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!

3-D Man In Your Face

Looking back is good....and in the 1970s, comics looked back to the 1950s!

Let's look at the "startling NEW super-hero from the FABULOUS 1950's!"...3-D Man!  "Who in blazes?" you might ask...

One Dimension

Premiering in Marvel Premiere #35 (April, 1977 by Roy Thomas and Jim Craig, and a cover by Jack Kirby), was the story of the Chandler brothers, Charles and Hal.  Chuck was a test pilot for NASA in 1958, taking out the experimental XF-13 when he had a real close encounter, with some Skrulls (a nasty shape-shifting alien race who would come to menace the Fantastic Four and the rest of Earth's heroes).  Chuck was able to escape, blowing up the Skrull ship, but it bathed him in an odd energy, and as he approached his brother Hal (as Chuck had landed at their "secret spot" in the desert), the XF-13 blew up, turning Chuck into red and green images on Hal's glasses.

For some reason, Hal later thought to put on those glasses and look at a wall, and thus came into being....the 3-D Man!  Blessed with 3 times the abilities of a normal man, Chuck Chandler materialized in a red and green hybrid of his flight suit (sending his brother into a coma), and could appear to fight crime (and sense Skrulls) for 3 hours at a time (and this was his first adventure out and about).    

Two Dimensions

With the second appearance of 3-D Man in Marvel Premiere #36 (June, 1977, by Roy Thomas and Jim Craig, with a plotting assist by Don Glut, and cover by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott), the action kicked into high gear, with the second manifestation of 3-D Man (as well as Zirksu, the Skrull that he faces), manipulating new rock and roll sensation, Vince Rivers, into inciting the nation's youth into a violent frenzy!  During the course of this adventure, we learn that merging seems to have cured Hal's polio, that Chuck's dad wasn't dealing well with the supposed death of his test pilot son, with Hal and Chuck's girlfriend, Peggy, getting closer as she drove Hal to a Vince Rivers concern, where the 3-Man foiled the Skrull's plot (but was unable to find the Skrull).

3-D Man also mentioned the Invaders and All-Winners Squad (previous hero teams that existed in the 1940s, which included Captain America, the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch), and 3-D Man met Peggy, and in a letter's page column, Roy Thomas explained his fascination with the 1950s and how that let to him creating this hero of the 1950s in the 1970s!

Three Dimensions

In Marvel Premiere #37 (August, 1977, also by Roy Thomas and Jim Craig, and plot assist by Don Glut, and cover by Gil Kane and Joe Sinnott), Zirksu stepped up his plans against 3-D Man, having followed the hero (who found the device the Skrull used to incite the riots at the concert), and blasted 3-D Man and Hal as the multi-hued hero returned to Hal's body for the third time (though the Skrull was surprised there was not more of an affect of the blast).  Hal returned home with Peggy, and Zirksu (taking the guise of then Vice President Richard Nixon) helped a Commie hating professor named Sinkowitz transform himself into the Cold Warrior (using Skrull science to enhance the professor's own), making a foe for the 3-D Man (who was half-red after all).

When 3-D Man was next manifested by Hal, Hal's mind was in control...and he fought the Cold Warrior and beat him.  This was enough of a setback for the Skrull abandon his Nixon identity and to disappear...as did the 3-D Man for a time!

And Beyond!

But, the 3-D Man did come back, in the Incredible Hulk #251 (September, 1980, by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, with a cover by Michael Golden), with quite some time having passed for Hal and family...

...Hal had married Peggy Clark, and they had two sons, Chuck Chandler and Hal Chandler Jr., and Hal had retired the 3D-Man, concentrating instead on his career and family.

When the family discovered Bruce Banner, Hal invited him into his home (but in reality, Hal recognized Bruce as the alter-ego of the Hulk, and called the military to bring him in).  At the same time, Rick Jones (a friend of the Hulk's) had encountered trouble and sent out a distress call via ham radio to the Teen Brigade and more (with the younger Chuck Chandler hearing the call on his dad's equipment).  The Hulk changed in the house, prompting Hal to call on 3-D Man again (who manifested with Chuck's mind) and the Hulk and 3-D Man battled for a bit, as 3-D Man also tried to process all the changes that had happened since he last appeared!  3-D Man eventually helped Hulk leave to go aid Rick and his friends, and Hal came clean with Peggy about the 3-D Man and how the original Chuck Chandler survived within him (and dealing with their destroyed house in Incredible Hulk #252).  3-D Man also appeared in the gathering of heroes in Marvel Super Hero Contest of Champions #1 in June, 1982, but he was just a face in the crowd at that point...  

Further Out

The 3-D Man stayed out of the limelight yet again, but there was a new hero, Triathlon (Delroy Garrett Jr.), who premiered in Avengers #8 (September, 1998, by Kurt Busiek and George Perez) who seemed awfully familiar...and the link between him and 3-D Man was explored in Avengers #50-56 (also known as Avengers #465-471, as suddenly finding your roots became popular) in 2002, and the Avengers dealt with their time-traveling foe, Kang, and Triathlon returning Hal and Charles Chandler to Peggy (the brothers being minus their powers, but Triathlon still having the abilities of 3 men).

Side Trip

But, what if the Avengers had formed during the 1950s instead of the 1960s?  Would 3-D Man have been a member?

It was exactly that question that led to the alternate world of What If? #9 (June, 1978 written by Don Glut, and art by Alan Kupperberg and Bill Black, taking the concept from Roy Thomas) and the formation of the 1950s Avengers, with 3-D Man joining forces with heroes of Marvel Comics of the 1950s (Venus the goddess, the Human Robot, the Gorilla Man, Marvel Boy and foe of the Yellow Claw...Jimmy Woo).  The team battled a gathering of their foes, but Eisenhower did not want them to stay together as a team.  This reality was developed further in Avengers Forever #4 and #5 (in 1999), wherein a Skrull posing as Nixon tried to take over America's space program in 1959...at least until Immortus (another time traveling Avengers villain) shut down this reality.... 

And Back Home

Thing is, minus 3-D Man (and including Namora, the Sub-Mariner's cousin), this group did form briefly in the regular Marvel Universe in the 1958 (as Department Zero and the G-Men)...as S.H.I.E.L.D. later learned, and Jimmy Woo (who had later joined S.H.I.E.L.D., and was even part of the S.H.I.E.L.D. team to face Godzilla), and this group reformed as the Agents of Atlas when Jimmy was injured (in Agents of Atlas #1, October, 2006, the beginning of a 6 issue limited series by Jeff Parker and Leonard Kirk, which let to the regular Agents of Atlas series which lasted 11 issues in 2009).

Finally In Focus

With the threat of Skrull Secret Invasion, Delroy joined the Avengers Initiative program, taking over the 3-D Man identity with Avengers: the Initiative #12 (June, 2008), fighting the Skrulls in Avengers: the Initiative #16-19, and eventually working with the Agents of Atlas in Atlas #1-5 (2010).