Obsessively putting our comics in chronological order since 1985.
| 1970-07-01 00:02:30 |
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Fantastic Four #101
Issue(s): Fantastic Four #101
Cover Date: Aug 70
Title: "Bedlam in the Baxter Building!"
Credits:
Stan Lee - Writer
Jack Kirby - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker
Review/plot:
You wouldn't expect Earth-bound realism from the Fantastic Four, but this issue has one of the least outrageous depictions of the Mafia Maggia that we've seen to date. Granted, we're competing with Count Nefaria and the Masked Marauder here. But compared to them, a bunch of Italian guys in pinstriped suits eating spaghetti is practically a documentary on the mob.
The story is that the Maggia tries to take over the Baxter Building legally, but their inability to restrain themselves from doing illegal things dooms the effort (Monty Python's Non-illegal Robbery bit comes to mind).
The FF take an attack from the mob quite seriously which lends credence to the idea that Marvel's higher-level super-heroes don't do enough to deal with street crime.
Some advances in the depiction of women: Crystal is the first to escape the cement boxes that the Maggia tries to drown the FF in, and without her the others wouldn't have survived:
And despite being sent away to Agatha Harkness' place, the Invisible Girl later returns and does a fair bit of ass kicking.
Certainly a change of pace for the Fantastic Four, although i guess you can draw a line from the recent Skrull Gangster storyline. It's also Kirby's penultimate issue. He kicks the issue off with a hootenanny; typical zany fun that wouldn't give you any idea that anything was wrong (although Alicia seems off model).
Quality Rating: C
Historical Significance Rating: 1
Chronological Placement Considerations: N/A
References: N/A
Crossover: N/A
Continuity Insert? N
My Reprint: N/A
| Previous: Hulk #129 | Up: Main 1970 / Box 5 / Silver Age | Next: X-Men: The Hidden Years #1-9 |
Comments
The Cassius Clay reference is weird; he'd been known as Muhammad Ali for several years at this point and made international news by refusing to be drafted and getting stripped of his heavyweight boxing title because of it.
I first read this story as a fill-in reprint in the '70s (issue #180 or thereabouts), and the Cassius Clay reference in that balloon was relettered to say "Ali."
Just discovered the site, and am enjoying it very much. But reading the entry for this issue I need to ask: any plans to cover the "World's Greatest Comics Magazine" mini-series that takes place at this point? (I've often been curious as to how well that continuity holds up to scrutiny...)
Thanks, Chris. Right now i'm focusing on getting through the issues on the Recent Updates page, and then i want to start making some progress on adding new years before i do any more back issue/continuity insert adds. I'll probably want to get through the DeFalco EiC years, so it'll be a while.
Yes, Alicia sure "seems off model" here--all of a sudden, after many years, she has long black hair! Plus she's updated her wardrobe and is wearing a minskirt.
Apart from her first few, long-haired appearances (#8-10), she'd sported short-to-medium length hair for years. And normally her hair was colored a pale orangey color; or a few times--since #79--it was a brown shade. #101 is definitely a new look for her.
When John Buscema took over the FF penciling, he usually drew her with #101's long hair style and it looked beautiful. The color was inconsistent: sometimes she had brown hair, sometimes pale orange (even in the same story arc!) and occasionally it was even yellow, like Sue's hair. Buat as far as I know, #101 is the only time Alicia's had black hair. In the reprint issue Chris mentions, Alicia's hair is colored orange (with black inking/shading).
