Two stories with Sub-Mariner are dull, but make play of Sue’s complex feelings towards him. There’s an appearance from the Hulk, whose own title had just been cancelled, and ‘The Mini World of Dr Doom’ feels conceived for an Ant Man crossover.

It’s great fun and Reed’s own solution outdoes the Thinker, and is amusingly contrived. The Thinker also plays on their desires, to manoeuvre them away from the FF: Sue to Hollywood, Johnny to the circus, etc. The story also explores the individual characters as Reed’s ‘4’ flare summons interrupts the others’ attempts at normal lives.

He plans and predicts in amazing detail – right down to a water main bursting to block a pursuing police-car. The Mad Thinker is a brilliant invention. The ending, too, is a witty piece of lateral thinking. It has the inventiveness of Harvey Kurtzman’s earlier Hey Look! and could have been one of the better ‘Future Shocks’ in 2000 AD, twenty years later. Not wanting to hurt her, the alien switches from missile into flowers. When he turns into a tiny missile, Sue, as brave as she is under-powered, puts her invisible body in its path. He transforms into a giant water balloon that melts and douses the attacking Torch. It’s great fun, and the alien’s transformations are a brilliant vehicle for Kirby’s imagination. Yet, he’s child-like and unaware of earth customs. The Impossible Man is an all-powerful alien who can instantly turn into anything he wishes. They revisit their origin story, elaborate on their relationships, and recall examples of Sue’s contribution to the team. This becomes a witty way of working (presumably real) fan questions into the comic, as they discuss the mail. They join the queue to buy the latest FF comic, and the Thing helps the postman struggling with the sack of fan mail. For example, rather than have secret identities, the FF are public figures reveling in their celebrity.

These are fun adventures, and witty ‘meta-fictions’ that knowingly mock and subvert genre conventions. Last and cruelly least, sole female, Sue Storm, acquires the most passive, least heroic power, becoming Invisible Girl. Inventor Reed Richards becomes the infinitely malleable Mr Fantastic, impetuous youth Johnny Storm becomes the Human Torch and Ben Grimm, secretly vulnerable man inside a rugged exterior becomes The Thing. The Fantastic Four’s super-powers reflect their personalities. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Fantastic Four, was the foundation of the what became the Marvel comics, movies and merchandise brand, and this second reprint volume covers issues from 1963.

Marvel masterworks fantastic four vol 2