The Fantastic Four #2
The Skrulls. A war-like intergalactic empire. Constant
cosmic threat to the Marvel Universe. Total ass-clowns.
Arriving in issue two, we find that the Four are famous.
Intergalactically famous. Based, apparently, on that one time they beat up that
ugly guy in a cave.
Fame and public presence have always been a key part of the
Four. In fact, I’d say Marvel in general is more concerned with the public
perception of its heroes (we’re talking within narrative here) than DC. But the
Four, the First Family of Marvel, are always public figures. I guess I thought
that would develop a little more organically.
In this issue, shape-shifting Skrulls from outer space
impersonate the Four and wreck an oil derrick, steal a diamond and melt a statue
so that the world’s militaries will hunt down the Four and destroy them,
freeing the Skrulls up to invade the earth. Because the only thing currently
stopping them is the Fantastic Four. Who can be defeated by the military, which
doesn’t really present a threat to the Skrulls. Got it?
The Four is chilling in an isolated hunting lodge while all
this goes down. Probably to deal with all the fame. Despite the isolation, they
still make Ben dress up in his Claude Rains duds. Ben has a couple “This man,
this monster” rages, throws a bear head out the window. Then they all get
captured by the army. Then they all escape.
Interesting quirk of this particular reproduction: whenever
Sue goes invisible, she’s rendered in white with some dotted lines. Meaning
there’s no ink on the page, a true blank. It's more noticeable in the reprint. In a pulp printed comic, the ink soaks a little deeper into the page, rather than sitting on top of it and giving the page an added sheen. Here's a picture that entirely does not illustrate what I'm talking about.
Because the Four is awesome at planning, they come up with a
plan. What if one of us actually destroys something, in order to confuse our
impersonators? Brilliant! Johnny wrecks a rocket, then gets picked up by Skrull
Reed and Skrull Sue in a Studebaker, which may or may not be a Skrull. Luckily
for everyone, none of the Skrulls is in Johnny form right now, because actually
that was a huge potential flaw in an otherwise flawless plan.
But here’s my favorite part.
The Four decide to impersonate the Skrulls and go to the
Skrull mothership, which has been waiting in orbit for that one last obstacle
to invasion to be removed. Then they fool the Skrull leader by showing him
pages from other Marvel comics. But not superhero comics, pages from Strange
Tales and Journey into Mystery (which would later feature Thor, but at this
point I guess had giant ants?). The Skrulls, despite the fact they’ve been
monitoring the planet and have found no evidence of scary-ass troll monsters and
giant ants, are like “Oh crap, let’s hightail it.”
And they do. Menace defeated.
On the return trip, they pass through some more cosmic rays.
Which, understandably, Ben gets pretty upset about. Of course, everyone else is
less than sympathetic, because they are jerks to Ben all day.
And finally, because Reed has not had a chance this issue to
prove that he is a dick, he forces the three Skrulls who remained on earth to
turn into cows. Permanently. This is an awesome idea and nothing bad could ever
come of introducing aliens into the food supply.
My plot summary might seem snarky, but this issue is
exponentially better than the first. Sure, the various plots and schemes are
ludicrous, but they’ve got room to breathe a bit. This issue seems competent, on
the plotting front. The art has some standout moments, particularly Ben’s brief
reversion to human form. Some of the panel pacing is odd for a narrative that’s
so compressed. Like this sequence.
There’s plenty to say about Sue, and as she develops, I’ll
want to say more about her here. But one thing worth noting is that
invisibility is not a particularly fun super-power to draw. Kirby seems to
revel in panels of Johnny leaving flame trails in his wake and Reed’s limbs
distending across the frame (although none of the Reed panels can touch Jack
Cole’s Plastic Man, which rivals Eisner in its early formal innovation). But
when it comes to Sue, there’s not a whole lot to work with other than showing
the consequences of her visual absence.
Next issue: costumes! The Fantasti-car! The Miracle Man (but
not MiracleMan).
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