Written by Marvel’s inimitable Stan Lee!
Drawn by Marvel’s unmatchable Jack Kirby!
Inked by Marvel’s impeccable Chic Stone!
Lettered by Marvel’s unbearable Artie Simek!

This issue deals with something I’ve had some trouble with for some time now. The bad guy has a girlfriend who obviously knows he’s evil and doesn’t like that, but she’s also apparently some sort of weak woman who can’t do anything about loving him. That’s a complicated relationship, but it’s actually kinda common in these 60′s comics. Was that just a thing back in the day? Was that something that people believed? I guess it’s really only Stan The Man who’s been writing these, but still, it has to be at least somewhat common for it to keep flying for as long as it has been. It’s just weird to realize that there are some common assumptions that don’t age well, and no matter how much we may connect to a story from another era, there are just some basic concepts that aren’t shared, which… does something. I don’t know what I’m talking about. Probably if I was less drinky this idea could be more than half-baked. Welp, let’s talk about comic books.

Wedding bells are close to ringing for Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl, but she’s troubled about something. Like all soon-to-be-married women, Sue Storm is fretting about the aliens who killed her father. Reed Richards, being a nerd who doesn’t understand basic personal interactions, decides that he needs to take his team to the Skrull planet and exact revenge for his fiancee’s father’s death. They go through some wormhole or other that Richards makes up, and when they land on the Skrull homeworld, they discover that their powers don’t work anymore!

They’re captured by a Skrull general named Morrat, who is a general to the king of the Skrulls, and who is betrothed to the princess who hates him. He decides to take out the Fantastic Four so he can somehow use that to leverage his way into power, but Mr. Fantastic fools him by using his “Power Ray” on the group so they regain their powers and save the day. For some reason, this Morrat guy thought that a thing called a Power Ray would kill people, instead of giving them powers. He’s kinda dumb, but it’s okay, because he ends up being killed by the king’s guard, and also he was the guy behind the whole plot with Sue’s dad! So everyone wins! Except the princess, who is very sad that the man she hated/loved is dead. BACK TO EARTH!!

There’s a letter in the back of this issue from a “Diosdado Macapagal, Jr.” In case you, like me, aren’t completely up on your Phillippino presidents from the 60′s, this is the son of Diosdado Macapagal, who has his own wikipedia page and everything. And he wanted to be in the Marvel fan club! That’s pretty cool.

Back with more Marvelousness on Monday,

-R

-While Sue is fondly remembering the best day of he life here, comic fandom suffered a bad day yesterday with the passing of artist John Severin, another giant inspiration of my youth. For those of you who might be unfamiliar with the depth and quality of Severin’s work, here’s a Comic Journal Interview for some perspective. He was the kind of talent this industry will not see come again, particularly if these kinds of signs and portents have anything to say about our future.

-R

Chances are that most of you won’t be celebrating Valentine’s Day because you read comics, but take solace from the fact that even a supergeek like Reed Richards can pull a stunner like Sue Storm.

From Fantastic Four Annual #3, he’s kissing his bride.

Hang on, you were right first time Sue. Stand your ground, woman!

It sucks being Sue Storm.

He doesn’t go round testing Ben and Johnny like that, does he Sue?

It sucks being Sue Storm.

Typical, thinking you’re a burden. You’re his wife!

It sucks being Sue Storm.

That just about does it. You’re after some peace and quiet and Johnny torches your best frock. If Reed really loved you he would have made it out of unstable molecules.

It sucks being Sue Storm.

Of course, if anyone was going to pass out in the middle of the excitement, it would be you Sue.

It sucks being Sue Storm.

Written and directed by: Connolly Tate

Produced and edited by by: Debbie Curran and Robert Thomas

Final project for Media Technology course, Lethbridge College, 2011

Proudly produced by Smilin’ Stan Lee and Jolly Jack Kirby
Inked by: Chic Stone
Lettered by: Artie Simek

All right, the Frightful Four! They took two shitty villains that the Human Torch had fought on his own (Paste-Pot Pete and the Wizard), added in a classic Spidey baddie (Sandman), and created a lady who can control her hair in crazy ways (Madam Medusa). Because they had to have a girl. You know, to match the Fantastic Four. They’re very dedicated to their theme.

The Sandman breaks himself and Paste-Pot Pete out of jail, and they rescue the Wizard before his own antigravity device flies him into orbit (as seen in Strange Tales #118). The three of them decide to tackle the Fantastic Four (even though they’ve all been beaten by just Johnny Storm by himself in the past), but they need a girl partner. The Wizard finds a lady who lives in a cave and who has prehensile hair to fill in as their fourth member, and they dub themselves the Frightful Four!

Meanwhile, Reed Richards and Sue Storm finally announce their engagement! How exciting! After the big party (attended by the X-Men and the Avengers, where Thor gives an actually touching line about envying Mr. Fantastic. Also Spider-Man steals a piece of cake because he wasn’t invited. Aww), The Frightful Four sneak in and handily dispatch all but the Torch, who is out playing with cars. Alicia, the Thing’s blind girlfriend, manages to let off a warning shot, and Johnny comes back to save everyone. Dammit.

I hate it when the Human Torch saves the day. I really do. Especially in a case like this, where all these villains are basically Torch B-listers (except the Sandman, who I still say should be basically invincible). Having Paste-Pot Pete and a lady with crazy hair completely immobilize the Thing… That’s just not cool, man.

Don’t tell him you feel helpless Sue, you’ve got just as much right tobe in the FF.

It sucks being Sue Storm.

I’m just glad I got through it . I almost started adding some extra stuff before a voice deep down in my gut quietly whispered…

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!?! STOP NOW OR IT”S GOING TO SUCK!!!”

As I said this was for a cartoon commission with no background (I usually give them backgrounds anyway, most of the time). I just wasn’t confident enough to do something a little more daring. It would suck having to buy a copy of this to replace the one I ruined. I guess whether I ruined this, though, is still up for debate. What do you think?

It is the first time I’ve ever done a variant cover drawing like this, so thanks Cindy. You’ll always be my first…. Did that sound too creepy? Sorry. I get excited.

More art stuff tomorrow I think, unless I post one of the hundreds of reviews waiting to see daylight. I’ll be seeing Hugo for Thanksgiving, too, so there’s another one.

Your kid has been kidnapped, your husband isn’t your husband and on top of all of that you can’t get to sleep.

It sucks being Sue Storm.

Black Widow (Natalia Natasha Alianovna Romanova, also known as Natasha Romanoff) is a fictional character in the Marvel Comics Universe. She was created by editor and plotter Stan Lee, scripter Don Rico and artist Don Heck, and first appeared in Tales of Suspense #52 (April 1964). Natasha Romanoff is featured in the 2010 motion picture Iron Man 2, where she is played by Scarlett Johansson.

Susan “Sue” Storm Richards (also known as Invisible Girl and later, Invisible Woman) is a fictional character, a Marvel Comics superheroine created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-writer Jack Kirby. The character first appeared in Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961, and was the first female superhero created by Marvel in the Silver Age of Comics. Like the other founding members of the Fantastic Four, Sue received her powers after being exposed to a cosmic storm. Her primary power deals with light waves, allowing her to render herself and others invisible. However, she can also project powerful fields of invisible psionic energy which she uses for a variety of offensive and defensive effects. Sue plays a central role in the lives of her brother, her husband, her children (Franklin Richards and Val Richards), and her friend, Ben Grimm

Character of Watchmen. Laurie Juspeczyk, the second Silk Spectre, is the daughter of Sally Jupiter, the first Silk Spectre. Laurie’s mother apparently wanted her to follow in her footsteps and so she fought crime for ten years before the Keene Act banned vigilantes. Unlike the other protagonists, Silk Spectre was not based on a particular Charlton character, although her relationship with Dr. Manhattan is similar to that between Captain Atom and the heroine Nightshade. Moore felt he needed a female hero in the cast and drew inspiration from comic book heroines such as Black Canary and Phantom Lady.

Vampirella is a fictional character, a comic book vampire heroine created by Forrest J Ackerman for Warren Publishing’s namesake black-and-white horror-comics magazine, and developed by Archie Goodwin with artists Frank Frazetta and Tom Sutton. Vampirella first appeared as a horror-story hostess in Vampirella #1 (Sept. 1969), continuing in that capacity through issue #8 (Nov. 1970) when she was revamped as a leading character.

Power Girl (real name Kara Zor-L, also known as Karen Starr) is a DC Comics superheroine, making her first appearance in All Star Comics #58 (January/February 1976). Power Girl is the Earth-Two counterpart of Supergirl and the first cousin of Kal-L, Superman of the pre-Crisis Earth-Two. The infant Power Girl’s parents enabled her to escape the destruction of Krypton. Although she left the planet at the same time that Superman did, her ship took much longer to reach Earth-Two

Catwoman is a fictional character associated with DC Comics’ Batman franchise. The supervillain was created by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, partially inspired by Kane’s second cousin by marriage, Ruth Steel. The original and most widely known Catwoman, Selina Kyle, first appears in Batman #1 (Spring 1940) in which she is known as The Cat. She is not an adversary of Batman, as such, but is known for having a love-hate relationship with him. In her first appearance, she was a whip-carrying burglar with a taste for high-stake thefts. For many years Catwoman thrived but from September 1954 to November 1966 she took an extended hiatus due to the newly developing Comics Code Authority in 1954. These issues involved the rules regarding the development and portrayal of female characters that were in violation with the Comic Code.

Wonder Woman is a DC Comics superheroine created by William Moulton Marston. She first appeared in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941). The Wonder Woman  title has been published by DC Comics almost continuously since the company’s 1944 inception, except for a brief hiatus in 1986. Wonder Woman is an Amazon (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) and was created by Marston, an American, as a “distinctly feminist role model whose mission was to bring the Amazon ideals of love, peace, and sexual equality to a world torn by the hatred of men.” Her powers include superhuman strength, flight, super-speed, super-stamina, and super-agility. She is highly proficient in hand-to-hand combat and in the art of tactical warfare. She also possesses an animal-like cunning and a natural rapport with animals, which has in the past been presented as an actual ability to communicate with the animal kingdom. She uses her Lasso of Truth, which forces those bound by it to tell the truth, a pair of indestructible bracelets, and an invisible airplane

Elektra Natchios, usually referred to only by her first name Elektra, is a fictional character in publications from Marvel Comics. Elektra is a kunoichi – female ninja assassin – of Greek descent. She wields two bladed sai as her trademark weapon. She is a love interest of the superhero Daredevil, but her violent nature and mercenary lifestyle divide the two. She is one of Frank Miller’s best-loved creations, and subsequent writers’ use of her is controversial as Marvel had originally promised to not resurrect the character without Miller’s permission. She has also appeared as a supporting character of the X-Men’s Wolverine. In the 2003 film Daredevil and its 2005 spinoff, Elektra, the character is portrayed by Jennifer Garner.

Mystique (Raven Darkhölme) is a fictional character associated with the Marvel Comics’ franchise, X-Men. Originally created by artist David Cockrum and writer Chris Claremont, she first appeared in Ms. Marvel #16. Throughout most of her history, Mystique has been a supervillain, founding her own Brotherhood of Mutants and assassinating several important people involved in mutant affairs. Mystique herself is a mutant, a shapeshifter whose natural appearance includes her blue skin and yellow eyes. At one point, she mentioned she is over 100 years old. Mystique is the mother of the villain Graydon Creed, the X-Men hero Nightcrawler, and adoptive mother of the hero Rogue. She was forced to abandon Nightcrawler, but raised Rogue for a number of years and the two women have mixed feelings towards one another.

Rogue is a fictional character in most of the Marvel Comics award-winning X-Men related titles. She was created by author Chris Claremont and artist Michael Golden, and debuted in Avengers Annual #10 (August 1981) as a villain. Rogue was born as a mutant. More so than most, Rogue considers her powers a curse: she involuntarily absorbs the memories, physical strength, and (in the case of superpowered persons) the abilities of anyone she touches. For most of her life, this potentially fatal power prevented her from making any physical contact with others, including her longtime on-off love interest, Gambit, but after many years Rogue gained full control over her power for the first time in years.

Source from Dumage

For this first picture, I wanted a shot of an “invisible girl” sitting in a corner, but I wanted her hands to be up so it looked like defying gravity. It turned out a little better than my sketch (seen below), and I matched up the angle pretty well. It took me a few days to come up with a sketch, a day of shooting in different spaces and corners, and two days of editing it, because the original model had her hair everywhere, and it took a while to thoroughly get it out of the frame. What I did was take a shot of her in the

corner, then another picture of no one in the same corner. I think it turned out pretty well. This is my favorite surrealism picture. My inspiration for this post comes from here. I wanted to do the same thing with the inside of the sleeves showing, but I’m just not that advanced. I really liked how it was up against a blank wall, but I decided to make my picture busier.

Sketch:
Final Product:

For this picture, I had a crazy idea of situating three models with their heads on one of their hands, then editing out their heads and hands. Unfortunately, since in the photo the models are overlapping, I was able to edit out one of the hands. At the last minute, I decided to add a “ceiling” to the photo, to add a little bit more surrealism. I took a picture of the class and flipped the picture upside down. I was originally planning on masking out their heads as well, but I didn’t get a picture of the empty classroom, because I had no tripod at the time and it wasn’t my camera. What I did for editing was lightening up the image extremely, and I tried to make it look like the light on the ceiling matched the light in the foreground. It took me two days to come up with the ideas, two days of shooting, and three days of editing it. My only regret is that the cutouts don’t look that fantastic, even though I spent two days on them alone. My inspiration for this picture comes from here. What I liked about it was everything that was going on in the picture. I looked at it to try and incorporate some action going on in mine, which was achieved by the ceiling.

Sketch:

Original Photos:

Final Product:

That’s right, when you’re in trouble toddle off along to Reed so he can save you again.

It sucks being Sue Storm.

You don’t need to ask him for forgiveness Sue, you only did what you thought was right.

It sucks being sue Storm.

Adequate script: Stan Lee
Satisfactory art: Jack Kirby
Passable inking: Chic Stone
Sufficient lettering: Artie Simek

This issue introduces Dragon Man, who is an interesting villain in comparison to the more traditional type of supervillain. He’s really more of a super-powered animal than an actual antagonistic force, which is how they keep him balanced… because otherwise he’s just goddamn frighteningly powerful. Which is cool.

The Fantastic Four visit Reed and Ben’s alma mater, State University (seriously, that’s what it’s called. Oh, Stan Lee…) because Reed is going to give a lecture on… something boring, probably. While there, they find that one of the professors has made a gigantic fire-breathing robot he calls Dragon Man. He plans on using it for experiments, but things get a little out of hand when the FF’s old foe and master of alchemy Diablo shows up and brings the horrible thing to life.

The FF nearly die trying to fight Dragon Man, when Sue has the bright idea to pet it. She figures that all living things respond to kindness, so being nice might just keep it from destroying everything and everyone everywhere. This only marginally works, as Dragon Man is actually mentally controlled by Diablo, but one Diablo loses his concentration, Dragon Man drags him down to the bottom of a lake, supposedly killing them both. Because I’m sure neither of them could survive a LAKE.

The Invisible Girl’s hunch that Dragon Man is just a scared, super-powerful animal that needs love is based in the worst logic ever. She cites a couple fictional stories as the basis for her theory, then goes straight up to the thing and lets it play with her hair. Why would a super-analytical dick like Mr. Fantastic want to marry her, anyway? Oh, and that’s the ending of the story; Reed proposes to Sue, and she accepts! And here I was really expecting her to go off and live with Namor in Atlantis. Shows how much I know.

Maybe you should run away with Namor Sue, look at the way they treat you in the Baxter Building, invading your privacy.

It sucks being Sue Storm.

FANTASTIC FOUR #14

Script: Stan Lee

Art: Jack Kirby

Inking: Dick Ayers

Lettering; Art Simek

SYNOPSIS:

After defeating The Red Ghost and hi Super-Apes last issue, the FF are returning to Earth. They are first humans to make a round trip to the Moon and are expecting a heroes welcome when they return. As the FF land the space ship, they see a huge mob of reporters and on-lookers gathered to witness the landing, which is being broadcast to TV stations around the entire globe.

When The Fantastic four emerge from the plane, they are met by throngs of fans, reporters and people looking to make a quick buck. Reed is grabbed by two rival factions of the Mr. Fantastic Fan Club, who are swooning over the handsome scientist/super-hero. Ben Grimm sees a promoter who is challenging Ben to take on his wrestler in a match, a challenge Ben answers in his usual fashion: he grabs the wrestler by the legs and dumps in head first into a garbage can. Sue is offered both a lifetime Hollywood contract and the chance to endorse a deodorant on TV.

For some reason, nobody seems too interested in Johnny and he uses the opportunity to try out a new trick. He flies around in a circle faster and faster, making a current of air that sucks up his teammates and flies them to the top of their skyscraper headquarters. Back inside, the four are happy to be home, when they have this glorious exchange:

Sue: Hmmm, I think I better do a little house cleaning!

Reed: Just so long as you do it silently!

This male chauvinist pig is the guy all those teenage women were fawning over two pages earlier? the Marvel universe was a very special place in the 1960s. And Reed actually wonders why Sue won’t choose him over Namor?

After this incident, Reed goes looking for Sue. Is it to apologize for talking to her as if she were an abused orphan child in a Charles Dickens novel? Of course not! Reed needs her to do some typing for him! Reed finds her looking at the ocean floor on TV, searching for Namor. Reed wishes the FF would find Namor again so they could settle their differences once and for all, then wanders off, leaving Sue to do his typing for him while he thinks about how wonderful he is and how he can do anything he sets his mind to…..except win the heart of the woman he loves. I swear I am not making this up. This is what happens in the story.

Our story then shifts to a local sanitarium, where a mysterious man is being released. The official at the looney bin says the man is cured and can be released. The man replies that he has been cured for months, but he is staying at the sanitarium so the world can forget him, something that other people would not understand. Which is clearly an indication that this man is not, in fact, sane and should not be released into society. Of course, this being the wacky Marvel U, nobody thinks this answer is strange and the man walks out, revealing himself to be the Puppet Master. PM is ready to seek revenge on the FF and he will use the Sub-Mariner to do it.

Namor is swimming under the sea, looking for clues as to the whereabouts of his lost people. He finds some evidence of their existence, but he is overtaken by the Puppet Master before he can investigate further. Namor uses his “Mento-Fish” to send his thoughts to Sue Storm, pleading with her to come to meet him. Sue receives the message telepathically and takes off, making sure she isn’t seen by her male teammates in the Fantastic Four. Sue finds Namor on a pier, where he uses a “hypno-fish” to hypnotize Sue. The fish then encases her in an air bubble and Namor brings him under the ocean to his aquatic home.

Back at the Baxter Building, Reed is testing the limits of Ben’s strength, while Johnny screws around with them. Namor suddenly appears and Torch attacks him, flying straight through him. Reed informs them that one of Namor’s powers is the ability to project a holographic image of himself using his Atlantean undersea technology. Namor informs the FF that he has Sue held captive and he dares them to come and get her. The FF check to see if Sue is around, as they never notice her absence until they need the ironing done or something, and find out she is gone. This causes the FF to launch into action as the Puppet Master, in a Navy surplus sub, gloats about his master plan.

Before they leave, the FF make plans in case they don’t return. Reed and Johnny go to leave the keys to their secret files with the police commissioner while Ben goes to say goodbye to Alicia. Alicia is terrified about the FF going to fight Namor, especially in his undersea domain. Ben, feeling horrible that he made his girlfriend cry, decides to take her with them. Naturally, if I was going to fight my most powerful opponent in the environment where was at his strongest, I would bring my blind girlfriend with me too.

The FF and Alicia hop into a undersea vehicle they borrowed from a Navy Admiral and head to the ocean floor, looking for Namor. They have no clue where he is, so they just randomly explore the deepest parts of the ocean, hoping to stumble upon him. Because it’s not like the ocean is that big or anything.

They must be getting close to Namor’s undersea home, as they are suddenly attacked by super powered porcupine fish that shoot needles at them, followed by something causing an undersea tornado. The escape that only to be swallowed a gigantic undersea clam, which gives off chloroform vapors that put the FF and Alicia to sleep.

They awake in Namor’s undersea fortress, where Namor declares they are his prisoners. Reed boasts that they were not taken prisoner, but instead finally succeeded in tracking down Namor. I’m sure that bing knocked unconscious by a giant, chloroform emitting clam was all part of Reed’s master plan.

namor shows the FF that he has Sue encased in a giant air bubble, which is being assaulted by the mightiest giant octopus in the seven seas. Then, for the first time in this issue, Reed says something that actually doesn’t make him sound like either a male chauvinist pig or a total moron. He realizes that Namor actually loves Sue and would never willingly put her in that much danger. Something must be wrong here.

The insanity continues as the FF do battle with Namor, who uses various fish as weapons. He uses a flame eating fish in the shape of a two pronged battle club to beat up the Human Torch. When The Thing joins the fray, Namor first attacks him with a giant razor sharp needle fish, then throws some undersea fungus at him, which expands and hardens, trapping Ben in a giant stone like ball. Thing uses his super strength to burst free, much to Namor’s surprise.

Reed decides he will take on Namor one on one while Ben goes to rescue Sue. Reed uses his stretchy body to trap the Sub-Mariner in an elastic cage. Meanwhile, Thing jumps into the watery tank and attacks the octopus, tossing him out of the cage. He also talks a lot of trash, using his before now unrevealed power to speak underwater. Ben then rescues Sue and mentions how happy he is she hasn’t made a sound during the ordeal, observing he has never met a woman who could keep her mouth closed this long. Women’s Lib was probably started because of Stan Lee dialogue.

The Puppet Master is unhappy with how the fight is going and decides he needs to intervene. Puppet Master orders Namor to kill the FF. Namor takes his ultimate weapon, a fish that is shaped like the barrel of a Gatling gun and releases a gas that no living thing can withstand. How he plans on surviving this is something he doesn’t appear to give much thought to. Alicia senses another presence, a mental controlling power, like that of her step-father. Reed realizes that would explain everything and tries to reason with Namor, and Sub-Mariner struggles with the mental control he is under.

Namor fails an releases the deadly gas, but Reed was prepared and covers everyone face with “Flex-O-Gen” plastic sheeting. I don’t know what that is or why reed didn’t sell it to the US military for millions of dollars. I think he secretly likes to reveal his greatest inventions only in dramatic situations.

Meanwhile, as the FF attack Namor while Sue begs them not to, the giant octopus that ben flung to the ceiling crashes through the dome and into the ocean. The octopus, angry at being hurled across a high tech death palace and into the ocean, attacks the first thing it sees, which is the Puppet Master’s submarine. PM tries to control the octopus, using his clay to make a puppet of the octopus.  He is forced to use the clay that comprises the Namor puppet, as he only has seconds to make the puppet. Namor is freed from the PM’s control, but it was al for naught, as Puppet Master can not control the mind of a creature that is almost mindless. The octopus assaults the sub as Namor comes to his senses.

Sub-Mariner has no memory of what happened, but he is hoping Sue has come to share his undersea kingdom with him. Sue says her loyalty is with Reed, but her heart may one day belong to Namor. With the incident over, Namor has no desire to fight the FF. He only wants to continue his search for his missing race of “Sub-Mariners.” the FF leave the undersea domain, wondering if Namor will ever be their friend and if the Puppet Master was really behind this altercation.

COMMENTS:

This issue continues the recurring theme of Reed being, to put it bluntly, a real piece of shit. Seriously, this guy is a grade A asshole. He tells Sue if she cleans the house, she should do it quietly so as not to disturb him. Next time he goes to see her, is it to apologize? No, it’s to have her type up his report to NASA about his new rocket fuel. He berates her, gives her menial secretarial chores to do, then goes off to wonder why she doesn’t love him completely.

This issue brings forth some classic Lee/Kirby FF wackiness. The Hypno-fish and Mento-Fish are beyond strange. the gigantic clam that emits chloroform vapors is so strange I don’t even know what to say about it.

It’s nice to see The Puppet Master return, as he was a great villain and a lot of fun. Also, since Alicia has become a regular supporting character as Ben’s girlfriend, there is a nice added layer of Puppet Master being Alicia’s step-father. It makes him part super-villain, part evil pseudo-family member.

I also really like Namor back as the villain. It’s very surprising to me how Namor, and not Dr. Doom, seems to be the FF’s primary opponent. He’s a really great foil for them, as not only is he physically a match for the entire team in a fight, the Reed-Sue-Namor love triangle always makes for interesting drama. At this point in the history of the Fantastic Four, I find Namor to be, by far, their most interesting opponent. He isn’t evil, he is a confused monarch without a kingdom, looking for the rest of his people and blaming the surface world for their disappearance. His motivations are far more complex than the usual super-villain fare, and his fight scenes are always wacky fun.

Another small thing I like about this story is that while the readers know the Puppet Master was behind it all, Namor and the FF have no idea if it was really him or not. They thought he was dead after their last altercation with him. Now, they do not know if he has returned, or if their is some new menace that orchestrated events. It’s a nice little touch.

Rapturously written by Stan Lee
Deliciously drawn by Jack Kirby
Impeccably inked by Chic Stone
Lavishly lettered by Artie Simek

So the villain of this ish came up with some way to get the Fantastic Four to fight amongst themselves?! Man, he must be a brilliant genius who– ah fuck, I can’t even pretend. They do this all the time, even without any enemy to help them along with it. Let’s face it, deep down, the FF fucking hate each other.

A very rich man named Gregory Gideon issues a challenge to his top three competitors: He’ll do anything they say in the next week, and if he does, then he’ll own their three companies, and therefore control the world. Of course, they decide that he needs to defeat the Fantastic Four. Seems pretty easy, I mean, he has lots of money. One time the Fantastic Four hitchhiked across the country so they could make some money. Just tell them you’ll pay ‘em to make them be defeated, right?

So here’s Gideon’s plan, which he paid millions for: First, he convinces the Thing that Mr. Fantastic is actually a Skrull. Second, he convinces the Human Torch that his sister is under the control of the Puppet Master, and makes her think that he’s a robot made by Dr. Doom. The only one left out of this loop is Reed Richards, supposedly because he’s the only one who isn’t an emotional idiot who would fall for something like that. The third part of the plan is to lure them all back to their base, where they’ve installed Dr. Doom’s time machine into the floor. The idea is to transport them all back in time forever… but Gideon’s son is the one to fall victim to the trap, because he wanted to save the FF! Gideon renounces his fortunes and swears that he’ll be a great father and husband from then on, or something equally stupid.

I don’t really want to talk about this issue. The ending is terrible and the villain is uninteresting. What DOES interest me is this pin-up they put in the back of the comic, featuring Dr. Doom holding a paint brush hiding next to a fence on Yancy St. that says “Fantastic Four Go Home”. Sure, it’s funny to think that Doom’s hatred of Richards is so deep that he spends his free time painting lame slogans on fences, but I think it’s a thousand times better if this isn’t Dr. Doom at all, but one of his many robots. A robot, built to look and think like Dr. Doom, who’s sole purpose is to play slightly annoying pranks on the Fantastic Four. That sounds much more like something Doom would do, and I just can’t stop laughing at the concept that he would design a robot to prank call Mr. Fantastic to ask him if his refrigerator is running.