A word of explanation: I started reading the Lee/Kirby FF run last year and eventually continued beyond Lee/Kirby and through the 1970s. I'll focus on the Lee/Kirby run for now, though. I summarized the issues as I read. Fraxon, Gator, Neil Welch and Rick Lundeen helped me with summaries at first and then, I continued on my own. I have permission from the others to run their summaries as well and will attribute the proper author when said author isn't me.

I have a large backlog of summaries from now, and I'll parcel them out at one or two a day. I hope you all enjoy this. I'll get rolling in a second.

First, here's my introduction to the Lee/Kirby run:

I have decided to start reading through the Lee/Kirby FF run. To me, this run can be easily divided into three parts.

PART ONE: FF#s 1-35: Almost all one-issue stories. Reed and Sue are not married. In fact, they're in a love triangle with the Sub-Mariner, who appears frequently during this era. After FF #33, he does not appear in FANTASTIC FOUR again until the very last issue of the Lee/Kirby run. I thus consider Namor's presence a defining characteristic of Part One.

PART TWO: FF#s 36-68: Designating #36 as the "beginning" of the second era is admittedly a bit arbitrary. FF#35 is sort of a transition between Era 1 and Era 2, because it ends with Reed's proposal to Sue. FF#36 then opens with the announcement of their engagement. In any case, Era 2 is the era that most fans consider the best. Reed and Sue marry. The stories get much longer and more "epic." The supporting cast grows and includes Wyatt Wingfoot, the Silver Surfer and the Inhumans. Galactus is introduced, and Reed discovers the Negative Zone. "This Man, This Monster," which some consider the best FF story ever, also appeared during this era. While the beginning of the era is arbitrary, the ending is not. FF #67 marks the end of the "Him" saga. Afterwards, Kirby mostly refused to create new characters (There are a few exceptions, noted below.).

PART THREE: FF#s 69-102: The last era of the Lee/Kirby FF run. Kirby was doing most of the plotting during this time, and as noted, he mostly refused to create new characters after FF #67. (For some reason, he made an exception with the annuals. Psycho Man was introduced in FF Annual #5 and Annihilus was introduced in FF Annual #6. The latter issue also featured the birth of Franklin Richards. In addition, Agatha Harkness was introduced towards the end of the run.) The stories gradually become more repetitive and quality began to decline.

Okay, here's my first review (I originally wrote this in May 2008)




Fantastic Four #1 is cover dated November 1961. According to the jacket of my Marvel Masterworks edition, it actually went on sale three months earlier - in August 1961.

At the top of the first page, we see head shots of the FF in their non-powered forms. They are identified as "Dr. Reed Richards," "Ben Grimm," "Susan Storm" and "Johnny Storm."

As the story opens, a flare is shot over Central City. It forms the words "The Fantastic Four." We see the shadowy figure of Reed Richards holding the flare gun. The caption identifies him as the leader of the Fantastic Four. Reed says, "It is the first time I have found it necessary to use the signal. I pray it will be the last!"

We next see Susan Storm "having tea with a society friend." She sees the signal and thinks that "It is time for the world to meet...the Invisible Girl!" She tests her powers by turning invisible, causing some confusion around her.

Next, we see a large man in a clothing store. He notes that nothing fits him and complains about "living in a world too small for him." When he sees the signal, he removes his coat and the monstrous Thing is revealed! He breaks through the door, because it's "too narrow" and then causes a panic on the street. He rips open a manhole cover and disappears into the sewer. When he can't find another opening to the street, he decides to make one and rips open the street above. A car smashes into him, but the Thing remains unharmed. When people run at his appearance, he calls them "lily livered cowards!"

Finally, we meet Johnny Storm. He's working on a car with a friend. His friend points to Reed's flare, as the words "Fantastic Four" change into a "4" symbol. Johnny quickly changes into a human torch, completely melting the car in the process! The sight of the Torch streaking across the sky causes a panic, and the Air Force is set out to bring down the Torch. The Torch burns the planes. A heat seeking "hunter missile" is then launched against him. At that point, Reed Richards' elongated arms reach out, grab the missile and dump it into the ocean. Johnny's flame burns out, and Reed then catches him.

(Reading this now, I can't help but think how careless the FF are in this first story! They caused an awful lot of panic and property damage just answering Reed's signal. It's certainly dramatic - and not something you would have seen heroes doing in, say, a DC book of the time. It doesn't really make a lot of sense, however!)

The story then flashes back to the FF's origin. Reed wants to fly "to the stars." Ben tells him to pilot the ship himself and warns him that they haven't done enough research into the effects of cosmic rays. Susan tells him that she never thought of Ben as a coward. Ben angrily declares that no one calls him a coward and that he'll fly the ship! (For some reason, I never realized that Sue was so manipulative here. Maybe Ben should have been mad at her instead of Reed!). Reed announces that they have "no time to wait for official clearance" because the "conditions are right tonight." They then sneak into the base and take off in the rocket. (This, too, makes little sense. What special "conditions" do they need to fly a rocket? Why is it so important that they leave right then and why do they have to sneak past the guards? Kirby clearly drew them sneaking past the guards, so we can't say that Lee changed his intent here. Again, it's dramatic but admittedly doesn't make a great deal of sense!) The four launch into space and are predictably hit with the cosmic rays. After landing, Sue turns invisible, Ben turns into a Thing, Reed finds that he can stretch and Johnny turns into a human torch. They agree to use their new powers to help mankind.

We now return to the present. Reed tells the others that there have been cave-in's underneath atomic plants all around the globe. In "French Africa," we see such a cave-in. A monster then comes out of the ground and French soldiers fire at him. A shadowy figure that the captions identify as the Moleman then emerges and orders the monster back underground. (Here we see the influence of Marvel's monster comics on its super hero books. In fact, in the early issues, Fantastic Four could almost be seen as another monster comic but with recurring characters. At first, they don't even have costumes! Perhaps Marvel was "hedging its bets" by trying to bring in the monster crowd. The super hero trappings become more overt as time goes on, of course.)

Reed tells the others that he's pin pointed a central location between the cave-ins. He believes that it is the legendary Monster Isle. Ben tells him that that's a fairy tale. Sue replies that there's "one way to find out," and our lovable quartet is off!

They land on Monster Isle and immediately face a three-headed monster. Reed ropes the monster with his arms and dumps him into the ocean. Then, there's a cave-in underneath Reed and Johnny, and the two disappear into the Earth. Glaring light from the "Valley of the Diamonds" causes them to lose consciousness. When they revive, they are greeted by the Moleman!

Up above, Sue is attacked by another monster. Ben quickly defeats him. Sue expresses surprise, and Ben replies, "What did you expect? I'm the Thing, ain't I?" He then says that they "need to find that skinny loud-mouthed boy-friend of yours." Sue comments that she wishes that Ben would stop hating Reed for what happened to him.

Back below ground, the Moleman tells Reed and Johnny his origin. He tells them that he was a surface dweller like them but mocked for his appearance. He set out to find "the legendary land at the center of the Earth" where he "could be king." He found it, but then got caught in an avalanche that caused him to lose "most of his sight." However, he tells them that he made up for this by soon mastering the monsters down below. He also tells them that he developed a natural radar sense, like a bat's (He doesn't explain how this might have happened!).

At that moment, Ben and Sue rush in, and the entire FF is united against the Moleman. Reed grabs the Moleman. However, MM rings a bell and summons his "underground horde" of monsters to battle the FF. Johnny flames on and causes a rockslide, which seals the four off from the monsters. He then announces that "the entrance to the Moleman's empire is sealed forever!"

The four then fly away. One of them asks Reed what he did with the Moleman. Reed says, "I left him behind -- He'll never trouble anyone again!" (In other words, Reed actually let him go! What made Reed so sure that MM wasn't a threat anymore?). As the FF fly away, we see that the Moleman has destroyed the entire isle and "sealed himself below -- forever!"

Some plot holes aside, this is certainly an exciting story.

There are all sorts of arguments as to whether Lee or Kirby had the original idea for the FF. It was really a collaboration, so it's hard to say. It is true that there are a lot of similarities to Kirby's early Challengers of the Unknown series, however. For much of the story, the FF even wear purple jump suits that reminded me a lot of the Chall's!

Good stuff, Bob. Keep 'em coming!

Thanks, Pope!

Here's another one.




Fantastic Four #2. Cover dated January 1962 (probably went onsale around October 1961)

Story title: "The Fantastic Four Meet the Skrulls from Outer Space" (I guess that about says it all, doesn't it?)

The story opens with the Thing swimming toward an offshore Texas oil rig. He destroys the rig. This being a code-approved book, however, nobody actually dies, and the rig's occupants get to life boats. They see the Thing swimming away. In other locations, we see what appear to be the Invisible Girl stealing a diamond, the Human Torch burning a marble statue and Mr. Fantastic switching off all the power to an unnamed city.

Afterwards, the four characters meet in a secret room. We learn that they're not really the Fantastic Four but rather, shape-changing aliens called Skrulls. They used their shape-changing abilities plus some alien gadgets to make it appear as if the actual FF had committed theft, vandalism and sabotage. The Skrulls explain that the Earthlings will now hunt down the FF. Once the Four are thus incapacitated, the Skrull invasion of Earth can begin!

We finally find the real FF hiding in an "isolated hunting lodge." They realize that someone is impersonating them, and they must find the imposters. The Thing comments that the whole country is hunting them, but that he won't surrender without a fight. He complains about being a monster and throws a stuffed bear head through a window. Reed tries to calm Ben down. Johnny tells Reed that they "must do something" about the Thing. Reed blames himself for Ben's condition and recounts the FF's origin from the previous issue.

Outside, the U.S. Army surrounds the hunting lodge. They call for the FF's surrender. Not wanting to hurt anyone, the Four oblige. They place the FF in specially constructed individual cells, but each FF member manages to escape anyway.

The action then resumes in "one of the FF's secret apartments." Reed has an idea: He has learned of a new rocket being tested. Johnny agrees to sabotage the rocket, hoping to flush out the imposters.

Johnny carries out the plan and ...sure enough! Two Skrulls appear, disguised as Reed and Sue. They drive Johnny back to their headquarters, and Johnny discovers the Skrulls! The Skrulls realize that he is the real Human Torch. Johnny fires his FF flare (This time, the flare immediately forms the number "4," rather than first forming the words "Fantastic Four," as it did in the previous issue.). The rest of the FF soon arrive and capture the Skrulls.

Learning the Skrulls' plan, the FF leave the Skrulls tied up in their headquarters. They go to the roof, where the Skrulls keep a space ship disguised as a water tower. They blast off for the Skrull mothership. When they arrive, they tell the Skrull leaders that Earth can not be captured. As proof, they offer photos of giant monsters. The Skrulls do not realize that the "photos" are actually clipped from issues of Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery! (Someone - John Byrne, I think, but I'm not sure - later explained that the Skrull eyes couldn't distinguish between drawings and actual photographs!) The Skrulls quickly leave. The FF, posing as their Skrull imposters, tell the Skrulls that they must remain on Earth - sacrificing themselves to remove all evidence of the Skrull's presence there. The Skrulls present them with medals and quickly depart.

As the ship returns to Earth, it passes again through the cosmic ray belt. This time, the Thing returns to human form (The first of many times that something of this nature would happen!). When they land, Ben becomes overjoyed at being human again. Unfortunately, the affect doesn't last, and he soon becomes the Thing once again. Ben becomes depressed, but Sue tells him that the effects of the cosmic rays may be growing weaker and that he may someday return again to his human form.

The police arrive to arrest the FF, and Reed explains what happened. They go to the apartment where they left the Skrulls. They find three Skrulls there who try to escape. The FF recapture them, and Reed explains that the fourth one "is on his way to another galaxy now with the rest of his invasion fleet." (Apparently, Jack forgot to draw the fourth Skrull, and Stan tried to cover the mistake with the dialogue. That's what it looks like, anyway.)

The three Skrulls beg the FF not to kill them. They declare that they hate being Skrulls and would rather be anything else. Reed thus hypnotizes them into changing into cows and believing themselves to actually be cows! With that, the story ends.

Comments:

*It's interesting to see how the series evolves. Last issue, it was established that the FF lived in "Central City." Central City, however, is never mentioned in issue #2. In FF #2, the team is said to have "many secret apartments." This idea, too, would soon be abandoned, and in the very next issue, they would move into a "skyscraper headquarters."

*Later fans might be surprised to see just how anti-social the Thing is in these first two issues, especially the first one. In FF #1, Ben was kind of belligerent even before he became the Thing! In FF #2, he becomes a somewhat more sympathetic character - with his brief reversion to human form being a poignant moment.

*In his Kirby bio., Mark Evanier notes that Jack Kirby saw the Thing as a depiction of himself. I have to wonder if this was true from the beginning. The later cigar-chomping Benjy is a far cry from the Thing we see in these early issues. I suspect that Stan Lee may have played a bigger part in shaping the early Thing's personality. I suspect that Stan likes anti-heroes. Spider-Man is almost an anti-hero in the first part of his origin story, and the Superman from Stan's "Just Imagine..." series for DC acts a lot like the early Thing. The Hulk was even more anti-social in his earliest appearances, and perhaps the Hulk's introduction allowed Stan to soften Ben a little more. That's pure speculation on my part, of course.

*Along those lines: I also noticed that the arguments between the individual FF members seem harder-edged in these early issues. Ben and Johnny fight, for example, but the later playfulness between the two is largely absent. Instead, you sense that they really, truly are fed up with each other.

*The Daily Globe and The Daily Bugle are newspapers that appear in the last panel of Page 4. Whether Stan actually remembered this when he created those papers for Spider-Man is probably anybody's guess. (I'd guess that he probably didn't. For all we know, those are standard newspaper names that he used in many monster comics long before he scripted FF #2!)

Thanks, Bob!

These are great, Bob!

Keep 'em coming, Bob!

Thanks, guys! I'm glad that you're enjoying these.

I'll post another one in a sec.

NOTE: This particular review is by IMWAN's very own Fraxon. Fraxon gave me permission to post this on his behalf.

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FRAXON WROTE:



Fantastic Four #3. Cover dated March, 1962 (went on sale in December, 1961)

Story title: "The Fantastic Four, in... The Menace of the Miracle Man"

Our story opens during a performance by the Miracle Man. The audience is astounded as he levitates himself above the stage. From where he is, he announces that he can see some celebrities in the audience: The Fantastic Four! The Miracle Man boasts that, although the FF are powerful, they are no match for one with his abilities. To demonstrate, he becomes a giant, turns himself into a floating cloud of gas and then shoots lightning bolts from his hands. His boasts enrage the Thing who comes up on stage as the Miracle Man challenges him to a test of strength. Two large tree trunk sections are brought out and MM asks the Thing to shatter his. After striking the trunk three times, Ben gets his trunk to break in half. The Miracle Man then simply waves his finger down the middle of his trunk and it splits neatly in two! Ben accuses the MM of trickery. MM tells Ben to hit him as hard as he can. Ben complies, but MM just stands there as if nothing happened! This completely infuriates Ben and he has to be dragged out of the theater by the other three FF members.

On the way back to their headquarters (in their new Fantisticar!), Reed somberly wonders what they would do if the Miracle Man were to become a criminal. Cut to: The Miracle Man, backstage at the theater, plotting his turn to crime. He decides he needs a bold feat to announce his crime-wave. Looking out of a window he sees a nearby movie theater preparing to premiere a new sci-fi film titled "The Monster From Mars". Outside the theater is a large statue of the "Monster". MM decides he will bring the statue to life. Meanwhile. the FF have arrived back at their skyscraper HQ (although not named, it's the Baxter Building we all know and love), and we, the readers, are treated to a cut-away diagram of the building.

The next day, Johnny turns on the TV to find that the movie premiere is being televised. As he, Ben and Reed watch, Sue comes in wearing her newly designed FF uniform! She announces that she's made some for the whole team and while they're trying them on (Ben's has a helmet!), Johnny notices that the Miracle Man is at the premiere. Suddenly the "Monster From Mars" statue springs to life and pandemonium ensues! The police spring into action but just as they're about to open fire, the Monster disappears! The FF spring into action by splitting the Fantasticar into four sections so each of them can search the city separately.

Reed finds the Monster crashing through the front of a jewelry store and stealing the gems within. Reed stretches himself back and forth between two buildings in the Monsters path and manages to snare him. The Miracle Man sees Reed and brains him with a brick, causing Reed to snap back to normal, thereby releasing the Monster.

The Torch then finds the Monster terrorizing the local military ordinance depot and attempting to steal their new atomic tank. As the Torch blazes into battle with the Monster, Sue and Ben arrive to give Johnny a hand. Ben rips out of his uniform shirt, when suddenly the Monster catches hold of Johnny! The Monster then bursts into flames and burns to the ground. He was made out wood and plaster! The Miracle Man comes out of hiding and shoots the Torch with chemical foam, extinguishing his flame. Ben charges at MM, but suddenly the ground underneath him opens up and Ben is trapped! The Miracle Man then makes off with the atomic tank, but Sue, who has stayed invisible this whole time, jumps onto the back of the transport truck.

Back at their HQ, Ben and Reed await Sue's signal, while Johnny washes off the foam. Ben angrily recounts their origin, and when Reed tries to calm him down Ben announces that he wants Sue to look at HIM the way she looks at Reed! This causes Johnny to laughingly tell Ben that Sue wouldn't give him a second glance, even if he looked like Rock Hudson! Ben throws a punch at Johnny that misses, but goes through a wall! This angers Johnny who then leaves!

Meanwhile, the Miracle Man has arrived at an auto junkyard on the edge of town, where he plans on hiding the atomic tank. One of the guard dogs catches Sue's scent and starts barking at her. At the MM's command, Sue becomes visible and fires her Fantsti-flare. Reed and Ben see the flare and take off to the rescue in their Fantasti-copter (!). While that's happening, Johnny is drowning his anger at a local soda shop with some of his buddies who are all imploring him to put them on the team. When one of the guys sees the flare, Johnny flames on and rushes to his sister's side.

Reed and Ben arrive at the junkyard and find the Miracle Man holding them off with a giant key, only it's not a key - it's a sub-machine gun! Reed avoids the bullets by forming himself into a ball and bouncing out of harm's way. Miracle Man then grabs Sue and takes off with her in the tank. Reed and Ben attempt to follow in the copter, but Johnny warns them that as he was flying in, he saw MM cut the drive cable, rendering it useless. Grabbing a nearby antique race car (being stored at the junkyard in between exhibitions) Reed, Ben and Johnny take off after their foe. MM sees them and shoots out one of the tires on the car. Johnny grabs the steering wheel while Reed forms himself into a tire and affixes himself to the wheel! The Torch then hands the steering wheel over to Ben and flies off after the Miracle Man. Landing in front of the tank, Johnny flares up as quickly and as brightly as he can and blinds MM. Ben catches up to him and is just about to deliver the finishing blow, when Reed stops him. Reed explains that he's deduced that MM is nothing more than a master hypnotist and mass illusionist whose powers have been neutralized thanks to the Torch. When Ben objects to the Torch being given credit for finishing the "caper" Johnny angrily quits the team, leaving Reed to somberly wonder what would happen if the *Torch* were to turn against them.

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*Whew* There's a LOT goin' on this issue! First off, the Miracle Man. Okay, he's not the greatest villain in the world. Lee/Kirby never brought him back in the FF or any other title. It wasn't until the early '70's that Roy Thomas dragged him out of the mothballs and tried to do something with him. Didn't take.

Ben's anger is still in full force here and you really get a sense that he's a walking time-bomb and that it's only a matter of time before he seriously hurts someone. Despite that, he doesn't do ANYTHING in this issue! The Miracle Man makes a fool out of him at the top of the story and when Ben's about to get his licks in at the end, Reed stops him! Meanwhile, Johnny stops the Monster AND the Miracle Man and Ben has the nerve to grouse about giving him credit for it! No wonder Johnny leaves!

Also, WTF is up with Ben wanting Sue to look at him the way she looks at Reed? Thank goodness Stan dropped THAT particular line of thinking!

Actually, the Miracle Man being sort of a lame-o works pretty well this issue, because it is chock-ful of other wonderments for the readers to marvel at (pun intended)! The debut of the Fantasticar, the Fantasti-copter, the FF's skyscraper HQ and the new team uniforms all in one issue! Also, for the first time, the cover proudly proclaims that the FF is "The Greatest Comic Magazine In The World!!" and as if that weren't enough, we also get the first ever "Fantastic Four Fan Page" lettercol (first letter published honors go to a young Alan Weiss, future penciler/inker for Marvel Comics! Also on the page is a letter from "S.Brodsky" wondering whether the guys who publish the FF are also the guys who put out Strange Tales, Journey Into Mystery, Tales To Astonish, Tales Of Suspense, etc. Who says this isn't the Marvel Age of Shameless Self-Promotion! )

It should also be noted that the FF's uniforms, while functional, are not super-hero costumes in the usual sense. Y'see, at this time, Marvel's comics were being put out by DC's distributor, and one of the rules that DC imposed on the upstart company was that they couldn't publish any super-hero comics, since that was DC's bread-and-butter. One of the ways Stan and Co. got around that was by making so many of the early MU stories de facto monster/sci-fi stories. They also managed to give the FF costumes, but without any capes or masks, they could make the argument that they weren't "super-hero" costumes. Clever lads. DC obviously relaxed that particular rule as caped/masked heroes started appearing within the very next year.


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frank :-{>

Reading all these reviews lately has got me interested in re-reading the early FF issues.

Now that is one damned insightful review!

Nifty bit about the costumes, I never realized that.

Those are the sorts of things you learn when you read a damned insightful review!

Here's another review by Fraxon!

Fraxon wrote:

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FANTASTIC FOUR #4. Cover dated May, 1962 (went on sale in February, 1962)

Story title: "The Fantastic Four in The Coming Of... Sub-Mariner!"

Our story opens in the skyscraper HQ of the Fantastic Four (the opening caption places this, for the first time, in New York City). Reed, Ben & Sue are there, but Johnny, who ran off at the end of the previous issue, is nowhere to be found. Ben couldn't care less. Reed recaps the events of last issue by way of blaming Ben for Johnny's departure. The three of them then take their separate sections of the Fantasticar and set out to look for Johnny. Sue looks for him down at the soda-shop. While there she decides to have a refreshing beverage, which, because she's invisible, spooks one of the other patrons who dashes out exclaiming that the place is haunted! Meanwhile, Reed spies some teens on motorcycles and after stretching to lift one of them off of his bike, questions him as to the Torch's whereabouts. The kid doesn't know and Reed wanders off towards some other kids playing baseball as his search continues. However, less than a mile away, at Swanson's Garage, Johnny is showing his pals how his flame control comes in handy when working on a sports car engine. He even shows them how he can flame on entirely without setting any of the gas around them on fire. At that moment the Thing happens upon the garage and, feeling the heat radiating from inside, deduces that the Torch is there. Ben bursts through the wall of the garage, picks up the car that Johnny was working on and tells him to "flame off" or he'll pulverize him! Johnny complies and the Thing throws the car through another wall of the garage! Ben then lunges at Johnny, but suddenly he reverts back to his human form, and while he's distracted, the Johnny runs outside, flames on and flies away. As Ben taunts the Torch, calling him a "flaming freak", he suddenly turns back into the Thing and is left alone in his despair.

We next find Johnny in the Bowery, where he decides to find a place to bed down for the night. Inside the flop-house, he finds an old "Sub-Mariner" comic book from the '40's and begins to read it. One of the bums notices him reading, and tells Johnny that there's an old man in the house with them that's as strong as the Sub-Mariner was supposed to be. The bum starts needling the old man, telling him to tear a phone book in half. The old man swats his tormentor away as if he were nothing. This gets the other bums riled up and they all jump on the old man, but he manages to throw them all off! The old man then reveals that he's got amnesia. As the men regroup and prepare to attack anew, Johnny stops them and, as a way to jump-start the old man's memory, Johnny uses his finger to burn the old man's beard and mustache away, revealing him to be - - The Sub-Mariner!

Meanwhile, the search continues as Reed stretches himself high into the sky to ask a passing helicopter pilot if he's seen the Torch. He then stretches himself over to an elevated train to ask the passengers if they've seen him. By this time, Sue has made it down to the Bowery and is invisibly walking the streets looking for her brother. She passes by the flop-house and just misses seeing Johnny come out with the Sub-Mariner in tow. Johnny flies the Sub-Mariner down to the docks and drops him into the ocean, figuring that the water will bring back his memories. It does and Subby swims off to find his kingdom. When he arrives, however, he finds it in ruins. A glow in the water tells him that there is radioactivity there and he assumes that human underwater nuclear testing has destroyed his kingdom, and his people, who are immune to radioactivity, have left with no way for him to find them. He returns to the docks to find Johnny waiting for him. He tells Johnny not to be proud of what he's done, as he's only signed the death-warrant for the human race as he vows to take revenge for the destruction of his kingdom!

Back at the FF's HQ, Reed, Ben and Sue see the Fantasti-flare and race to the docks to find Johnny waiting for them. As he catches them up on all that's happened, we cut to the Sub-Mariner who is approaching the "largest living thing in all the world" - an undersea behemoth named Giganto! Giganto looks like a whale, except that he has arms and legs! Using a "trumpet-horn" that was buried nearby by Subby's ancestors, he awakens the beast and leads him towards the surface world! As he rises out of the water he destroys a fishing boat, whose crew manages to escape in a life-boat and radio a warning back to shore. As NYC is evacuated, the military prepares for Giganto's arrival. When the monster gets into range, the army opens fire to no avail. Reed flies the Fantasticar around the monster and emits a smoke screen which confuses it and slows down it's approach. The Torch flies up to help Reed, but Giganto has a water-spout like a whale and manages to extinguish Johnny's flame. Reed manages to catch Johnny before he falls into the bay, meanwhile the Sub-Mariner uses his trumpet-horn to lure Giganto onshore where the monster promptly falls over and goes to sleep, wrecking a large section of river-front property in the process! Ben quickly comes up with a plan! He gets the military to strap a nuclear bomb to his back and he walks into Giganto's open mouth!

Inside the monster, Ben trudges past the wreckage of ships which had been swallowed by Giganto, when suddenly he's attacked by a still living sea creature! Ben sets the bomb down and tackles the creature as the timing element on the bomb ticks away. Ben manages to defeat the creature and runs out of Giganto just as the bomb goes off, killing the monster! The Sub-Mariner then announces that he'll use the trumpet-horn to summon other sea monsters to attack the surface, when suddenly the horn flies out of his hands and starts to float away! Subby chases after it and ends up tackling the Invisible Girl who becomes visible in his arms. Struck by her beauty, Subby tells Sue that if she agrees to marry him, he'll call off his attack. Before she can answer, Reed, Ben and Johnny show up and vow that the Sub-Mariner will never menace mankind again! Subby tells them they've had their chance, but now he'll take Sue and unleash a horde of monsters upon the Earth the likes of which will destroy mankind! Hearing this Sue announces that if it will spare mankind she'll agree to be his bride. Her sacrificial tone offends Namor and the other three take this opportunity to attack him. He throws them off with ease, startling them! The Torch then flies 1000 feet into the air and creates a vortex which lifts the Sub-Mariner *and* Giganto and deposits them back into the ocean! The horn is blown back as well and is lost on the bottom of the ocean. Moments later, the Sub-mariner regains consciousness and vows to return to attack the surface again! Meanwhile, Ben surmises that Subby WILL be back, while Reed promises that, if he does, he'll find them waiting!

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Wow! Another action-packed issue from Messrs. Lee and Kirby!

The big news here, of course, is the return of the Sub-Mariner. Unlike other super-hero revivals from the early Silver Age, Subby is presented as the same character from the '40's and *not* a different character with the same name and/or powers (a'la Flash, Green Lantern, Atom, Hawkman and even the Human Torch). This makes Subby very unique for his time, providing a direct link from Marvel's Silver Age to their Golden Age stories. He's a great antagonist for the FF, as he's extremely powerful (shrugging off an attack by Reed, Johnny AND Ben!) and his infatuation with Sue would be a driving force in the series for the next several years!

Also, as I noted above, this is the first story to root the FF firmly in New York City. By doing so, Lee has said that it enabled him to simply write about the places he knew, but it also grounded the book in a more realistic setting making it that much easier for the fans to identify with the characters. Down through the years, Marvel Manhattan has become a character unto itself and it stands as one of the smartest decisions Stan made during this early gestation period of the Marvel Universe.

This is a fairly well-balanced story as all of the team members get to show off a little of what they can do although it's interesting to note that Reed doesn't figure into defeating the villain at all! Ben carries the bomb into Gaiganto, Sue snatches the horn from the Sub-Mariner's hands and Johnny whips up the vortex that sends Subby and Giganto back to the ocean, all while Reed stands around doing.... what, exactly? He doesn't even come up with any of the plans! Still it's a nice balance to so many of the later stories where it seems to be "all Reed, all the time".

Ben's rage starts off strong again in this issue but he softens slightly mid-way through as he heroically takes the bomb into Giganto. This (and the next issue) could arguably be the turning point for his character away from the dangerous monster he's been portrayed as in the first three issues and towards the tragically heroic character that we are more familiar with.

All-in-all, another enjoyable issue!


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frank :-{>

Another good one. Well done, Bob.

Oh, and I suppose Fraxon gets some credit too.

Yeah, it's nice that Bob picked this up. Much better reviews than mine.

Yes...

Only question: why is this WANderground?

Because these reviews are so fucking good we might swear?

So fucking "food"?