And I also got this:
I bought a copy of Fantastic Four #36 in the late 1970s. I think I paid about $4 for it.
At the time, I didn't realize what an important comic it is, but I did think it was cool to see the first appearance of Medusa, and the first the Frightful Four got together to take on the other FF.
To me, this is where the great classic days of the Fantastic Four really gets going! Not that there aren't a lot of good stories in the previous issues. I love #4 and #6 and #7. And then that run from #11 to #15 that I love so much. And then there's those issues from #21 to #27! They are great!
But there's a lot of groping going on. The early issues have a formula where there's some weird action at the beginning with some experiment by Reed or a scientific discovery or whatever and the FF goes to investigate and then it all has to be wrapped up in 22 pages. sometimes it works out great and other times … not so smoothly.
But in FF #36, the multi-issue storylines start. The story isn't continued, but the Frightful Four are still at large. And now Stan and Jack are providing threads for the next few issues as the Frightful Four return … and the FF lose their powers … and Dr. Doom attacks while the FF is powerless … and Reed has to turn Ben back into the Thing to fight Doom … and Ben leaves the Fantastic Four to wander around Connecticut, all pouty and depressed, an easy target for the Wizard … and then after three issues of that, it's time to find out more about the fourth member, Medusa … and the Inhumans are introduced!
In addition to all that, #36 is a fun Marvel Age comic with all sorts of fun stuff and goofy bits that make me smile. The New York press wants photos of Reed and Sue because their engagement has just been announced and they are rather rude to Ben when he asks when they want HIM to pose for them. The Yancy Street Gang sends a flower bomb! During the engagement party, Spider-Man uses his wedding to steal apiece of cake.
I love the whole sequence with the Wizard (now the Wingless Wizard, he announces) and Paste-Pot Pete (he's the Trapster now) and Sandman getting out of jail and then meeting and deciding to create the Frightful Four.
It might seem strange that two Human Torch villains and a Spider-Man villain would team up to fight the whole FF, but Sandman had fought the Human Torch in Strange Tales #115, the Wizard and Paste-Pot Pete had teamed up to fight the Torch and the Thing after they started teaming up in Strange Tales, and Sue helped Johnny beat the Wizard in one of their earliest encounters.
They have to find a fourth member, of course, and they go and recruit Medusa. It's a hilarious scene. Even as a kid, I thought it was funny that everybody was making a big deal about Medusa's hair. It's not just "Weird! She can control her hair!" It's all "She's the most dangerous female alive!" and "Oh no! She can move her hair! What ever shall we do against such power!"
Anyway, the Wizard recruits Medusa and persuades her somehow to help the Frightful Four fight the Fantastic Four.
Great Chic Stone inking over Kirby!
One bit that gets me is where Alicia senses something is up after the Frightful Four has defeated the other FF. She sneaks into the room, grabs an FF flare from one of the helpless FF and fires the flare to alert Johnny, who is not at home during the initial attack. I just love the way Alicia, though blind, doesn't hesitate to defy these powerful being who have defeated the FF! She just comes up with a plan and feels her away along and alerts Johnny that something is up.
And the Frightful Four tie her up and attach gravity disks to her so she can float away and die in the atmosphere just like the rest of the FF! These folks are RUTHLESS! The Sandman and the Wizard and ol' Pete are just horrible people! As much as I love this comic, I have never been able to fathom why Medusa was going along with them.
Anyway, it was pretty cool to read this comic! I haven't read it in YEARS!
