“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 12

21 Sunday Mar 2021

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1962, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 12, Hulk, jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 12
“The Incredible Hulk”
Published Dec. 1962
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Cover: Kirby and Ayers

Synopsis

Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters are leaving the symphony when a company of soldiers mistake Ben for the Hulk and try to capture him. Later, at the (still unnamed) Baxter Building, General Thunderbolt Ross tells the Fantastic Four the Army is searching for the Hulk, who it believes is destroying military hardware. The team discusses how they would capture the Hulk.

The FF and Ross fly to the southwest in a newly remodeled Fantasticar, where the meet Bruce Banner (secretly the Hulk, of course), his sidekick Rick Jones, and his new assistant Karl Kort. Banner and Jones try to persuade Ross and the FF that the Wrecker, not the Hulk, is not responsible for the damage but the FF persist in investigating. While leaving, Kort drops his wallet and when Jones finds it, he discovers Kort is a communist. Kort—in a Scoobey-Doo-esque plot twist that should surprise no one—is revealed to be the Wrecker, and takes Jones prisoner. He then blackmails the Hulk to drive the FF out of the area.

The FF searches for the Hulk in the tunnels beneath the military installation, and he finally confronts them. After a battle, the Hulk is knocked out by a ray from a giant robot wielded by the Wrecker. The Thing and the Invisible Girl apprehend Kort while the Hulk escapes.

What’s going on here?

It takes an extremely convoluted story to do it, but after 12 issues, the Fantastic Four finally cross over with another headliner in the Marvel Universe. This same month, the FF will also make a brief appearance in Amazing Spider-Man 1. These stories firmly plant the FF in the same interconnected world as other Marvel characters, and helps establish the pattern of cross overs and tie-ins that knit together the Marvel universe. That shared universe is big part of the secret sauce that makes comics, and later Marvel’s movies, so addictive to fans. It’s both the fear of missing out on a vital chapter, and the rewards that come from knowing the full story. Marvel would of course learn to cynically exploit this later with massive crossover events, but for fans who first encountered it here in its embryonic stage, it much have been thrilling.

The story also features a fight between the Hulk and the Thing, the first of dozens of times they tangled. It takes 17 pages to get there, and Stan violates the first rule of writing by telling us, instead of showing us, what a big deal it is with a caption describing it as “one of the most dramatic moments in the history of adventure-fantasy.”

Given their roles as Marvel’s two biggest, baddest bruisers, it’s perhaps inevitable they would fight frequently. The Hulk—stronger and more ferocious—usually comes out on top, although the Thing occasionally scores a moral victory, often by displaying more “heart.”

While there are far too many of these fights to recount here, (although blogger John Cimino valiantly tries to do so in his Hero Envy blog here) here’s a taste of them fighting in the 1970s …

FF 166 (1975, art by George Perez and Vince Coletta)

… in the 1980s …

FF 320 (1988, art by Keith Pollard and Joe Sinnott). FYI, both the Thing and Hulk were mutated away from their classic forms during this stretch.

… in the 1990s …

Rampaging Hulk 5 (1998, art by Rick Leonardi and Dan Green)

… and this century.

FF 13, vol. 6 (2019, art by Sean Izaakse)

New wheels

The issue debuts the new, more space-age Fantasticar. The older “flying bathtub” version will still make occasional appearences.

They’re fighting again

This time everyone joins in.

The sixties are sexist

After last issue’s defense of Sue’s contributions to the team, we sink to new lows with more painful stereotyping.

Kirby Krackle

Check out this cool sequence of Ben fighting the soldiers.

The red menace

Not only does Rick Jones feel entitled to go through Kort’s wallet, but he is horrified by what he discovers.

It’s an honor

The FF is treated to a rare military parade, according to Stan. At least Reed and Ben are veterans.

For Sale

Thanks to the appearance by the Hulk, FF 12 will set you back about $200,000

Next issue: The Red Ghost and his Super Apes!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 10

06 Saturday Mar 2021

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1962, Dr. Doom, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 10, jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 10
“The Return of Doctor Doom”
Published: October 1962
Plot: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Cover: Kirby and Ayers

Synopsis

A meandering start to the comic is revealed to be a case of writer’s block from creators Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, who are plotting the issue only to be interrupted by Dr. Doom. Doom, last seen lost in space, was rescued by an the Ovoids, an alien race that taught him to the ability of transferring his mind into another body. They returned him to earth, and Doom demands Lee summon Reed Richards so that Doom can capture him and switch minds.

As planned, the rest of the FF arrive to rescue Reed, who unbeknowst to them is in the body of Doom. Doom, in the body of Reed, emprisons Reed and convinces the rest of the team to undergo a shrinking process he says will make them more powerful, but will actually reduce them to nothingness. Reed escapes and before the team undergoes the shrinking process, Johnny uses his powers to create a mirage of dynamite. While Reed (as Doom) tries to prevent it from exploding, Doom (as Reed) flees, each revealing their true nature. Confronted, a distracted Doom lets his mental power slip and he and Reed switch bodies again, returning to their true selves. As Doom tries to escape, he accidentally triggers the shrinking ray, which renders him microscopic.

What’s going on here?

Aside from the return of Doom, this convoluted story is notable for the extremely meta insertion of the creators of the comic into the comic itself. Prior to this issue, members of the FF referred to comics, and Johnny read an issue of the Hulk, but this is the first indication that there is an in-universe Fantastic Four comic that recounts their adventures. We also learn the team is actively involved in telling their own stories to Stan and Jack, who appear in the comic (and on the cover!) but without ever revealing their faces

The conceit returns on occasion, often as a comedic device but occasionally in more serious stories, such as Fantastic Four 261, where author John Byrne is summoned into space to witness the trial of Reed Richards. The likelihood of a comic creator inserting him or herself into a story seems directly correlated to the size of the creator’s ego. (This device is similar but different from the fourth-wall breaking of comics like She-Hulk, Deadpool, and Animal Man, where the characters understand they are in a comic, and address the reader or creator directly).

The old switcheroo

The story also is the first instance of Doom switching bodies with someone else, a power he manifests over the decades, although I don’t recall the Ovoids being mentioned again. He switches bodies with Reed at least one more time I’m aware of, in an arc written by Chris Claremont around the year 2000. In that story, the switch is performed by a Celestial, not Doom himself.

FF 27, vol. 3. Art by Salvador Larroca and Art Thibert

Back in issue 10, Doom (as Reed) talks more like a 30s gangster than the monarch of an Eastern European country.

Trapped!

In one of the story’s odder moments, Reed, Sue, and Johnny are stuck in Reed’s lab because the “nuclear lock mechanism” is jammed. It’s yet another reminder of how atomic power is sprinkled liberally across these stories. And while the trio spend a page being trapped, it doesn’t advance the story in any way, save to show that Stan and Jack are spinning their wheels.

Weird science

Doom, as Reed, comes up with a pseudo-scientific explanation of why the rest of the team should subject themselves to his shrinking ray (he later concedes it’s bullshit and that Reed would never have fallen for it).

Later, Johnny uses his powers to create a mirage of a stick of dynamite so real both Reed and Doom fall for it.

We get a demonstration of unstable molecules at work in Reed’s suit and hat.

And Doom invokes nuclear power again as he fires the “sub-miniature transistor powered atomic blast gun” housed in the index finger of his armor (this weapon reappears, but never with such an awesome name).

They’re fighting again

Kirby Krackle

A cool panel here from Jack

Pin up

The “glamorous Invisible Girl” gets a pin up that shows the controls of the Fantasticar (apparently by popular demand).

For sale

A mint (9.8) version of Fantastic Four 10 is worth about $25,000.

Next issue: The first appearance of the Impossible Man

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 9

26 Friday Feb 2021

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1962, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 9, jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Sub-mariner

Fantastic Four 9
“The End of the Fantastic Four”
Published: Sept. 1962
Plot: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Lettering: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby & Ayers

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four are broke, a result of Reed’s poor stock market investments, and are selling their (not-yet-named) headquarters and equipment. The Sub-Mariner gets wind of their plight and launches a plan. The team is offered $1 million to appear in a movie, which they eagerly accept only to later discover is being bankrolled by Namor.

After dining with the Invisible Girl, Namor escorts the team’s male members to their “scenes” which are actually ambushes. Mr. Fantastic fights the mythical Cyclops, the Human Torch must escape a fire-proof African tribe (really) and the Thing battles Namor himself. Finally, after Sue rejects Namor’s marriage proposal, they fight before the rest of the team arrives to save her. She brokers a peace that lets the Sub-Mariner leave unharmed in exchange for the team receiving their money and appearing in the movie.

This is the first issue with proper credits (previous issues were signed by Stan and Jack), so inker Dick Ayers and letterer Artie Simek finally get their names in print.

What’s going on here?

This bizarre story strains credulity at every turn. From Reed losing everything in the stock market to Namor financing a movie studio (“SM Studios”) to the ridiculous traps he sets for the team, the comic feels more like an absurdist Julie Schwartz-era Superman that the science-fiction infused Fantastic Four. There’s very little here that advances the characters and their story, save for a brief reappearance of Alicia Masters and her deepening friendship with Ben. The issue is otherwise a madcap lark, or a waste of time, depending on your appetite for this sort of thing.

Without any indication of irony, the issue ends with the FF as movie stars and Stan boasting about the FF’s “down-to-earth realism.”

About the Fantastic Four’s money troubles

This is the first time a FF story hinges on the Fantastic Four’s financial woes or business dealings, but it won’t be the last. Over the years the FF have either owned their building and had trouble with their tenants, or been tenants and had issues with their landlord. They are also evicted again, the plot device in 2004’s Marvel Knights 4 (an FF book aimed at older readers). In that story, the City of New York refuses to indemnify the team for damages caused by their battles, and demands the Baxter Building as compensation. The FF then find “real” jobs: Sue teaches high school english, Reed performs IT support at a law firm, Johnny tries to become a firefighter and Ben works construction. The premise was as far-fetched in 2004 as it was in 1962.

To move the plot of FF 9 along, Stan and Jack suggest that Reed is both a terrible and reckless investor, but also that he has no capacity to imagine jobs for the FF outside of freak shows and crime. Again, none of this makes much sense if we are to accept Reed is one of the world’s smartest men.

Hooray for Hollywood

Jack includes some movie stars cameos as the FF go show biz.

I recognized Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Alfred Hitchcock. The internet tells me John Wayne, Amanda Blake, Charles Bronson and Jack Benny are also there. Dean Martin appears in another panel.

The Sub-Mariner goes all-in as a movie mogul, which includes dressing like Noel Coward. Namor hangs on to his movie studio and it shows up years later, renamed Imperial Pictures.

That escalated quickly

After her introduction last issue, Alicia Masters is now established as Ben’s “dear friend.” Expect to see a lot more panels like this one:

Speaking of Ben

Ben has trouble catching a cab, not because he’s an orange monster but because the cabbie thinks he’ll stiff him on the fare.

Which is as a good an excuse as any to drop in this panel of Ben taking a cab by John Byrne, one of my favorite drawings of the Thing (and which also echoes the Ben’s concern about getting a job in the real world).

Also in issue 9, Ben also transforms to human form after being struck by lightning while fighting Namor (it’s a sign of how bananas this issue is that it’s the first time I’ve mentioned this totally random event). This marks at least the third time the Thing has reverted to human form in the first nine issues.

And now for my next trick

The Human Torch creates flame duplicates, I think for the first time

Call my decorator

Another interesting interior design choice for the FF.

Meanwhile, Namor enjoys the latest in underwater TV technology. Note the photo of Sue.

Namor’s Hollywood office is pretty groovy, too

They’re fighting again

The sexist sixties

Sue needs to be rescued, because of course she does.

Kirby Krackle

More good stuff from the King as the Thing fights some beach bullies, a la Charles Atlas

Let’s talk about us

Reed is reading comics, and takes a meta-swipe at the lack of such prosaic concerns as money in (presumably) DC’s comics

For sale

A mint (9.8) copy of FF 9 is worth $14,000, quite a bit less than the previous issue.

Pin up

Part 2 of the Human Torch’s explainer pin ups. He seems lot more level headed here than in actual stories.

Next issue: The return of Dr. Doom!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 8

20 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1962, Alicia Masters, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 8, jack Kirby, Puppet Master, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 8
“Prisoners of the Puppet Master”
Published: August 1962
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers (uncredited)
Cover: Kirby and Ayers

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four squabble after the rest of the team keeps the Thing from learning what Reed is working in in his lab (eventually revealed to be a cure for his condition). Later, the team rescues a man, under the thrall of the Puppet Master, who attempts suicide by jumping from a bridge. Thwarted, the Puppet Master takes control of the Thing, and later captures the Invisible Girl. He sends Alicia Masters, his blind step-daughter, disguised as Sue back with the Thing to capture the rest of the team, but Ben stumbles into Reed’s chemicals, reverting him back to human form and breaking the Puppet Master’s mind control.

Meanwhile, the Puppet Masters is using his puppets to engineer a jailbreak (apparently as a test of his abilities although it’s never really made clear). The FF rescue Sue and foil the jailbreak, although the Puppet Master evades capture. Reunited with Alicia, he reveals his plan to use his puppets to make him ruler of the world. Horrified, she grabs at his puppet and as he trips, he plummets out a window, seemingly to his death

What’s going on here?

Fantastic Four 8 introduces Phillip Masters, who as the Puppet Master will be a recurring villain, and more significantly, his step daughter, Alicia. Alicia Masters becomes one of the team’s most consistent supporting characters, first as the Thing’s girlfriend and much later, his wife. She develops into a renown sculptor (although her works are invariably shown as fairly uninteresting depictions of Marvel heroes) and often served as a babysitter to young Franklin Richards when the team went on a mission. She also, unfortunately, filled in for Sue as the requisite hostage of the super villains after the Invisible Woman evolved past that role.

After many twists and turns in their relationship—including a period where she left Ben for Johnny in the 1980s, a betrayal later retconned as the actions of Lyja, a Skrull in disguise (the less said about that the better)—the two finally got hitched in 2018’s FF No. 5:

It’s clear Stan and Jack had long-term plans for Alicia as early as issue 8, as she and the Thing quickly develop feelings for each other:

The Thing/Ben/Alicia dynamic becomes fraught over the years. It begins with the Beauty-and-the-Beast cliche, and the story-telling crutch of her blindness, because of course only a blind woman could love the Thing. Later writers, notably John Byrne, investigate whether Ben’s psychological need for Alicia’s love has prevented him from reverting back to human form. The seeds of that storyline were introduced here in issue 8, as Ben reverts back to the Thing after temporarily turning human

Byrne runs with that idea in issue 245, while giving Reed a convenient explanation for why all his attempts to return Ben to human form failed:

About that clay

Phillip Master’s puppet powers derive from radioactive clay (another reminder of how in the ’60s, radioactivity was an all-purpose bestower of super powers), but it’s a little unclear how it actually works. Usually, he needs to mold a clay form of a living person to manipulate them, sort of like a voodoo doll.

But here he has sculpted a flying, jet-propelled horse, which seems to work just fine without him using a small version of it.

And then he plans to rule the world by sculpting himself as its king. Would he manipulate himself?

They’re fighting again

After skipping last issue, Ben and Johnny pick right up where they left off:

The sexist sixties

Sue is, of course, captured by the bad guy, for the fourth time in the first eight issues.

What year is it?

For the first time, the year is mentioned, which will become a problem for continuity hounds as Marvel’s sliding time scale means these issues no longer take place in the ’60s.

Dig that Kirby Krackle

Some great stuff from Jack in this issue.

The Incredible Mr. Fantastic

Reed finds a new use for his powers.

Pin up

Johnny gets another pin up, this one offering scientific explanations for his powers and costume (I love the image of the unstable molecules).

For sale

A mint copy of FF 8 will cost you about $130,000.

Next issue: The return of the Sub-Mariner!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 7

14 Sunday Feb 2021

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1962, Fantastic Four, fantastic Four 7, jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 7
“Prisoners of Kurrgo, Master of Planet X”
Published: July 1962
Plot: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers (uncredited)
Cover: Kirby

Synopsis

On Planet X, Kurrgo sends a spaceship piloted by a robot to capture the Fantastic Four to help him prevent the destruction of his people from a collision with a runaway asteroid, Meanwhile, on Earth, the Fantastic Four are feted at a dinner held by Congress when Kurrgo’s robot, now on Earth, unleashes an energy ray that turns the people against them. After escaping the police and military, the FF accept the ultimatum offered by the robot: perish at the hands of your countrymen or come to Planet X. Once on Planet X, Reed invents a gas that shrinks the planet’s population to tiny size, enabling them to fit on its spaceship. Kurrgo, however, plots to keep the enlarging gas for himself, planning to rule his countrymen as a giant, but encumbered by the gas canister he fails to reach the ship before it takes off. As the FF return to earth, Reed reveals there never was an enlarging gas, but he made it up so the citizens of Planet X would accept shrinking.

This is the first issue to appear on its new monthly schedule, a mark of the comic’s growing popularity.

What’s going on here?

After encounters with the Sub-Mariner and Dr. Doom in the last three issues, the FF return to the Silver Age, in this silly science fiction-flavored story. It’s part of a series of comics where the FF are forced do a villain’s bidding (as they did in FF 5 with Doom), although in this case Reed admits they didn’t really need to go to Planet X, but he was curious and wanted to check it out.

The story is pretty unremarkable. Kirby gets to draw some cool outer-space stuff, we get some character building moments as the FF fret about attending a fussy dinner, and once again Reed’s genius saves the day (although he was kind of a dick about it). Kurrgo makes one more appearance, in 1973’s Marvel Feature 11, but he’s as forgettable a villain as the FF ever fight. The Marvel wikipedia identifies Planet X as Xanth, and extrapolates some details about Xanthians, but they too only appear once more.

Really, the only event of significance is it marks the first time the Human Torch goes “super nova,” a manifestation of his powers where he can “attain the greatest heat in the universe.”

Johnny’s nova power becomes part of his arsenal of tricks and is used repeatedly over the years, although perhap never with as much spectacular impact as in Fantastic Four 600, where he uses it to incinerate Annihilus’s army as it prepares to invade Earth from the Negative Zone.

The Sexist Sixties

The FF’s invitation to a dinner in their honor gives Stan and Jack ample opportunity to trot out some stereotypes:

Talk to my decorator

At the dinner in their honor, Reed is presented with an odd trophy from an official in a bolo tie. Apparently the FF don’t yet merit medals of honor.

Red Menace

The Cold War is still very much a thing

Kirby Krackle

It seems Jack is never happier than when he gets to draw alien machinery

For sale

A mint (9.8) copy of FF 7 should run you about $80,000

Next issue: The first appearances of Alicia Masters and the Puppet Master!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 6

06 Saturday Feb 2021

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1962, Dr. Dom, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 6, jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Sub-mariner

Fantastic Four 6
“Captives of the Deadly Duo!”
Published June 1962
Plot: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Script: Stan Lee
Inks: Dick Ayers (uncredited)
Cover: Kirby and Ayers

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four are unsuccessful at finding Dr. Doom, who escaped in the last issue. Meanwhile, Doom recruits the Sub Mariner to help him attack the FF, appealing to Namor’s desire for revenge. Namor plants a magnetic “grabber” in the the FF’s headquarters, which lifts the entire building into space. Doom, however, has double-crossed Namor, who is in the building as it leaves Earth and intends to send him into the sun with the FF. While the members of the FF are unable to reach Doom’s spaceship, Namor—revived by the FF’s water tank—successfully disables Doom’s ship, and returns the building to Earth. Doom, clinging to a meteor, is lost in space.

What’s going on here?

This is the best issue to date. The story is suspenseful, the plot is straightforward, and the villains have plausible motivations (revenge!). And Kirby delivers some gorgeous art.

Fantastic Four 6 establishes Dr. Doom as a recurring villain (oh, how he reoccurs!) and the Sub-Mariner as a more complex character, as he eventually joins forces with the FF to defeat Doom. The story also layers in more world-building, as we are introduced to various elements of the FF mythos that serve as touchstones over the years, such as the unstable molecules in their uniforms and the Yancy Street gang.

The main plot device— Dr. Doom lifts the team’s still-unnamed headquarters building into space—is delightfully absurd and Doom-ish. So delightful that John Byrne recreates the basic plot in FF 278:

What’s up with Sue?

Sue is revealed to have a crush on the Sub-Mariner, hiding away a photo of him in a book shelf. Where, exactly, she got an 8×10 glossy of Subby is unclear, but the plot device reveals that Stan and Jack view Sue as little more than a silly teenage girl, despite being engaged to Reed. (She also refers to her brother as “Torch” which seems a bit weird, while Johnny calls Namor the team’s “arch-enemy,” despite only facing him once).

Inside the (not yet) Baxter Building

For the second time in three issues, we are treated to a cutaway illustration of the FF’s headquarters. This one is a bit more in depth and shows four floors, not just three.

In this issue we are introduced to unstable molecules …

Want to know how Reed’s clothes stretch with him? So did a kid in a nearby hospital, whom Reed is more than happy to lecture while visiting.

… and elevator belt buckles …

FF 6 introduces another gee-whiz aspect of the team’s gear.

… and the Yancy Street Gang …

They don’t appear (well, they never really do) but they are first introduced here as Ben’s antagonists from his old neighborhood. “Yancy Street” is derived from Delancey Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, near where Kirby grew up.

and footnotes!

Long a staple of Marvel comics, Stan started using footnotes to remind readers about what happened in past issues. Even though there have been only six issues so far.

Mid-century modern

It’s never clear who decorated the FF’s headquarters, but they certainly had an eye for interesting objet d’art.

Kirby Krackle

Kirby drew some wonderful street scenes for this issue. I wonder who he used as models for the faces.

He also drew this amazing sequence of Namor leaping into space to attack Doom

The sexist sixties

In the thin air of our space, Sue is the only member to succumb from the last oxygen because of course she is. (The Sub-Mariner also wears red trunks in this issue, insead of his standard green).

Oops!

Jack draws the headquarters returning safely to its block in New York, while Stan is left to explain in a word balloon that it was Namor who somehow used Doom’s spaceship to maneuver it in place, all off-camera. It seems Stan may have had of explain just exactly how the building returned to Earth.

For sale

A mint (9.8) copy of FF 6 should cost you $98,000.

Next issue: The FF battle Kurrgo, master of Planet X!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 5

30 Saturday Jan 2021

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1962, Doctor Doom, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 5, jack Kirby, Joe Sinnott, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 5
“Prisoners of Doctor Doom”
Published: April 1962
Plot: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Pencils: Kirby
Script: Lee
Inks: Joe Sinnott (uncredited)
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Baxter Building is enveloped by a net that resists the Fantastic Four’s powers. Mr. Fantastic recognizes the voice of the villain responsible as that of Victor Von Doom, a college classmate who dabbled in sorcery and was expelled for reckless experiments. Doom demands Sue Storm as a hostage, then transports the team to his castle, where he sends the three male members of the FF back in time to recover the treasure chest of Blackbeard the Pirate. The team successfully disguises themselves, and joins a pirate crew to steal the treasure. The team return, but presents Doom with just the chest, without its treasure. A battle commences, Doom traps the three, and Sue rescues them before Doom escapes.

What’s going on here

This issue introduced Dr. Doom, not just the Fantastic Four’s nemesis, but arguably the greatest villain in comics (I would put him in a small group with Magneto, Lex Luthor, Darkseid, and the Joker). Doom’s significance in the Marvel universe is hard to overstate. He was the primary antagonist in Marvel’s first big crossover event, Secret Wars in 1984, and was again when Marvel revisited the concept in 2015. He is one of the few villains to headline his own comic, and has played the bad guy to heroes from Iron Man to Luke Cage to the X-Men.

It’s in the Fantastic Four, of course, where he is most prominent, so much so that he’s been called the fifth member of the team. As we’ll see, it’s rare for him not to appear at least annually, and in some issues he, not the FF, is the star. In recent years his depictions have become more nuanced since he is the unofficial uncle to Valeria Richards, the daughter of Reed and Sue he mid-wifed (it’s complicated), and he spent a time trying to be a hero (it didn’t stick).

Of course, none of that could have been predicted in 1962, where Doom is the engineer of a silly time-travel plot in Fantastic Four 5, but Stan and Jack clearly intended Doom to have some staying power. In the comic, Reed quickly lays out Doom’s origin, and while many details have changed over the years, the salient points are there: Doom and Reed knew each other in college, Doom has scarred in an explosion, and Doom has fused science and sorcery.

Tying his origin to Reed—that early connection between the two becomes more explicit in future issues—helped ensure he’s not a one-note villain. In later tellings, Doom blames Reed for the explosion, and it’s reminiscent of Luthor’s origin story (at least the first version), where Superboy, trying to extinguish a lab accident with his super breath, costs Luthor his hair.

Doom’s first appearance also introduces a number of elements that become familiar aspects of his character, including his robot doubles:

His castle (although this would appear to be is castle in the Adirondack mountains of New York State, give that it is minutes away, and not his kingdom of Latveria, which has yet to be introduced):

And his time machine:

About that time machine

While used in the service of a particularly goofy plot in this issue, Doom’s time machine becomes a durable part of the Marvel universe, and when characters need to travel through time, it’s often their go-to device. It’s unclear if Doom leases it out, or if it’s more of a franchise business model.

I couldn’t possibly track down every instance where it was used but here’s a few memorable ones.

In the West Coast Avengers, a villain uses it to send the team back in time:

WCA 17 (1985), Story by Steve Englehart, art by Al Milgrom and Joe Sinnott

John Byrne used Doom’s time machine during his run, and I always thought this sequence was a particularly cool way to illustrate it:

Decades later, it served an important role in the Age of Ultron crossover event:

Who’s the new guy?

This is the first Fantastic Four issue inked by Joe Sinnott, who had a nearly 60-year career in comics, and has more FF credits than any single creator. He didn’t return to the FF until issue 44, but then inked almost every issue from there through issue 231, a 15 year run, and his inks created a consistency to the FF’s look that extended well beyond Kirby’s tenure. One could argue he overpowered the pencils of artists like Byrne and George Perez early in their careers, but there’s no denying his impact on the title. He died last year at age 93. Here’s a nice obituary from The Comics Journal.

They’re fighting again

Of course they are

The torment of the Thing

Ben gets carried away with his new identity as Blackbeard, and in a very uncharacteristic development, turns against his teammates:

He later is ashamed of his betrayal:

The paradox of time travel

Time travel is a perennial trope of science fiction, and in comics, the Fantastic Four are involved in as many time travel stories as any characters. The plots becomes more intricate over the years, but the revelation that Ben is the actual historic Blackbeard is a fun touch and an early indication of the story-telling possibilities.

This weird footnote is revisited a few times, including on the cover of 2018’s Exiles (I have no idea what this comic is about):

The sexist sixties

Doom demands a hostage, and of course it’s the team’s female member. Why he didn’t think the hero who’s power is to turn invisible might be useful in his treasure heist is not explained.

Stan and Jack later redeem themselves a bit by having Sue rescue the rest of the team:

Dig that Kirby Krackle

Love this sequence of Ben waking up from too much grog

For sale:

A mint (9.8) copy of FF 5 will cost you around $300,000 (and probably a lot more after Doom appears in the Marvel Cinematic Universe)

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Johnny is seen reading an issue of the Incredible Hulk

Next issue: Doom and Namor team up!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine” Fantastic Four No. 4

24 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

1962, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 4, jack Kirby, Namor, Stan Lee, Sub-mariner

Fantastic Four 4
“The Coming of the Sub-Mariner”
Published: Feb. 1962
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Pencils: Kirby
Script: Lee
Inks: Sol Brodsky (uncredited)
Cover: Kirby and Brodsky

Synopsis

Following last issue’s departure of the Human Torch, the remaining members of the Fantastic Four search for him around New York. After a brief scuffle when he’s found by the Thing, the Torch hides in a Bowery flophouse, where he encounters a hobo with surprising strength. He’s revealed to be the amnesiac Namor the Sub-Mariner, and after the Torch drops him in the ocean, his memories are revived and he pledges revenge on surface dwellers for the destruction of Atlantis.

The Sub-Mariner enlists Giganto, a monstrous whale with arms, to invade New York, and it’s stopped only after the Thing detonates a nuclear bomb inside it. The Sub-Mariner then threatens to take the Invisible Woman as his bride or he’ll unleash a greater invasion. Sue agrees, but Namor, sensing her reluctance relents, and is defeated when the Torch created a tornado of fire that deposits Namor in the ocean.

What’s going on here

The issue is of course notable for the introduction of Namor to the Marvel Universe, and the beginning of his decades-long preoccupation with Sue Storm, which is occasionally reciprocated.

It’s also the best issue to date. It flows directly from the events of the previous issue, and the Fantastic Four tangle with a foe with a real backstory, plausible motivations, and the ability to cause serious trouble.

So who is this guy?

The Sub-Mariner, created by Bill Everett, first appeared in 1939. Inspired by the original Human Torch, Everett wanted to create a nautical equivalent and chose his name, Namor, because he wanted something noble-sounding (Namor is “Roman” spelled backwards). Half-human, half Atlantean, his father was a sea-captain and his mother was daughter of the emperor of Atlantis, making Namor its eventual king.

The Sub-Mariner was a mainstay of Timely Comics (Marvel’s precursor) during the 1940s, but faded out in the 1950s along with most super-heroes.

His depiction in Fantastic Four 4 is consistent with his Golden Age characterization: Arrogant and impetuous, but driven by a pursuit of justice. Initially written as a villain, Marvel gradually transitioned Namor to hero and his rages were retconned by John Byrne as a consequence of his mixed ancestry.

Namor becomes a Marvel mainstay, starring in several versions of his own book while serving as a member of the Defenders, Avengers, and X-Men, with his ability to fly identify him as a mutant. He’s also retconned into Captain America’s World War II -era team, the Invaders.

Fantastic Four 4 also introduces the Namor-Sue entanglement, which twists and turns over the decades. One mild irony of Namor’s infatuation of Sue is that he clearly sees something in her which doesn’t become evident to the rest of us for decades, when her writer’s finally give her a personality and backbone. Until then, though, she’s mostly just a pretty face who whimpers a lot.

Their relationship is mostly flirtatious, although once in a while a writer will push things a bit, especially when Sue and Reed are in the midst of their occasional marital difficulties. Grant Morrison may have taken it the farthest in Fantastic Four 1234, a miniseries where Sue’s frustration with Reed’s absences comes close to a tipping point.

New York, New York

For the first time the Fantastic Four are described as living in New York instead of a fictional city like Metropolis or Gotham. That will have major repercussions for the future the Marvel Universe, and become a key differentiator of Marvel from DC as its fans celebrated the “realism” of its comics.

They’re fighting again

The Atomic Age

Namor plots his revenge on the surface world after discovering lingering radiation in the ruins of Atlantic, which he attributes to human and “their accursed atomic tests. And Ben somehow locates a nuclear bomb and totes it into the mouth of Giganto, Jonah-like, before detonating it.

Are you sure he’s a genius?

Mr. Fantastic takes a rather aggressive approach to asking some passing motorcyclists about the Torch’s whereabouts. Thankfully, they don’t press assault charges.