March 1962: The Skyscraper Headquarters of Fun

The first time I saw the Fantastic Four, I was 7 years old, at a newsstand in late 1961, looking at the cover of the third issue of “The World’s Greatest Comic Magazine.”

Actually, I’d SEEN the previous issue of the FF. I remember looking at it uncertainly — a mixture of monsters and aliens and a stretching guy and a transparent woman wearing street clothes.

What were they? A bunch of monsters? My quarter-a-week allowance was largely reserved for superheroes.

To make the team stand out, Stan Lee had tried to eliminate as many of the conventional trappings of superheroes as possible, including costumes. But reader response informed him that costumes were a must, so he quickly corrected course.

And that’s why the cover of the third issue was irresistible to me. These were clearly superheroes with colorful uniforms, a bucket-like flying car, an orange monster pal (At 7, I loved the color orange) and, best of all, a flying, flaming teenager with an intriguingly blank face.

I’d never heard of the Golden Age Human Torch who’d inspired this one, and I was inclined to love any hero who could fly.

A slightly later version

Inside, more fun — heroes with a cool array of super powers, a seemingly omnipotent caped villain in command of a giant monster, a “Fantasticar” that could split into four separate flying sections, a rocket helicopter. Everything a boy could want for his dime — including a diagram of their skyscraper headquarters (purportedly “secret,” but not for long).

Like DC’s occasional special features spotlighting the Fortress of Solitude and the Batcave, this offered a tantalizing glimpse. You have to love the thoughtful touch of putting an “anti-vibration wall” between the bulk of the HQ and their long-range passenger missile launch pad!

With a missile, a Fantasticar, a Fantasticopter and a “pogo orbit plane” all handy, the FF clearly liked to zip around. And the Giant Map Room testified to their devotion to exploration in addition to crime-fighting.