Look Not Homeward

By the time of the Fantastic Four's struggle against the cosmically-powered Dr. Doom, we'd already seen a good deal of Johnny Storm's steadfast new friend, Wyatt Wingfoot, who had met the youngest member of the FF when the two were enrolled at Metro College and would subsequently become involved in a few of the FF's Silver Age adventures. Before the team was forced to confront Doom's threat, Wyatt and Johnny were already involved in an adventure of their own--attempting to coax the Inhumans' dimension-travelling dog, Lockjaw, into bringing them within the impenetrable barrier surrounding the Great Refuge, where Johnny's new love, Crystal, remained trapped with the rest of her family.

In hindsight, how clever of writer Stan Lee to have Lockjaw roaming the Himalayan valleys on his own when Johnny and Wyatt encounter him, thus avoiding the question of why it never occurred to Black Bolt, Crystal, or the others to simply make use of Lockjaw themselves to escape. Consequently, it fell to Johnny and Wyatt to pursue that approach (though in reverse). Yet when the Inhumans' leader, Black Bolt, manages to destroy the barrier and win their freedom, and Lockjaw has rejoined the Royal Family following their departure from the Refuge, only now does it occur to Crystal that she can reach Johnny in an instant with Lockjaw's help.

But speaking of Johnny, let's backtrack a bit to where we left things with himself and Wyatt once the conflict with Doom had escalated. With Reed working feverishly in his lab to develop a counter to Doom's power, it turns out that Johnny had his own priorities--and Doom simply couldn't stay at the top of his list.

It isn't long before Doom's activities worldwide force Johnny's hand--leaving Wyatt behind to deliver the alarming news to the rest of the FF.

Yet though Johnny fails against the overwhelming power of Doom, the FF's final battle with Doom is epic, and the madman's threat is brought to an end.

As for Wyatt, he and Johnny return to college, where, at some point, the Torch gets news that the FF are under attack by the Sandman and blazes off to join them--thereby missing an entrance that the students of Metro will be talking about for weeks to come.

Take your last look at Wyatt Wingfoot, folks--he's about to be replaced!

It's not clear at first why Wyatt occupies a place on the players' bench. The announcers seem to think he's a member of Coach Thorpe's team; yet a later issue would make it clear that Thorpe was never able to recruit Wyatt, which would seem to jell with Wyatt's preference to stay out of college athletics. We can reasonably assume here that he's either reconsidering, or he's in some way a part of Thorpe's staff; or maybe he's just Thorpe's guest.

Whatever his status, it's fortuitous that he's on the field, since he's the only person present who can recognize Lockjaw, and thereby make a good guess as to the identity of the girl who has appeared with him. (Which is likely why writer Stan Lee and artist Jack Kirby have him among the players to begin with.)

The situation with Sandman and his murderous new partner, Blastaar, is eventually resolved--and from that point, Johnny and Crystal are virtually inseparable. Yet Crystal's arrival effectively ends Johnny's status as a college student; and, as you might imagine, the boy's love life pretty much elbows Wyatt out of the book for the foreseeable future.

What brings Wyatt's Silver Age appearances to a close, however, is a story that occurs a year and a half later, when Wyatt has returned to his tribe while on vacation only to find his people embroiled in a land dispute with a hostile oil company. Yet the tribe has also experienced sightings of a giant totem in the form of their legendary protector, Tomazooma--only this totem attacks them on sight.

At Wyatt's urging, the FF have arrived to investigate; but in the meantime, Wyatt has discovered the truth behind the totem, and his grandfather, Silent Fox, has no intention of surrendering their land to this or any other invader.

With the situation desperate, Reed hatches a plan to cut off the robot's power source--and for it to work, he'll need to rely on the sure aim of Wyatt, who pulls out another win for the FF.

Good grief, Reed, you're about to be fired out of a bazooka, for Pete's sake--and you're stressing about Wyatt lifting you up gently.

The crisis passed, we can only assume that Wyatt returned to Metro--while Crystal goes on to cement her status with the FF by suiting up as the Invisible Girl's replacement while Sue's pregnancy comes to term.

It would be another five years to the month before Wyatt would reappear in the book--both to mark his graduation from college, and find himself kidnapped by Annihilus along with the rest of the team, a dubious honor which any other graduate would *ahem* die for. And afterward? The character's Silver Age years would be well behind him--but he would have memories rich with adventure to see him through his entire life, along with fantastic tales to tell his children that he could take a great deal of pride in. Yet for his immediate future, just a day before his investiture as Chief of his tribe, Wyatt informs his Council of Elders of a momentous decision that instead will take him in a different direction.

Johnny wasn't part of this scene--but he should be.