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Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. With threats coming from outer space, our heroes retreat to inner space in issue #76.

The set-up is this: Galactus has returned to Earth, demanding that the FF deliver him the Silver Surfer, who has retreated into the microverse. Reed makes a deal with Galactus, saying he’ll go get the Surfer in exchange for Galactus not devouring the Earth. Reed, Ben, and Johnny cram into Reed’s newest invention, a submarine-like “Reducta-craft.” Then it’s a throwback to Fantastic Voyage, where they shrink down to microscopic size and prepare to be shot through a needle. Ben complains with his usual grousing during all this, but Johnny compares it to a roller coaster.

We then spend some time with pregnant Sue, who has just had a doctor’s visit, assuring her that the baby is doing just fine. She asks Crystal why she hasn’t shown Sue a paper or played the radio in several days. Crystal tries to brush this off, saying it’s just news about “the war.” (That’d be the ‘Nam.) Sue’s no idiot, though, suspecting that this means the three guys are in danger. She has another pity party, fretting about not being able to help, and wondering what it’ll be like after the baby is born.

Back in the lab, the Reducta-craft flies along, with Reed saying it is propelled by “the power of its own shrinkage.” (Cue Seinfeld reference.) Forget that talk about a needle, because it just flies into the gooey black liquid on a microscope slide, the same liquid that the Silver Surfer used to escape into the microverse. Reed says they’re about to become the first human “micronauts.” Reed says he developed this experiment after the team’s encounter with Psycho-Man, whom you’ll remember was a tiny microscopic guy living inside human sized armor. They follow the Surfer’s path, only to have him fly by them at great speed.

We then get a killer splash page of the Silver Surfer soaring through the microverse. He’s never looked happier, before or since. The normally deep and contemplative Surfer is now exhilarated and joyous, saying “At last I am free!” Then Reed is a total jerk, firing a stun blast at the Surfer, knocking him off his surfboard. He recovers quickly, bragging about being able to survive meteor storms, but Reed says the blast was only to establish contact.

The Surfer lands on a nearby planetoid and surrounds himself with a “cosmic protection shield.” Then it’s a couple of pages of our heroes trying to break through the shield, which they can’t. The Surfer borrows a move from Captain America by throwing his surfboard at the FF which, confusingly, knocks all three heroes for a loop. The Surfer flies off, and is pursued by a mysterious green spaceship.

Psycho-Man, whose real form conveniently looks just like his giant armor, says he wants the Surfer’s power for himself. He sends the “Indestructible One” after the Surfer. We don’t see the Indestructible One yet, only from the back. Reed and his pals recover, hopping back in the Reducta-craft and pursuing the Surfer again. The Indestructible One spots them and somehow mistakes them for the Surfer. It attacks and… fighting! The Indestructible One is really a giant android, purple with a green helmet. He and Ben smack each other around the alien landscape for a while. The planet is volcanic, and lava starts spurting everywhere. The Indestructible One is also able to turn intangible, as Johnny’s thermal blasts pass right through him.

If all this wasn’t cosmic enough, we then cut to Galactus, looking hungrily at the Earth through a scanner. He’s got this kooky little machine that looks a little like a thermometer. When the thingamabob reaches the top, that’s when he’ll devour the Earth. Now we have a ticking a clock.

Back in the microverse, Reed tells Ben and Johnny to take the ship and go after the Surfer, offering to sacrifice himself by fighting the Indestructible One. “Tell Sue my last thoughts were of her and the baby!” he says. But then, the Indestructible One vanishes right before them. The Silver Surfer has arrived, saying he was watching the fight for his amusement. (What a jerk!) Reed’s gallantry, though, has changed the Surfer’s mind. He agrees to return to Galactus, to save humanity. As he flies off, Reed says the FF will stay behind in the microverse, to find and deal with Psycho-Man.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed wanting to sacrifice himself seems out of character, but we must remember that stakes are high, with Galactus waiting in the wings. And, yeah, the plot demands it.

Fade out: Sue has gone from worrying about the guys being in danger, to wanting to be out there, helping them save the day. Is that progress?

Clobberin’ time: Ben holds his own against the Indestructible One, even with a volcano exploding underneath him. Ben’s past a pilot is subtly referenced, in that Reed assumes Ben can fly the ship back to Earth.

Flame on: Although cautioned against using his fire, so that it doesn’t set off more volcanic activity, Johnny proves to be so in control of his powers that he can attack the Indestructible One with precision and not destroy the planet.

Trivia time: As noted above, 1966’s Fantastic Voyage is a huge influence on this issue. With the name “Fantastic” in the title, I guess it was only a matter of time.

The Microverse, which is actually called the “Micro-world” or “Sub-atomica” in this issue, has become a staple of the Marvel Universe. It’ll later be defined as an alternate universe that can only be accessed by shrinking, but in this issue there’s definite shrinkage (hehe) with talk of molecules flying past.

To my knowledge, this is the first use of the name “Micronauts” in a Marvel comic, although the Japanese Microman toys that inspired Marvel’s on-again/off-again Micronauts series debuted in 1974. The Micronauts franchise has a crazy convoluted history in both toys and comics.

Commercial break: How huge were Marvel Comics in the ‘60s? You could send away for an autographed photo of Stan Lee:

Fantastic or frightful: The story goes that Jack Kirby was burned out by this point and ready to leave Marvel, but his art in this issue is so stellar and so like the far-out stuff he’d go on to do in the ‘70s, that I can’t help but feel he’s giving this issue his all. The script has some fun dialogue but a lot of head-scratching elements. (How is there oxygen in the Microverse?) Still, the art elevates it to excellence.

Next: Answering the summons.

****

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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Last issue, we learned Galactus is returning to Earth. Now, in issue #75, we learn his plans are a little more complex than just “eat the planet.”

First, I have to say I love the blurb on the cover: “What protiteth a man to flee his fate? For surely he will find… worlds within worlds!” It almost looks like Galactus is looking down at the blurb thinking, “‘Profiteth?’” Anyway, the story begins with Reed, Johnny, and Ben on an island just outside of New York City (where this is, exactly, is not specified) while pregnant Sue is at home being cared for by Crystal. Reed says they’re on an island not to endanger lives when Galactus makes his big appearance. From the island, they can see a “space ray” being fired on NYC, which Reed deduces is Galactus still searching for the Silver Surfer.

Out in space, Galactus speechifies to himself that his hunger has grown so much that he needs to find the Silver Surfer so the Surfer can find him a new planet to eat. (OK, he doesn’t “eat” planets so much as he absorbs all their energy and whatnot.) It’s never explained why he can’t just find his own planets to devour. On some viewscreen-type thing, Galactus sees the FF, remembers that they befriended the Surfer, and says they must be compelled to betray the Surfer. He then says he will attack the FF with, “the power of transcendent thought.”

On Earth, the island starts tossing and turning, uprooting itself and endangering our heroes. This is basically a fight scene between FF and… nature. First they punch the trees and rocks, and then Reed and Ben get sucked down into the ocean while Johnny flies above. Next, the ocean spits out Reed and Ben, and all three heroes are drawn upward into the sky by some unseen force. In the upper atmosphere, there’s almost no oxygen and freezing temperatures (it’s almost like real science!) Finally, there’s a “noiseless explosion” and the FF are back on the island, as if nothing happened.

Our heroes take a moment to be befuddled by this, and then three figures emerge from the water. They’re exact duplicates of Reed, Ben, and Johnny. Oohh, yeah, evil twins! Everyone of course attacks each other’s counterpart, and Johnny is surprised to learn Evil Johnny is more powerful than he is.

From there, we catch up with what the Silver Surfer is up to. You might remember (or not) that in the last issue, Johnny left the weakened Surfer behind at the Baxter Building, and later offhandedly remarked that the Surfer had disappeared. We now see that he’s disappeared to the Microverse. He explains (sort of) that the Power Cosmic allows him to shrink down to microscopic size, and that he’s hiding out inside a drop of chemical fluid on a microscope slide in Reed’s lab. He’s all excited to be in the microverse, finding suns and planets way down there.

Back on the island, fighting! It’s a couple of pages of the FF duking it out with their doppelgangers. Ben holds his own (heh) because Evil Ben has his strength but not his fighting know-how. Reed has a tougher time, because Evil Reed keeps going in for the kill, and Reed fears he’ll have no choice but to outright kill the evil him. Johnny’s the one who comes up with the classic “switcheroo” tactic, by not fighting their counterparts, but their partners’ counterparts. So Reed fights Evil Johnny, Johnny fights Evil Ben, and Ben fights Evil Reed (got that?). It’s over quick, as the evil FF is defeated after being simply thrown into the water.

No rest for our heroes, though, as a vision of Galactus appears before them in a “mental astro-image.” He demands that the FF give him the Silver Surfer, but Ben bluntly refuses before Reed can say anything. Galactus chides them for defying his greatness and he disappears, warning them there will be consequences. Reed and Ben argue, with Reed saying they should have negotiated, and Ben saying he was right to stand up to the big G.

Johnny then points out a giant meteor in the sky. Reed corrects him and says it’s not a meteor, but a planetoid, which is worse somehow. In New York, we catch up with Sue and Crystal, who are staying in a luxury hotel room, as opposed to the nondescript apartment they were at in the last issue. Sue hears commotion outside, but Crystal lies to her and says it’s another protest (this is 1968, remember). Crystal is lying to Sue to “protect” her, again. Sue has herself a pity party, saying that once the baby is born, she doesn’t want it in danger, ever.

The planetoid is falling toward New York, and Reed says it will “atomize” the city once it hits. Here’s where things get a little wonky. Reed closes his eyes and concentrates, saying that thoughts have “unlimited range,” and that if Galactus can transmit into their minds, than Reed can send a thought back to Galactus. It actually works, because Reed’s genius-brain is just that awesome. He tells Galactus that the FF will find the Silver Surfer for him. Galactus agrees to this, removing the planetoid. He even teleports the FF back to Reed’s lab (that was nice of him). There, Reed deduces that the Surfer has discovered his latest experiment. He opens a door and reveals a submarine-like craft and says the FF must follow the Surfer on “one of the most dangerous journeys of all time!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: So Reed basically discovers/invents mental telepathy in this issue? You’d think there would be huge world-changing repercussions to this

Fade out: Sue sits out the action again. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long, long time until we get to John Byrne’s “Sue is the team’s most powerful member” stuff.

Clobberin’ time: Ben has shown nothing but dislike for the Silver Surfer, and yet he’s willing to endanger all of NYC by not handing the Surfer over to Galactus. I guess in his eyes, Galactus is the greater of the two evils.

Flame on: Johnny is pretty heroic in this issue. He’s the key to stopping the FF’s duplicates, and later he suggests using his nova flame against the planetoid, at the risk of his own life.

Trivia time: At one point, Ben asks Reed if Reed has “halavah on the brain.” I looked it up: Halavah is an Eastern Mediterranean sweetmeat made of honey, sesame seeds, nuts, rosewater, and saffron. How is this a part of Ben’s diet? We’ll never know.

Commercial break: And they say girls don’t read comics:

Fantastic or frightful? This one has a lot of action and I like the Ben/Reed disagreement on whether to negotiate. The big problem with this issue is how out-of-character Galactus is acting. He’s gone from being this godlike entity viewing humans like gnats beneath his feet, to coming up with crazy schemes like cloning our heroes. He’s acting more like a generic mad scientist villain instead of an all-powerful, world-ending threat, and that’s a slight disappointment.

Next week: Micronauts! (No, really)

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. This week, in issue #74… he’s back.

The story begins right in the middle of some soap opera stuff, as Ben walks into Alicia’s apartment, only to find her in there with the Silver Surfer. Uh-oh! Alicia says the Surfer is only there because he needs help, but Ben does the jealousy thing, rubbing it in their faces by eating the chocolates he brought as a gift for her. The Surfer says he has received a summons from Galactus, calling him back to space even though he’s still exiled on Earth. The Surfer gives Ben a vision of an alien figure in space. It’s the Punisher. No, not Frank Castle, the other Punisher, that frog-like monster who Galactus unleashed our heroes back in issues 49-51.

Back at the Baxter Building, there’s a nice bit of “real world” business, as Johnny is working with some construction workers on repairs to the building, hoping to reinforce it against further supervillain attacks. This answers the questions of how the FF’s headquarters can be partially destroyed in each story only to be just fine by the start of the next one. Ben and the Silver Surfer arrive on the Surfer’s board. The Surfer offers a quick recap of who Galactus is, and that Galactus devours entire planets for their energy. The Surfer surmises that Galactus must be starving with hunger to summon him.

Then the Punisher arrives, being drawn to the Silver Surfer’s “pulsations.” (Ew.) The caption describes the Punisher as being half-living and half-robot, and “a merciless hardcore mass of mayhem.” OK, then. The Surfer attacks the Punisher with an “atom-compacting thrust,” which slows down the Punisher but also weakens the Surfer.

The construction workers run away, and Johnny stays behind with Surfer as Ben flies off in his new “jet gizmo” to take on the Punisher. The Surfer’s attack trapped the Punisher in a big rock shell, but that doesn’t last long before the Punisher frees itself. Ben exchanges some blows with the monster and then is sucked up into the sky by some unknown force. Turns out the Punisher also has force fields at his disposal, which he uses to throw Ben down a smokestack.

From there, we cut to Reed, Sue, and Crystal. Reed wants Sue to leave the city, with Crystal as her bodyguard, so the baby is safe from the FF’s enemies. Sue frets about Reed being overly cautious. Then, there’s this weird bit where Crystal sees something out the window, and alerts Reed to it behind Sue’s back. It’s Johnny fighting the Punisher outside. Reed and Crystal close the window, so Sue isn’t alerted to any danger. Reed lies to Sue and says he has to check some things at the Baxter Building, and he leaves. (Could it be possible that this scene takes place in one of Reed’s “secret apartments” mentioned in one of the first few issues?)

Johnny holds his own against the Punisher for a while, until the Punisher takes the fight to the river, dousing Johnny’s flame. Reed arrives on the scene, gets Johnny to safety, and then takes on the Punisher. The Punisher proves his ridiculous speed and strength, twisting Reed around like a big rubber band.

Then we go to outer space, to check in with the big man himself – Galactus!  His ship looks completely different than the last time we saw it, and this will be a recurring thing in every Galactus appearance. Speaking to no one, he says that every star he visits is barren of life, and that although he pledged to leave Earth alone, he’s going back on that promise because his hunger is just that great. He says he’ll give the Surfer his freedom back if the Surfer will help him devour the Earth.

Back to Ben, there’s a page of comedy shtick as he gets out of the smokestack and has to take a taxi back to the fight. There, it’s more fighting (and one-liners) as Ben and Punisher duke it out, with assistance from Reed and Johnny. The brawl ends abruptly when the Punisher disappears. Reed somehow deduces that the Punisher was sent to Earth to find the Silver Surfer, and Galactus has recalled the Punisher because the Surfer is too well hidden.

The Punisher returns to Galactus’s ship, and Galactus orders him back to his “cubicle.” (I hope Galactus lets Punisher hang up some Dilbert and Far Side strips in his cubicle, to bring some levity to the workplace.) Galactus then fires a “life probe” at the Earth in his next attempt to find the Silver Surfer. At the end, Johnny remembers that the Silver Surfer said something about “worlds within worlds” before he vanished. I went back and re-read the whole issue, and nowhere does he say that, and there’s no mention of him vanishing. Nonetheless, that’s our cliffhanger.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: After showing his combat skills in the last few stories, Reed’s powers are ineffective against the Punisher, who kicks the crap out of Reed.

Fade out: OK, what are we to make of Reed and Crystal lying to Sue like that? I get that you don’t want to put the pregnant lady in danger, but Sue should know by now that the FF is going to face dangerous situation on a regular basis, what with them being superpowered adventurers and all.

Clobberin’ time: I’m still unclear on what kind of relationship Ben has with Alicia. Whether they’re a couple or not seems entirely dependent on whether the plot of any given story demands they are. They’ve come down with a case of “Barney Rubble’s job” syndrome.

Flame on: Johnny demonstrates another new use of his powers: Electricity! He’s able to electrically charge lightning rods on building roofs to slow down the Punisher. Also, his overseeing repairs to the Baxter Building shows how he’s become a real member of the team, and more than just “the kid.”

Trivia time: In his last appearance, Galactus says he can wait “all eternity” with patience, yet here he is so starving that he’s willing to break his promise never to bother Earth again. What changed? Some believe that it’s really Sue’s baby, calling to Galactus with psionic powers. I’m skeptical of this, but it’ll be a detail to look for after little Franklin officially joins the cast.

Commercial break: Gotta love a classic: X-ray specs!

Fantastic or frightful: I’m torn on this one. The whole fight scene ends up being pointless, existing only to tell us that Galactus is back. Also, the issue treats Galactus not as a major event, but merely another member of the rogue’s gallery. This makes him less unique among FF characters, and that’s a disappointment. On the plus side, though, Jack Kirby’s far-out art and Stan Lee’s hilarious comedic dialogue nonetheless make this one a fun, if breezy, read.

Next: Evil space twins!

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #73 is interesting, in that it continues stories started in other comics. You see that all the time these days, but it was something new back then.

The issue begins with FF (just Reed, Ben and Johnny, as Reed says Sue is out of town) searching for Daredevil, believing that Dr. Doom’s brain has taken over Daredevil’s body. This actually happened in Daredevil #38, published the same month as this issue, but what the FF don’t know is that DD defeated Doom already. The opening splash page has Reed operating a huge gun-like device, but we’re not yet told exactly what it is. Johnny flies out over the city, looking for Daredevil, only to immediately spot him running along a rooftop. Thinking Daredevil is really Dr. Doom, Johnny attacks, causing no shortage of property damage and apparently flat-out trying to kill Doom/Daredevil. Daredevil tricks Johnny into crashing into a nearby rooftop water tower, which puts out his flame and knocks him unconscious. (Do these high-rise water towers ever actually stop fires, or do they exist only to be used as props for superhero battles?)

While Daredevil frets over what to do, there’s Spider-Man on the roof with him. Spidey doesn’t come swinging in or anything, he’s just standing there all of a sudden. Daredevil says the FF thinks he’s Doom, and Spider-Man promises to help. Spidey swings over to another rooftop, where he saw someone else who can help. It’s Thor, who’s not feeling well. Now this issue isn’t just part two of Daredevil #38, it’s also part two of Journey Into Mystery #150, in which Thor (sort-of) lost his godlike powers, and got smacked around by the Wrecker. Spider-Man says the FF and Daredevil need his help, but Thor is more interested in going after the Wrecker again. Spidey calls Thor a coward, so Thor goes along with him, to prove his worth. (Never call Thor a chicken!)

Daredevil arrives at the Baxter Building, hoping to open a dialogue, but Reed and Ben aren’t here to talk. They both attack on the spot. There’s a line of dialogue about Ben being struck by Reed’s “nerve ray,” even though we don’t see this happen. This weakens Ben’s awesome strength, allowing him to be knocked off his feet by a kick from Daredevil. After more fighting, Daredevil kicks Ben into Reed’s “Demolo-gun,” the one from the beginning, and destroys it.

Elsewhere, Spider-Man and Thor make their way toward the Baxter Building, with Thor explaining that without his powers, he can no longer fly. Johnny wakes up and sees Spidey and Thor. He assumes out of nowhere that they are lifelike robots created by Doom, so he attacks. Spidey leads Johnny away and Thor reaches Daredevil, Reed and Ben. Reed and Ben also blindly assume Thor is a robot lookalike, and… more fighting! So, Thor has no powers, and Ben has been weakened by a nerve ray, and that evens things out? It doesn’t matter, because this fight is the whole reason why you want to read this comic. Ben and Thor go at it, pounding away at each other, including an eye-popping splash panel in which Ben says his “Clobberin’ time” catch phrase while taking a blow to the chest from Thor’s hammer.

There’s a brief interlude with Spider-Man and Johnny, where Spidey uses fumes from a chimney to knock out Johnny. Then, it’s back to the main story, where Reed and Daredevil fall through a hole in the ceiling down into Reed’s lab. Reed totally does not want to listen to reason, even insisting that Daredevil’s heightened senses could only mean he’s a robot. Ben and Thor continue to fight, with Thor calling upon his father Odin for help, which I guess gives him a burst of strength? It’s not really explained, but it lets Thor wail on Ben for a few pages. Ben doesn’t give up, though, and fights back. That is, until he hits something else, but we don’t see what.

In the lab, Reed continues to attack Daredevil, while Daredevil argues about how to prove himself to Reed. “You should have been a lawyer!” Reed says, amusingly. Reed tries to punch Daredevil, but something invisible stops his hand. It’s Sue, who says she just saw Dr. Doom on the 6 p.m. news, addressing his ministers in Latveria. (Somehow, no one questions whether TV Doom was a robot. Also, I thought Reed said Sue was out of town.)  Reed and Daredevil shake hands, and apparently Johnny and Spider-Man are friends again, because they just appear back in the lab. Thor, however, has gone and run off, already back to his pursuit of the Wrecker. Ben suggests going after the real Doom, but Reed says they can’t attack Latveria, because it’s a sovereign nation. With that, the story just ends.

Unstable molecule: Reed and Daredevil are pretty evenly matched, with his powers nicely balancing out DD’s super senses. It goes to show that for being the brains of the group, Reed really knows how to fight.

Fade out: Sue is barely in this issue, but she manages to save the day just by being there.

Clobberin’ time: The awesomeness of the Ben/Thor fight is diluted somewhat by them both being depowered.

Flame on: I thought Johnny had evolved beyond his fire so easily put out in every fight, but that happens twice in this issue. Guess he’s having an “off” day. On the plus side, he displays another new use of his power, converting his heat into non-lethal “stun blasts.”

Commercial break: Get steel muscles with super isometrics!

Trivia time: Spider-Man says even Moishe Dayan would have second thoughts about starting a fight with the FF. Moishe Dayan was an Israeli military leader and politician who was an instrumental figure in the Six Days War in 1967. Lookit comics get all topical!

Speaking of Spidey, during this time in his own comic, it was the multi-issue story where he had amnesia, and was wanted by police because they thought he was working with Dr. Octopus. I guess we’ll have to tell ourselves that his FF appearance happens either before or after the amnesia.

Fantastic or frightful? Is it out of character for our heroes to be all punch-first-and-ask-questions later? Remember that the last time they saw Dr. Doom, he was roided up with cosmic energy and about to lay waste to all the Earth, so I can see why they’d want to take Doom out before he makes his move. Also, Doom doesn’t appear in this issue, but his mere influence is so great that all this trouble happens without even doing anything. That’s awesome. Really, though, it’s just an excuse to get a bunch of Marvel heroes in one book, and maybe boost sales for Daredevil and Thor.

Next week: He’s back. That’s all you need to know.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.