Issue(s): Fantastic Four #147
Cover Date: Jun 74
Title: "The Sub-Mariner strikes!"
Credits:
Gerry Conway - Writer
Rich Buckler - Penciler
Joe Sinnott - Inker

Review/plot:
The reason Ben was looking for Johnny last issue is that Sue has served Reed with divorce papers, and Reed is not taking it well.

To make matters worse, Namor shows up out of nowhere to attack...

...and it turns out that Sue has moved in with him.

We'll learn in the next arc what this is all about. All i'll say for now is that this is a very dangerous game that could have resulted in someone getting hurt real bad.

Here's Reed in full-blown super-villain mode.

Johnny has an exo-suit that lets him flame-on under water, but it doesn't work very well.

It's kind of ridiculous, but we'll see that suit again, and more functional.

Quality Rating: C

Historical Significance Rating: 1

Chronological Placement Considerations: The MCP has all of the Sub-Mariner's appearances through FF #149 occurring between Sub-Mariner #71-72. See the Considerations for Giant-Size Super-Stars regarding the placement of this issue relative to that one (i'm saying this issue comes first, but it's not definitive).

References:

• The Thing says that despite initially having been as mad at Reed over the zapping of Franklin in Fantastic Four #141, he's siding with Reed over Sue since "when the chips're down, a man's gotta stick with his pals." The Thing was shown to be mad at Reed and essentially left the team over it in Fantastic Four #142-144.
  
• The Thing and the Torch bring up the fact Reed saved Namor's life by creating the new suit for him in Sub-Mariner #67. In that same arc, the Atlanteans were all put into a coma (a footnote explaining why Namor doesn't have an army behind him in this issue says "most of Namor's subjects are dead", actually).
  
• The Torch found and revived the Sub-Mariner in Fantastic Four #4.

Crossover: N/A

Continuity Insert? N

My Reprint: N/A

This was gut wrenching arc - apart from Gwen Stacy's death, no other issue has wretched me more than Reed and Sue separation!

Maybe it wasn't the best written but it was super interesting reading Sue and Reed's relationship split. Not sure if I would have been okay with Medusa completely moving in on Reed but I liked her as moral support and she ws pretty cool.

Between Medusa movin' on after-Susan Reed, MJ on after-Gwen Peter and Pepper on Tony Stark, one could imagine that at Marvel someone was obsessed with redheads.
And hating blondes: Gwen dies, Susan is acting weird, Marianne Rodgers is nut, other blondes in the MU are dating sons of Satan or guys who made pacts with him.
Shanna is orange haired so she's somewhere in a grey area, but for good measure is a catlady.

@JT188: don't forget another catlady becoming a redhead about this time too. (sadly I actually appreciate Greer as a raven-haired female)

I guess that I prefer a dark-haired Greer too, but I still have to arrive there (I am reading in pubblication order). Well, a brunette turning redhead further corroborates the theory. If Moondragon will ever buy a wig, we have a hint about the color.

You can almost smell the faint scent of Vodka on Reeds overgrown stubble and feel him twisting in hopeless agony in this issue. A megalomaniac like Namor has just usurped his wife a Reed knows Namor is satisfying her at high pitched frequency that he can only imagine in a quantum physics notation. All I can think of when I read this book was ouch like when you accidentally brush into a Cactus.

I always pictured Reed as more of a Scotch drinker. After all, back in the day only dirty Commies drank Vodka.

The James Bond (no Commie he) films popularized vodka in the 60s and certainly people in the US were widely drinking it in the 70s. But yeah, I'd figure Reed to drink Rob Roys or Rusty Nails. Maybe Scotch on the rocks when he's morose.

Johnny would have drunk Harvey Wallbangers around this time, ignoring the sliding time scale

Nothing like mixing alcohol and emotionally-triggered self-combustion.

@Ubersicht: Yes, that is true about James Bond, and as a long-time fan I am quite embarrassed that I forgot :(

As for Reed Richards, considering his background as a scientist and his fondness for pipe-smoking (at least in the Silver Age) Scotch just seemed like a natural fit to me. Although in cases like this, when his wife has left him for Namor, I half-expect Reed skipped the "on the rocks" part and was having it neat. Having said that, even under the worst of circumstances I cannot picture Reed ever drinking directly from the bottle.

Yeah, this is what comic book fans think about in their spare time :)

Off topic for this issue but I like to imagine Rogue gets a little crazy drinking Old Grand-Dad 100 proof Bourbon straight from the bottle. Otherwise she mixes it with Coca-Cola. And a lime when she's being fancy.
Back on topic:
Sue is a wine spritzer type. Ben drinks Boiler Makers (confirmed in a few stories).

As we know from the cover to the now-classic Marvel Two-In-One #86, the Thing has a fondness for Miller draft beer. He probably has a glass or two of Manischewitz wine during the Jewish holidays :)

Doesn't Ben drink Shotz Beer (of Laverne & Shirley fame) straight out of the can? Confirmed in Avengers #150, IIRC.

Medusa and Reed do seem to be making with the chemistry (just as Johnny and Medusa were in the previous arc), but she is, after all, a married woman. One would assume that Black Bolt might have a word or two to say about this. And Mr. Blackagar Boltagon is somebody you reeeeally don't want to have words with, for obvious reasons.

Subby is being an utter jerk here, no matter how "noble" his motives prove to be. Ugh.