Issue #3

 Issue #3

Welcome back to the third issue of this blog! Today we are reading the third Fantastic Four comic, published March 1st, 1962 (we will be reading F4 for quite a while). 

Off the cover, the first thing I notice is that they have their now trademark uniforms for the first time ever, and they are also riding in a flying car, so that’ll be interesting to read, let’s get into it. 

We start off with a performer known as the Miracle Man performing a show, and the F4 are watching it. Miracle Man calls them up one by one and attempts to show the crowd that the F4 are nothing compared to him. He taunts and insults the F4 as he performs a variety of magic tricks, growing in size, changing to solid gas, and having the ability to fly. The Thing challenges Miracle Man from the audience, and Miracle Man invites him up for a test of strength: who can break a log first. After much struggle, the Thing is finally able to do it, then the Miracle Man does it with one finger. The Thing grows angry and punches him, which doesn’t faze Miracle Man in the slightest. Finally, the F4 tie up the Thing and get him off stage. 

Much later, the F4 are riding back home to a secret base in their new flying car, while this is happening, Miracle Man (shockingly enough) is evil, and he is planning something that will bring the human race to its knees. He comes up with turning the monster exhibit at a nearby theater alive, to fight the F4. Back to the F4, they arrive at home, and we are given a brief tour of their new secret home, with planes, helicopters, boats, a projection room, a giant map, a conference room, and living quarters. The most important thing here, however, is that they have a giant missile. The F4 are watching the live premiere of the new monster exhibit at the theater, while Sue shows off homemade suits for all four of them. We see the Miracle Man on TV, as he brings the monster to life. The police try to stop it, to no avail. Then, it disappears, along with the Miracle Man. Immediately, the commissioner is called by the F4, who alerts them that the Miracle Man has declared war on the whole human race, and they have full permission to do whatever they can to stop him. The F4 spread out to try to find Miracle Man, and Reed finds the monster robbing a bank. He stretches his body to the max to trap the monster, which works, however Miracle Man finds Reed and hits him in the head with a rock, knocking him unconscious. He, for the time being, is brought in by the commissioner and is out of commission temporarily. 

Next to find the monster is the Human Torch, who finds it stealing an atomic tank. Torch enters the battle, swarming around the beast and eventually letting it grab him. When his heat proves too much for the monster, it disappears the Miracle Man at work again. The guards at the scene, despite being told Torch is trying to help, disobey orders and spray him with chemical form, knocking him out of the battle. The Thing and Sue arrive at the scene, Sue tends to the Torch, while the Thing goes after Miracle Man. However, Miracle Man proves too much for the Thing and opens the ground below him so he is stuck. Sue talks through their new radio and says she is going after Miracle Man alone. He’s driving an atomic tank away, and Sue jumps aboard. 

Back at the base, the rest of the F4 decide to wait for Sue to signal for their help, but the Thing and the Torch get into a fight when Thing expresses his desire for Sue to look at him the way she looks at Reed, and Torch makes fun of it. Torch flames on to protect himself, and Thing tells him to fight like a man, which Torch points out the hypocrisy of. He leaves, citing that he is getting tired of looking at Things face. In this series, we have seen common traits: Sue and Reed are married, and Torch is her brother. Reed is the leader of the team, and Sue is like their babysitter. Torch and Thing don’t get along that well, and Thing struggles with self-loathing and a desire to go back to being a human. 

Back to the Miracle Man, Sue is about ready to signal the rest of the F4 when a dog catches her scent. Miracle Man uses the dog to track her and then hypnotizes her into calling the rest of the F4. One by one, they all show up at the scene, where Miracle Man has a machine gun ready to shoot. Reed transforms himself into a bouncing ball, able to dodge all of the bullets, and the Thing blocks the rest with his body until Miracle Man runs out of ammo. MM runs off into his atomic tank with Sue, and the rest of them are forced to get into an old antique car to chase him down. MM uses the tank to blow off one of their tires, and just as it’s about to crash, Reed turns into a human tire and goes into place. Torch flies towards the tank, and shines so bright it blinds the Miracle Man, allowing him to be captured. Torch checks on MM while the Thing attempts to kill him, which Reed stops. Finally, we discover the true miracle with Miracle Man: he’s a hypnotist. None of the things that it seemed he did were actually real, it was all hypnotism, but with his eyes blinded, his ability is gone. 

It ends on a sad note, as Torch says that he is fed up with the group, and says that he’s done. This concerns Reed, as he wonders how the Torch could be stopped if he turns against them. 

Overall, this was an excellent issue, Miracle Man was an interesting villain for the F4, with a pretty good twist at the end for him. It was a little anticlimactic with Torch being able to beat him by himself near the end, but it was a solid issue nonetheless. 

7/10