Fantastic Four #9

The End of the Fantastic Four!/Sub-Mariner Gives the Orders!/The Fury of Mr. Fantastic/The Flame of Battle/Vengeace is Ours!
Featuring: Fantastic Four
Release: September 4, 1962
Cover: December 1962
12 cents
Script: Stan Lee
Art: Jack Kirby
Inking: Dick Ayers
23 pages

I read this comic in Fantastic Four Omnibus vol. 1.

As with the Thor story which premiered the same day, this features full credits. In fact, the credits are more complete than the Thor story, as they spotlight the lettering of Artie Simek. The coloring of Stan Goldberg is still omitted, and anyways lost in the reproductions I am looking at.

This is a pretty famous story. For decades to come, when people refer to how Stan Lee changed superheroes, they’ll point to things like Spider-Man being unpopular or the Fantastic Four having money problems. But for 8 issues, the FF seemed pretty wealthy. Here, we learn Reed lost all his money in a stock market crash, and the FF are bankrupt and having to sell everything and disband. They even sell the pogo plane!

When the team offers to use their powers to help with the bills, Reed turns them down. He doesn’t want them in a freak show or turning to crime, and he’s convinced that’s the only way they can make money. I think he’s just not thinking this through very hard. There are plenty of jobs that could benefit from somebody as strong as the Thing, or from Torch’s ability to generate intense heat. Think about manufacturing.

The option Reed is willing to consider is going to Hollywood to make a movie!

But the movie is a trap.

Being financed by their nemesis the Sub-Mariner should have been a clue. Or perhaps the absence of a script should have tipped them off. They will not be the last superheroes to fall for such a trap– Brian Cronin has some examples.

The FF go Hollywood! You can try to guess the celebrity cameos as well as I can.

With the help of the internet, I see:

• James Arness
• Amanda Blake
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Bing Crosby
• Bob Hope
• Jackie Gleason

We learn Namor is very wealthy. His race has long kept track of all sunken treasure, and Namor has access to all of it.

Apparently learning nothing from being flat broke, Human Torch immediately buys a sport car. He uses his flame powers to show off for some girls. Meanwhile, in the pages of his own comic, he goes out of his way, often risking lives, to protect his precious secret identity.

Mr. Fantastic battles a Cyclops! In the next post, I want to take a look back to the last Cyclops to appear in a Marvel story, in Tales of Suspense #10. It’s possible they are the same Cyclops. But there is almost certainly no connection to the X-Men character we will meet later.

Human Torch battles some African natives; I’m not certain their depiction is appropriate by today’s standards. The tribe has the advantage of being immune to flames. Human Torch deals with them by activating a volcano to destroy their entire village. Harsh!

Thing battles Namor! Until the Thing reverts to his human form, which happens in every other issue. I think this time it’s because he got struck by lightning or something.

The big part of this, and the whole point of Namor’s whole plot, is to take Sue on a date. He proposes marriage, but she rejects him because he’d lured all her friends and family into death traps.

Moral of the story: Never invest in stocks. Take your money and stick it in a pillow case.

The comic also features a pin-up that explains how the Human Torch flies. We will be taking no follow-up questions.

Rating: ★★★☆☆, 53/100
Significance: ★★★★☆

Characters:

• Prince Namor/Sub-Mariner
• Mr. Fantastic
• Invisible Girl
• Human Torch
• Thing
• Alicia
• Cyclops

Plus a host of celebrity cameos!

Story notes:

• Reed notes they will have to sell the skycraper. That implies they own it.
• Sold pogo plane
• Taxi driver won’t drive Thing because he’s broke.
• Alicia described as “Ben’s blind friend”
• Baxter Building sign visible
• Alicia makes puppet doll
• Offer from S.M. Studios in Hollywood– $1 million cash to star in a movie.
• FF have to hitchhike to Hollywood
• Namor wealthy; access to all treasure lost at sea and secrets of treasure hidden by pirates
• Johnny buys sport car
• Johnny shows off powers to girls ; no concern for secret identity
• Thing goes to beach
• Namor takes Sue to night club
• Hidden Isle — home of Cyclops
• Cyclops made deal with Namor
• First time we see Mr. Fantastic really flattened
• African jungle — natives have potion which makes them immune to fire
• Flame-proof natives made deal with Namor
• Namor flies with wings on ankles; has power of electric eel to charge air with electricity; radar sense of cavefish: can see Sue when invisible
• Sub-Mariner asks Sue to marry him
• FF movie a hit

#30 story in reading order
Next post: PRELUDE: Tales of Suspense #10
Next in order: Strange Tales #103
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