Fantastic Four 82
“The Mark of the .. Madman!”
Publiched Oct. 1968
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

With Crystal now a member of the Fantastic Four—filling in for the Invisible Woman, who recently gave birth—she tells the rest of the team she needs to secure permission from her family, the Inhumans. But as soon as she speaks it, Lockjaw teleports into the Baxter Building, followed by a horde of Alpha Primatives who capture her and disappear with her and Lockjaw. Back at the Inhumans Great Refuge (still not called Attilan), Crystal discovers Maximus the Mad has subdued the rest of the Inhuman Royal family via his “hypno-potions,” and capturing Crystal was his final blow.

Meanwhile, the three male members of the FF pursue Crystal via the FF’s ICBM, and once they arrive in the Himalayas, they are first trapped in a chamber by Maximus, then attacked, and eventually subdued by a robot called Zorr. The issue ends with Maximus planning to conquer the rest of the Earth. (For what’s it’s worth, the scene on the cover appears no where in the comic).

What’s going on here?

This is a fairly straightforward adventure comic that feels somewhat predictable. It features the return of the Inhumans, so naturally the villain is Maximus, and of course his plan is conquering the world. For the second issue in a row, Sue (and her still unnamed) baby are noticeably absent. I get why Stan and Jack wouldn’t want to bog down a comic with too much domesticity, but part of the FF’s appeal is it’s focus on family. Surely checking in on Sue and her new baby once wouldn’t be too much to ask?

If anything helps this comic rise about the average, it’s Jack’s great pencils and layouts. The art looks better than ever, and as we enter the final quarter of his run on the FF, he’s clearly letting his art air out. There’s more four- and even two-panel pages, and more splash pages, including two in this issue. It wasn’t uncommon to go many issues without a single splash page (aside from the opening page) and now they’re a regular feature.

I’m not a robot

Zorr is yet another very human-like robot the FF have fought in the last dozen or so issues. Along with the Kree Sentry, there was also Galactus’s Punisher, and the Thinker’s Android Man. All had very human-like speech patterns and behaviors (aside from the Punisher, but that was specifically described as half creature, half machine). It’s not clear if this is just a coincidence, or a conscious decision by Stan and Jack, but seems worth noting.

These guys look familiar

The Inhuman Alpha Primatives here look a lot like the Parademons Jack would create in a few years when he jumped to DC.

Oy vey

Another very specifically Jewish reference from Ben (a megillah is literally a scroll from the Book of Esther). Ben wasn’t explicitly identified as Jewish until much layer (not until in 2002). but he was the character that most resembled Jack (both grew up on the Lower East Side etc) and it made sense that Ben to sounds like a New York Jew, whether or not Stan and Jack intended to make him Jewish.

Who?

Reed calls Ben “Benjy” here. Which seems like a mistake.

It’s Clobberin’ Time

A pretty good one, at that.

Ladies and gentleman, I give you Joe Sinnott

More great inks from the master.

For sale

Live monkeys? Seriously?

We get letters

Someone had too much time on their hands

Dig that Kirby Krackle

Along with the great splash pages, there are some impressive smaller panels.

Also on newsstands

What else was on sale in October 1968?

Next issue: Does Maximus conquer Earth?