As The Fantastic Four series enters its third year, it is as a fully-developed comic book. The characters of the key foursome are vivid and and starkly drawn. Reed Richards is truly a phenomenal genius but a man with regrets about what his experiments have done to his comrades as well as a shy man who loves his teammate and seeks more. The Invisible Girl gets a greater power as her force shields become a significant part of the team's firepower and she as well must confront her role as a woman in the 60's who wants to do more than the stereotypes of the day permit. The Human Torch is maturing, albeit slowly, his teen-age tirades giving way to a frisky repartee with his partners but a fundamental need to prove himself a worthy teammate. And finally The Thing has become a wonderful powerhouse, but fundamentally tragic man who has found love but who nonetheless needs to prove that he's a man to everyone on his team and in the larger world.
These four people are thrust into a wild and wacky world of danger and discovery as menaces both vast and small find them. The year begins with a propitious journey to the Moon where the team finds a menace in the form of the Red Ghost and his deadly Super-Apes, but also a comrade in the enigmatic Watcher. The mysterious "Blue Area" of the Moon is one of the coolest concepts in all of Marveldom.
Then the Sub-Mariner returns to kidnap Sue, who does reveal an affection for the undersea lord, but who ultimately confirms her love for Mr. Fantastic. Soon thereafter the Mad Thinker invades the Baxter Building and uses Reed's own experiments in creating artificial life to create his "Awesome Android".
Doctor Doom, who had become a villain for all the young Marvel Universe, returns for a two-part misadventure as he attempts yet again to bring the Fab 4 to heel. First he brings them into the Microverse where the Ant-Man is crucial in helping to defeat his menace and later he tries to trap the team in their own house.
The nearly forgotten Skrulls attack, sending the Super-Skrull to Earth to defeat the team and erase the shame the Skrull emperor feels for having been driven away from the planet before. But the team is able to contain a being with all their powers.
Then it's time for an epic as Prince Namor, the Sub-Mariner at long last finds his lost people the Atlanteans and turns their military might against the surface world. The first Fantastic Four annual describes is elaborate detail the saga of this mighty incursion and how the Fab 4 are able to turn the undersea armies back.
The team travel into time ancient Egypt to find a cure for the blind Alicia Masters and find Rama-Tut, the time-traveler who according to some renditions of the saga would become in due course Kang the Conqueror in the pages of The Avengers.
Next, the Watcher appears with a warning for the Fab 4 as the amazingly powerful Molecule Man makes his debut. The incredible power of the Molecule Man is only limited by his lack of imagination and he too is at last defeated.
Nick Fury, of World War II fame makes an appearance in time to help the FF confront the vile menace of the Hate Monger. It's a another shout out to the "Big One" when the Hate Monger's mask is at last removed.
Finally the very first FF villain, the Mole Man makes his second foray against the team. This time he seeks them out as he attacks the very city in which they live. The Moloids are seen for the first time as the underground villain proves he's not to be taken lightly. Doc Doom shows up yet again, with another scheme, this one ends up in his defeat and sets up a most important story in the team's fourth year.
The year closes out with one of the strangest FF stories as the wildly powerful Infant Terrible appears on Earth. Quickly the intellect of Reed Richards figures out the nature of the amazing menace and gambles to save the Earth from a truly bizarre alien menace.
The artwork during this year was a really strange mix. Dick Ayers inked several yarns, but also Steve Ditko inked a few. George Russos (under the pen name "George Bell") was the mainstay in this year, freeing Ayers to pencil more as the Marvel Universe continued to expand.
And that's a wrap. The fourth year of the Fantastic Four comes next week and it's a hummer indeed.
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