For part two of the ongoing story of the Thing’s betrayal and membership in the Frightful Four, we get to focus much of the story on the battle between The Thing and Mr. Fantastic—although Mr. Fantastic has a handicap by being pasted down to a board by the Trapster for The Thing to pound on. The leader of the Fantastic Four gets creative with how he defends himself while trying to break through to the friend he knows is still somewhere inside The Thing’s brain.

Meanwhile, The Human Torch creatively escapes his captivity and helps his sister, Invisible Girl, get out of hers, leading to a battle between them and the other members of the Frightful Four. The fight does not go well for our heroes; Mr. Fantastic is put in a metal jar by The Thing, and the Human Torch is captured and altered—much like The Thing was—to become an agent for our antagonist.

The saving grace, perhaps, is that Sue Storm finds the jar with her husband-to-be in it and is able to free him before he runs out of air. Reed then engages in a plan to turn the tide and use some of the Wizard’s own devices against him and the others—perhaps most notably the gravity disk. The battle takes a turn, though, with the Wizard using his control and the gravity disk on everything around our heroes, before sending the Human Torch in to strike…leaving them trapped by a crackling wall of flame at the issue’s end.

Characters & Development

The majestic Medusa draws the attention of all the men, both in the last issue and this one, putting her in a position of power among the group. We witness flirtatious actions with The Thing, interest from Sandman and the Trapster, and even Johnny’s reaction. The Wizard seems to see her as a threat, all while our red-haired evil-doer knows exactly what she’s doing.

Then we have Johnny join Ben on the dark side. Although he seems a little more flat than his rocky counterpart, we do see him showing off when he doesn’t worry about “holding back,” such as his remark to Medusa about her hair when he flames on—“Too bad it isn’t fireproof, huh?”—as he carelessly nearly burns her greatest weapon.

Originality & Continuity

This story flows perfectly from the last, keeping our heroes on edge, and—hard as it may be to believe—it leads them to an even lower depth at the issue’s end, where we have just a “Fantastic Two” entering the conflict against six foes in the next (and final) part of this arc. It’s fitting that it’s the bride and groom-to-be, given the wedding plans built up so far.

Story and Artwork

The story put forth by Stan and Jack here, combined with Kirby’s artwork, is peak early Fantastic Four greatness. It’s fun, and it gets to the heart of not just what the Fantastic Four were, but what they would forever become: a family. This is not a fight against villains; it’s a fight for family—to protect each other, to seek out each other in pain, and to save one another. It’s the core of what we’ve seen for much of the last 12 issues.

You see the love between Sue and Reed as they fight for and with each other, and for their friend and brother as this story progresses. It shows in every panel of Kirby’s artwork. I talked about heart last time, and it’s true here as well—among all members of the team.