“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 95

12 Sunday Mar 2023

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

Tags

1969, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 95, jack Kirby, Stan Lee

Fantastic Four 95
“Tomorrow .. World War III”
Published Nov. 1969
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

A quick note before we begin: I neglected to note last week that last week’s post was the 100th in this blog’s journey through the history of the The World’s Greatest Comics Magazine (94 regular issues plus six annuals). I generally don’t indulge in a lot of self-congratulations, but that’s a lot of blog posts and a lot of great FF issues! Thanks to everyone who’s been along for the ride!

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 95 opens with a new villain, Monocle, spying on the Fantastic Four and contemplating his plans for world conquest using his “neutrak ray.” The FF, minus the Human Torch, are on the roof on the Baxter Building, where Mr. Fantastic explains their mission is to ensure the safety of delegates at a special United Nations meeting, and that an attack could set off World War III. They then board the Fantasti-Car to patrol the skies above the U.N., and after the Thing breaks off in a separate plane, Reed and the Invisible Girl are attacked by the Monocle’s ray. Reed prevents the Fantasti-Car from crashing in the city streets while Ben supports a collapsing building.

Meanwhile, Medusa is summoning Crystal home to the Inhumans, by orders of her husband, Black Bolt. Johnny protests, but to no avail, and is distraught when Crystal leaves. Reed and Sue arrive and tell Johnny he’s needed to help find their attacker.

At the U.N., Monocle prepares to attack a delegate giving a speech when his neutral ray backfires, thanks to Reed deducing the nature of their earlier attacker. Monocle attempts to flee but is apprehended by the team.

What’s going on here?

In truth, this is a pretty lame story that’s redeemed by some good character development around Johnny and Crystal and excellent Kirby artwork. Probably to compensate for the thin story, Jack’s uses fewer and bigger panels, including two interior splash pages, and it looks magnificent. But otherwise we have a throw-away bad guy, an implausible and bare-bones plot, and a not-particularly-surprising twist at the end.

New York, New York

I’ve frequently pointed out Jack’s gift for rendering real people and New York street scenes. Those are a real highlight of this issue, as Monocle infiltrates the U.N.