1970s – Page 3 – Comics Archeology

Continuing the journey though the issues from the Lee/Buscema run, this time with the Overmind.

Fantastici Quattro #112 (1975)
Published by: Corno

But since “Overmind” would require a clunky translation, they just go with Iniziato (“Initiate”), which doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Also this is one of the few covers that keeps the text: the title is basically the same, but the Thing is saying “Hey! Look what’s happening!” which doesn’t have the same vibe.

Fantastic Four #114 (1971)
by Stan Lee & John Buscema

Also, and I’ve never thought much about this, but this is a weird cover right?
Mister Fantastic is trying to catch a rocket, the Human Torch looks like he’s cooking civilians, and Invisible Girl… isn’t doing anything, which is standard for her in this era.

The previous issue was a fight between the Thing and the Hulk, and of course the Fantastic Four have to pay for all the damages.
Good thing Reed Richards is stinking rich!
The translation doesn’t even attempt to use the Thing’s “twenty thousand clams”, and just goes with translating this as 20,000 dollars.
That would be about 155,000 dollars in 2024, which is a lot but significantly less than I imagined a Hulk fight would cost!
Also, I’ve never seen anyone use “clams” as an euphemism for money, is that really a thing?

The FF having money and legal problems is nothing new, but this was my first exposure to the concept.

Also a first occasion of watching the Human Torch use his powers in weird ways. Having gone thorugh his Strange Tales run, however, this isn’t even in the top five weirdest.

The cover scene is even more stupid than it looked: it’s about Reed Richards piloting the Pogo Plane™ at a distance!!!

We then move to the Overmind wandering through the streets of New York City, which requires a wardrobe change.

The Fantastic Four shenanigans get his attention. You know Reed, if your goal was to avoid making a scene, maybe don’t LAND A ROCKET PLANE NEXT TO JOURNALISTS.

The artwork doesn’t always do a good job at showing off just how freaking huge the Overmind is, except for these panels.

You just made Benjamin J. Grimm angry.
You wouldn’t like him when he’s angry.

But the Overmind is so powerful he easily defeats both the Thing and the Human Torch.

Invisible Girl is similarly ineffective (what else is new new in this era?), and Reed doesn’t even try to fight.

And then the Overmind does something that I think really harms the storyline: he makes the FF completely forget they already fought him.

As if things weren’t bad enough, their landlord kicks them out of the Baxter Building.

As expected, the Thing has little patient for him.
Why do people keep antagonizing a man that is built like a wall, looks like a wall, and who can bench-press an aircraft carrier?

What you DON’T expect is Reed Richards to be just as angry and rude!
Sure the landlord had it coming, but this isn’t going to help your case Reed.

This apparently calls for a comedy interlude.

We see in a flashback (referencing the previous issue) that the FF were warned about the coming threat of the Overmind, both from the Watcher and from Agatha Harkness.
I expect the Watcher to give completely useless advice, but what the heck Agatha!?

They could’ve just told them “Overmind is mean to dogs”. They would’ve jumped at the occasion to teach him a lesson.

The Overmind has returned to his ship, which is hidden in a junkyard, to record everything that happened on his journal.
Must be a short entry.
Also his people are called Eternals, which have no relation with THE Eternals, because they won’t be created for another 5 years.

Only now Reed asks Agatha to clarify her warning; I can’t criticize him for not doing it sooner, considering they had to deal with the Hulk first.
Too bad her Grandma Sense is kind of useless.

Reed, you’ve known the guy for almost ten years and you know he’s constantly watching you, surely have other ways to get his attention!

But no, we need Agatha Harkness to cast a spell that requires the Human Torch and the Thing to… uhm… just stand there?

All this effort just to get the Watcher to narrate the origin of the Overmind.

Which I didn’t get, but for completion: in the next issue, we learn that he was crated by fusing billions of people of his dying race into a single body.
I’ve never cared much for the Overmind as a character, but that’s a neat concept.

We’ve already seen how the Overlord saga ends with Fantastic Four #116, which is automatically the best part because it has Doctor Doom.

Historical significance: 2/10
I gave the finale of the Overmind story a 4/10 on this, but barely anything happens in this one.

Personal significance: 7/10
I remember liking this one, but the Overmind was such a non-entity that I didn’t care for him. I was mostly captivated by the fight scenes and the Agatha Harkness spell.

Silver Age-ness: 4/10
Johnny creating a smokescreen, Reed deciding to land the rocketship in the middle of a crowd, and a random mindwipe.

Does it stand the test of time? 4/10
Yeah, this one isn’t that impressive once you’ve read GOOD Fantastic Four stories.
The fight goes on for too long, plus it’s made completely irrelevant by the mindwipe.
And the Agatha Harkness spell might look cool, but it’s really little more than a phone call.

Sub-Marine #50 (1972)
by Bill Everett

And now you see why I reviewed both the first Namora and the first Namorita stories separately.

Historical significance: 8/10
Silver Age-ness: 7/10
Does it stand the test of time? 8/10

Personal significance: 8/10
I remember this one quite well. I was too young to appreciate the Namorita fanservice, but I really enjoyed the artwork.

Not Brand Echh #9 (1968)
by Roy Thomas & Jim Mooney
cover by Marie Severin

Oh joy, another one of these.

Well… at least it has a sincere motto.

This would be my first exposure to the artwork of Jim Mooney, who of course looks absolutely nothing like his great work on Supergirl.
Also, if you thought the Thor parody was bad, this is SIGNIFICANTLY worse.

This is both a “Jack and the Beanstalk” parody and an Archie parody.
Which was completely lost on me because I had absolutely no idea whatsoever of who Archie was (or that he once fought Doctor Doom).
Unlike the Thor parody, this one doesn’t even try to come up with new translations and uses the same ones of the original.
It helps that Lockjaw keeps his original name in the Italian version anyway.

I distincly remember disliking this story very much.

Also, a rarity for the Corno books: a VERY slight censorship in the Medusa parody, because in the Italian version… uhm, let’s say she’s not as cold as she is in the original.
I did wonder why this one panel was colored differently, and I didn’t get that she’s supposed to be ironing.

The story then follows the fable. One of the visual gags loses its meaning in the translation: the poster pleading Snow White to call her step-mother is translating as her calling her mother instead.

The story is just as PAINFULLY unfunny as it was when I first read it, but it’s not completely without historic merit.

What look like a bunch of random witches are a blatant reference to the in-universe narrators of Tales From The Crypt, the legendary EC Comics horror series.
And the Corno translators most definitely DID catch the reference: that series ended in 1955, and since this is a 1968 story there’s a reference of them being “out of work” for 13 years.
But the Italian version is from 1975, so the reference is updated to this being 20 years!

Another thing I definitely didn’t get is that the magic singing harp is an Elvis reference.
I probably didn’t even know who Elvis WAS at the time.
Obviously he’s well-known in Italy, but his lyrics? Not so much.

The giant is a Frankenstein’s Monster parody because… uhm… actually I’m not sure about the reason behind ANY of this.

There’s exactly ONE gag that might potentially be worth a chuckle: not the goose laying golden eggs being a Donald Duck parody, but the fact that he’s laying eggs despite being a male.

Howard The Duck won’t be created for another 5 years.

So “Arch” steals the harp, the duck and the golden eggs.

Only for the giant to be revealed to be a robot piloted by a Jughead parody…

…and the comic mercifully ends, with Arch being arrested.

Please let me never read another Roy Thomas comedy story ever again.
As much as I criticize some of his stories, the guy IS a great writer… but comedy clearly isn’t his thing.

Historical significance: 0/10