The First Two Adventures Of The Fantastic Four

 

It is easy to see the Fantastic Four now, and their wonderful adventures as a family and as a foundation of the Marvel Universe....

...but what were they like when there was no Marvel Universe?

A quick look at the first two issues of the Fantastic Four by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, with that thought in mind.

A Timely Preamble

While Timely Comics (the precursors to Marvel) had a few super heroes (mostly notably Captain America), by the early sixties, the publisher that would be Marvel was making monster comics, and the citizens of the world had to deal with alien invaders and horribly mutated creatures that would make their lives miserable, with only random scientists, brave military and occasionally some siblings to save them.

But all that would change with Fantastic Four #1....

The Fantastic Four!

Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and George Klein gave us Fantastic Four #1 (November, 1961), and it started with a menacing gathering of four people (first, Mr. Fantastic, Reed Richards, who sent out the calling, then, the Invisible Girl, Sue Storm, fading out from a society friend, the lumbering Thing, Ben Grimm, smashing his way through a world too small for him, and the Human Torch, Johnny Storm, burning to get to the meeting, and needing a little help from Reed at the end).

But, who were these people?

The four were astronauts, led by Reed, a scientist, who disagreed with his friend, Ben, the ship's pilot, about how safe they would be from the cosmic rays in space.  But, they still wanted to get to the moon, and would include as crew Reed's fiance Sue, who would go wherever Reed went, and mechanic Johnny, who would follow his sister.  Stealing away in their ship to launch early, the four did make it to space, but Ben was smarter than Reed, as their shielding was insufficient, and the four were exposed to strange radiation, manifesting as powers for each of them.  After a brief tussle, the four realized they needed to work together to help the human race.

But, what of the menace they had to face now?

Well, that was the threat of disappearing atomic plants across the world...that were taken by monsters from inside the Earth!  Stretching his incredible brain, Reed calculated where to go to find the source of the problem, and it was Monster Isle.  There, the four searched, faced a dragon like creature, then were separated, with Reed and Johnny meeting the Mole Man....leader of the subterranean world, who had found Monster Isle as he fled humanity, then, falling into this strange underground world, learned to master the monsters there to take revenge on the people who hated him.  The four rallied together to beat him, sealing the tunnel to the island, though they left the Mole Man behind....

...and, on to the next adventure!

The Fantastic Four Meet The Skulls From Outer Space!

With their second appearance in Fantastic Four #2 (January, 1962, by Lee, Kirby and Klein), the four seemed to be famous (likely more from their astronaut fame, as no one other than the team saw their battle against the Mole Man), the four seemed to be an actual menace to the world, with the Thing destroying an oil tower, the Invisible Girl stealing a priceless diamond, the Human Torch destroying a statue, and Mr. Fantastic turning out the lights to a city...

...maybe they weren't heroes after all!

Well, it was really the evil invading aliens, the Skrulls, who were to blame for the misdeeds, as these four advanced soldiers used their shape-changing abilities to impersonate the heroic team, hoping to turn the world against the heroes.  The FF gathered in secret, debating what to do, as the military closed in, taking the Four prisoner.  But, not prison could hold these heroes, and they promptly escaped...

...but what to do now?

Reed came up with the idea of one of them causing more mischief, in the hopes that their evil doppelgangers would then find the mischief maker, and take in the FF member.  Johnny volunteered to be the agent, and was quickly found by the Skrulls.  They could Johnny to their base, where he called in the rest of the team, and they made quick work of these Skrulls.  But, in finding them, the four realized there was a bigger menace, the rest of the Skrull invasion force.  Thinking quickly, Reed decided his four would impersonate the Skrull four, and go back, and report that Earth had too many menaces there for the Skrulls to conquer the world (oddly, using Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery comics as proof).  The invasion fleet left, and the Fantastic Four returned to Earth, convincing the remaining three Skrulls to change into cows, where they were hypnotized to forget their Skrull life, leaving them contented.  (But, what of the fourth Skrull?   A tale for the future....).

Still, these two issues helped found the Marvel Universe, setting up many tales both in and above the Earth...as soon after, the Marvel Universe started to grow with Hank Pym, a man who shrank to the size of ant, and the Fantastic Four got costumes, a headquarters and even a car, as the Fantastic Four became more of a success for Lee and Kirby!

Saluting The Puppet Master

Today is World Puppetry Day, so, it is time to give a little love to the Fantastic Four villain, the Puppet Master, a somewhat tragic villain, or at least he became as his story unfolded.

Puppet Master premiered in Fantastic Four #8 (November, 1962) in a story by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Dick Ayers, where the villain used a special radioactive clay to control the minds of others, all the while caring for his blind stepdaughter, Alicia Masters.

Strange Tales

Puppet Master did menace the Fantastic Four again, using Namor against them, but then worked against the Human Torch and the Thing, later in conjunction with the Mad Thinker, as part of deadly duo, turning the two friends against each other to further his own nefarious plans. 

 

Tales To Astonish and Marvel Team-Up

Puppet Master also worked against the Sub-Mariner early in his career, making Namor seem more violent than he really was.  But, the Puppet Master, real name Philip Masters, had regrets, as he had split with the Mad Thinker, and tried to undo the damage he had done as he was the one who blinded his own stepdaughter, Alicia.

Marvel Two-In-One

Still, the Puppet Master would fall back on his old ways, using his skills to put other heroes against the Fantastic Four, or even having to deal with the Thing for help around Christmas as the Puppet Master came to see his stepdaughter for the holiday.

Back to Fantastic

Sadly, Philip Masters couldn't escape his evil ways, returning again and again to face the Fantastic Four, while he did evidence concern for Alicia.

Fantastic Four 1 Anniversary

Celebrating the original release of Fantastic Four #1 (cover dated November, 1961), but released on August 8, 1961, with an incredible story detailing the origin and first case of the Fantastic Four as told by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and George Klein....and kicking off Marvel Comics! 

This issue, once considered the beginning of the Marvel Universe (though, later, Timely tales of Captain America, Human Torch, Sub-Mariner, the Blonde Phantom, Whizzer, Miss America, the Patriot, Venus and more were considered canon, as well as select tales from books like Strange Tales and Journey Into Mystery including tales of gorillas, robots, Zombies and Hydra) , it still is a milestone in Marvel history!

But, back to the Fantastic Four...in this first issue, we see scientist Reed Richards, his best friend pilot Ben Grimm, Reed's fiance Sue Storm and her brother, Johnny, take off in a spaceship (originally to be the first to reach the moon, later "updated" to be the first interstellar flight), wherein the crew is exposed to cosmic rays in their improperly shielded ship, and, after crash landing back on Earth, find they each have gained powers in line with their personalities, becoming the stretchable Mr. Fantastic, strong Thing, faded Invisible Girl and fiery Human Torch!  They gather together in this issue to battle the Mole Man, and his monsters....one of many menaces they face!

So this would continue, with over 100 issues of Lee and Kirby, and so many more after that (partially covered in this early index), helped found the Marvel Universe....and so many more adventures to come!

Perez Marvel Holiday Special

George Perez has contributed a lot of art to Marvel over the decades, but he hasn't done too many Christmas based drawings....at least until the Marvel Holiday Special of 1994.

Made that much more special, as it also has a rare drawing of Spider-Man, and even X-Men Iceman and Wolverine (though George did draw a lot of the Beast when he was an Avenger).

Sad that he didn't doing anything inside, but the stories are: Beast/Iceman by Kurt Busiek, James Fry and Neil Vokes; Captain America by John Ostrander and Tom Mandrake; the Thing by Gregory Wright and Mike Manley; Silver Surfer by J. M. DeMatteis, Mindy Newell, Rick Leonardi and Al Williamson; Spider-Man by Karl Bollers and Gray Morrow and the X-Men featuring Wolverine by Karl Bollers and Sal Buscema as the Marvel heroes get ready for Christmas.

 

Celebrate International Beer Day With The Thing

Hoist a cold one, not unlike the Thing, as today is International Beer Day!

Here, in Marvel Two-In-One #86 (April, 1982; by Tom DeFalco, Ron Wilson and Chic Stone), instead of fighting, the Thing and Sandman discuss the mistakes Sandman had in his life that led to his being a super-villain....all over a cold one at the local pub.

It's not all fights, as people can sit down and hash one out over a beer!

I Am Ant-Man!

Scott Lang started out as a technician, working to upgrade Avengers mansion (in Avengers #181  of March, 1979, even if he didn’t make the cover…but there were so many others there including original Ant-Man, Hank Pym, and his wife, the Wasp), but became so much more…he became a hero in his own right, in spite of himself.
 

But, we might be getting a little a head of ourselves here…let’s go back to Scott Lang’s first outing in a super-suit…which happened one month after the Avengers issue….

Birth of A Hero

With Marvel Premiere #47 and 48 (April and May 1979, written by David Michelinie and art by John Byrne and Bob Layton), this ex-con was trying to make good with his life, and save his daughter, Cassie, from dying…and to do that, he was falling back on his old ways, that of burglary.


Scott figured if he could take the suit and shrinking gas, he could find Dr. Erica Sondheim (a noted heart surgeon)…but she was being held captive by Darren Cross (the head of Cross Technological Enterprises, a company he founded).

Scott confronted Cross (who had mutated into a large, super-strong man)…


...and saved the doctor (well, she actually saved him…hey, you don't want too many spoilers, do you), and she, in turn, saved Cassie.


Yellowjacket (Hank Pym, the man formerly known as Ant-Man), decided to let Scott keep the Ant-Man suit (as Hank was comfortable in his new identity), figuring Scott could do some good with the Ant-Man identity!



Scott Lang did…


…helping Iron Man and the Avengers!

Starting with Iron Man #125 (August, 1979) and Avengers #195 (May, 1980).

But, there were more Iron Man and Avengers issues...

As well as assisting licensed Marvel properties like the Micronauts and Rom, in Micronauts #19 and #20 (July and August, 1980), and Rom #58 and #59 (September and October, 1984).

The new Ant-Man helped Spider-Man and the Thing as well, in Marvel Team-Up #103 (March, 1981) and Marvel Two-In-One #87 (May, 1982)!

Scott has worked with the Avengers when the Avengers dealt with the Masters of Evil (a couple of times!).

Ant-Man even worked with the Fantastic Four for a time (from Fantastic Four #384 to #416 in the 1990s, more or less).

Then, Ant-Man returned to the worked with the Heroes For Hire (with Luke Cage, Iron Fist, She-Hulk and more) and returned to the Avengers...

Scott even joined the Avengers (along with the Jack of Hearts for a time!).

Heck, everyone owes Ant-Man some thanks, as Scott Lang has been the little guy who has helped the Marvel Universe!

Building A Black Goliath

Dr. William Barrett Foster was just the right guy in the right place at the right time...working for Tony Stark when Goliath (Hank Pym) was stuck at a larger size...and the Avengers were being attacked by the Sons of the Serpent in Avengers #32-35 (September to December, 1966, in stories by Stan Lee and Roy Thomas, with art by Don Heck).  This led to Foster being Pym's regular assistant (in Avengers #41, #54 (first appearance of Ultron), and #75 (first appearance of Arkon), and even being called in by the Avengers to help find the missing Ant-Man (Hank Pym, going back an identity) and Wasp in Marvel Feature #9 (May, 1973) during Ant-Man time being stuck at a smaller size and facing Dr. Nemesis.

Sidelined No Longer

Bill Foster finally took on a starting role, as he turned into Black Goliath for two issues of Power Man (#24 and #25, by Tony Isabella and George Tuska, and then Tony and Bill Mantlo with Ron Wilson in April and June of 1975).  In these two issues, Power Man (Luke Cage, who had taken the Power Man name from an Avengers villain), was looking for his friend Claire Temple, and she had been looking for Bill, her ex-husband, whom she married and left before his working with the Avengers.  Bill had duplicated the Pym growth formula, and taken it while working at Stark Industries in Los Angeles, convincing her he was stuck at giant size and working at a circus to help fund research to allow him back to normal size.  

Sadly, that circus was Ringmaster's Circus of Crime, which Power Man and Black Goliath ended up fighting; and Luke won Claire's heart.  Foster returned to LA...and his own series!

Big Man in Los Angeles

Black Goliath #1 (February, 1976 by Tony Isabella and George Tuska), details Bill Foster's return to the west coast and Los Angeles and Stark Industries facility there, and with encouragement from Hank Pym (the original Ant-Man, Giant-Man and Goliath, who was being Yellowjacket at the time with the Avengers, ignoring his size-increasing powers), decides to keep his Black Goliath identity and be a super-hero! 

During his first battle with the radioactive villain Atom-Smasher (Ronald English), and was dosed in radiation (which gave Bill Foster some problems with his size changing....but more on that later..).

The battle continued into Black Goliath #2 (April, 1976, by Chris Claremont and George Tuska), where Black Goliath wins (but with a cost...).  Also lurking behind the scenes was Warhawk (a super-powered assassin who had previously fought Iron Fist, though that wasn't revealed until later).

With Black Goliath #3 (June, 1976, also by Claremont and Tuska), Warhawk killed the Atom-Smasher at the behest of his employer....and Black Goliath faced off against the new villain of Vulcan...a super-strong, angry man, who broke into the Stark Industries facility to get an experimental device.

In Black Goliath #4 (August, 1976 written by Chris Claremont and art by Rich Buckler and Don Heck), Foster tries to find out what experiment was stolen from Tony Stark, but Stark wouldn't reveal the facts about it...and, while dealing with that, Black Goliath also had to face off against the old Daredevil foe of Stilt-Man, who used his Z-Ray to make Bill, and his friends Celia Jackson and her nephew Keith vanish...

...to reappear in Black Goliath #5 (November, 1976 by Chris Claremont and Keith Pollard), wherein Black Goliath, Celia and Keith are found teleported to the alien planet of Kirgar, and face off with Mortag to get home!  All this, and sadly, it was the end of Black Goliath's regular series....but not the end of Black Goliath!

Hanging With Teams

After a brief team-up with the Fantastic Four's favorite pilot, the blue-eyed bashful Thing, to face off against the old Ant-Man villain, the Hijacker (in Marvel Two-In-One #24 of February, 1977 by writers Bill Mantlo and Jim Shooter, and art by Sal Buscema and Pablo Marcus), where the aptly-named villain tried to steal items from the Stark West facility while the Thing was there helping Dr. Bill Foster test a new type of space suit...

....(and a friendship between Bill and Benjamin J. Grimm started, which helped Bill out more than once later in his life!).

Still, what of the Stilt-Man and that missing item?

Well, check out Champions #11 and #12 (February and March of 1977), where Black Goliath works with odd west coast team of super-heroes (which include ex-Avengers Hercules and Black Widow, and ex-X-Men Angel and Iceman, as well as the demonic Ghost Rider), and things got Stranger (a cosmic villain that once faced the X-Men and Silver Surfer...). 

This led to a consulting job for Bill Foster with the Champions (which, sadly, didn't last long, as the team soon disbanded...sadder still as likely, Black Goliath would have also found a home there!).  Instead, he was looking for Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew) in Spider-Woman #4 (July, 1978), and ended up being a "Defender for a Day" (along with heroes like Captain Marvel, Captain Ultra, Falcon, Havok, Hercules, Iron Fist, Jack of Hearts, Marvel Man, Ms. Marvel, Nova, Paladin, Polaris, Prowler, Son of Satan, Stingray, Tagak, Torpedo and the White Tiger; heroes who hadn't really made it or were regular team members of any team at the time, all to the frustration of real Defender, Nighthawk), all called together when a documentary maker named Dollar Bill made a call for more Defenders members in Defenders #62-#65 in 1978.  This was also the last appearance of Black Goliath....

New Job, New Name

...as Bill Foster took on the name of Giant-Man as he joined Project:P.E.G.A,S.U.S. (Bill Foster brought the body of Atom-Smasher to the facility in Marvel Two-In-One #54 of August, 1979 where he was greeted by the Thing and Quasar (formerly Marvel Man, now the head of security at this research facility; and Bill had to reveal his identity of Black Goliath to Ben in Marvel Two-In-One #55 in September, 1979).  Quite a bit more happened at Project:P.E.G.A,S.U.S., and it involved the amazonian Thundra, cybernetic Deathlok and alien Wundarr and even the Cosmic Cube as well, as the saga rolled on until Marvel Two-In-One #58 (December, 1979).

Eventually, Bill Foster revealed that he got a fatal dose of radiation from Atom-Smasher, and with the help of his friends, including the Thing, Iceman, Captain America and Spider-Woman, got treated for the problem....

...and continued to appear here and there across the Marvel Universe (more as Bill Foster), but eventually returning as Giant-Man (where he faced off against Ant-Man foe, Dr. Nemesis in Marvel Comics Presents #113-118 in 1992).

Back to Basics

But, Bill Foster had a chance encounter with the Thing (in Thing #1, January, 2006), and had become Goliath again, even making the cover of the last issue (Thing #8 of September, 2006).

Sadly, Bill Foster should have stayed in retirement, as his return coincided with the Marvel series, Civil War, which put heroes against heroes, with some of them, like Goliath (who had sided with Captain America against Iron Man), not making it out of the series alive.

(The poor guy couldn't even make a cover of the main series!).

Still, we can only hope that some day, Bill Foster will return (he did, as shown in this cover with popular Avengers like Tigra, Moon Knight, Mockingbird, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Hawkeye, Mantis and Black Panther, from West Coast Avengers Annual #3 of 1988!) and that maybe Marvel would collect the original Black Goliath #1-5 (maybe along with the Ant-Man feature of Marvel Feature #4-10 of 1972?

Marvel's Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bags

Back in the day, Marvel had over sized Treasury comics, having some new stories, but mostly reprints.

 

 

Marvel did three holiday themed collections, and here they are for your enjoyment!

Christmas 1974

The first of Marvel's three Christmas specials was the Marvel Treasury Special, Giant Superhero Holiday Grab-Bag of 1974 and a cover by John Buscema and John Romita.

This collection contained Marvel Team-Up #1 (March, 1972) by Roy Thomas and Ross Andru, and had Spider-Man and the Human Torch facing the Sandman in "Have Yourself A Sandman Little Christmas!"; Daredevil gets a present of his new all-red suit and faces an angry Atlantean "In Mortal Combat With...The Sub-Mariner!" in a story by Stan Lee and Wally Wood from Daredevil #7 (April, 1965);

Black Widow faces off against the Astrologer in "...And To All A Good Night" by Roy Thomas and Gene Colan from Amazing Adventures #5 (March, 1971) and most of the Marvel Universe comes together for the Hulk to face the Thing (with the rest of the Avengers and Fantastic Four around), with Fantastic Four #25 and 26 from 1964 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, because nothing says "Merry Christmas" like a fist to the face (well, at least that's how it goes in the Mighty Marvel world!).

Christmas 1975

The second of Marvel's three Christmas specials was 1975's Marvel Treasury Edition #8 with a front cover by John Romita.

This collection contains the stories of "Twas The Night Before Christmas" from Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #10 (March, 1969) by Gary Friedrich and Frank Springer, with Nick Fury facing a grinch to his holiday fun in the form of the Hate-Monger; Spider-Man finds the holidays can make you crazy (though Mysterio might be helping) in "Spider-Man Goes Mad" from Amazing Spider-Man #24 (May, 1965) by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko; it's not a sweet Christmas for Luke Cage as he faces a mad bomber named Marley in "Jingle Bombs" from Hero For Hire #7 (March, 1973) by Steve Englehart and George Tuska;

the Hulk finds out that "Heaven Is A Very Small Place!" in a story by Roy Thomas and and Herb Trimpe from the Incredible Hulk #147 (January, 1972), and Dr. Strange faces Eternity on New Year's Eve in the Roy Thomas/Gene Colan story from Doctor Strange #180 (May, 1969).

Christmas 1976

The third of Marvel's three Christmas specials was 1976's Marvel Treasury Edition #13, with a front cover by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott.

Collected here for your yuletide enjoyment...are the stories by Gerry Conway and Gil Kane from Marvel Team-Up #8 (January, 1973) with the Spider-Man and the Thing getting involved in a battle between the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master (as well as some of the family problems between Ben's blind girl friend, Alicia, and her father, who happens to be the Puppet Master) in "As Those Who Will Not See!"; seeing that "Even An Android Can Cry" in a story by Roy Thomas and John Buscema from Avengers #58 (November, 1968) because the Vision joined the Avengers; the Hulk and the Silver Surfer have a battle like in-laws in "He Who Strikes the Silver Surfer" from Tales To Astonish #93 (July, 1967) by Stan Lee and Marie Severin; Daredevil fights with the second Ox of the Enforcers in "Once Upon A Time...The Ox!" from Daredevil #86 (April, 1972) by Gerry Conway and Gene Colan; and all these stories are sandwiched between a new Fantastic Four/Avengers story (with a few extra guests like the Champions, Daredevil and the Defenders) by Roger Stern and George Tuska!

Makes all this better than holiday leftovers!  May you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!