Fantastic Four 40 | Percival Henry: The Fantastic Four and more

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1965, Daredevil, Dr. Doom, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 40, jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 40
“The Battle of the Baxter Building”
Published: April 1965
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby:
Inks: Vince Colletta
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Frank Giacoia

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 40 picks up where FF 39 left off, more or less, in one of the few multi-issue adventures so far. While Mr. Fantastic and Daredevil split up at the end of FF 39, now they’re working together again to battle Dr. Doom, who has taken control of the Baxter Building and is using Reed’s devices against the (literally) powerless team. While Daredevil acts as a distraction, Reed joins Johnny and Sue in evading the defenses in the Baxter Building lobby. They are eventually joined by Ben, in human, form and as Daredevil fights Doom, the team works their way up to the top of the building.

There Reed uses the power stimulator the team last used in fighting the Skulls, in FF 37, to re-power the team, including a reluctant Ben. One again the Thing, Ben then battles Doom single handedly, eventually tearing apart his armor. Before he can hurt or kill Doom, the rest of the team intervenes, and Doom slinks off in defeat. But as the rest of the team rejoices, a bitter Ben quits the team.

What’s going on here?

Another issue that’s pretty much wall-to-wall action, save for about three panels of character development at the end. There’s another (rare) guest appearance from Daredevil, but he fades into the background in the second half of the book. The Thing is really the star of this issue, and his battle with Doom takes up more than five pages. It’s another early version of a Thing-Doesn’t-Quit sequence, which becomes a defining part of Ben’s character. We saw a bit of it in FF 17, when Ben, in human form, penetrated Doom’s aircraft, and then in FF 25-26, when he fights the Hulk.

In this issue, Stan and Jack set up Ben’s story arc when Reed subjects him to the power stimulator, without giving him a choice in the matter.

His transformation is suitably dramatic, and Jack devotes a half splash to his return as the Thing:

In the battle, we get some never-say-die from Ben:

Then, after he defeats Doom, he realizes what he has sacrificed and quits the team in disgust.

Deus Ex Machina

After all the angst last issue about the FF losing their powers, and Reed’s feverish attempts to reconstruct their power through artificial means, the are restored surprisingly easily. So easily, in fact, that Ben and Daredevil have the same questions we do.

Reed’s explanation falls a bit flat, too. If the stimulator was all they needed to regain their powers, why didn’t Reed just make a new one instead of building a Thing robot and a flaming flying suit for Johnny?

The sexist sixties

Sue is ready for her fainting couch again.

It’s (not) Clobbering Time!

Further evidence that his signature line really hasn’t been baked into Ben’s character yet. If ever there was a place to say it, it’s here:

Who’s the new guy?

Vince Colletta takes over the inking in this issue. Colletta is both of one comic’s most prolific inkers and most controversial, particularly for his sometimes slap-dash handling of Kirby’s work. It’s explained in great detail here. It’s hard to see a big drop off here from Franck Giacoia’s inks in the last issue, but we’re still just killing time before we get to Joe Sinnott.

Thicc Reed

Reed is noticeably buff in this issue. It’s not a particularly new development—Jack has been drawing him as a typically muscular super-hero for some time now—but it’s a pretty big departure from his tweedy, professorial look from the early issues.

Holy Billy Club, Daredevil!

Daredevil’s billy club has more gadgets and gizmos that Silver Age Batman’s utility belt. In just this issue, it turns into a gun and a “telescoping flexi-shield.”