FEBRUARY 1963

• Fantastic Four #11
• Strange Tales #105
• Tales to Astonish #40
• Journey Into Mystery #89

Fantastic Four #11
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
"The Impossible Man!"
&
"A Visit With The Fantastic Four!"

The opening story is mostly fluff. The Impossible Man, a nameless alien from the planet Poppup, arrives on earth for a vacation. He's got the ability to instantly "evolve" into any form, making him the most powerful being on the planet. Because, you see, he can change into anything he wants and is virtually impervious to harm. Just don't ask where the water came from when he turned into a giant water balloon and douses Johnny.

"I'm mortified," indeed.

Luckily, the Impossible Man is a bit of a dork who just wants to be entertained.

JANUARY 1963

• Fantastic Four #10
• Strange Tales #104
• Tales to Astonish #39
• Incredible Hulk #5
• Journey Into Mystery #88

Fantastic Four #10
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
"The Return of Doctor Doom!"

Welcome to the weirdest issue of Fantastic Four yet.

Now we've already talked about moments where Marvel Comics have been incorporated into the narratives that Lee and Kirby were putting together, with Johnny Storm reading the first issue of The Incredible Hulk and recognizing Namor from the comics. I've treated this as a unique occurrence, but according to some internet research, it's not so unique. Apparently across town at DC, the idea that there were comics being written about the characters that were being read by the characters was old hat.

DECEMBER 1962

•  Fantastic Four #9
• Strange Tales #103
• Tales to Astonish #38
• Journey Into Mystery #87

Fantastic Four #9
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Dick Ayers
"The End Of The Fantastic Four!"

This is a valiant effort that ultimately falls short of working, mainly because of the absurdity of the plot.

The Fantastic Four are bankrupt after Reed, the smartest man in the world, makes some bad financial decisions and invests all of their money in the stock market. In events eerily familiar these days, the market crashes and the team ends up selling off all their cool gadgets, being evicted from their headquarters, and temporarily breaking up. These folks have such a hard time staying together. Seems like whenever there's any hardship, somebody flies the coop.

This time out, it's Ben who quits. He ends up hanging out at, his "friend," Alicia's apartment until she guilts him into going back to be with the team. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the damage he had to be doing to her ordinary human plumbing.

Her apartment's plumbing, I mean, you dirty children.

NOVEMBER 1962

• Fantastic Four #8
• Incredible Hulk #4
• Journey Into Mystery #86
• Strange Tales #102
• Tales to Astonish #37

Fantastic Four #8
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
"Prisoners of The Puppet Master

This month we get a bit of a throwback to Ben Grimm's earlier characterization, as he gets pissed and storms out, apparently quitting the team. Of course, it doesn't last, but it's good to see that Lee and Kirby haven't forgotten that one of the things that made Ben so interesting was his psychological reaction to being the monster of the group, as well as his tenuous grip on his temper. For a few issues now, he's been a pretty confident and clear-thinking fellow, and, for me anyway, was beginning to lose what made him special.

You see, Reed's working on something secret and Sue and Johnny are trying to keep Ben from knowing what it is. This, of course, sets Ben off and after some roughhousing with The Torch, Reed breaks them up and Ben storms out. It's an effective reinforcement of Ben's mental issues, and provides a nice opportunity for the introduction of Alicia, the blind step-daughter of the FF's newest villain, The Puppet Master. And could she be a possible love-interest for Ben? Hmmmmm. Perhaps.

It probably doesn't hurt that she looks enough like Sue that with an FF costume and a wig, even Johnny and Reed mistake her for Sue.

OCTOBER 1962

• Fantastic Four #7
• Strange Tales #101
• Tales to Astonish #36
• Journey Into Mystery #85

Fantastic Four #7
Writer: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
"Prisoners of Kurrgo, Master of Planet X"

If the title of this one didn't make it plain, the Fantastic Four are dealing with another alien threat this month, but there's a nice twist this time around. Instead of having to stop an alien invasion, Kurrgo, Master of Planet X, needs their help to save his planet, so we get an interesting little story where Reed finally gets to take center-stage and actually save the day.

Otherwise, though, this issue marks a drop in quality from the previous few issues. I suppose that's not surprising, really, given the high standards established by the introductions of the Sub-Mariner and Doctor Doom, and their subsequence team-up, but I wasn't really expecting some of the sillier aspects of this issue.