Fantastic Four 70
“When Fall the Mighty!”
Published Oct. 1967
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Art Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Picking up where Fantastic Four 69 left off, Mr. Fantastic, the Human Torch and a bunch of NYPD cops burst into the Mad Thinker’s hideout to rescue Dr. Santini, the scientist Reed recruited to try and revert the Thing to human form. After they navigate various androids and booby traps, Reed overcomes the Thinker and Santini is rescued.

Meanwhile, the Thing, who previously was brainwashed into seeking revenge against Reed by the Thinker, is still at large in New York. After evading the cops, he eventually make his way through the subway to find Reed and Johnny, where they battle on the city streets before Reed can lure him back to the Baxter Building. There, Ben subdues Johnny before attacking Reed.

Now in prison, the Thinker uses a device in his wrist watch to trigger a new, 12-foot android to attack the FF. The issue concludes as Reed activates the “Menta-Wave Unit,” knocking out Ben, while the android bursts though the wall of the Baxter Building and the Invisible Girl, up to now sidelined, is left to confront the robot with the rest of the team unconscious.

What’s going on here?

A continuation of a not-terribly-compelling story, FF 70 does pick up some momentum and ends on a genuinely suspenseful note (it’s probably no coincidence that the last panel of the comic was repurposed for the cover). It’s pretty much wall-to-wall action, and features a lot of Reed either battling the Mad Thinker or Ben. This is one of the issues of the FF that reads like “Reed Richards and the Fantastic Three,” with Ben playing the bad guy, Johnny mostly getting in trouble for not listening to Reed, and Sue almost totally absent. It seems pretty clear that both Stan and Jack see Reed as their stand-in—the mature, responsible father figure shepherding women and children—and this comic makes it really obvious.

The sexist sixties

As noted earlier, both Sue and Crystal have been sidelined by Reed and Johnny. Sue is pregnant, so there’s a certain old-fashioned logic there, but at this point it seems Stan and Jack don’t really know what to do with Crystal. Her role will expand in issues to come.

Weird science

As far as I am aware, this is the first appearance of the “meta-wave unit.”

Read all about it

Newspapers again play a big role in the proceedings.

Crazy credits

It’s been a while since we’ve had one of these worth running.

For sale

All kinds of stuff

Dig that Kirby Krackle

This week, one big panel …

… and a bunch of smaller ones:

Also on newsstands

In October 1967. This week I’m going with an all DC lineup, with classic covers from Joe Kubert, Neal Adams and Curt Swan.

Next issue: The Ben/Thinker story concludes!

Fantastic Four 69
“By Ben Betrayed!”
Published: Sept. 1967
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 69 picks up where the last issue ends, with the Thing mind-controlled by “Dr. Santini,” a scientist recruited by Mr. Fantastic to help transform Ben into human form but actually the Mad Thinker in disguise. Ben immediately attacks Reed and goes on a rampage in first the Baxter Building, then on the streets of New York.

Meanwhile, the Mad Thinker takes advantage of the chaos to pilfer Reed’s secrets, and discovers the entrance to the Negative Zone. And we learn the real Santini is alive and imprisoned by the Thinker

Eventually the police and national guard are called on to stop Ben, and as the pressure to stop him grows, he steals a hat and coat and disappears into the city, vowing to destroy the FF.

What’s going on here?

If Fantastic Four issues 44 to 60 represent the peak of the Lee/Kirby run, that means there is inevitably going to be some fall off—every peak is followed by a decline. Up until now, the decline hadn’t been steep – the Negative Zone and and Beehive story arcs were of a pretty high quality. But unfortunately these last two issues feel noticeably weaker. It’s not just that the story (so far) lacks much nuance or dimension—the Thinker exploits Ben’s simmering resentment toward Reed—but it’s that Stan and Jack deployed pretty much the same device in issues 40-42. In those issues, it was the Wizard who brainwashed Ben to attack the rest of the team, but the basic idea is the same. Even the titles are similar (“The Brutal Betrayal of Ben Grimm” vs. “By Ben Betrayed”).

Look, no one bats 1.000 and Stan and Jack’s average is better than most. It’s also notable that they never had a fill-in or inventory issue after almost six years, so maybe it’s to be expected their creativity would flag here and there. But there’s also something a bit sad about seeing a decline, because we know this run doesn’t last forever, and we are closer to the end than the beginning.

Weird science

Not only does Reed have a “hi-voltage discharger” but the rest of the team knows all about it.

Incidentally, that’s an iconic image of the Torch. One of Jack’s best.

The sexist 60s

Now it’s not just Sue getting shunted aside, but Crystal as well, despite her pretty impressive powers.

Urban renewal

I thought Ben would be more of a Jane Jacobs guy but he’s going full-on Robert Moses here.

The Incredible Mr. Fantastic

Sue’s new look

She was wearing a mini-skirt last issue, but now it appears she seems to have pants underneath.

Happy anniversary!

It’s Jack and Roz’s 25th.

Cartoon time

Seems odd that they have to note the Spider-Man cartoon will be in color. Were black-and-white cartoons a thing?

Dig that Kirby Krackle

This is a great, King Kong-esque sequence

This is cool, too:

And this panel is humming with activity:

Also on newsstands

What else was for sale in September of 1967?

Next issue: The FF vs. the Mad Thinker!

Fantastic Four 68
“His Mission: Destroy the Fantastic Four!”
Published: Aug. 1967
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Art Simek
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 68 opens with the team visiting Alicia in her hospital room where she is recovering after ordeal of the previous issue (chronologically this story follows FF 67 , not FF Annual 5). The Thing has a moment of anguish about his appearance, and after some horseplay with the Invisible Girl and Mr. Fantastic in the Baxter Building, Reed renews his efforts to restore Ben’s human form.

Meanwhile, Dr. Santini, a chemist summoned by Reed to help with Ben’s case, is abducted by a mysterious villain who impersonates him to destroy the Fantastic Four. The villain is unnamed and shrouded in shadow but various hints suggest it’s the Mad Thinker.

We also check in with the Human Torch, who introduces Crystal to his grease-monkey friends. When Johnny gets jealous when one hits on Crystal, she uses her elemental powers to chill them out.

Back at the Baxter Building, Dr. Santini’s imposter arrives and begins to work with Reed to revert Ben to human form. When Ben is finally bombarded with “mesa rays,” his form is unchanged but because of the villain’s sabotages, his mind is altered. The story ends with an angry Ben menacing Reed.

What’s going on here?

After the events of the last two issues (and the annual), most of this issue feels a like a time out that allows the team and fans to catch their breath. Much of the story is devoted to the interplay between Reed, Sue and Ben, a reminder of their friendship, and that Reed and Sue are still newlyweds. We also get a reminder that Johnny is still a car-crazy teenager.

The story’s focus on Ben underscores that his transformation into the Thing—at the hands of his best friend—remains the core tension of the book. Stan and Jack arguably return to the theme too often, but his torment is what helps make him one of the most sympathetic, and beloved, characters in comics.

The sexist sixties

This sequence is actually sort of charming, and is a rare instance of Reed’s playfulness, but it does feel rooted in the sexist characterization of Sue as obsessed with her clothes and appearance.

They’re fighting again

More from the same sequence as above:

Weird science

I got to get me some of those mesa rays

Dig that Kirby Krackle

There’s no big splash pages or collages in this issue but still lots of nice panels:

Also on newsstands

Other comics for sale in August 1967:

Next issue: The Fantastic Four vs. the Thing!

Fantastic Four 15
“The Mad Thinker and his Awesome Android”
Published March 1963
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
Letters: Art Simek

Synopsis

In an echo of the first issue, Mr. Fantastic uses a flare gun to summon the team, and informs them he’s been alerted by the police that gang leaders from around the country are assembling in the city. Meanwhile, we are introduced to the Mad Thinker, a genius scientist, who has convened the crime bosses. He debuts his plan to use the predictive powers of his computers to defeat the Fantastic Four and become king of New York.

Putting his plan in place, he arranges for the FF to be drawn away from the team to pursue other goals: Johnny joins his cousins’ circus, Ben become a pro wrestler, Sue makes a movie and Reed becomes a research scientist. All are dissatisfied with their new careers, however, and return to the (newly named) Baxter Building only to find it turned to crystal by the Thinker. The team fight their way in and overcomes a series of traps and obstacles laid by the Thinker, who uses Reed’s own inventions against him. The last is an android, which adapts to its foes, that Reed designed by the Thinker built. The Thinker is finally defeated after Reed prearranged for the building’s power to cut out, shutting down the Thinker’s weapons.

What’s going on here?

A fairly straight-forward issue that introduces the Mad Thinker to the FF’s rogues gallery. While never a first-tier bad guy, he reappears fairly steadily over the years, often teaming up with other villains. He’d often included a in run-down of the smartest characters in the Marvel Universe. The issue also features the first time their headquarters is named the “Baxter Building,” 12 issues after its first appearance in issue 3.

Those guys

FF 15 also marks Ben’s first actual visit to Yancy Street, where he is of course harassed by the Yancy Street Gang. While the fictional Yancy Street is understood to be a stand in for Delancy Street on New York’s Lower East Side, here it’s intersecting with 10th Avenue.

Crime does pay

It seems strange now that the FF would be involved in a story with mafia-type criminals but Marvel had’t fully yet separated its “street-level” books like Spider-man and Daredevil from its more cosmic type comics like the FF and Avengers. So in this issue we get both mob hoods in pin-stripe suits and toothpicks and the Thinker whose ambition to become king of New York is surprisingly literal.

Rasslin’

On his short sabbatical from the team, Ben becomes a pro wrestler and fights Fatal Finnegan.

That foreshadows Ben’s foray into grappling as part of the Unlimited Class Wrestling circuit in his own series in the 1980s (a pretty forgettable story line, to be honest).

Life and times of the Human Torch

Jack Kirby again displays his questionable fashion sense, dressing teenage Johnny in a fedora while on a date.

Johnny signs up, in part because can’t wait to meet those “cool circus chicks.”

They’re fighting again

The sixties are sexist

Sue just isn’t cut out for super-heroing

Kirby Krackle

These two panels are about as Kirby as it gets

These are fun, too.

For sale

A mint copy (9.8) will run you about $70,000.

Pin up time

A rather odd-looking Kirby pin up. I’m guessing it was drawn earlier and saved until this issue.

Next issue: Dr. Doom and the Ant-Man!