macmcentire

Re-reading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re making our way through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne, several issues at a time.

Issue #127: Ben has the idea in his head that the Mole Man might have the cure for Alicia’s blindness, so this issue begins with him returning to that weird house from issues 89-90, where the Mole Man was last seen fleeing into the underground. At HQ, Johnny is all mopey about how much he misses Crystal, and he has another run-in with the FF’s landlord, who is still trying to evict the FF. Johnny learns that Ben has left for Subterranea, and he flies off in pursuit. He sends word for Reed and Sue to join him.

Underground, Ben hears a woman singing, and rescues her from a monster. She is Kala, who says she is both an Atlantean, and queen of the “Netherworld,” which was separated from Atlantis years ago in an earthquake. She too is searching for the Mole Man, who she says is her “betrothed.” Reed, Sue, and Johnny enter the underground amid much bickering. Ben fights a bunch of Subterraneans and gets captured by the Mole Man. The whole thing was a trap by him and Kala. The Mole Man explains at great length his plans to cover the surface world with deadly lava. Ben escapes and fights more Subterraneans, only for the Mole Man to reveal that he hit Ben with an electrical aura, making him look like a big hairy monster. The FF see him, and, assuming he’s a beast, they attack.

Issue #128: The FF fight Ben, not knowing it’s him, and then Reed, Sue, and Johnny all pass out. The Mole Man gloats, taking time to mock his former rival Tyrannus, who is now hypnotized to be the Mole Man’s slave. He then notices the FF have disappeared, and he sends more Subterraneans to investigate. The FF moved to a new location in the caves with Sue making them invisible. Ben is still knocked out, but the others can see that it’s him now. Sue and Reed fight some more, because he wants her to stay behind and she wants to be part of the team. She and Ben go in one direction, and Reed and Johnny go in the other.

Reed and Johnny fight more Subterraneans, while Ben and Sue randomly rescue a reverend, Josiah Mandiz, from a big cage. The Mole Man brought the reverend down there to perform his marriage to Kala. The Mole Man spots them, and… fighting! Just when it looks like the Mole Man has defeated the FF, Kala reveals that Tyrannus is her true love, and that she’s betraying the Mole Man. But wait, Tyrannus then betrays Kala, saying he doesn’t really love her, and all he wants is Mole Man’s Subterranean army. Reed, while disguised as a Subterranean, fights Tyrannus. Tryannus escapes with one of the Mole Man’s vehicles, only to have it blow up because the Mole Man booby-trapped it. The Mole Man tells Ben he has no cure for blindness. The FF then make their escape, leaving the Mole Man all alone, underground.

Issue #129: While everyone is recovering from the fight with the Mole Man, Johnny announces that he can’t stand not being with Crystal, so he’s quitting the team. He tries to leave while his teammates try to force him to stay, for this issue’s excuse for the characters to show off their powers for a few pages. Sue finally lets Johnny go, saying a man should be with the woman he loves. Johnny arrives in the Himalayas, home of the Inhumans’ hidden city, where he is attacked and abducted by Inhuman guards. They take him to Black Bolt, and Johnny thinks that Black Bolt now has ill will against humans.

At HQ, the FF receive a telepathic message from supernatural nanny Agatha Harkness, saying she can no longer care for Franklin, but she can’t tell them why. Sue goes to get Franklin, but Reed, strangely, stays behind to work in his lab, and they bicker about this. Ben goes outside into the streets of New York, where he’s attacked. It’s the Frightful Four — the Wizard, Sandman, Medusa, and Paste Pot Pete, um, I mean the Trapster. Except this time, Medusa isn’t a bad guy, and she’s fighting her former teammates alongside Ben. The fight is at a construction site, so there’s lots of heavy equipment to trash. Then, the fourth and newest member of the Frightful Four shows up. It’s Thundra, a super-strong gigantic woman. She’s determined to prove herself more powerful than any man, and she fights Ben and Medusa to a standstill, knocking them both out.

Issue #130: In their moment of victory, the Frightful Four immediately start fighting with each other. Back in the Himalayas, the Inhumans’ royal family tries to tell Johnny that Crystal is OK, but… and before they can explain further, he flies off to this tower where she’s being kept. He fights a bunch of Inhumans on the way there and is finally reunited with Crystal. She’s about to reveal a big secret to him, when we cut to Reed, flipping out in his lab. He’s stressed about everything that’s happening, and the Sandman attacks him (they don’t say how Sandman got inside the building). Sandman suffocates Reed in a ball of sand until he’s unconscious. Now the Frightful Four can help themselves to the wonders of Reed’s lab. Instead, they fight among each other some more.

Sandman spots footprints and deduces that Sue is there, invisible. She is, and has Franklin with her. She sets the baby down in a safe spot and fights the Frightful Four. Franklin finds Ben. Franklin’s eyes glow green (!) and Ben wakes up and joins the fight. So does Reed, and he and Sue continue to argue about Franklin while battling the bad guys. Thundra reveals she has a “no killing” policy, and she sees in Ben his willingness to fight to save others. This has her considering him in a new light. The Frightful Four, knowing they’ve been beaten, escape and vow to fight on another day. Then things get really dark, as Sue announces she’s had enough of Reed devaluing her and the baby, so… she’s leaving him. Reed, scowling, lets her go, saying that even without her, there will always be a Fantastic Four.

Issue #131: This issue starts back with Johnny and Crystal, where she reveals she’s not alone in that tower. Quicksilver is in there with her. (Quicksilver has already had a history with both the X-Men and the Avengers.) After much yelling and accusations, Crystal finally gets Johnny to calm down long enough for an explanation. She says that when she left him last time, the teleportation went screwy, and put her in the path of a mutant-hunting Sentinel. She rescued Quicksilver from the Sentinel’s attack and brought him to the Inhumans’ city. As Crystal nursed Quicksilver back to health, they started having feelings for one another, and even kissing! Johnny asks Crystal if she loves him or Quicksilver, and she tearfully answers, “I don’t know.”

That’s all they guys need to hear to start fighting. The brawl is cut short by an earthquake. The Inhumans’ royal family says they don’t know the cause of these quakes. They suspect that their enemy Maximus and his new perpetual motion machine (!), but the machine appears to be harmless. Medusa was dispatched to go to New York and ask Reed for help, which is how she got caught up in the Frightful Four fight. Then, the Alpha Primitives, the Inhumans’ worker race, starts a rebellion, leading Johnny, Quicksilver, and the Inhumans to fight them off. The Alpha Primitives are sealed in an underground shaft, and our heroes learn that Crystal is sealed up in there with them. Johnny and Quicksilver use the Inhumans’ teleporting dog Lockjaw to enter the shaft (heh), where they encounter Omega, leader of the Alpha Primitives. He has Crystal held captive, and says that he will kill her unless Johnny and Quicksilver help him destroy the Inhumans.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: At one point, Reed is so stressed that, while working in the lab, he angrily throws a deadly isotope, almost destroying the entire building.

Fade out: Continuity headache! In one issue, we get a callback to Sue not being able to turn herself invisible when makes someone else invisible. But then, in the next issue, she turns herself and Franklin invisible at the same time. On the plus side, Sue’s transformation into most powerful member of the team continues, as she singlehandedly fights the Frightful Four.

Clobberin’ time: The first appearance of Thundra is an important moment, in that she and Ben will have an ongoing “will they/won’t they” thing going on in future issues.

Flame on: It’s revealed that Johnny’s teammates’ uniforms are lined with asbestos, to keep them from being burned when around him.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Medusa pretty much confirms her status as a reserve member of the FF. After the fight with the Frightful Four, she says, “We made a fine fighting foursome, did we not?”

Four and a half: Franklin has super-powers! We don’t know what yet, but glowing green eyes are a dead giveaway.

Commercial break: What is going on in this ad? Does this seem… suggestive to anyone else?

Trivia time: Here’s the first reveal of the Quicksilver/Crystal romance, one which will go on to last through several decades of Marvel continuity. Their romance blurs lines among X-Men, Avengers, and FF lore.

Kala previously appeared in an Iron Man story, which all about Atlantis and an underground kingdom. This plot was meant to merge that story with the rest of Marvel continuity.

Sue at one point compares herself to “Sue Barton, student nurse.” This is a reference to a series of novels for young girls that were popular from the ‘30s to the ‘50s.

Fantastic or Frightful? If my plot synopses make no sense, I assure you it’s not me, it’s these comics. These plots are bafflingly confusing, and the characters are constantly full of rage, fighting and arguing with each other. It makes them unlikable, and it makes these issues a chore to read.

Next week: More Inhumans. More Thundra.

****

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

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re quickly burning our way through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne.

Issue #122: Galactus is back! And he’s totally ticked off for some reason! He says he’s here to destroy the Earth, but Reed reminds him that he made a vow not to do so. Galactus then says he’ll spare the Earth in exchange for the Silver Surfer. He wants the Surfer to be his herald again. The Surfer refuses and… everyone fights! Despite his godlike powers, the FF do a much better job of fighting him than before, with Ben even managing to knock him off his feet. The battle takes everyone to a nearby amusement park (Coney Island, maybe?) where the Surfer decides to fly off to Galactus’ ship, to draw him away from Earth. Only, the barrier that keeps the Surfer trapped on Earth won’t let him reach the ship.

Back on Earth, Galactus trashes the roller coaster as everyone keeps fighting. Ben uses a Ferris wheel as a weapon (!) but gets himself knocked out. Reed and Sue leave the battle, so Johnny has to face the Big G all alone. Reed and Sue make it back to HQ, where they board their personal rocked (not a euphemism) and head into space, to take control of Galactus’ ship. Reed puts on a space suit and tries to board the ship, but a force field around it sends Reed flying off into space (the movie Gravity totally ripped off this comic). Sue uses her force field to punch a hole in the ship’s force field, and Reed goes inside, into the gigantic, alien control room. Reed then contacts Galactus, threatening to destroy his ship and exile Galactus on Earth if Galactus doesn’t comply.

Issue #123: Galactus responds to Reed’s threats with threats of his own, saying how easy it would be for him to devour the Earth and destroy them all, no matter what Reed does. Galactus then gives Reed until nightfall to meet his terms and return his ship. Then we get some odd business with Galactus wandering around New York, messing with stuff. He throws some trains around and then gets into a fight with the army. Back at HQ, Sue, how has somehow returned from space, gets a phone call from President Nixon (!), saying Reed has no legal authority to negotiate with Galactus. (Frustrated with Sue, Nixon scoffs, “Women!”)

Galactus returns to the FF, and the Surfer agrees to return to Galactus’ servitude, sacrificing his freedom to save humanity. Reed tries to stop the Surfer, saying he has a plan. Then there’s a weird bit where Reed and Surfer fight while the military opens fire on both of them, hitting Reed with a bullet. Johnny and Ben kick the soldiers’ butts while the Surfer uses the power cosmic to heal Reed. Reed and the Surfer then go to Agatha Harkness, who uses her astral projection magic to allow Reed to speak to the entire world at once. He explains that he tricked Galactus, so that Galactus and his ship are now flying around inside the Negative Zone, and not in our universe. The Surfer flies off, still exiled on Earth, but free — in his own way.

Issue #124: This one begins with several pages of action as Reed passes out while piloting the Fantasticar and his teammates work together to keep it from crashing. They rush Reed to the hospital, where all the nurses are freaking out, saying they were attacked by a monster. While Ben and Johnny investigate, the monster appears, knocking out Sue and taking her prisoner. After raiding the hospital storeroom, the monster rampages through New York, with Johnny in pursuit. It reaches the lake at Central Park, where it disappears with Sue. At the hospital, doctors diagnose the only thing wrong with Reed is stress and exhaustion, and he needs to take it easy.

Sue, meanwhile, wakes up in an underground cave. She tries to escape the monster, and accidentally floods the entire cave. Back at HQ, Johnny figures out that the monster is the “Monster from the Lost Lagoon” from issue #97. Reed wakes up at the hospital and wants to go rescue Sue, but he passes out again, not even know that she’s in danger of drowning.

Issue #125: Sue surrounds herself with a force field while underwater, but worries that it’s only a matter of time before she runs out of air. At HQ, Johnny spends several pages recapping issue #97, reminding readers that the monster is really a space alien, who only wanted to repair his crashed spaceship and get off of Earth with his mate. Inside the cave, the monster stops the flooding as Sue wonders what it is that he’s after. Reed tries to escape the hospital, but is still overwhelmed with exhaustion. Ben and Johnny want to take the pogo plane back to Central Park, but they forgot to refuel it (!) so there’s several pages of comedy business with Ben helping himself to one of Johnny’s hot rods to drive there.

Reed reunites with Ben and Johnny at the lake, even though Reed is acting all crazy and delusional. With a breathing apparatus, Johnny swims down into the lake and fights the monster underwater. By making the water boil, Johnny forces the monster to the surface, where it fights Ben. Reed stops the fight, saying that he knows why the monster is there. He says the monster’s mate picked up an Earth illness when they were last here, and had to return because only Earth medicine could cure her. As the monster leaves Earth again, Reed says they are like “brothers.”

Issue #126: On the first page, it appears Dr. Doom is attacking the Baxter Building, but it’s just an illusion conjured by Reed with his thought-projector helmet (last seen in issue #27). Then there’s a lot of soap opera business, where Sue chides Reed for not spending enough time with Franklin, Ben says he and Alicia shouldn’t get married until they get to know each other better (?), and Ben and Johnny bickering. Johnny flies off in a huff, and Reed and Sue take off to visit their son, leaving Ben alone.

Ben uses the thought-projector to reminisce, and most of the rest of the issue is a retelling of the group’s origin story, and their first battle with the Mole Man, all the way back in issue #1. He also flashes back to the group’s confrontation with Mole Man in the “futuristic house” story from issues #88-90. Ben then gets an idea: He suspects Mole Man has the cure for blindness, what with him living in the dark underground all this time, so he marches off to find Mole Man and get a cure for Alicia.

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: We’re never shown how, exactly, Reed gains control of Galactus’ ship, or how, exactly, he tricks Galactus into entering the Negative Zone. Then, Reed’s exhaustion-based fainting spells are introduced out of nowhere and then not treated with much concern.

Fade out: Sue shows some exciting new uses of her powers, including a razor-sharp force field to cut through her restraints after the monster kidnaps her.

Clobberin’ time: Is Ben getting stronger? He knocks Galactus over, and he lifts an entire Ferris wheel over his head.

Flame on: The artists experiment with a new look for Johnny in one issue, giving him wavy “fire hair.” Thankfully this doesn’t last.

Four and a half: When Reed and Surfer visit Agatha Harkness, Reed holds Franklin while fretting over the fate of the world, so he’s not totally negligent.

Commercial break: Invite your friends over for a haunting!

Trivia time: The general who leads the troops in attacking Galactus is Thunderbolt Ross, famous for constantly pursuing the Hulk.

Fantastic or frightful? Painful. Galactus is acting way out of character, not like a godlike celestial being, but like any of the lesser, power-mad thugs the FF has faced. The monster issues are another remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon, and the origin retelling comes off like filler. On the plus side, John Buscema’s artwork really shines, and it’s clear by this point that he really “gets” the FF.

Next week: Way down in the underground.

****

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

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re making our way through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne, several issues at a time.

Issue #117: We begin with Johnny, who has been all ticked off at everyone for the last few issues, flying to the Inhumans’ secret city in the Himalayas, in hopes of reuniting with Crystal. Crystal, remember, left abruptly several issues ago saying she could no longer live among human pollution. Johnny fights a bunch of Inhumans standing guard out in the snow, who reveal that Crystal never arrived at the city, and everyone believes she’s still with the FF. Also, Maximus the Mad has, through circumstances never revealed, taken over the city. Johnny, weakened from the fight, catches up with the rest of the FF at Agatha Harkness’s house. Harkness uses her (what else?) crystal ball to find Crystal, only to report that Crystal is no longer in “the normal world.”

In a flashback, we learn Crystal arrived in a war-torn alien landscape, where she is knocked out by evil chemist Diablo. (Dr. Doom stranded Diablo in this otherworld when they fought in Marvel Super Heroes #20.) Late at night in Harkness’s house, Johnny uses the Crystal ball again, and finds Crystal and Diablo emerging on Earth among Mayan ruins in South America. Diablo has possessed Crystal and dressed her in a super-sexy new costume. He’s using her powers to convince the superstitious natives to do his bidding. First, he will overthrow a local general, then take over the country, and then the world. Diablo’s followers start a revolution, with several pages of fighting and destruction. The issue ends on a weird partial-cliffhanger, in which Johnny flies over the battle, assuming that Crystal is not involved and deciding not to butt in.

Issue #118: So much for not butting in, because this issue begins with Johnny joining the fight and trashing a bunch of attacking airplanes. Johnny finds Crystal and tries to break the spell by kissing her, but it doesn’t work. She believes she’s a Mayan goddess and won’t have anything to do with him. She uses her elemental powers to douse Johnny’s flame and knock in unconscious. Diablo, meanwhile, succeeds in overthrowing the general, stating that he wants it for its natural supply of rare chemicals. He takes the general back to the Mayan ruins, where Johnny has woken up and is fighting Crystal.

The rest of the FF arrives, fighting their way through the revolution, and then facing off with Diablo. Diablo sics the giant Inhuman dog Lockjaw on them, and Ben gets to wrestle the big dog. Diablo’s chemicals start to wear off, and Crystal becomes herself again. Inside the ruins, Diablo fights the general, only to have the chemicals spill and cause a huge explosion. (We’re not told that Diablo is dead, but we’re not told that he survives, either. He’s just… gone.) Crystal of course says she can’t stay with Johnny, because she has to go back to Black Bolt and help the Inhumans defeat Maximus.

Issue #119: This one begins with Ben and Johnny bickering while Sue and Reed break them up. It’s another excuse for the characters to show off their powers for the first pages (been a while since we had one of those). Reed introduces his new household robot, AUNTIE, to clean up the Baxter Building. Then, our heroes get a message from Wakanda, from the Black Panther’s chief advisor. He tells them about two thieves, Jeth Robards and Nathan Kumalu, who stole an invention called the Vibatron (!) that can enhance the powers of Wakanda’s rare metal Vibranium. Black Panther has followed the thieves to a country called Rudyarda, a haven for white supremacists, where he’s disappeared.

If that’s not “real world” enough for you, Ben and Johnny take a commercial airliner to Rudyarda, only for it to get hijacked (!) in mid-flight. There’s a few pages of our heroes taking out the hijacker. They find Kumalu, who says the thieves are meeting with a mysterious buyer at midnight, and that Black Panther is locked up in a local prison. Ben and Johnny bust him out of the joint, and he reveals his new codename — the Black Leopard! He says he changed his name because “Black Panther,” he explains, has “political connotations.” They hurry to meet the buyer, who, it turns out, is sound-based villain Klaw. (Remember that Klaw was originally introduced as a villain for Black Panther.) Everybody fights! Ben destroys Klaw’s sound weapon and Black Leopard punches him out. Then we get the preachy ending in which Ben makes a political connotation of his own by destroying doors segregating whites and blacks.

Issue #120: Enough with the important social issues. This issue starts off in the middle of some action, with the Baxter Building under attack by gun-wielding masked men. After several pages of fighting these guys, the FF’s landlord shows up again, once more threatening to evict our heroes. Then Agatha Harkness appears in some kind of astral form, warning the FF of danger, but not saying what it is. We then get the comics version of a montage, where people all over the world react to a strange man walking in the sky above them. The FF investigates, luring the stranger, dubbed the “Air-Walker” by pedestrians, to the Baxter Building, where he just stands there in the sky, not reacting to them any further.

The Pentagon won’t have this, so tanks and missiles are launched to attack the Air-Walker, who blows them all away with awesome cosmic power. The Air-Walker summons a giant golden horn out of nowhere, and he says his name is Gabriel, here to announce that the end of the Earth is at hand.

Issue #121: The FF fights Gabriel, along with several strange lines of dialogue speculating on whether he’s an angel. Gabriel speaks to all the New Yorkers out on the street, telling them that the Earth can be spared if they kill the Fantastic Four. The locals chase the FF around for a few pages, until Reed leads the team to a TV station. All broadcasts have stopped worldwide, due to fear about Gabriel destroying them all. The FF heads back to the Baxter Building, and then starts another fight with Gabriel, who throws all their attacks back at them, flooding part of NYC while he’s at it.

In outer space just beyond Earth, the Silver Surfer takes notice of the battle, and he flies down to join the FF. The Surfer and Gabriel fight, while spouting a lot of serious dialogue about truth and destiny. The Surfer finally destroys Gabriel, revealing him to be a highly powerful robot. Just as our heroes ask who could have built such a robot, the answer appears in the sky above them — it’s Galactus, and he looks pissed!

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: Reed is shown inventing a brand-new fireproof plastic in one issue, but this is never brought up again. You’d think something like that would come in handy.

Fade out: Sue demonstrates all sorts of new uses for her powers in these issues, such as creating invisible parachutes and cushions to protect her teammates from falls, and confusing enemies by turning only parts of their bodies invisible.

Clobberin’ time: Issue #118 has a truly weird backup story in which Ben visits an alternate reality where there’s an entire village of Reed lookalike robots, built by an alternate Reed who got Ben’s Thing powers from the cosmic rays.

Flame on: Johnny is getting good at these long distance flights, traveling from New York to the Himalayas to South America in one issue.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Crystal doesn’t rejoin the team, but at least she and Johnny get to say a real goodbye this time.

Four and a half: Franklin’s nanny Agatha Harkness keeps showing up in the FF’s lives, but Franklin himself is oddly absent. Who’s watching this kid?

Commercial break: Fat track!

Trivia time: These issues have Maximus in control of the Inhumans’ city, but the Kree-Skrull war was happening at the same time in The Avengers, where Black Bolt was shown as sitting on the throne. It’s believed that these issues take place just before the war, and that the royal family made short work of Maximus after Crystal rejoined them.

The Black Panther’s new “Black Leopard” name didn’t last beyond this appearance. He next showed up in Daredevil #92, where he was back to calling himself Black Panther again.

The Marvel Wiki doesn’t have any entry I could find for the robot AUNTIE, but clearly she was a forerunner for the notoriously hated HERBIE the Robot. We’ll get to HERBIE soon enough.

Fantastic or frightful? Yeesh. The Diablo and Air-Walker stories are lesser retreads of what had gone on before, and the “realistic” Black Panther story is embarrassingly heavy-handed and preachy. The series is really hurting by this point.

Next: Monsters, Inc.

****

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

Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re making our way through the “middle years,” several issues at a time.

Issue #113: In the last few issues, Ben developed the ability to turn back into a human, only for this “cure” to drive him mad. This led to a huge Thing/Hulk fight, resulting in Ben’s death! Reed, Johnny and Alicia are all at the battle scene, confirming that Ben is indeed dead. The Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner and runs off, pity-partying about having killed someone. Johnny and Reed argue while the police and the anti-superhero protestors from last issue chase them around New York. Reed takes Ben’s body back to the Baxter Building. Reed hooks up sensitive medical equipment to Ben, saying his heartbeat is impossible to detect by normal means.

Reed and Johnny continue to argue (Reed calls Johnny a “brat” at one point) as a strange light appears in the sky over New York. Reed revives Ben, who is feeling better. Ben destroys the machine that “cured” him, so that he never loses control again. He says he likes being the Thing, and he’s done trying to save himself. Johnny is still ticked off, and he flies away. The light over the city intensifies, revealing it to be the Watcher, arriving at FF headquarters with a dire warning. He says “Beware the Over-Mind” and vanishes. Elsewhere, the NYC mayor issues an executive order to disband the FF. (Can he do that?) The big twist is that the mayor is being manipulated by a crazy-looking character, the Over-Mind!

Issue #114: The FF are arrested because of damages to the city in their superhero fights, and this issue starts with them posting bail. Public opinion is still against them. The Over-Mind, meanwhile, goes out walking in New York, expositing about how much he hates Earthlings and can’t wait to conquer the planet. He coincidentally runs into the FF, and it’s several pages of fighting. The Over-Mind has “energy” powers, which deflects the FF’s attacks, and he has mental telepathy, erasing their memories of the fight.

Then there’s some business with the FF’s landlord trying to evict them, while the Over-Mind goes to his ship, hidden in a junkyard. He mentions the “Eternals,” and he says there is a prophecy that he will someday rule the universe. Then Agatha Harkness shows up with more dire warnings for the FF. With Ben and Johnny’s help, Harnkess casts a spell to contact the Watcher, who promises to spill the beans about the Over-Mind.

Issue #115: The Watcher tells the story of a faraway galaxy, home to advanced beings called Eternals. They got into wars, conquering lesser beings and staging gladiator games. A warrior named Grom was the Eternals’ greatest champion. One planet, Gigantus, fights back against the Eternals, forcing them to condense the minds of all Eternals into a single being, the Over-Mind who was cast into space in suspended hibernation, until now, when he’s made it to Earth. (How he ended in the NYC’s mayor’s office is anyone’s guess.)

The Watcher clues the FF in that the Over-Mind messed with their memories. Reed says only a great intellect can defeat the Over-Mind, and wants to face him alone. Ben figures out the Reed’s mind has been taken over by the Over-Mind (how does he know this?) and we get a couple of pages of Reed fighting his teammates before escaping.

Issue #116: Double-sized issue! To find Reed, Sue is the one who does the science thing, rigging a special Geiger counter to track him. Ben and Johnny follow the trail to where the Over-Mind is torturing Reed, erasing all the math and equations from Reed’s mind. Later joined by Sue, our heroes fight the Over-Mind, who is so powerful that he drives them off. Out in New York, there is rioting in the streets due to the Over-Mind’s influence. Sue flees to Avengers Mansion, but the Avengers are out of town. Harkness contacts Sue, telling her there is another great mind with the ability to challenge the Over-Mind: Dr. Doom!

Sue breaks into the Latverian embassy confronts a cigarette-smoking Doom. She gets him to help with reverse psychology, calling him a coward. Doom joins the fight, back out in New York, fighting alongside the FF against the Over-Mind. It’s several pages of fighting, with Doom using a “psionic refractor” to turn the Over-Mind’s powers against him. Reed, still under the Over-Mind’s control, joins the fight, taking out Doom and Sue, and it looks like the Over-Mind has won. Then, another alien, the Stranger, shows up out of nowhere. Just as the Over-Mind is the sum of all the Eternals, it turns out the Stranger is the sum of all Gigantus. The Strange banishes the Over-Mind to another, empty dimension. This fulfills the prophecy that he will crush the universe, except that this is already dead universe for the Over-Mind to crush.

Reed overcomes the Over-Mind’s programming by remembering his love for Sue and Franklin. Doom runs off saying that he and the FF are still enemies. The Watcher returns and says the FF made a difference, weakening the Over-Mind just enough for the Stranger to step in. Johnny is still ticked off, and he flies away, leaving his teammates to wonder where he’s gone.

Unstable molecule: Reed spends most of these issues under someone else’s control, meaning his teammates have to rescue him for once. He also shows he’s tough enough to fight all three of teammates at once.

Fade out: Sue the scientist! She whips up a device to track down Reed.

Clobberin’ time: Ben decides he’d rather be the Thing than be human again, except he already went through this a while back. It’s kind of a circular thing for him, I guess.

Flame on: OK, why is Johnny so angry? He spends this entire run of issues absolutely furious at Reed. One line of dialogue states that it’s because Crystal dumped him, but maybe it’s more than that.

Four and a half: Franklin spends these issues still being watched by Agatha Harkness, except that she keeps sticking her nose in the FF’s business with her magic. Maybe that shape-changing cat of hers is babysitting.

Fantastic fifth wheel: Strange but true, Dr. Doom has fought alongside the FF enough times that he’s often considered one of the team’s reserve members. This is the first time we see it happen.

Commercial break: Be taller!

Trivia time: The Eternals introduced in this issue are not the same Eternals later created by Jack Kirby when returned to Marvel in the late ‘70s, although there are some similarities. The Over-Mind, in particular, is similar in concept the Kirby Eternals’ Unimind. Many have speculated that both are inspired by the concept of the Overmind from Arthur C. Clarke’s novel Childhood’s End.

Fantastic or frightful? These issues want to be all huge and dramatic, and the Over-Mind was created to be one of the biggest, baddest villains ever, but it just doesn’t work. We’ve just seen too much of this stuff already in the Lee/Kirby run, where it was done better. The Over-Mind is a generic baddie, and the novelty of Doom temporarily joining the team isn’t played up as much as it could be. The scene where Reed remembers his love for his family is a great character moment for him, but other than that, there’s not much here.

Next week: Domestic bliss.

****

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Rereading the Fantastic Four comics from the start. We’re making our way through the “middle years,” after Jack Kirby but before John Byrne. In this batch of issues, we get another trip to the Negative Zone and a killer superhero vs. superhero fight.

Issue #108: In the previous issue some guy named Janus showed up, and it was clear he and the FF have some kind of history. This issue is mostly a flashback explaining just what that is. Janus was originally the “Nega-Man,” using “nega-energy” to rob banks, fighting Johnny and Ben in the process. Reed reveals that he knew Janus back in college, and he suspects something’s up beyond mere bank robbery. Turns out Janus once experimented with energy from the Negative Zone, splitting himself into two people, with his other self being the evil Nega-Man.

In a surprising dark moment, Janus shot and killed Nega-Man, and Reed thought it was over. Only now, Janus has returned. He got into Reed’s lab, and flung himself into the Negative Zone. The Negative Zone portal then opens, and out comes Annihilus.

Issue #109: Turns out Annihilus is not actually on Earth yet. He’s merely confronting Janus in the Negative Zone, as Janus could provide him a way to get to Earth. Reed, Ben and Johnny enter the Negative Zone with Sue staying behind to open the portal for them upon their return. Annihilus agrees to let Janus live if Janus takes him to Earth. These negotiations are interrupted by the FF, and there’s several pages of fighting. In his thirst for power, Janus flies into a “zone of anti-matter,” where he seemingly dies.

Uncharacteristically, Reed uses a gun (!) to fend off Annihilus. Ben and Johnny make it back home, but Reed’s homing device was broken in the fight, meaning he’s stranded in the Negative Zone.

Issue #110: Everyone frets about Reed still trapped. Reed makes his way around the Negative Zone, to hunt down Annihilus. Back in New York, Franklin’s supernatural nanny Agatha Harkness shows up, chewing Sue out for spending so much time away from the baby. Ben’s anger continues to be out of control since he got his shape-changing “cure.” He gets so ticked off at Sue that he threatens violence against her. After he storms off, Johnny decides he wants to go back into the Negative Zone with another homing device to get Reed home. He secures the device in a cocoon of intensified flame, and sends it to Reed. Reed gets it, but doesn’t want Annihilus following him home.

Agatha Harkness casts a spell to make it look like the Negative Zone is filled with clones of Reed, and this is just the distraction he needs to slip away from Annihilus. Reed makes it home. It should be a cause for celebration, but Ben loses it. His anger is out of control. He trashes Reed’s lab and wanders off, saying he and Reed are now enemies.

Issue #111: Out in the streets of New York, Ben is nothing but rage. He trashes a construction site, and is chased by the cops. He evades them easily by transforming back into a human. Reed whines about how the cure has affected his personality. Johnny flies over New York looking for Ben. Ben spots him, turns back into the Thing.

Then there’s a weird bit where the FF’s landlord wants to evict them because of crowds out front protesting the Thing’s violence, and Reed throws the landlord out, rather violently. Ben defeats Johnny, and goes on to rob a bank. Reed has Johnny fly into the air and a write message in the sky for Dr. Bruce Banner, whom Reed says is the only person who can help Ben. Banner sees this, hops into a taxi, and makes his way to the Baxter Building. They drive right into Ben’s rampaging in Central Park. Banner (of course) loses it and turns into the Hulk.

Issue #112: Ooohh yeah, time for a Thing/Hulk slugfest! The two heavy hitters beat each other senseless for several pages, using Central Park’s trees and statues as weapons. Reed has a pity party, and won’t let Johnny join the fight. Throughout the city, the fight has stirred up huge waves of anti-superhero sentiment with protestors all over the place, and the landlord threatens eviction again.

As the fight leaves the park and out into the buildings, Alicia dares to go out into the city to try to talk some sense into Ben. A piece of stray debris hits her and knocks her out. When Ben sees this, he’s distracted just long enough for the Hulk to deliver the killing blow. Reed arrives on the scene just the Hulk turns back into Bruce Banner, but he’s too late for Ben. Ben is… dead?!?

To be continued!

Unstable molecule: What’s the deal with Reed using a gun all of a sudden? OK, sure, it’s a “stun gun,” but it’s still out of character. Later, the weight of driving Ben crazy weighs heavily on Reed.

Fade out: Sue doesn’t enter the Negative Zone, but she remains part of the action by monitoring the action from the Earth side. We see her striving for more of a balance in spending time with the baby and fighting evil with the FF.

Clobberin’ time: Although consumed with rage, Ben doesn’t seem full-on evil, and he’s not seriously hurting people, just kind of throwing them around. Still, it’s interesting character development on his part. He’s gone from accepting his status as a monster, back to being enraged by it.

Flame on: Johnny can protect sensitive tech by surrounding it in solidified flames. Science?

Four and a half: Even though he’s outside of the city with his nanny, lil’ Franklin can tell Reed is in trouble, more foreshadowing of his emerging powers.

Commercial break: The Bug Bomb!

Trivia time: The Negative Zone issues establish a lot of what will be regular features of the Negative Zone from here on out, including those flying backpack things, and having to leave someone behind to bring everyone back home. Also, the statue of “General Forbush” seen in Central Park is an Easter egg, referring to Marvel in-joke character Irving Forbush.

Fantastic or frightful? The Negative Zone story is another example of why the middle years are so rarely talked about. It’s the comic spinning its wheels, doing the same sort of stories it had done before. Ben’s descent into madness and subsequent epic battle with the Hulk is excellent, however, with the big action and big emotion that Fantastic Four comics are known for.

Next week: Under over, over under

****

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