...As Ixchel Commands!

When we left the tense situation in the Central American province of Terra Verde, the Human Torch was soaring past what appeared to be air-to-ground military exercises engaged by a squadron of fighter jets, as he prepared to continue on in his search for Crystal, his missing girlfriend presumed to be somewhere in the region. Yet we know from reading the issue in question that there is much more to the scene than meets the Torch's eye--mainly, that the villain known as Diablo has taken control of Crystal and convinced the natives that she is their legendary goddess, Ixchel, with Diablo sending her to lead a rebellion to the capital city to overthrow the country's tyrant, General Robles. But Robles has retaliated with a deadly air strike meant to wipe out the rebellion at a stroke--and with Crystal's fate uncertain, the Torch may never know how close he was to reuniting with his lost love.

But though he doesn't yet know of Crystal's involvement in the carnage below, the Torch at last realizes that what he's witnessed isn't target practice at all, but murder. And the priorities of this member of the Fantastic Four change in an instant.

Yet before the Torch can continue with his attack, he receives some unexpected assistance from the ground--unexpected, but not unrecognizable.

Unknown to Johnny, however, this woman believes herself to be the goddess Ixchel, with no recollection whatsoever of Johnny Storm. And despite Johnny's efforts apparently on her behalf, will she be friend--or foe?



Upon landing, of course, Johnny's only thoughts are of Crystal, and that his frantic search for her is at last over. But he's in for a rude awakening in that respect, since Crystal is nowhere to be found in this woman--only someone in the thrall of Diablo, whose hand Johnny has already seen revealed in this mystery.

Elsewhere, Diablo has not been idle. Using the teleportation powers of the Inhumans' gargantuan dog, Lockjaw, which has also been brought under his control, Diablo takes a more direct approach to overthrowing Robles.

Returning with Robles to the restored temple where this entire drama began, however, Diablo is surprised to find that someone else has decided to attack their problem at its source. But as the Torch lashes out, he's reckoned without Diablo's ace in the hole--Crystal, who now moves to deal with her flaming foe once and for all.

It's here, at the beginning of this tale's climax, that writer Archie Goodwin's story trips over itself in cutting to the chase. For instance, why bother with sending "Ixchel" to lead a peasant rebellion on the capital to overthrow Robles, if Diablo was going to use Lockjaw to accomplish the same goal? Let's assume for the sake of argument that Diablo devised Ixchel's mission as a way to put the peasants firmly in his pocket and assure their future loyalties to this "priest" who would become their ruler--why, then, would Ixchel, rather than continuing on to the city after dealing with Johnny, instead turn around and return with the peasants to the temple? You would assume the rebels would be galvanized by the defeat of Robles' air force and would be eager as hell to face and unseat the tyrant--why the sudden about-face? Why, instead, bring Robles and the revolutionaries back to the temple?

Since this story was presumably slated to appear in the oversized format which Marvel intended to be the standard for select titles in late 1971, only to abandon the idea after just one issue, the apparent gaps in Goodwin's story might possibly be the result of editing it to appear in two issues having a shorter page count--particularly when a supplemental feature would also be competing for story space. Otherwise, there may have indeed been a greater conflict taking place in the capital between Ixchel, the peasants, and Robles' forces (and maybe even the Torch involved in some capacity), with Diablo arriving to finally demand Robles' capitulation--who's to say?

At any rate, while Ixchel does her best to target the Torch, Diablo tends to business behind the scenes, knowing that the time quickly approaches when the potions he's used on both the temple and Crystal are due to expire. But other characters who play a part in this climax are the rest of the FF, who have finally tracked the Torch to Terra Verde and arrive to join the fray.

(It's bizarre enough to hear the FF's pogo plane being exclaimed by a character as "famous"--but it's absolutely wince-inducing to hear the story's villain make an effort to acknowledge it as such.)

And what of Johnny, who evades Crystal's strikes as best he can but can do no more for fear of harming her? It's rather an interesting face-off, given the participants--a "human torch," vs. a woman whose powers include giving her absolute control over fire. You'd think Ixchel's first instinct would be to reach out with her power and simply render Johnny inert; otherwise, there must be half a dozen ways for her to defeat the Torch, rather than trying to nail him with force blasts.

Fortunately, for all of the FF, what Diablo feared indeed occurs--as the effects of his potions wear off on both the temple, and the two Inhumans present.

While inside the ruined temple, Diablo scrambles to salvage the situation--the same goal shared by the tyrant he's captured, who now acts to get a little of his own back as well as his former seat of power in Terra Verde.

As for Crystal, the fact that she's no longer under Diablo's control of course doesn't change her reason for leaving the FF in the first place--her inability to live outside of the Great Refuge. And given that she probably spent several weeks with Diablo in the future before returning to the present, her condition has likely only worsened (and it was pretty serious to begin with); in fact, with all of the exertion she put herself through as Ixchel, it's a wonder she hasn't weakened or collapsed. (Not even a stumble, or dizziness? Really?) Perhaps Diablo learned of her condition and added an agent within Crystal's obedience potion to temporarily counteract it.

Even so, she gives a much different reason for not being able to rejoin Johnny and the others:

But let's assume that Crystal's family is somewhere in the vicinity of the Great Refuge, instead of, say, holed up in New York somewhere, thereby preventing her condition from deteriorating while she joins forces with them to free their people. If Johnny is so adamant about bringing the two of them back together, why not simply take a leave of absence from the FF and join her? Instead, he lets her go, their parting marked with a final kiss--all too final, as it turned out, since the Crystal/Torch situation would finally be resolved with Crystal later falling in love with Quicksilver and subsequently marrying him. The Torch would accept her decision with a modicum of stoicism--and perhaps a swift kick to his own behind.

Fantastic Four #118 Script: Archie Goodwin Pencils: John Buscema Inks: Jim Mooney Letterer: Sam Rosen