sonotadream

Fantastic Four(1961) #22-24 - Stan Lee/Jack Kirby

Checking in with Marvel's best team!

First, Sue finally develops new powers: the ability to create force fields and to make objects and other people invisible, although she can't be invisible at the same time.

Then, the Fantastic Four have to deal with their worst threat yet: unhappy neighbours. Reed thinks it would be best to relocate their bigger experiments to a deserted island on the shore of New Jersey that just came into the market.

But, surprise! The neighbours and the convenient island - it was all a trap from the Mole Man!

After the confrontation with the FF, the Mole Man escaped through his network of underground tunnels and has been busy planning his next attack on the surface world. He had his army of Moloids - who seem to be quite brainless creatures, tbh - build hydraulic platforms capable of stealing entire cities from the surface. The Mole Man plans to attack both New York and Moscow to trick both sides of the Cold War to start World War III.

He also has several traps prepared for the Fantastic Four, which they beat with their wits. They escape the island in a hurry, since Reed fiddled with the platforms' controls to blow up the island instead.

Next, the return of Doctor Doom. Last seen fleeing because he didn't want to fight Spider-Man and the Fantastic Four at the same time, he returns with a new plan to destroy the team. He recruits a trio of crooks and uses a formula he developed to give them special abilities: one gets super-hearing, other super-strength, and the third becomes resistant to fire.

They incapacitate Johnny, Ben and Sue, which leaves Doom to deal with Reed. Doom imprisons the four in the same room, allowing them to work together to free themselves. They’re helped by the fact that Doom doesn’t know about Sue’s new powers.

Doom’s plan, however, was to destroy the Fantastic Four due to a weird interaction between ionic powder and solar rays that makes matter disappear. He tries to flee, but Reed drags him back into the room as it dissolves and Doom is lost in space again. Not forever, because the narration box tells us that Stan and Jack are already working on a way to bring him back.

During all this, the FF, or rather, Ben, Johnny and Sue have been fighting over Reed's leadership - i.e. if he should be in charge. Johnny and Ben fight and Sue is unable to stop them, which reinforces Reed’s notion that he’s clearly the obvious leader. Then the four have to work together to escape Doom and they conclude they are better as a team, anyway.

Of course, by the next issue, Johnny and Ben are chafing under Reed’s leadership again. The FF are dealing with the infant terrible - a lost alien child with amazing mental powers. While the others try to fight them, Reed sends an interstellar message to the parents. This issue is not very interesting.

In conclusion, still fun, still having quite a bit of interpersonal drama. The banter has moved from “brimming with seething hatred" to the friendly kind, especially between Ban and Johnny, but sometimes still misses the mark.

Random stuff

Some of the neighbours’ complaints include the Thing scaring a cat, the Human Torch melting a sculpture ans the ballistic missile being kept in a residential building in the middle of the city.

The Mole Man's traps Reed in an hermetic room. He escapes by blowing himself up.

Doom disposes of his minions by sending them to a different dimension until he needs them again.

When voting for the new leader, Ben, Johnny and Sue all vote for themselves.

Infant terrible is a translation of the French expression “enfant terrible.” Could just be language drift, but that doesn't usually refer to misbehaving toddlers.