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!

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!

Spider-Man Meets Mr. Fantastic And Invisible Girl Of The Fantastic Four

With the return of Reed and Sue Richards this week as a part of the Fantastic Four, now's a good enough time to see how Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Girl (as she was at the time, only more recently being the Invisible Woman) met up with New York's favorite wall-crawler, the amazing and spectacular Spider-Man!

Stretching Out

First up is Mr. Fantastic, who worked solo with Spider-Man first in Marvel Team-Up #17 (January, 1974) with "Chaos At The Earth's Core" by Len Wein, Gil Kane and "Everybody" (inkers Sal Trapani, Frank Giacoia and Mike Esposito).

Due to events of the previous issue, Spidey headed to the Baxter Building for help, finding a lonely Mr. Fantastic there (the team had recently split up in the FF's own title).  Spidey relays to Reed his problem....that he was fighting a villain called the Basilisk, and the original Captain Marvel got trapped within the Omega-Stone and disappeared.  Spidey hoped Reed would help him find Cap and the stone, which he does, locating them in the center of the Earth.  The two take a Fantasti-Car there, where they are captured by Mole Man's Moloids.  Taken to their leader, Mole Man explains his plan to use the power of the Omega Stone to crack the Earth....but the heroes break free, fight Mole Man, and then the Basilisk as well (who followed the heroes looking for the stone).  Within the stone, Captain Marvel finally touches his nega-bands, which switches his body with that of Rick Jones, and without Cap's Kree energies powering it, the stone shrinks in size and frees Rick.  The Mole Man/Basilisk battle unleashes a lava flow, one taking the Basilisk away with the stone, the other trapping Mole Man, and Spidey, Reed and Rick leave in the Fantasti-Car, with Rick explaining his situation outside the mine shaft, turning into Captain Marvel, who flies away.

The Human Torch appears in the next issue (meeting the Hulk, one of Johnny's many non-Spider-Man team-ups), while Sue and the Thing's time while the Fantastic Four are split is covered in Fantastic Four #142 (and some THING tells me that the Basilisk will return sometime later as well...).

She's Not There

While the Thing and Human Torch have a few team-ups with Spidey, finally the Invisible Girl gets a solo shot in Marvel Team-Up #88 (December, 1979) when "A Child Is Waiting" by Chris Claremont, Sal Buscema and Eduardo Barreto.

Covering a society luncheon as photographer Peter Parker, Spidey sees Hank "Yellowjacket" Pym, Janet "Wasp" Van Dyne and Sue Richards, the Invisible Girl.  Sue gets distracted by a phone call, which Peter overhears, finding out the call was from Alicia Masters (the Thing's girlfriend), and that a group of thugs had kidnapped Sue's son, Franklin, from Alicia.  Sue heads to Alicia's, where the thugs call, informing Sue how to steal from the crime family Maggia, so that she can pay to get her son back.  Spidey follows, coming up with a plan to thwart the kidnappers.

The Invisible Girl still takes the money from the Maggia, then follows the kidnappers instructions to go to Yankee Stadium during a double header, where she keeps Spider-Man invisibly next to her, so that he can trail the pick-up man.  He does this, and follows the man out of the stadium, changing to Peter Parker as Sue can only keep him invisible for so long.  Peter follows him to near their headquarters (with Sue following him via one of his trackers), changing back to Spider-Man after he thinks he lost him (but Sue saw where he went).  The two work together to save Franklin from the kidnappers, then the Maggia thugs who came to retrieve their money, with Spidey being able to turn them all over to the police as Sue and Franklin disappear.

A Family Gathering

Next up, Spidey works with the whole Fantastic Four and then some in Marvel Team-Up #100 (December, 1980) by Chris Claremont, Frank Miller and Bob Wiacek, "And Introducing - Karma! She Possess People".

This tale introduces Karma, Vietnamese mutant Xi'an Coy Manh, who uses her power to possess people first on Spider-Man, to try to free her brothers and sister from captivity....then, after finding out he was not such a menace as he battles the Fantastic Four, regrets her action, but ends up helping Spider-Man against her brother, Tran, who has the same powers, and uses the Fantastic Four against them.  Karma eventually defeats her brother, and frees her other siblings, with the Fantastic Four turning them over to Professor X of the X-Men, so he can help the young mutant.

This issue also has a second story, wherein Black Panther meets Storm (both now, and in a flashback to when they were young in a story by Chris Claremont, John Byrne and Bob McLeod.

Two In One

Spidey and Mr. Fantastic work together again in Marvel Team-Up #132 (August, 1983) facing "The Common Denominator" by J. M. DeMatteis, Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito.

Captain America foe, Everyman, attacked his uncle, Reed Richards, in the Baxter Building, having had his powers restored in the mental hospital he was staying in by the doctor who was treating him.  Everyman steals Mr. Fantastic's intellect.  Spider-Man shows up after Everyman starts stealing the lifeforce of people around the Baxter Building, going inside to help Reed.  The two battle Everyman, with Reed eventually regaining his intellect as they make Everyman realize he was killing everyone in the crowd to battle them.  Everyman escapes, and Reed promises to find who had been influencing his nephew, Larry Ekler.

Feeling Alone

This team-up continues in Marvel Team-Up #133 (September, 1983) with "The World According To...Faustus!" by J. M. DeMatteis, Sal Buscema and Mike Esposito.

Mr. Fantastic wants to find whoever was hurting Larry "Everyman" Ekler, but declines Spider-Man's help.  Spidey leaves, promising Reed that he'd gladly be there if he needs him.  Reed tracks down where Larry was being treated, and takes the Fantasti-Car to the institute, which is being run by Dr. Faustus (a foe of Captain America, who is working for the Secret Empire, and relating to his mother his plan to defeat the Fantastic Four....but is a little upset that only Mr. Fantastic has come).  Reed uses his stretching abilities to save Spider-Man, who seemed to come to help, attaching himself to the Fantasti-Car, but falling as they arrived.  Reed is also suffering from headaches, which he thinks is a side effect of Everyman's attack.  The heroes encounter the Human Torch, who says he just escaped the institute, and that the doctor his holding Ben, Sue and Franklin as well.  This puts Reed in a panic, when he and Spidey go inside, and find the Thing shackled, who says Sue and Franklin are further in.  Reed leaves Spidey to care for Johnny and Ben, and goes to look for his family. 

The other three quickly join, no matter their depleted condition, and find the Invisible Girl in shock, where Reed tries to find out where Franklin is.  Then, Doctor Doom appears with Franklin, mocking Mr. Fantastic, and taking off his mask...to reveal he is Reed Richards!  The villain then has the rest of the FF killed, traumatizing Reed, who goes to console Franklin, who pulls a gun and shoots his father, who falls unconscious!

How...bizarre.  Except that this is when Dr. Faustus reveals himself, as he tells Reed and his mom of his plan, to introduce these androids to confuse Mr. Fantastic, and, with this "Spider-Man" being one of Faustus' henchmen (who was really on the grounds, not on the Fantasti-Car).  Dr. Faustus touts his victory to his mom, but Mr. Fantastic was only feigning unconsciousness, as he had figured out the plan, and defeats Faustus, looking up to where he was talking too, but....finding no one there (as Faustus had likely only imagined his mom there, showing the doctor had a need to heal himself).

Of course, Spider-Man also had individual team-ups with the Human Torch and the Thing, but "Four" now, those fantastic tales are something we can look back at in the future.