Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: October 12, 1965
Cover: January 1966
12 cents
Story by our leader, Stan Lee
Illustrations by our idol, Jack Kirby
Inking by our star, Joe Sinnott
Lettering by our letterer, Artie Simek
20 pages
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Although I die– I die– free!
Who is Black Bolt? He’s fast. He’s strong. Strong enough to stagger the Thing with one blow. The antenna on his mask converts electrons into his strength and speed.
He doesn’t speak.
Triton resembles the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He can’t breathe air and lives in water. He needs his moisture suit to survive on land. Once it’s removed, he has only seconds to get to water.
The Inhumans have been hiding from this man. They call him the Seeker. He’s been searching low and high.
The way Seeker speaks about Inhumans, you might think he is not one, but he is.
The Seeker captures Dragon Man, mistaking him for an Inhuman. He should have asked Bobby Dylan.
Gorgon blames Medusa for bringing the humans, but Crystal led Johnny there. Medusa only came because Gorgon dragged her. Gorgon also seems to be on the run from the Seeker. Except that we’ll learn next issue they’ve been sent by the same person with similar purpose.
Johnny and Crystal are both now madly in love after their half hour of exchanging furtive glances, and insist they must be together, before all else.
Triton tends to hate the Seeker because he never smiles, and because he fears being taken back to the Great Refuge.
The Seeker learns Dragon Man is artificial, so lets him go. He only seeks Inhumans. He’s got values but he don’t know how or why.
So who are the Inhumans? The Seeker explains. They are the other dominant species on this planet, evolving in parallel to humanity. They had built advanced civilizations during the time of dinosaurs and cavemen. They have mastered genetics, and are genetically altered to have super powers.
Humanity’s advantage is how swiftly we multiply. We didn’t have their technology or powers, but we knew how to do exactly one thing well.
The Inhumans thus long ago hid themselves away in the Great Refuge. A few Inhumans have chosen to leave, and the Seeker will bring them back. Apparently Medusa had split off from that group, and Gorgon was to bring her back. Maybe to that group, or maybe to the Great Refuge. It’s confusing what Gorgon wanted. We learn this group of Inhumans is from one of the oldest families. Hopefully they’re not all too closely related, as Medusa and Black Bolt are considering marrying one day.
Speaking of unclear motivations, Medusa repeatedly begs Gorgon to spare the Fantastic Four. Weird.
Dragon Man is running amok. Triton lies dying. The Seeker is a really desperate man.
I see a letter from Scott Williams in the letters page. Is that the famous comic artist? No, he’d have been 5 at the time, and this person was in graduate school.
Rating: ★★★★☆, 72/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
I read this story in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 2.
Fantastic Four has been good of late. Good enough that now they’re knocking other recent good issues of FF off the Best We’ve Read. Fantastic Four #41 gets the axe.
Characters:
- Black Bolt
- Mr. Fantastic
- Invisible Girl
- Thing
- Human Torch/Johnny Storm
- Triton
- Crystal
- Karnak
- Medusa
- Gorgon
- Seeker
- Lockjaw
- Dragon Man
Story notes:
- Antenna on Black Bolt’s head absorbs electrons and converts them into speed and strength.
- Triton notes they have hidden from the Seeker for years.
- Triton wore moisture suit. Needs water to breathe. Must reach dock within seconds when out of suit.
- Reed says they think of themselves as “Inhumans”. Only Johnny has used that word so far. Though the Seeker will soon use that phrase, so it must be right.
- Karnak confident he can find the weak spot in Sue’s force field, but doesn’t find out.
- Seeker mistakes Dragon Man for an Inhuman.
- Seeker can crystallize wall molecules with his distorter gun.
- Universal control rod fires a powerful blast.
- Black Bolt never speaks.
- Master blow of Black Bolt stuns Thing.
- Black Bolt uses up electron charge. Now vulnerable.
- Lockjaw’s antenna creates dimension displacer force.
- Crystal wants to stay with Johnny; he wants the same.
- Triton does not want to return to the Great Refuge, where the Seeker will take him.
- When Seeker learns Dragon Man is artificial, rather than Inhuman, he loses interest.
- Seeker’s mission is to return escaped Inhumans to the Great Refuge.
- Another more powerful species shares the planet; a slightly different type of life which evolved without mankind knowing it.
- In prehistoric days, humans were living in caves, but the Inhumans built an advanced civilization.
- Genetics of interest to Inhumans, and they used vari-genes to control evolution, to produce carefully created super-powers.
- Ordinary humans multiplied more swiftly and attacked Inhumans on sight, so the Great Refuge was built.
- Black Bolt, Medusa, Gorgon and others from one of oldest families.
- Dragon Man not ready to trust again.
| Previous | #445 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| Fantastic Four #45 | Reading order | Fantastic Four #47 |
| Fantastic Four #45 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four #47 |
