Issue(s): Fantastic Four #136, Fantastic Four #137
Published Date: Jul-Aug 73
Title: "Rock around the cosmos!" / "Rumble on planet 3"
Credits:
Roy Thomas - Plot
Gerry Conway - Script
John Buscema - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker
Roy Thomas - Editor

Review/plot:
One of Gideon's henchmen wakes up from last issues fight and finds that some kind of radiation hit him. It attracts the attention of the Shaper of Worlds, who sees him as a good candidate for a dreamagining.

This guy, whose handle is the Wild One, is sort of stuck in the 1950s, and he reimagines the world as young people in James Dean style outfits on flying motorcycles (The J.D.'s) fighting Establishment old people who wear weird 3-D glasses (The "Patriots").. The men wear Bucky outfits and the women wear costumes with spirals on their breasts and crotch.

Prior to getting sucked into the Wild One's world, the FF, leaving Gideon's compound, basically say to poor Thomas, "Well, i guess you've got cancer and you're going to die. Later, son!" and then "Oh all right we'll see if we can't find a cure.". Next thing you know he's on the pogo plane.

Then the Shaper's reality hits them, and Johnny and Medusa get semi-brainwashed into going with the motorcycle kids, while Reed and the Thing go with the old folks. Since Medusa has been married to Black Bolt by the time i started reading comics, and she's an Inhuman, i always think of her as an older woman, possibly not even aging like humans do, but i guess she's really just a young girl. That makes Johnny's crush on her in earlier issues a little less creepy, i guess.

Mr. Fantastic gets an idea of what's going on when the Wild One treats a black man "as though the black were... an invisible man". "The black"? For what it's worth, this is the first black guy i remember seeing in a Fantastic Four comic since the Black Panther sent Mr. Fantastic a sent of vibranium knuckles to help fight Klaw via a remote controlled rocket back in Fantastic Four #56... eighty issues ago. Just sayin'!

Both groups are told by their respective bosses that they have to find Albert Einstein's bomb if they want to stay on the team.

But wait! It turns out that "Albert Einstein" is really Gideon's henchman. The Shaper was fulfilling his wish to not be stupid any more.

Then who is the Wild One, and what's all this J.D.s vs. Patriots stuff? Is this a clever twist or did i not read carefully enough? Ay-yi-yi.

Anyway, after a drive-in movie monster comes to life and the black Patriots revolt, the Shaper of Worlds realizes that the henchman wasn't a good source of imagination after all, so he abducts Thomas Gideon instead, and then the world becomes normal again. The Thing wonders if things were actually better in the 50s, without all the "Riots, pollution, and women's liberation." The Human Torch says he feels sick, but i'm not sure if it's due to the Thing's sexism.

Quality Rating: D

Historical Significance Rating: 3 - we are well on the way of turning Thomas Gideon into Glorian

Chronological Placement Considerations: This issue starts with the FF still at Gideon's place and Reed still unconscious, but it has been some time since the end of last issue.

References: N/A

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: N/A