Fantastic Four 19

FANTASTIC FOUR #19 (1963)
by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby

I’m surprised we haven’t seen many homages to this cover. Fantastic composition.

Though I’m not a fan of what Susan’s wearing. Pink jewelry? Really?

I don’t think she likes it either: on the first page, which acts as a teaser for the rest of the issue, she looks like she’s ready to karate chop him.

(also she could probably hide the entire pink crown beneath that giant hairdo)

We truly begin with the Fantastic Four looking for the Thing because they have a message for him.
I guess either Reed can’t be bothered to invent the cellphone, or it’s payback for Fantastic Four #10 when the Thing made them rush to Alicia’s apartment for no reason.

And why were the Fantastic Four looking for the Thing? Because Reed wanted to tell him about what he discovered during his latest visit to an Egyptian museum… ANCIENT EGYPTIANS KNEW HOW TO CURE BLINDNESS.

Of course Mister Fantastic can read hieroglyphics, including the one for RADIOACTIVE.
Even the Thing calls him out on this!

I love how quickly this insanity is pushed aside.
“They didn’t know anything about radioactivity, they couldn’t possibly have a word for it! Anyway, how do we get there?”.
The answer, of course, is “with Doctor Doom’s time machine”.

Check out the PowerPoint presentation of “Our Gallery of Super-Villains”.

The time machine used in this story will eventually be retconned as a replica built by Reed and not the original one built by Doom. Why bother with this retcon? I suppose because, if you take Reed’s explanation at face value, it means that the Fantastic Four left the time machine in Doom’s castle and never bothered to secure it!

Unfortunately, the retcon creates something worse… Reed built a replica of the time machine and LEFT IT IN DOOM’S CASTLE ANYWAY!!!

Very cool to see the Fantastic Four return to the castle; there’s a surprising amount of details from their fist visit in Fantastic Four #5.

And just like that, the Fantastic Four are in Ancient Egypt!
According to the narration, they appear in the past in the blink of an eye but there is no way to know how much time has passed because time travel is mysterious.
Wait, what?

There’s no time to dwell of what sense that makes, because the Fantastic Four are attacked by the whitest Ancient Egyptians you’ve ever seen.

It goes about as well as you’d expect.

Trust Jack Kirby to come up with insanely creative panels.

The use of chariots is interesting. While the Sphinx and the Great Pyramid were around circa 2,500 BC, the Egyptians wouldn’t use chariots at least until a thousand years later.
As far as I can tell, anyway. Egyptian chronology is a mess even when it doesn’t involve time travel.

Unfortunately for the Fantastic Four, they suddenly lose their powers and their will to fight thanks to an unseen force.
They are taken to the Pharaoh himself… Rama-Tut.

Interesting panel composition. Rama-Tut sitting on his throne, lording over the Fantastic Four like Doctor Doom in his first appearance. They’re even standing on a yellow carpet that looks like the time machine. I’m guessing this was deliberate.

Rama-Tut shocks them by speaking English and recognizing them, according to the Human Torch, “a thousand years before they were born”.
I’m guessing Johnny Storm failed history in high school.

And then the pharaoh drops the bomb: he’s a time traveler from the year 3,000 who went to the past because he was bored.

Until he discovered the plans for a time machine that was invented “by his ancestor”.

This seems to suggest that his ancestor is Doctor Doom himself. The real story is insanely more complicated.

It will eventually be revealed that Rama-Tut had two suspects about the identity of his ancestor: it was either Doom or Richards. It will eventually be revealed that his true ancestor was Nathaniel Richards, Reed’s time-traveling father created in the 80s.
Which would be fine if it wasn’t for a small detail… Rama-Tut’s real name. He’s mostly known as Kang when he fights the Avengers, but his real name is Nathaniel Richards.
Which means that… a guy named Nathaniel Richards didn’t know if his famous ancestor was Victor Von Doom or another guy called Nathaniel Richards!
WHICH RANKS VERY HIGH IN THE LIST OF DUMBEST IDEAS IN COMIC BOOK HISTORY.
It’s the equivalent of a guy called Albert Einstein knowing that one of his ancestors was a brilliant scientist but not being sure if it was Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein! COME ON!!!!

Sorry about the rant.

Anyway, Rama-Tut built his time machine INSIDE THE SPHINX and went to Egypt.

Yes. In the Marvel Universe, the Sphinx is a time machine from the future.
It must lead to… interesting documentaries.

The time machine works just fine, but ends up being too damaged to be used again (remember that) and the time traveler ends up blind.

And the Egyptians cured his blindness with some herbs that became radioactive thanks to the effect of his damaged time machine.
Still doesn’t explain how they have a hieroglyph for “radioactive”, though.

Unfortunately for the Fantastic Four, his gun is stupidly overpowered: it’s basically a mind control weapon that turns them into his personal slaves.

This feels like a repeat of Fantastic Four #16, although I think Doom had better uses for his enslaved enemies.
Invisible Girl probably would’ve have preferred Doom’s idea of making her an errand girl, rather than marrying Rama-Tut.

Everything seems lost: only plot convenience can save the Fantastic Four!
Specifically, the Thing randomly turning back into a human.

According to the narration, it’s because the Sun was hotter in Ancient Egypt.
We’ll eventually learn this is due to the interference of a time-traveling Doctor Strange.
You decide which one is more ludicrous.

And if you ever doubt if Ben Grimm can be a badass even without super-strength: he escapes the boat…

…swims to shore…

…drives a chariot through enemy lines…

…AND sneaks into the palace!!!

He manages to free the Invisible Girl from the pharaoh’s mind control, but it’s not over yet: she can’t turn fully invisible because she’s not wearing unstable molecules.

You just know today this would lead to her taking off her clothes.

Instead she frees the other members of the group, and Rama-Tut is the one forced to escape.

In an example of Jack Kirby’s masterful storytelling, this is how he draws the Fantastic Four sneaking into the time machine to find Rama-Tut.

Rama-Tut knows when he’s beat, and he escapes with the time machine that was inside the Sphinx.

Hey, I thought the time machine was damaged beyond repair!

Okay, so… apparently not? Why include the detail about the pharaoh being stranded in the past if you’re not going to do anything with it?

As for the Fantastic Four never meeting Rama-Tut again… I guess they’re kind of right. I don’t think they meet Rama-Tut ever again, at least not using that name. He’ll come back as Kang, Immortus, the Scarlet Centurion and even Iron Lad. Kind of. Nothing about this guy is ever simple.

And speaking of unnecessarily complicating things:

This is dumb. Not the idea that Doom is Rama-Tut’s ancestor: at this point in time (pun intended), Doctor Doom is the only one with a time machine. Excluding Zarrko the Tomorr Man from Thor stories, but he doesn’t count since he’s from the future.

But the Thing suggesting that Rama-Tut is Doom from the future makes zero sense: they KNOW what Doom looks like without the mask! The fact that Ben Grimm knew Victor Von Doom in college hasn’t been established yet, but we already know from his first appearance that Reed has already met him. Since Rama-Tut doesn’t even wear a mask, Reed would’ve recognized Victor!
Also, why throw out random theories about his origin when he already told you his origin?

By the way, didn’t we come here to find the cure for blindness?
Oh there it is.

Nice of Rama-Tut to keep it laying around with a giant label.
Time to go back to the present and cure blindness!

Except…

Yes, Johnny, this was a complete waste: the time machine can’t transport radioactive materials.

Reed, if you had suspects about this, why didn’t you… I don’t know, run ANY sort of test on the time machine before using it!?
The world’s smartest man, ladies and gentlemen.

We’re still waiting for that cure for blindness, Reed.

 

Historical significance: 8/10
Rama-Tut will return as Kang the Conqueror, a MAJOR threat for the Avengers and a colossal pain in the ass for Marvel’s continuity.
Having said that…

Fantastic Four significance: 4/10
…he barely has any significant interaction with the Fantastic Four after this, and the cure for blindness won’t be brought up again.
It is slightly significant because it establishes the trope of the Fantastic Four having time traveling adventures just because.

Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Remember this is on a scale for Marvel’s Silver Age. There’s a lot of craziness: the Sphinx being a time machine, Reed being able to translate the hieroglyph for “radioactive”, the Thing turning back into a human because of the Sun, the time machine conveniently not working with radioactive materials…

Does it stand the test of time? 7/10
Surprisingly well, if you can look past the many convenient plot points. Rama-Tut isn’t a threat once he loses his mind-control gun, which again is ridiculously overpowered.
No wonder he never uses it again once he becomes Kang: the story would be over on page 2.

Time travel doesn’t work like that
Nothing major, especially since the rules for time travel in the Marvel Universe have not been firmly established at this time. In hindsight, everything is explained by Rama-Tut creating a new timeline if he tries to change history. But since this hasn’t been established yet…
Did the Sphinx exist in his timeline before he went back in time? Or did he shape the time machine to resemble the Sphinx because he was inspired by the ruins the he’ll leave behind after his escape?

A thousand years in the future, you say?
In the year 3,000 westerns will be popular again. In 3D movies, no less.