Friday, June 5, 2020

The Plan Is: Play Dead!


Previously, we've seen a plan employed by Reed Richards where the Fantastic Four and their allies, the uncanny Inhumans, took the shortest route to victory by employing a deception that made it appear their entire group was defeated by the powers of their attackers, thereby ensuring a successful outcome of the conflict. (That may seem a bit of a contradiction, but be sure to read the whole story to see how it all comes together.) To pull off the objective, the Invisible Girl covertly made use of her invisible force field to protect those who were attacked from receiving fatal injury without the attacker's knowledge. Once the dust settled, their foes were dealt with, and the FF and Inhumans brushed themselves off with no one the wiser.

If it seems as if you've seen such a scene play out before on the part of the FF, you could be right--but when? And who were they fighting? You can almost put your finger on it... it's right there in front of you... but... Arrgh!

To find the answer, we're going to have to pose yet another


Marvel Trivia Question



Under what circumstances did Sue previously help the FF end a fight by feigning defeat?



Thank goodness these are isolated incidents, because who wants to shell out money to see the FF win their fights without a battle? That's like seeing your favorite band walk on stage and open their concert with "Thank you, and good night!" Not so fast, sport--I've got a center-row ticket here that needs a refund! And you can throw in cab fare while you're at it!

But getting back to our question, the answer can be found in mid-1977. And as to who caused the FF to play dead (in order to avoid becoming dead), take a look at their I-mean-business opponent:



Yes, the Eliminator, an agent of the witches' coven of New Salem which had abducted both Agatha Harkness and her young charge, Franklin Richards. Clearly the FF now have other places to be, assuming they live through this attack; but given the Eliminator's formidable power, that's beginning to look questionable.



At first glance, Reed's plan may look like it's gone horribly wrong--but would you believe it's coming off without a hitch? (And hopefully, without a death?)




That takes care of the FF--score one for the Eliminator, and zero for Reed's half-baked plan that got them all killed. But with the FF eliminated, the Eliminator proceeds to follow his instructions and begin a countdown which will destroy Agatha's home, and, in the process, himself--and it's then that Reed and his partners rise from the wreckage to school this construct on its error.




And fail the Eliminator does, for the first and final time, while the FF watch from a distance (and enclosed in Sue's force field).



For what it's worth, the FF do get in their licks against the Eliminator--and there's a lot of other FF goodness in this story, which helped to justify the 30¢ you shelled out for your copy. Let's just hope that in the future they keep in mind that they're a fighting team, not a "take a dive" team!

4 comments:

  1. That trivia question got me stumped. Was it when they fought Klaw?
    That was just a Hail Mary guess, there.
    You gotta dig this Perez art. Heckuva run he had on this. He could make a mediocre script look great, not that this script wasn't good. My favorite issue he did was when the Thing fought the Destroyer in outer space. Can't recall if you reviewed that one or not, C.F.

    ...did they ever explain the origin of the Eliminator? Was he a regular dude at one point?

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  2. Since the Eliminator is kaput (or, in this case, KWA-VA-VOOMed), we'd have to get the lowdown on him from the New Salem witches who placed his metallic egg at Whisper Hill so that he could fulfill his mission against the FF. Unfortunately they provided scant info other than that--and as for the FF, their main adversaries turned out to be the witches, so once they discovered his purpose and those responsible for him, he pretty much fell off their radar. (And Marvel's, it would seem.)

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  3. That was me! forgot to sign off!

    M.P.

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  4. Hey, M.P. that issue where the Thing fought the Destroyer in outer space was the first Marvel comic I ever bought!

    And yes, Perez was great, and that's probably one thing that got me hooked on comics.

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