Fantastic Four 148
“War on the Thirty-Sixth Floor!”
Published April 1974
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Colors: Linda Lessmann
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Bucker and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four return from last issue’s battle with the Sub-Mariner to the Baxter Building, where they are attacked by the Wizard, Sandman and Trapster. The battle is turned when Thundra shows up to aid the FF. The issue ends with Namor seemingly invading New York, accompanied by the Invisible Woman.

What’s going on here?

There’s a tension in comic books between the silly and the realistic. A lot of fans love the nutty stories from the Silver Age, where science and logic is abandoned for goofy fun. Other fans prefer stories grounded in reality, where real-world consequences of comic stories are borne out in often grim or disturbing ways. Readers of this blog probably recognize I’m somewhere in the middle; I love the fun energy of comics that are unconcerned with practical concerns, but I like at least some pretense of explanation and structure. When plots are too unhinged, I get annoyed and lose interest.

Fantastic Four 148 is squarely on the goofy side of the ledger. There’s not a lot in this comic that makes a lot of sense, from the random attack of the Frightful Four (Frightful Three?) to Thundra’s unexplained appearance to the out-of-nowhere double-page splash attack by Namor. But despite all that, the story is a lot of fun. It’s pretty much just a series of battles between FF members and the Wizard, Sandman and Trapster, in which they pair-off in various combinations and fight. There’s not a ton of plot involved, and the bad guys’ motivation is simply revenge, but it’s never boring and Buckler brings his high-energy style to it all.

What I liked

Along with the aforementioned fightin’, there were a few smaller moments I enjoyed, such as this sequence with the sandman running his mouth about Reed’s lack of street smarts, while Reed is out-smarting Sandy by sneaking his arm behind him.

I also thought this was a cute panel:

What I didn’t like

I’ve grumbled before about how Conway almost reflexively reaches into the Stan and Jack bag of tricks when he needs a plot device, and the Namor-invades-the-surface-world plot is a textbook example. We’ll see how this plays out (I’m guessing he doesn’t succeed) and how and when Sue’s estrangement from Reed is resolved, but so far it seems pretty uninspired as a storyline.

It’s also worth remembering Conway was very young when he wrote these comics, and while it’s not always evident, occasionally there’s an odd turn of phrase or idea that an older writer might have avoided, like this stray thought from Johnny about how having a sister is like having a wife:

(also, he’s crazy muscular in that left image)

When I started this blog, I had a recurring item I called “Reed Richards is a Jerk” (a play on my favorite line from Kitty Pryde), in which I showed panels of Reed being, well, a jerk. This would have been a very good example:

And while I’ve mentioned this many times, but once again, Medusa has almost no role in this comic, which seems a real waste of potential.

Anything else?

Lots of new names in this Bullpen Bulletins team who would go on to have a huge impact on Marvel and comics in general, among them Larry Hama, Paul Gulacy, Dave Cockrum, Al Milgrom and Klaus Janson.

This ad is another example of what seems to be an ongoing confusion in the ad sales department about who was reading comic books. Were there a lot of car owners and aspiring mechanics reading these things?

Overall

A hoot!