Fantastic Four Vol 1 3

Fantastic Four Vol 1 3.jpg Fantastic Four Vol 1 #3 March, 1962 Editor-in-Chief Stan Lee Cover Artists Jack Kirby Dick Ayers "The Menace of the Miracle Man" Writers Stan Lee Pencilers Jack Kirby Inkers Sol Brodsky Colourists Stan Goldberg Letterers Artie Simek Editors Stan Lee Previous Issue Next Issue Fantastic Four #2 Fantastic Four #4

Appearing in "The Menace of the Miracle Man"

Featured Characters:

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

Adversaries:

• Miracle Man (Joshua Ayers)  (First appearance)
• The Monster from Mars (Single appearance)(Destroyed in this issue)

Other Characters:

• United States Army
  • Lt. General Fredricks (First appearance) - (Not named)
• New York Police Department
  • Unnamed police commissioner
  • Joe (a police officer)
• Several New Yorkers

Locations:

• United States of America
  • New York State
    • New York City,
      • Manhattan
        • Baxter Building (First appearance)

Items:

• Fantasti-Flare
• The Thing's helmet (First appearance)

Vehicles:

• Fantasti-Car (First appearance)
• Fantasti-Copter (First appearance)
• Pogo Plane MK I (First appearance) (Seen in hangar)
• Intercontinental Passenger Missile (First appearance) (Seen in hangar)
• an atomic tank
  
  

Synopsis for "The Menace of the Miracle Man"

• Synopsis not yet written.

Notes

• This issue marks the first appearance of the Fantastic 4 Fan Page. Fan letters printed were written by Alan Weiss, Rick Wood, Unsigned, George Paul, Bill Sarill and S. Brodsky. It is quite possible that the S. Brodsky letter from Brooklyn, NY came from Sol Brodsky. Sol reportedly inked this issue and became a Marvel executive in 1964. The Brodsky letter asked the Editor how he was able to put out seven other comic titles in addition to Fantastic Four. The Editor responded to the question, saying "with great difficulty".
• At the end of the issue is a bonus pinup, featuring (click to enlarge):

Human Torch Pin-up - Fantastic Four 3.jpg

"Human Torch", drawn by Jack Kirby and lettered by John Duffy

• The Fantastic Four's classic blue costumes debuted this issue. The Thing discarded his costume (and helmet) mid-issue.

File:Thing (Early Costume).jpg

Thing discards his costume

• First appearance of the Fantasti-Flare, the original Fantasti-Car, and the Fantasti-Copter.
• "The Greatest Comic Magazine in the World!!" tag line was added to the cover of this issue. It would be replaced by the more familiar "World's Greatest Comics Magazine!" starting with Fantastic Four #4.
• The setting of this story is never explicitly given, but the location of the Baxter Building is later given as New York City.
• The cover price increased to 12¢ with this issue.
• While the Thing's helmet did not last long, he did start wearing a similar helmet after being wounded by Wolverine in Fantastic Four #374, but it lasted only a brief period (until Fantastic Four #386).
• The events of Tales of the Marvels: Inner Demons #1 occur between the events depicted in this story.
• Lt. General Fredricks appears for the first time. He goes unnamed. He appears next in X-Men #2, and becomes a minor recurring character in that series.
• This issue is reprinted in other comics and books, see references for more info.
  

Trivia

Human Torch has two left hands on the cover, as noted in a letter printed in issue #5.

See Also

• Write your own review of this comic!
• Discuss Fantastic Four Vol 1 3 on the forums
• Images from Fantastic Four Vol 1 3

Links and References

• The Fantastic Four at Wikipedia
• The Fantastic Four at Marvel Subscriptions
• The Fantastic Four series index at Comicbookdb.com
• The Fantastic Four at The Complete Marvel Reading Order
• The Fantastic Four series index at the Grand Comics Database Project
• Related Fantastic Four comics on this site
• Marvel Comics Index #4
• Official Marvel Index to the Fantastic Four #1

Footnotes

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