Monday, August 07, 2006

I Can Hypnotize You In 30 Seconds.

The villain of the hour in Fantastic Four #3 is the MIRACLE MAN. 

He’s a tad abrasive.

Miracle Man is seemingly able to do pretty much anything he wants, much to the chagrin of the FF.  He decides that what he really wants to do with his life is—can you guess it?—that’s right, conquer the earth. 

Now, Miracle Man can be a jerk.  But you have to admire a villain who writes his notes in a lopsided fashion so that a reader peering through a window, or, um, panel, can read every word on the page!

The Miracle Man battle isn’t the centerpiece of this issue, though. 

OK, that’s not actually what Reed said. 

COSTUMES!  They all get costumes.  This issue marks the first appearance of the FF in their blue regalia.  That’s a milestone worth a moment of silent appreciation.

Back to Miracle Man.  So it turns out he actually has no powers except the ability to hypnotize a lot of people all at once, which creates the illusion that he is all-powerful.  Whatever.  Now check out the first full-page ad:

That’s product placement, baby!  “If you like what you saw in this issue, you too can try to conquer the world!  And perhaps also be a total jackass!”

Yet another hypnotism ad appears later:

What is the strong power that men have over men and women? Notice the careful delineation between “men” on the one hand and “men and women” on the other.  NO GIRLS ALLOWED IN THE HYPNOSIS CLUB!  Note also that the subjects include mystic healing, telepathy, mind reading, thought transference, etc. Et cetera!  Because everyone knows exactly what goes along with “thought transference”!