Fantastic Four 118
“Thunder in the Ruins” and “What Mad World?”
Published Oct. 1971
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Pencils: John Buscema
Inks: Jim Mooney
Letters: Sam Rosen
Editor: Stan Lee
Cover Buscema and John Verpoorten

Synopsis

The Human Torch fights to free Crystal from the mind-control of Diablo, whose scheme to use the Inhuman to take control of a Central American dictatorship is thwarted when the rest of the Fantastic Four arrive. Plus, in a back-up story, Ben Grimm is teleported by Lockjaw to an alternate universe, where he meets another Thing.

What’s going on here?

This is an interesting comic. The main story resolves the Diablo/Terra Verde/Crystal story that began last issue. It’s fine so far as it goes, but there’s nothing particularly interesting happening. Crystal is reunited with Johnny, but we’ll see how long that lasts.

Much more intriguing is the back-up story, where the Thing is teleported by Lockjaw to another reality, not something I was aware could happen. There, Ben lands in a sort of West World-type amusement park created by the Thing of that world, where all the robot villains have the face of Reed. I’m reluctant to give away too much, because it’s there’s a twist that I don’t want to spoil, but it’s a smart, short story that reads like a prototype of What If?, which would debut in 1977.

It’s been a long time since there’s been a backup in a regular-sized FF issue (maybe not since FF 10). I have no idea how it came about but I assume it’s the influence of Archie Goodwin, who came to Marvel from Warren Publishing, where he wrote dozens of stories in Eerie and Creepy magazines. Horror and science fiction were nothing new to him. If the backup was indeed Goodwin’s idea, it’s heartening to see that Stan was relaxed enough about his co-creation to allow Goodwin to experiment with new ideas. It’s also a good reminder that here’s nothing new about multiverse stories. They may be the flavor of the month in the movies, but they’ve been around since at least 1961 and Flash 123.

Also of note, this issue features the Fantastic Four debut of Jim Mooney on inks, who is filling for Joe Sinnott. Mooney was a comic lifer, whose first credit was a story in Mystery Men Comics in 1940, and who was still drawing and inking as last as 2000. This is his only work on the FF as far as I can tell, and he seems to be following Sinnott’s lead.

What I liked

Buscema delivers another steady performance. Nothing too flashy, but more well constructed story-telling. Here’s a good sequence:

What I didn’t like

Nothing? That seems sort of lame, but nothing jumps out as flawed or problematic. As frequent readers know, I am not shy about pointing out faults, either.

Anything else?

Some interesting ads. The height one is creepy.

Overall

Better than average, thanks to the back-up story,