“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 69

13 Saturday Aug 2022

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

Tags

1967, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 69, jack Kirby, mad Thinker, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 69
“By Ben Betrayed!”
Published: Sept. 1967
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 69 picks up where the last issue ends, with the Thing mind-controlled by “Dr. Santini,” a scientist recruited by Mr. Fantastic to help transform Ben into human form but actually the Mad Thinker in disguise. Ben immediately attacks Reed and goes on a rampage in first the Baxter Building, then on the streets of New York.

Meanwhile, the Mad Thinker takes advantage of the chaos to pilfer Reed’s secrets, and discovers the entrance to the Negative Zone. And we learn the real Santini is alive and imprisoned by the Thinker

Eventually the police and national guard are called on to stop Ben, and as the pressure to stop him grows, he steals a hat and coat and disappears into the city, vowing to destroy the FF.

What’s going on here?

If Fantastic Four issues 44 to 60 represent the peak of the Lee/Kirby run, that means there is inevitably going to be some fall off—every peak is followed by a decline. Up until now, the decline hadn’t been steep – the Negative Zone and and Beehive story arcs were of a pretty high quality. But unfortunately these last two issues feel noticeably weaker. It’s not just that the story (so far) lacks much nuance or dimension—the Thinker exploits Ben’s simmering resentment toward Reed—but it’s that Stan and Jack deployed pretty much the same device in issues 40-42. In those issues, it was the Wizard who brainwashed Ben to attack the rest of the team, but the basic idea is the same. Even the titles are similar (“The Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grimm” vs. “By Ben Betrayed”).

Look, no one bats 1.000 and Stan and Jack’s average is better than most. It’s also notable that they never had a fill-in or inventory issue after almost six years, so maybe it’s to be expected their creativity would flag here and there. But there’s also something a bit sad about seeing a decline, because we know this run doesn’t last forever, and we are closer to the end than the beginning.

Weird science

Not only does Reed have a “hi-voltage discharger” but the rest of the team knows all about it.

Incidentally, that’s an iconic image of the Torch. One of Jack’s best.

The sexist 60s

Now it’s not just Sue getting shunted aside, but Crystal as well, despite her pretty impressive powers.