Fantastic Four (1961-1998) #13

Fantastic Four (1961)

by Stan Lee, Steve Ditko (Inker), Jack Kirby (Penciller)

During a flight to the moon to test a new rocket, the Fantastic Four notice a nearby ship being hit by cosmic rays. Inside, the Russian crew are affected in a startling way!

Genres: Comics, Marvel, Comic Book, Fiction

23 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber) was an American writer, editor, creator of comic book superheroes, and the former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

With several artist co-creators, most notably Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko, he co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, Thor as a superhero, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, the Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange, Ant-Man and the Wasp, Scarlet Witch, The Inhumans, and many other characters, introducing complex, naturalistic characters and a thoroughly shared universe into superhero comic books. He subsequently led the expansion of Marvel Comics from a small division of a publishing house to a large multimedia corporation.

Reviews

[Jon Nakapalau]

Silver Age Key - first Watcher (Uatu Earth-616) first Red Ghost (Ivan Kragoff - Иван Крагов) and first Super-Apes (Miklho, Peotor and Igor). This issue was published in 1963 (during the height of the Cold War) and I can't help but wonder if old uncle Stan was making a veiled patriotic statement about the Soviet space program.

[Davidus1]

The Fantastic Four are in a race to the moon. Reed discovers a new source of energy from a crater in Arizona. The Red Ghost is a communist scientist that creates a clear spacecraft to pass through the cosmic rays and gain powers like the Fantastic Four did. Both do battle but encounter "The Watcher".

[Shane Stanis]

My Marvelous year Two: 1963 pt.1

Read for another Cold War space race story, and the premiere of The Watcher. Essential read for FF superfans, marvel historians, fans of the What If?! MCU entry

[Jay]

Reed has discovered a substance that makes for a powerful rocket fuel. In a desire to test it, he plans a trip to the moon, and rest of the team tags along. Meanwhile, one of the most prominent minds behind the Iron Curtain has a similar trip in mind - but he also wants to recreate the incident that created the famous foursome, and give himself even greater abilities!

I thought this was a really fun story! A solid read that provided some great moments, and adds an iconic piece of the Marvel universe. This issue provides the first appearance of the enigmatic Watcher. He doesn't reveal his name in this issue, and demonstrates some interesting abilities and philosophies. Of course, he wastes no time coming out of the shadows and revealing his presence and purpose to Ben and the Red Ghost. So much for non-interference and only watching events play out. In the explanation of his backstory, Kirby illustrates the Watcher zooming around in a mini flying saucer. It's kind of ridiculous, but has kind of an air of fun about it at the same time.

This is also the first appearance of the "Blue Area" on the moon. Described as being the "ruins of an ancient civilization," we really don't get more than that, except that there was someone else here before the Watcher. Whoever they were, they left a lot of perfectly operable high technology behind for everyone to find! It just takes the FF a while since they spend a while building a transport our of random junk early in the issue. Marvel will later build on this location in several places, but that's down the road quite a way!

The Red Ghost himself is kind of typical of the comic book communists of the time. He's domineering, single-minded and self-important. His apes are held in tight and somewhat cruel control - as is plainly identified as an allegory to the dominion of the Soviet Union. It's inevitable that they turn on him in the end, right? He doesn't really rise above stereotypical mad scientist in this issue.

Of course there are plenty of scientific misses here as well, such as people being magnetically held to each other (Stan loved his magnets), lot of uses of asbestos, and little differentiation between invisibility and intangibility. Those two concepts seem to flow together quite a bit in this issue. Hey, we can write it all off as being "comic book" physics, right?

Sure it had it's flaws, but this was actually kind of a fun issue with many good moments. There are so many things set up here that Stan will go back to in the future. A really interesting moment that sets the stage for so much more to come.

[Aditya Mallya]

This 1960s pre-moon landing issue seems a bit dated - with its references to "The Reds", the condescending parallels it draws between the Soviet masses and apes, its casting of Sue in the role of helpless hostage yet again and its cute depiction of ancient civilizations on the moon.

[Kaleb Boston]

First appearance of Uatu
First appearance of Red Ghost
First appearance of the Super-Apes
First exploration of the Moon's Blue Area in Marvel Comics

Reed Richards discovers that a meteor fragment may contain an incredibly powerful energy source, potentially allowing the Fantastic Four to reach the Moon before the Soviets. At the same time, Soviet scientist Ivan Kragoff secretly plans his own lunar expedition.

Kragoff intentionally flies through cosmic radiation, hoping to duplicate the accident that created the Fantastic Four. Accompanying him are three trained apes:

A gorilla
An orangutan
A baboon

The radiation grants each of them superpowers:

The gorilla gains immense strength.
The orangutan develops magnetic abilities.
The baboon gains the power to shapeshift.

Kragoff himself becomes the Red Ghost, acquiring the ability to turn intangible and pass through solid objects.

Arrival on the Moon

Both spacecraft arrive in the mysterious Blue Area of the Moon, an Earth-like region with air and ancient ruins. The Fantastic Four and Red Ghost immediately clash.
While exploring, they encounter a mysterious being known as Uatu, called simply The Watcher.
The Watcher reveals that his race exists only to observe civilizations and never interfere with their development. He is disturbed that human rivalries and Cold War tensions have reached even the Moon.

Red Ghost captures Sue Storm while his Super-Apes attack the others. Sue cleverly realizes that the apes dislike their cruel master and manipulates them into rebelling against him.

Desperate, Red Ghost attempts to invade the Watcher's citadel, but its defenses repel him. Reed creates a device that immobilizes the villain, ending the conflict.

As the Fantastic Four prepare to return to Earth, the Super-Apes abandon their former master, leaving him stranded on the Moon.

[Francesco]

I found this story quite interesting on many levels. Setting aside all the Cold War space race references between the US and USSR, the core idea—the creation of another quartet opposing the Fantastic Four, with powers gained in the same way—is a solid concept.

In this issue, both the Fantastic Four and Kragoff, along with his trained apes, reach the Blue Area of the Moon. Before that, the Russian exposes his ship to the same cosmic rays that gave the protagonists their powers, but for a longer time. This sets up a promising foundation for villains who can truly challenge the heroes.

On the Moon, we also get the introduction of the Watcher and an explanation about his species that is both interesting and quite precise. The weaker part is the entire factional struggle and the praise for Americans as bearers of peace. Nationalism clearly stands out as the real antagonist in these comics.

The fight between The Thing and Red Ghost with the apes was my favorite part. Conversely, the four-on-four battle felt very confusing; I believe Lee and Kirby had not yet mastered handling complex multi-character fights. As usual, the Fantastic Four’s victory hinges on their cunning and intelligence, especially Reed’s, while Sue and Johnny feel largely wasted. Sue is kidnapped, as usual, for reasons I can’t quite grasp, and Johnny is used by Reed as a sort of power source for a spaceship—an almost pointless role, seemingly there just to give him something to do.

I really appreciated the artwork for both the new and returning characters. Although the Watcher’s design may seem simple at first, I believe his minimalist style encapsulates the millennia of his history.

[Diego Galvão]

Primeira aparição do Vigia, e primeira viagem a lua, o legal de ler uma história dessa, é ver a inocência da época (1961) e pensar que 8 anos após essa história, o homem realmente iria chegar a Lua!
Muito legal.

[Aidan Pedroza]

red ghost and the apes got no abilities of what kind, some freeze goo

[presidentpoppy]

GO MY ASBESTOS BABOON

[King Q]

Apes being in this comic is just classic.

[Tony Zecco]

Blah blah, communists are evil, America is amazing

[antopanda]

First appearance of The Watcher.

[David Sutton]

First appearance of The Watcher and Red Ghost

[Hades Sinclair]

No-Bark Noonan would love this comic.

[Mars Fargo]

FANTASTIC FOUR #11-20, Annual #1 (The Fantastic Four’s Second Arc)
*Note: a nifty READING ORDER has been provided at the end of this review

This serves as more of a transition point than a single narrative arc, being a series of issues very loosely connected by the fact they wrap up old arcs and set up new ones; It gives a definitive ending to the already existing character arcs, so that the slate is clean for them to start building their new ones.

I like that Lee really took the time to wrap up the ongoing love triangle between Reed, Sue, and Namor. He builds it up as a subplot overarching throughout these issues, culminating in a massive 58-page epic in Fantastic Four Annual #1. It ends this story arc without it feeling inconsequential or ending for the sake of ending. (And in wrapping up this pre-existing arc, it leaves a blank slate to start building the next arc…)

I like that they brought back Doctor Doom, and set him up for further potential character development. I like that they brought back the Skrulls, introducing them as another ongoing threat that the Fantastic Four will face. In doing this, Marvel wisely begins moving away from inconsequential one-off villains and into ongoing antagonists who evolve and grow just as our heroes evolve and grow with them.

I think the most important single piece of setup established in this group of stories is Uatu the Watcher: he is introduced, then made an ongoing supporting character, in these issues. It allows him to already be an established presence in the universe; he serves a role in this story, and as a side-affect is already a variable in place for the eventual “Lo, there shall be an ending” and “Coming of Galactus” story arcs almost 20-30 issues from now.

I can’t even reveal what is setup in Fantastic Four #19, because Stan Lee sets it up so subtly you don’t even realize it until Avengers #8. I will just say that someone appears in this issue who will go on to have a major cosmic affect on the entire Marvel Universe… and Stan Lee clearly knew it when he wrote this.

In fact, that's what this whole second arc mainly feels like. It feels like they're just trying to tie up as many loose ends as possible BEFORE moving onto their next big storylines. It serves as an effective transitions, conclusively wrapping up the story arcs we’ve already been invested in while also laying the foundation for the future of the series.

READING ORDER
-Fantastic Four #11
-Fantastic Four #12
-Fantastic Four #13
-Fantastic Four #14
-Fantastic Four #15
-Fantastic Four #16
-Fantastic Four #17
-Fantastic Four #18
-Fantastic Four Annual #1
-Fantastic Four #19
-Fantastic Four #20

[Max Solis]

Buena pelea contra Fantasma Rojo. Para algunas personas este puede ser, tal vez, uno de los villanos menos interesantes que puede haber para el cuarteto. Sin embargo, yo considero muy interesante su participación debido al contexto de la Guerra Fría que se vivía en ese mundo. El Fantasma Rojo representa los ideales rusos desde la visión estadounidense, y los héroes siempre serán los americanos.