“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 70

20 Saturday Aug 2022

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

Tags

1967, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 70, jack Kirby, mad Thinker, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 70
“When Fall the Mighty!”
Published Oct. 1967
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Art Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Picking up where Fantastic Four 69 left off, Mr. Fantastic, the Human Torch and a bunch of NYPD cops burst into the Mad Thinker’s hideout to rescue Dr. Santini, the scientist Reed recruited to try and revert the Thing to human form. After they navigate various androids and booby traps, Reed overcomes the Thinker and Santini is rescued.

Meanwhile, the Thing, who previously was brainwashed into seeking revenge against Reed by the Thinker, is still at large in New York. After evading the cops, he eventually make his way through the subway to find Reed and Johnny, where they battle on the city streets before Reed can lure him back to the Baxter Building. There, Ben subdues Johnny before attacking Reed.

Now in prison, the Thinker uses a device in his wrist watch to trigger a new, 12-foot android to attack the FF. The issue concludes as Reed activates the “Menta-Wave Unit,” knocking out Ben, while the android bursts though the wall of the Baxter Building and the Invisible Girl, up to now sidelined, is left to confront the robot with the rest of the team unconscious.

What’s going on here?

A continuation of a not-terribly-compelling story, FF 70 does pick up some momentum and ends on a genuinely suspenseful note (it’s probably no coincidence that the last panel of the comic was repurposed for the cover). It’s pretty much wall-to-wall action, and features a lot of Reed either battling the Mad Thinker or Ben. This is one of the issues of the FF that reads like “Reed Richards and the Fantastic Three,” with Ben playing the bad guy, Johnny mostly getting in trouble for not listening to Reed, and Sue almost totally absent. It seems pretty clear that both Stan and Jack see Reed as their stand-in—the mature, responsible father figure shepherding women and children—and this comic makes it really obvious.

The sexist sixties

As noted earlier, both Sue and Crystal have been sidelined by Reed and Johnny. Sue is pregnant, so there’s a certain old-fashioned logic there, but at this point it seems Stan and Jack don’t really know what to do with Crystal. Her role will expand in issues to come.