Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: October 8, 1963
Cover: January 1964
12 cents
Written by: Stan Lee
Drawn by: Jack Kirby
Inked by: G. Bell
22 pages
Happy birthday, Mom!
Lee and Kirby put their heads together to solve a problem that’s plagued this series since the beginning: Sue.
Readers have written in to complain. Lee and Kirby even had Reed and Ben respond in-story to their complaints. They listed everything Sue had accomplished with her powers, but also compared her importance to that of Lincoln’s mother and claimed her place was to help morale. Stan even had a poll as to whether she should even stay on the team. Readers voted overwhelmingly in her favor.
But there are genuine problems with her, at least 3. The first is that Lee is very bad at writing female characters. Not sure how to fix that. Maybe hire a single female writer or artist? Perhaps you could lure Ramona Fradon away from DC. There’s a woman named Marie Severin who I think is presently working on the production end of your comics. Perhaps she could help.
The second is that all the female characters feel like tokens. They have 3 superhero teams, each with precisely one female character. The Avengers are four extremely powerful males and a woman the size of a wasp. They will soon introduce the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, again with one female. When we get an all-new team of Avengers in a dozen issues, it will again consist of exactly one female. This is a clear problem with their titles.
The final problem is her powers. Invisibility can be handy, but its uses in a fight are limited. It’s just not a very offensive power.
It’s this final problem they tackle this issue. They will expand the limits of her invisibility powers to actually make her a formidable fighter. This is a good step in the right direction.
Reed makes a monitoring device to detect Sue’s latent powers, and the radiation from that device activates them. Radiation… is there anything it can’t do?
She can now create an invisible energy shield which she can manipulate into a variety of simple shapes. It’s strong enough to withstand punches from the Thing and fire from the Human Torch. She also has the power to make other things invisible.
As well as to make invisible things visible.
There are limits. Turning something else invisible makes her visible, and she can only make something visible by turning invisible.
Reed seems impressed with Sue’s new powers.
Why the long face, officer?
The plot of the issue is then driven by numerous complaints the FF receive about their powers and experiments in New York City.
I think Stan has something to say about fine art.
Mrs. Frobush called for Sam’s Delicatessen. I wonder if this is a typo. Could it actually be Mrs. Forbush, and could she be related to Irving Forbush from the 1955 comic, Snafu?
At the same time, Reed is notified there is an island for sale that could safely house the dangerous experiments his neighbors are complaining about. How convenient.
Of course, this is all a ploy. The first super-villain the Fantastic Four fought has returned to menace them. It’s all part of a plan for world domination. The Mole Man is their fifth returning foe, after Namor, Dr. Doom, the Puppet Master, and the Skrulls.
Stan seems ready to acknowledge he’s introduced a lot of subterranean kingdoms. Mole Man has new servants, a subterranean race which appears to be the same race of underworld dwellers that was serving Tyrannus. A more cohesive picture of the subterranean realm is starting to form.
Thing refers to his Aunt Petunia. I think this is the first time. If it happened before, I didn’t make note of it. I do my best to watch for these things.
I’ve been reading these Fantastic Four stories in the Epic Collection of late. It’s easier to read than the omnibus. The nice thing about the omnibus is it contains the letters pages. So I can notice when there are interesting letter writers. For example, this issue has letters from Roy Thomas and Dave Cockrum.
Let’s crack this unwieldy omnibus collection open and see what the future celebrities have to say.
Dear Stan and Jack,
When the tumult and the shouting have died, one fact will remain; it has been a great season for comic fandom. I have read all the latest mags you have put out, and overall, I’d say “Excellent”. Greatest of the great, of course, was the FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL. The story was, to say the least, (Sub-Mariner vs. the Human Race) everything you promised us and more. This should go down in comic history as one of the greats of all time. Not only was the art superb, (as usual) but the story was one of the most gripping, dramatic epics I have ever read anywhere. Above all, this story illustrates the little-known fact that Sub-Mariner is not as bad as he’s thought to be. He has honor, and he was merely fighting for what he believes in. Next–THE AVENGERS–great! That’s one of the best magazines on the market today, and I hope it does as well as the FANTASTIC FOUR has done and will continue to do so. The battles between the Hulk and Iron Man were nothing short of fabulous. Finally — X-Men! Overall, the mag was another great first. I really went for the story, and the artwork was good except for the inking, and that was only fair. On the individual X-Men, I flipped over the Angel. Keep up the good work. You make comic-reading a pleasure and an adventure.
Dave Cockrum
Southern Illinois University
Carbondale, Ill.
I actually liked Reinman’s inking in X-Men #1, but I’m not going to argue with Dave Cockrum about art.
Dear Stan and Jack,
What are you guys up there at MARVEL trying to do– run a fella into bankruptcy? The other day I went to the drugstore, intending to pick up a few comic books, among them of course the latest issue of FANTASTIC FOUR. So what happens? Before I’m done, I shell out $1.95 for comics–and what’s more amazing, all of it went for Marvel mags! I’m not one of those over-zealous souls who says that Marvel is the only company that doesn’t insult a fan’s intelligence and that therefore I buy nothing that doesn’t have the Marvel seal–as you yourself doubtless know and (in fact) have said before that’s a pretty provincial attitude. It just so happened that Marvel’s the only company that had anything to offer lately! How was this money disbursed? Well, naturally I wanted the latest tales of Thor, Giant-Man, Human Torch and Iron Man–then I usually buy two copies of most comics. I even bought three copies of the FANTASTIC FOUR ANNUAL–two for myself and one for my girl friend’s Washington University roommate, who read a recent issue I gave her, loved it, and requested more of same! At any rate, what I’m leading up to is this. While I’m not ready to concede that comicdom today is unequivocally entering into the MARVEL AGE OF COMICS, I will say that some of your comics ( especially FANTASTIC FOUR, AVENGERS, X-MEN, SPIDER-MAN and your Annuals) are among the best ever published. The possibilities are seemingly as endless as your talent– and with that note of deserved praise I rest my case. Longwindedly as Mr. Fantastic–
Roy Thomas
Jackson, Mo.
I double-checked Roy’s math. It all adds up.
The other most interesting comment comes from Stan’s response to a fan who finds Thor stories offensive because he believes there is only one God. Stan clarifies Thor is a god in the mythological sense, not the religious sense. Perhaps that will satisfy the fan.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 55/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Fantastic Four Epic Collection vol. 2: The Master Plan of Dr. Doom.
Most scans are taken from a reprint in Marvel Collectors’ Item Classics #16. The rest come from the digital version. I assume you can tell which are which.
You can also find this story in Marvel Masterworks: Fantastic Four vol. 3. Or on Kindle.
Characters
- Invisible Girl
- Human Torch
- Thing
- Mr. Fantastic
- Pierre Picolino
- Mole Man
Story notes:
- Invisible Girl has more powers than she realizes, but doesn’t know how to control them.
- The radiation from Reed’s device increases her power.
- New powers for Sue: She can create a field of invisible energy, strong enough to withstand blows from the Thing and flame from Human Torch. It takes concentration to thicken the shield. Sue also gains power to make other things invisible; she can only make one thing invisible at a time. She can also make invisible things visible (this turns her invisible).
- ICBM may violate zoning laws, but Reed has permit from CAA (Civil Aeronautics Administration?).
- Reference to Pinky Lee.
- FF receive many complaints: Pierre Picolino, famous sculptor. His latest work–Twilight over Hoboken–was melted by the Torch; Women’s Canasta and Mah Jong Society are upset about Reed’s experiments. Many others.
- Reed plans to buy an island to host the experiments his neighbors have been complaining about
- Amphibious U-Car; a note lets us know it’s the same one from FF annual 1.
- Mole Man calls his kingdom Subterranea.
- Thing references his Aunt Petunia. This is the first time I noticed it.
- Mole Man notes Monster Isle had been destroyed in FF#1.
- Mole Man’s plan is to incite nuclear war by dragging major cities underground.
- Thing’s first name is Benjamin. I forget if we already knew that or if they’d always called him Ben. I suspect we already knew that and I neglected to record it.
- Ed Sullivan reference.
- First time Thing says, “It’s Clobberin’ Time”.
#129 story in reading order
Next: Amazing Spider-Man #8
Previous: Tales of Suspense #49, Story B
