Fantastic Foray

Fantastic Four #28 - By Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

Marvel icons meet for the first time in this classic issue by Lee and Kirby, and I have to say this was one of the most enjoyable issues I've read since starting this blog. As it should be, this is an FF story that truly guest stars the X-Men. You can see after so many issues, Stan Lee is very adept at handling the FF and their villains. The ease of presentation and flow of their dialogue in this issue really shows how new the X-Men are in his mind and now their characters are only just beginning to solidify.

The story is also something you could only do after having so many issues under your belt. You have recurring villains in the Mad Thinker and the Puppet Master (and I can't forget the Awesome Android), who have already been defeated by the FF a number of times and they're looking for an advantage in the next confrontation. Mad Thinker drafts the Puppet Master into creating a puppet of Professor Xavier and controlling the X-Men through their leader. Overall, a great scheme to get someone else to do your dirty work. But the story is actually more then just setting one team against the other.

After an initial "dust up" at the Baxter Building, the X-Men kidnap Sue Storm and head out - luring the male members of the FF to follow them. Sue is taken to an island (its always an island with Stan Lee, isn't it?) pre-set by the Mad Thinker with booby traps designed to capture the entire FF. As the second confrontation between the FF and the X-Men begins, the booby traps click into place incapacitating the whole team. After the villains reveal themselves, its falls to the Beast to overcome Profesor X's numbing command to "sleep" using the superior power of his brain against the professor's power diffused over all the X-Men. He breaks the doll of Professor X and the villains flee.

This issue is full of great character moments for the FF. If you remember my second column ("Enter....The X-Men"), I talked about how much the Beast and Iceman were clones of the Thing and Human Torch. In this issue, Lee really shows that the X-Men have grown beyond that - particularly the Beast. But he does have a few moments here and there where he intentionally puts the characters up against each other in an obvious poke at his earlier critics. In fact, the Thing calls the Beast ugly and freakish on occassion - a nice turn on how he thinks others perceive him.

Overall, this is just a great comic. Full of fun situations and dialogue and supported by wonderful Jack Kirby artwork, this one is truly Fantastic!

Up Next: Uncanny X-Men #7 and Professor Xavier and the X-Men #8