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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #64 promises a new start, and an intriguing new villain.  

We begin in Reed’s lab, of course, where he and Ben are dismantling the Negative Zone viewer so that no more bad guys will escape from the Negative Zone and attack Earth (that’ll be the day). Sue is upset, though, because this is supposed to be their vacation and she wants to enjoy the spring weather. Reed apologizes, sort of, and agrees that it’s time for a vacation. Ben, Johnny and Crystal are invited, as is the inhuman Triton, who is still hanging around after last issue.

Elsewhere in a remote jungle, a professor leads a two-man expedition, saying he’s searching for the ruins of an alien civilization that once ruled the Earth “before the dawn of history.” They discover an opening in the ground, leading to underground ruins containing ancient alien machines. The professor deduces that this was once a spaceport operated by a race of aliens called the Kree. The explorers are then attacked by a metallic blue and purple fellow calling himself the Sentry.

Back at HQ, there’s some comedy shtick in which Ben chooses the team’s vacation spot by throwing a dart at a map while blindfolded. The dart lands on an island in the South Pacific. There’s some talk about whether they’ll fly by commercial airline or by their own Pogo Plane (if you owned your own plane, would you ever fly commercial?), and then Johnny, Crystal and Triton say they’d rather stay in New York. Ben, although briefly referencing Alicia, decides to come along.

Back in the jungle, which we know see was on an island, the Sentry sets up a “vibro-screen” to prevent any other outsiders from finding the place. Wouldn’t you know it, the FF’s Pogo Plane happens to be flying overhead as he does this. The plane is in danger of crashing, but Sue helps right it by surrounding it with a force field. It’s revealed that the Sentry is a giant. He grabs a hold of the plane, our heroes fall out, and… fighting! The Sentry insists that he not a robot (he does not like being called a robot), and that his strength is able to increase until it matches and/or surpasses any opponent. He proves this by giving Ben a pounding and then threatening to drown him.

Reed says he wants to get back to the plane and call Johnny for backup. Then he does that thing where he stretches into a slingshot shape and flings himself through the air. After struggling with the Sentry, Reed is flung into the ocean, where he hopes to rescue the drowning Ben.

Back in New York, Triton is taking the FF’s jet cycle for a spin, giving Johnny and Crystal some alone time. Before anything steamy can happen, their lovin’ is interrupted by Lockjaw, who teleports into the room. That’s when Sue contacts them on the “vidio [sic] scanner” and fills them in. Crystal suggests using Lockjaw to teleport to the island, but the big dog doesn’t seem in the mood anymore.

At the island, Reed succeeds in pulling Ben out of the ocean, but both are vulnerable from attack by the Sentry. Sue helps by turning them invisible, but the Sentry responds by creating a tidal wave that threatens to destroy everything on the beach. Johnny shows up just in time, burning a trench in the beach that traps all the water (guess it wasn’t that huge of a tidal wave). The Sentry tries burying Johnny in the sand, but Johnny’s too skilled to let that happen, saying he’s learned from all the times he’s fought the Sandman.

As the fight intensifies, the entire island starts to fall apart. Reed and Sue find the explorers from earlier and rescue them. Everybody gathers around Lockjaw, who teleports them away. Then, we get a strangely downbeat ending. The Sentry admits his defeat, and, acknowledging that he hasn’t heard from the Kree in ages, he destroys the island, calling this his “final report.”

Unstable molecule: In his big hero moment, Reed says that “headline writers from coast to coast” gave him the name Mr. Fantastic. But, no. He gave himself that name way back in the first issue. Here we see Reed’s ego getting out of control, something a lot of readers have accused him of over the years.

Fade out: Sue starts out the issue in “nagging wife” mode, but she later twice saves Reed and Ben with her powers.

Clobberin’ time: This isn’t Ben’s finest hour, as the Sentry pretty much beats the crap out of him. There’s a mention of Alicia, who we haven’t seen in almost ten issues, bringing up the question as to whether they’re still a couple or not. We’ll get more of this in the next issue.

Flame on: Johnny shows some real growth by not allowing his fire to be put out so easily by sand. He’s no longer the “kid,” but has a real newfound confidence with his powers. You don’t suppose we could pin this change on Crystal’s presence in his life, do you?

Trivia time: This Sentry is not related the current Marvel character by the same name, who had a short-lived run among the Avengers and who was controversially retconned into Marvel history in his origin mini-series.

The big deal with this issue is that it’s our first mention of the Kree. Although established as a dead race in this story, that’s not the case. The Kree’s ongoing rivalry with the alien Skrulls has led to some of the most famous tales in Marvel history.

Commercial break: This nightmare fuel:

Fantastic or frightful? Basically a generic fight scene, the issue succeeds in its smaller, character-based moments. Not many comics can get away with lengthy scenes of vacation planning, but it works in Fantastic Four, because this group really does feel like family by now.

Next week: Girl trouble.

****

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. At the end of the last issue, Johnny and Crystal were reunited, while the evil Blastaar came out of the Negative Zone and teamed up with the Sandman. Now, in issue #63, they make their move.

The caption on the splash page tells us that only two seconds have passed between this previous issue and this one. An unseen force smashed a hole in the roof of the Baxter Building. Reed immediately deduces that someone else came back through the Negative Zone portal when he did. Reed tries to look through the hole and gets blasted. The Inhuman Triton, still hanging around after last issue, flies through the hole with his trusty “air gun,” and shows how awesome he is by fighting Blastaar. Then Sandman distracts Triton, allowing Blastaar to knock him out.

Blastaar calms down just long enough to explain his deal: He’s a power hungry conqueror, and now that he’s discovered Earth, of course he wants to rule it. He describes Sandman as his guide to this new world, but Sandman keeps calling Blastaar his partner. The two of them descend from the roof into the Baxter Building.

Out in the city, Johnny and Crystal are leaving a restaurant (they got pretty far in those two seconds), where they see a bunch of cops on the move. Blastaar and Sandman are now casually walking down the street, duking it out with the cops (How they got from the Baxter Building to here I have no idea). The police have a special “cement gun” that traps Sandman, only to have Blastaar set him free. Johnny flames on and joins the fight. In a full-page spread, Blastaar brags about how powerful he is (he’s rather boastful, this Blastaar). While the bad guys concentrate their attacks on Johnny, they’re attacked from behind by the Thing. Sandman escapes into the sewer, but Blastaar fights on, spending the next couple of pages duking it out with Ben.

Back in HQ, Reed tends to Triton’s injuries, and then checks in on the battle with one of remote viewing devices. He says it’s up to him to whip up some science to stop Blastaar. Outside, Sandman bursts from under the street and attacks Ben, while Blastaar, er, blasts at Johnny, only to have him absorb the heat of the blast and send it back to Blastaar. At one point, Blastaar tries to grab a hold of Crystal, only to have her summon a tornado out of nowhere (!) in defense. OK, what are her powers?

Sandman and Ben end up by the ocean, where Sandy hurls Ben off of a dock. (I see this a lot in movies and comics, where New Yorkers can access the ocean just by going to “the docks.” Is this a real thing?) Sandman thinks he’s defeated Ben, but Ben smashes the pier and pulls Sandman into the water with him. With one all-powerful punch, Ben dissipates Sandman’s sand, spreading it out among the tide. (So if you were reading this for the first time in 1967, you’d think Ben just murdered Sandman, correct?)

Reed and Sue show up, as Reed has invented a helmet that can stop Blastaar, if only they can get it on his head. It’s another few pages of fighting before he, Sue and Johnny manage this. Once the helmet is on Blastaar, he loses all his powers, making him as vulnerable as an ordinary human, so Reed’s the one who takes him out with a single punch. Reed says they’ll put Blastaar back into the Negative Zone where he belongs, and Ben shows up to make a joke about how hard it is to find a cab in New York. No cliffhangers this time, just a happy ending for all.

Unstable molecule: It takes Reed several tries before he gets his new gizmo to work, at one point proclaiming, “I’ve failed!” But then he delivers the final blow.

Fade out: Sue helps out here and there with her force fields, but mostly sits this issue out.

Clobberin’ time: Ben’s fight against Sandman is a highlight, showing his resourcefulness as equal to his strength.

Flame on: The caption tells us that while Johnny and Crystal were at that restaurant, they were “talking about the things that all young lovers have talked about since time immemorial…”

Trivia time: By this point, we still have no real explanation of what Crystal’s powers are. In her first appearance, she ran over some flames without being burned. Many issues later, she controlled a campfire with her mind as some random soldier declared, “She can control the elements!” Then, in this issue, she summons a tornado out of nowhere with the power of her mind. Will they ever take a second to stop and tell us what her powers are? (Yes, I know I could just look her up on the Marvel wiki, but I’m more interested in how and when this will be handled in the stories themselves.)

Commercial break: A lot of comics of this era ran this ad for a male baldness cure. Because comics are for kids!

Fantastic or frightful? Blastaar is kind of like a professional wrestler, spending more time talking about how much he kicks butt than actually kicking butt. There’s some nice action beats, but overall, this issue doesn’t bring anything new to the table.

Next week: Standing watch.

****

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. At the end of the last issue, Reed was trapped in the Negative Zone, with no hope of returning. In issue #62, it’s still called “Fantastic Four” and not “Fantastic Three,” so let’s see how they’ll get out of this one.

The excitement begins in Reed’s lab, where Ben remembers there’s a “trans-barrier phone” that can communicate with the Negative Zone. He uses it, and speaks to Reed. Reed reiterates that there’s no chance of escape from the Negative Zone, and he urges his teammates not to come looking for him. As Reed floats beyond communication range, he asks Reed to tell Sue that he loves her and will always love her. There’s some high drama as Ben and Sue break down, realizing that Reed is forever gone.

Then, it happens. The moment we’ve been waiting for since way back in issue #48. Johnny’s long-lost love Crystal appears, along with the Inhumans’ giant teleporting dog Lockjaw. It’s not the run-along-the-beach-and-fall-into-each-other’s-arms reunion we’ve been expecting, though, because Johnny’s so distraught about Reed that he barely notices. (I get what Stan and Jack are going for here, but if a hot girl and a dog the size of a car materialized out of nowhere right in front of you, you’d at least look up.)

There’s a great two-page spread featuring another one of those trippy photo images of the Negative Zone, as Johnny and the others fill Crystal in on what’s happening. What does the Negative Zone look like, exactly? Just a bunch of rocks floating in space, really, but Jack Kirby draws them so they look appropriately far-out and cosmic. While the others have given up on Reed, Crystal takes charge and insists that it’s not too late. She tells Johnny that it’s not just her but all the Inhumans that are free of their city’s imprisonment. She and Lockjaw then teleport away, with her telling Johnny she’ll be right back.

Inside the Negative Zone, we meet a pair of aliens who say they are transporting dangerous cargo. Said cargo is actually a dangerous prisoner, unseen to us as he’s wrapped head to toe in an “adhesion suit.” The aliens affix their prisoner to a passing asteroid and take off. Reed sees the aliens fly by and he marvels (heh) at how intelligent life exists in the Negative Zone. He stops whining about his fate and instead does the scientist thing, remarking to himself about all the potential wonders of this new place. He’s saying all this, though, while hanging onto the same asteroid as the aliens’ prisoner.

From there we cut to somewhere in Europe, where a group of soldiers in purple uniforms are about to test their new “atomic nullifier.” I have no idea what country they’re supposed to be from. The Inhumans show up and a fight breaks out. Basically, they get their own excuse-to-show-off-their-powers-for-a-few-pages thing. They’re reunited with Crystal, who begs them to help Reed. With a nod, Black Bolt agreed to do so. He selects one Inhuman to go after Reed, but we don’t yet see which one.

Back in the lab, Ben flips out and destroys a bunch of equipment in his frustration over not being able to help Reed. Crystal then returns with Lockjaw and… Triton, the Inhumans’ fishy aquatic guy. He enters the space-time chamber, which allows him to pass through into the Negative Zone. Triton is so awesome that he can “swim” through space just like he does in water, passing by a number of strange sights and giant monsters on his search for Reed. He finds Reed, about to enter an exploding atmosphere, and rescues him. The explosion also frees the mysterious prisoner, who reveals himself as Blastaar, the living bomb-burst. He’s able to fly like a rocket, propelled from energy released from his fingertips (no, really), and he pursues Triton and Reed.

Triton and Reed emerge heroically from the Negative Zone back to the Baxter Building, where it’s happy reunions all around. They all leave the room just as Blastaar emerges behind them. Blastaar hops out the window, getting a look at New York, and he meets up with the Sandman, who has apparently been hanging out on the Baxter Building’s roof after his escape last issue. Blastaar and Sandman recognize that they’re both criminals, and they decide to work together. With no idea that’s happening right over their heads, Reed and Sue fall into each other’s arms, as do Johnny and Crystal. Ben makes a wisecrack about everyone being all “mushy.” It’d be a happy ending, except the caption reminds us, “Next issue: Blastaar!”

Unstable molecule: Even when facing certain death in an alternate dimension, Reed remains positive, taking a moment to soak in the amazement of where he is and what he’s experiencing.

Fade out/Clobberin’ time/Flame on: Sue, Ben, and Johnny do nothing. They are basically spectators in this issue, leaving all the action and heroics up to Crystal and Triton.

Trivia time: The original Star Trek had debuted on TV when this issue was produced, and I wonder how much of an influence it was on this issue. Along with the overall outer spacey vibe, Blastaar has an “automatic translator” much like Trek’s infamous universal translators, Reed waxes poetic about the endless possibilities of space like the Trek characters so often do, and Blastaar even says at one point, “They go where none before them have ever gone!” Sound familiar?

(New end-of-review-stuff category!) Commercial break: An ad in this issue is for a 7-foot-long, 200-pound “nuclear submarine.” The ad further states that it can fire real missiles and real torpedoes. It’s only $6.95 with 75 cents for shipping. You’d think there’d be a disclaimer telling kids that it’s not really nuclear, but no. You don’t suppose…

Fantastic or frightful? For all the drama over the crisis in the Negative Zone, it was resolved pretty quickly. Blastaar is a lot of fun, but we’ll get to him in the next issue. The super-cosmic art and seeing Crystal in a take charge role are what make this one worthwhile.

Next week: Bombs away!

****

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. Time to wrap up some ongoing subplots and start a few new ones in issue #61.

At the end of the last issue, Dr. Doom had stolen the Silver Surfer’s powers, but then lost them again after being outsmarted by the FF. This issue begins with Reed, Sue, and Ben back at the Baxter Building. One dialogue caption from Sue about how it’s nice to be home is all the respite our heroes get before Reed’s newest invention, an “atom igniter,” goes haywire and starts shooting up the place. (Doesn’t Reed know better than to leave this stuff lying around?) This is the issue’s excuse-for-the-characters-to-show-off-their-powers-for-few-pages thing, until Sue traps the device in a force field and lets its energy burn up so that it destroys itself. So that’s over.

Except it’s not, because Ben is immediately struck by anti-grav device and spends a page floating around. Reed deduces that these are not accidents, but that the FF are under attack by someone hiding inside their own HQ.

Back in Latveria, a still-powerless Silver Surfer is being tormented by a couple of cruel guards. Then, his surfboard flies back to him, and he once again has the power of the cosmos. He escapes, trashing Doom’s castle in the process. (Is he killing all the people inside?)

Cut to the FF, as Reed, Sue, and Ben search headquarters for their mysterious attacker. They get caught in a hallway filled with rising sand, threatening to drown them. You’d think right about here they’d realize it’s the Sandman, but the thought doesn’t occur to them until after escaping and then confronting him, taking a moment to be impressed with his new costume. He claims to be the “superior” to the Fantastic Four. (I’d call that debatable.)

Sandman turns out to be a good match for our heroes, with a new power. He can now mix various chemicals with his sand, for various results, such as oily sand that trips Sue while she’s invisible. During the fight, Sandman knocks Ben against the “space-time generator lever,” and Reed states that this is a bad thing. “It could destroy the city!” he says.

We then catch up to the Inhumans, hiding out in a “secret shelter” somewhere in Europe. Crystal wants to continue searching for Johnny, but Black Bolt apparently wants them to stay hidden. Crystal urges him to let her go and continue the search. Crystal uses Lockjaw, the Inhumans’ giant teleporting dog, to transport to Metro College, in the middle of a football game no less. Wyatt Wingfoot is there, on the bench for some reason (put him in, coach!), and he tells Crystal that Johnny is on his way to the Baxter Building.

Sure enough, we then see Johnny flying toward FF headquarters, the outside of which is crackling with “spectrum beams.” Inside, Johnny fights the Sandman while Reed tries to repair the space-time generator before it destroys all of New York. Sandman’s chemical sand now includes freezing sand and poisonous gas sand.

The room filling up with poisonous gas, Reed figures his only way out of this situation is to open the doorway to the Negative Zone (previously referred to as merely “subspace”). This causes a vortex-like effect, sucking everything into the Negative Zone, with our heroes barely hanging on. Sandman conveniently escapes by jumping out a window (!), but Reed isn’t so lucky, being drawn into the Negative Zone. Floating in the apparently breathable space, he frets about being flung into another dimension, but is glad his sacrifice means he saved Sue, Ben, and Johnny.

At the Baxter Building, Ben says he “shut off the current” which I guess stopped the vortex. Johnny wants to open the doorway back up and bring Reed back, but Ben argues that they’d get trapped in the Negative Zone just like Reed. With a sense of finality, Ben glumly states, “He’s gone!”

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: This issue is all about Reed’s dangerous inventions being used against him, something I’m surprised we don’t see more of.

Fade out: Sue almost escapes from Sandman while invisible, but her footprints in his sand gives her away. When she learns Reed is trapped in the Negative Zone, she lets out a Vader-style “Noooooooooo!” That’s ten Os.

Clobbeirn’ time: Ben is kind of a wimp in this issue, as he’s the first one taken out by the Sandman. He does survive taking the full force of the atom igniter’s blast, though.

Flame on: After Johnny’s fire is snuffed out by the Sandman’s sand, Johnny flames back on just a few panels later. Perhaps this shows he’s gaining better control of his powers?

Trivia time: The last time we saw Sandman was in issue #57, where he stole a still-unidentified device from Reed’s lab. Would it be safe to assume that’s the device his using to chemically alter his sand in this one?

The football game mentions the world-weary verge-of-retirement Coach Thorpe, so that subplot is still hovering somewhere in the background. Speaking of the football game, in the stands there’s a photographer and a girl sitting to him – this is Peter Parker and Mary Jane Watson, correct?

This is the first appearance of Crystal’s all-yellow costume, probably the outfit she’s most famous for. We still haven’t received a full explanation as to what her powers are.

Fantastic or Frightful? Sandman has no plan or evil plot in this issue. He’s only here to pick a fight. All this issue does is set up the next couple of ones, where the Negative Zone fun really begins.

Next week: Reunion!

****

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