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Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. Issue #28 is fourth in a four-part run of stories in which the FF meets other Marvel characters. It just wouldn’t be a Marvel crossover without a bunch of X-Men running around, now would it? (Note: I’ll be doing a bunch of these FF posts throughout February to make up for weeks I’ve missed. If all goes according to plan, that’ll put the blog on track to reach Galactus at the one-year mark!)

The issue begins as Alicia debuts her latest work, a life-size statue of the Thing, while Reed and Sue read a newspaper article about the X-Men, amazed that the young heroes have become famous in so short a time. Elsewhere, Alicia’s father, the sinister Puppet Master, walks through a door into the laboratory of the Mad Thinker, here still referred to as just “the Thinker.” So this isn’t just a superhero team-up story, but it’s a villain team-up as well. We’re also reunited with the Thinker’s Awesome Android, with a reminder that Reed invented the Android, only to be stolen by the Thinker. The Thinker has (of course) an evil plan in the works. He tasks the Puppet Master to creating one of his radioactive mind-controlling puppets in the form of Professor X, mentor the X-Men. The prof resists, so P.M. makes a stronger puppet, and this time it works.

The professor summons the X-Men. It’s the original five – Cyclops, Angel, Beast, Iceman, and Jean Grey as Marvel Girl. This was during the time that Jean wore that weird mask with the pointy tips on the ends. The professor tells them to go and attack the FF. The X-Men don’t understand why, but they do as the tprof. asks. In their helicopter (the X-Men have a helicopter?), the X-Men arrive at the Baxter Building under the pretense of a friendly visit, only to attack once inside Reed’s lab. We then get several pages of fighting, as each FFer and X-Man shows off his or her powers. It ends with the FF defeated, locked away inside one room in their HQ. The X-Men take Sue hostage (sigh…) and depart.

Reed, Ben and Johnny regroup, and head out in pursuit of the X-Men. Along the way, there’s an interesting bit of business where Ben jokes about the Beast’s eloquent vocabulary, and Reed says, “You don’t fool us, Ben! You hold a college degree or two yourself!” Ben seems embarrassed by this, and asks Reed not to spread this information around.

The X-Men land on a rocky plateau out in the middle of nowhere, with the FF right behind them. Another fight breaks out, this time with trap doors opening up beneath them, as high-tech devices inside them help capture the FF. The Thinker and the Puppet Master emerge from hiding underground. The X-Men want no part of this, but P.M. uses Professor X’s telepathy to put them all asleep. (Why didn’t he do this to begin with?) The Beast, however, has enough mental wherewithal to stay awake long enough to crush the Professor X puppet under one of his huge, ugly feet. The FF fight their way back to the surface and free Sue, just in time for the Awesome Android to attack . (“It’s like Old Home Week for villains!” Johnny says.) The Android puts up a good fight, mimicking Ben’s strength and Iceman’s, um, ice. Professor X then comes to and shuts the Android down telepathically. The Thinker and the Puppet Master escape, giving the old “Until next time” speech. Instead of pursuing, the FF and the X-Men shakes hands, departing as allies.

Unstable molecule: Reed’s powers prove to be a match for Beast’s agility, as neither one gets the upper hand in the fight.

Fade out: Sue is made a hostage yet again, and is defeated by Angel when all he does is grab ahold of her and fly around. Later, she keeps Marvel Girl out of the fight with a force field.

Clobberin’ Time: I still can’t get over this “Ben has a college degree or two” thing. We know Ben was a test pilot and former football star. What else don’t we know about him?

Flame on: Johnny’s flames are no good against Cyclops’s optic blasts. He doesn’t do much else in this one.

Trivia Time: This is actually not the first time the two teams have crossed over. Johnny and Iceman already had a bit of a friendship/rivalry going on in the pages of Strange Tales, starting with issue #120. Many years later, Storm of the X-Men would become a full-fledged member of the FF.

Fantastic or Frightful: The plot is your basic “heroes meet and fight under a misunderstanding” that’s been done a million times. The X-Men are here just enough to give a sense of their personalities and powers before they take off again. There are a lot of smaller moments that are interesting, but this is not a standout issue.

Next week: It started WHERE?!?

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 last two issues gave us encounters with the Hulk and the Avengers, so let’s keep the crossover train rolling in issue #27, with an appearance by a certain sorcerer supreme.

The issue begins with a real attention-getter. Reed is experimenting with his image projector, creating a hologram of Sue in a swimsuit (phroar!). After more horsing around with the device, Reed reveals to Ben and Johnny that he’s going to go shopping for an engagement ring for Sue (Hey-o!).

Elsewhere, way down in Atlantis, we’re reunited with Namor the Submariner, who is still obsessing over Sue. He gathers together some Atlantean warriors and asks them to invade the surface world and abduct Sue. The warriors renege, and leave Namor alone, again. Not long after, Namor shows up at the Baxter Building in disguise, using his strength and a convenient gas gun to take out Reed, Ben and Johnny. Alone with Sue, Namor pledges his love, saying he’d give up his empire and his birthright for her. When she relents, Namor shows his “love” by gassing her into unconsciousness and abducting her.

Reed comes back from ring shopping to learn that Sue is gone. He flips out, and starts using all his high-tech equipment to search for Namor. He swears that this time, he’s going after Namor alone. Ben and Johnny hold a powwow, and agree that they should find Namor first, before Reed does anything rash. Johnny has an idea, and uses his flame for some skywriting, putting a message for Dr. Strange across the sky.

As Reed leaves the Baxter Building aboard his personal helicopter (!?!), Dr. Strange, master of the mystic arts, arrives in his ghostlike astral projection form. While insisting that his powers may only be used against evil, Strange reluctantly agrees to help. Strange’s magic amulet leads him to Atlantis, as he thinks, “This is a far cry from battling the sinister, mysterious menaces of the world of black magic.”

Namor, still not quite getting how the whole “suitor” thing works, has Sue trapped inside a cage, asking for 24 hours to convince her to love him. Reed arrives via his personal submarine (what happened to the helicopter?), able to breathe thanks to a pill he’s invented, and he attacks Namor. Strange sees this, and decides to return to Ben and Johnny to tell them. Reed puts up a good fight, until the Atlantean warriors return, having had yet another change of heart, and they take Reed hostage.

At the Baxter Building, Dr. Strange helps out by teleporting Ben and Johnny directly to Atlantis. The rest of the issue is one big fight, as Ben and Johnny take on the Atlanteans while Reed and Namor continue to duke it out. Just as it looks like Namor has the upper hand, about to kill everyone with a huge undersea cannon, Sue deflects the blast with a force field, ending the fight. She tells Namor that Reed is the only man for her.

Dr. Strange is watching all this from a crystal ball. Somehow knowing that no woman has ever before rejected Namor, and that Namor’s rage will be out of control, Strange immediately teleports the FF back into Reed’s sub (Why didn’t he do this to begin with?). The issue ends ambiguously, as Reed is uncertain whether Sue meant what she said, or if she was merely bluffing.

Unstable molecule: Reed goes all out in fighting Namor, using his powers in a bunch of wild ways including stretching into the shape of a giant bow, firing Namor like an arrow at his own soldiers!

Fade out: Sue is stuck in the unfortunate position of being the “prize” two men are fighting over. She is the one who puts an end to the chaos, though.

Clobberin’ Time: There an interesting bit where the Atlanteans fire electronic rays at Ben, only to have his body absorb the energy and then use it against them. You can bet I’ll be looking to see if he ever uses this ability again.

Flame on: Johnny does a lot during the big fight, blinding the Atanteans, destroying a flying probe, and fusing the walls into a barrier to keep a passage from flooding. It’s also his passionate speech about preventing Reed from killing Namor that encourages Dr. Strange to join the cause.

Trivia Time: Dr. Strange was appearing the appropriately-titled Strange Tales at the time, making this a convenient bit of cross-promotion. Strange lets loose with three of his classic incantations this issue, “by the power of Vishanti,” “the visionary vapors of the dread Dormammu,” and, as always, “the hosts of Hoggoth.”

Fantastic of frightful: Dr. Stange’s appearance is kind of a throwaway, but I like that Reed is pushed so far that he’s actually considering killing Namor. I also like how hard and brutal the fight between them is. It’s not just good guys versus bad guys, it’s personal. It’s broad and over-the-top, yet somehow it makes Reed feel more flawed, more human.

Next week: It just wouldn’t be a crossover without any mutants!

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. When we last left our heroes, the Hulk was wrecking New York City, enraged that Captain America had taken his place on the
Avengers. The Thing fought back, and got the crud beaten out of him by the
Hulk. Meanwhile, Reed has been stricken by a strange ailment and is bedridden.
Now, in issue #26, the Avengers are about to join in on the fun.(Note: I’ll be doing a bunch of these FF posts throughout February to make up for weeks I’ve missed. If all goes according to plan, that’ll put the blog on track to reach Galactus at the one-year mark!)

The issue begins with the Thing fulfilling his promise at the end of the last one, to keep on fighting no matter what, as we get two more pages of him and the Hulk pounding on each other. In the hospital Reed wants to join the fight, but he must be sedated because of his weakened condition. Sue gives the doctors the serum Reed was working on when he got sick, in the hopes they can be turned into an antidote. Johnny is also hospitalized after the Hulk smashed him last issue. Although still hurting and covered in special asbestos bandages, Johnny rejoins the fight and we get more pages of him and Ben giving the Hulk everything they’ve got, and the Hulk giving back. The army moves and fires on the Hulk, which does nothing of course.

The Hulk takes off, hiding out in the subway tunnels, where he renews his commitment to find and destroy the Avengers. He makes his way to Tony Stark’s New York mansion, and the Avengers are inside, waiting for him. The lineup: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Wasp, Giant Man, and squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones. Squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones wants to reason with the Hulk, but the Hulk immediately attacks him (sweet), and the Avengers all fight back at once.

At the hospital, the antidote works, and Reed is cured. He rejoins the others and the FF is a team again. The find the Hulk on a rooftop with squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones. The Wasp is inside Hulk’s ear, driving him crazy with the buzzing sound of her wings. Cap jumps in, and moves so fast that the Hulk can’t get a grip on him. The rest of the FF and the Avengers show up, but keep getting in each other’s way. The Hulk leaps away with squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones, barely escaping a toss from Thor’s hammer, which the Hulk describes as “the one thing I fear.” The FF and the Avengers both insist on going after the Hulk on their own, until Thor and the Thing become the voices of reason, suggesting everybody work together.

Everybody finds the Hulk and squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones at a construction site, and it’s time for seven pages of non-stop fighting! Iron Man uses his “magnetized repellant,” and has to be saved by Thor. Johnny tries trapping the Hulk in a ring of fire, and he has to be saved by Reed. Cap sends a wrecking ball after the Hulk, and saves himself with all of his cool moves. There’s a funny bit where Giant Man alternates between shrinking and growing so fast that the Hulk doesn’t know what’s going on. He gets rescued by the Wasp. Finally, squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones gets close enough to the Hulk to toss a gamma radiation-treated pill into the Hulk’s mouth, which the Hulk swallows. Giant Man, who, remember was until recently Ant-Man, orders an army of ants to crawl all over the Hulk. The Hulk jumps into the nearby river to get the ants off, after which he transforms back into a human and floats silently away.

Squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones feels betrayed, as he thought the Hulk was his friend. Cap says it’s hard to lose a partner, referencing his lost pal Bucky, because Cap always references his lost pal Bucky. The FF and the Avengers agree to be allies from here on out, and will help each other out if need be.

Unstable molecule: So Reed’s mysterious illness really was caused by his messing with strange chemicals in his lab? And some random doctor comes up with the cure? Not much of a reveal.

Fade out: Aside from providing the doctor with Reed’s serum, Sue doesn’t do much in this issue. Giant Man gets trapped in one of Sue’s force fields when she tries to use it on the Hulk.

Clobberin’ time: Ben continues to be the go-to guy when it comes to Hulk bashing, even when Thor and Iron Man are standing by.

Flame on: I don’t know why Johnny thinks creating a circle of fire around the Hulk will have any effect. He looks pretty badass done up in his fireproof bandages, though.

Trivia time: This issue leads into Avengers #5, where the Hulk reemerges from hiding, complicating matters as the Avengers try to fight him as well as a bunch of super-evil lava men.

Fantastic or frightful: Another “all they do is fight” issue. It’s interesting that the Hulk is flat-out the villain this time, not manipulated by some real villain or somesuch. With so many characters running around, there’s little room for character development, but it’s nonetheless exciting to see so many classic Marvel characters interacting in one story.

Next week: Still more crossovers!

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. Both the cover and the front page proclaim issue #25 to be “The battle of century.” (Note: I’ll be doing a bunch of these FF posts throughout February to make up for weeks I’ve missed. If all goes according to plan, that’ll put the blog on track to reach Galactus at the one-year mark!)

The issue begins right in the middle of high drama, as Reed wants Ben to try another cure, to turn Ben back into a human. Ben refuses, because he thinks becoming human means Alicia won’t love him. Reed argues that it’s not Ben’s appearance Alicia loves, but Ben himself. On cue, Alicia appears with a newspaper, hoping one of them will read it to her (this comes off a lot more sad than I think Stan and Jack intended). The article is about the Avengers, recently returned to the U.S. after battling both the Hulk and the Submariner out at sea. It also announced Captain America as the newest Avenger.

Meanwhile, in New Mexico, a couple of truckers have a run-in with the Hulk. He hides out in the back of their truck, calming down and turning back into Bruce Banner. The truck stops at a roadblock, where police are in the midst of a Hulk manhunt. Banner makes a run for it. The cops don’t pursue because he’s obviously not the Hulk. Bruce runs out into the wilderness where, conveniently, he has a secret underground lab set up. Along the way, though, he transforms back into the Hulk. Hulk finds the lab and, in his rage, trashes it. He also finds the same newspaper Alicia had (they sell the New York Times in New Mexico?) and he’s furious about being “replaced” in the Avengers by Captain America. He heads off to New York to confront the Avengers. Along the way, we get a quick of Avengers searching for the Hulk. The lineup: Cap, Thor, Iron Man, Wasp, Giant Man, and squeaky-clean teen sidekick Rick Jones.

At the Baxter Building, Reed collapses, falling unconscious. It’s bad timing, because that when the Hulk shows up and starts trashing NYC. Johnny tries to fight the Hulk, but the Hulk is pretty much fireproof and he puts out Johnny’s flame. Ben and Sue don’t want to leave Reed’s side, but he wakes just long enough to insist that they stop the Hulk, for the good of the city. Sue uses her force fields to protect Johnny from the Hulk’s fists, and then Ben jumps into the fray. We’re on page 11 at this point, and the next 10 pages, almost the rest of the comic, are nothing but the Hulk and the Thing going at it.

After exchanging blows, a bus gets between them, which they use as a weapon against each other, destroying it in the process. Hulk throws Ben up to the top of a building, and then topples that building, sending Ben back down to earth. The fight moves underground, where the Hulk gets electrocuted thanks to some exposed wires. Once they’re above ground again, Hulk and Thing run afoul of those jokesters from the Yancy Street gang, who send a driverless truck at them. It scoops them up, takes them down the street, and drops them in the Hudson River. Ben climbs aboard a convenient abandoned boat and tries to escape, but the Hulk catches up and smashes it. Ben makes it to the Washington Bridge, where he manages to tie the Hulk up with one of those huge bridge cables. Thing fears that he’s not strong enough to contain the Hulk, and sure enough, the Hulk breaks free. The Hulk beats down the Thing and demands to see the Avengers, or he’ll tear the city apart.

Back at HQ, a doctor has no idea what’s wrong with Reed, except that Reed spends all his time in his lab, exposed to potentially dangerous “strange microbes and untested formulae.” On the bridge, the Thing comes to, gets back to his feet, and proclaims that, despite his weakened, battered condition, he’ll stop the Hulk, no matter what it takes. “That’s the only way he’ll stop me now,” Ben says, “by killin’ me!”

To be continued!!!

Unstable molecule: Reed still wants Ben to be human, despite Ben’s change of heart about his “condition.” This shows that Reed carries around guilt about what became of Ben, something that will be explored in great depth by other writers and artists years later. His illness is an intriguing mystery, and opens the door for Ben to take center stage.

Fade out: Sue rescues Johnny from the Hulk, and then immediately returns to Reed’s bedside.

Clobberin’ Time: It’s a showcase for Ben, revealing that he and the Hulk are not equals in strength. Despite being outclassed by ol’ Greenskin, Ben perseveres, and keeps fighting. Real big-time hero stuff.

Flame on: Johnny is the first to try fighting the Hulk, but doesn’t last long before the Hulk knocks him out.

Trivia time: The Hulk last guest-starred in issue #12. The continuity between this issue and The Avengers is pretty air-tight. The Hulk was a member of the team for the first two issues, quitting in Avengers #2. The others didn’t just let him go, however, and pursued him in Avengers #3, where he fought with and then had a temporary alliance with Namor. His disappearance at the end of that issue makes way for Captain America’s return in Avengers #4 and easily leads into the start of this FF issue.

The Hulk’s alter ego is referred to as “Bob Banner” throughout this issue, instead of “Bruce Banner.” You know, back when the 1970s Incredible Hulk TV show renamed him “Robert Banner,” Marvel allegedly responded by saying the character’s name is “Robert Bruce Banner,” but he goes by his middle name most of the time. The use of the name “Bob” has me wondering if that was a thing long before the TV show, or if Stan and company simply screwed up.

Fantastic or frightful: Jack Kirby is often praised for his ability to draw huge action, and this issue is a perfect example. This Thing/Hulk brawl is the standard-setter for all future Thing/Hulk brawls.

Next time: Avengers assemble!

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