Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: January 12, 1965
Cover: April 1965
12 cents
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!
20 pages
| Previous | #319 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Strange Tales #131 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #23 |
| Fantastic Four #36 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four #38 |
We haven’t seen a cover quite like this one yet. The FF are far in the background, their drawings somewhat ill-defined. They appear to be on an alien planet, stepping out of a landing module. Closer to the foreground are two ominous, perhaps alien, figures. We only see the lower part of their bodies from the back. So they’re the focus but not the focus. The actual foreground is some type of rock wall, and we’re just viewing the action through a hole in that rock. The rock becomes a background to the issue’s title logo; the artwork up to this point has almost entirely avoided interfering with that logo. And we have a cool title, with a very classical sci/fi feel. “Behold! A Distant Star!”
Wedding preparations are continually running through the background of these stories now. Two issues back, Sue and Reed got engaged. Last issue was the engagement party. Now it’s time for the rehearsal dinner. In typical FF style, they’ll just make a quick jaunt to the far side of the galaxy.
Ben and Johnny are trying on their tuxedos. Reed’s new invention accidentally destroys Johnny’s tuxedo. Presumably it’s cheaper to buy two tuxedos than to try to make one from unstable molecules.
Sue has one task she wants performed before the wedding. She wants revenge against the Skrull who killed her father. He had been transported to the Skrull homeworld, then back to Earth with a bomb strapped to his chest, which killed him.
We only got a brief glimpse from the back of the Skrull behind Dr. Storm’s death, but his fancy hat seemed to clearly identify him as the Skrull King.
However, this issue introduces Morrat, and names him as the Skrull directly responsible for Dr. Storm’s death. He is a brutal and ambitious warlord who seeks the throne. The Princess Anelle is in love with him, but recognizes he is evil, and wishes he weren’t.
It’s time for some space travel. Let’s review their history of space travel so far. In the first issue, Reed was trying to reach space in an experimental rocketship. They didn’t get far before being bombarded by cosmic rays, and it would ultimately be the Soviets who got the first successful manned space flight.
Later, the FF traveled extremely far, all the way to Planet X and back, but they used an alien ship to make the voyage. Presumably, Reed used that ship to inspire his later designs.
It wasn’t long after the the Fantastic Four reached the moon. This may seem less impressive after making it to an extrasolar planet, but the point is that they reached the moon in a ship Reed built himself. The Soviet Ivan Kragoff makes a successful moon trip at the same time. The race to the moon is an effective tie between the Americans and the Soviets, though I think the Reds won by a nose.
Now, they are ready to go much farther. The Skrull Homeworld has been previously described as in the 5th quadrant of our galaxy, which doesn’t really make any sense. Now it’s described as in another galaxy altogether, which also stretches the imagination. So the FF must travel to another world, either far away within our own galaxy, or impossibly far away in another.
Traveling such distances directly is impossible, of course. So they take advantage of a timewarp (seems to be a wormhole) which allows them to travel through subspace to their destination.
The ship itself was a collaboration with NASA. NASA supplied the rocket to get it into space, and Reed’s new power ray that destroyed Johnny’s tux supplied the thrust-drive. Perhaps Reed’s power ray was adapted from technology from Planet X.
Let’s pause to admire the photo collage art.
We learn it was always Morrat behind the previous attacks on Earth. The Skrull King thinks Earth is beneath the notice of the Skrull empire. That isn’t remotely consistent with his attitude in his previous appearances. The Skrull King was himself obsessed with defeating the FF.
Here’s a theory: the Skrull King lies to the FF when he claims Morrat was responsible for Sue’s father’s death and the attacks on Earth. Since Morrat is dead, it’s a convenient lie as it gets the FF to leave satisfied, allowing the Skrull King to plan his next scheme.
This tale of alien intrigue fits into a sort of pattern. The king, the princess, the scheming warlord, political intrigue, and doomed love. It’s bears at least some resemblance to the internal politics of other kingdoms we’ve encountered, from Atlantis to Dimension Z. They all seem to owe something to the Adam Strange adventures of the Distinguished Competition, in turn to the old Alex Raymond Flash Gordon comic strips, which all ultimately owe something to Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Princess of Mars.
Let’s talk about religion. We’ve seen very little prior to this issue that indicates the religion of any of these characters. We can make some guesses based on cultural assumptions. The Parkers seem to be a pretty standard WASP family.
Stan and Jack were both raised Jewish, and they put a lot of themselves into Ben Grimm. Ben often seems inspired by Kirby in particular. While it’s not been explicit, it seems pretty clear that Yancy Street was a Jewish neighborhood, and that Ben is himself Jewish.
We see a reverend will preside over Reed and Sue’s wedding, and we learn they have a close relationship with the vicar of their local parish. These clues don’t precisely narrow it down, but they are almost certainly Protestant, perhaps Anglican.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 55/100
Significance: ★★★☆☆
I read this story in Fantastic Four Epic Collection vol. 3: The Coming of Galactus. You can also find it on Kindle.
Characters:
- Mr. Fantastic/Reed Richards
- Thing/Ben Grimm
- Human Torch/Johnny Storm
- Alicia
- Invisible Girl/Sue Storm
- Warlord Morrat
- Princess Anelle
- Skrull King
- Reverend Miller
Story notes:
- Power amplifier draws energy from unknown source beyond solar systems and turns it into raw, usable power.
- Sue wants revenge against the Skrulls for her father’s death.
- Morrat warlord of the Skrull King; loves his daughter Anelle, the princess; but the king won’t consent to the marriage.
- Morrat directly responsible for Dr. Storm’s death.
- Morrat hunts for pleasure, depriving locals of beasts of burden.
- Boosted by giant Saturn rocket from Cape Kennedy, fitted with new thrust-drive mechanism adapted from Reed’s power ray, prototype spaceship heads toward Skrull world.
- Space timewarp takes them to Skrull world. Within subspace, they bridge the gap between galaxies.
- Captain Kangaroo reference.
- Ben a former test-pilot.
- The FF encounter humanoid fauna on the Skrull world.
- Thing refers to Aunt Petunia in a Beatles wig.
- The FF can breathe fine on the Skrull world. Makes sense as Skrulls breathe fine on ours.
- The Skrull atmosphere affects the Four’s powers.
- References to Fantastic Four #2, 18, 32.
- Morrat thinks by destroying the FF he can overthrow the king.
- Skrulls in standard purple uniforms.
- Morrat executed for treason; Anelle almost caught in fire, but saved by Sue.
- FF running late for wedding rehearsal; reverend concerned.
- Reed and Sue have close relationship with local vicar.
| Previous | #319 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Strange Tales #131 | Reading order | Amazing Spider-Man #23 |
| Fantastic Four #36 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four #38 |
