Fantastic Four 8
“Prisoners of the Puppet Master”
Published: August 1962
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers (uncredited)
Cover: Kirby and Ayers

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four squabble after the rest of the team keeps the Thing from learning what Reed is working in in his lab (eventually revealed to be a cure for his condition). Later, the team rescues a man, under the thrall of the Puppet Master, who attempts suicide by jumping from a bridge. Thwarted, the Puppet Master takes control of the Thing, and later captures the Invisible Girl. He sends Alicia Masters, his blind step-daughter, disguised as Sue back with the Thing to capture the rest of the team, but Ben stumbles into Reed’s chemicals, reverting him back to human form and breaking the Puppet Master’s mind control.

Meanwhile, the Puppet Masters is using his puppets to engineer a jailbreak (apparently as a test of his abilities although it’s never really made clear). The FF rescue Sue and foil the jailbreak, although the Puppet Master evades capture. Reunited with Alicia, he reveals his plan to use his puppets to make him ruler of the world. Horrified, she grabs at his puppet and as he trips, he plummets out a window, seemingly to his death

What’s going on here?

Fantastic Four 8 introduces Phillip Masters, who as the Puppet Master will be a recurring villain, and more significantly, his step daughter, Alicia. Alicia Masters becomes one of the team’s most consistent supporting characters, first as the Thing’s girlfriend and much later, his wife. She develops into a renown sculptor (although her works are invariably shown as fairly uninteresting depictions of Marvel heroes) and often served as a babysitter to young Franklin Richards when the team went on a mission. She also, unfortunately, filled in for Sue as the requisite hostage of the super villains after the Invisible Woman evolved past that role.

After many twists and turns in their relationship—including a period where she left Ben for Johnny in the 1980s, a betrayal later retconned as the actions of Lyja, a Skrull in disguise (the less said about that the better)—the two finally got hitched in 2018’s FF No. 5:

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It’s clear Stan and Jack had long-term plans for Alicia as early as issue 8, as she and the Thing quickly develop feelings for each other:

The Thing/Ben/Alicia dynamic becomes fraught over the years. It begins with the Beauty-and-the-Beast cliche, and the story-telling crutch of her blindness, because of course only a blind woman could love the Thing. Later writers, notably John Byrne, investigate whether Ben’s psychological need for Alicia’s love has prevented him from reverting back to human form. The seeds of that storyline were introduced here in issue 8, as Ben reverts back to the Thing after temporarily turning human

Byrne runs with that idea in issue 245, while giving Reed a convenient explanation for why all his attempts to return Ben to human form failed:

About that clay

Phillip Master’s puppet powers derive from radioactive clay (another reminder of how in the ’60s, radioactivity was an all-purpose bestower of super powers), but it’s a little unclear how it actually works. Usually, he needs to mold a clay form of a living person to manipulate them, sort of like a voodoo doll.

But here he has sculpted a flying, jet-propelled horse, which seems to work just fine without him using a small version of it.

And then he plans to rule the world by sculpting himself as its king. Would he manipulate himself?

They’re fighting again

After skipping last issue, Ben and Johnny pick right up where they left off:

The sexist sixties

Sue is, of course, captured by the bad guy, for the fourth time in the first eight issues.

What year is it?

For the first time, the year is mentioned, which will become a problem for continuity hounds as Marvel’s sliding time scale means these issues no longer take place in the ’60s.

Dig that Kirby Krackle

Some great stuff from Jack in this issue.

The Incredible Mr. Fantastic

Reed finds a new use for his powers.

Pin up

Johnny gets another pin up, this one offering scientific explanations for his powers and costume (I love the image of the unstable molecules).

For sale

A mint copy of FF 8 will cost you about $130,000.

Next issue: The return of the Sub-Mariner!