Fantastic Four Vol 1 Issue 1

**Fantastic Four Vol 1 #1** is the debut issue of the Fantastic Four and is the start of the modern age of Marvel.

## Characters

### Primary Characters

* Reed Richards
* Sue Storm
* Johnny Storm
* Ben Grimm

### Antagonists

* Mole Man
* Giganto
* Tricephalous
* Ugu

### Other Characters

* Citizens of Central City
	+ Sue's Friend
	+ Taxi Driver
	+ Clothing Store Clerk
* Central City Police
	+ Police Chief
	+ Pete
* Mechanic
* Mayor

Californian Government

* Governor

* National Guard
	+ Red Dog
	+ Squadron Leader
* French Army
	+ Pierre

## Groups

### Other Groups

* Central City Police Department
* National Guard
* French Army

## Species

* Humans
	+ Human (Mutates)
* Subterraneans
	+ Deviant Mutates

## Locations

### Continents

* North America
* South America
* Europe
* Africa
* Oceania

### Countries

* United States of America
* Soviet Union
* France
	+ French Equatorial Africa

### Administrative Divisions

* California
* New York

### Cities and Towns

* Central City, California
	+ Reed's Apartment
	+ Sue's Friend's House
	+ Men's Clothing Store
	+ Sewer System
	+ Service Station
	+ Mayor's Office
	+ Air Force Base
	+ Space Port
* Ithaca, New York

### Other Locations

* Subterranea
	+ Valley of Diamonds

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* Fantasti-Flare
* Reed's Seismograph
* Valley of Diamonds Protection Suits

### Vehicles

* Marvel-1
* Fantastic Four's private jet

## Summary

### The Fantastic Four!

In Central City, California a flare is shot into the middle of the sky. This catches the attention of the public who question what the meaning of the event is. Meanwhile, a man looks out the window holding a flare gun. Elsewhere, a young woman named Susan Storm is having tea with her friend when she mentions the flare outside. Susan knows the meaning of the flare and she suddenly turns invisible before leaving the house, running down the street into a cab, before exiting all the while frightening the people around her due to being invisible.

Meanwhile a giant man clad in clothes that hides all of his skin is clothes shopping, but is told by the clerk that nothing in the store would fit him. The clerk then sees the flare outside and talks about it, the man then strips to his underwear which revels that he is an orange golem before smashing through the door because of his large size. This scares the crowd and causes the police to shoot at him, this causes the man, Ben Grimm, to rip out a manhole cover before jumping down to escape. Ben the erupts out of the ground when he reaches his location but is hurt by a truck which scares more people, but Ben escapes before the police on the scene.

In another part of town teen Johnny Storm and his friend are working on a car, when they see the flare in the sky. Johnny suddenly turns into a human shaped fireball before flying off. Johnny's flight catches the attention of the people below and as a result the mayor calls for the national guard to arrive. The Guard sends a squadron of planes to investigate Johnny. Johnny accidently melts one of the planes when it gets to close to him, but sees the pilots escape to safety. Another plane then fires a nuclear Hunter Missile after Johnny. Johnny is unable to outrun the missile as his fire is going out, but a giant pair of hands reach out and grab the missile and tosses it into the sea. Johnny's fire goes out but he is caught by Reed Richards, the man who fired the flare and threw the missile out to sea. Reed then carries Johnny into his apartment where Susan and Ben are waiting for them.

A flashback reveals the origin of the four. Reed had made plans to use a rocket he built to fly into space in order to beat the Soviets in the Space Race and had chosen Ben as his pilot but Ben refused. Susan then convinced Ben to fly the ship by calling him a coward. The four then snuck into the space port where Reed's space ship, the Marvel-1, was held. While the liftoff is successful the four fly into a cosmic storm. The rays hit the ship and begin affecting the four with Johnny staring to emanate fire and Ben becoming to heavy to fly the ship. The ship crash lands in Ithaca, New York and the group walks out of the ship fearful of the affects of the cosmic rays. Susan then turns invisible before becoming visible once more. Reed and Ben then get in an argument over the venture to space and the fact that Susan and Reed are dating. As the argument turns heated, Ben turns into an orange "thing" and grabs a tree in order to hit Reed. Reed's form then morphs and he uses his newly elongated limbs to get a hold of Ben. Johnny frightened suddenly turns into a fire ball and discovers he can fly. Johnny unintentionally causes a small fire but turns back into his human form and lands. Reed comes to the conclusion that the four of them have immense power and as such are obligated to use those powers for good. The four then christen themselves the Fantastic Four, and each take their own superhero names: Johnny becomes the Human Torch, Susan the Invisible Girl, Ben the Thing, and Reed becomes Mr. Fantastic.

### The Fantastic Four Meet The Mole Man

In the present, Reed presents a photo of a crater where an atomic plant on the other side of the Iron Curtain used to be. Reed explains that similar events have happened world-wide. A device that Reed created picks up on another cave-in in French Africa. In French Africa, a giant monster digs under the atomic power plant and it falls into the giant crater. The French Army then attacks the monster, but it is unaffected by the artillery. The Army then retreats and a small man calls out to the monster and instructs it to return underground, the small man is the creature's master the Mole Man. Using the device, Reed manages to triangulate the location to Monster Isle.

The Four fly to the island in a private jet and land. As the Four begin hiking up the mountain they are attacked by a three headed monster. The monster begins chasing the Four, but Sue turns invisible which bewilders the monster and gives Reed enough time to form a lasso out his arm and throw the monster into the ocean. Suddenly the ground underneath both Reed and Johnny collapses. Reed then formed a parachute out of his body and grabbed Johnny so that they could both float down to safety. The bottom of the pit is pitch black, and as the two bumble in the darkness Johnny bumps into a door and opens it. The two are suddenly blinded by a bright light and fall unconscious. The two suddenly wake up in strange suits. The two are then informed by the Mole Man that they are in and have been blinded by the Valley of Diamonds.

### The Mole Man's Secret

Back on the surface, Sue turns visible once more and asks Ben were Reed and Johnny went but another monster is sneaking up behind her. Ben sees the monster, rips off his clothes, and fights the monster. Ben beats the monster and throws it into the ocean. Ben and Sue then try to find Reed and Johnny. Back underground, the Mole Man explains to Reed and Johnny his origin.

The Mole Man was mocked by everyone he met for his strange appearance. Having had enough of it, the Mole Man decided to go on a voyage to find Subterranea, the mythical land under the ground. The Mole Man washed up on Monster Isle and found a cavern that lead into Subterranea but the sound of his voice caused the cave to collapse and he fell into the hole. The Mole Man survived the fall, but had lost his vision in the impact. The Mole Man then found the monsters of Subterranea and tames them.

The Mole Man then started gloating about his new powers. The Mole Man then gave Reed a stick and began sparing with him showcasing his Radar Sense and beats Reed. The Mole Man then explains his plan to use his monsters to destroy the atomic plant to cripple humanity and then lead an invasion in every major city through tunnels in the Earth. The Mole Man then prepares to have his monsters kill Reed and Johnny but Ben and Sue find them in time. The Mole Man then calls Giganto, his biggest monster, to attack the Four. Johnny burns through his suit and begins attacking Giganto while Reed uses his powers to catch the Mole Man. The Four then begin escaping the Island but the Mole Man summons his entire army. Johnny then causes a cave-in to stop the monsters and Reed leaves the Mole Man behind. The Fantastic Four then escape through there jet, while the Mole Man blows up Monster Isle.

## Review

### Story

For a debut issue, the story was not super great but wasn't awful, I'd honestly call it more of an average to good story. I always hate when a story starts in the middle and you have to go back in time to see its beginning, but I understand that you have to pull the reader in, especially in a debut issue if you want to keep writing.

Beginning with the scene in Central City, it is a very effective way to show the groups powers but the wacky situations they find themselves in are not the most interesting. There is no threat to Sue's story and really no reason for her to be using her powers in the first place, other than to see if her powers truly works which she should already. The Thing's story is the stuff that I expect will be standard for him, and is probably the best of the wacky situations. Johnny's dilemma is not super good, he had no real reason to use his powers to get to Reed's apartment and ends up causing the most commotion. The jump to nuclear weaponry to stop him is insane and frankly stupid, so it something that the politicians would absolutely do.

Jumping to the origin, it is a classic. Once again, I don't like starting in the middle of a story and going back but it doesn't detract to much from the origin. As classic as this origin is, it is very hokey and of a time. This was written before a human was sent into space, so no one knew what would happen to them. Obviously cosmic rays won't change a human's genome, but it was just conjecture taken to a sci-fi setting. The fight between Ben and Reed added a little to the dynamic and I assume their will be a lot of conflict between them both for Sue's affections and Ben blaming Reed for his transformation.

The plot then focuses on the craters underneath the atomic plants. It is perfectly fine, but not anything special. Monster Isle is an interesting locale, but the events there are not super interesting. Mole Man is a lame villain with an uninteresting backstory, and it is a missed opportunity to not have Ben sympathize with the Mole Man's plight. I with that Giganto played a bigger role in the story, especially since he plays such a big part in the cover. I don't really get why Reed let the Mole Man go, yes he was treated unjustly but that does not excuse his actions and he should face justice. There is no way that Monster Isle is gone forever.

### Dialogue

The dialogue is pretty clunky in places, which is just what I expected. I do not think that Stan Lee is gifted at writing, but its the type of thing that I will have to bear.

### Art

I am not a major fan of old art, but I feel like most of the art is passable at worst and good at best.

## Chronology Notes

* Introduction and origin of Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm
* Creation of the Fantastic Four
* Introduction and origin of the Mole Man

## Personal Notes

* Sure is a lot of panic over a flare.
* Did Sue really need to use her powers here?
* How did Ben get in the store if he can't leave without smashing through the door?
	+ Maybe it was because he was in a rush?
* Ben probably stinks like shit after running through the sewers, in the water no less.
* So did the guy survive hitting Ben with his car?
* How did they lose sight of Ben, he's a giant orange rock monster>?
* Johnny just burned through his car, so much for working on it.
* You're telling me that Johnny burned through all of the jets.
* Jumping straight to nukes, what the hell?
* Central City is supposed to be where Stockton, California is right? If my knowledge of California's geography is right (which it probably isn't), it's in the middle of San Joaquin Valley, which isn't close to the coast. That brings into question how strong Reed is to be able to toss a nuke into the ocean from that far away.
	+ Also the missile probably detonated close to the coast so countless people are dead or irradiated.
* Ah the Space Race, my favorite.
	+ Commie Counter: #1
* It is shown that Johnny and Ben were transforming on the ship, but they are fine later.
* Man Ben got the short end of the stick.
	+ I think Ben is right to be angry, but what the hell did he think he was doing by picking up a tree he had no knowledge of his transformation.
* So are we ignoring the fire that Johnny caused.
* Where in the Iron Curtin?
* I'm fairly certain that the French pulled out of Africa by this point.
* Did no one see Mole Man.
* Mole Man is lame.
* French Equatorial Africa didn't exist in 1961 anymore.
* Monster Isle looks pretty hokey.
* Three Headed monster goes out like a bitch.
* Why don't Johnny or Reed fly/climb out of the hole, they have the power to do it.
* Mole Man looks lame still.
* Rock Monster goes out like a bitch.
* Mole Man has lame backstory.
* Mole Man kicks Reed's ass
	+ This is all the proof I need to see that Doom is superior.
* Giganto doesn't do shit.
* Where were the other monsters before.
* Reed's a dumbass for letting Mole Man go.