A review by angrybooklady
Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four, Vol. 4 by Jack Kirby, Stan Lee

4.0

I remember skimming through the last couple of these trades, but this one actually has some interesting stories that are integral to the Fantastic Four's history. The origin of Doctor Doom, the reveal of Sue and Johnny's father, Sue and Reed's engagement, etc. There's also the formation of the *snicker* Frightful Four. Sue finally realizes she can do things with her powers besides be invisible, but she gets kidnapped a lot so as not to upset the male:female power ratio.

Speaking of which, the issues in this trade are also very sexist. I'm not going to spend a lot of time complaining about it, because it was the mid-1960's. But there's a lot of your standard "Oh, my poor woman's heart, so filled with love and confusion that I just don't know what to do!" Also Reed is just an unabashed sexist, and it's harder to forgive in him because I already don't like him.

Reed is especially terrible in this because

Spoiler

after the Four lose their powers in a freak plot contrivance, he restores Ben Grimm back to The Thing without his consent. His excuse is that they needed The Thing to defeat Dr. Doom, but I don't buy it. I'm starting to think that Reed has never intended to restore Ben to his former self, and that he dangles hope in front of him as a form of manipulation. The book ends with the newly-Thinged Ben telling Reed and the rest of the Fantastic Four to f*&k off, which I don't blame him for at all.