Fantastic Four #6

Captives of the Deadly Duo!/When Super-Menaces Unite/When Friends Fall Out!/Trapped!/The End… Or the Beginning?
Release: June 12, 1962
Cover: September 1962
12 cents
Credits: Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Inker: Dick Ayers
24 pages

I read this in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1. The table of contents credits Dick Ayers as the inker. The original comic just credits Lee and Kirby.

All posts regarding Fantastic Four comics featuring Namor are henceforth dedicated to my mother.

The plot of the story concerns Dr. Doom and Prince Namor the Submariner joining forces. It’s not clear if their duo has a name, and anyway the alliance won’t last long. Dr. Doom refers to them as the Diabolical Duo, which is what the cover calls them. So perhaps that’s official. But the story title calls them the Deadly Duo.

Notably, these are the first recurring nemeses for the FF, uniting the villains of the two previous issues.

A big spotlight is on the FF headquarters, the Baxter Building on Skyscraper Row in Manhattan. We see again a diagram of the layout of the FF portion of the building, which starts on the 34th floor, and is accessible through a private elevator activated by electronic signals from their belt buckles. The building gets attention because it gets taken into space. Presumably after business hours when it is empty. By the end of the issue, it gets put back. I have a lot of questions about whether skyscrapers are built to endure spaceflight.

We get a new diagram of the headquarters and can compare and contrast with the one from the 3rd issue. Seems pretty consistent, but this new view shows us a few more floors.

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As we’ve said, Stan’s great strength is how he talks directly to fans, and the letters page is a great showcase for him. They mirror the success of the letters page within the comic, as some time gets dedicated to the FF answering their own letters in one of the series’ best scenes yet. Reed visits a sick fan in the hospital. And Ben receives a letter from the Yancy Street Gang picking a fight.

Mr. Fantastic explains to Tommy that his clothes stretch because the fibers are made from unstable molecules. That is also what Ant-Man’s costume was made of. Had Reed not had them, I might have assumed Dr. Pym invented them. Since both people, with no evidence they know each other, have access, perhaps such fibers are widely available for sale.

Dr. Doom self-describes as one “strong enough to join the powers of science to those of darkness”. The main hook for the character at this point seems to be that he can mix science and sorcery. Later writers will sometimes focus less on the sorcery aspects of his character, while others will lean into it.

Doom’s great invention here is called the ‘grappler’. Scary. It harnesses magnetic force, which is ‘unlimited’. That’s not really true, but these stories show a fascination with magnetic force, as it also powered the Toad Men technology. Soon enough, Stan’ll probably create a villain who just harnesses magnetic force.

Namor, now always referring to himself as Prince Namor, is shown to be more interesting than in his previous appearance. In his previous appearance, he was righteously angry, ready to wreak havoc, and smitten with Sue. Here, his anger has abated, at least until Doom manipulates him into going after the FF. His crush on Sue has continued. He keeps a picture of her in his home. And she keeps one of him as well. Even though she is engaged to Reed. She also defends his motives to her teammates and proposes they trust him.

In the end, Namor is the hero of the issue, and he gets quite the epic moment, hurling himself into space to stop Dr. Doom.

We learn in this issue Human Torch’s powers have a time limit. His flame will soon fade. It seems very soon, as it happens during a short confrontation with Namor. It seems as though they only last a minute. But then how would he ever fly around?

While Ben does loses his temper in the issue, as usual, and Reed ties Ben up with his arms, as usual, there’s no fight between Ben and Johnny this issue. Very unusual.

The issue ends with Dr. Doom hurtling on a comet into space. Too bad, as he had potential as a villain not yet realized.

Rating: ★★★☆☆, 54/100
Significance: ★★★★☆

Characters:

• Human Torch
• Invisible Girl
• Mr. Fantastic
• Thing
• Prince Namor/Submariner
• Dr. Doom

Minor characters:

• Tommy (boy in hospital)

Story notes:

• The FF comics are really into scenes of reacting crowds
• An editors note refers to FF #5
• Torch has been scouting for signs of Dr. Doom, indicating not too much time has passed. Likely days. At most a couple weeks.
• Messenger wants Sue’s autograph
• Mr. Fantastic explains his clothes stretch due to unstable molecules. Second mention of those. Where do they come from?
• Ashby and Main Street — Yancy Street Gang
• Sub-Mariner swims with porpoises; calls them his subjects
• Namor is now referring to himself as Prince Namor
• Dr. Doom pilots aerosub
• Submariner has a domed undersea villa near ruins of his kingdom
• An H-bomb test is what destroyed Namor’s kingdom, scattering his people– who once called him Prince Namor.
• The FF luckily keep spare space helmets lying around
• Namor has the power to absorb and return electricity like an eel
• Ben and Johnny don’t fight.

#17 story in reading order
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