Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: July 7, 1966
Cover: November 1966
12 cents
Produced by: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Delineated by: Joe Sinnot
Lettered by: Artie Simek
20 pages
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| Fantastic Four #55 | Reading order | Fantastic Four Annual 4 |
| Fantastic Four #55 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four #57 |
Our biggest problem seems to be keeping the somewhat disoriented Marvel Universe in some semblance of order! But, when you constantly mess around with space/time warps, and continuums, negatives zones, intra-cosmic deviationary fields, and universes beyond the reached of infinity, you’re apt to get a little bit confused! So bear with us, erudite one, for verily thou hast the seeming of a true believer!
Two notes about the credits. The first is that there are two Ts in Sinnott.
The second is that the credits will stop specifying Stan Lee as the writer, when Kirby is doing most of the writing. The compromise is the nebulous “produced by” credit. Ditko had fought for a similar credit in his comics before leaving.
Sue is upset that Reed is always working, and not spending enough time with his wife. Not the first time we’ve seen this complaint.
Reed has all kinds of fancy technology, including a visi-phone which connects to his lab. Wow. A visi-phone. Imagine being able to talk to someone remotely and see them at the same time!
Eh. I’d rather just send a text.
Reed is continuing his explorations of sub-space we’d seen in issue 51. It’s the secret to unlocking faster than light travel, like Silver Surfer was formerly able to do. It also may be the secret to freeing the Inhumans from the Negative Zone barrier which surrounds the Great Refuge.
A few issues back, we’d met Klaw, the master of sound, archnemesis of the Black Panther. He had a machine to create living sound constructs. Last we saw him, he jumped into that machine himself. I presumed this had killed him.
I was wrong. It turned him into a being of living sound. That would have been my second guess.
Even at my advanced age, I’m still expanding my vocabulary: TERATOLOGICAL.
We check in on the Inhumans still trying to escape the barrier. Maximus claims he knows how to escape. I’m not sure why he isn’t imprisoned for his many crimes.
Medusa laments that they’d been happy in their hidden land, and shouldn’t have let the outsiders come. Two notes there, Medusa. One, if you’re happy in the hidden land, then what’s the problem with being trapped there. Two, if you are upset about attracting outsiders, maybe you shouldn’t have joined the Frightful Four and tried to kill the Fantastic Four for no particular reason.
We see Klaw’s control of sound when he makes Sue’s footsteps louder to counteract her invisibility.
I don’t like Sue running from Klaw. I prefer the version of Sue that would stand and fight.
We check in on Johnny and Wyatt. They were hoping Lockjaw would transport them to the Great Refuge. Instead he takes them to another dimension, where he has a favorite food source. Unfortunately, Lockjaw had been specifically trained not to take outsiders to the Great Refuge.
From afar, Black Panther aids the Fantastic Four in their battle against Klaw. He supplies vibranium bands.
In the end, Klaw is imprisoned in a vibranium cell. How much vibranium is out in the world? Wakanda is the only known source of the substance. How closely do they guard it?
We check in on the Silver Surfer in a remote European kingdom. A cloaked man in a castle has plans for him. Because he’s in shadow, I’d have no idea who it was, except the next issue blurb is a pretty good clue.
Notice how much of an ensemble comic this is now. There’s a main FF story where they fight a villain. But Wyatt, the Inhumans, Silver Surfer, and Black Panther seem to be regular parts of the cast at this point.
We discussed at length how interconnected the past couple months of Marvel titles have been. So perhaps it’s fitting that the letters page features for the first time a phrase that captures that interconnectivity: “Marvel Universe”.
The phrase is used by letter writer Tim Fox, and echoed by Stan in his response.
The letter is about a universe with different laws of physics than our own, but the phrase has taken on larger meaning since then.
In some sense, that phrase captures the whole point of this blog series. That these aren’t a dozen individual titles, but a cohesive larger story. A universe of comics.
Speaking of that universe, I’d like to spend the next couple weeks exploring its earliest days a bit more. We recall that Johnny Storm is not the first Human Torch. We’ve met the original Human Torch a few times, but it’s time to get to know him better.
Rating: ★★★☆☆, 56/100
Significance: ★★★★☆
A reluctant 4 in Significance. There are three semi-significant things here. One is Klaw, a major villain. But this isn’t his introduction, just his introduction as he will come to be known, a being made of sound. The most significant thing about this comic is the phrase “Marvel Universe” in the letters page. Oh, and Kirby getting a credit that’s getting closer to a fair one. Between the three, I guess this is a significant comic.
I read this story in Fantastic Four Epic Collection vol. 4: The Mystery of the Black Panther.
Thanks to Richard for the cover!
Characters:
- Invisible Girl
- Thing
- Mr. Fantastic
- Klaw
- Crystal
- Gorgon
- Black Bolt
- Karnak
- Medusa
- Maximus
- Human Torch
- Wyatt Wingfoot
- Black Panther
- Dr. Doom
- Silver Surfer
Story notes:
- Sue upset that she doesn’t see enough of Reed when he’s always working. She’s been keeping a roast waiting.
- Reed has not been working on his vacuum engine.
- Reed in space-time research room. Can be contacted with visi-phone.
- It’s H-Hour.
- Reed must understand weird subspace creature if they want to make sub-space safe for exploration.
- Reed thinks sub-space may be the answer to getting through the Negative Zone that surrounds the Great Refuge.
- Klaw escaped from sound converter, now more powerful.
- Klaw surrounds Reed and Ben in lab with unbreakable wall of solidified sub-sonic waves.
- Black Bolt had hoped to use Aborba-Bomb to destroy barrier, but realized it would destroy the Great Refuge, so he screamed to defuse the bomb. He is now unconscious.
- Maximus taunts that he knows the way out.
- Klaw wants revenge against the Black Panther and his allies.
- Klaw’s body now made of solid sound.
- Reed gives Ben counter-sonic harness to get through barrier.
- Klaw defeats Sue’s invisibility with control of sound, making her footsteps louder.
- City black out; people blame the FF and their weird experiments.
- Lockjaw teleports Johnny and Wyatt to another dimension, not to the Great Refuge. Lockjaw trained not to take them to Great Refuge.
- Wyatt thinks he can train Lockjaw because of his Comanche heritage.
- Lockjaw feeds in the strange dimension.
- Black Panther sent Reed two vibranium bands, with which he beats up Klaw.
- The police will need to hold Klaw in a cell of vibranium.
- And unseen cloaked man in a European kingdom sees the Silver Surfer.
| Previous | #610 | Next |
|---|---|---|
| PRELUDE | Marvel Mystery Comics #2 | |
| Fantastic Four #55 | Reading order | Fantastic Four Annual 4 |
| Fantastic Four #55 | Fantastic Four | Fantastic Four #57 |
