Fantastic Four 91
“The Thing .. Enslaved!”
Published July 1969
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 91 opens with rival 1930s gangsters—actually Skrulls—discussing an upcoming match between their enslaved fighters, Torgo and Ben Grimm, aka The Thing. We then cut to a Skrull spaceship with Ben in captivity and his strength sapped by a neutralizing collar following his kidnapping by a Skrull slaver last issue. Eventually he lands on a Skrull planet where everyone takes the form of humans from the 1930s, the result, he is told, of a human gangster who was abducted decades ago and became an object of fascination among the Skrulls.

After an unsuccessful escape attempt and a thwarted attack on his life by another gangster, Ben is transferred into the custody of the slave keeper. To teach him a lesson he is attacked by another enslaved creature, Taxtor, before he is imprisoned in a cell with Torgo, whom he must battle in the arena.

Meanwhile, on Earth, Alicia and the rest of the Fantastic Four grow increasingly anxious about Ben’s disappearance until Mr. Fantastic concludes he must have been captured by the Skrulls.

What’s going on here?

This is a fun and satisfying issue, and a big improvement over the last two. We are getting close to the end of Stan and Jack’s time together (sob!) and it’s clear their work is not as consistently excellent as earlier but on occasion they can still bring it. There’s not much character development or sub-plot here—we barely see the rest of the FF—but that’s fine; the main narrative is well-paced and compelling enough.

FF 91 has the added novelty of the 1930 gangster-Skrulls. I’m curious why Stan and Jack landed on that period, but it gives Jack the opportunity to draw everyone like they’re in Guys and Dolls.

This ’30s-themed Skrull planet was revisited at least once more, in Avengers Annual 14, with a very Bogart-looking Skrull running a casino spaceship (somehow not called Rick’s Café Américain).

Speaking of lookalikes, the slave keeper Skrull looks an awful lot like Edward G. Robinson

Shape changers

On the subject of changing appearances, Kirby’s design for the Skrulls has evolved pretty dramatically since their debut all the way back in FF 2.

Mid-century modern

More interesting objét d’art in the Baxter Building. Also, why is Reed wearing a suit?

Dig That Kirby Krackle

A couple of impressive splash pages in this issue:

Also some well-done smaller sequences, like this one of the sedated Thing:

And this one of Reed and Johnny:

Also on newsstands

What other comics were on sale in July 1969?

Next issue: Ben in the arena!