Monkeying Around
There's quite a lot going on in this issue of Fantastic Four. As with many issues of its time it is light on characterisation but manages to pack in a lot of story beats in its 23 pages. In this our latest adventure we find that Mr Fantastic is embroiled in research as part of the contemporary space race. He's cracked the key to getting to the moon using rocket fuel derived from asteroids. Unfortunately Ivan Kragoff a russian scientist has done so likewise, so the race to the moon is on!
As I said earlier a lot is going on in this issue. Aside from the race to the moon we have the Red Ghost (the aforementioned Ivan Kragoff) and his three ape companions all gaining super powers. We also get introduced to The Watcher, a figure who would go on to be of great importance in several future Marvel events. Here he acts as a catalyst in a duel between the Fantastic Four and the Simian Several with no indications that he would be anything other than another in a series of one note, one off, intergalactic threats. The climactic duel on the moon is somewhat disappointing, the powers of all parties involved should have lead to a decent final fight. What we got was an anti-climactic deus ex machina resolution even for standards of the time.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention Sue Storm's continualy troubling characterisation as a damsel in distress. It seems to happen alarmingly often, especially given the fact that she can turn invisible! She should be the hardest memeber of the group to imprison. I know it was "different times" but it's just plain lazy story telling to have the same character get caught again and again. She is the member of the team that changes the most over the years and I think that change can not come soon enough. At the very least she showed agency in the means of her escape.
I felt the art in this issue was a little on the dissappointing side. The backgrounds are sparse and where present are often grey, as one might expect given the lunar setting. The character art is decent, our heroes look good and The Watcher has a really good design. But the villains lacked interesting features, The Red Ghost did not have a memorable design and his allies where just, well, apes (and a monkey). The cover art is pretty great, definitely an attention grabber with the lunar surface and a ghostly hand reaching through the surface.
All in all a fairly standard issue albeit one with an interesting setting and the debut of an important character in Marvel lore. This one is worth a read for The Watcher, but is otherwise largely skippable.
"LOOK! The Super-Apes Are Chasing The Red Ghost Away!"
Human Torch
