Fantastic Four (1961 series) #36

Last issue ended with Reed Richards proposing to Sue Storm, and this issue begins with them announcing their engagement to the world. The paparazzi are all over them, with 1 photog climbing on Thing's shoulders for a better view. Sue's got a new hairstyle for the occasion. Then a package gets delivered from the Yancy Street Gang. The room is cleared fearing a bomb but it just 'explodes' into a bouquet of roses.

But not everyone has good thoughts about the Fantastic Four. The Wizard has called together 2 other foes of the Human Torch, Paste-Pot Pete and Sandman. Those 2 meet 1st and squabble over who's more dangerous, but Wizard arrives and calls them to order.

We get an editorial flashback to how the 3 met. Last time we saw Wizard (Strange Tales #118) his jammed anti-grav device had him floating towards space. But Pete and Sandman chose that time to escape from prison to where PPP handily retrieved a costume and paste gun. They then highjacked a small jet plane, and as they flew away Pete spotted his erstwhile partner (in ST#110) in the air and they rescued him. Grateful Wizard thanked them by offering to lead them on a crime spree. Pete suggested they could form a team to defeat the Fantastic Four, and Wizard said he knew of a female to complete their foursome.

Now Wizard reveals that he's fixed his anti-grav device and also tracked down the woman he seeks to a small Mediterranean island where he found the local police were also after her. Then long red hair lashed out from a cave to grab 1 of the cops and throw him at the others as the wild woman calling herself Madam Medusa emerged. But he now says that he persuaded her to come with him and join the team.

Meanwhile back at the Baxter Building the engagement presents keep pouring in, and Sue drowning in wedding preparations. Johnny Storm has designed his own contribution to the celebration where he can create fireballs of various colours to produce his own fireworks display.

Nearby the Frightful Four are gathering. Paste-Pot Pete and Sandman are there in their uniforms changed to various shades of purple (though for Sandman that just means purple sweatshirt and trousers). The Wizard flies in, courtesy of the anti-grav disc on his chest, in *his* new purple uniform. And he introduces them to Madam Medusa now in form-fitting purple, and announces his new name the Wingless Wizard.

Meanwhile the engagement party is in full swing. Ben Grimm's girlfriend Alicia is with him of course. The Avengers (Captain America, Giant-Man & Wasp, Iron Man and Thor) are there along with Cap's sidekick Rick Jones who wishes Bruce Banner could join them. The X-Men (Angel, Beast, Cyclops, Ice-Man and Marvel Girl) are having to pretend they don't know another guest Prof Charles Xavier. Later Prof X mentally tells his students it's time to go, and explains to their hosts that the X-Men have offered to wheelchair him to a taxi. And Spider-Man web-snags a slice of cake through a window, justifying that they *would* have invited him if they knew how to contact him.

Later when all the guests have left the evil FF land their yellow flying craft on the roof. Medusa sends her hair down and into a room where Thing is snoozing and uses the tendrils to switch off the light. She's also suspending PPP outside the window and he shoots his paste gun, with an infra-red scope, to put instantly-hardening paste over Ben's mouth and handcuffing his wrists together. Then the Wizard flies in and takes Thing down with a sleep-spray. Invisible Girl hears him fall and comes to investigate. Her forcefield protects her from Pete's paste and Mr Fantastic enters elastically hitting out at the foes. But Sandman catches him by surprises with an avalanche of sand. However MrF retaliates immediately with a blow that scatters Sandman's body. PPP pastes his hands to the floor but IG uses a new trick she's been practising - a pair of force balls to knock PPP and WW down. Then she uses her forcefield to contain Sandman as he reforms his sandy body, wishing that Torch hadn't left after the party. But now Medusa uses her hair to lower herself down from the roof and swing in through the window. She silently grabs IG with her hair and Wizard gases Sue and then Reed.

The eFF wonder where Human Torch is but don't spend any time looking for him. Wizard selects an anti-grav disc from a compartment in his bulbous helmet and attaches it to Thing's sleeping body. But meanwhile Alicia has been hiding in the kitchen but now decides to repay our heroes for the times they've saved *her*. The blind woman slides towards fallen Sue and pulls the flare gun from her belt and fires it out of a window. Johnny Storm is in a garage admiring a friend's sports car when he sees the '4' signal in the sky and immediately flames on and flies off to investigate. Meanwhile Medusa has spotted Alicia and taken her captive, Wizard gases her and attaches an anti-grav disc to her as well as Reed and Sue. They tether all 3 to Ben and send them floating up into the sky.

Torch arrives and spots the baddies on the Baxter Building roof with the skycraft. He swoops down and grabs Wizard and takes him into the craft where he 'persuades' the villain to take him to rescue his pals. Meanwhile the floating 4 have woken up. As they float higher MrF expands his body into a hollow ball to keep some air for the other 3 to breath even as he finds himself beginning to run out of it. Then he spots the yellow craft approaching and stretches 1 arm a long way to reach it. Johnny grabs his hand and hauls them all inside where he removes the anti-grav discs.

Then they see their own Pogo-Plane approaching and it drops Sandman on top of the yellow craft. He hardens his body to increase his mass but that doesn't have any effect because Wizard's vehicle is powered by anti-gravity. MrF gets IG to project her forcefield outside to surround the Pogo-Plane which causes it to stall and spiral downwards, but her forcefield cushions its crashlanding. She then blacks out from the exertion. They force Wizard to land next to the PP and they exit to find the other villains. Hidden Paste-Pot Pete prepares to fire at MrF but IG in invisible mode grabs the gun off him and splatters Medusa's hair. However Wizard and Sandman cause their own craft to blow up, stunning our heroes. When they recover they find the villains all gone and their vehicle reduced to slag so that Reed won't be able to find out how Wizard's anti-gravity works. And they fly home in the Pogo Plane.