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“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 177

15 Sunday Jun 2025

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Fantastic Four 177
“Look Out For The Frightful Four!”
Published Sept. 1976
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Marie Severin
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott


Synopsis

The Fantastic Four confront the Frightful Four (really, just three) in the Baxter Building and are subdued by the Trapster’s booby trap. Imprisoned, they are forced to watch the villains audition a potential fourth member. Among them is Tigra, who initially pretends to be a villain before freeing the Human Torch and the Thing. In the ensuing battle, a villain named the Brute appears and manages to force the Thing into the Negative Zone. The Brute is then revealed to be a transformed version of Reed Richards from Counter Earth.

What’s going on here?

Like last issue, much of this comic is ridiculous and played for laughs. But unlike last issue, which was self-indulgent and tiresome, this comic is a lot of fun. The central conceit — the Frightful Four are auditioning new members and for reasons unexplained, they want the Fantastic Four to watch — makes no sense. But it allows for a procession of characters both new and familiar to troop through the Baxter Building and interact with the pompous Wizard and the hapless Sandman and Trapster. It’s a clever idea and one well executed by Thomas, aided by Perez’s stellar artwork.


While mostly a goof, the story does end in a dramatic showdown and big reveal, with a classically Thomasian call-back to an obscure comic, in this case Warlock 6 and 7, where the Brute was first introduced. I am completely unfamiliar with this character, and had to dredge up the issue to find out on this version of Earth, he alone was transformed by the cosmic rays and during a full moon, transforms into a purple monster. In the Warlock comic, he was manipulated by Man-Beast into battling Adam Warlock. At some point he turned evil and made his way to Earth proper.

Warlock 6 (1972), script by Mike Friedrich, art by Bob Brown and Tom Sutton.


The cover is a return to form for Kirby, and even features some Kirby Krackle. Marie Severin handles colors in this issue, further proof she could do just about anything in comics when given the chance.


What I liked

As mentioned, the parade of characters hoping to join the Frightful Four makes this an entertaining comic. There’s the Osprey …


… the Texas Twister, the debut of a character who would pop up here and there over the years (note the painful accent) …


… the return of Thundra (in a great Perez sequence)…


… Captain Ultra, another debut for a D-list character …


… and Tigra, who recently debuted and would become a founding member of the West Coast Avengers.


Sue doesn’t have a lot to do in this issue — and to be fair, the rest of the FF are mostly sidelined too — but she does get to do this:


Lastly, Thomas manages to dispose of the Impossible Man quickly, and he blessedly is mostly absent from this issue:


What I didn’t like

I regret I never started tracking how many times the Fantastic Four have been captured and imprisoned in cells or devices uniquely configured to neutralize their powers. Surely it’s been a dozen instances by now.


Anything else?

I’m curious about this encyclopedia of comics. Has anyone seen one in person?


Overall

Successfully putting the comedy in comic books.



“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 176

08 Sunday Jun 2025

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Fantastic Four 176
“Improbable As It May Seem — The Impossible Man Is Back In Town!”
Published Aug. 1974
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Michele Wolfman
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott

Synopsis

After their confrontation with Galactus, the Fantastic Four return to Earth with the Impossible Man in tow. The alien causes trouble on the streets of New York, then in the offices of Marvel Comics, where he and the FF interact with members of the staff. The team then discovers the Frightful Four have taken over the Baxter Building while the Fantastic Four was off planet, setting up a confrontation in the coming issues.


What’s going on here?

It’s hard for me to write about this issue without sounding like a grump. At this point, my thoughts on the Impossible Man are pretty well documented, so this comic was always going to be a tough sell for me. It’s obviously a light-hearted romp, and it should be read that way. The depiction of the Bullpen — which here includes Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Thomas, Perez, Archie Goodwin, Marv Wolfman, Sal Buscema, Marie Serevin, John Verpoorten and Gerry Conway — was a novelty in 1976, and for die-hard Marvel fans of the era, it must have been a thrill to see their favorite creators. The issue also continues a tradition of fourth wall-breaking stories taking place at Marvel that began with Fantastic Four 10.

And yet … reading it almost 50 years later, it falls flat. Most of the jokes are obvious and ponderous, the Impossible Man’s hijinks are predictably tedious and it all feels like an extended goof that mostly served to amuse its creators. Thomas wrote a lengthy editor’s note that explained the genesis of the issue, which was that he didn’t have a better idea. It shows.


Two art notes: Jack Kirby once again did the cover (inked by Joe Sinnott) and Michele Wolfman colored the issue, her first and only FF credit.


What I liked

This issue marks the return of George Perez, and he delivers great work, even when hampered by a inane storyline. Here’s a great action sequence:


And I loved his crowd scenes in Central Park:

Here’s his version of the Marvel offices, including a very slimming self portrait:

While most of the inside jokes were duds, this one amused me:


What I didn’t like

The story had a lot of filler, like this gag:

FWIW, hailing and riding in a taxi took the FF two full pages.

This exchange between Ben and Reed seemed off. Reed is really comparing Ben’s appearance to Joe DiMaggio’s???


This panel would make no sense unless you read Thomas’s note (it’s Marv Wolfman and Sal Buscema).


Anything else?

Uncanny X-Men Annual 7, a very silly issue featuring (guess who?) the Impossible Man, paid tribute to this comic with an extended scene in the Marvel bullpen.


Overall

If you don’t have something nice to say, better to say nothing at all.

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 172

27 Sunday Apr 2025

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Fantastic Four 172
“Cry, The Bedeviled Planet!”
Published April 1976
Writer: Roy Thomas and Bill Mantlo
Pencils: George Perez
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Petra Goldberg
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jack Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Gorr, the golden alien gorilla the Fantastic Four captured last issue, explains that he was mutated by the High Evolutionary, whose Counter-Earth is now threatened by Galactus. Gorr escapes and lures the FF to his spaceship, which he crashed in Central Park as a ruse. Once in his ship, Gorr abducts the FF and heads to the moon of Counter-Earth where the Destroyer, Galactus’s latest herald, is in the High Evolutionary’s stasis field. The Thing battles the Destroyer until the arrival of Galactus.


What’s going on here?

The highlight of this issue is probably the great Jack Kirby cover, which looks like it could have been drawn in the late 1960s, complete with Kirby Krackle. The powers-that-be even adjusted the logo (and removed its floating heads) to make it work.

The rest of the issue is fine, not great. Perez and Sinnott do their normal stellar job. There is a lot of complicated backstory, as is typical of a Roy Thomas comic, with references at least three different, non-FF comics: Marvel Premier 1, Incredible Hulk 178 and Thor 228. For serious Marvel fans, this set of elaborate intertwining of stories can be really satisfying (I know, I used to be one), since it rewards all their obsessive collecting. For more causal fans, it’s a bit bewildering. At least Perez jazzes up all the exposition with a cool double-page spread.

This issue also is the Fantastic Four debut of Bill Mantlo, who provides the script over Thomas’s plot. Mantlo, a prolific writer who actually had a letter to the editor printed just a few issues ago, would fill-in on the FF over the years but never had a run of his own.


What I liked

It’s fun to see the FF back in space again and the High Evolutionary is a very worthy antagonist for the FF, although he doesn’t confront them in this comic. This arc has been rocky through the first two issues; we’ll see if Thomas can deliver a solid conclusion

This was a fun sequence:

And this is a great image of the team by Perez:


What I didn’t like

The comic felt sluggish throughout. It’s not just all the space devoted to explanation, but the fight with Gorr in the first few pages felt repetitive. There’s also the problem with Ben’s fight with the Destroyer; which feels very pro forma, particularly as Galactus was on his way. And lastly, it’s unclear why Galactus shouldn’t consume Counter-Earth. It’s an artificial construct – does anyone live there? We don’t know. It’s hard to get too upset about his arrival when the stakes seem pretty low.


This sequence with Sue was a bit of a let down. I was prepared for her to knock Gorr upside his head, and the opposite happened. It may have been a miscommunication between Mantlo and Perez.


And what does “Cry, the Bedeviled Planet?” even mean?


Anything else?

Some fun ads. This is a very weird G.I. Joe.


Overall

I give it a C+

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 171

20 Sunday Apr 2025

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Fantastic Four 171
“Death is a Golden Gorilla!”
Published March 1976
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils : Rich Buckler and George Perez
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Phil Rachelson
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jack Kirby and Sinnott

Editor’s note: This issue came out a few weeks after Fantastic Four Annual 11, so these reviews are out of order, but I’ll get to the annual soon, I promise.

Synopsis

The story opens in the Baxter Building where a de-powered Ben is getting used to his new exoskeleton while the Invisible Girl expands her powers in a training session. Meanwhile, Johnny and his new girlfriend, Frankie, stroll through Central Park discussing his future away from the Fantastic Four when a spaceship lands and a glowing yellow gorilla emerges. The gorilla quickly growing in size and climbs the Baxter Building, where it grabs the Sue. The FF battle the monster and after it is defeated, it reveals it can speak, and that it came to Earth seeking help combating Galactus.


What’s going on here?

This issue isn’t as bad as I anticipated, given the cover and subject. It’s not great, but it could have been so much worse. As an FF story goes, it follows the formula laid down by Stan and Jack: hi-jinx in the Baxter Building are followed by the team battling some threat. Unfortunately, in this issue, the threat is pretty ridiculous, and despite all the King Kong jokes, still feels like a King Kong rip-off, right down to Sue playing Fay Wray.


The story is redeemed a bit by the twist at the end, and by the interpersonal dramas, between Ben and Reed, Ben and Sue, and Johnny and Frankie. George Perez does a solid job on art, although the first three pages are by Rich Buckler.

The cover is by Jack Kirby, although it’s pretty hard to tell.

What I liked

This exchange between Ben and Sue was interesting. Here, she explains how her powers are more than just invisibility and force fields, and that it’s closer to telekinesis, a long-overdue expansion of her abilities. There’s also a poignant suggestion about Ben and Alicia one day having kids, something that takes almost 50 more years.

Sue’s line about taking a shower is a bit oddly timed.

I also liked the exploration of Johnny’s relationship with Frankie (the line about the old Central Park zoo being smelly was dead on):

And here we get a peek at Johnny’s inner turmoil, and a hint about Frankie’s background:


Here, Sue uses her expanded powers while making a crack about all the times she was held hostage in the early days of the FF (more than a dozen times, by my count):


What I didn’t like

Besides the giant gold glowing gorilla?

I also didn’t like Ben grousing about his loss of powers. With the exoskeleton, he’s got the best of both worlds. He should be happy while it lasts (because of course it won’t):


Overall

Meh.

“The Worlds’ Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 170

13 Sunday Apr 2025

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Fantastic Four 170
“A Sky-Full Of Fear!
Published Feb. 1976
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Phil Rache
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Ed Hannigan and Sinnott

Synopsis

Mr. Fantastic reveals to Ben that the replica Thing is an exoskeleton which will allow him to resume his place on the team. After testing the suit by battling Reed, the two fly off to confront Phillip Masters, aka the Puppet Master, whom they include has been controlling Power Man, the team’s newest member. Meanwhile, Alicia Masters is confronting her step-father in prison when he is broken out by the mind-controlled Power Man, who takes Alicia hostage. Ben and Reed intercept them in mid-air and Ben battles Luke on the speeding Fantasti-Car. The conflict ends when the Puppet Master’s clay idol of Luke falls into the river and loses its power over him.


What’s going on here?

This is one of the best issues in a long time. Often Fantastic Four story arcs start out full of promise but fizzle out when Stan Lee or Roy Thomas couldn’t stick the landing. This one is the opposite: a storyline that began feeling like a gimmick — Red hiring Luke Cage to fill in for Ben — concludes with a very satisfying comic, full of action (but not too much), character development, and an ending that makes sense. Of course, all of this is helped by the return of George Perez, who delivers probably his best issue of the FF to date, with his trademark innovative page designs and dynamic action.

Also of note is the Fantastic Four debut of cover artist Ed Hannigan, with his first and, as far as I can tell, only work on the FF. Does anyone else think Luke as two left feet on the cover?

What I liked

Ben and Reed are really the stars of this comic, and we are treated to lot of interplay between them. First, Ben apologizes for thinking Reed was replacing him with an extra-dimensional Thing:


Then Reed loses his cool when Ben starts sulking again:

After a short fight, Reed gives up:

Did Reed goad Ben into a scrap to test the exoskeleton, or did he just lose his patience? I love the ambiguity in Reed’s non-answer.

I also liked the FF’s teamwork in puzzling out the Puppet Master was behind Luke’s actions:


And I loved how Alicia took control, confronting her father and using her sensitive touch to detect where he hid the Power Man figurine:

This sequence continues with a masterful, 12-panel page from Perez. It’s stuffed with activity but never feels crowded:

I also enjoyed the fight atop the Fantasti-car. Perez does a great job of conveying the precariousness of their position while Thomas supplied some fun dialogue (calling “It’s Clobberin’ Time” a corny war-whoop is just harsh).

What I didn’t like

Not much. Sue is shuffled off out of the action without any explanation, with the assumption being she needs to look after Franklin. Not great, but at least Alicia got some attention. Also, the fight between Reed and Ben seemed silly and like a bit of unnecessary padding. But I’m picking nits — this is a very good comic book.

Anything else

A letter from Bill Mantlo, already a prolific writer for Marvel at this point but who still wrote a fan letter. Mantlo left comics in the 1990s to become a lawyer, then suffered a horrible accident that left his severely disabled. You can read more about his life and accident in an article here.


Also, Twinkies! is this the first of the long-running Hostess ads? It might be.


Overall

Two Thumbs Up!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 167

23 Sunday Mar 2025

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Fantastic Four 167
“Titans Two!”
Published November 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Phil Rachelson
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jack Kirby and Joe Sinnott

Synopsis

After the Thing frees the Hulk from the military’s device, the two escape in an aircraft, heading toward St. Louis. The Hulk demands they alight at the Gateway Arch, where they are eventually attacked by the rest of the Fantastic Four. When he sees his teammates in danger, Ben sides with them agains the Hulk but suddenly begins to change into his human form, a result of exposure to the Hulk’s gamma radiation. He is easily defeated by the Hulk, who escapes.

What’s going on here?

This is a pretty unsatisfying end to a two-part story that had a lot of promise toward the end of last issue, where Ben realizes he and the Hulk are both monsters. The Thing alludes to that solidarity at a few places in the issue, but Roy Thomas doesn’t do much with it and it doesn’t take much for Ben to switch sides again. Thomas instead inserts a subplot of the Thing growing weak and dizzy in the Hulk’s presence, which eventually leads to him becoming human again. None of it makes much sense, and the two-issue arc feels very gimmicky, as it reads mostly as an excuse to shoehorn the Hulk into an FF comic (more guest stars will appear next issue, further evidence that Marvel was trying to goose the FF’s sales).

Joe Sinnott returns to ink George Perez, and it’s a big improvement over Vince Colletta, last month’s inker, although Sinnott can still overpower Perez at times (most times, really).

And speaking of over-powered, Jack Kirby’s pencils are unrecognizable on the cover under Sinnott’s inks. On closer examination I can see touches of Kirby — Reed’s legs, Sue’s posture, the faces of the spectators — but it’s certainly not obvious.

There’s also more inside-baseball in the issue, this time in the form of back-and-forth editor’s notes between Roy and Stan. I’m not sure what they are referencing — Branch Ecch was always code for DC, but who is the Torrid Titan (circa 1965)? — but this sort of thing always endeared me to Marvel when I was a young reader.

What I liked

There are some fun Perez sequences in this comic, like this one:

And this amazing page, with 13 — count ’em, 13! — panels:

Now that Sue’s powers are beefed up, she is shown using them in more interesting ways, like so (and note the footnote):


What I didn’t like

Ben changing into his human form is hard to understand since A, Ben’s powers didn’t come from gamma rays and B, he’s been exposed to the Hulk before. I don’t know if this comes up again, but it sure seems like it would be an easy way to cure Ben of his monstrous form. It’s yet another unexpected curveball thrown at Ben that doesn’t seem based in much from a story or scientific standpoint.


Anything else?

I don’t even know where to begin with this house ad:


Overall

Meh

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 166

16 Sunday Mar 2025

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Fantastic Four 166
“If It’s Tuesday, This Must Be The Hulk!”
Published October 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Vince Colletta
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Phil Rachelson
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Rich Buckler and Dan Adkins

Synopsis

At the behest of the military, the Fantastic Four are flying west to find the Hulk, whom Mr. Fantastic thinks he can prevent from transforming from Bruce Banner with a device of his invention. Their plane is damaged by the Hulk, and after the FF help with an emergency landing, the team eventually captures the Hulk and helps the military secure him. But when it’s clear the authorities aren’t releasing Banner to the FF as agreed, the Thing frees him and joins the Hulk to fight the military.


What’s going on here?

This a bit of an odd issue. The mission to end Banner’s transformations into the Hulk seems to come out of nowhere, and it feels more like an opportunity to get the Hulk on the cover than to tell a good story. The story is padded out with a long sequence of the FF rescuing the plane (and with two pages for letters) but it picks up toward the end.

What’s most alarming about this comic are the inks of Vince Colletta, who is filling in for the Joe Sinnott. Colletta is infamous among comic book fans for butchering Jack Kirby’s work on Thor (it’s well documented here), and he’s accused of taking shortcuts and even erasing details that would take too long to ink. I always felt the criticism was probably over the top, given the passions Kirby evokes in his fans, and that Colletta was a journeyman professional who was doing a job as best he knew how (he is credited with working on more than 1,600 comics over the length of his 40+ year career).

But he does George Perez no favors in this comic. There is a distinct lack of Perez’s signature detail, and his faces look frozen and static. Here’s a good example:

It’s almost unrecognizable as Perez, and even though this is early in Perez’s career, we saw in the last two issues (inked by Sinnott) that many of his characteristics were apparent even at this stage.

In last month’s letters page there was an explanation that regular FF penciler Rich Buckler was unavailable for some reason, and that Perez was pressed into service. It’s possible he had to rush to complete this issue, and was only able to do layouts, leaving emergency inker Colletta the task of finishes. (The padded story and the double letter page would support that theory). In any event, the art in this comic is an unfortunate disappointment after the brilliant FF debut of Perez in the last two issues.

And one footnote: the cover by Buckler was inked by Dan Adkins, a longtime comics inker doing his first work on the Fantastic Four.

What I liked

Despite the shaky premise, the story becomes a good one as the plot develops and Ben’s outrage over the treatment of the Hulk — in his eyes, a fellow monster — at the hands of the military builds from a simmer to boil. His decision to free Banner is genuinely surprising. This is a pretty dramatic sequence, enhanced by Perez’s layouts, which build from an 11-panel page (!) to a great splash:


I also liked how matter-of-factly the FF defeated the Hulk. Granted, the Hulk in this comics isn’t the absurdly over-powered creature he has since become, but it was fun to see them work together as a smooth and efficient team, and where Sue plays a leading role.


And speaking of Sue, this was a fun exchange (this panel follows the “Fkoom!” panel higher up in this post):


What I didn’t like

As mentioned earlier, this story feels padded and contrived, never more so than in the opening sequence, where the FF are flying in a commercial airline — it’s not explained why they’re not in one of their own planes — which just happens to be accidentally clipped by the Hulk. It’s all a set up for the FF to land the plane, but it really serves no narrative purpose. Also, there are some really ungainly poses in this panel (and whose kid is that?).


When the FF scramble to rescue the crashing plane, Reed directs Johnny to burn a hole in he fuselage so they can exit the plane. But why not just open a door?


Overall

A bit of a mess

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 165

09 Sunday Mar 2025

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Fantastic Four 165
“The Light of Other Worlds!”
Published September 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: George Perez
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Petra Goldberg
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Ron Wilson and Joe Sinnott

Synopsis

Mr. Fantastic begins investigating the Crusader, who defeated the Human Torch last issue and has been on a rampage, destroying banks across New York City. When he attacks a branch in the Bronx, the FF confront him and he reveals he was once the golden age hero Marvel Boy and is now enacted revenge on the banks that prevented him from saving the people of his home world, Uranus (really). Reed deduces his powers are light-generated, and by blotting out the sun the FF are able to defeat him.


What’s going on here

While not quite as tightly paced as the last issue, this comic is a satisfying conclusion to the Crusader story. In the letters page, it is revealed this two-part story was originally intended to be a a single-issue story in Giant-Size Fantastic Four 6, but when that series was canceled, the story was split into two with a few pages added (interestingly, they chose not to simply make it an annual). The note apologies for any dropped plot points — I didn’t detect any— but this issue does feel padded, with a climactic fight scene that lasts longer than it really needs to.

Roy Thomas provides a lengthy and convoluted origin of the Crusader, whose campaign against the banks makes him sound like a super-powered Luigi Mangione. It’s all pretty ridiculous, and it’s clear the Crusader is only in this comics because of Thomas’s affection for obscure characters from the golden and silver ages.

(This origin would eventually be retconned away, and the Crusader is now an Eternal named Thelius who believed himself to be Marvel Boy).

George Perez is back on art duty, and like last issue, he adds his characteristic attention to detail and masterful use of panels. The cover is by Ron Wilson, with Joe Snnott’s inks. At this point Wilson had been around for a few years but this is his first work on the FF. He would go on to draw dozens of issues of Marvel Two-in-One and its successor book, The Thing, becoming one of the definitive pencilers of Benjamin J. Grimm. As far as I can tell, he is the first Black artist to work on an issue of the FF and he would later go on to draw some fill-in issues. The cover is unfortunately marred by some very silly dialogue (and what exactly is the North Bronx? Riverdale? Co-Op City? Van Cortland Park?)


What I liked

Perez again does some great work. I particularly enjoyed this sequence:


And this one, which is a great example of how he uses tiny panels to amazing effect:


Thomas again pokes some fun at the Distinguished Competition in this sequence:


What I didn’t like

As seen above, the Crusader speaks in absurdly grandiloquent phrases (to the extent that Johnny actually makes fun of him at one point). Nothing about his character suggests he’s a former hero from Earth, or that he was any doubts or hesitation about what he’s doing. He’s unfortunately paper-thin as a villain, and Thomas squanders the opportunity to delve into his background to create an interesting resolution to the story. He really could have been any of a number of anonymous bad guys.

Also, this page is just weird, both for Johnny’s off-hand disregard of the Bronx, a borough where 2 million people live, and for Ben’s bizarre recollection that he went to Giants baseball games there. As virtually anyone who lived in New York at that point would know, the Polo Grounds were in upper Manhattan. Thomas’s Missouri origins were never more apparent. Perez does draw a snazzy Fantasticar, though.


Anything else?

There’s another letter from longtime comics creator Peter B. Gillis in this issue, just three years before he has his first credit as a Captain America writer. Also on the page is the editor’s note about why the story was was split in two, and the explanation of why Rich Buckler didn’t draw it. The anonymous author of the response to Gillis — probably Thomas — was wrong about one thing: Buckler wasn’t around for a long time to come. He would go on to draw just two more issues before Perez took over more or less full-time.


There is also a fun ad for Marvel’s Treasury Editions. Just in case anyone is worried I dropped the ball, the FF’s Treasury Edition contains only reprints.



Overall

Solid comic book storytelling

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 164

03 Monday Mar 2025

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Fantastic Four 164
“The Crusader Syndrome!”
Published Aug. 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: George Perez
Inker: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Petra Goldberg
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Jack Kirby (yes, that Jack Kirby) and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four experiments with the Invisible Woman’s recently expanded powers, then Johnny goes on a date with Frankie Raye, only to encounter the Crusader, a new villain. The Crusader battles and defeats the Human Torch, who is rescued by the rest of the FF.


What’s going on here?

There’s a lot to discuss in this issue, so get comfortable. First, it’s arguably the best issue since the end of the Lee / Kirby run. Not just for its notable artists, which we will get to, but it’s a perfectly told and paced story. Roy Thomas opens with the usual Baxter Building shenanigans, introduces new character developments, injects fun familial banter, builds up to a real battle (one which the Torch loses), and ends the story gracefully. It’s not earth-shattering, but it’s a model of how Fantastic Four comics should be told and such a departure from the last issue — one of the worst of the era— that it’s amazing the same man wrote both.

Secondly, it’s a story of firsts. This issue marks the first appearance of Frankie Raye, who becomes Johnny’s girlfriend and, eventually, Nova, a Herald of Galactus. (I suppose it’s a sign of the ’70s that they met at a singles bar, and that Frankie doesn’t even know his last name before agreeing to go a date). It’s also the first appearance of the quantum bands, worn here by the Crusader, that end up on the arms of Quasar, a hero who would go to join the Avengers and star in his own comic.


This issue is also notably the first with a Jack Kirby cover since his departure from the FF after issue 102. In the five years between, Kirby went to DC and invented Darkseid, Apokolips, Mr. Miracle, Big Barda, the Forever People, Kamandi, O.M.A.C. and host of other characters and concepts. When DC canceled the Fourth World books, a frustrated Kirby looked for a way back to Marvel, and received a deal that gave him what he really wanted: control over his own content. (you can read more about it here). Along with writing and drawing Captain America, the Black Panther and the Eternals, he also did a number of covers for other books, including several for his former comic, the Fantastic Four.

And of course, this is the first issue drawn by George Perez, one of the greatest artists to work on the Fantastic Four and a giant of the industry. Just 21 at this point, Perez began his career as an assistant to Rich Buckler, and had drawn about a dozen comics for Marvel— mostly kung-fu or monster comics — before getting a shot at the Fantastic Four. While he was billed as a guest artist in FF 164, he drew the next two issues as well and remained a steady presence on the book for the next several years, drawing about 20 issues, including annuals, in all.

Joe Sinnott was still the inker and while it can be argued he overwhelmed his pencilers, he ensured a uniform look to the characters from Kirby through Buscema and Buckler to Perez (and beyond). But Perez’s individual style is apparent if you know where to look. Some of his trademarks are already apparent, such as panels set within larger panels, and action sequences told across many smaller panels. While nine panels on a page are lot for most artists (and six was standard) Perez could push it to 10, as on this page, or even 12.


Perez also loved incredibly detailed clothing and costumes, much to the chagrin of artists that followed and had to use his designs. Here is Johnny in a new set of duds (which Perez said he modeled after the attire of a South Bronx pimp from his childhood):


The panel reminded me of an iconic page from the New Teen Titans Perez drew about a decade later (and which surely gave subsequent pencilers nightmares):


Lastly, the story features a notable Thomasian tic: the mining of older comics for characters and ideas. The Crusader is revealed in the next issue to be Marvel Boy, a Golden Age character who was raised on Uranus and received great powers there (this origin is later ret-conned away in a 2000s series, Agents of Atlas).


What I liked

Along with all of the above, the issue is a coming-out for a new version of the Invisible Girl, whose powers have been increased since they are amplified by the thunder-horn of Xemu, a would-be world conquerer from the Fifth Dimension (this all went down in issue 159). This development is long overdue and very welcome.

In a series of sequences, she first befuddles Ben during training exercises (also, this may be the first time we see Franklin speaking) …


… then uses her force fields to save Reed, then to bring her and Ben to a soft landing and to hold back the crowds. Ben is impressed.

And if I haven’t said enough about Perez’s art, here’s a great splash page that concludes the comic:


What I didn’t like

There’s not much to dislike. The Crusader comes across as just another chest-thumping villain that spouts cliches, although he has a vicious streak. As usual, Thomas over-narrates the comic, at one point instructing readers on the proper pronunciation of Greenwich

And the ending is a bit puzzling, with Reed striding off across the city alone, to somehow not attract attention. Nor is it clear what he needs to do in the village.


Anything else?

The Bullpen Bulletins announce yet another change in editor at Marvel, with Marv Wolfman taking over for Len Wein. As mentioned before, this a period in which Marvel will have six editors-in-chief in five years, leading to a sense of general instability and chaos. There was a lot of creative ferment at Marvel during this era but a lot of slop, too.


I don’t think I’ve seen this ad, or these toys, before. Sort of a proto-G.I. Joe.


Overall

The best Fantastic Four comic in a long time