnott.

Thicc Reed

Reed is noticeably buff in this issue. It’s not a particularly new development—Jack has been drawing him as a typically muscular super-hero for some time now—but it’s a pretty big departure from his tweedy, professorial look from the early issues.

Holy Billy Club, Daredevil!

Daredevil’s billy club has more gadgets and gizmos that Silver Age Batman’s utility belt. In just this issue, it turns into a gun and a “telescoping flexi-shield.”

Twanggg!

What could be more classically Daredevil than DD bouncing off of a flagpole?

Weird science

Reed invented … a drone.

Dig that Kirby Krackle

There is some great art in this issue, starting with the splash page (and check out Stan’s modest blurbing):

There are also some great fight scenes. Here’s DD vs. DD:

And Ben vs. Doom is just titanic:

Next issue: The return of the Frightful Four!

Fantastic Four 39
“A Blind Man Shall Lead Them”
Published: March 1965
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Frank Giacoia (credited as Frank Ray)
Letters: Art Simek
Cover: Kirby and Chic Stone

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 39 picks up where FF 38 leaves of, after the detonation of the Frightful Four’s Q-Bomb leaves the FF floating unconscious on a raft and with the Thing reverted to human form. FF 39 opens with the team being rescued by a US Navy submarine, and realizing they have all lost their powers.

Back at the Baxter Building in New York, Reed builds devices to mimic the team’s lost powers, reasoning that the team will be vulnerable to its enemies if they were thought powerless. Meanwhile, in Latveria, a hypnotist causes Dr. Doom to remember being tricked by Mr. Fantastic into thinking he defeated the FF (as show in FF Annual 2). Doom vows revenge and flies to New York.

In New York, blind attorney Matt Murdock meets the FF at a warehouse where they are rehearsing their new devices. As Reed explains he wants Murdock to ensure the FF’s affairs are in order if something happens to them, the warehouse is attacked. Murdock quickly changes in his Daredevil costume and helps the FF evade the attacks from Doom, who has seized control of the Baxter Building and is using the FF’s devices against them. The FF scatters and Daredevil draws Doom’s fire on the streets of New York. The issue ends with another cliffhanger as the powerless FF plans their assault on the Baxter Building.

What’s going on here?

There’s a lot going on in FF 39, although not necessarily what you might expect. While readers of last issue’s cliff-hanger ending might have reasonably anticipated a showdown with the Frightful Four, those villains aren’t even mentioned. Instead, we’re off on a new adventure with Doom. The FF’s powerlessness is the big event in this issue, and it’s framed as a major disaster for the team, even for Ben who might otherwise be pretty happy not to be the Thing again. It sends Reed into a inventing frenzy, and gives Jack an opportunity to whip up some fun devices.

While the FF’s need for these mechanical powers is short lived (I assume!) Reed’s artificial, extendable arms reappear in FF 185, when he again has lost his powers.

The Thing robot doesn’t reappear, but it’s a precursor of a Thing exo-skeleton worn by Ben and others on numerous occasions.

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At various points, all the members of the FF have lost their powers, although the only other time I am aware of them all being powerless was in a 1982 What If? by John Byrne, which imagines the team as a Challengers of the Unknown-type team of adventurers.

About that cover

If the cover of FF 39 looks familiar, it’s because it’s been frequently homaged (or swiped, depending on how charitable you’re feeling). Here’s a handful of homages just with Doom (including one from Kirby himself):

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And while it’s not a cover, this double-page splash from Byrne in FF 236 is a literal interpretation of the cover metaphor, since the FF in this issue has been reduced to tiny size.

Get me my lawyer

Daredevil makes a rare guest appearance in the FF. Unlike Spider-Man, who is in dozens of issues and eventually becomes a team member, DD shows up only sporadically. This appearance slots between Daredevil issues 6 and 7 and was doubtless an opportunity for Stan to goose DD’s sales. This is technically their second meeting, after Matt Murdock was hired at their lawyer in Daredevil 2.

Who’s the new guy?

FF features inks by Frank Giacoia, a longtime comic artist with credits that date from 1942 to 1987. He was a regular inker on Daredevil and later on Spider-Man but inked the FF only a few other times after this issue. Here he is credited as Frank Ray, which FF fans might recall is very similar to Frankie Raye, the name of the Human Torch’s girlfriend in the 1980s before she became Nova and a herald of Galactus. Is there a connection? Knowing John Byrne’s obsession with these early issues of the FF, I would bet on it.

Krazy Kredits

Reed Richards is a Jerk!

Reed doesn’t care about your feelings.

Dig that Kirby Krackle

FF 39 features another photo collage, although I’m not sure this one is as successful as the previous, cosmic ones.

This is a great image of the FF after losing their powers. The body language says everything.

Another cool panel.

And Doom with Reed’s gizmos in the Baxter Building:

Next issue: The Battle for the Baxter Building!