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“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 169

05 Saturday Apr 2025

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Fantastic Four 169
“Five Characters in Search of a Madman!”
Published January 1976
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Phil Rachelson
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Buckler and Sinnott

Synopsis

Ben Grimm, still adjusting to no longer being the Thing, gets tangled up in a bar fight before he’s rescued by Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch. Meanwhile, Power Man — the FF’s newest member — kibitzes with the Invisible Woman and Alicia Masters before he falls under the mind-control of an unknown bad guy and attacks Sue. He battles Sue and the rest of the FF before fleeing in a Fantasti-car. The issue ends with Reed showing Ben a life-size replica of the Thing.


What’s going on here?

This comic continues an arc about a de-powered Thing began last issue and is on the whole a lot more successful. Ben is still struggling with his new reality, but instead of picking needless fights like last issue, he is instead vents his frustration in a bar brawl not of his making. And Power Man’s heel turn make sense when we’re reminded of the clues dropped by Roy Thomas last issue. There’s also some interesting character development, between Ben’s brooding introspection and Sue’s chit-chat with Luke.

This issue also marks the end of Rich Buckler’s first run on the FF (he’ll return to draw another half-dozen issues in the last eighties). Buckler’s work on the FF was generally solid, with some high points and few duds. Of the three main pencil artists on the FF to this point — Jack Kirby, John Buscema and Buckler — he’s clearly the weakest, but thanks to Joe Sinnott’s steady inks, the book never diverged far from the standard set by Kirby.

What I liked

Regular readers of this blog know I have complained about Sue’s treatment under Stan Lee and Gerry Conway. Thomas has expanded her powers and slowly added depth to her character. Here, she provides an answer to a question many readers probably have about her name:

She eventually changes her name to Invisible Woman in issue 284.

I also liked how Thomas and Buckler alternate Ben’s flashbacks to fighting as the Thing with his present barroom brawl:


I also liked this tease of future (or maybe past) mayhem involving Dr. Doom’s time machine:


What I didn’t like

Thomas is up to his old tricks again, with heavy-handed narration and a title that seems designed to show off that he went to college (it’s a play on Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author”) without making much sense.

He also rolled out the cliched “Bedlam in the Baxter Building” blurb on the cover, reprising a title used for Fantastic Four Annual 3 and FF 101.


Also, Thomas is a good enough writer to avoid this silly introduction for Luke. Maybe Luke should give his resume while he’s reciting his title.



Overall

A fine comic

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 168

30 Sunday Mar 2025

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Fantastic Four 168
“Where Have All The Powers Gone?”
Published December 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Phil Rachelson
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Bucker and Sinnott

Synopsis

As Ben Grimm struggles with his adjustment to being human again, Mr. Fantastic tells him he’s hired Power Man to replace him on the roster, noting that the FF’s charter requires four super-powered heroes on the team. Ben does not take this well, and when the team goes on a mission to confront the Wrecker, he gets underfoot and needs to be rescued by Power Man and the rest of the team.

What’s going on here?

This is a notable issue for one big, obvious reason — Luke Cage joins the Fantastic Four! And while the story doesn’t live up to its potential, it’s still worth considering that Cage is just the third member of the team outside the Core Four, following Crystal and Medusa. He’s also the first person of color on the team. Unfortunately, he’s really only on the team to serve as a foil for Ben, and he’s dropped into the comic without any lead up or context. It would have been fun to tell the story from his perspective, and to see his reaction when Reed first approaches him, but we don’t get any of that. We don’t even get a “Sweet Christmas!” But we do get a lot of Ben’s being a boor.


Cage was an interesting choice for fill-in. To a certain degree, it makes sense, since he’s literally hero for hire. But he doesn’t have a history with the team, like Spider-man or even Daredevil, and I’m not aware of them ever crossing paths before. I’m guessing Cage is there to give him a bit of exposure and bump up sales of his own comic.


What I liked

The comic is at its best when we’re in the company of Ben and Alicia, who are clearly enjoying Ben’s return to human form. (A more provocative writer would have had Alicia become pregnant while Ben was human, which would have created an interesting dynamic. Maybe someone could write a What If?). It’s fun seeing Ben step back and let Alicia enjoy meeting her fans (and note the reference to comic creator Harvey Kurtzman).


After four issues of art from George Perez, Rich Buckler is back, and while he’s not in the same league as Perez, he does a fine job here. The contrast between Perez’s layouts, with pages crammed with panels an intricate backgrounds, and Buckler’s simpler approach is pretty jarring.


What I didn’t like

The entire issue is wrapped around Ben’s inability to adjust to no longer being the Thing. And while some of that is understandable — he’s no longer the idol of millions etc — it does start to feel like whining. For most of the last 167 issues he’s complained about being trapped in a monster’s body, and now he wishes he was the Thing again? The story (and Ben) would have been better served with more balance, and including more of his and Alicia’s joy. Unfortunately, he spends most of the issue acting like a self-pitying jerk, and the confrontation with the Wrecker serves no purpose other than to pit Ben against cage.


I’m not sure how many times the Baxter Building has been depicted in the Fantastic Four, but surely Buckler could have consulted one before drawing this splash page. Unless Thomas retroactively decided it was the Baxter Building after Buckler handed in the page. (Note the story title is a punny reference to a popular folk song):


Anything else?

The letters page included the annual statement of circulation. Twelve month average is about 216,000 (it’s amazing how many issues get returned).


Overall

A landmark issue that doesn’t live up to its potential

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 161

09 Sunday Feb 2025

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Fantastic Four 161
“All The World Wars At Once!”
Published May 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Glynis Wein
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Buckler and Sinnott

Synopsis

The comic opens with Mr. Fantastic testing his powers, and concluding they are fading, thus limiting his value to the team. The Human Torch, frustrated with Reed’s decision to sell the FF’s company, journeys to the Fifth Dimension to reunite with Valeria, only to be sucked into a battle with giant robots, apparently created by Reed Richards. Meanwhile, the Thing, on an Earth in another dimension, battles dinosaurs before he is subdued by the Ben Grimm of that Earth. Back on the primary earth (or Earth 1 or Earth 616 if you prefer) Reed and Sue prepare for an invasion from the Fifth Dimension, seemingly led by Johnny.


What’s going on here?

Just when I thought the last issue was peak Roy Thomas, he goes even further. Instead of a story spanning two dimensions, he has now added a third (confusingly called the Fifth Dimension), and each seems to be in conflict with another. Arkon, whom we might have expected to be the primary villain of this arc, has disappeared and the bad guy now seems to be the Reed Richards of the alternate Earth, who is that Earth’s Thing and has apparently sent giant robots to conquer the Fifth Dimension.

The comic is at times confusing — particularly since it backs into the story after a lengthy, seemingly unrelated opening sequence concerning Reed and his powers — but its complexity gives it a welcome richness and it’s crammed with ideas that will reappear in comics again and again. The scene of dinosaurs and vikings running amok, for example, feels like something directly out of Crisis on Infinite Earths, a comic which won’t come out for another 10 years. And the extra-dimensional, evil doppelgänger of a hero is now a recurring device, from Dark Beast to The Maker.


Thomas being Thomas, he can’t help but show off his erudition by dropping a reference to the Elder Edda. He also drops in some snide references to the Distinguished Competition, certainly not knowing he would be working for DC in seven years.


What I liked

Along with the aforementioned depth of storytelling from Thomas, it seems Rich Buckler has upped his game. After a few uninspiring issues, his layouts in this comic are more dynamic, and show an imaginative use of perspective and angles. Here’s a simple sequence with four panels, all with different perspectives that help tell the story:

Here’s another one (also, note how different the dinosaur’s teeth look from the cover):


As mentioned last issue, Thomas has been pulling the FF closer to the rest of the Marvel universe. Here’s another example, where he references Professor X (and frankly, the whole opening sequence, with Mr. Fantastic testing himself in his version of the Danger Room, would have felt at home in an X-Men comic):


There’s some interesting political commentary too, with Nelson Rockefeller president of Earth 2 (I’m just going to call it that). Rockefeller was vice president when this comic was published in 1975, having been appointed to the position by President Gerald Ford after he assumed the presidency when Nixon resigned. Ben’s comment about not voting for Rockefeller or Ford for president of Earth 2 is a bit odd, since no one voted for them on Earth 1 either (or maybe that’s his point).


What I didn’t like

Sue is back on the team, but her role now, as in years past, mostly seems to be fretting. And Reed is again lying to her to protect her.


When Johnny is attacked in the Fifth Dimension, the guards there just happen to have rifles that shoot … ice. Pretty convenient.


Anything else?

The story’s title was borrowed from a short science-fiction story by George Alec Effinger, which is credited by Thomas. I’m not familiar with Effinger’s work, but he was active and prolific from the 70s through the 90s, and wrote some stories for Marvel’s horror magazines in 1972.


Overall

More Thomasian fun

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 158

19 Sunday Jan 2025

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Fantastic Four 158
“Invasion From the 5th (count it, 5th!) Dimension!”
Published Feb. 1975
Writer: Roy Thomas
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Joe Rosen
Colors: Janice Cohen
Editor: Thomas
Cover: Buckler and Al Milgrom

Synopsis

Quicksilver is teleported from Atillan, home of the Inhumans, to New York to summon Medusa home. After a brief scuffle with the Human Torch, he explains Atillan has been invaded by Xemu, a tyrant from the Fifth Dimension, and plans to use Black Bolt’s voice to power his Thunder Horn, thereby conquering Earth (Medusa is required to coerce Black But to use his powers thusly). The issue ends with the Fantastic Four vowing to end this menace and taking off in their ICBM for Atillan.


What’s going here

There’s a lot to like in this issue, one of the best in many years. It also has an interesting origin, which may or may not explain why it’s better than other recent issues: According to an answer to a letter in this issue, this story was originally created for Giant-Size Fantastic Four 5, but penciler Rich Buckler ran afoul of “personal problems” and was unable to complete the story slated for FF 158. As a result, they chopped this story in two, with the second half to run in FF 159 while Giant-Size FF 5 became a fill-in issue. Whew!

Fantastic Four FF 158 reads like Roy Thomas at the peak of his powers. The story has lots of fun touches and bits of characterization, there’s an obligatory call back to an obscure comic, and he gets to show off his erudition as Ben and Alicia discuss Puccini’s Madama Butterfly. More importantly, while the plot structure is a pretty familiar one to FF readers, it’s suspenseful, well-paced and moves along briskly.

As Thomas notes in an editor’s note, Xemu and his Fifth Dimension first appeared in Strange Tales 103 from 1962 (although he was called Zemu back then), and you couldn’t not imagine a more Silver-age-ish comic than this. It has wonderful pencils from Jack Kirby, and is inked by Dick Ayers


Teenage Johnny investigates houses sinking into the muck on Long Island, discovers it’s an alien plot, is abducted to the Fifth Dimension, is taken prisoner, escapes with the help of sympathetic locals, starts a war, leads an uprising that liberate the planet, and returns home — all in 14 pages!

It’s clear Thomas has a lot of affection for this era of storytelling and he returns to it over and over throughout his career.


What I liked

The opening sequence, when Ben and Alicia are leaving the opera, was well handled, with the right amount of humor and genuine affection between the two. I liked how the splash page was a riff on the splash page from Giant-Size FF 4 (and recall how this story was originally supposed to be in GSFF 5), with Alicia turning the tables on ben and taking him to the opera. I also liked how Thomas poked fun at the silliness of the Fifth Dimension conceit in the title.

The fun banter between Ben and Alicia continues, and when Ben falls into his familiar woe-is-me routine, Alicia harmlessly bats it aside, recognizing it’s Ben’s schtick.


Thomas checks in on the rest of the FF as well. Johnny heads to a single bar, looking to, well, get laid. I love how the woman mocks his lingo, another subtle dig by Thomas at how dated Johnny’s slang was when written by Stan Lee.


Then we have a brief interlude with Reed and Sue — Sue’s first appearance in many issues. This is the first I’ve heard of Sue becoming a private detective, and I don’t know if anything became of it but it’s a great idea for a comic (she was later retconned as a super-spy who does missions for Nick Fury in the 2019 Invisible Woman mini-series, which is sort of a similar idea).


Lastly, we get a panel of Medusa, which seems to tell us what Thomas thinks of her as as story-telling material and which I suspect is a prelude to her leaving the FF.


And, randomly, Thomas introduces Barney Slocum, who lasts all of two panels. (I would not be surprised if Thomas resurrected him decades in the future as a new villain).



What I didn’t like

While Thomas seems to be having fun digging up Xemu, he’s a pretty tired concept, and he feels like a cross between Ming the Merciless and Xemnu, the Hulk villain. And his Thunder Horn seems lot like the Climate Cannon the evil Ternak planned to use to subjugate humanity in FF 145. (At least Xemu acknowledges it’s a silly name)


The fight between Johnny and Quicksilver felt pro forma and obligatory, but it was less forced since these two have real beef and it was over fast.


And just as Sue finally reappears, she is shunted aside one again:


Anything else?

Some letter writers suggested some new outfits for Sue:


They wouldn’t be her worst look …



Overall

Fun!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Giant-Size Fantastic Four 3

08 Sunday Dec 2024

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Giant-Size Fantastic Four 3
“Where Lurks Death … Ride the Four Horseman!”
Published August 1974
Plot: Gerry Conway
Script: Marv Wolfman
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Colors: Stan Goldberg
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Bucker and Sinnott

Editor’s note: As mentioned in my last few posts, I recently discovered four issues of Giant-Size Fantastic Four published in 1974 contained new material, and were not just reprints of back issues as I believed. I am belatedly going back and blogging about them, with this issue, which takes place between FF 150 and 151, being the last that is out of order. We’ll resume with Fantastic Four 154 with my next post.

Synopsis

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, seemingly characters from the Book of Revelations but in actuality aliens, each appear on Earth. The Fantastic Four together defeat Pestilence, then split up to beat War and Famine, before coming together again to conquer Death, all accomplished by triggering a curse-like “protection device” that sends them back to their home world.


What’s going on here?

This is a big, ambitious comic that feels like a classic annual story, and takes 30 pages to tell across four “chapters.” Unfortunately, it’s not that good, with an incoherent plot that tries hard to be profound but ultimately just fizzles out. Structurally it’s similar to the last Giant-Size FF, with the team facing some larger, metaphysical foe and splitting up before reuniting to triumph in the end. But while last issue’s time-travel to colonial New York and gangland Chicago had a goofy charm, there’s nothing much fun about war and famine, and the story can’t bridge the gap between the metaphorical challenges represented by the Four Horsemen and the comic-book realities of needing bad guys to punch.

The script is by Marv Wolfman, who at this point had been in comics for about six years at Marvel and DC, but primarily writing horror comics. This is his first work on the Fantastic Four and he would come back in a few years to have a longish run from FF 194 to 215 before returning to DC and taking on the New Teen Titans.

Giant-Size Fantastic Four also reprints FF 21, an important early story with distinctive inks by George Roussos. Read all about it here.


What I liked


I really did want to like this comic, because I loved the swinging-for-the-fences ambition of it. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is a great concept (thanks, John of Patmos, the exiled ancient Christian who wrote Revelations) and in a comic book world populated with characters like Thor and Hercules, as well as Death and Eternity, they are obvious subjects for comic writers to take on. It’s a great idea for a big, annual-type story. But as discussed, Conway and Wolfman bit off more than they could chew here.

Rich Buckler rises to the occasion here, at least initially, with some of his best FF work, including the great splash page above, and a staggering, double-page splash that follows (pictured above). Unfortunately, his work falters was the book goes on.

I liked this sequence of Ben, in classic never-say-die mode:


There were some nice character interaction, including this one which offers some insight into Reed and Ben’s relationship (the sequence also at least acknowledges Sue’s existence, although she never appears or is referenced again):


Lastly, this was a fun way to end the comic:


What I didn’t like

Rather than simply let the Four Horsemen exist as mystical entities, Conway and Wolfman construct a very complicated backstory for them, which needlessly tangles up the plot. And despite their bluster about rending galaxies, they were very easy for the FF to defeat, leading to a highly anticlimactic ending.


The attempts to use the Horsemen to make some bigger points consistently fell flat and are, once again, a reminder that social commentary in a super hero comics is very rarely successful. For example, here is the introduction to a chapter set in Cambodia, site of a destructive civil are in 1974.


Reed’s subsequent attempts to force a Cambodian boy to eat are almost painful to read (the boy was under famine’s main control):


Johnny and Medusa’s encounters with War are similarly hard to read:


And the FF’s battle with their evil doppelgängers, conjured up by Death, feels pointless and like padding. The concept was done much more successfully in FF 75.



Overall

An unfortunate mis-fire

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Giant-Size Super-Stars Featuring the Fantastic Four No. 1

28 Thursday Nov 2024

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“The Mind of the Monster!”
Published Feb. 1974
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Colors: Petra Goldberg
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Buckler and Sinnott

Editor’s Note: OK, this requires a little explanation. When I set out to blog every issue of the Fantastic Four, the idea was to limit it to the regular book and annuals just to make the project manageable. Thus, no Strange Tales issues with the Human Torch and I don’t plan to blog about Marvel Two-in-One featuring the Thing (I figure I will decide what to do with the FF-starring mini-series when I get to them). Because of this, I didn’t give much thought to the issues of Giant-Size Fantastic Four, in part because I believed them to be reprints, along the lines of recent annuals (notably, there were no annuals with new material printed between 1968 and 1976). Belatedly, it came to my attention that the five issues of Giant-Size published in 1974 included new Fantastic Four material, with the stories serving as sort of a cross between an annual and a second FF series (the issues also include reprints, making them “Giant Size”). The stories take place in FF continuity, but are unconnected to the main book. Since they seem to fall under the “regular book and annual” rule I made for myself, I’m going to blog about them here. Unfortunately, I discovered this a bit late, so the first few of these are going to be out of order. This issue, for example, falls between FF 146 and 147, when Reed and Sue are still separated.

Adding to the confusion, this first issue was called Giant-Size Super-Stars (which is one hyphen too many) because it was originally intended to be an anthology book. But it was later decided each of the comics would get their one Giant-Size editions (ie. Giant-Size Spider-Man), and this run was renamed to Giant-Size fantastic Four but it kept the numbering.

Synopsis

Finding himself in New York City, Bruce Banner seeks the help of Mr. Fantastic to prevent his transformations into the Hulk. Reed is absent, but with the Thing’s help, Banner uses the equipment in the Baxter Building to build a device to cure both he and Ben of their monstrous forms. Instead, the device switches their brains, and the now-enraged Hulk ends up in the Thing’s body and vice-versa. The two battle throughout the city, joined by Thundra, and are only stopped when Reed tranquilizes the Hulk’s body, returning him to Bruce Banner’s form


What’s going on here

This is a truly nutty issue, but very fun in an unhinged way. Almost nothing in it makes sense — from Banner’s crazy idea of using the radiation in his and Bens’ bodies to cancel each other out, to their minds being switched to Thundra’s random appearance to Reed’s deduction of what happened. But the story moves along briskly, the scenario is novel enough to be interesting and the fight between the Hulk and Thing never gets boring (as it did in FF 112) in part because of the swapped identities.

Hulk / Thing fights are a staple of Marvel comics and of the half dozen or so I can recall, this is one of the more enjoyable ones.

What I liked

There are some fun touches throughout the issue, including this exchange between Ben and Banner about Reed’s coffee maker (although I found it odd that Ben can get him coffee but not a shirt):


Buckler does a great job depicting the Hulk, including one of the best transformation sequences I’ve seen:


I also liked this exchange between Reed and Medusa (who, again, is otherwise basically sidelined in this issue):


What I didn’t like

I was willing to accept a lot of this issue’s goofiness, but the idea that Reed could plunge a needle into the Hulk — whose skin repels machine gun fire — was a bridge too far.


There’s also a lot of self-referential editor’s notes in this issue, like this mention of “Marvel Time Paradox No. 74.” They’re unnecessary and distracting.

This sequence also includes one of my pet peeves: the hopelessly confused treatment of New York City real estate. Are we really supposed to believe the FF are in a rent-controlled building?

Overall

This issue was a hoot!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 151

02 Saturday Nov 2024

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Fantastic Four 151
“Thundra and Lighting!”
Published July 1974
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Rick Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Colors: Petra Scotese
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Buckler

Synopsis

The Thing and Human Torch’s clothes shopping is interrupted when an interdimensional warrior, Mahkizmo, invades the Baxter Building, demanding the whereabouts of Thundra. As he battles the FF (minus the Invisible Girl), Thundra explains to Medusa that Mahkizmo comes from a male-dominated planet parallel to her’s.


What’s going on here

Frequent readers of this blog know I regard this era of the Fantastic Four as a fairly uninspired one. While there are a few high points, mostly it’s a pretty dreary stretch between the end of Lee / Kirby and the beginning of the Byrne run. If anything , the period is notable for its silly plots and goofy villains, and while we’ve yet to get to the goofiest (Gaard, anyone?) I was bracing myself for this issue and the absurdly named Mahkizmo. Surely if any character embodied the lazy crutch of seizing on the news of the day and making it a comic story, it would be Mahkizmo, who—in his inevitable clash with the Femizon, Thundra—would caricature the mid 1970s, anti-ERA strain of American politics.

And yet, the issue wasn’t all that bad. There’s some fun characterizations, the plot is more nuanced than I expected and, despite the awful name and weird character design, Mahkizmo is a servicable villain. So much for judging a comic book by its cover.

What I liked

What redeems Mahkizmo is his absolutely savagery. As written by Gerry Conway, he just pummels the male members of the FF. There’s been other brutal characters, of course, but it’s hard to recall one that so completely overwhelms the FF.

His costume is a bit odd, and with all its straps, seems to foreshadow the 1990s look. Also, he appears to have taken off his shoes and is fighting in his socks in the double-page spread above.


Mahkizmo is really good at insults that reflect his contempt for his sissy-like enemies. My favorite is “male-ling.”


I liked the multi-verse explanation of Thundra and Mahkizmo’s origins, with their parallel universes being drawn together, which seem obviously inspired by the Fourth World stories Kirby was cranking out at DC. Some Kirby-esque character designs, too (no surprise there).


This is as cogent and concise and explanation for the multi-verse concept as I have seen (and this imagery will become familiar in about a decade):


And lastly, I liked the small bits of character development, from Ben and Johnny bonding over clothes shopping to Reed’s happiness at being reunited with his son and daughter.


What I didn’t like

Speaking of Sue and Franklin, where are they? You might think the issue after Sue is reunited with her husband and Franklin is returned to health might merit an appearance, but you clearly don’t think like Conway. Despite all th events of last issue, they are, shockingly, absent.

And despite my prediction that Medusa would at last be shuffled out of the team, she’s back, although she again serves no real purpose but to be a confidante to Thundra.

Anything else?

If you think the phrase “the Nuclear Man” is familar, you’re not wrong. Conway repurposed it for Firestorm, a hero he invented for DC a year years later.


Richard Pini, who later became half of the team of creators behind the legendary indie comic ElfQuest, has a letter to the editor (he’s not too happy with the book’s current direction):


And lastly, I really hate when I buy a back issue only to find this inside (stupid coupons):



Overall

Much better than I had any right to expect

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 150

27 Sunday Oct 2024

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Fantastic Four 150
“Ultron 7: He’ll Rule the World!” and “The Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver!”
Published June 1974
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Linda Lessman
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Gil Kane and Frank Giacoia

Editors note: Apologies for skipping a week. This post was delayed, ironically, because I spent a few days at New York Comic Con. We should be back on track going forward.

Synopsis

Ultron 7, whose head is attached to the gigantic form of Omega, unleashes a mental blast that stirs the powers in comatose Franklin, and the resulting feedback shuts down Ultron while awakening Franklin, to the delight of his parents. In an epilogue / second story, Crystal weds Quicksilver while the gathered heroes consider their own love lives.


What’s going on here

After the jumble of Avengers 127, things finally cohere in FF 150 into an intelligible plot. The confrontation with Ultron is thankfully brief; mostly the robot rants and raves, explains how Maximus launched it upon the Inhumans, and then is disrupted by Franklin’s psychic energy. Ending the threat of Ultron while wakening Franklin was a neat plot twist I didn’t see coming, and combined with Sue’s rapprochement with Reed last issue, serves to end a two-year period of disharmony between Reed and Sue. My guess is that this will also end Medusa’s tenure as a member of the FF, but we will see.

The wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver still doesn’t make a ton of sense, but they stuck it out for almost two decades in real time and had a daughter, Luna, before Pietro went nuts and the marriage fell apart. While it lasted, it was a fun inter-Marvel relationship, connecting the Inhumans, the FF, the Avengers and the X-Men.

Gil Kane again did the cover. Not his strongest work, but Johnny looks cool.


What I liked

I’m a sucker for quiet moments comics—where heroes aren’t in the middle of epic battles and can reflect on their lives—and this issue’s second story provided a lot of that. There was a nice moment between Reed and Sue, and an odd sequence where Thor and Iron man discuss their romantic troubles. (Not sure what “Scenario” means here but whatever).


We finally get some angst from Jonny about his ex getting married:


And there are some big, Kirby-esque splash pages from Rich Buckler:


What I didn’t like

For a robot, Ultron talks sooo much. Here is but a sample of its blather:


Anything else?

There is a curious panel that identifies the Golden-Age hero the Whizzer as the father of Pietro and Wanda. This was an idea introduced briefly in Giant-Sized Avengers 1, but was eventually swept aside when it was revealed their father was actually Magneto (and eventually this too would be retconned away).


This ad seems to have a bit of everything: Kung Fu and SportsAction!



Overall

A surprisingly successful issue.

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 149

05 Saturday Oct 2024

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Fantastic Four 149
“To Love, Honor, and Destroy!”
Published May 1974
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Rick Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: John Costanza
Colors: Petra Goldberg
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Buckler and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Sub-Mariner, with the Invisible Woman at his side, attacks Manhattan, ostensibly to avenge Mr. Fantastic’s treatment of Sue and their child, Franklin. After a long battle, the Thing convinces Sue to forgive Reed, and Namor’s attack is revealed to be a plot cooked by him and the Inhumans Medusa and Triton to bring Reed and Sue back together.


What’s going on here?

This is a really frustrating issue with a flimsy story doesn’t hold up to much scrutiny. It has the feel of a Julie Schwartz-era Silver Age comic, where a silly situation involving Lois Lane is revealed to be a scheme by Superman. Here, Namor’s invasion of the surface world was never a very convincing threat, because it was never fully explained, nor were Sue’s motivations for joining him. But it’s also not convincing that Namor would agree to take part in a elaborate plot to reunite Reed and Sue either. And Sue’s decision to forgive Reed doesn’t work, either (more on that later).

The comic is also padded with a long flashback of the FF’s first battle with the Sub-Mariner, and double-page spread that serves no real purpose other to take up space. The reconciliation of Reed and Sue deserved a better story than this gimmicky, ill-conceived nonsense.


What I liked

Suddenly, Thundra seems to be part of the team, or is at least tagging along until she can defeat Ben in combat. It’s not really clear what’s she doing here, but she’s a fun addition.


We haven’t seen much of Sue lately, so it was good to see her in action, and particularly using her powers to new and devastating effect.


What I didn’t like

As noted above, the whole issue is a failure. But the biggest flaw is Sue’s decision to reunite with Reed, without Reed ever offering her an explanation or apology. Here,. Ben says Reed admitted his mistake, but did he? If so, it’s not in this issue and I don’t recall him ever telling that to Sue in the preceding issues.


And despite that lack of admission of fault, Sue accepts Reed back by saying he knows how to say he’s sorry – which he never does!

Further, throughout all of this, there is no discussion of Franklin, whether he is still in a coma or vegetative state, or what Sue intended to do with him if she ran off with Namor. Was he going to grow up underwater? Go to Atlantean childcare? It all feels slapdash and rushed, as if Roy and Gerry needed to get Sue and Reed back together before the big 150th issue.

And the reveal at the end, with Triton pulling off his mask, had a goofy Scooby-Doo feel to it.


Overall

One to forget

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 148

29 Sunday Sep 2024

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Fantastic Four 148
“War on the Thirty-Sixth Floor!”
Published April 1974
Writer: Gerry Conway
Pencils: Rich Buckler
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Artie Simek
Colors: Linda Lessmann
Editor: Roy Thomas
Cover: Bucker and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four return from last issue’s battle with the Sub-Mariner to the Baxter Building, where they are attacked by the Wizard, Sandman and Trapster. The battle is turned when Thundra shows up to aid the FF. The issue ends with Namor seemingly invading New York, accompanied by the Invisible Woman.

What’s going on here?

There’s a tension in comic books between the silly and the realistic. A lot of fans love the nutty stories from the Silver Age, where science and logic is abandoned for goofy fun. Other fans prefer stories grounded in reality, where real-world consequences of comic stories are borne out in often grim or disturbing ways. Readers of this blog probably recognize I’m somewhere in the middle; I love the fun energy of comics that are unconcerned with practical concerns, but I like at least some pretense of explanation and structure. When plots are too unhinged, I get annoyed and lose interest.

Fantastic Four 148 is squarely on the goofy side of the ledger. There’s not a lot in this comic that makes a lot of sense, from the random attack of the Frightful Four (Frightful Three?) to Thundra’s unexplained appearance to the out-of-nowhere double-page splash attack by Namor. But despite all that, the story is a lot of fun. It’s pretty much just a series of battles between FF members and the Wizard, Sandman and Trapster, in which they pair-off in various combinations and fight. There’s not a ton of plot involved, and the bad guys’ motivation is simply revenge, but it’s never boring and Buckler brings his high-energy style to it all.


What I liked

Along with the aforementioned fightin’, there were a few smaller moments I enjoyed, such as this sequence with the sandman running his mouth about Reed’s lack of street smarts, while Reed is out-smarting Sandy by sneaking his arm behind him.

I also thought this was a cute panel:


What I didn’t like

I’ve grumbled before about how Conway almost reflexively reaches into the Stan and Jack bag of tricks when he needs a plot device, and the Namor-invades-the-surface-world plot is a textbook example. We’ll see how this plays out (I’m guessing he doesn’t succeed) and how and when Sue’s estrangement from Reed is resolved, but so far it seems pretty uninspired as a storyline.

It’s also worth remembering Conway was very young when he wrote these comics, and while it’s not always evident, occasionally there’s an odd turn of phrase or idea that an older writer might have avoided, like this stray thought from Johnny about how having a sister is like having a wife:

(also, he’s crazy muscular in that left image)

When I started this blog, I had a recurring item I called “Reed Richards is a Jerk” (a play on my favorite line from Kitty Pryde), in which I showed panels of Reed being, well, a jerk. This would have been a very good example:


And while I’ve mentioned this many times, but once again, Medusa has almost no role in this comic, which seems a real waste of potential.

Anything else?

Lots of new names in this Bullpen Bulletins team who would go on to have a huge impact on Marvel and comics in general, among them Larry Hama, Paul Gulacy, Dave Cockrum, Al Milgrom and Klaus Janson.


This ad is another example of what seems to be an ongoing confusion in the ad sales department about who was reading comic books. Were there a lot of car owners and aspiring mechanics reading these things?


Overall

A hoot!