Fantastic Four (1961 series) #41

In #38 the Fantastic Four lost their powers. Last issue Reed Richards restored their powers in order to defeat Dr Doom, a defeat that was mainly down to Thing. But Ben Grimm was angry that he was forced to forfeit his humanity again and announced he was quitting the team.

Now they try to talk Thing out of it, especially his pal Human Torch until the automatic sprinkler system douses his flame. Reed says they have to let him go if that's what he really wants. Ben walks out of the Baxter Building thinking how Reed and Sue can get married and Johnny can go on dates in his sports car but he himself can never have a normal life with his girlfriend Alicia. Tired and aching after his brutal battle with Doom he climbs into the back of a pickup truck that has finished its deliveries for the day. He falls asleep as it heads out of the city, even after a jolt makes him fall off into a deserted country road in New Jersey. But as he lies there a force lifts him into the air and transports him to a lonely old house.

Back at the FF's HQ the building's renting agent complains about the damage from the Doom fight. The FF 3 use their powers to start cleaning up - Mr Fantastic uses his totally flexible arms to scoop up debris, Invisible Girl moves heavy pieces with her force fields and Torch melts stuff that's beyond repair. Alicia turns up looking for Benjamin and they have to tell her he's quit. She's says he *needs* them all, and he must be in a really bad way if he left without telling her. They all sympathise with her, even if the males don't shed any 'unmanly' tears.

The occupants of the house turn out to be the Frightful Four. Wizard has brought Thing here with his anti-gravity device. Trapster pastes him to the floor, while reminding them and us that he doesn't go by the name Paste-Pot Pete anymore. Sandman wants to hit him just in case but Medusa stops him with her hair. SM turns to sand to trickle out of her grasp but she expected that and whirls her hair to scatter him around the room. She suggests they make Thing serve them rather than kill him. Wizard reasserts control by agreeing and saying that his ID Machine will do just that.

The FF3 + Alicia are worried. The police are looking for Thing and Reed's checked the hospitals. Reed and Sue start to fall out but HT flies in with a lead - a motorist reported seeing Ben in the back of the pickup on Route 4. The FF3 squeeze into Johnny's modified SS Excalibur Series 1 sports car and go scouting the area.

Our worn-out hero is still asleep as Wizard fastens the ID helmet to his head. It will brainwash him, weakening his good instincts and strengthening the evil. Trapster leaves the boss to it and finds Medusa and Sandman playing cards. Apparently she likes a man who stands up to her. Jealous Pete Petruski sticks a vibro-shock pulsator on SM who smothers it with 1 sandy hand and then socks his partner with the other hardened sand-fist. Medusa tries to break up the fight. But Thing knocks them all over by smashing his rocky fist into the floorboards. Wizard says that evil Thing will only obey *his* commands, and demonstrates when Medusa grips Thing's arm with her hair and Wiz tells him to grab live wires with his other hand which electrocutes the female.

Then they see a flare in the sky and we learn that Torch did it to illuminate the area. The FF3 see the eFF's house and go to ask about their missing teammate. MrF finds the door unlocked and goes in only to be dragged by anti-grav to be engulfed by the waiting Sandman. Wizard also uses anti-grav to keep HT off balance, and Medusa's hair wraps round Invisible Girl until she frees herself with an expanding force-field, which also saves her from Trapster's exploding energy sphere. She's happy to see Ben approach her but then faints when she realises he's going to attack her. Reed breaks free of Sandman to help his fiancee but he too is shocked when Thing punches him. Sandman's sand puts HT's flame out, and when Ben throws some of it in his face the force puts his lights out too.

Medusa takes control again and tells Wizard to put Torch in his automatic water sprinkler. He obeys but swears to himself to take her down a peg. Trapster traps IG in an expandable plastic bag that her force-field won't be able to break out of, and that was seemingly Medusa's idea too. Pete sprays paste on a large board and she gets Sandman to stick MrF to it. Thing asks Wizard if he wants him to teach Medusa a lesson, but Wiz tells him not yet. But he also tells him not to "sleep on the job", and everyone learns that 'sleep' is a post-hypnotic command that makes Ben do exactly that (but only when Wizard says it).

Now that the other FFers have been caught Wizard's minions worry about keeping Thing alive. Sandman tries to kill him with a sledgehammer fist but all he gets for his pains is pain. Trapster intends to fire an explosive pellet at him from close range but Medusa violently stops him with her hair. She says that their efforts won't work and anyway it's better to keep him as a slave to fight their battles for them, and if he gets hurt they won't care. She suggests that his 1st task should be to kill his 3 ex-partners. But secretly she contemplates keeping handsome Reed Richards alive, but shakes off this bout of 'feminine weakness'. Wiz claps his hands and Thing awakens. Wiz suggests they get him a costume to match theirs, they also suggest a mask to hide his ugly face. This of course gets him angry and Wizard stokes the anger by reminding him that it's Richards' fault that he's a monster. They all urge him on and he approaches the awakened MrF to make *him* an ugly monster.

To be continued ...