8:21 PM
Brad
Cover Date: March 1962
Plot Overview: The issue opens with the Fantastic Four taking in a magic show. The magician calls himself the Miracle Man and uses his powers to show up the Fantastic Four. Reed Richards refers to him as an unbeatable opponent. The scene shifts to the Miracle Man planning to take over the world.
The Fantastic Four use their new Fantasticar to return to their new headquarters. Sue has also made them uniforms. Johnny decides to watch tv and turns it on just in time to see the Miracle Man bring the giant statue of a monster to life.
The FF spring into action and split up to cover more ground. Reed happens across MM first but gets knocked out with a brick. The scene changes to a military base where MM and the monster are in the process of stealing an atomic tank. The Human Torch arrives and destroys the monster with his flames. Then MM takes the Human Torch out with a special foam. The Thing wants a rematch but MM causes the ground to swallow the Thing.
MM leaves on his newly stolen atomic tank and Sue climbs aboard while invisible. The remaining FF members bicker until the Human Torch takes off. The origin of the FF get retold in this time frame.
MM stops and Sue is found out by a dog. MM realizes it's her and proceeds to hypnotize her and has her signal the remaining members of the FF. Reed and the Thing arrive and MM attacks them with a machine gun. The Thing steps between MM and Reed and acts as a shield until the gun is out of ammo. MM decides to flee as the Human Torch arrives.
The Human Torch acts quickly and uses his flames to blind MM. Reed then reveals that the Miracle Man really has no powers. He was using mass hypnosis to make them believe those things were happening. Reed regards the Miracle Man as no longer being a threat. The Human Torch decides that he's leaving the Fantastic Four for good. He's tried of the arguing and being bossed around. The issue ends with the Human Torch flying off and Reed hoping that he won't attack the FF in the future.
My Take: This book is very much a product of it's time. A very gimmicky villain that really would have no use in today's comics. Other than that, I really enjoyed this issue. It was a fun little romp of a book. There was a little character development, there was some decent action and the Fantastic Four were challenged this time around. The art is also rapidly improving as the issues go on.
On the downside, I'm getting tired of a page of every issue being devoted to retelling the origin of the Fantastic Four. It's really unneeded if you ask me. Again, that's a product of the time this was written in.
I'd give this issue **3/4 out of *****
Notes: This is the first appearance of the Miracle Man. This is also the first appearance of the Fantasticar and the FF costumes. The Fantastic Four also now have a headquarters but it's not the Baxter Building that everyone is familiar with. It's more of an apartment building with all of their gear.
The Human Torch appearance changed in this issue. He looks more like the modern Human Torch that you see today. Sue tried putting a mask on the Thing but he fairly quickly took it off. Most of the interactions between the FF members involved an argument of some kind. Reed even comments on it and wonders what's wrong with them.
Next Issue: Fantastic Four #4
Posted in: Fantastic Four,Human Torch,Miracle Man,Reed Richards,Sue Richards,Thing
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