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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Feels like this Doctor-Doom-has-the-Silver-Surfer’s-powers story has been going on forever, doesn’t it? We’re at issue #60, and it’s not over yet.

 The issue begins with Dr. Doom stranding an ocean liner on top of a giant mountain, just to demonstrate his awesome powers. After seeing this on TV, Ben wants to go fight Doom head-on, but Reed urges caution, saying it’ll take more than brute force to stop Doom. Wyatt Wingfoot shows up (I guess the FF gave him access to their headquarters, otherwise it looks like he just strolls in from outside) and says Johnny has flown off to attack Doom on his own.

 We join the Torch in Latveria, for several pages of him fighting Doom. Doom transforms himself into a crystalline form that can withstand a million degrees of heat. He then traps Johnny in a “solidified cyclone.” (That’s a real thing, right?) Then we check in with the Silver Surfer, still jailed in Doom’s castle, and still in a weakened state, but now with some jerk Latverian guard mocking him.

 Reed, Sue and Johnny fly to Latveria in a ship loaned to them by the Black Panther. There’s no sign of Doom, but the ship’s “ionic triangulator” reports that Doom is in the area. Doom then appears and attacks, bringing all the trees to life and having them crush the ship. There’s several pages of the three heroes fighting nature, as trees and rocks attack them. Doom confronts them in person and speechifies about how powerful he is. Plus, he’s still ticked off about Ben injuring his hands way back in issue #40. Ben attacks, but Doom traps in a ray of cosmic energy. It looks like Ben is defeated but, thanks to his awesome strength and his iron will, he breaks free and lands a punch right on Doom’s face.

 We then go to outer space, where the Watcher is (what else?) watching the battle. He muses on how he could help if wanted to, but he’s sworn not to. Then, uncharacteristically, he looks away from the fight, choosing instead to watch some primitive aliens on some other planet.

 Reed and Sue reunite with Johnny, finding him among the wreckage. They catch up with Ben, who Doom has trapped in a stasis field. Cue more fighting! Doom continues to show his command of the elements by using rocks and trees as weapons. Sue manages to trip him up with her invisible force fields. This only slows Doom down a little, and he says his power allows him to disintegrate matter, and that’s how he’ll take out the FF.

 On the other side of this same mountain range, a bunch of soldiers are spying on some visitors. It’s the Inhumans, recently freed from their trapped city. The soldiers are shocked to see Karnak chop down a tree his bare hand, and then they see Crystal start a fire with a wave of her hand. From this, they surmise, “She can actually affect the elements!” Medusa and Gorgon then chase off the soldiers. If you hadn’t read the previous issue, you wouldn’t know they’re there to help Crystal find Johnny, because that’s not mentioned this time.

 Doom then continues to speechify about how great he is, when Reed’s remote control miniature bat-shaped plane he invented last issue comes flying in. So… this was Reed’s plan all along? I guess so, because Doom is weakened. It’s only temporary, though. He hopes on the surfboard and takes off, to pursue the miniature plane and destroy it. Then, there’s burst of light in the sky, and the board flies away by itself. Reed explains that the plane went into space, but having the Silver Surfer’s powers means Doom is also exiled to Earth and can’t leave, just like the Silver Surfer is. Doom vanishes and the surfboard flies away by itself, presumably to return to the Surfer. Reed proclaims, “It’s over!”

 Unstable molecule: Reed does that thing where he stretches into the shape of a parachute to save him and Sue from a fall. He also stretches his arms across the trees to avoid a fire Doom starts beneath him. But it’s his science genius that saves the day.

 Fade out: Sue is the only one who manages to succeed in any sort of offensive during the fight against Doom, disorienting him and knocking him off the surfboard.

 Clobberin’ time: Ben’s escape from Doom’s energy field is a great moment for him. It’s not just his physical strength but his strength of will that allowed him to succeed. (Could Ben be a candidate for a Green Lantern ring?)

 Flame on: Johnny’s best move in the fight is to burn a tunnel under the ground and then pop up behind Doom and surprise him.

 Trivia time: The caveman-like aliens watched by the Watcher are from “sector 34.” The Marvel Wiki doesn’t have an entry on “sector 34,” just “project 34,” the anti-missile defense invented by Bruce Banner (alter ego of the Hulk) during his guest spot in Fantastic Four #12. Yeah, let’s see you try to come up with trivia specific to this issue.

 Fantastic or frightful? Another “all they do is fight” issue. Given all the buildup, it’s a little anticlimactic that it all ends with everybody throwing punches on a nondescript mountainside. There are a few nice character moments and Kirby’s art is stellar, but other than that, this one’s not as much of a standout.

 Next week: Remember when Reed said “It’s over?” It’s NOT over.

 ****

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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #59 finds us in the middle of a multi-part tale, with a major turning point for supporting characters the Inhumans.

We begin as we often do, in Reed’s lab, where Reed is vlogging! He’s broadcasting a message to the whole world, telling feuding nations to set aside their differences, because Dr. Doom is too great a threat now that he’s stolen the Silver Surfer’s powers. Then, Reed meets with the “allied chiefs of staff” (basically a bunch of army guys) who don’t think Doom is a threat because he rules a “postage stamp kingdom,” so Reed declares that the FF will deal with Doom by themselves. After hanging up, Reed says he feels helpless despite his power and intellect, and Ben starts a fight with him. After exchanging a few blows, Reed sets off to work on a solution, and Ben reveals to Sue that he started the fight to help Reed get out of his doldrums.

We go from there to the Kremlin, where jets are launched to attack Latveria, Doom’s country. (I didn’t know the Russians kept their jets inside the Kremlin building.) Upon arrival in Latveria, the jets are destroyed in a corrosive cloud, created by Doom’s new cosmic powers. Doom still has the Silver Surfer trapped inside his castle. The Surfer tries to fight back, but he’s so weak he can barely stand. Doom speechifies like you wouldn’t believe, saying, “I must prepare the helpless humanity for the coming of… doomsday!” (If this were a movie, that would be the trailer shot.)

At the Baxter Building, Reed is hard at work and doesn’t want to be disturbed, until Sue tells him they’ve received a message from Wyatt Wingfoot, concerned about Johnny. (The message comes via another of Reed’s inventions, the “Communi-tel,” which is basically Skype. Reed invented Skype!) Wyatt says Johnny believes it’s up to him to stop Doom, so he’s out practicing flying as fast as he can. He tests his newfound speed by buzzing past some National Guard soldiers. Wyatt urges Johnny not to take on Doom himself, but Johnny won’t have it. He then says that once Doom is dealt with, he can get back to his quest to free the Inhumans from their trapped city. (It’s never specified where they are, or why Lockjaw is not with them. The last time we Lockjaw, the big teleporting dog was on the roof of the Baxter Building.)

On cue, we go from there to the Inhumans’ city, still trapped under that big dome. Black Bolt flies over the rooftops, and we get a rare glimpse of Inhuman commoners marveling at him. With a gesture, the silent Black Bolt commands his people to seek shelter. Once the city’s population has left the streets, Maximus appears and urges Black Bolt not to do what he’s about to do. In a show of brotherly compassion, Black Bolt protects his evil brother. Then — are you ready for this? — Black Bolt speaks. Now we know why he never talks, because one syllable of his voice is enough to level buildings. After two pages of sweet Jack Kirby destruction, Black Bolt succeeds, and the dome over the city is destroyed. The Inhumans have their freedom.

Meanwhile, Dr. Doom is being a total dick! Flying around on the Silver Surfer’s board, he uses his powers to make a city live in perpetual night, he covers a tropical seaside town in snow, and he transforms a perfectly innocent gorilla into a giant monster for absolutely no reason. Back in Reed’s lab, Reed has invented a tiny mechanical bat. He tries it out on Ben, knocking Ben off his feet and angering him. Another fight breaks out, but Reed stops it this time, saying his device worked as predicted. It can knock Doom out for a few seconds, which is sure to outrage him, and this might give the FF a momentary advantage.

The Inhumans are relieved that they have fresh air and sunlight again, even if a good chunk of their city was destroyed to make that possible. Crystal demands that she be free to leave and find Johnny. Fearing it would be unsafe for her to run off on her own, Black Bolt and the rest of the royal family decide to accompany her. Left to his own devices, Maximus tries to convince the rest of the Inhumans to make him their king again, but they won’t give him the time of day.

The issue ends on pretty much the same cliffhanger as the previous one – Reed frets in his lab, hoping to improve his solution, while Doom flies around all-powerful and everyone wonders what his next move will be.

Unstable molecule: Reed’s genius becomes “tormented genius” in this issue. He manages to hold his own against Ben in a fight, even landing some powerful blows against the big guy.

Fade out: Sue barely appears in this one, doing nothing but sitting back and worrying.

Clobberin’ time: Ben knows just how to push Reed’s buttons, spurring Reed to action. He does some heavy lifting around the lab, as usual.

Flame on: Johnny develops the power to fly at incredible speed, so that he appears only as a flash of light. Johnny and Wyatt’s car in this issue is a Ferrari Dino V-6 Berlinetta Special. Not bad.

Trivia time: So, when we first met Black Bolt, he was described as “mute.” Then, in an attempt to free his people, in issue #54, he screamed when exposed to the power of the absorba-bomb. Are we to assume the absorba-bomb gave him his super-powerful voice, or did he always have it? (If it matters, the Marvel Wikia says he was born with the power, and had to be kept in sound-proof rooms when he was a baby, so there’s that.) After all this time, they still haven’t revealed what Crystal’s powers are.

Fantastic of frightful? If you were reading these things off the newsstand back in the ‘60s, then a little less than two years have passed since the Inhumans were trapped under their dome, and longer than that since Johnny first met Crystal, so the Inhumans’ escape has actually been a long time coming, and is a real highlight of the issue, especially Black Bolt comforting his evil brother before unleashing hell. The FF part of the story spins its wheels, but the Inhuman stuff is great.

Next week: The tide turns.

****

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 #58 is titled “The Dismal Dregs of Defeat.” How come no one uses the word “dregs” anymore? Anyway, our heroes are in big trouble this time around, as they confront Dr. Doom, who has just stolen the Silver Surfer’s cosmic powers.

The issue begins with the Baxter Building in the midst of a freak rainstorm. Our heroes think they see a familiar image in the storm, but then it dissipates, leaving them to wonder what happened. The storm was of course caused by Dr. Doom, who did it just to mess with our heroes, and keep them off balance. Back at Doom’s castle, he speechifies about all he’ll do with his new powers, taking out the FF first and then… the world! Also, we see the Silver Surfer is still at the castle, in a comatose state.

Back at headquarters, there’s some comedy where Ben is reading a book of ghost stories, and is scared when Reed walks up behind him. He argues that he wasn’t really scared, but when alone he admits he’s got a premonition of something bad about to happen.

On cue, Doom shows up, flying around outside on the Surfer’s silver surfboard. He blasts Ben out of the building, and into a nearby electric billboard. Although outmatched, Ben fights back, separating Doom from the board and pummeling him. Doom isn’t helpless without the board, though. He zaps Ben with “vibration rays,” rendering Ben completely motionless, like a statue. Doom leaves Ben in Central Park, where passersby think he’s an abstract work of art.

We cut to a page of Johnny and his pal Wyatt, who are still traveling around the world (and beyond) with the Inhumans’ giant teleporting dog Lockjaw, looking for some way to free the Inhumans from their imprisoned city. Lockjaw has teleported them back to New York, and Wyatt believes the big dog senses danger there.

Here we cut to a private cottage in Southampton, where Sue and Reed are staying for some reason. Sue once once again chides Reed for tinkering with his inventions instead of spending time with her. She says, “Don’t you remember? We were going to stay home tonight and have a weenie roast.” (Let’s all go ahead and assume this is a euphemism for something exhaustingly naughty.)

Doom attacks, using his powers to wrap Reed up in adhesive cables, and then he traps Sue in a “cosmic cone.” Reed escapes and puts up a good fight, but Doom can use his cosmic powers to summon all kinds of weapons from the matter around him, which he uses to beat down Reed.

Johnny finds Ben, and has Wyatt run to the Baxter Building in search of a “metabolism accelerator” that can heal Ben. Johnny then miraculously deduces that Reed and Sue are in Southampton, so he flies there. Once there, it’s time for Johnny to fight Doom, and it’s the same type of fight, where Johnny gets in a few good hits, but is still unmatched by Doom’s new powers. Johnny’s flames go out of control, causing the cabin to explode. Reed and Sue get out just in time.

Back at the park, Wyatt locates Ben and uses the metabolism device to free him. They take the jet cycle to rendezvous with the rest of the FF just as Doom and Johnny continue to fight. Wyatt has brought with him Reed’s anti-grav disrupter. Reed warns Wyatt not to use the it because it’s too dangerous, but Wyatt pulls the trigger anyway, creating a massive sinkhole where Doom once stood. Doom rises from it, though, unharmed.

The FF back down, knowing that no amount of brute force will be able to stop Doom. Doom then gives a killer speech about how instead of killing the FF, he’ll let them live, because it’s an even greater punishment for them to live the rest of their lives knowing he could snuff them out at any time, whenever he feels like it. “You are not even important enough for me to destroy,” he says. Doom flies off, and Reed swears he’ll find some way of stopping him.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: There are a lot of Reed’s inventions mentioned in this one. In addition to the ones mentioned above, we also get the “heat induction unit” and the “conduction-inverter.” I have no idea what that last one does.

Fade out: Sue is sadly demoted to “doting wife” status in this one, not using her powers once. Then there’s the whole “weenie roast” thing.

Clobberin’ time: At one point, Sue suggests than Ben call Alicia for a night on the town, and he responds, “Yeah! I’m gonna do just that!” Is that sarcasm or not? Are they still a couple, or are they broken up after their little spat in issue #55? This issue doesn’t really tell us.

Flame on: When fighting Doom, Johnny threatens to use his super-nova flame, but doesn’t for fear that it will destroy the entire state (!).

Trivia time: Doom’s first step is to take out Ben, this was hinted at a few issues ago, when Doom revealed that he was still angry about Ben mangling Doom’s hands the last time they fought.

Fantastic or frightful? This is another “all they do is fight” issue, but that’s OK, because it’s awesome Kirby action. It’s also exciting in that although our heroes are way outclassed, they still find ways to fight back.

Next week: Breaking free.

****

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. The villains take center stage in issue #57.

The story begins right in the middle of the action, with a lot of info to take in on the first splash page. The FF are visiting the state prison, only to find the guards all knocked out and the Sandman sneaking up behind them. Ben exposits that the Sandman and the Wizard, his former partner in the Frightful Four, called the FF there because they were ready to “sing.” Cue two pages of fighting, after which the Sandman escapes through a vent. The Wizard shows up, surrounded by guards, saying this was all part of his escape plan.

Cut to Latveria, where the Silver Surfer is brooding on a mountaintop (he does that a lot). A tiny rocket invites him to visit the nearby castle. Now who do we know who lives in a castle in Latveria and has access to futuristic tech? Yes, it’s Dr. Doom. (He’s ballsy enough to sign his letter, “Doom Rex.”) The Surfer flies to Doom’s place and they chat. Doom says he seeks knowledge and wants to learn about the Surfer’s flying surfboard. The Surfer buys it, and explains that board is made of pure cosmic energy, the same cosmic energy that gives the Surfer his power. Doom asks for a demonstration, asking the Surfer to create a weapon. He does, some sort of club. Doom tests it out and finds it incredibly powerful, able to destroy an entire wall (that’s your castle, Doom) but the Surfer is smart enough to dematerialize the weapon before Doom gets too in love with it. Doom then leads the Surfer farther into the castle, saying, “We have matters of great magnitude to be discussed!”

Back in New York, Ben is flying around the city in that flying motorcycle thing searching for the Sandman while Reed and Sue monitor him from inside the Baxter Building. But, surprise! Sandman isn’t out in the city, he’s breaking into Reed’s lab. A few more pages of fighting, and the Sandman sneaks into Reed’s advanced equipment storage unit, locking himself inside with Reed’s “impregno-lock.” Reed says it will take him several minutes to get it open. (There’s a real naughty joke in this somewhere.) Reed gets inside, only to learn the Sandman has escaped once more. He’s stolen something, but we’re not sure what.

We’ve seen Reed’s lab lots of times, so next it’s a look at Dr. Doom’s science lab. In true Jack Kirby style, it’s full of outrageous scientific wonders. The Surfer believes Doom is creating world-destroying weapons, and he doesn’t approve. Doom gives him the big speech about how his weapons actually preserve peace and freedom, is all. “I am the gentlest, most unambitious of monarchs!” he says. The Surfer still isn’t buying it, especially after seeing Doom snap at his servants. But Doom has the Surfer figured out as well. He shows the Surfer an “actual temporal photo” of outer space, and the Surfer is mesmerized by it, because he still longs to be out in space instead of exiled to Earth. There’s one panel where the Surfer has this huge grin on his face, uncharacteristic for him.

Doom then makes his move, sneaking up behind the Surfer with a pair of high-tech inductors. In two pages of amazing Kirby action (complete with Kirby dots!) Doom draws the cosmic energy out of the Surfer and into himself. “Now let mankind beware,” Doom says, “for Doctor Doom has attained powers without limit!”

Turn the page, and we’re in another subplot. Johnny and Wyatt Wingfoot are still teleporting all over the place with Lockjaw, the Inhumans’ giant dog, in the hopes of finding a way to free the Inhumans from their domed city – and so Johnny can be reunited with lady love, Crystal. Lockjaw has taken them to an alternate dimension, where they encounter some dinosaur-like monsters. This doesn’t last long before teleporting away again. Then, we check in with the Inhumans. Black Bolt is still unconscious after the last escape attempt, but he appears to be recovering. As the rest of the Inhuman royal family gathers at his bedside, the evil Maximus enters with more crazy ramblings. “When Black Bolt speaks, you’ll all be free!” he says.

Back in Latveria, Doom is taking his new powers for a test drive, flying around on the Silver Surfer’s board, firing cosmic blasts into the forest, and terrifying the local villagers. Then the issue ends with our heroes still fretting about Sandman (well, Reed and Sue are fretting, Ben is watching TV cartoons for some comedy shtick). Sue says she has a premonition that something a lot more terrible than Sandman is on the way. Reed won’t admit it, but he feels it too.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed stretches into a disc-like shape that’s sharp as a knife to slice Sandman’s arm in two (it’s sand, so the arm just grows back).

Fade out: Sue’s “super-woman’s intuition” is unfortunately hokey. She makes good use of her force fields when battling Sandman, though.

Clobberin’ time: Ben and the Sandman are pretty evenly matched once Sandman does that thing (heh) where he makes himself as hard a rock. Ben’s flying around the city brings to mind his past as a pilot in the military.

Flame on: Johnny has made a lot of headway in domesticating Lockjaw, as the big beastie acts as a protective watchdog for him and Wyatt when they’re attacked by dinosaurs.

Trivia time: The TV cartoon Ben watches is 1966’s Marvel Super Heroes, a real-life series, and Marvel’s first foray into television. The show’s animation was severely limited, taking actual panels from the comics and just adding slight movements and voices. It was kind of like today’s motion comics, except a lot crappier. The main characters featured on the show were Captain America, the Hulk, Iron Man, Thor, and the FF’s enemy, Namor.

Fantastic or frightful? The Fantastic Four are barely in this Fantastic Four comic. The Sandman stuff is a subplot, while all the good stuff is the battle of wits between Doctor Doom and the Silver Surfer. There’s some good stuff here, but, really, this issue exists just to set up the real action in the next few issues.

Next week: The dregs.

****

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. In annual #4, the FF meets a familiar face from Marvel’s pre-history. What’s “pre-history,” you wonder? That’s when Marvel references the grey area in its history, mentioning stories published before the Marvel Universe officially “started” with the publication of Fantastic Four #1. Confused? Don’t be, let’s just read the comic.

The fun begins at the Baxter Building, where Reed, Sue and Johnny are answering the FF’s fan mail. One letter asks about the original human torch, and Reed informs Ben that there was another man calling himself “Human Torch” 20 years earlier.

Mail time is interrupted by a burst of energy. The Inhumans’ giant teleporting dog, Lockjaw, appears. He’s brought Johnny and Wyatt Wingfoot with him. Remember that in the last couple of issues, Johnny and Wyatt found the big dog while searching for a way to rescue the Inhumans from their city, imprisoned under a huge dome. Lockjaw’s been trained to keep people away from the dome, which is why he’s sent Johnny back to the Baxter Building. Johnny is despondent again over being separated from his lady love, Crystal, who trapped with the rest of Inhumans. Reed tries to feed some milk to Lockjaw, only to have Lockjaw drink too fast and zap everyone with a bolt of electric energy.

We cut from there to some secret lair of an old FF foe, the Thinker (still not called the “Mad Thinker” except for the hyperbolic splash page). He has a man in glass cage. The Thinker, whose deal is making deadly androids, says that this man is the first android ever created, and that he’s been searching for him for a long time. The android flashes back to 20 years earlier, when he was created by a Professor Horton. He was dubbed the “Human Torch” because of his fiery powers. Fearing his creation was dangerous, Horton tried to destroy the Torch, but the android escaped. Back in the present, the Thinker says he’s given the Torch control over his powers, so he no longer bursts into flame by merely being exposed to oxygen. The Thinker then threatens to destroy the Torch if the Torch does not obey him.

Back with our heroes, Johnny leaves Reed to experiment on Lockjaw, flying off on his own to try an alternate means of freeing the Inhumans. He flies out to a remote desert to see if he can burn to peak intensity. He burns hotter and hotter, but his flame is snuffed out by what appears to be a random tornado. No, it’s not a tornado, it’s the original Torch. He announces that he’s there to kill Johnny.

The fight scene that happens next is pretty spectacular. Sure, the two guys are both fireproof, which negates each other’s powers, but it’s still great to see all kinds of explosive flame effects in each panel as they duke it out for several pages. The fight ends up underground, where the fires hit a patch of natural gas, causing a massive explosion. Elsewhere, the explosion shorts out the Thinker’s monitoring devices, and now he can no longer watch the battle.

Here’s where things get kooky. The Thinker walks over to a big machine and declares, “Quasimodo!” A disfigured face appears on the machine’s screen, and says, “I could serve you better than he!” The Thinker clearly has great disdain for this… machine? Creature? Quasimodo wants a human body, but the Thinker refuses, saying it was a mistake even to give Quasimodo a face and a name. Originally, he was just a “Quasi-motivational Destruct Organ.” The Thinker demands that Quasimodo stop thinking of itself as a person, but poor Quasimodo can’t help it, saying he can reason and feel, and that he longs for the freedom of movement. The Thinker won’t have any of that, and he zaps Quasimodo with a “discipline ray.” He then says that if the original Human Torch fails in his mission, Quasimodo must kill the android with the “destruct switch,” and Quasimodo is forced to obey.

Back in the desert, more fighting! While the Torches duke it out, the original Torch has a crisis of conscience, wondering if he should take Johnny captive instead of killing. He reveals to Johnny that he’s working for the Thinker. Johnny argues that they have a common enemy and should be working together.

The rest of the FF then arrive, courtesy of the teleporting Lockjaw, who, we’re told, can teleport along thought waves, knowing where someone wants to go and taking them there. (Convenient!) Just as everyone stops and compares notes, Lockjaw teleports again, taking everyone to the Thinker’s lab. It’s here that Reed calls the Thinker “the Mad Thinker” for the first time. The original Torch stands up to the villain, saying “I would rather return to the nothingness of an android’s death than stand idly by while murder is done!” Then, Quasimodo attacks, hitting the destruct switch. (How this happens is he fires a beam from his eye onto an actual switch and flips it. So, I guess his power is super button-pressing.)

The destruct switch activates (what else?) a destruct beam. The original Torch puts himself between it and the others, sacrificing his life to save theirs. “Men may have called him an android, but he died as human as any,” Reed says. The Mad Thinker escapes in an “aqua chamber.” (I guess this secret lair of his is underwater). Then Lockjaw prepares to teleport again, and Johnny takes this as his cue to whine about Crystal some more. Johnny and Wyatt teleport away, and Reed lets them go, saying Johnny will be all right. In another room, all alone, Quasimodo appears to be dying, saying his circuits are fading and that he wants to know what it’s like to be human, if even for just a moment. Then, as the lights fade, he also swears revenge against the Fantastic Four.

Unstable molecule: Before breaking up the two Torches’ fight, Reed has the rest of the FF and Wyatt covered head to toe with an “anti-burn lotion.”

Fade out: While answering fan mail, Reed jokes that at least they letter aren’t bills, and Sue responds that more bills are on their way because she recently went shopping. She also serving the guys tea as she says this. Feminism!

Clobberin’ time: Ben is reduced to comic relief in this one, basically standing around in the background being sarcastic while everyone else does all the fighting.

Flame on: Johnny proves he can throw punches as well as fireballs, as the fight against the original Torch goes into hand-to-hand combat. He’s also able to appeal to the original’s better nature.

Trivia time: The original Human Torch debuted way back in 1939, as Marvel (then called Timely Comics) desperately tried to come up with hero characters to compete with DC’s mega-popular Superman. The Human Torch and Captain America were two more successful attempts, with others like the Blue Blaze, Dynamic Man, and the unfortunately-named Flexo the Rubber-Man faring not as well. Once reintroduced to the Marvel Universe, the original Torch came back, became involved in the origins of both the Vision and Ultron, and later joined the West Coast Avengers.

Behind the scenes, the story goes that the creator of the original Human Torch, Carl Burgos, wanted to get the copyright to the character back. Marvel prevented that by using the character in this issue, reestablishing the Torch as a Marvel property. According to legend, Burgos later burned all of his Marvel comics in protest, and in front of his daughter no less.

Quasimodo would later get a body, and he’ll mostly appear in outer space-type stories, fighting the Silver Surfer, Captain Marvel, and Rom the SpaceKnight.

If this story seems a little too short for a stormtrooper an annual, that’s because when originally published, the second half of the comic was a reprint of Fantastic Four #25, which you’ll remember was that great Thing/Hulk fight.

Fantastic or frightful? The Torch vs. Torch fight is more awesome Jack Kirby action, and the interaction between the Mad Thinker and Quasimodo is wonderfully quirky. Beyond that, though, this one’s a little thin on plot. The drama picks up in a big way next issue.

Next week: Sand and surf!

****

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