Monster From Lost Lagoon!

Toward the end of his epic tenure on the Fantastic Four, in issue #97 to be exact, Jack "King" Kirby teamed with Stan Lee to give us a one-shot masterpiece. A clear and obvious shout out to the classic Creature from the Black Lagoon, the Fab 4 meet up with "The Monster from the Lost Lagoon".

In this delightful one-off, the Fab 4 are on vacation and at the same time checking out some recent monster sightings on the sunny east coast of the United States. They meet up with a taciturn guide who takes them into a network of underground tunnels and then reveals himself to be the very monster they seek.

The FF discover the Monster is like most creatures and wants to reproduce and his behaviors have been in order to protect his mate and his young. Mr. Fantastic helps the Monster repair his ship and away he goes into the darkness of space, never to be seen again...but not really.

But in  Fantastic Four #124, in Stan Lee's swan song on the series he helped create, the Monster returns. In tandem with new regular artist John Buscema, Lee relates how The Monster turns up in the "Big Apple" to tear up the surface world and along the way inevitably runs afoul of the FF again. He even makes off with Sue in tried and true Lagoon fashion.

But once again the Monster has a secret and when it's uncovered the FF again help rather than hurt the Monster and his family to find their way home at long last.

The Monster from the Lost Lagoon was one of Jack "King" Kirby's final creations in the pages of Fantastic Four and for this fanboy one of his most memorable.

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