Who's The Best... Fantastic Four Substitute?

Martinex1: Over the years The Fantastic Four has not had as large a revolving door as other super-teams like the Avengers, but they have had their share of substitutes.   I have a particular fondness for the FF reserves as they are in a truly elite class.   The proxies are not the typical heroes or heroines either, as they tend to reside slightly outside the mainstream.  In your opinion, does one or the other rise above the rest?  Are any better than the originals?   So who is the best?  

Crystal the Elemental, Medusa the Inhuman,  Luke Cage; Power-Man,  Ms. Marvel the She-Thing, Ant-Man, She-Hulk or even much more recently Black Panther, Storm, or Spider-Man?   Who was the best?

The All-Day Face-Off

Doug:  It's been awhile since we've done a Face-Off post.  Today, how about if we just run a collaborative discussion, where anyone who wants to comment can leave a thought or two on a previous suggestion, and then leave a little food-for-thought of his/her own.  You can expound on your Face-Off suggestion if you want to, or just leave a topic behind as you leave.  Hopefully we generate a nice, organic conversation with many either-or considerations to carry us through our Sunday.

Doug:  I'll start by tossing out several topics, some of which we've previously dealt with.  You can give your two cents on my list, and then be sure to give a query of your own.  We ran a Face-Off a long time ago on the Inhumans sisters, Crystal and Medusa.  Of course the focus of that one was "who was the better substitute for Sue Richards during her time away from the Fantastic Four?"  I'm personally still partial to the Crystal/Johnny romance, but will readily admit that Medusa was on the team when I became a regular reader.

Doug:  We've run posts recently on the Lone Ranger and on Zorro.  Who ya got?

Doug:  Lastly, Neal Adams at Marvel or at DC?  For me, this one comes down to what I consider outstanding storylines at the House of Ideas, but pretty pictures inside some occasionally ham-handed tales over at the Distinguished Competition.  While I love looking at his GL/GA stories and of course his Batman work, it's the grandeur of the "Kree-Skrull" War and the last-gasp awesomeness of his run with Roy Thomas on the X-Men that put Adam's Marvel work over the top for me.

Doug:  So, feel free to give a thought on any or all of my topics, and then be sure to leave one or two of your own.  Thanks!

If I Had Been At the Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver, I’d Have Been the One To Stand Up and Object…, Conclusion

Doug: Prior to today, we've read three installments of my essay originally intended for publication in the forthcoming (?) book Assembled, volume 3. Today we'll finish up -- feel free to leave us a comment agreeing or disagreeing with my position on this whole (what I call) fiasco. Here you are --

• Avengers 110: Apr. 1973. Art by Don Heck/Frank Giacoia/Mike Esposito, story by Steve Englehart. Quicksilver makes his first appearance in the Avengers since he disappeared in issue #104. He appears on a visi-screen, arm-in-arm with Crystal. He tells how he was rescued and nursed back to health by “this girl, Crystal of the Inhumans.” After Wanda tells him how happy she is, she tells Pietro that she and the Vision have declared their love for each other. Quicksilver then erupts in anger and tells Wanda that he will never speak to her again, as long as she loves “that thing”. It’s an interesting point of view, especially given the battle Pietro had fought only “days” before that had centered on racism – the Inhuman/Alpha Primitive conflict.

• Avengers 127: Sept. 1974. Art by Sal Buscema/Joe Staton, story by Englehart. Gorgon appears at the Avengers’ dinner table to invite them to the wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal, which takes the team (Thor, Iron Man, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Mantis, Swordsman) by surprise. Gorgon picks up on this immediately and gets a little peeved. He calls Pietro an “arrogant, posturing fool” and later states, “I’ve endured a great deal from Quicksilver for my cousin’s sake – endured it for many months (page 3).” Do you think there was anyone in the room who hadn’t felt equally as put out with Pietro over the years? Mantis tries to make peace; Wanda snipes at her for being a guest of the team for the Swordsman’s sake (in no small part due to Mantis’ romantic overtures toward the Vision), and states that the team will accompany Gorgon to attend the wedding. After arriving in the Great Refuge, the team participates in a carnival atmosphere in celebration of the royal nuptials. However, Maximus lurks in the shadows and begins to manipulate the Avengers, playing on the racism that exists between the Inhumans and the Alpha Primitives (see FF #131-132). Crystal asks Pietro to reconcile with Wanda before the wedding; he refuses, but is forced to confront her anyway when she enters the room – he says, “You may think it civilized to consort with a machine, but I do not!” Shortly after, Crystal is kidnapped by the Alpha Primitive construct Omega. The Avengers, FF, and Inhumans seek her return, and eventually Omega comes back and reveals himself (in one of the top 10 villain entrances of all time!) to truly be Ultron-7!!! Story continued in FF #150.

• FF 150: Sept. 1974. Art by Buckler/Sinnott, story by Gerry Conway. Conclusion of the story begun in Avengers 127. The FF, Inhumans, and Avengers unite against Ultron-7, but it is young Franklin Richards who awakens from his long coma to destroy Ultron; in fact, in what may be the first use of the encephalo beams (see the "Bride of Ultron" saga in Avengers #’s 161-162 and 170-171), Ultron unwittingly revives Franklin’s latent consciousness. The book is divided in half, with the second part being the actual wedding of Quicksilver and Crystal. Thor and Iron Man muse on the subject of love, Thor pining for Jane Foster and the Lady Sif, IM for Pepper Potts. Medusa has a heart-to-heart with Johnny, who tells her that he feels like he has glass breaking inside of him. The ceremony comes off, and we are shown a monitor in a hospital room where Bob Frank (the Whizzer, in uniform, no less) watches his “son” Pietro while he heals from injuries sustained in Giant-Size Avengers #1. At the end of the story Johnny is smiling, and we assume that is that… Yeah, right!

• FF 158-159: May-June 1975. Art by Buckler/Sinnott, story by Thomas. Quicksilver is sent on a secret mission from the Great Refuge to find the FF. Pietro somehow gains admission to the Baxter Building and confronts the Torch in his usual gruff manner. Johnny reacts with his flame, tells Pietro that the niceness he displayed at the wedding is over, and they proceed to tear the place apart. As Quicksilver reaches out to grab the Torch, Johnny hits him with a low blow, “Didn’t Magneto ever teach you not to play with matches, Quickie (#158 page 14)?” Johnny goes on: “All I know is I worked hard playing the good loser while you married the girl I was in love with. Heck, I even made nice with you at the wedding… But there’s nothing says I’ve gotta put up with you on my own time (ibid)!” The remaining members of the FF arrive to stop the melee, and Pietro relates a story of an attack on the Great Refuge by Xemu, Master of the Fifth Dimension (a story that hearkens way back to Strange Tales #103). The tale concludes with a combined assault on Xemu’s army by the FF and the Inhumans and a romantic interlude between Johnny and Valeria, whom he’d met years earlier in the 5^th Dimension. Quicksilver witnesses it and comments, “Bravo for you, Johnny Storm. You’ll be happier, and so will I, when you stop thinking of Crystal as your girl when she’s now my wife (#159 page 27)!”

And that’s about it – for the most part, the romance of Johnny and Crystal isn’t mentioned very much again. For me, the marriage of Crystal and Quicksilver truly provided no additional plotlines that superseded what could have been done had the marriage of Johnny and Crystal come to pass in its own natural time. As the Avengers and the Inhumans had no real connection historically, I’m not sure where Roy was going with this. It further frustrates me that not only could one not predict where the story might go, the fact of the matter is that the story didn’t go. In effect, Crystal and Quicksilver were basically written out of their respective books for years.

Some have argued (most notably to this scribe on the avengersassemble.net message boards) that this marriage served to link together all of Marvel’s major teams/families: the Avengers, the FF, the Inhumans, and the X-Men (through the historic relationship between the Maximoff twins and Magneto). In contrast, a deepening of the romance between Johnny Storm and Crystal would have allowed for an infinite number of possibilities for the free-wheeling Torch to settle down/not settle down, certainly some in-law problems, friction between Johnny and Ben (and perhaps a storyline wherein Ben and Alicia were married or Ben was at least faced with having to deal with his self-distance from Alicia), and over on the Avengers side the presence of Pietro in the storylines that led to Wanda and the Vision’s marriage. Could there have been stories written that forced Pietro’s heart to soften toward the Vision? Might they have had to team up, possibly to save Wanda? How would Pietro have reacted to the return of Simon Williams and (in late volume I and certainly volume III) Williams’ increasing love for Wanda? How would Pietro have dealt with the John Byrne-dismantling of the Vision? Formerly, the Vision’s takeover of the world’s computer systems? A voice, obnoxious as it might have been at times, was silenced, for all of these possible plotlines never saw fruition due to Pietro’s removal from the pages of Avengers and Crystal’s removal from the pages of FF.

The next time we saw Crystal in any significant page-time, she was again a member of the FF in a forgettable run by Englehart. Issue #305 provided all the details any reader would need concerning her now-failed marriage to Pietro – the infidelity she’d perpetrated in the pages of the second Vision and the Scarlet Witch mini-series and Quicksilver’s subsequent descent into madness. Sue thought in that issue, during conversation with Crystal, “I know you mean your promise – and I would have trusted the bright and shiny teenager I used to know, absolutely! But you’ve grown up fast, Crystal. Please don’t hurt my brother…(page 19)!” Crystal also served the Avengers, but by then she’d become somewhat of a caricature of all that could go wrong for a pure-hearted, beautiful young girl – she was estranged from her husband and playing the field in a newfound freedom. The purity was gone…

As I said, I just really don’t get why, 30 years ago, Roy went the direction he did… Or, did Stan set the ball rolling in Fantastic Four #105? Was Archie Goodwin a conspirator in FF #’s 117-118? Shoot, given the Marvel method of creating comics, were some of the artists to blame? All I want is an explanation, and sadly I just feel like there isn’t one, nor would there be that would meet my satisfaction.

But that’s what is great about comics – maybe someday…

If I Had Been At the Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver, I’d Have Been the One To Stand Up and Object…, Part 3

Doug: Last week we saw the separation of Crystal from Johnny Storm due to a mysterious illness; our young heroine was ushered back to the Hidden Land so that she could heal among her family. While the cat's away...

• FF 117-118: Dec. 1971-Jan. 1972. Art by John Buscema/Sinnott (#117) and Buscema/Jim Mooney (#118), story by Archie Goodwin. Crystal is kidnapped and brainwashed by Diablo; she believes herself a goddess over a Central American nation; at the conclusion Johnny tells her that Maximus has usurped power in the Great Refuge, necessitating her departure yet again. Crystal tells Johnny that he must know that she cannot remain with him, that she must return to her family in order to save their homeland. He replies, “I know, Crys – and I understand. But at least we’ve got this time, this moment… And until there’ll be others – I can wait – and remember this (#118 page 15).” They kiss passionately as the curtain falls (and not just on this issue, as we’ll see…)

• Avengers 103-104: Sept.-Oct. 1972. Art by Rich Buckler/Sinnott, story by Roy Thomas (NOTE: Buckler’s art here is much more akin to Neal Adams than to the “Kirbyish” art he would display several months later in the pages of Fantastic Four). Two-part story with the team (Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Hawkeye, Vision, and Quicksilver, with an appearance by Rick Jones) versus the Sentinels. Quicksilver is on a mission to find a Sentinel stronghold in hopes that it will help him find the kidnapped Scarlet Witch. As Quicksilver, encountering and commandeering Larry Trask, gets closer, the remaining Avengers follow. They encounter the Sentinels in Australia and engage them. Trask discusses his mutant power, which is to see the future, and it is a future that is not bright for the Avengers. In #104, Quicksilver battles a Sentinel alone, and destroys it. On page 19 he is faced with an ominous aura and yells, “What’s that glow… something… appearing in front of me… something huge, horrible! What is it! What?”

• FF 130: Jan. 1973. Art by J. Buscema/Sinnott, story by Thomas. Johnny has flown to the Great Refuge to reclaim Crystal. Ready for battle (as always) after his rocket had been shot out of the sky in the previous issue, Triton says, “Black Bolt wanted to make certain that he saw you – before you saw Crystal (page 5).” After being pointed to Crystal’s location in a tower, Johnny flames on and heads straight there. Evading interception by Triton, Karnak, and Gorgon, Johnny melts his way into the tower and lands near Crystal’s feet. He exclaims that whatever trouble there is, they’ll face it together. In a cryptic scene, Crystal replies, “…I prayed I’d never see you again… I’ll stand aside… so you can see more clearly (page 10).” Whoo, boy – big cliffhangers in these last two story examples!! And I should say that the facial expression on Johnny as conveyed by artists Buscema and Sinnott is simply wonderful – so full of pain and shock…

• FF 131: Feb. 1973. Art by Ross Andru/Sinnott, story by Thomas. As alluded to in the previous issue, something here ain’t right! We find, as Crystal steps aside (NOTE: Buscema drew Crystal in her FF uniform, which was strange since she’d not been with that team for some time. Andru draws her here in her more common yellow outfit), that the look of horror on Johnny’s face as we left him is due in large part to the fact that Crystal has been attending to an injured Quicksilver. When Quicksilver says that she owes the Torch no explanation (very much in standard brusque, abrasive Pietro form), and then refers to her as “Darling” (which I believe is the first time Pietro addresses anyone in a term of affection outside of his sister Wanda), that pretty much seals the battle royale that comes next… Crystal does explain, in detail, how she and Lockjaw became lost inter-dimensionally and ended up at the very moment Quicksilver had become injured in battle with the Sentinels. As Pietro passed out, Crystal and Lockjaw teleported him to the Great Refuge. To be honest, I’m still dissatisfied with the explanation given in a flashback. Crystal comments to Medusa that she will stay by Quicksilver’s side as he heals, saying she somehow feels responsible for his injuries (Say what?? She found him all beat up – she wasn’t there when it happened!!) Medusa remarked that she felt what Crystal was feeling was more than responsibility. And I felt like something had just been shoved down my throat, and I wanted to scream, “Where did this come from?!?” Shoe-horned in, square peg/round hole – I don’t care how you describe it. The whole change in trajectory from the Johnny/Crystal love story to this new Crystal/Pietro love story just felt contrived. The story ends with the Torch and Quicksilver united against Omega, who has grabbed Crystal.

• FF 132: Mar. 1973. Art by J. Buscema/Sinnott, story by Thomas. The Torch and Quicksilver unite to aid Crystal in a story that is really about racism between the Inhumans and the Alpha Primitives. The story is also significant, as Medusa replaces Sue in the FF and Johnny takes on a red uniform, reminiscent of the Original Human Torch. Crystal tells Johnny at the end of the story that she is staying with Pietro; Johnny remarks,

“I never thought she wouldn’t. Matter of fact, I’m sorta glad it happened this way, now that I’ve had time to cool down and think things through. We’ve been apart too long – and like you said, it just isn’t there anymore – for either of us. Actually, I’m kinda looking forward to getting back into circulation. Truth is, I’ve even got a long-standing date tonight – with an old girlfriend named Dorrie Evans (page 27).”

Just like that? You mean, he’s just going to drop it?? When I came to this story much after-the-fact, I couldn’t believe how out of the blue this seemed; I can’t imagine how it must have felt to have read it first-hand. Was Johnny serious, or was he just playing it off to try to show that he wasn’t hurt by it all? My sense is that if I had plucked it from the spinner rack in the middle of 2^nd grade and had known the story from the preceding few years I’d have been one dubious-looking 7-year old.

If I Had Been At the Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver, I’d Have Been the One To Stand Up and Object…, Part 2

Doug: Welcome back to our second in a series of posts publishing an essay I'd written on the wedding of Crystal to Quicksilver, originally intended for Assembled, volume 3. When we left off last week, I'd just gotten into a chronology of Crystal's courtship with Johnny Storm. We pick it up here with her second appearance:

• FF 46: Jan. 1966. Crystal professes that she doesn’t want to be separated from Johnny, “no matter what (page 14)”. Earlier in the issue, the FF come face-to-face with the Inhumans – it’s like meeting “the Addams Family”, more or less. When the Inhumans seek to flee in order to rehabilitate the fallen Black Bolt, Karnak remarks to Crystal that the Torch is their enemy. She cries, “No! You’re wrong! He meant us no harm! I know it in my heart (page 13).”

• FF 47, 48: Feb.-Mar. 1966. Crystal and Johnny become near inseparable as the FF have to leave the Great Refuge – Stan Lee teen angst in the Spidey tradition!! Reed remarks, “She’s oblivious to everything else! She only has eyes for Johnny (#47, page 18)!” Incidentally, Johnny twice refers to her as “Chris” in #47.

• FF 61-62: April-May 1967. After freeing Attilan from its dome-prison, the Inhumans allow Crystal to leave in search of Johnny, with Lockjaw as her “chaperone”. Crystal remarks near the beginning of the story that Lockjaw is “…my only means of reaching Johnny Storm! And until Johnny and I are together again, nothing else in my life matters to me (# 61, page 12)! In #62, Crystal and Lockjaw arrive in the Baxter Building to find the FF at a loss as to how they can rescue Reed from certain death in the Negative Zone. Crystal immediately offers to help, and uses Lockjaw to teleport back to the Inhumans to secure aid. Triton returns with her and saves the day. At the conclusion of the story Crystal remarks to all after Johnny’s made a sarcastic remark about Reed’s and Sue’s emotional reunion: “If I ever catch you sounding like that, Johnny… I’ll probably be the happiest girl in the world (#62, page 20)!”

• FF 81: Dec. 1968. Crystal debuts in an FF costume, declaring that with Sue in post-partum recovery due to the birth of Franklin (in the previous month in Fantastic Four Annual #6), “someone has to take her place on your team (page 1)”. Of course, since it’s her “debut” issue, she saves the team from the Wizard by demonstrating her command of Earth, Wind, and Fire (the elements, not the band).

• FF 95: Feb. 1970. Medusa comes to take Crystal back among her people. Johnny protests loudly – “You can’t do it, Crys! You can’t leave me – to go back to them (page 11)!” Crystal replies, “Oh, Johnny – Johnny! Do you think I want to go?” As Medusa takes Crystal away (by force), Crys calls back to the Torch, “Wait for me, Johnny – I’ll come back to you – (page 12).”

• FF 99: June 1970. Johnny storms the Great Refuge; Crystal calls him a fool, then chastises him for his behavior – she says something to the effect that love requires trust and understanding. She was needed to help heal Black Bolt in an illness. Crystal leaves with the FF.

• FF 105: Dec. 1970. Art by John Romita/John Verpoorten, story by Lee. Crystal falls ill while on a shopping excursion. Initially believing it to be something she ate, she is able to use her powers to help the team as a building nearby begins to crumble. Immediately after, she collapses; Johnny exits with her to return to the Baxter Building. He bursts into Reed’s lab and exclaims, “Reed – it’s Crystal! She collapsed in the street! There’s something wrong – something serious! I’m scared Reed – I’ve never seen her like this (page 5)! I think it’s important here to note that Johnny has admitted this fear – with all he’s faced down to this point in his career, this can be nothing if not a man in a deep state of love with his woman. Reed, through some simple blood work, determines that the contaminants in the Western world are bothering Crystal’s immune system and that she has to remain sheltered in Attilan; Lockjaw comes to take her back home to the Inhumans. But before she leaves, she and Johnny have the following exchange:

Johnny: “But we love each other! We can’t be separated again!”

Crystal: “Johnny – I heard him (Reed)! He’s right, my darling!”

Johnny: “No! It can’t be! It isn’t fair! I can’t lose you now!”

Crystal: “We won’t be losing each other, dearest! It won’t be – forever! I – I couldn’t bear – to think of that (page 11)!”

However, a few pages later, Johnny and Crystal re-enter the lab so Crystal can say some good-byes. If you ask me, these sound pretty permanent. One might get the impression that it’s going to be longer than just a short separation. As Lockjaw opens the dimensional field, Crystal says, “It’s best that – we leave quickly! It will lessen – the pain (page 14)!”

Let’s have an interlude here to examine what has gone before. Am I the only one here who thinks that after examining the stories above that Johnny and Crystal were destined to continue their somewhat-rocky relationship? Despite her absence in the succeeding year, I guess I wouldn’t have had the impression that it was over. As the Thing dominated most of the storylines in the issues between #’s 105-117, it was not all that noticeable that Crystal and Johnny’s romance had been placed on the back burner. And given that in Marvel time we were probably only talking about a matter of weeks, why would anyone worry about it?

Although Stan had continued to write in his general teen-angst style, there had been growth in the characters. Johnny had shown some maturity on the team while at the same time retaining the “hot-headedness” that was his namesake (he was particularly out of control in #105 when Crystal left). Crystal showed, particularly in #105 that she had grown (perhaps more than him) and could reconcile her life in two worlds. While Johnny seemed somewhat selfish in regard to “splitting time” in the coming months between Manhattan and Attilan, Crystal seemed willing to make it work. I think, had Stan and later Roy chosen to continue on this path (a slow path, but progression nonetheless), there could have been even more layers added to this love affair – perhaps even a spin-off Inhumans (the Amazing Adventures strip of this period?) series featuring Johnny and Crystal at the center of the storyline. However…

If I Had Been At the Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver, I’d Have Been the One To Stand Up and Object…, Part 1

Doug: Several weeks ago when I began to post installments of my Goliath essay slated to appear in Assembled, Volume 3, I mentioned that later on I would post my other essay intended for that book: my point of view on the wedding of Crystal to Quicksilver. Over the next few Fridays we'll journey through a retrospective of the loves of our young Inhuman's life, and if you're like me, you'll be scratching your head a bit as to how she wound up with our favorite abrasive mutant. One disclaimer before beginning -- as this was originally typed in Microsoft Word, there may be some formatting issues in the conversion to Blogger. I'm just sayin'... Shall we?

I’ve had something on my mind since, oh, 1975 or so. It’s a topic that mystifies me to this day. You know how every now and again you read a story or story “arc” (as we call them these days – God bless (or curse) this trend of “writing for the trade paperback” as I like to call it) and you’re just left scratching your head? Come on – "Disassembled", "Vision Quest", that time when Ben’s gal Sharon Ventura was turned into a she-thing – you know what I’m talking about. The story in that vein that has most eaten at me for the better part of three decades is the sometimes-called Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver.

I came to these characters in roughly the same time frame, circa 1972. I “met” Quicksilver in the pages of Marvel Triple Action #13, a reprint of Avengers #19. I was impressed with his speed powers. A newcomer to comics as a wide-eyed 6-year old, I thought he had a nobility about him in that he seemed to care immensely for his sister Wanda (the Scarlet Witch) – me, I usually fought with my sister in those days! I never could figure out why his hair was white, though, and why he didn’t slick down those two “horns” on the front… I’d have been beaten up at school in the 1^st grade if I’d gone with hair looking like that (even in the Groovy ‘70’s!!). Pietro, as he was called, was brash, quarrelsome, but able to back it up. He seemed an outsider to me, though – often the brunt of Hawkeye’s verbal abuse yet also in question of Captain America’s authority.

Crystal came into my life in the pages of Fantastic Four #84 – I must have owned an actual copy of this, as the Marvel’s Greatest Comics reprint (MGC #66 – June 1976 issue) comes too late to have served as my introduction. I (even to this day) have tended to identify with the younger characters in any team book and this issue was no exception. Although the Thing and even Dr. Doom were more visually interesting, I was drawn to the angst of the relationship between Johnny Storm and Crystal. Not at the time understanding the full backstory to their individual histories or even their relationship, I nonetheless became enthralled by Johnny’s concern for her and genuine excitement upon their reunion after falling into the clutches of that mad Latverian dictator. These were two teens very much in love – it was obvious.

Although in possession of a complete run of Avengers volumes 1-3, I bought the Avengers DVD-ROM in June 2006 to serve as an at-the-fingertips resource. I followed that purchase with the Fantastic Four DVD-ROM in August of the same year, which filled in all of the gaps in my FF collection. Anyway, since at the time I’d been recently reading through the Essential Fantastic Four volume 3, I chose to spend most of my time on the FF disc in the next months. Feelings – generally negative – toward the love triangle of Johnny Storm, Crystal, and Quicksilver resurfaced.

I came to Avengers #127/FF #150 as a kid, obtaining the wedding story as back issues in a trade many months after their newsstand debuts. At about the same time, I was by then in possession of several issues of Marvel’s Greatest Comics, which as stated previously reprinted the classic Stan Lee/Jack Kirby FF run. Many of those issues contained Crystal, and it was continually obvious (as I made more discoveries) the youthful love she shared with the Human Torch. Imagine my consternation then when she ended up marrying Pietro! Even as a “longtime” Avengers fan, this made no sense to my pre-adolescent mind, and it still doesn’t 30+ years later!! I would love a sit-down with Roy Thomas, who, as you look through the creative credits in the issue summaries that follow, seems to have been the one responsible for the change. By the way, in a recent e-mail from Roy in answer to some questions I posed to him on this topic, he confessed that after all of these years his memory just wasn’t good enough to recall all of the details of the decision to marry these characters (although he is sure he approved it at the time).

Take a look now at a summary of some key events that “led” (does anything truly “lead” to an event that pops up out of the blue?) to the Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver:

FF 45: Dec. 1965. Art by Jack Kirby/Joe Sinnott, story by Stan Lee (unless otherwise noted). First appearance of Crystal; the Inhumans (notably Gorgon) appeared in the previous issue. Happening upon Crystal in a deserted, desolate alleyway, Johnny remarks, “Wow! I must be seeing things! What’s a vision like that doing in a deserted neighborhood? She almost doesn’t even look real – sort-of like something out of a fairy tale! I hate to be disloyal, but she makes Dorrie Evans seem like a boy (page 8)!” Ah, love at first sight, as Crystal then proceeds to kick his butt for startling her. Johnny then daydreams about her, and steals away to the same alley later the next night to hopefully encounter her again. He does. Apparently the love at first sight is hers as well, and Crystal takes Johnny home to meet her family.

Face-Off: The Inhuman Sisters

Art by Terry Beatty

Doug: In today's who-do-you-choose, we're going to look at comics' first family, the Fantastic Four. But, throughout their history all has not been fantastic all the time -- there've been maternity leaves, personal leaves, and leaves in a snit! And in those times, heroes from outside the bonds of the family were brought in to fill the void and keep the membership at 4.

Doug: Over the years, we've seen Crystal and Medusa from the Inhumans, everyone's favorite Hero-For-Hire Luke Cage, and the femizon Thundra (although I'm not sure if she was ever officially a substitute member). And what about the time immediately after Cage's tenure when the depowered Ben Grimm was given his exo-skeleton, and had the ability to become the Thing at will? Would you count him as a substitute during those issues?
Doug: But let's stick to the first two substitutes -- Crystal and later her sister Medusa. Crystal was on board beginning in FF #81 as Sue's replacement after her delivery of Franklin. She'd actually been hanging out with Johnny since her debut way back in issue #45. Medusa on the other hand, was introduced as a super-baddie member of the Frightful Four. She didn't become a member of the FF until the Bronze Age, when Sue left Reed after Reed had lobotomized young Franklin -- seems the lad's mind was about to ruin the universe! Each sister's official tenure as a member of the FF was rather brief, but important nonetheless in the whole "family matters" scheme of things.
Doug: So who was your favorite? Which would you have lobbied for to attain permanent membership? Who was just a bad fit/plot vehicle/never should have been considered in the first place?

When Crystal Married Quicksilver. Wait! Say WHAT??

Doug here, back with another short preview of an essay that I hope will make the cut for the upcoming book of Avengers analysis and opinions, Assembled! 3. This time I'm showing great disgust at the plight of the relationship between Crystal of the Inhumans and Johnny Storm, the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four. Throughout the Silver Age, these two teens seemed destined for each other. But as the Bronze Age dawned it became apparent that this was not to be. I'll be honest -- at times I've been as preoccupied with this turn of events as I have been that Peter Parker never married Gwen Stacy! And I don't even know what to make of Archie Andrews about to wed Veronica Lodge!

Much of the essay is written as a timeline:

Take a look now at a summary of some key events that “led” (does anything truly “lead” to an event that pops up out of the blue?) to the Wedding of Crystal and Quicksilver:

FF 45: Dec. 1965. Art by Jack Kirby/Joe Sinnott, story by Stan Lee (unless otherwise noted). First appearance of Crystal; the Inhumans (notably Gorgon) appeared in the previous issue. Happening upon Crystal in a deserted, desolate alleyway, Johnny remarks, “Wow! I must be seeing things! What’s a vision like that doing in a deserted neighborhood? She almost doesn’t even look real – sort-of like something out of a fairy tale! I hate to be disloyal, but she makes Dorrie Evans seem like a boy (page 8)!” Ah, love at first sight, as Crystal then proceeds to kick his butt for startling her. Johnny then daydreams about her, and steals away to the same alley later the next night to hopefully encounter her again. He does. Apparently the love at first sight is hers as well, and Crystal takes Johnny home to meet her family.

FF 46: Jan. 1966. Crystal professes that she doesn’t want to be separated from Johnny, “no matter what (page 14)”. Earlier in the issue, the FF come face-to-face with the Inhumans – it’s like meeting “the Addams Family”, more or less. When the Inhumans seek to flee in order to rehabilitate the fallen Black Bolt, Karnak remarks to Crystal that the Torch is their enemy. She cries, “No! You’re wrong! He meant us no harm! I know it in my heart (page 13).”


FF 47, 48: Feb.-Mar. 1966. Crystal and Johnny become near inseparable as the FF have to leave the Great Refuge – Stan Lee teen angst in the Spidey tradition!! Reed remarks, “She’s oblivious to everything else! She only has eyes for Johnny (#47, page 18)!” Incidentally, Johnny twice refers to her as “Chris” in #47.
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FF 81: Dec. 1968. Crystal debuts in an FF costume, declaring that with Sue in post-partum recovery due to the birth of Franklin (in the previous month in Fantastic Four Annual #6), “someone has to take her place on your team (page 1)”. Of course, since it’s her “debut” issue, she saves the team from the Wizard by demonstrating her command of Earth, Wind, and Fire (the elements, not the band).




FF 95: Feb. 1970. Medusa comes to take Crystal back among her people. Johnny protests loudly – “You can’t do it, Crys! You can’t leave me – to go back to them (page 11)!” Crystal replies, “Oh, Johnny – Johnny! Do you think I want to go?” As Medusa takes Crystal away (by force), Crys calls back to the Torch, “Wait for me, Johnny – I’ll come back to you – (page 12).”



And there you have a bit of an introduction to my problem. You see how I feel? All of this angst, the emotional attachment, and then BLAM-MO!! Up in smoke. Pick up a copy of Assembled 3 when it hits the shelves to see where I take this!