Fantastic Four #94
Title: The Return of the Frightful Four!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Fantastic Four: Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Crystal
Villain: Frightful Four (Wizard, Sandman, Trapster, Medusa)
Regulars: Susan Richards, Franklin Richards, Agatha Harkness
At long last the Richards have named their son. It took them 14 months to pick the name. They've decided to name him Franklin Benjamin Richards, after Susan's father and Reed's best friend. That's not quite as good as Victor, but it makes the Thing happy.
Reed doesn't want Franklin to be endangered by their enemies, so he's chosen a child minder in Upstate New York, Agatha Harkness.What the Fantastic Four don't know is that the Frightful Four have come back together in their original line up and are following them to the address.
We last saw the Wizard in Fantastic Four #81.
We last saw the Trapster in Marvel Super-Heroes #15.
We last saw Sandman in Incredible Hulk #114.
We last saw Medusa in Fantastic Four #83.
The Frightful Four launch a surprise attack in the middle of the night. The Wizard overcomes the Thing with his anti-gravity discs. Sandman smothers the Human Torch. The Trapster glues Mr. Fantastic's arm tight and traps the Invisible Girl in her room. When the Wizard says he'll kill them all, Medusa rebels. She was only pretending to be loyal to the group.
I knew this would happen. Did the Wizard really think that Medusa would turn against the Fantastic Four when her sister is a member?
The other three members of the Frightful Four overwhelm Medusa. Then they're surprised by Agatha Harkness, who defeats them with her powers of witchcraft.
The Fantastic Four free themselves and are surprised to find the Frightful Four unconscious. Agatha Harkness is sitting in her rocking chair knitting.
Amazing Spider-Man #80
Title: To prowl no more!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Buscema
Villain: Chameleon
Regulars: Gwen Stacy, Harry Osborn, Flash Thompson, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson
Flash Thompson visits Peter Parker to explain why he was with Gwen Stacy. He's turning into a swell guy as he gets older.
Valuable paintings are stolen from an art gallery, and Captain Stacy seems to be the thief. Only Peter Parker suspects that it was the master of disguise, the Chameleon.
It's been so long that Peter has almost forgotten him. It's also been so long that Stan Lee has forgotten what issue it was. It was in Amazing Spider-Man #1, to be exact. He also appeared briefly in Tales To Astonish #66.
Spider-Man asks Joe Robertson to publicise a big handover of bonds in order to attract the Chameleon. On the occasion he's waiting and his spider sense is tingling, but he doesn't know which person is the Chameleon, and he challenges the wrong person. After the people leave the room the Chameleon changes identity again, and he makes the mistake of disguising himself as Peter Parker, so Spider-Man can easily capture him.
Thor #172
Title: The Immortal and the Mind-Slave!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Villain: Kronin Krask, Loki, Karnilla
Regulars: Jane Foster, Odin, Balder
Thor sees someone arriving to speak to Donald Blake, so he quickly changes back to his mortal identity.
The visitor is Dr. Jim North, who Dr. Blake recognises as the doctor who his previous nurse Jane Foster went to work for after leaving him. But is that true?
In this scene from Thor #136 Jane Foster went to work for Dr. Kincaid, a blond-haired doctor with an uncanny resemblance to Dr. Blake.
Jane has become Dr. North's lover, but in this panel from Thor #146 she's dating another man. Maybe she's changed jobs and changed lovers a few times since leaving Dr. Blake.
Jane Foster is being held hostage by Kronin Krask. He has a machine to swap bodies. Before he dies, he wants his mind put into Thor's body, so that he can live forever.
Thor's mind is too strong to be controlled by Krask's machine. He resists the transferral, and Krask dies. Supposedly.
The story's title is illogical. Krask isn't a Mind-Slave, he's a Mind-Enslaver.
Silver Surfer #12
Title: Gather, ye witches!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: John Buscema
Villain: Abomination, Warlock Prime (Nigel Carruthers)
Guests: Hulk (flashback), Stranger (flashback)
After a futile attempt to break through Galactus' barrier around the Earth, the Silver Surfer falls to Earth, not far from Stonehenge. Nigel Carruthers, an evil man practising the rites of the ancient druids, wants to kill him, just to prove how powerful he is. He attempts to conjure a demon, and he draws the Abomination back from the Stranger's world, where he's been trapped since Tales To Astonish #91.
The Silver Surfer defeats the Abomination, then takes him back to the druids to return him to the place where they drew him from. Whether they succeed or not isn't shown.
The Avengers #72
Title: Did you hear the one about Scorpio?
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Sal Buscema
Avengers: Captain America, Goliath, Vision, Yellowjacket, Wasp
Villain: Zodiac (Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces, Aries, Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra)
Guests: Rick Jones, Captain Marvel, Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Gabriel Jones, Jimmy Woo
Rick Jones goes to the Avengers Mansion, where Captain America has called a special late night meeting. Only five Avengers are on active duty. In future it will be common for the exact line-up of the Avengers to change from issue to issue.
Three New York officials have been kidnapped by Scorpio, who seemingly died in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #5. We find that he's only one member of a 12-person group called Zodiac. Their leader is Aries.
Here they are. It should be easy to figure out which is which. Some are easy to name, others are less obvious, but after you've eliminated the obvious star signs there aren't many possibilities left for the rest.
The Avengers and Rick Jones are captured after being knocked out by an exploding TV screen. They've released by Yellowjacket's ants. During the battle Scorpio unmasks himself and reveals that he's Nick Fury, who we thought was killed in Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #15. Nick says that it was an LMD taking his place in Central Park.
The whole story of Scorpio is a mess. In Nick Fury, Agent of SHIELD #5 he was unmasked, but only Nick Fury saw his face; it wasn't revealed to the readers. I presume that Jim Steranko wanted to follow up on this storyline, but he left the comic too soon. Now Nick says that Scorpio was his brother Jake. Interesting. Scorpio was killed, so ever since that day Nick has been spending half of his time impersonating Scorpio. How did he fit that in with having two girlfriends and running SHIELD? LMD's are fantastic inventions. He could send an LMD to Countess Valentina while he was with Laura Brown, or vice versa, and they would never get jealous.
Rick Jones is keeping his connection with Captain Marvel secret.
Captain America #121
Title: The Coming of Man-Brute!
Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Gene Colan
Villain: Silas Cragg, Man-Brute
Regulars: Nick Fury
Guests: Jarvis, Yellowjacket, Wasp, Vision, Black Panther
Professor Silas Cragg is a former criminal who was sent to prison by Captain America. He served his sentence, and he has gone straight, but he's still full of hatred for Captain America and wants revenge. He's developed a super soldier serum similar to the one that gave Steve Rogers his strength in 1941. He finds an embittered man and promises him super strength if he will defeat Captain America. We aren't told the man's old name, but his new name is Man-Brute.
The Professor arranges for Captain America to visit an orphanage. The Man-Brute attacks Captain America, and he's much stronger, so that Captain America can only defend himself with his speed and agility. One of the small boys in the orphanage attacks the Man-Brute, causing him to run away. He returns to Professor Cragg and kills him, saying the boy was his son.
So who was Silas Cragg? Captain America had forgotten him. He searches SHIELD's old records and finds that it was someone he sent to jail "more than 15 years ago". That's a strange thing to say. It's less than six years since Captain America was revived after spending 19 years in suspended animation. If it wasn't in the last six years, it was more than 25 years ago.
X-Men #64
Title: The Coming of Sunfire!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Don Heck
X-Men: Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Angel, Beast, Iceman
Villain: Sunfire (Shiro Yoshida)
Cerebro detects a new extremely powerful mutant in New York. Marvel Girl tracks him telepathically and finds him travelling in a diplomatic vehicle, but it's not clear which of the people in the vehicle is the mutant. It's Shiro Yoshida, the son of the Japanese ambassador. He was born after his mother was poisoned by the atomic bomb at Hiroshima, and he has the power to draw energy from the Sun. Only his Uncle Tomo knows he's a mutant, so he's been training Shiro all his life to take revenge on the evil Americans.
During the battle Shiro's father calls on his son to stop, so Tomo shoots him. Grief-stricken, Shiro ceases to fight, so the X-Men let him go.
In the excitement Hank McCoy forgets the Angel's name and calls him Scottie.
Daredevil #60
Title: Showdown at Sea!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Gene Colan
Villain: Crime-Wave, Torpedo (flashback), Stunt-Master (flashback)
Regulars: Foggy Nelson, Debbie Harris
Foggy Nelson's assistant Hollis suggests that Foggy would be more popular if we weren't dating an ex-convict. Foggy tells him to mind his own business, but Debbie agrees and breaks off her engagement.
Daredevil sneaks onto an off-shore gambling boat run by Crime-Wave. He sees Debbie Harris losing at the roulette table. Crime-Wave tries to blackmail her to spread false information about Foggy taking bribes. Daredevil bursts in. After the fight Crime-Wave is unmasked, and he's revealed to be Hollis.
The Incredible Hulk #123
Title: No more the monster!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Herb Trimpe
Villain: Leader
Regulars: General Ross, Major Talbot, Betty Ross
Guests: Fantastic Four (Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Johnny Storm, Crystal), Susan Richards
Reed Richards' treatment of the Hulk is a success, but instead of preventing Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk, it makes it possible for him to become the Hulk whenever he wants without losing his intelligence.
Bruce proposes marriage to Betty Ross, and she accepts.
Betty's father, General Thunderbolt Ross, asks Bruce Banner to become the Hulk to protect a new invention, the Tripodal Observation Module (TM), TOM for short. General Ross isn't enough of a scientist to adequately describe it. He just says "It can go anywhere and do anything". Huh? Never mind, this is enough to persuade the Leader that he needs to steal it. We last saw the Leader in Incredible Hulk #117.
In battle the Hulk almost loses control of himself and wants to kill the Leader. He pulls himself together and lets him go. He swears he will never become the Hulk again. We'll see.
On the bullpen page it's mentioned that many readers have written complaining about Herb Trimpe's artwork. I don't understand this, I find that he's a competent artist, though not at the level of Gene Colan. What I understand even less is that this has been brought up on the bullpen page.
Sub-Mariner #21
Title: Invasion from the Ocean Floor!
Writer: Roy Thomas
Artist: Marie Severin
Regulars: Dorma, Vashti, Seth, Diane Arliss
Guests: Ben Grimm
Prince Namor is being pursued by the police nd the army in New York. He can no longer breathe underwater or fly, he can only make giant leaps.
In Atlantis, Lady Dorma observes his plight. Last issue Triton delivered an order from Namor saying that he was not to be rescued, but Dorma recommends to the warlords of Atlantis that this order be ignored. Atlantean warships surround New York and say they will attack if they don't deliver Namor to them, which is difficult, because they don't have him.
Warlord Seth blows the Horn of Prometheus, last used by Namor himself in Fantastic Four #4, to unleash giant sea monsters on the surface world. Namor doesn't want this to happen, so he fights against the sea monsters. Seth realises his mistake and blows the horn again in the sea. The monsters rush to his location, killing him. Supposedly.
Iron Man #21
Title: The Replacement!
Writer: Archie Goodwin
Artist: George Tuska
Villain: Crimson Dynamo (Alex Niven)
Regulars: Happy Hogan, Janice Cord, Eddie March
The above image on the splash page is imagination. A boxer called Eddie March imagines that he's Iron Man when he's in the ring. He's an old friend and sparring partner of Happy Hogan, the only man who knows that Tony Stark is Iron Man. He quits boxing after a winning streak because of a potentially life threatening brain clot.
Tony decides to quit as Iron Man, because he's too afraid of endangering his new synthetic heart. He asks Happy who could replace him in the suit. Happy immediately suggests Eddie. Tony trains him over the next few weeks.
Eddie gets into a fight with Alex Niven, who has become the new Crimson Dynamo. While they're fighting a doctor tells Tony about the blood clot, so he rushes to save him.
Other comics published this month:
Millie the Model #178 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Mad About Millie #7 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
Chili #9 (Stan Lee, Stan Goldberg)
My Love #3 (Stan Lee, John Buscema)
Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos #74 (Archie Goodwin, Dick Ayers)
Captain Savage and his Battlefield Raiders #18 (Gary Friedrich, Dick Ayers)
Tower of Shadows #3 (Len Wein, Gene Colan)
Sneaking in, almost unnoticed, is Len Wein's first contribution to Marvel Comics, a seven-page anthology story in Tower Of Shadows. I don't know when he became a full time Marvel employee, but his stories became more frequent from the end of 1970 onwards. He was never one of my favourite writers, but on his best days he wrote some of Marvel's best comics. Giant-Size X-Men #1 isn't just a landmark issue, it's a brilliant story.
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