Cover Date: June 1963
Plot Overview: Each member of the Fantastic Four is acting fairly disgruntled and restless as the issue opens. Meanwhile, the Mad Thinker gathers the biggest mobsters in New York so that he can become a king of crime. He has made a foolproof plan to get rid of the Fantastic Four so that they can take over the city.
The Thinker's plan goes into effect as each member of the FF get recruited into an outside venture. The team agrees to temporarily disband and go their own ways. The Thinker's plan has succeeded and he uses a meteor crash to break into the Baxter Building. The Thinker now has control of all of Reed Richard's scientific research.
Each member of the FF tires of their new lifestyle and decide to return home. They meet up and find that the Baxter Building is encased in crystal. The Thinker appears and challenges the FF to a battle.
The FF fight their way to the top floor where the Awesome Android is waiting for them. The Android makes short work of the Torch and Thing so it's up to Reed and Sue to take it down. Reed immobilizes the Android and Sue hits an off switch. With the Android defeated, the FF confront the Thinker. The Thinker threatens them with an array of weapons until a mysterious field disables all the weapons and the FF subdue him. The Thinker is confused by the outcome and Reed puts out that he didn't calculate for the human factor. Reed had Willie Lumpkin hit a special button at a certain time to disable all the weapons. The Thinker vows revenge as the issue comes to a close.
My Take: I'll admit up front, I'm not a big Mad Thinker fan. I find him to be a little boring and have tended to avoid his appearances over the years. With that said, this was a fairly enjoyable comic.
It was a nice character development issue as each member has grown tired of being a hero but finds their idealized job to not be fulfilling. There wasn't a ton of action in this issue but I don't really think that was the point. It was more about developing the characters.
The art was solid as ever. It's nice to see the art has improved so much since the first couple of issues. Those could get really rough to look at.
I'd give this **1/2 out of *****.
Notes: This is the first issue of the Mad Thinker and the Awesome Android. They'll remain fairly consistent villains for the Fantastic Four throughout the history of the book. This is also the first time they are referred to as living in New York if I'm remembering correctly.
Next Issue: Tales to Astonish #44
