Fantastic Four #8

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Cover Date: November 1962

Plot Overview: The Thing decides to leave the Fantastic Four after Reed won't let him into the lab. Sue follows him and tries to convince him to return. As they're talking they see a man climbing the bridge and preparing to jump. Reed and the Torch save the day.

The scene shifts to a man called the Puppet Master and his daughter Alicia. He found radioactive clay that allows him to control people if he makes a clay puppet of him. He decides to target the FF after they interfered with his plans. He makes a puppet of the Thing and summons him to his home.

The Thing obeys and Sue follows. As they arrive Alicia, who is blind, reveals that Sue is also there. The Puppet Master quickly uses ether to capture Sue. He then disguises Alicia as Sue and sends her off with the Thing. The Puppet Master then takes control of the warden to the local prison.

The Thing attacks Reed and the Torch and Reed tricks Thing into striking a certain experiment. The chemicals turn the Thing back into Ben Grimm. Reed explains that he didn't let Thing into the lab because he didn't want to reveal the experiment before it worked. Ben turns back into the Thing and Alicia seems to have taken a liking to him.

Sue awakens and tries to escape the Puppet Master and ultimately fails. She does manage to alert the FF and they arrive on the scene. They fight a giant robot and the Puppet Master makes his escape. The FF then thwart the prison riot that the Puppet Master had created.

The book ends as the Puppet Master reveals his plans for world domination to Alicia and ultimately slips on a puppet of himself and falls out the window.

My Take: The art to this issue was really good. This book had a decent amount of action in it considering the Puppet Master really has no powers. It was a fairly quick and light read as well. I enjoyed the story quite a bit and I'm not really a Puppet Master fan. The issue wasn't a classic or anything like that. It was just a fun read.

There wasn't a lot of character development in this issue. The Thing got the bulk of it as his future love interest in Alicia was brought in. The books at this point seem to take one character per issue and focus on developing them in some way. I didn't see that in this book and I felt it suffered a little because of that. All four characters need some work and fleshing out. They're a lot more developed than their contemporaries at DC but still lacking pieces that you know and love about the characters.

I'd give this issue **1/2 out of *****

Notes: This is the first appearance of the Puppet Master and Alicia Masters. The Puppet Master will become a fairly big villain for the Fantastic Four over the years. He's never on the level of a Dr. Doom but he's a solid secondary threat. Alicia Masters will become a love interest for the Thing. The Thing also is starting to crack wise a little more. He's still mostly about the tantrums and tirades but the jokes are slowly creeping in.

Next Issue: Tales To Astonish #37

Posted in: Alicia Masters,Fantastic Four,Human Torch,Puppet Master,Reed Richards,Sue Richards,Thing