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| Images copyright MARVEL COMICS |
Okay, so you all know the story. The PUPPET MASTER lures The THING into his clutches via one of his radioactive clay figures, and is then surprised to find that SUSAN STORM has also turned up in his lair, having invisibly followed Ben there to see where he was going in his trance-like state.
Noticing that his step-daughter ALICIA bears an uncanny resemblance to Sue, he gets her to impersonate The INVISIBLE GIRL and then sends her back to the BAXTER BUILDING with Ben - as a "little prank" he says - but why? What does it achieve, other than to send his step-daughter into possible danger?
As he later reveals, he had the 'foresight' to create a puppet of Sue, so why not just put her under his control and send her back to the Baxter Building with Ben? In fact, why even bother doing that? Why didn't he just put all four of them under his power and have the FF come to his apartment, where he could destroy them at his leisure? Or just have them 'top' themselves in their skyscraper headquarters?
H'mm, one thing's for sure. I'm either giving the matter far too much thought, or STANLEY and JACKSON didn't give it enough. Which do you think it's likely to be? (Be gentle with me.)
That cover reminds me so much of reading this story in The Complete Fantastic Four in late 1977/ early '78 (because they printed the original covers of course). I actually preferred the original stories in the back of the weekly to the newer ones in the front. And I'd missed the first two years of Marvel UK so I really appreciated being able to read the original stories for the first time.
ReplyDeleteThat's mainly why I bought the comic as well, CJ - for the Lee & Kirby back-up strips. However, I usually enjoyed the lead strips too. Wasn't keen on The Invaders being in the mag, but that happened just a few issues before it disappeared into limbo, so it wasn't as bad as it might've been.
ReplyDeleteSomething that's always confused me about lookalikes in comic stories: why does no-one ever recognise that someone's an impostor by their voice? I've met a few people who have a strong resemblance to someone else, but usually they speak in a completely different voice, handily preventing confusion.
ReplyDeleteYeah, but don't comicbook impostors usually practise to sound like the originals? (That's what The Thing impersonator did in FF #51.) Unlike the real-life 'lookalikes' you've met, who aren't trying to impersonate anyone. Incidentally, in FF #8, Reed and Johnny realized that Alicia wasn't Sue when she spoke - although whether that was because of her voice or what she said is open to question.
ReplyDelete(Originally posted on 8 March 2016 at 22:19.)