“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 89

28 Saturday Jan 2023

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1969, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 89, jack Kirby, Mole Man, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 89
“The Madness of the Mole Man!”
Published May 1969
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

This issues picks up where issue 88 left off, sort of. The Thing is now at the Richards’ new house and under attack by the Mole Man, when last issue he very clearly was not present. Now he and the rest of the team are blinded and stumble about trying to defeat the Mole Man. The Mole Man has the upper hand until Mr. Fantastic tricks him into damaging his staff, and the Invisible Girl removes his glasses, rendering him helpless. Reed is badly injured, but revived by Ben.

A new subplot introduces a Skull “slaver” who is traveling to earth to abduct an unnamed contestant to compere in the Skrull’s games. Who could it be?

What’s going on here?

I hate to say it, but this issue is a dud. Last issue had a fun set-up and revealed a genuinely surprising villain, but this comic took a turn to the pedestrian. Most of the issue is a simple fight between the Mole Man and the FF and even blinded, it shouldn’t have been that difficult for them to overcome a non-powered human. I can think of half a dozen ways Reed could have concocted to end the fight much earlier, leaving room for a more interesting twist. And not only is there a very obvious continuity error of including Ben in the battle, when he was supposed to be in the city, but Stan and Jack chose not to include Alicia in the story, whose blindness surely would have made the story more interesting. What better answer for a villain who wants to turn the world blind than a character who already is blind?

More interesting was the tease for next issue’s story featuring the skulls. Although just three pages, two were splashes, and together they promised more drama and fun than the turgid story we were reading.

The Space Race

The Skull subplot features a rare Kirby collage—we haven’t seen one of these in a while—and a reference to the Apollo missions, which were building to the first moon landing in a few months.

It becomes more obvious in the next panel:

I love you, man!

FF 89 also features a declaration of Ben’s affection for Reed. It would be more poignant if the outcome —Reed is going to be OK!—didn’t seem so obvious.

The sexist sixties

Sue can’t just fight bad guys like normal hero. She has to be “an uncaged tigress.”

It’s Clobberin’ Time

Even this seems sort of lackluster.

Mid-century Modern

It’s hard to believe Reed and Sue were really going to live in this place, but they brought all their stuff.

We Get Letters

And I thought Doom-stans were a 21st century phenomenon.

Dig that Kirby Krackle!

A couple of great splash pages this issue.

First, the Skull slaver:

Then an iconic image of Johnny:

Also on Newsstands

What else was for sale in May 1969?

Next issue: The Skulls are back!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 88

22 Sunday Jan 2023

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1969, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 88, jack Kirby, Mole Man, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 88
“A House There Was!”
Published April 1969
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four, which now includes Crystal, arrive back at the Baxter Building following their adventure in Latveria and greet Alicia, who is watching the still-unnamed baby of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl. After a joyful reunion, the team then heads off to inspect the suburban house Sue first visited a few issues ago, and which has featured in some forboding vignettes in subsequent issues.

The house, which is mostly subterranean and unusual in almost every way, emits a low-level buzzing, and seems to affect the eyesight of the FF members, yet despite all that, Reed and Sue buy it and begin to move in. Reed, however, is attacked by the house’s security system when he attempts to drill holes in its walls. It is then revealed the house is connected to the Mole Man and his plan to conquer the surface world by blinding everyone. On the last page, the FF (minus Ben, who is remaining in the city with the baby and Alicia) are blinded as the Mole Man reveals himself.

What’s going on here?

There’s a lot to like about this issue. After the high drama and high stakes of the last four issues, the team needs time to relax at home, and the first few pages show the Fantastic Four as a family, cooing over the baby and gently teasing each other. The house-hunting excursion (which was preceded by hints over the last few issues that something wasn’t right about the house) has the feel of the prelude to a horror story, with an oblivious family stepping into something evil. And Jack seems to have a lot of fun drawing both the extremely modern house, and the clothes the FF are wearing on the visit.

There are, of course, some inexplicable plot developments, like why Reed and Sue buy a house that gives them headaches and blurry vision.

The Mole Man is a genuinely surprising villain (as teased on the cover) and so surprising I forgot he was in it since the first time I read it. His connection to the house isn’t made very clear, and it seems odd that the FF should stumble into a trap he didn’t lay for them, but crazy coincidences are pretty standard for this comic at the point.

Dynamite threads!

Jack drew back-to-back splash pages which both show off the FF’s amazing outfits (what exactly is Crystal wearing?) and create tension as they enter the house.

Domestic bliss

These scenes are quite charming and really drive home that the team is first and foremost a family.

The sexist sixties

Not only do Sue and Crystal serve the men, but they wear frilly aprons to do so. (I am assuming “hot buns” was not a double entendre).

The incredible Mr. Fantastic

Woody Allen

Another topical reference that hasn’t aged that well.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Joe Sinnott

For sale

Learn to speak good!

Bullpen Bulletins

A beard survey!

Dig that Kirby Krackle!

Here’s a great sequence:

And some other cool images

Also on Newsstands

What else was on sale in April 1969?

Next issue: The FF battle the Mole Man!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 87

16 Monday Jan 2023

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Dr. Doom, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 87, jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 87
“The Power and the Pride”
Published March 1969
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencil: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

The issue immediately follows the events of the last issue, when the Invisible Girl showed up to save the team from destruction in Latveria. Now, the team—reunited and with Crystal—prepares to take on Dr. Doom in his castle. Doom, however, welcomes their incursion, as he plans to destroy them with a piano that emts “hyper-sound.” That’s right, a super piano.

As the FF crosses the drawbridge, a trap door opens and Sue and Crystal are whisked inside the castle. When the Thing tries to open the door, a booby-trap sends him, Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch to the castle’s roof, where a “air gun” fires on the Torch. As Ben and Reed battle their way in, Sue and Crystal eventually find themselves before Doom, where he invites them to a feast.

Meanwhile, Doom”s lackey, Hauptmann, has discovered Doom’s portrait artist and art curator is a secret agent of SHIELD, and prepares to incinerate him and Doom’s priceless collection of artwork. Doom is horrified at the thought of his art being destroyed and uses the hyper-sound piano to kill Hauptmann instead. Then, seemingly bored with it all, Doom gives the FF safe passage to leave Latveria and instead of pushing their advantage, the team exits.

What’s going on here

As genuinely suspenseful and thrilling as last issue was, Fantastic Four 87 is as unsatisfying and anti-climactic. The finale of a four-issue arc that brought the FF to Latveria only to be tormented by Dr. Doom, we’ve been primed for a confrontation between our heroes and their nemesis. Instead, we get a plot that turns on an incoherent narrative about Hauptmann and concludes with a fizzle. The ending is reminiscent to the poorly-paced FF stories from the early 60s where Stan and Jack would cram fives pages worth of story into the last page.

Further, much about the story makes little sense. Reed and Doom both maintain the FF are still prisoners in Latveria, but it’s not obvious how; they have their powers back and they are no longer mind-controlled. And then, just as the FF have battled their way into Doom’s stronghold, they seem willing to abandon the fight just because Doom has lost interest. Why not press on and capture Doom?

It’s hard to not to feel Stan and Jack just mailed this one in.

The Feasts of Doom

Fantastic Four 87 features a splash page of Doom welcoming Sue and Crystal to join him with an extravagant feast before him.

Doom hosting his friends, enemies and frenemies with lavish meals has become something of a Marvel comics trope. Here are a few examples from over the years.

Here, Doom surprises Reed at a Empire State University reunion (Doom is a fellow alum, after all):

Fantastic Four 142 (1973, Gerry Conway, Rich Buckler and Joe Sinnott)

At his castle in the Adirondack, he hosts Storm:

Uncanny X-Men 145 (1981, Chris Claremont, Dave Cockrum and Joe Rubinstien)

In Latveria, Ben is offered a solo feast:

FF 380 (1993, by Tom DeFalco, Paul Ryan and Danny Bulanadi)

Doom offers Namor a lesson on the rights of kings over a meal.

New Avengers 24 (Vol. 5) (2014, Johnathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti and Joe Caramagna)

And here he hosts the Savage Avengers after they have triumphed over Kulan Gath (this team’s lineup is extremely eclectic):

Savage Avengers 27 (2021, Gerry Duggan and Patrick Zircher)

Nazis! I hate these guys!

In FF 87, we find out that Doom’s toady, Gustav Hauptmann, was a Nazi who worked for Hitler. (Incidentally, his death in this issue complicates his reappearance in FF 258 (as discussed here) but that Hauptmann was apparently his brother, Gert Hauptmann.)

Mrs. Who?

Crystal initially shows Sue proper respect and calls her “Mrs. Richards” but a few panels later they are on a more familiar basis.

Weird science

Here’s that hyper-sound piano.

It’s Clobberin’ Time

Ben apparently now has super-breath. No sign of X-ray or heat vision yet.

Dig that Kirby Krackle

Another cool Doom splash:

Another postcard from scenic Latveria:

And a cool panel (with lots of credit to Joe Sinnott):

Also on newsstands

What other comics were on sale in March of 1969?

Next issue: Reed and Sue go real estate shopping!

“The World’s Greatest Comic magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 86

07 Saturday Jan 2023

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1969, Dr. Doom, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 86

Fantastic Four 86
“The Victims”
Published Feb. 1969
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Rendered powerless by Dr. Doom’s hypnosis last issue, the Fantastic Four are trapped in a Latverian village targeted for destruction by Doom’s new robot army (Doom wants to test their prowess). The FF (minus the Invisible Woman, but with Crystal) rally the villagers, and prepare to defend the town as best they can when their powers begin to return as the robots attack.

Meanwhile, Doom secretly concedes the robots are out of control, and might turn on him, but that he has a failsafe device to shut them down. He also has planted explosives under the village, to destroy it if necessary.

Back in the village, the fighting continues when Mr. Fantastic finds Doom’s failsafe device, which he uses to slow the robots. When a last attack by the robots fails, an enraged Doom detonates the explosives beneath the village. The FF and townspeople are saved, however, by a force field created by Sue, who followed the team to Latveria. The issue concludes with the team preparing to take on Doom.

What’s going on here?

This is a really good issue, one of the best of the Lee/ Kirby run so far. It’s taut, tightly plotted and has genuine high-stakes and suspense. It doesn’t have the pyrotechnics of issue 60 or the pathos of issue 51, but in its way it might be better. The FF aren’t just fighting for themselves, but for the villagers, and the outcome is genuinely in doubt. Sue’s appearance feels a bit deus ex machina but it makes sense in the context of the story (and haven’t I been complaining Sue is rarely seen or mentioned lately?) and I was genuinely surprised. Even her appearance on the cover didn’t give it away.

Structurally, the story has a timeless quality — heroes banding together to save a village from marauders. We’ve see it in the Seven Samurai, Lord of the Rings (the Battle of Helm’s Deep) and even Return of the Jedi. It works particularly well here because Kirby contrasts the old-timey Latverian village with the gleaming sci-fi polish of the robots. For what it’s worth, this story arc—called “Within This Torture Land”—ranked 14th among all Fantastic Four stories by a poll of readers at CBR, and sixth among Lee/ Kirby arcs.

Latveria, Sweet Latveria

Jack really seems to dig drawing these quaint European towns. Maybe he took a vacation to Bavaria before he drew these issues. We even get a Latveria splash page.

Jack particularly likes to draw the town from above, the view Doom has from his castle, or looking down the cobble-stoned streets. The uncredited colorist does a great job here, too.

Non-Robotic Robots

As I have discussed elsewhere, Lee and Kirby have a habit of making some of their robots very un-robotic. Here, one of Doom’s standard-issue robot servo-guards seems pretty human, down to the musculature of its (his?) legs.

Weird Science

Instead of just building an off-switch for his robots, Doom instead made this … thing.

The sexist sixties

It feels a bit unfair bringing this up in a issue where Sue is the clear hero, but does Crystal really have to be shunted aside like this? (and womenfolk? really?)