Fantastic Four 65 | Percival Henry: The Fantastic Four and more

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1967, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 65, jack Kirby, Kree, Ronan the Accuer, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 65
“..From Beyond This Planet Earth!”
Published: May 1967
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 65 begins in the midst of a dream, with the team held captive by the Kree’s Supreme Intelligence as punishment for destroying the Kree Sentry last issue. As the FF wakes up in the Baxter Building, they realize they’ve all had the same nightmare. After some hijinks, the team separates: Johnny goes joy-rising in a new hot rod with Crystal while Reed and Sue go out on a date. And in a subplot teasing the next issue, Alicia Masters is led away by a mysterious stranger with the power to travel through walls.

Meanwhile, Ronan the Accuser, dispatched by the Supreme Intelligence, arrives on Earth to exact revenge. The members of the FF disappear from their activities and are reassembled by Ronan under his “cone of inpenatrability” (sic) where he attempts to pronounce his sentence. The team fights back but he proves their equal using his club-like weapon. Eventually the team triumphs when Ronan disappears, after his weapon discharges while he was on top of it.

What’s going on here

This is a bit of an odd comic. For the first time in what seems like many issues, the FF are at home and relaxing as civilians, and those pages flow easily. But when the FF is engaged with Ronan, the storytelling becomes cramped and off-key. Both the art and storytelling seem rushed and a bit sloppy. Take, for example, this splash page:

Normally a splash page is an opportunity for Kirby to cut loose, but here it’s just another panel. And Ronan’s dialogue—explaining what Reed is doing with his arms—seems oddly expository (also note the spelling of “thru”).

Another strange element that suggests Kirby was rushing: A number of panels, spread over several pages, are drawn from the same perspective, looking down from above Ronan’s right shoulder.

Another oddity: Reed directing Ben with a code for a maneuver. It’s something Cyclops used to do with the X-Men, but I don’t believe we’ve seen it in the Fantastic Four.

Who is this guy?

FF 65 marks the first appearance of Ronan the Accuser, who goes on to appear in dozens of of comics over the years. Notably, he is pink-skinned here, before later becoming blue skinned like most of the Kree. He spends his first decades as a bad guy before his story becomes more interesting with his arranged marriage to Crystal in the War of Kings miniseries. In a coincidence, Crystal is in this issue, although they didn’t encounter each other.

War of Kings 1 (2009, art by Paul Pelletier and Rick Magyar)

Despite the arranged nature of the wedding, the two fall in love, before they are separated in a deal struck between Black Bolt and the Supreme Intelligence. Eventually Ronan is captured and tortured by Kree fanatics before he is put out of his misery and killed by Black Bolt. Will he stay dead? Seems unlikely, but who knows.