“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 80

13 Sunday Nov 2022

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1968, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 80, jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Wyatt Wingfoot

Fantastic Four 80
“Where Treads the Living Totem!”
Published: August 1968
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

The Human Torch and the Thing are lazing around the Baxter Building avoiding housework when they receive a letter from Wyatt Wingfoot, Johnny’s former roommate, asking for help defeating a “living totem.” While the Invisible Girl is still expecting her baby, Mr. Fantastic says she is still a week away from delivering and the doctors urged him to leave the hospital.

As the three teammates fly west, Wyatt encounters Tomazooma, which appears to be legendary figure in the form of a gigantic Native American totem set on destroying him. While he flees the totem and is eventually overcome, Johnny briefly skirmishes with members of Wingfoot’s tribe before the three members of the FF meet with Silent Fox, the chief and Wyatt’s grandfather. He explain the tribe is wealthy because of its oil reserves, but they are fending off the Red Star oil company “from behind the iron curtain.”

Soon it becomes clear that Tomazooma is actually a giant robot designed to scare the tribe from its lands for their oil. After a battle, the FF helps Wyatt and his tribe defeat the robot, while what appears to the real Tomazooma is glimpsed in the distance.

What’s going on here?

This is a zany issue, full of over-the-top action, big Kirby splash pages, some highly cringe-worthy depictions of Native Americans, and a plot ripped straight from the pages of Scooby-Doo. Unlike recent issues, FF 80 has little impact on the bigger Fantastic Four narrative, aside from reintroducing Wyatt Wingfoot. Rather it’s a one-and-done adventure with a gimmicky villain and lots of glorious splash pages. It certainly feels dated now, but I imagine this would have been a lot of fun for kids to read in 1968.

Indigenous issues

First things first, FF 80’s depictions of Native Americans and their culture is highly problematic, bordering on the racist. Basically, every pop-culture stereotype about Natives is trotted out, short of peace pipes and smoke signals. The story may be set in 1968, but its Native Americans are apparently still stuck in 1868.

Stan and Jack attempt to blunt their depictions of Wyatt’s tribe by giving them wealth and technology, not unlike how they elevated their Wakanda from a African backwater to a technologically superior nation. But in the case of Wakanda, they took the time to build a country and its culture. Here, we get a few Native Americans with ray guns, and a lot of clumsy writing.

As if that wasn’t enough, we also get references to “red skins” and “pale faces.”

About that plot

As it turns out, the giant Tomazooma isn’t actually the living incarnation of Native American myth, but a giant robot the Red Star Oil company deployed to seize oil fields. All that’s missing is Tomozoom pulling off its mask and saying “I would have gotten away with it if weren’t for you kids!”

Still, there’s a lot that goes unexplained. What is the significance of the villainous company being from behind the iron curtain (surely there are evil American oil companies), and how could they drill on US soil anyway? And who built a robot so powerful it thwarted three member of the Fantastic Four? None of this is addressed.

The sexist sixties

Not only is Crystal in charge of cleaning the Baxter Building, but she wears a French maid’s apron to do it in. Plus she gets left behind to look after Sue when the boys go on their adventure.

Shenanigans

Not entirely sure why this scene merited a splash page, or what song Ben is singing, but it sure is something.

It’s clobbering’ time!

Is it ever!

Weird science

Why can’t Tomazooma shoot laser beams like all the other killer robots?

Never leave home without it

Apparently Wyatt travels with a portable bazooka at the ready

The incredible Mr. Fantastic

This is a new trick for Reed

Letters page

This is a great letter, from a fan who says the FF was better in the Good Old Days of four years earlier, in part because there were more panels per comic (he also anticipates the infamous Hulk story by John Byrne, which ran in Marvel Fanfare 29, where every page was a panel, or every panel was a page).

Bullpen bulletins

All sorts of juicy details in this months bulletin: John Romta has a new car, Roy Thomas has a Nehru jacket, Stan has grown a beard …

This is new

The cover has a message for retailers about a new marketing program. It’s as boring as it sounds, but it’s odd they felt they needed to mar the cover to get the message across.

For sale

All sorts of stuff on offer, from horse posters to plastic pillows. And I’m kind of digging these Cheerios ads.

Dig that Kirby Krackle

The show stopper is this splash of Tomazooma, although it’s not clear if he is the Totem that Walks, or the Death that Walks. I guess it can be both

An excellent sequence

Also on newsstands

August 1968 was just a stellar month for covers. I chose three great Marvel covers, from John Romita, Jim Steranko, and John Buscema, but there were another dozen just as good.

Next issue: Annual 6 and Annihilus!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four 52

26 Saturday Feb 2022

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1966, Black Panther, Fantastic Four, Fantastic Four 52, jack Kirby, Stan Lee, Wakanda, Wyatt Wingfoot

Fantastic Four 52
“The Black Panther”
Published: April 1966
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Sam Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 52 opens with Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl and the Thing (the Human Torch is off at college) tooling around in a new flying car they received as a gift from “an African Chieftain” called the Black Panther. The Black Panther’s emissary offers the car to Reed permanently if the team accompanies him to Wakanda to take part in a hunt. Reed, saying the team needs a vacation, takes him up on the offer, first stopping to pick up Johnny and his roommate, Wyatt Wingfoot.

Wakanda is revealed to be technologically advanced, but when the team arrives, the emissary vanishes and the team is attacked by the Black Panther. He manages to subdue each member of the team but Wyatt manages to free them, ultimately foiling the Black Panther’s conquest. The issue ends with him beginning to explain his motives to the team.

FF 52 also cuts away from the main story to reveal the Inhumans are struggling to escape the Negative Zone that has imprisoned them, an indication that we will be seeing much more of them.

What’s going on here?

Obviously, the big development of FF 52 is the introduction of the Black Panther, a character who goes on to be a member of the Avengers (and a fill-in member of the FF for a time) and be the star of his own on-again, off-again solo title. With the success of the MCU Black Panther movie in 2018, he’s only become a bigger deal, moving in to the upper tier of Marvel characters.

The significance of the Black Panther isn’t just that he’s a black, or African, hero—although both were rarities at the time—but that he upends so many of the stereotypes of blacks and Africans that were (and to some extent still are) pervasive in comics. Wakanda, as created by Stan and Jack, isn’t a primitive backwater, but a sophisticated enclave. T’Challa isn’t a hot-blooded savage, but a calculating scientist. The Fantastic Four wasn’t lured to Africa by a villain, but by a hero. In a world where B’wana Beast was still waiting to debut, Black Panther is a remarkable creation.

Given the Black Panther’s impact, it’s easy to overlook the other big development in FF 52, which is the realization of Wyatt Wingfoot as a bona fide member of the FF’s supporting cast. Wyatt was introduced as Johnny’s college roommate in issue 50 and we learned a bit more about him last issue—his dad was a standout athlete but Wyatt had no interest in joining the college football team—but he really comes into his own here.

Like the Black Panther, Wingfoot, a Native American, refuses to conform to the comic book stereotype. He doesn’t wear a fringed jacket or a feather, he doesn’t talk like Tonto, and even if he does evince skill as a tracker, he’s more adept at thinking than fighting. Wyatt doesn’t have the same profile of the Black Panther—surprisingly, he never gains powers or becomes a real super hero—but remains a classic member of the FF’s supporting cast.

He later becomes She-Hulk’s love interest, adding a new dimension to his character (even if he is wearing the same T-shirt). They meet in FF 269-270 (written and illustrated by John Byrne).

A fun running gag in FF 52 is Wyatt’s imperturbability. He seemingly can sleep through anything.

Crazy credits

The sexist sixties

The Black Panther may be technologically sophisticated, but he’s not exactly progressive.

Weird science

There’s a lot of dubious claims in this issue. Like these “cosmic channel waves”:

And these polarity guns:

The comic code was here

Shouldn’t T’challa have nipples?

Dig that Kirby Krackle

Some great stuff from the King:

These panels are amazing (Joe Sinnott deserves a lot of credit here, too):

Next issue: The FF and the Black Panther fight Klaw!

“The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine!” Fantastic Four No. 50

08 Tuesday Feb 2022

Posted by percivalhenry in The World's Greatest Comic Magazine

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1966, Fantastic Four, galactus, jack Kirby, Silver Surfer, Stan Lee, Wyatt Wingfoot

Fantastic Four 50
“The Startling Saga of the Silver Surfer”
Published: Feb. 1966
Story: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Script: Lee
Pencils: Kirby
Inks: Joe Sinnott
Letters: Same Rosen
Cover: Kirby and Sinnott

Synopsis

Fantastic Four 50 picks up where issue 49 left off. The Silver Surfer, having the value of humantity revealed to him by Alicia Masters last issue, confronts his master, Galactus, who is preparing to drain the earth of its energy. As the Surfer and Galactus battle, the Watcher reveals his plans for the Human Torch to Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl and the Thing. When the Torch arrives from his voyage across the cosmos, he delivers the Ultimate Nullifier to the Watcher. Reed then uses it to threaten Galactus with the destruction of the universe if he doesn’t abandon his plans to consume earth. Galactus concedes, but before he leaves earth, he strips the Surfer of his ability to travel through space.

As the FF dust themselves off, Alicia shows up to praise the Surfer for helping save the world, leaving Ben jealous and despondent.

FF 50 then pivots to a series of vignettes that set up future stories. The first introduces a nameless bald villain who, after reading news accounts of the FF’s victory, announces plans to destroy the FF. The second concerns an over-the-hill college football coach and his inability to rein in his hot-headed star quarterback. Finally, Johnny enrolls at Metro College, where he meets his new roommate, Wyatt Wingfoot, while still pining away for the Inhuman, Crystal.

What’s going on here?

This is a busy comic, and not just because of the epic resolution of the Galactus storyline. In another peculiar pacing decision similar to issue 48, the main narrative essentially ends halfway through the comic, with the rest of the issues devoted to subplots and foreshadowing. A contemporary comic would use all the space available for the main tale—if there’s ever a story deserving of a space-consuming double-page splash, this was it—and sprinkle the foreshadowing elements throughout the comic. As it is, the reader is raised to the crescendo of the FF’s triumph over Galactus, only to be handed a mystifying story about a football coach.

The climax of the Galactus arc, as brief as it is, gives Stan and Jack another opportunity to stretch their cosmic muscles. They make it clear here that larger forces are at work, and the Fantastic Four are mostly bystanders. Unlike most villains, Galactus isn’t defeated by Reed outwitting him or whipping up some gizmo, but by the Watcher’s machinations. Even Johnny, the ostensible hero of the story, is overcome by the scale of the universe and pretty much wrecked by his trip across the universe.

If the FF are secondary characters in their own comic, it’s also because the story of the Silver Surfer is so dramatic. After Alicia reconnects Norrin Rad to his lost humanity, he turns on Galactus to defend the earth. Galactus is surprisingly chill about the betrayal, at several points telling the Surfer how much he likes and respects him, and basically telling the Surfer he’s going through a phase.

Galactus claims he bears the Surfer and FF no malice, but still he strips the Surfer of his space-faring powers. It’s not obvious if at this point Stan and Jack anticipated the Surfer having his own series, but keeping him trapped on earth was a useful plot device when his solo book eventually launched.

The Ultimate Nullifier serves as a convenient deus ex machina that solves the problem of Galactus. It reappears on occasion over the course of Marvel’s history, usually in a story with some big stakes.

What’s up with Ben?

Ben has been his usual melancholic self over the past few issues—he had an introspective sequence when the FF was in Atillan—but it kicks into overdrive in FF 50. First, there’s this revealing “kidding-not-kidding” exchange with Sue, where he explains how he uses humor to deflect his trauma.

Then the Silver Surfer, who barely knows him, senses something is amiss.

That’s followed by Ben’s jealous reaction to Alicia greeting the Surfer, as Ben’s insecurity about his appearance kicks overwhelms him.

Finally, as Ben wanders the streets of New York, he startles a woman, sending him down a spiral of self-pity that will play out next issue.

Who’s the new guy?

As if there wasn’t enough going on, FF 50 introduces Wyatt Wingfoot, a longstanding supporting character and, notably, a Native American character who isn’t reduced to a bundle of cliche and stereotypes. Here, he and Johnny meet cute.

Crazy Credits

The usual modesty

The sexist sixties

Again, another sequence of Sue stamping her feet because Reed isn’t paying her enough attention. At least Reed apologizes.

Read all about it

A nice connected-universe swipe at J. Jonah Jameson here.

Dig that Kirby Krackle

After using this silly phrase for 50+ blog posts, we finally get some genuine Kirby Krackle. For the uninitiated, Kirby Krackle are the black dots Jack uses to illustrate the release of energy. A trademark effect of the King’s, it hasn’t really appeared until this issue. Now we can, indeed, dig that Krackle.