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TEMPI IN CUI VIVIAMO SONO SEMPRE PIU’ DURI, E ANCHE SOPRAVVIVERE SU
EBAY STA DIVENTANDO OGNI GIORNO PIU’ DIFFICILE.  SE VOLETE CONTINUARE A
DELIZIARVI O INFURIARVI LEGGENDO E USUFRUENDO DELLE NOSTRE ATIPICHE ED
INCONVENZIONALI INSERZIONI, VISTO CHE NON COMPRATE MAI NULLA, AIUTATECI
ALMENO CON IL VOSTRO APPOGGIO E IL VOSTRO SOSTEGNO, PER UNA VOLTA
TANGIBILE E COMMENSURABILE. ACCETTIAMO OGNI FORMA DI CONTRIBUTO E
SOVVENZIONE, AL LIMITE ANCHE DANARO, MA VANNO BENE PURE PROSCIUTTI,
FORMAGGI, SIGARETTE, BUONI PASTO, BIGLIETTI DEL TRAM,  LIQUORI ,
POLLAME E ORTAGGI.

While the FF is fighting Namor for Sue’s freedom, Warlord Krang and Lady Dorma attempt to drown Sue, promtping Namor to resue her. 

Needing immediate medical attention, Namor swims Sue to shore and brings her to a hospital.

The FF meeting up with him there, Namor calls off his attack against the surface world for the time being and returns to the oceans depths.

Featured Characters:

• The Fantastic Four
  • Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)
  • Invisible Girl (Susan Storm)
  • Human Torch (Johnny Storm)
  • Thing (Ben Grimm)

Supporting Characters:

• Alicia Masters
• Watcher (Uatu)

Antagonists:

• Molecule Man (Owen Reece) (First appearance) (Origin revealed)

Other Characters:

• Yancy Street Gang
• New York City Police Department
  • Pete
• USAF

Races and Species:

• Humans
• Watchers

Locations:

• Earth
  • United States of America
    • New York
      • New York City
        • Manhattan
          • Midtown
            • 42nd Street
              • Baxter Building
            • Times Square
          • ACME Atomics Corporation (First appearance)
          • Lower East Side
            • Yancy Street
          • SoHo
            • Alicia Masters’ Home
  • Earth Orbit
    • The Moon
      • Blue Area of the Moon
        • Watcher’s Citadel

Items:

• Molecule Man’s Wand (First appearance)
• Fantasti-Flare

Synopsis

After examining an asteroid with proof of organic life in space, the Fantastic Four investigate a strange fireball that has appeared in the streets.

Sucked into it, they find it’s a device belonging to the Watcher. 

Inside, the Watcher tells the Fantastic Four of a man who was exposed to a nuclear accident which transformed him into the Molecule Man. 

Warning of the potential danger of the Molecule Man’s molecule altering abilities, the Watcher sends out the FF to stop him.

In their initial conflict, the FF seem unable to defeat him and each attempt to stop the Molecule Man is met with failure. Fed up with the FF’s interference, the Molecule Man erects a glass dome around Manhattan and demands that the people of the city help him capture the FF.

Reed eventually realizes that the Molecule Man’s powers don’t seem to have any effect on organic material and so they lay a trap in which they pose as statues in Alicia’s apartment, while Alicia alerts the Molecule Man of their location. 

When the Molecule Man’s powers fail to affect the FF, they are able to knock his wand — the focal point of his power — out of his hands and keep it away from him long enough for the Watcher to arrive and take the Molecule Man away. The Watcher takes the Molecule Man to an alternate dimension where time travels faster so that he would age soon and die. 

Notes

1. Fantastic Four #319 (in Italy in F4ST #84) reveals that the accident that created the Molecule Man interrupted the process of the creation of a Cosmic Cube by the enigmatic Beyonders making the Molecule Man an imperfect portion of the Cube’s energies. The other portion was in another dimension. Per Secret Wars II #6 (in Italy in F4ST #59) the accident created a pin-prick in reality that allowed the other portion of energy to view the Earth-616 universe. This allowed it to gain sentience, eventually becoming the god-like being known as the Beyonder. However these facts have been called into question by the events of New Avengers: Illuminati Vol 2 #3 (in Italy in THP #105), which has stated that the Beyonder is really a mutant Inhuman. However this might have been a deception on the part of the Beyonder.
2. It was later revealed in New Avengers Vol 2 #33–34  (in Italy in THP #170)  that Owen’s powers were actually planned by the Beyonders as a catalyst to destroying the multiverse when they finally grew bored with creation, suggesting that all other explanations for his powers were deceptions.
3. ↑ It is later revealed in Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #11  (in Italy in SPEC.GUERRE SEGRETE ST #3)  the reason the Molecule Man initially had to focus his powers through his wand and was limited to control over inorganic matter was due to a low-self esteem creating these perceived limitations.

Continuity Errors

• Mister Fantastic is ecstatic about finding what appears to be a dehydrated acorn within a meteorite he is studying. He claims that it proves that some form of life must exist in outer space. Apparently, Reed has momentarily forgotten about the Fantastic Four’s encounters with the Skrulls and the Xantha. 

Strange Tales Vol 1 #114

November, 1963

Editor-in-Chief

Stan Lee

Cover Artists

Jack Kirby

“The Human Torch Meets… Captain America” / LA TORCIA UMANA CONTRO… CAPITAN AMERICA
Writer Stan Lee Jack Kirby Penciler Jack Kirby Inker Dick Ayers Colourist Stan Goldberg

Featured Characters:

• Human Torch

Supporting Characters:

• Invisible Girl
• Doris Evans

Antagonists:

• Acrobat (Impersonates Captain America)

Other Characters:

• Captain America (Photo) (Vision)

Locations:

• United States of America
  • New York
    • Long Island
      • Glenville
        • Glenville Bank

Items:

• Captain America’s Shield
• Captain America’s Uniform

Vehicles:

• “Captain America’s” Aerial Platform

Synopsis

After a training session with his sister, the Human Torch learns of an antique car show which boasts that Captain America will make an appearance. 

While there seeing his childhood idol, some thieves steal the box office receipts for the show, and Torch and Captain America manage to stop them, however Cap tells the Torch to go away, and steals all the glory.

Later that night “Cap” springs the crooks out of jail. 

When the Torch learns of this he goes after the criminals who admit that “Cap” planned the whole thing. 

After a chase across the city, the Torch manages to catch “Captain America” and unmasks him, revealing him to be the Torch’s old foe the Acrobat. 

Afterwords, the Torch wonders what became of the real Captain America.

Notes

• At the time of this story, Steve Rogers was still in suspended animation since he was first put in that state in 1945, as later explained in Avengers #4 (in Italy in THC #9).

• Johnny recognizes the Acrobat from when they first met in Strange Tales #106 (in Italy in F4C #8).

• The events of this story are recounted in Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty #11 (in Italy in MARV OMN CAP AMERICA di Mark Waid-Ron Garney-Andy Kubert).

• This issue marks the very first appearance of the Captain America character since the Golden Age of comics.

• The Human Torch story was written to test readers’ interest in a return of Captain America, who would later make a return in Avengers #4  (in Italy in THC #9).

Featured Characters:

• The Fantastic Four
  • Mister Fantastic (Reed Richards)
  • Invisible Girl (Susan Storm)
  • Human Torch (Johnny Storm)
  • Thing (Ben Grimm)

Supporting Characters:

• Nick Fury
• Alicia Masters

Antagonists:

• Hate-Monger (Adolf Hitler) (First appearance)

Other Characters:

• Spider-Man (Photo)

Locations:

• United States of America
  • New York State
    • New York City
      • Manhattan
        • Baxter Building
• South America
  • San Gusto

Items:

• Hate-Monger’s Hatred-Ray

Vehicles:

• Pogo Plane MK I
• Intercontinental Passenger Missile
• Hate-Monger’s Sub Surface Missile

Synopsis

The Fantastic Four are enjoying some downtime when suddenly their base begins to shake out of control. 

Johnny, Reed, and Sue discover the source is the Thing who is going full strength on his punching bag after reading news reports regarding the Hate-Monger, a cowled rabble-rouser who has been using hate speech to incite xenophobia among the citizens of New York City. 

Reed tries to calm Ben down by telling him that bigots usually get what they deserve. 

Not long after, while the FF are out on the town, they come across one of the Hate-Monger’s rallies where the Hate-Monger works up the crowd into such a frenzy that they attack a man due to his ethnicity. 

When the Thing intervenes to disperse the mob, the Hate-Monger pulls out his Hate-Ray and uses it on the team. 

The effects are instant and the Fantastic Four begin to squabble among each other. 

Pushed by their artificially induced hatred, the Fantastic Four eventually decide to break up, as each member comes to believe that they are better than the others, much to the pleasure of the Hate-Monger.

Reed Richards returns to the Baxter Building to find that security is fighting with a man in the lobby who is trying to gain access to the Fantastic Four’s headquarters. Reed is surprised to find that it is Nick Fury, wartime hero, an agent of the CIA, and a colleague from his military days. 

After briefly reminiscing of the past, Fury tells of civil unrest and rioting in the South American nation of San Gusto, a country that is important to American interests and asks for the Fantastic Four’s help in quelling the violence. 

Fury is surprised to hear that the Fantastic Four have broken up and decides to stay behind as Richards goes off to San Gusto alone. When the Pogo Plane lifts off from the Baxter Building, it is seen by the Thing, Johnny and Sue, who decide to go back to their headquarters to see what is going on. 

There they find Nick Fury, who plays on the trio’s jealousy of each other to convince them to go to San Gusto as well. The trio and Fury all leave in the passenger ICBM that is launched from the roof of the Baxter Building.

Unknown to them all, the Hate-Monger is responsible for the unrest in San Gusto and has since relocated there via a sub-surface missile. 

Continued to next issue….