Fantastic Four (1961 series) #32

Last issue Johnny and Sue's long-missing father turned up (and saved Sue's life).

But now the Fantastic Four are implementing another of Reed Richards' attempts to turn the Thing back to human Ben Grimm. As usual it seems to work but will it be permanent and have no side-effects? Ben needs rest to recover but Reed checks him out and he seems OK. The scientist predicts that if he's still Ben after 24 hours then the change will be permanent, and he can marry his girlfriend Alicia and settle down if he wants. Johnny is conflicted - he wants the best for his pal but he'll miss him as a team member (and someone to play practical jokes on).

Meanwhile a ray transmitted from another galaxy streaks through space and strikes a particular dead volcano on a lonely island and a glowing figure emerges and bursts into flame to fly away.

Back at FF HQ in the Baxter Building Alicia has arrived and they're waiting for Ben to recover when he enters the room in a confused state and attacks his teammates. It seems he doesn't know where he is or who they are, including Alicia. Invisible Girl traps him in her forcefield and Reed sedates him with sleeping gas. Reed says this was 1 of the possible side-effects he was worried about - Ben has amnesia. And they have to change him back to Thing before the 24 hours end or it will be permanent. So he reverses the procedure and Ben wakes as Thing with no memory of what happened, and Reed deems it better to tell his friend that the experiment just didn't work.

But the strange figure dives into the sea to cool down before he climbs out of New York harbour and heads for the prison where Johnny & Sue's father Dr Franklin Storm is incarcerated. The visitor slithers through the bars of his cell and changes into a duplicate of the man before sending him on a journey to the 5th quadrant of the Andromeda Galaxy.

Next morning Johnny & Sue come to the Warden asking to see their father. They claim that (up until last issue) they didn't know where he was being held because he didn't *want* them to be told and wanted them to forget him. Sue now recounts the story of his downfall. When they were both teens their parents were in a car crash where their mother Mary was critically injured. Their surgeon father operated on her but was unable to save her life. After that he sank into a life of gambling where he lost all his money but borrowed heavily from a loan shark. When he was unable to repay it the villain threatened his kids. They struggled and the bad guy's gun went off and killed him. Franklin accepted a sentence of 20-to-life for manslaughter.

The prisoner is brought out to face the duo. They tell him they're working on parole for him but he says that's unnecessary. While inside he's been working in the prison lab and has made himself invincible. Calling himself the Invincible Man he turns himself invisible. He claims to have the powers of the FF but better, and says he's using the strength of the Thing to smash through a wall and escape. As armed police spread out to search for the escapee Johnny fires his FF flare gun to signal Mr Fantastic and Thing. Ben says goodbye to Alicia as the 2 fly off in the Fantasticar.

The mystery villain celebrates having convinced the world that he's Dr Storm and now changes form to a suitable supervillain outfit. The united FF confront him and try to reason with him. But eventually he forces them to fight him while trying not to hurt him (including sometimes his 'children' using their powers against the others when they seem in danger of going too far). In this situation they are easily defeated and he gets away.

Over the following days the Invincible Man commits many crimes and the public and newspapers accuse the FF of declining to deal with their relative. Reed goes into scientist-mode while the others fret. Then he comes up with a gizmo and they tackle the IM at the World's Fair. MrF tells their foe that he's worked out who he really is and he's beamed a message to his home galaxy demanding the return of the real Dr Storm or they'll fight him to the death. The bad guy drops his disguise and reveals himself to be the Super-Skrull (from #18) and he gets teleported away home.

Sue is still worried that the Skrulls won't return her dad. But when they get back to base he shows them another device which he says is an atomic space-displacer which he's aimed at the source of the power beam the Skrulls use to empower SS, and the Skrulls know it. And he explains how he guessed their foe might be the Super-Skrull, the only enemy who has their powers, so he checked on the volcano where they left him and took 'electron photos' of him which proved he was a Skrull.

On the Skrull planet the Emperor is angry but he has a backup revenge plan. Franklin Storm is teleported to the Baxter Building and his kids rush towards him. But he warns them to stay away and then lies face down on the ground as something on his chest explodes so that he takes the full force of it. As he lies dying he tells the pair that he's proud of them but now he's going to join Mary. The police arrive and Reed Richards tells them that Dr Franklin Storm died a hero.