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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 1 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #1 Apparent SA |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Cert #: |
0125053001
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Owner Comments
Fantastic Four #1, along with Amazing Fantasy #15, are the two biggest books of the Marvel Silver Age. The iconic cover features the Fan 4, before donning their uniforms in Issue #3, tangling with one of the Mole Man’s rock monsters.
In the first chapter of the book, in an effort to beat the Communists into space, scientist Reed Richards, sister and brother Sue and Johnny Storm, and pilot Ben Grimm sneak off into space in a rocket. In space, the four are bombarded by cosmic rays.The auto-pilot lands the ship back on Earth, where they find themselves physically transformed and possessing remarkable new abilities. Sue can turn invisible. Ben has transformed into an orange, muscular "thing" with super-strength. Reed's body became highly malleable, allowing him to stretch into any shape, while Johnny's body bursts into flame, and he can fly. They decide to use their abilities to become the super-team known as the Fantastic Four and assume the individual names of Mr. Fantastic, the Invisible Girl, the Human Torch, and the Thing.
The remainder of the books introduces us to Harvey Elder, alias the Mole Man. Elder, a short, fat, bizarre looking individual, having been ridiculed by humanity, went off alone in search of the legendary land at the center of the earth. Eventually, he washed ashore on Monster Isle. Making his way through a cavern, he was caught in an avalanche and rendered almost blind. However, due to his other heightened senses taking over, he mastered the subterranean creatures and built himself an underground empire.
In the final chapter, the FF manage to thwart the Mole Man’s plan to invade the surface, but he remains at large and will reappear again in FF #22.
Fantastic Four #1 is one of those books where, because of the high value, the population of restored books approaches that of unrestored ones. This book looks great, but it has been trimmed, which means I only spent a fraction of what I would have for an unrestored 9.4. I purchased this book on e-bay from another collector several years ago-unfortunately, e-bay records only go back so far.
Some day, finances permitting, I would like to buy one with a universal label: I can dream, can’t I LOL. But in the meantime, I also own a 9.8 signature series Golden Record Reprint, Western Penn Pedigree, which itself dates from 1966 and was signed by Stan Lee on 9/4/2010. Because I do not have a scan of the 9.4, I have posted a scan of the Golden Record Reprint.
On the 9.4, I purchased it off an E-Bay listing many years ago.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 2 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #2 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Cert #: |
1024024006
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Owner Comments
One of the gems of our collection, this White Mountain beauty is one of the three highest graded in the census and introduces the Skrulls from outer space who appear in the Captain Marvel and Spider-Man Far from Home movies. The Skrulls are shape-shifters who possess alien technology to perpetrate their misdeeds. Their plan is to conquer the Earth. Fearing that the Fantastic Four will stand in their way, they send four agents who disguise themselves as the FF and perpetrate misdeeds to ruin the FF’s reputation. Eventually, our heroes turn the tables and Mr. Fantastic hypnotizes the Skrulls into believing they are cows.
A little history on this one, this book was part of the Doug Schmell Collection and was sold in the Heritage auction in July 2012 for $49,293.75. However, somebody later bought the book on December 26, 2012 from that owner thru Heritage for $90,000. I am not sure if it was highest graded at the time, but I was lucky enough to pick it up for less than half the amount of the December 2012 sale in a 2014 ComicLink auction.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 3 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #3 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Cert #: |
1101075009
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Owner Comments
FF #3 is the first issue where the FF don uniforms. In this issue, the FF clash with the Miracle Man, who basically practices mass hypnosis to further his crime spree. When Mister Fantastic finally determine how he is pulling off all his miracles, they easily defeat him.
Our copy is one of the top 4 overall, tied with one other 9.4 and bested by a lone 9.6 and 9.8. I have never seen the 9.8, but the 9.6 came to auction right after I bought this one on installment payments from Pedigree Comics.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 4 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #4 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Cert #: |
1160658002
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Owner Comments
Fantastic Four #4 reintroduces the comic world to Namor, the Sub-Mariner, who will become a frequent FF nemesis. As the issue begins, Namor is a derelict suffering from amnesia until the Human Torch finds him in a flophouse and witnesses his super-strength. Johnny feels bad for the amnesiac and offers to help him get back on his feet. He shaves the "bum" with his flame, revealing Namor's true features. Johnny then dumps Namor into the river, successfully restoring Namor's memory. Unfortunately, Namor tries to return to Atlantis, but finds an outpost that had been destroyed by nuclear testing during the years he was an amnesiac. He assumes that all his people were scattered where he would never find them.
Namor immediately vows vengeance on the surface world and attacks it, using the giant sea monster Giganto, but is rebuffed by the Fantastic Four. During the fight, he becomes instantly enamored with Sue Storm, and offers to make her his bride, and after that, his queen. Namor carries this romantic crush with him for years and Sue even reciprocates the feelings for awhile, which first becomes apparent when Namor teams up with Doctor Doom to destroy the Fantastic Four in Issue #6.
Issue #4, along with #1, #5, and #12, is one of the four top early FF covers. This 9.6 is tied for highest graded with five others. It was acquired in 2020 in a private deal with another collector.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 5 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #5 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Cert #: |
1198379004
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Owner Comments
One of the four biggies in early FFs and the debut issue of Doctor Doom, the FF’s Lex Luther.
Victor von Doom was born in a Romani camp outside Haasenstadt, Latveria. His mother, Cynthia, was killed in a bargain with Mephisto that went wrong. Despite his father's attempts to care for her, the noblewoman died and Werner von Doom fled with a young Victor on a cold winter's night. Victor survived the cold, but unfortunately his father did not. Doom sought to increase his knowledge of both science and magic in order to rescue his mother, whose death he blamed on Mephisto.
The State University in Hegeman, New York offered Victor a scholarship where Doom first meets Reed Richards and Ben Grimm. They developed a dislike for each other. Doom became obsessed with developing a machine that could project the astral form of a being into other dimensions, seeing it as a way to free his mother's soul from Mephisto's clutches. Reed pointed out a flaw in Doom's calculations, but Doom arrogantly ignored his warnings, feeling Reed was trying to upstage him, likely due to their dislike for each other. The machine exploded, scarring Doom's face. He was soon expelled for conducting unethical experiments. From then on, he blamed Reed Richards for the destruction of his face as well as his expulsion.
Disgraced and bitter, Doom traveled the world. Eventually he came upon a small Tibetan village of monks who assisted him in creating a suit of armor. He returned to his homeland of Latveria to overthrow the leader and declare himself king. He then began to use his country's resources in order to further his plans of world domination. These schemes led Doom into conflict with the Fantastic Four on many occasions, as well as many other superheroes.
In Issue #5, Doom first confronts the Fantastic Four by holding Sue Storm hostage. Doom then forces the other members of the team to travel back in time using his time platform to retrieve the mystical Stones of Merlin. The gang travels back in time and finds a chest, but replaces Merlin’s treasures with chains.
The time platform appears above them and returns them to the present. Doom says that the treasure includes gems enchanted by Merlin and that they will make him "invincible." He opens the chest and discovers that he's been cheated, which gives Ben the opportunity to attack. A single punch shatters the armor—and the machinery inside. It's a robot! The real Doom, in another part of the castle, activates a screen and tells them he will draw the air from their chamber. Sue, still his hostage, sees her chance. She turns invisible and short-circuits his control panel, which explodes. Doom is caught in the blast. She runs to the chamber and opens the door. Rather than confront Doom, who Reed assumes has traps everywhere, they decide to escape. Reed stretches through a window across the moat, Ben pushes that section of wall open while Reed pulls, and Johnny uses "atomic heat" to make a path across the crocodile-infested moat. Johnny then sets fire to the castle, and Doom escapes with his Rocket-Powered Flying Harness to once again fight the FF again in Issue #6, this time with Namor.
This copy is second highest graded trailing three 9.6s. Those 9.6s are valued higher than any FFs, except for high-grade #1s. I have had a couple of opportunities to buy one, but in each case was outbid at auction. We acquired our book in the 12/3/2013 Pedigree Comics Auction.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 6 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #6 Qualified |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Cert #: |
1009825001
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Owner Comments
As Issue #6 opens, Doom is seeking out the Sub-Mariner and tracks him down in his aerosub, confronting Namor over the ocean. Doom manages to convince Namor that they should work together to destroy the Fantastic Four and take over the world.
Namor invites Doom back to Atlantis, where Doom notes his infatuation with Sue Storm. Doom, however, stirs the Sub-Mariner's anger by reminding him how his kingdom was annihilated by atomic weapons tests. Namor agrees to destroy the Fantastic Four but refuses to harm Sue Storm. Doom agrees to let Sue live and then shows off his latest invention, which he wishes to use against the Fantastic Four: a magnetically powered "grabber" device that can pull any object no matter how heavy. Namor then goes to the surface world to confront the Fantastic Four as part of their plan.
Meanwhile, at the Baxter Building, Johnny finds a picture of Namor hidden behind a bookshelf and confronts his sister Sue about it. When she tells Johnny that he has no right to go snooping on her property, Johnny alerts the others about Sue's little secret before burning the picture with his flame powers. When Reed asks for an explanation from Sue, she is at a loss for words to explain her infatuation with the Sub-Mariner. Suddenly, Namor makes his presence known to them.
With the help of Doom’s grabber device, Namor initially defeats the FF, but when he realizes Sue will also be killed, he changes sides and helps defeat Doom.
This copy is one of the three top graded copies, although CGC has designated this book as Qualified because of a married cover. I must admit, I think the market unfairly penalizes such books, after all, all parts of the books are original. And what we are really buying when we buy an encased book is the cover, which is unrestored and original.
At any rate, I am happy to own this book, it is original and beautiful, the cover just started out with a different interior, but there has been no restoration. Admittedly, I would prefer one of the two blue label 9.6s, but I would choose this book over any 9.4. I would certainly buy more married cover copies of rare books like this if I could find them. And CGC treats such books far more favorably than it does restored books bearing the same grade.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 7 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #7 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Cert #: |
1101061005
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Owner Comments
In issue #7, the FF leave Earth after the population is turned against them by the hostility ray of Kurrgo, the Master of Planet X. Kurrgo has sought out the FF because he wants their help to save his people from an asteroid that is bearing down on the planet. Mister Fantastic saves the day by inventing a shrinking ray, which allows all the planet’s population to fit on their only available spaceships.
As of 2/2020, there are no 9.8s and only one 9.6 of FF #7. I, quite frankly, have never seen that lone 9.6, although along with the lone 9.6 #8, I have a good idea where it resides. This is one of 7 9.4s. We acquired it in an acquisition of four FFs from Pedigree Comics (#3, #7, #8, and #13), all of which we still own.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 8 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #8 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Cert #: |
1198175015
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Owner Comments
Issue #8, “Prisoners of the Puppet-Master,” introduces us to Phillip and Alicia Masters. Phillip Masters, the Puppet-Master, had the ability to control people by making sculptures of them in special radioactive clay from his homeland. Alicia was his blind step-daughter, who would become romantically involved with the Thing and reappear in many future issues.
In the story, Reed has been working on a formula to try and change the Thing back to human form and has Sue and Johnny try to bar Ben from entering his lab until it is finished. This leads to a fight between Ben and the others. Fed up with being kept in the dark, the Thing puts on his coat and hat and leaves the Baxter Building. Worried about Ben, Sue turns invisible and follows after him to make sure nothing bad happens to him. However, the Thing soon becomes aware that Sue is following him and tells her to leave him be. However, Sue spots someone climbing up to the top of the Queensborough Bridge and fires up a signal flare to alert Reed and Johnny. When Reed cannot stretch that far to save the man, Johnny flames on and flies after him.
Not far away is the Puppet Master, who is testing out his radioactive clay that can control the people it is modeled after. Before he can make the man jump, the Torch saves his life and the heat from the Torch's flame causes feedback that burns the Puppet Master's finger. Furious over the interference the Puppet Master vows to eliminate the Fantastic Four before they can meddle in his plans further. When his step-daughter Alicia enters the room to inquire as to what is wrong, he silences her and tells her to obey his wishes as his step-daughter. To get revenge against the Fantastic Four, the Puppet Master fashions a puppet to resemble the Thing taking control of him and sending orders to come to his apartment. However the Puppet Master is unaware that the Invisible Girl is present with him, and seeing Ben enter a trance-like state, she turns invisible and follows after him to see what's wrong.
When Ben and Sue enter the apartment, Sue's presence is betrayed thanks to Alicia's sensitive hearing. Realizing that the Invisible Girl has followed the Thing to his home, the Puppet Master places gas masks on himself, Alicia and Ben and then fills the room with ether, knocking Sue out. Seeing a resemblance between Sue and Alicia, he disguises Alicia as the Invisible Girl and orders her to accompany the mind controlled Thing back to the Baxter Building so the Fantastic Four will fall for his trap even more. The Puppet Master then begins the next phase of his scheme which involves taking control of the warden of the state prison. When Ben and Alicia arrive at the Baxter Building, both Johnny and Reed are unaware of the trap until Ben suddenly starts attacking them.
However, the battle quickly ends when the Thing slams into Reed's chemistry experiment, dousing himself in chemicals that revert him to human form, thus freeing him from the Puppet Master's control. Back in human form, Ben explains everything that happened and Alicia finds comfort in Ben. At first she finds him different, but he suddenly reverts back into the Thing and instantly recognizes him by the touch. Ben is depressed by the fact that the only woman who would be interested in him in his monstrous form just happens to be a blind woman. Meanwhile, the warden at the state prison is ordered by the Puppet Master to free all the prisoners there instigating a massive jailbreak.
Waking up from the ether, Sue tries to flee the apartment, but the creaky floorboards give her away. The Puppet Master uses a puppet of Sue to trip her up, but she still manages to fire off a flare signal to alert the Fantastic Four of her location. Soon Ben, Reed, Johnny and Alicia arrive on the scene. While the male members of the group are held at bay by the Puppet Master's robotic puppet, the group saves Sue, but the Puppet Master gets away. They then hear news reports of the prisoners trying to break out of the state prison and rush to the scene to stop the prisoners from escaping.
With their superior powers, the Fantastic Four are easily able to stop the prisoners from escaping. Meanwhile, the Puppet Master returns to his apartment to try and utilize a puppet of himself that he believes will make him king of the world. However before he can use the puppet Alicia tries to stop him, knocking the puppet from his hand. Lunging for Alicia, the Puppet Master trips over the puppet and goes crashing out the window, down into the street below. The Fantastic Four then arrive and believing that the Puppet Master is dead, comfort Alicia but are left to wonder what caused him to fall out of the window to his apparent demise.
The census of FF #8 parallels that of FF #7. As in the case of FF #7, there are no 9.8s and a lone 9.6, which I have never seen. Our Don & Maggie Thompson Pedigree copy is one of seven 9.4s and the nicest I have ever seen of this book. We acquired it in the November 21, 2013 Heritage Auction.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 9 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #9 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Cert #: |
1292461003
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Owner Comments
I’m “The End of the Fantastic Four,” the Sub-Mariner is monitoring television broadcasts from the surface to learn that the Fantastic Four has officially declared bankruptcy and are liquidating their assets to pay off their creditors. Learning this Namor is convinced that now is the right time to strike against the group.
At the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four, Reed and the others are forced to stand back as creditors begin repossessing Reed's various inventions. Unable to stand watching this, the Thing decides to leave to visit his new girlfriend, Alicia. However, when he tries to get a cab he is refused due to the press about the FF's recent financial troubles. In anger, Ben impales the cab on a lamp post and then fires an FF signal flare, bringing Johnny in the Fantasti-Car, who gives Ben a lift to Alicia's house. There, Ben finds his mood soured further when he cannot bring himself to believe Alicia's words of praise and kindness toward him.
When Ben returns to the Baxter Building later it is just moments after a telegram has arrived from SM Studios offering the Fantastic Four to all act in a film based on their lives, offering enough money to the group for them to resume operations. However, despite this salvation, the now penniless super-heroes are forced to hitchhike all the way to Los Angeles to take up the job.
When they arrive at SM Studios they are star-struck by all the celebrities upon their arrival. When they meet the owner of the studio they are shocked to find that it is none other than the Sub-Mariner who explains to them that he was able to fund the movie studio by selling sunken treasure on the ocean floor. Although he has clashed with them in the past, Namor managed to convince the Fantastic Four that his intentions this time are altruistic in order to help the Fantastic Four earn the money they desperately need.
After acclimatizing them to the Hollywood lifestyle, they then begin shooting the film. Namor takes Reed out to a Mediterranean island where Reed will be filmed apparently fighting the mythical Cyclops, convincing Mr. Fantastic that the Cyclops is a mechanical construct.
However when Reed stretches to the island he soon learns that the Cyclops is the real creature of myth. While Namor leaves the scene, convinced that Reed will die in the conflict, Mr. Fantastic does just the opposite when he trips the Cyclops making the monster fall into a pit that he cannot get out of. Namor then flies the Human Torch to a part of Africa to battle a tribe of natives whom Namor convinces the Torch that they are really actors. However, after Namor leaves, Johnny realizes that they are the genuine article and that he has been tricked into fighting a tribe of natives who are immune to fire. While they capture Johnny, he manages to flame on and break out of his cell and then superheats a volcano causing an eruption of lava that sends the natives fleeing and then escapes.
Namor then meets with the Thing on a Hollywood beach and informs him that it is him that Ben will have to fight. Although Namor gains the upper hand in the battle, Ben quickly realizes that Namor gets his strength from the ocean and pulls him away from the water.
The Thing begins turning the battle around when a freak lightning strike hits him causing the Thing to revert to human form. This allows Namor to knock Ben out in a single punch. He then returns to SM Studios where he reveals his entire purpose for bringing the Fantastic Four there was to kill the male members so that he would have Sue all to himself. Sue refuses his advances but is overpowered by Namor's various sea-animal spawned abilities. However, before he can subdue her the male members arrive alive and well (Ben having reverted back into the Thing). They are about to attack Namor when Sue gets in their way and convinces them to stand down. Having been defeated, the Sub-Mariner agrees to honor his deal to complete the film and pay them the money they need and then returns to the ocean. Weeks later the completed Fantastic Four film is released and is a critical success, earning the Fantastic Four enough money to resume their operations.
It seems when we hit FF #9 that all of the grades jump up one level, as there is a single 9.8 and six 9.6s. I suspect that the lone 9.8 is in a vault somewhere with the lone 9.6 #7 and #8. All I can say is that I have never seen the 9.8 and there are no recorded sales of any of those three books.
This book has been a strange one, as the prices are always very unpredictable. Two 9.6s sold recently on Heritage and the latter one only made $7,000, which was considerably cheaper than the price one sold for two months earlier. Unfortunately, this was the first one, which we acquired in the November 24, 2019 Heritage Auction.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 10 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #10 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.8 |
| Cert #: |
2065130011
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Owner Comments
Issue #10 is quite different than any other early issue, or any issue I recall for that matter, as the creators of the comic, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby, introduce them selves into the plot and, in fact, appear on the cover.
In “The Return of Doctor Doom!" Reed Richards is conducting an experiment on how to photograph Sue while she is invisible when suddenly the team notices the Fantastic Four signal flare in the sky. Trying to rush to the signal, Reed finds the locking mechanism on his lab door jammed and uses his stretching powers to try and reach the release on the other side, but his arm goes the wrong way, forcing Johnny to use his flame powers to melt through the lock. The group rushes through avid fans to the apartment of Alicia Masters, Ben's girlfriend, where Ben reveals that he just wanted to show his teammates the various sculptures that Alicia has made of the Fantastic Four's various foes.
Meanwhile, at the offices of Marvel Comics, writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby, who have been licensed to create Fantastic Four comic books based on the heroes' adventures, are stumped over creating a new villain for the group to fight as all their other previous foes have been vanquished. As Jack is trying to pitch a new villain named False-Face they are interrupted by Dr. Doom who demands that they call Reed Richards to their office to lure him in a trap, threatening to show them his horribly scarred face if they do not comply. Reed is called over, but when he arrives he is gassed by Dr. Doom, who then teleports away with Richards as his prisoner. When Reed awakens at Doom's laboratory, Reed is shocked to see his old foe who was last seen being carried away on a meteor. Doom explains that he survived when he was rescued by an alien race called the Ovoids. Learning that these creatures had great mental powers, Doom forced them to teach him their method of transferring minds into other bodies before they returned him to Earth. Doom then demonstrates this ability by swapping bodies with Reed. The two fight it out, but Dr. Doom has the advantage by using Reed's own stretching powers against him.
Soon the rest of the team, tipped off by Stan and Jack, arrive at Doom's lab and easily subdue "Dr. Doom", Reed's attempts to convince his team that Doom has swapped bodies with him fall on deaf ears. Doom (pretending to be Reed) then convinces the team that the only way to be rid of Doom is to trap him forever. While the other members of the team suggest ideas to do that, "Reed" has a better idea and shows them a trap that he devised in the basement of the lab. With "Dr. Doom" trapped in an unbreakable glass cage, the rest of the team leaves, leaving Reed and Doom alone. Doom gloats over his victory, pointing out that the air cylinders in the unbreakable glass cage will run out of air in exactly an hour and then leaves Reed to his fate.
While pretending to be his greatest enemy, Dr. Doom then begins working on a shrinking ray and starts testing it on animals that his teammates realize have gone missing from one of the local zoos when the animals might break free. When Sue and the others start to question "Reed's" work, Doom tells them that he has come up with a theory that the dinosaurs went extinct due to their large bodies and small brains. He then suggests that through a process of shrinking someone in size and then restoring them to normal could boost not only their mental power, but their physical abilities. Doom then sells the team on the fact that with this method the Torch would be able to fly in space, Sue would be able to turn selected parts of her body invisible, and Ben would be able to revert back and forth from human form. The group is ecstatic and Doom tells them that he will use it on them once the tests are completed. However, Doom really intends to shrink the group down to nothingness, eliminating his hated enemies forever.
Meanwhile back in the unbreakable glass cage, Reed tries to break through a flaw in the glass using Doom's mask and succeeds in punching holes in it. He then takes one of the air cylinders and plugs the hole with it, then tosses another at the first cylinder. The resulting explosion breaks the glass, freeing Reed from his death trap. He then goes to Alicia's apartment and tries to convince her that he is really Reed Richards trapped in Dr. Doom's body.
However, Reed is unaware that Sue was there to tell Alicia the "good news" and she manages to knock Reed out by smashing a vase over his head. When Ben and Johnny arrive, they try to attack "Dr. Doom" but Reed manages to instill doubt in their minds, convincing them to bring him back to the Baxter Building with them. However, they bring "Doom" to "Reed" who binds Reed up so he can conduct his shrinking experiment on the other members of the Fantastic Four. When Doom decides to start on Sue first, Reed tries to protest, raising more doubt in the mind of Johnny and Ben.
Johnny decides to test his suspicions by using his flame powers to create a mirage of a stick of dynamite. When the mirage appears, "Dr. Doom" tries to shield his teammates from the blast with his own body while "Reed" tries to flee the scene. Realizing that "Dr. Doom" was telling the truth, Ben grabs "Reed" and pulls him back into the room. With the ruse revealed the process reverses itself. With Doom back in his original body, he begins to attack the Fantastic Four. During the scuffle, Reed is knocked back into the controls of Doom's device. In a bit of irony, Doom's shrink ray blasts himself causing him to shrink to seeming nothingness, leaving the Fantastic Four to wonder if their foe has been vanquished forever.
Our 9.8 is one of three in the census. We acquired this book in the 3/38/2018 ComicConnect Aucion.*
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 11 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #11 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Cert #: |
2065130003
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Owner Comments
Issue #11 marks the first appearance of the Impossible Man. In the story, an alien being from the planet Poppup arrives on Earth and appears before a group of hobos seeking entertainment. When he asks the homeless men for food they tell the alien that the only way he can get food is with money. Taking this as literally as possible, the alien goes to a nearby bank and takes bags full of money, using his shapeshifting powers to get past a teller. When he is stopped by police they begin to shoot at the alien, who quickly turns into metal to deflect the bullets, sending the police fleeing. The authorities then call in the Fantastic Four to handle this alien being and they find the extra-terrestrial gorging on food at a fancy restaurant. Asking where he came from, the Fantastic Four learn that this alien came from the planet Poppup where his people evolved into beings that could change shape into any form in order to deal with any threats to their lives.
When they tell the alien that he cannot just steal money, he points out that nobody tried to stop him. The Thing and Human Torch try to subdue the cocky alien, but his shape-changing powers defend him well from any attack. Learning that this alien is on vacation, Sue tries to reason with him explaining that he can't just break Earth laws. When she asks the alien what his name is, he explains that Popuppians do not have names because they "know who they are." When he tries to walk out of the restaurant another fight breaks out and the Thing coins this alien as "impossible," prompting everyone to begin referring to him as the Impossible Man.
The Fantastic Four chase the creature outside where they battle him some more. When the army sends in soldiers, Reed tells them to stay back, prompting the Impossible Man to change into a bomb. Reed quickly uses his stretching power to toss the "bomb" into the air where it explodes harmlessly. Flying around on wings, the Impossible Man is then brought down when the Human Torch uses his powers to create a hypnotic pinwheel out of flame. Eventually, Reed deduces that the Impossible Man is encouraged by people's reaction to his antics and that he is starved for attention. He then sends out a message to everyone in New York to simply ignore the Impossible Man. Miraculously the people of the city do just that and begin to ignore the impish alien's destructive games until the Impossible Man grows so bored with the lack of attention he decides to leave Earth, vowing that neither he nor anyone else from his race will visit the Earth ever again, much to the relief of the Fantastic Four.
Our 9.6 is one of three highest graded copies. We acquired this book in the Nov 17, 2012 Heritage Auction.*
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 12 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #12 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Cert #: |
1269426002
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Owner Comments
Issue #12 marks the first appearance of the Hulk as a foe of the FF. It is a highly coveted book and the census and value parallel that of the first appearance of Sub-Mariner in issue #4.
In the story, Thing and Alicia are exiting a symphony auditorium at the end of their date when they notice soldiers marching on the streets. Someone panics as they see through the Thing's disguise and calls him a monster. The soldiers attack Ben -- mistaking him for the Hulk. After they subdue Ben, they realize the error an apologize for the unprovoked attack. Alicia calms Ben down and he returns to the Baxter Building. There he complains about being mistaken for the Hulk to his teammates.The Fantastic Four are soon visited by General "Thunderbolt" Ross, who has come to ask for the Fantastic Four's assistance in destroying the Hulk.
Ross then shows them footage of the Hulk as well as the recent destruction of various military test weapons that are being designed by Dr. Bruce Banner. Ross tells them that the military believes that the Hulk is responsible for the destruction of these devices. After coming up with various theories on how to take down the Hulk, the Fantastic Four bring Ross to their newest model of the Fantasti-Car that was designed by Johnny and they all fly to New Mexico to Gamma Base. When they arrive they find that the military's prototype anti-gravity missile has been wrecked. Ross introduces Reed Richards to Bruce Banner, his young assistant Rick Jones, and another scientist named Karl Kort. When Ross tells them that the Fantastic Four will be going after the Hulk, Banner tells his employer that he believes that someone is framing the Hulk for these acts of sabotage. Kort then excuses himself from the meeting and on his way out he bumps into the other members of the Fantastic Four who have been waiting impatiently outside. Kort is frightened by the Thing and flees the hallway, dropping his wallet as he goes, and it is picked up by the Torch.
Having become fed up with waiting, the Thing comes bursting into the office with the other members of the Fantastic Four, angering Ross, especially when the Thing picks up an entire bookshelf of phone books and rips them in half. Reed calms down General Ross and Banner goes on to explain that he believes that someone, whom he and Rick have dubbed the "Wrecker", is really responsible for the acts of sabotage. The Human Torch then introduces himself to Rick, showing off his flame powers before handing over Karl Kort's wallet asking Jones to return it to him. Banner and Jones then leave and go to their secret cave hideout. There Bruce shows Rick a scale model of his next invention a device that could erect a force field around a city in order to protect it from a nuclear attack. Bruce vows to stop the Wrecker as the Hulk before he can destroy his invention. Meanwhile, Rick goes to return the wallet to Karl Kort and seeing a card sticking out of it, he is shocked to find that it is a membership card to a communist organization. Kort, having sneaked up behind the boy gets the drop on Rick and takes him prisoner at gunpoint.
Later the Fantastic Four are testing out a new one man, rail-driven rocket car using the Thing as a test subject. As the Thing rockets down the rails they notice that the rails had been crushed. Ben's rocket car is quickly derailed, but he is saved from a nasty fall by his teammates. When Bruce arrives on the scene and tells them that the Wrecker kidnapped Rick Jones, the Fantastic Four dismiss this, convinced that the Hulk is responsible for the sabotage and Rick's disappearances. Bruce leaves, not revealing to them that a note was left for the Hulk from the Wrecker ordering him to send the Fantastic Four away to save Rick's life. Knowing that there is no way he can make the Fantastic Four leave, Banner goes back to his secret lab and uses his Gamma Ray Projector to turn into the Hulk so he can capture the Wrecker himself.
The Wrecker meanwhile takes Rick through a series of underground passages to an abandoned frontier town. Also searching the various tunnels are the Hulk and the Fantastic Four. When the Hulk crosses paths with the FF, a fight soon breaks out between him and the Thing. Unable to fight in such close quarters, the Hulk forces his way to the surface, where the fight rages on into the old ghost town. The Hulk manages to incapacitate Mr. Fantastic and the Human Torch, but as he struggles with the Thing again, a beam is fired through the ground below and strikes the Hulk from behind. Seeing this, the Invisible Girl points it out to the Thing, who digs through the Earth to find its source. Below, he finds a robot, confirming the existence of the Wrecker. Ben easily demolishes the robot and then breaks through a metal door. On the other side, he finds Kort holding Rick prisoner. Before Kort can blast Ben with an atomic-powered weapon, Sue invisibly sneaks around Kort and knocks the gun out of his hand. The Thing then apprehends Kort and frees Rick. They return to the surface to reveal the truth to Reed and Johnny and while they are comparing notes, the Hulk recovers as well and bounds away to his secret lab to change back into Bruce Banner. Bruce is waiting at the military base when they arrive, and he thanks, Reed Richards for his help. The FF is then celebrated by the military before they head back home for New York. Of course, the Hulk and FF are destined to meet again in a few short issues.
Our 9.6 is one of six 9.6s with no 9.8s in the census. We acquired the book in the 4/4/2015 ComicConnect Auction.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 13 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #13 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.4 |
| Cert #: |
1039349006
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Owner Comments
Issue #13 marks the first appearance of the Red Ghost and the Watcher. In the story, after an experiment on a strange meteor fragment, Reed Richards wants to take a rocket to the Blue Area of the Moon where it came from. Meanwhile, in the Soviet Union, a Russian scientist named Ivan Kragoff completes his training of three apes who will pilot his own rocket mission to the moon. As the Fantastic Four are blasting off, so is Kragoff and his apes. Seeking to duplicate the accident that gave the Fantastic Four their powers, Kragoff had designed his ship to be transparent so that he and his apes would be exposed to an even greater dose of cosmic rays.
Although they are spotted by the passing Fantastic Four, Kragoff's attempt worked. Gifted with the power of intangibility, Kragoff rechristened himself the Red Ghost. While his now "Super-Apes" gained powers as well, Igor the baboon became a shape-shifter, Piotr the orangutan gained control of magnetism, while Miklho the gorilla gained enhanced strength. When the Fantastic Four finally land on the moon they discover the ruins of an ancient civilization in its mysterious "Blue Area" as well as a strange citadel off in the distance.The group then splits up to explore. While out searching, the Thing is attacked by the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes.
However, the fight is abruptly stopped by an alien calling himself the Watcher, who incapacitates the Super-Apes with his vast cosmic powers. The Watcher explains that his race of people has been charged with watching other alien races but have a vow to never interfere. Having come to consider the human race to be nothing more than savages fighting over their petty territorial disputes, the Watcher orders them not to bring their war to his home and dispatches the Fantastic Four, Red Ghost and his Super-Apes back to the ruined city where they could fight to the finish so that the Watcher could determine which of them came from a superior country.
There the Red Ghost and his apes attack the Fantastic Four and take the Invisible Girl prisoner. Reed and the others then begin searching the ruins for her. Meanwhile, Sue realizes that the Red Ghost has control over the apes by withholding food from them. While the Red Ghost was out fighting her teammates, Sue freed herself by offering to give the Super-Apes food. Overpowered the Red Ghost sought to seek refuge in the Watcher's citadel, only to be buffeted through time and dimensions before being ejected. The Red Ghost was then incapacitated by Mr. Fantastic who was able to fashion a paralyzation ray. With the Red Ghost defeated, the Watcher reappears before the Fantastic Four and congratulates them on their victory and tells them that their country is the superior one and so long as it strives for peace it will have a place in the limitless universe. As the Fantastic Four prepare to leave for Earth, the Red Ghost is freed by his Super-Apes, who have come to get revenge against their former master. In the end, Reed decides they should leave the Red Ghost to his fate and they leave the moon in their rocket.
Along with issues #3 and #18, Issue #13 is one of three issues where we only have a third highest graded example, as a lone 9.8 and three 9.6s top the census. There has been a 9.6 copy of this book available for years now, but the price is high and the cover is marred by a date stamp, so I have stuck with this Twin Cities pedigree 9.4. It is probably worthy of a 9.5, if such grades existed. We acquired it in an acquisition of a package of FFs from Pedigree Comics (#3, #7, and #13), all of which we still own.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 14 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #14 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.8 |
| Cert #: |
1053535001
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Owner Comments
Issue #14 features another classic early Sub-Mariner cover. In the story, the FF are returning from their adventure on the moon, landing their rocket at the airport greeted by a crowd of their fans. Exiting the ship they are swamped by fans, as well as fame seekers such as the wrestler known as the Golden Angel who challenges the Thing to a fight, with disastrous results. After Sue is harassed by Hollywood agents the Human Torch helps his teammates flee back to the Baxter Building by creating a hot air funnel to carry them back home. After settling in, Reed is disturbed to find Sue monitoring the world's oceans to try and find the Sub-Mariner, damaging his self-esteem and leaving him to question the future of their relationship.
Meanwhile, at a local sanitarium, the Puppet Master -- having survived his last encounter with the FF-- has been released to start his life over. However, the Puppet Master is far from cured and seeks to get revenge against our heroes. After some consideration, the Puppet Master decides to use his special clay to make the Sub-Mariner his slave and pit him against their mutual foes. Enslaved, Sub-Mariner returns to his empty kingdom of Atlantis and uses his Mento-Fish to send out a communication asking Sue to come to him. When she meets up with Namor at the docks, he kidnaps her and takes her back to his undersea realm. The Puppet Master then forces Namor to contact the FF, telling them that he has the Invisible Girl prisoner and taunt them into coming to rescue her. The Puppet Master then boards a sub to watch the battle from close by.
After the Thing picks up his girlfriend Alicia Masters, the FF take a sub of their own to the Sub-Mariner's domain. After fighting through the various undersea defenses, Reed, Johnny and Ben confront Namor in his throne room. With Sue trapped in a glass sphere ensnared by an octopus, the FF square off against the Sub-Mariner. At first the group is kept at bay thanks to the various undersea creatures that Namor has at his disposal; however, the Thing manages to get past Namor and free Sue, knocking the octopus out into the ocean. When the Puppet Master tries to order the Sub-Mariner to slay his foes, Namor cannot bring himself to harm Sue and fights off the Puppet Master's control, causing the clay puppet to explode.
When the Fantastic Four try to attack Namor again, Sue stands in their way and convinces them to stand down. Meanwhile, the octopus ejected from the Sub-Mariner's palace reaches the Puppet Master's sub and crushes the submersible before the villain can put the octopus under his control. Meanwhile, the Sub-Mariner -- still not over his animosity towards the surface world -- allows his foes to leave his kingdom.
Our WP 9.8 is one of three highest graded in the census. It was also part of the Doug Schmell Collection auctioned off by Heritage in July 2012. We acquired the book from another collector in a private transaction in January 2020.
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| Slot: |
Fantastic Four 15 |
| Item: |
Fantastic Four #15 Universal |
| Grade: |
CGC 9.6 |
| Cert #: |
1208065004
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Owner Comments
The Mad Tinker and his Awesome Android square off with the FF in what is a somewhat scarce book in high grade.
In the story, a super-genius known as the Mad Thinker revels over how he and his computing machines have been able to assist the local mobs into committing their crimes without being captured. The Thinker then decides to set higher goals and begins plotting to take over the world. When the mob warns him that the Fantastic Four will try and stop him, the Thinker tells them that he has already come up with a means to eliminate the heroes and prevent them from interfering in his operations.
Sometime later, the Human Torch is visited by his cousin Bones who informs Johnny that his circus is starting to fail without an attraction to draw people in. Meanwhile, Reed Richards is offered a research position with the prestigious General Electronics Corporation. This also happens to coincide with the Thing being offered a wrestling career and Sue being scouted by a Hollywood agent. Returning to the Baxter Building, each member of the Fantastic Four express their desires to seek out these other opportunities and agree to disband for a short period to see if this is what they truly want.
As it turns out, these events were orchestrated by the Mad Thinker, and after a meteor strikes the Earth disabling the Baxter Building's security systems, he and the mobsters take over the Fantastic Four's abandoned headquarters. Meanwhile, each member of the Fantastic Four finds their new careers fulfilling compared to their lives as super-heroes. They all decide to return home and are shocked to find the Baxter Building surrounded by crystal. The Thinker then projects a hologram of himself daring the Fantastic Four to face him in their own headquarters. The foursome easily breaks through the crystal barrier and defeat the mobsters armed with Reed's own weapons. They next battle the so-called Awesome Android, an android created by the Mad Thinker based on Reed's own research. They are able to defeat the creature when Reed points out its single weakness.
The Mad Thinker then faces the Fantastic Four alone, but suddenly finds none of the devices in Reed's lab work any longer and is quickly subdued. Reed then reveals that the Mad Thinker was foiled thanks to a contingency plan that he could not have foretold: Before leaving the Baxter Building to take his job at General Electronics, Reed hired their mailman Willie Lumpkin to press a button outside their headquarters every day that would temporarily deactivate all the devices within. With the Mad Thinker's plot ruined, the Fantastic Four turn the criminal mastermind over to the authorities.
Our 9.6 is one of just four 9.6s with two 9.8s topping the census. We acquired the book as part of an acquisition of 14 books from another collector in January 2020.
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