The Fantastic Four are Famous by Issue 2

Issue: Fantastic Four #2

Name: The Fantastic Four Meet The Skrulls from Outer Space!

Published: Marvel, Jan 1962

Blurb: From Comixology:

Meet the Skrulls from Outer Space! After their reputation is tarnished by shape shifting aliens known as the Skrulls, the Fantastic Four must clear their name. And if that wasn't enough, our heroes learn the Skrulls are planning a full-scale invasion of Earth!

Creators:

Writer: Stan Lee
Artist: Jack Kirby
Inker: George Klein, Sol Brodsky
Letterer: John Duffy
Colourist: Stan Goldberg

Characters:

The Good: Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing
The Bad: Skrulls

Story (B-)

This issue is broken into 4 sections which delineate what happens pretty well. In section 1, The Fantastic Four Meet the Skrulls from Outer Space!, we are introduced the Skrull for the first time, but not before they are shown impersonating the fantastic team performing crimes. The reveal that these crimes were actually perpetrated by shape-shifting Skrull worked pretty well and I think they were clever in simulating the Fantastic Four's powers with various technology. The second section, Prisoner of the Skrulls, shows our heroes imprisoned by the army for the crimes, but not for long – there aren't many cells that can hold the super powered team, and soon The Human Torch has found the base of the Skrull. In part 3, The Fantastic Four Fight Back!, the team heads to the Skrull mothership and convinces the leadership that Earth's most powerful warriors – creatures depicted in Marvel's Strange Tales, and Journey into Mystery comic books – are too much for the Skrull to take over the planet. The final section, The Fantastic Four Captured, show how the team takes care of the remaining Skrull on Earth and convince the army they didn't commit the crimes.

This issue takes off from the first and only briefly touches on the origin story, but it makes sure that readers who jump on at this point know how the team got their powers. But it is made pretty clear that the Fantastic Four are known to the world and to aliens from outer space. The Skrull know the team are powerful and try to make the authorities take them out before the invasion happens so I've got to give them credit, along with their ingenuity for how they pull off their impersonations. I'm still not too sure about the Thing's aggression towards everything, including his teammates, but he IS the only hero who's been turned into a rocky beast.

Art (C+)

Once again, the depiction of the Thing is not my favorite. There looks to be some refinement beginning in the drawing, but he's still pretty muddled and not very finely detailed. The Human Torch also continues to be drawn with flames overwhelming him still. Don't get me wrong, the flames are drawn well, but they obscure every bit of Johnny's features making him only vaguely humanoid.

Characters (B-)

The characters continue to develop although something is gonna have to be done to bring peace between Johnny and Ben or there could be some fireworks. Sue seems to depend on Reed to keep the peace between Ben and Johnny but you can see that they all care about each other regardless of how much fighting they do among themselves. I really liked how this issue highlighted the variety of abilities they have. Each team member had to overcome different obstacles to break out of the army prison and they succeeded by using aspects of their powers that help the reader understand better what each of them can do.

Enjoyment (B)

I enjoyed the issue and particularly liked the self referential nature of how they scared off the Skrulls – by showing them images from comic books. I also thought the depiction of Ben losing his 'thingness' for a time when they came back to Earth poses some interesting possibilities for future issues – are the team's powers temporary?

Special extra (B-)

The Skrulls are new to me and I think they are new to the Marvel Universe with this issue, and I think they are a bit more of an advanced villain than the Moleman was in the last issue. The specialness is a bit less since we already know of the Fantastic Four, but learning about the team is still pretty new.

Overall (B)

This issue takes a step back from the debut, even though I think the story is a bit better, since we already know the team and have an idea of what they are all about. The art is getting better, but is not quite there yet for me so I think this is a pretty solid B comic, primarily based on the strength of it's relevance to the future of the Marvel Universe.

A Rookie Perspective

Just wanted to add a few extra thoughts…The Thing continues his anger from the first issue – he creates a lot of conflict within the team that could cause issues. Sue is always trying to get Reed to intervene between Ben and Johnny – they fight like siblings when they're not fighting opponents.

As far as the villains, I was not familiar with the Skrulls, but they seem to be quite powerful, able to shapeshift into whatever they want. They were also pretty clever in their methods of imitating the abilities of the Fantastic Four.

This comic can be found on Marvel Unlimited and Comixology.

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