The Fiery, Blustering History of Fin Fang Foom!

 

One has only to look at Marvel's "spec sheet" for our featured character today to get an idea of the long history and hidden appeal of Fin Fang Foom, a sentient dragon which dates back to 1961 (specifically, one month before the launch of Fantastic Four #1) and who went on to become a powerful threat as well as displaying an unexpected talent for comic relief. You never knew which you were going to get in picking up a Fin Fang Foom story, but you could count yourself lucky if you ended up with both.

Fin fittingly found his first footing (if writer Stan Lee can find a use for alliteration, it's fair game for all of us) in Strange Tales, one of Marvel's late-'50s/early-'60s mags tasked with churning out monster/mystery stories with covers designed to sell fear and danger to the comics browser--yet you can't help but wonder if Fin creators Lee and Jack Kirby were even then seeing Fin's potential for more, given the story's absurd "catch me if you can" theme which had this dragon lumbering after a taunting human he aimed to slay, a ludicrous premise when we're talking about a monster that can not only cover more ground with a single step than its quarry can with fifty but whose wings also give him the power of flight.

The issue's colorist (reportedly Stan Goldberg) also appears to be in on the joke, seemingly undecided on what Fin's coloring should be and giving the reader both at no additional cost:

Fin's predecessor, Grogg, had a similar affliction regarding his covers:

As to Fin's story, it focuses on a young man, Chan Liuchow, whose home on the island of Formosa is facing imminent invasion by the red Chinese and who declines to follow his brother's example of suiting up for military service in favor of investigating and making use of an old legend that could drive back the enemy--providing he survives the encounter.

But just watch how Chan torpedoes his own mission.

There was every possibility here that Fin's gratitude toward Chan in awakening him would have made him receptive to a request from Chan to repel the Chinese invasion; instead, as Fin has declared, Chan has made it clear that he is Fin's enemy, which slams the door on any hope for those on Formosa should Chan's reckless plan fail. Way to think on your feet, Brainiac.

And so we become witness to the more viable plan that Chan felt he should go with: Lead Fin Fang Foom into the enemy's troops and weapons buildup so that, in chasing Chan in a rage, he ends up trampling on the forces which would have overwhelmed those on the island. And through it all, somehow, Chan, weak and winded, stays ahead of this rampaging dragon every step (and swim stroke) of the way.

And return Fin to hibernation Chan does, where the dragon stays until 1973 when an issue of Where Monsters Dwell reprints this story but improves on Goldberg's work with less garish coloring while also sticking with Fin's green hue pictured on the cover.

From there, Fin becomes a menace to Iron Man on two separate occasions, the second of which results from Fin's manipulation of Billy Yuan, a young man who purchased a dragon statue which Fin used to gain control of him, and, through him, return him to his original form. But Iron Man had been seeking to stop Billy who had mutated to a reptilian state, and so was on hand when Fin achieved his goal.

Yet within the mind of Fin, Billy's resistance leads to Fin involuntarily leaving himself open to weapons fire which ends his threat, and, regrettably, Billy's life.

From there, we flip back to 1974, where Dr. Vault, a disreputable scientist, has designs on controlling IT, the Living Colossus--and to make that assimilation possible, he enlists the unknowing aid of Fin Fang Foom (while also recycling a splash page we've seen before to serve as fanfare).

Oddly, Fin is kept completely mute in this appearance; still, why Vault wouldn't just stick with Fin's might and powers rather than focusing his efforts on taking over IT is debatable, especially since it seems that out of nowhere, Fin has developed Kung Fu skills.

But, jeez, where's that lighter aspect of Fin that helped to make him a favorite of yours truly? Well, along the way, Fin becomes more... personable, more verbose, and yet just as deadly and arrogant when provoked. And if anyone can do a fair job of provocation, it's the incredible Hulk, whose clash with Fin resulted in one heck of a pitch in 2007 but two years earlier was settled on terra firma.

(I am definitely pulling Bruce Banner aside one day and asking him point blank where he shops for those fireproof trousers of his. Rips and tears, I can live with.)

During the 2006 Christmas holidays, a meeting that Wong, the manservant of Dr. Strange, will never forget was when he bumped into Fin Fang Foom, who later stepped in to save his life (albeit reluctantly). The hordes of Hydra aren't likely to forget it, either.

If you were flipping through the pages of Mighty Thor in late 1966, your eye was caught by a pretty fair facsimile of Fin who, in the realm of Asgard, went by the name of Fafnir--former king of Nastrond, who tips his hand when as an aged man he leads the unsuspecting Volstagg into his lair before finally revealing his true, mutated form.

But does Thor ever battle Fin Fang Foom? Yes and no, thanks to Walt Simonson, who returns Fin to his former hue for the encounter and brings the two combatants together after a group of frost giants go fishing for a much different catch. The result is a well-written cat-and-mouse exchange between dragon and Thunder God that becomes a delightful prelude to the deadly battle to come.

Fin would go on to be inserted in various stories, though the last I recall was his stint as a chef and a member of *sigh* the Fin Fang 4 along with fellow classic monsters Elektro, Gorgilla, and Googam, all reduced in stature. I suppose if there's anyone who can deliver your eggs sunny side up, it would be Fin Fang Foom.

NEXT: Writer John Byrne provides an origin for Fin Fang Foom. (And tinkers with Iron Man's while he's at it.)