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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #41 starts right where the last one left off, with the Thing declaring that he’s leaving the team. This is hardly the first time one of the group has been at odds with the others. Remember, Johnny temporarily quit the team way back in issue #3. But this issue promises BETRAYAL in big letters, so let’s see what happens.

Johnny flies around Ben to keep him from leaving, but the Baxter Building’s automatic sprinklers put his flame (so why doesn’t this happen every time he uses his powers?). Ben departs after smashing up a wall. Outside, Ben hides in the back of some guy’s pickup truck and falls asleep. The truck drives to New Jersey, after which a mysterious force lifts him into the air, and carries him to a mansion outside the city (no one notices this?).

Back at HQ, the landlord complains about all the damage done to the building during the previous issue’s battle (I imagine he does this a lot), and we get the requisite couple of pages where the characters show off their powers as they clean up and make repairs. Alicia arrives, and Reed is forced to break the bad news to her, that Ben has left the team.

At the mysterious mansion, we learn that Frightful Four – Medusa, the Wizard, Sandman, and Paste-Pot Pete, um, I mean the Trapster – have abducted the still-unconscious Ben. We get a requisite couple of pages of them showing off their powers as they fight among themselves. Medusa appears to have taken the leadership role among the group, bossing them around. They ominously state they’re going to hook Ben up to an “ID machine.”

Reed, meanwhile, does the guilt trip thing, blaming himself for Ben leaving. “As leader of the F.F., I’m responsible for everything!” he says. Johnny gets a tip that Ben was spotted in Jersey, and Reed and Sue take off in search of him. Five miles away, according to the caption, the Wizard attaches the ID machine to Ben. He says the machine reverts the human mind back to its most evil, primitive instincts. (I’m not sure how primitive instincts are automatically evil, but this is mad science we’re dealing with.) The Trapster discovers Medusa and Sandman having a game of poker (!) and he suggests that there’s something romantic happening between them. Sandman seems to confirm this, saying “I like dames who play rough.” Classy. Jealous, the Trapster starts a fight with the two of them, but it’s broken up by the Thing, who is now under the Wizard’s control. Shockingly, Ben rips out some of Medusa’s hair, which knocks her out. The Wizard declares himself to be leader of the team again.

The FF fire a signal flare nearby, and the Frightful Four see it. Then there’s an odd jump where Reed and Sue are joined by Johnny, right outside the Frightful Four’s mansion. Apparently, they’ve been going door to door, and now they’re conveniently at the right house? Anyway, the bad guys attack, and it’s time for several pages of fighting. The villains are no match for our heroes, until Ben shows up. Sue and Reed pull their punches, but Ben doesn’t, and he knocks them both out. Ben uses the Sandman’s sand to douse Johnny’s flame and then knock Johnny out as well.

The Trapster devises several traps to keep the FF from fighting back – Johnny is affixed with a sprinkler vest that will douse his flame if he tries to use it, Sue is sealed up in a giant plastic bag that can stretch to any shape, and Reed is glued in place with the Trapster’s famous super-paste. The Wizard, who is worried about Medusa taking leadership away from him again, puts Ben to sleep with his super-hypnotism.

Then we get several pages of the Frightful Four debating what to do with Ben. Sandman wants to kill him, while the Wizard wants to continue using him against their enemies. Medusa has a moment of compassion for Reed, feeling bad for him “I must not become weak and feminine at a time like this!” she thinks. When Ben wakes, the Wizard gives him a big speech about how Ben’s monstrous face is all Reed’s fault. Ben buys it. Reed wakes, still unable to move because of the paste, and tries to talk some sense into Ben, but it’s too late. Ben declares, “I’ll do to you what you did to me!” And… to be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed’s need for control and his guilt trip over Ben both speak to his ongoing character development, something we’ll get a bigger dose of as we get closer and closer to the big issues #49-51.

Fade out: Sue shows how tough she really is during the fight, using her force fields to take out three of the Frightful Four before the Wizard unleashes Ben.

Clobberin’ time: Ben spends most of the issue asleep or under the Wizard’s power, but there’s a telling scene at the beginning, where he roams the streets of the city, alone. He ponders Reed and Sue’s engagement, and all of Johnny’s girlfriends and sports cars, and he wallows as to he’ll never have that because he’s just a monster. This is some real human drama amid all the melodrama.

Flame on: Johnny does very little in this issue. Between water and sand, it seems like any time he starts to use his flame, someone’s right there to douse it. His car, however…

Trivia time: One page shows Johnny’s latest hot rod, an “S.S. Excalibur Racer.” This appears to be the 1964 Excalibur S.S., made by Studebaker. They went for $100,000 each, which was insane money in the mid-1960s.

Fantastic or frightful: Here we begin to see what will later be called “decompressed storytelling.” By stretching this story out over several issues, we get longer fight scenes, and more character interaction. This is a different feel than the packed-with-plot early issues. A lot of it is build-up for the next two chapters – that’s right, two more chapters to go.

Next week: Everybody fight!

****

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Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. At the end of the last issue, our heroes were in bad shape. They’d lost their super powers, the evil Dr. Doom had taken over their headquarters and used their weapons against them, and now they’re separated and vulnerable out on the streets of New York. Fortunately, fellow crimefighter Daredevil, who is secretly the FF’s lawyer Matt Murdock, is lending a hand, and was on his way to the Baxter Building to duke it out with Doom. That takes us to issue 40, a landmark of awesome Jack Kirby action.

Doom sends a flying remote control camera, called a “TV eye,” out into the city to find the FF, startling the innocent passersby. It spots Reed and Daredevil. Get this: Daredevil makes some quick adjustments to his billy club, turning it into a miniature sniper rifle and, with the help of his radar sense, takes out the camera in one shot. (So why isn’t Daredevil a sniper all the time? Just imagine how many bad guys he could take out from a distance.)

Sue and Johnny pull up in a commandeered taxi (do the FF have that authority?) to pick up Reed. The team’s only hope, Reed says, is to get to his “electronic simulator.” They make it to the Baxter Building, which has been barricaded by cops. A line of dialogue states that the police are under orders from the Pentagon not to attack Dr. Doom, but to let the FF have the first crack at him. (The NYPD takes orders directly from the Pentagon?) Inside the building, Doom attacks our heroes with their own security devices, which are lethal, apparently. Daredevil then sneaks into Doom’s lab for a brief fight. Doom manages to stay a few steps ahead of DD, using more of Reed’s inventions as weapons.

Ben shows up out of nowhere and rejoins his teammates. After some business of them being trapped in an elevator, they make it to the lab, where Doom has gotten a hand on Daredevil and wrestled him to the floor. Reed finds the simulator, and we’re reminded that this is the same device he used to boost the FF’s powers to defeat the Skrulls back in issue 37. While Doom beats the crap out of a still-human Ben, Reed restores the super powers to Sue, Johnny, and himself. This doesn’t faze Doom, as he uses a “refrigeration unit” to freeze everyone solid, except for the helpless Ben.

Reed, with some limited mobility, aims the simulator at Ben. Ben says maybe he wants to stay human, and be normal like everyone else. Reed apologizes, and says turning Ben back into a monster is the only way to stop Doom. In a dramatic three-panel page, Ben transforms back into the Thing.

The rest of the issue is one huge slugfest between Ben and Doom, with page after page of them wailing on each other. Most Dr. Doom stories are about outsmarting him, with his arrogance being all about his genius. Now, we see a new side to Doom as he faces a purely physical threat. Prepared for any eventuality, Doom has pimped out his armor with all kinds of weapons, not to mention that it enhances his physical strength, so he can give and receive punches just as hard as the Thing. But no matter how hard Doom fights, Ben just keeps coming back for more. Ben finally gets a hold of Doom, smashing his gauntlets and ripping open the computerized doo-hickeys on Doom’s chestplate. A beaten, barely-standing Doom hobbles out of the building, as Reed explains that Doom is truly defeated, by being humiliated. (So are they just letting Doom go, or are we to assume all those cops outside arrested him?)

Finally, another cliffhanger: After being transformed into a monster once more, Ben says he’s had enough, and that he’s quitting the team – this time for good. To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Again, one has to wonder what goes on in Reed’s lab, where are there are all these deadly weapons just lying around.

Fade out: The spotlight is on Ben this issue, so poor Sue spends the whole thing on the sidelines.

Clobberin’ time: For as much as the Fantastic Four’s saga is all about the rivalry between Reed and Dr. Doom, this one establishes a secondary rivalry between Doom and the Thing. In future issues, look for occasional references to Doom’s disdain for Ben.

Flame on: Like Sue, Johnny pretty much sits this issue out, although I love that he shouts “Va-voom!” after getting his powers back.

Trivia time: One of Doom’s weapons he uses against Ben is a gun that takes molecule-sized pebbles (!) and transforms them into giant boulders, firing them at Ben. Doom can be seen using this “boulder gun” in one of the Capcom/Marvel video games.

Fantastic or frightful: Basically, it’s an “all they do is fight” issue, but it’s Jack Kirby just bringing it with the art. Nobody does big action like Kirby, and this issue just proves it.

 Next week: The betrayal!

****

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

Reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. With issue #39, we’re in the middle of a run of issues that are serialized, so prepare for cliffhangers and recaps. At the end of the last issue, after their fight with the Frightful Four, our heroes were caught in a mysterious “Q-bomb” explosion, which seems to have had strange effects on them.

The issue begins out at sea, with a submarine crew rescuing a still-unconscious Fantastic Four, noting that the Thing has become an ordinary human. Aboard the sub, Reed stirs, flashing back to the end of last issue. As the four are revived, what the readers have already figured out becomes evident to our heroes – they’ve lost their powers.

Back at home, Reed dives into research, although finding a way to restore everyone’s powers seems fruitless. Days later, Reed has come up with an alternate solution. He’s invented suits for Sue and Johnny that mimic their powers. He then creates a Thing lookalike robot that Ben can operate with remote control. This leads to some slapstick, as the robot isn’t so easy to manage, and it knocks down a few walls. Reed says all this work is to prevent the FF’s enemies from learning they are powerless.

On cue, we cut to Latveria, where Dr. Doom is sitting on his throne being entertained by a hypnotist. Sure, why not? This guy is so good, he can tell that Doom’s mind has been messed with, and that he still believes he defeated the FF back in annual #2. The hypnotist undoes the mental block. Doom remembers what happens, and he is pissed off. He takes off in a goofy-looking “gyroscopic flying machine of his own design,” in search of revenge.

Back in New York, blind attorney Matt Murdock shows up at the Baxter Building, wondering why the FF called him there. Reed, who has built an exoskeleton to stimulate his stretching, says he wants Murdock to have power of attorney in case something happens to them. Murdock can sense something is wrong with the team, but he’s not sure what. Before he can ponder this further, the building is rocked with an explosion. The FF uses their faux powers to escape the wreckage, with mixed results. Murdock, meanwhile, ducks around a corner and dons his red costume, changing into Daredevil, the man without fear!

The lights are knocked out, but this is of course no problem for DD, who leads the Fantastic Four to safety through the dark. Sure enough, Dr. Doom is behind the attack. Daredevil quickly deduces that the FF has no powers, and he agrees to keep helping them. Things get worse as Doom takes over the Baxter Building, with our heroes on the outside. Doom hijacks the FantastiCar and sends it after our heroes by remote control. Daredevil helps them out with his sharp reflexes and quick thinking. Doom then pulls out a vortex machine, using it to destroy buildings all over the city. Daredevil and the FF are on the run, being pursued by the vortex. Reed and Daredevil use some convenient gas canisters to destroy the vortex.

Doom is next to figure out his enemies have no powers. He sends more high-tech weapons after them. Daredevil helps save everyone, but they’re separated, and spread out among the city. The issue ends with our four heroes on their own and under fire in the streets of New York, while Daredevil heads straight toward Doom to confront him. To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Even without his powers, Reed manages to help out with his brains, outsmarting Doom as best he can.

Fade out: Sue’s invisibility suit doesn’t work very well, as everyone can still sort-of see her, and trying to generate a force field shorts it out.

Clobberin’ time: Ben hardly reacts to being human again, desperately wanting his powers back. The issue tells us that this is because the FF are now vulnerable to attack, but this also speaks to how accustomed he has gotten to the new him.

Flame on: Johnny’s flame suit works best out of all the power replacements, but it doesn’t last long in the rubble after the big explosion.

Trivia time: This is actually not the first time the FF have met Daredevil. In Daredevil #2, Matt Murdock became the team’s personal attorney after Daredevil helped them in a fight against the evil Electro.

Fantastic or frightful: I’m a sucker for “superheroes temporarily lose their powers” stories, because they’re usually character-driven, as the heroes are forced to deal with change and think on their feet. Having Daredevil here cheapens that somewhat, as he does the team’s fighting for them, but this is still a great, suspenseful, “how will they get out of this one?” issue.

Next week: Slugfest!

****

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. We just met the Frightful Four two issues ago, and now they’re back for more in #38.

This one begins on an odd note, in which our heroes are standing atop a bunch of giant photographs Reed took during their trip to the Skrull homeworld last issue. This is quickly forgotten about in favor of some wacky slapstick in the customary “the characters show off their powers for a few pages at the beginning” thing, including a weird bit where Ben catches Sue and threatens to spank her! He’s just kidding, right?

The fun and games end as we’re reunited with the Frightful Four. There’s the Wizard with his gravity-manipulation powers, Medusa with her super hair, and Spider-Man’s old foe the Sandman. The fourth member, Paste Pot Pete, announces that he’s officially changed his codename to the Trapster. “It’s a name with dignity!” he says. He’s also gotten rid of his glue gun in favor of a bunch of high-tech gadgets he calls his traps. The Frightful Four fight among themselves for a bit, including an eye-popping full-page spread in which the Wizard knocks his teammates around. It’s a fun contrast – the FF’s bickering is playful, while their enemies bickering is more mean-spirited.

The Frightful Four’s first move is (sigh) to kidnap Sue while Sue is out shopping. (Sigh, again) Reed, Johnny and Ben learn of this and investigate, but with no luck. The villains are hiding out on a pacific atoll that was recently the site of nuclear testing. There, the Wizard explains that the plan is merely to destroy the FF. To do this, he has constructed a deadly “Q-bomb.”

The Wizard’s ship, a little sphere-shaped thing, appears in the sky over New York, and we get several pages of Reed, Ben and Johnny chasing it around. It eventually captures Johnny and cutting off his powers by wrapping him up in “asbestos tape.” Sure, why not? Reed and Ben pursue. At the atoll, the Frightful Four emerge from hiding, Johnny and Sue both escape, and everybody fights. The frightful four escape while the FF are momentarily distracted as they locate Sue underground. There, Ben recognizes the Q-bomb (how is it that he’s the one who recognizes it? From his days as a test pilot?) and he knows it’s about to go off.

From a distance, the Frightful Four watch (and gloat) as the Q-bomb explodes, with our heroes still on the island. Unbeknownst to the bad guys, Sue managed to save everyone in a force field, only to have the blast knock all four of them unconscious. As they’re knocked out, Ben turns back into a human and… cliffhanger!

Unstable molecule: Reed at one point stretches into a giant spring to launch Ben into the air, which is good. Later, he lets himself get punched in the face by the Trapster, which isn’t as good.

Fade out: Sue gets taken captive again, but does manage to rescue everyone at the end.

Clobberin’ time: The Wizard’s spherical ship is almost like a fifth member of the Frightful Four, so it’s gratifying when Ben finally gets ahold of it and smashes it real good.

Flame on: The Trapster tries to take out Johnny with some “suction blasts.” It doesn’t work, though, as Johnny later chases him off with his flame.

Trivia time: This is the issue that attempts to make Paste Pot Pete cooler by renaming him “the Trapster,” but it never really sticks, and he’s gone on to become something of a joke character.

Fantastic or frightful: I never like it when the villain’s only motivation is to destroy the hero, and that’s the case here, making the Frightful Four somewhat uninteresting. Nonetheless, here’s a rare case of the bad guys flat-out winning at the end of the story. The cliffhanger promises to stir up big things in the next issue.

Next week: Meet Mr. Billy Club!

****

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