“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 131

Tags

1972, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 131, Inhumans, Roy Thomas

Fantastic Four 131
“Revolt in Paradise!”
Published Nov. 1972
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Ross Andru
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Petra Goldberg
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jim Steranko and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Human Torch discovers his erstwhile girlfriend Crystal in a romance with the ex-Avenger Quicksilver. Before they can hash it out, the Inhuman stronghold of Attilan is rocked by tremors, and the Alpha Primatives, a race of worker drones, revolt against their overlords.

What’s going on here?

This is another interesting issue. The big development, and one I genuinely didn’t expect, is the reveal of Crystal and Quicksilver’s relationship. Of course, I knew it was coming at some point—their marriage was a major fixture of Marvel comics in the 80s— but since Roy left no clues that this was impending, it took me by surprise (more on this later).

This issue is also notable in that it’s penciled by Ross Andru, who is amazingly just the fourth artist to pencil the FF in 131 issues (after Jack Kirby, John Romita and John Buscema). Andru had been around a long time at this point — his first credits were in 1951, and I think it’s fair to say he’s a bit of a journeyman, although he would go on to have a long and distinguished run on Amazing Spider-Man. This is the only issue of the FF he drew, and was a fill-in issue. Big John was back in the saddle by the next issue (although 133 is also a fill-in). Also, note that is the second of three Steranko covers.

What I liked

The Johnny /Crystal / Quicksilver love triangle is a fun plot twist that accomplishes a couple of things. One, it ties the FF more closely to the rest of the Marvel Universe. Save for about 20 issues in the mid 1960s, when almost every Marvel hero made a guest appearance in the Fantastic Four, the FF have been relatively isolated from other Marvel heroes. The appearance of Quicksilver is a reminder they inhabit the same universe as the Avengers (and the X-Men), and it makes sense that it’s Roy Thomas who cross-pollinated these comics, since at this point he had written all three.

Two, it helps establish the template of Johnny Storm as forever unlucky in love. Crystal may be Johnny’s first romance that fizzled (not counting high school crush Dorrie Evans) but she’s far from the last. Others love interests have included Frankie Raye (who became Nova), Lyja the Skrull (whom he thought was Alicia Masters), Namorita, and most recently Sky, the winged alien. After 60 years, his romantic woes have now become such a part of his character that I wonder if any writer would be willing to have him permanently settle down.

What I didn’t like

While the Crystal / Pietro relationship is a welcome addition, as far as I can tell, it comes out of nowhere. This comic refers to Avengers 104, as if it explains the beginning of the relationship, but Crystal does not appear there. In that comic, Quicksilver battles a Sentinel while attempting to rescue his sister, the Scarlet Witch, and is left injured in the Sentinels’ lair by the other Avengers , who don’t know he’s there.

An end note promises that readers will learn his fate in the next issue, but Avengers 105 is Steve Englehart’s first issue, and he takes the comic off in another direction. It’s not until FF 131, which was published five months later, that Crystal’s rescue of Pietro is shown (and is described as a random event).

My guess is that Thomas wanted to resolve his Pietro arc, and saw an opportunity to make life interesting for Johnny at the same time. But if his appearance in this issue surprised me, I can only imagine how FF readers on 1972 must have felt.

Thomas’s handling of the Alpha Primatives is a bit peculiar, too. It’s pretty clear they are subjugated race who live underground and serve as slaves to their Inhuman masters. When they revolt, it’s not depicted as a heroic uprising, but more like an insurrection that needs to be put down. That dynamic is a pretty strong contrast to issue 119, where Thomas very successfully wrote about he evils of apartheid. We’ll see how he handles the Alpha primitives revolt in the next issue.

Anything else

Not one but two letters from future comic writers in this issue: Mike W. Barr (Camelot 3000, Batman and the Outsiders, among others) and Charles “Chuck” Dixon (Punisher, Detective Comics, among others).