There is so much to talk about in Fantastic Four #16. This issue brings back one of the best villains in all of comics, is the first meeting between Ant-Man and the team, and introduces Reed and friends to the microverse. While there have already been some fun stories, this is the first time it feels like Fantastic Four has real staying power and begins to tell a connected story for Marvel 616.

The opening page of the issue feels more like a film poster than a comic book page. It’s reminiscent of those amazing B movie posters from the 50s and 60s featuring strange stories about monsters and adventurers. It promises us the return of, “The world’s most dangerous super-villain!”. It has a huge title which says, The micro-world of Dr. Doom with doom himself looming over a microscope as The Thing and Johnny Storm attack it. A banner at the top advertises a special guest star, “The amazing Ant-man!” And at the bottom of the page we see Reed and Sue looking up in shock while Ant-man rides a flying ant next to them.

The artwork by Jack Kirby conveys so much through movement and perspective that it’s immediately interesting. Each glance back at it gives me something new to appreciate here. And we haven’t even gotten to the story!

Getting into the story itself a few things happen and they all relate to Johnny Storm. First an amateur rooftop astronomer in New York city is overjoyed at finding a new comet. A doctor in an operating room is able to complete a surgery despite the power being out when a streak of light crosses the window. And a group of thugs is caught red handed when the same light allows cops to see what they are up to. What’s the cause of all this? The Human Torch streaking through the air. He’s headed to the Baxter building. Why? no one is answering his signal.

He knows there is something wrong but he can’t think of any power strong enough to overwhelm the rest of his team. Inside the building there are no signs of life. But eventually Johnny sees the outstretched arm of a tiny Mr. Fantastic. His team mates have been shrunken down to the size of toys and they are in danger of being pulled into an air duct.

Johnny welds the duct shut. His friends are safe. But they are small. Suddenly they grow to regular size. Johnny asks how it all happened but none of them seem to have a clue. But then an odd thing starts to happen. Each member of the team tells about an incident when they also shrunk in the recent past.

Personally, I think this is something you’d want to share with the group. But they all say they were too afraid of no one believing them. I mean, these people have incredible powers, have encountered super villains, aliens and underground civilizations, but apparently shrinking is too weird to be believed.

Anyway, just as they all start to share, they hear a voice say, “Hah! You fools! You are helpless as putty before my power! This is only the beginning of what I have in store for you!”

None of them know who spoke but it seems like Reed and Johnny suspect. One by one the heroes tell their tales of shrinking. Johnny was working on his car when it happened. The Thing was working out with a 3 ton weight when it happened. For Sue Storm the incident occurred when she was on a talk show but the audience just assumed she turned invisible. And for Reed Richards, he was testing out the fantasti-car when it happened to him. They all suddenly grew back to normal size with no real explanation.

After everyone tells their tale, Reed has a good thought. He could contact Ant-man. Sue isn’t sure he even really exists. I guess all those newspaper stories about him must have been made up? I don’t know.

Conveniently for the team, Henry Pym’s ants were listening. They relay the incident to Ant-man who rushes over to the Baxter building. He leaves The Wasp in charge while he is gone.

The Fantastic Four are shocked when Ant-man shows up just as they’re trying to figure out how to contact him. Reed uses what he calls a “crystal magnifying amplifier” to allow the group to see and hear the tiny Ant-man better. It’s basically a clear box of some kind but it gets the job done. Ant-man then gives the team a solution with two drops of fluid. One drop is for shrinking and the other is for growing. Henry then goes back to his own lab to learn what he can.

For a moment Reed wonders if Ant-man could be behind the whole thing. I think that’s a reasonable suspicion given the circumstances. But Sue Storm gives irrefutable proof that it could not be him. She says, “Oh no, Reed! He’s much too cute!” Well, I guess that’s proof then.

The next day Ben Grimm is helping out his friend Alicia. Reed comes up and excitedly pours a formula down The Thing’s throat, telling him it’s a cure for him. He won’t need to be the rocky Thing anymore. But out of all people in the 616 universe, Reed Richards has the absolute worst sense of timing. He gives this stuff to Ben while he is… literally holding a piano. Reed lets Ben know it’s only temporary but the piano goes crashing to the floor. Alicia, who is blind, is a little upset to feel Ben’s face in human form. She loves him for him. Ben asks Reed to basically stop trying to change him back from being The Thing and start helping Alicia to see again instead.

But just then a voice speaks again. It says, “…Beware of Doctor Doom! He’s trying to— ohhh!! Help!”

Meanwhile, Johnny entertains his friends by showing off his powers. He does this a lot by the way. But he also hears a voice warning him about Doctor Doom.

For her part, Sue Storm is experimenting with perfumes. She believes her only weakness is that even when she is invisible, dogs can sniff her out. She’s trying to make a scent that will deaden a dong’s sense of smell. It doesn’t work. But she also hears the voice just as the rest of the team arrives. They discuss things for a while and decide it’s possible Doom is still alive so they take the reducing serum.

They start shrinking but it’s so fast they have to take the enlarging formula to slow it down. And the group enters what Sue Storm calls a, “micro-world — a world which might fit on the head of a pin!”

An interesting tidbit about the microverse here. While this is the first time the team has experienced this world, this is not the first time it appeared in Marvel comics. In fact, it debuted way back in 1943 in the pages of Captain America #26. This is technically outside of the timeline of Marvel 616 so, like the Sub-Mariner, this existed before the current heroes we are reading about did. And at the present moment in Marvel 616 there is no Captain America to tell the team what they are getting into here. This doesn’t really change the story in any way but I just find it interesting when things from even older comics pop up in the pages of Marvel 616 stories.

As much trouble as this place sounds like, it’s worse. As soon as they land, the team discovers Dr. Doom has overthrown this world. And Doom has been waiting for the team to show up. They try to attack but Doom activates a shrinking ray from his throne.

Being a true villain, Doom can’t help but explain how he came to power in this place. We get a short recap of how he was shrunk down back in FF #10. Doom was quite angry to find himself in a place where people were… living in peace and happy. You can’t really accuse the Marvel 616 comics of the 1960s of subtlety can you?

Doom impresses the king and the princess Pearla by crafting a telescope and they think he’s a wizard. They make him the court scientist and he promptly invents a shrinking ray and shrinks the king and princess. You know, as you do. he then invents a whole machine just so he could send his shrinking ray and project his voice to taunt the Fantastic Four.

Despite their small size, Doom’s guards have a tough time capturing the team as they use their powers. But Doom captures Sue under glass and uses a sleeping gas on the rest of the team. When they wake up they find they are imprisoned with the king and princess Pearla.

They are in what looks like an underwater apparatus but it’s actually an acidic fluid surrounding the place. And it’s filled with mechanical sharks spying on them the whole time. Johnny flames on and that startles Pearla. Johnny gets a bit flirty with her saying, “Heck! I wouldn’t scare a living doll like you!” Pearla seems pretty impressed by him. And I gotta say, Johnny is not, at least at this point, a one girl type of guy.

They figure out the voice warning them about Doom belonged to Pearla. Doom wants Pearla to marry him. He’s forcing her into marriage by contacting a planet called Tok. This is a planet of lizard people. And Doom has decided the Fantastic Four will be slaves to these aliens.

We get a description of how our heroes will be used. Reed will be used as a bridge for their troops during their invasions! The Thing will be forced to pull out riches from their diamond mines! The Torch will be forced to attack their victims with his flaming powers! And Sue Storm will be… a scullery maid! Come on Lizard men of Tok, you can think of something better for her.

Back at the Baxter building Ant-man returns to find the team gone. He shrinks himself down until he ends up in the micro-world as well. He puts up a good fight but Doom’s guards capture him.

From their prison, Reed has Ben tear out pieces of the wall to make a shelter for the good guys. They turn this into a sort of floating capsule that can take them to the surface.

While they make their escape, Doom is handing off Ant-man to the aliens from Tok. But the Invisible Girl frees Henry Pym. The team gets themselves and the king and Pearla up to regular size. Well, regular for the micro-world.

The team runs to the landing area where the lizard men are about to land. But The Thing grabs a control tower and uses it as a baseball bat to swat the ship away. Ant-man fights his way past the guards. Sue Storm stays invisible and snags Doom’s gun. Doom ducks through a trap door and takes off running. He heads back to our world to, “…give them a reception they’ll never forget!”

With Doom gone the guards are a piece of cake. To repay them, the king allows our heroes to use his enlarging ray to go back home. Pearla doesn’t want Johnny to go and calls him the most fascinating man she’s ever met. Johnny says he’s gotta go back to his “pards” but says he might be back.

And with that the group steps in front of the enlarging ray and… the issue ends!

For the first time in Marvel 616 history, we are embarking on a continuous two-issue story. It’s a huge step towards the longer narrative that is building.

There are a lot of really interesting things going on in this issue. We’ve got a major villain who is becoming an incredible threat. We have a true crossover with the FF and Ant-man. And we’ve been introduced to a whole new world. It’s one that will come up over and over again. The artwork is out of this world good here and really broke boundaries at the time. And the story, while silly at times, really is engaging. And at the very end of the issue, there is a pinup page detailing the powers of Mr. Fantastic.

Can the story be topped? Can it come to a satisfying conclusion? We’re ending on a cliffhanger. So you’re going to have to wait until next time to find out. (Or you could, you know, read the comic yourself if you want)

Next up on our reading list, we’re going to find out what happens with our heroes in the pages of Fantastic Four #17!