Fantastic Four 162
“The Shape Of Things To Come!”
Published: June 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Phil Rachelson
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Buckler and Sinnott

Synopsis

The conflict between three dimensions, which began last issue, escalates and it is revealed that Arkon, the barbarian ruler of yet another dimension, used the apparent businessman Mr. Devoor to goad the three into a nuclear war that will power his planet. The Fantastic Four averts a major inter-dimensional conflict and, following a plan devised by Mr. Fantastic, prepare to thwart Arkon’s plans.

What’s going on here?

After introducing a bewildering number of plot elements over the last two issues, Roy Thomas finally allows things to gel. The story is still convoluted and relies on a lot of coincidences and unlikely occurrences (such as when the Human Torch leads an invading army across dimension, it just happens to arrive on the same Manhattan block as the two Things) but the basic outlines are at least clear. Thomas recognized the mess he created and provides a pair of diagrams to explain the story, something I don’t think I’ve seeing a comic before:

(and as someone who has read both, this is more complicated than War and Peace)

The comic concludes with a preview of the next issue’s villain, the one and only Gaard. I’ll have a lot more to say about Gaard next week, but here’s a peek:

Yes, he’s dressed like a hockey goalie. And yes, Ben makes a reference to Sonja Henie, the Norwegian ice skating Olympian and movie actress.

New credit alert: “Phil Rache” is credited as the colorist on this issue, his first on the Fantastic Four. His full name is Phil Rachelson — I assume it was trimmed for space—and he worked for both Marvel and DC from 1974 to 1981.


What I liked

Thomas does a lot of work in the comic to explain his intricate plot. Not all of it makes much sense, but I did like this detail, that on three dimensions Mr. Devoor used three companies with different names but the same initials (although Reed actually goofs on the name of one, which should be Interlocking Technologies):

I also liked the concept of a meeting of the two Things, one Reed Richards and the other Ben Grimm:

And this was an amusing interaction between Ben and Johnny, who has assumed the mantle of leader of the Fifth Dimension’s army:

What I didn’t like

There is a lot of exposition in the comic, including over this double-paged spread:

Reed acts surprisingly thuggish here:

Anything else?

A somber note in the Bullpen Bulletins about the passing of Artie Simek, who lettered dozens of issues of the FF:

This house ad for subscriptions reveals just how many books Marvel was publishing at the time. No wonder these comics feel like barely controlled chaos. It’s also interesting how many horror, war, western and romance comics were being published (also, can you imagine waiting 10 weeks for the delivery of your first comic?):

These are interesting choices for baseball players, especially since there are 150 in the set. Was Joe Rudi that big a star in 1975?

Overall

A bit of a mess, but fun