Wedded Bliss!

I've always liked married superheroes. When I first started reading the Fantastic Four, Reed and Sue were already married and expecting their first child. They were the sober and sometimes scolding parents of the uncontrollable brats, the Thing and the Torch.  As it turned out that had always been the dynamic for the most of the Fab 4 adventures, it just became a bit more literal when they finally tied the knot in Fantastic Four Annual #3 by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Vince Colletta.

It's a wild adventure centered on the Baxter Building which is not only invaded by scores of wedding guests such as the Avengers, the X-Men, Daredevil, Doctor Strange and more. But it's a wedding with security provided for by SHIELD. Into this happy day Doctor Doom uses his technology to compel a horde of villains to assault the affair and it's up to the assembled guests to fend them off as they appear and disappear with random energy. Eventually the Watcher appears and guides Reed to a classic Kirby tech device which whisks all the villains away and erases their memories to boot. It's a bit of a foreshadowing of  how the Watcher will assist the team against Galactus really.

I first read the wedding story in Fantastic Four Annual #7, the first of the reprint annuals.  It sowed up again a few years later in Fantastic Four Annual #10. Special note though on these covers, despite being featured on two of them, Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner does not attend the wedding. His place was taken by then new baddie Attuma. If you check out the original cover you'll also see the Hulk, the Wasp, the Howling Commando Sgt. Fury, and Kid Colt, none of whom make the bash.

Today is a bittersweet day for me. Forty-one years ago I was lucky enough to marry my beloved Lizzie.  Our lives together had the usual mix up of trials and tribulations, but overall was filled with care and love and happiness. We produced many good works including two beautiful daughters who even as I speak toil away serving underprivileged students with special needs. My beloved Lizzie suffered mightily in her life from more than her fair share of physical ailments but transferred what might've been self-pity into selfless due care for others with limitations. She truly loved the students she served and I am proud that my daughters carry on her tradition in the wonderful spirit in which she so forthrightly pursued it. It was my honor to stand by her side and help her with all the things that life demanded, and I miss her with my every atom.

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