Issue(s): Fantastic Four #44, Fantastic Four #45, Fantastic Four #45, Fantastic Four #47 / Strange Tales #130 (Human Torch & Thing story only)

Fantastic Four
Published Date: Nov 65 - Feb 66
Title: "The gentleman's name is Gorgon! (or: What a way to spend a honeymoon!)" / "Among us hide... the Inhumans" / "Those who would destroy us!" / "Beware the Hidden Land!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Strange Tales (Human Torch)
Published Date: Mar 65
Title: "Meet the Beatles!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Bob Powell - Penciler
Chic Stone - Inker

Review/plot:
Ooh boy, we can tell how this marriage is going to turn out. This issue starts with Sue wearing an apron over her FF uniform, washing dishes while Reed tinkers with "the world's first automated dish-washer mechansim".

Once he's done building that he doesn't want to hear any more whining about the housework. In the meantime, Ben and Johnny are hanging around, not giving the newlyweds a chance to wash their dishes in private.

Luckily, Gorgon shows up.

He's chasing Medusa, who kidnaps Johnny and makes him help her flee. (Gorgon's name doesn't make a lot of sense. I think it was chosen because they found it when they were looking up the Medusa and it sounded cool. The Medusa of Greek myth was one of the three Gorgons. Reading this issue as if i had never heard of the Inhumans, you might think the writers were going in that direction, but it turns out to be a red herring.)

The Torch accidentally wakes up Dragon Man, who takes a liking to Medusa and fights Gorgon for him.

The rest of the FF show up as well and we get a big fun fight, with the FF eventually getting defeated by Gorgon.

Meanwhile, the Sandman and the Trapster are locked in a specially designed prison cell, wondering why Medusa hasn't come to rescue them (the Wizard is in the hospital).

Back at the Baxter Building, Johnn is moping about. Dorrie Evans declines a date with him, saying she's got another guy. He decides to go for a walk, and winds up in a slum neighborhood scheduled for demolition. There he sees Crystal, who "makes Dorrie Evans look like a boy!", but when he tries to get close to her, he is blown away by a gale of winds.

He chases her and meets Lockjaw as well.

She leads Johnny into a secret underground area to meet her family. Johnny picks up on the fact that she refers to humans as creatures seperate from herself, but thinks that they can't be mutants "or else the X-Men would have found them!".

Crystal introduces the Torch to Karnak, who greets him by throwing him over his shoulder. Dick.

Then Medusa and Gorgon show up, along with Triton, who is dressed in a heavy cloak.

They try to capture Johnny but he escapes and summons the FF. The two teams get ready to fight, and then Black Bolt shows up.

Issue #45 also features the first appearance of the FF's Jet Cycle.

While the FF fight the Inhumans...

...a guy called the Seeker invades the Baxter Building and hijacks Dragon Man, who has been tranquilized since the FF's fight with Gorgon.

He also goes and snags Triton, and the rest of the Inhumans flee.

The FF trace the Seeker to a building in NYC, and he tells them the history of the Inhumans, which involves a separate species of humanoid that specialized in genetic manipulation dominating the earth in pre-historic times, but being driven undergound as humans became more numerous. This version of the history leaves out any involvement of the Kree, perhaps because it was not known to the Inhumans?

Then Dragon Man escapes and the Seeker flees, leaving Triton to suffocate without water. Sue saves him by creating a forcefield that they fill with water.

Meanwhile, the Torch and the Thing go after Dragon Man and of course they wind up fightng him right outside Alicia's apartment. The Torch defeats Dragon Man by zapping him with ultra-violet rays.

Meanwhile the Seeker reveals he is working for Maximus.

The Inhumans show up at the Great Refuge...

...and Maximus releases the Alpha Primatives to attack them. When the Black Bolt and co. defeat the Primatives, Maximus comes out and greets them and Black Bolt takes back his crown.

Reed has been acting cold and distant (surprise! happy marriage!), so as the FF travel to the Great Refuge (in a 'remote mountain range'), Sue decides to... change her hairstyle. And her new style does look better than the bonnet she's been wearing, but really.

Reed appeals to the Inhumans to reveal themselves to humanity but the conversation doesn't go very far because Maximus sneaks off to fire the Atmo-Gun...

So, first appearance of the Inhumans. It's clear they didn't quite know what they were going to do with them at this point, and it's hard from a modern reader's perspective to get caught up in the intrigue of this mysterious super-powered civilization, but if nothing else you can see that a lot of interesting ideas were getting thrown around.

Also in this reprint is a sorta-cute story about Ben and Johnny taking Alicia and Dorrie to a Beatles concert, but Ben and Johnny have to foil a robbery and don't get to actually see the concert. Ben pulls out his Beatles wig that the Yancy Gang sent him in FF #34.

Quality Rating: C+

Historical Significance Rating: 9 - first Inhumans (including Gorgon, Crystal, Lockjaw, Triton, Karnak, Black Bolt, Maximus, and the Great Refuge).

Chronological Placement Considerations: The Strange Tale story is fairly context free - the Torch is still dating Dorrie Evans.

References:

• The FF visited State University and fought Dragon Man in Fantastic Four #35

Cross-over: N/A

Continuity Implant? N

Reprinted In: Marvel's Greatest Comics #33, Marvel's Greatest Comics #34