Written by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby, inks by George Bell, lettering by Sam Rosen

This issue feels like something of a turning point for the Fantastic Four. Lee and Kirby expand Sue Storm’s powers in a way that will eventually transform her from the team’s perceived weak link into arguably its most powerful member.

Sue can now generate incredibly strong force fields and make other objects invisible.

We also get some of the everyday headaches that come with being a superhero team living in Manhattan. The residents of the Baxter Building have had enough. They’re filing complaints about noise, fires, water damage, villain attacks, and the general inconvenience of sharing a building with a nuclear reactor. The Fantastic Four aren’t exactly the easiest neighbors to live with.

Visually, Kirby is really hitting his stride. The Thing’s rocky appearance is becoming more fully defined, and the Human Torch’s features are increasingly recognizable even when he’s surrounded by flames. Both characters are starting to look very close to the versions we’ll come to know over the years.

Reed decides to scout an island off the coast of New Jersey as a possible location for his scientific experiments. Unfortunately for the FF, the island already has a tenant. The Mole Man is back!

We get a quick explanation of how he survived the destruction of Monster Island in the first issue, along with a new scheme to sink the world’s major cities. He captures the Fantastic Four and puts them through a series of elaborate traps. This leads to a terrific Kirby sequence, with each member stuck in a different kind of prison and forced to use their powers to escape.

The final battle against the Mole Man and his subterranean forces delivers plenty of classic Kirby action. The Fantastic Four eventually escape, although Reed’s solution raises some pretty uncomfortable questions about what happens to the subterraneans caught in the process.

It’s a fun issue that brings together several things that make the Fantastic Four work. We get some exaggerated but recognizable real-world problems, a meaningful development in Sue’s powers, a return to the team’s very first villain, and some terrific Kirby visuals.

This feels like the beginning of peak Fantastic Four.

Marvel in the 60s – Entry #105