Fantastic Four #97
☆ Be the first to review + Add to your collection — Join freeFantastic Four #97 holds a pair of notable debut credits: it marks the first cover appearance of baby Franklin Richards — son of Reed and Sue, who would grow into one of Marvel's most powerful characters — and the first appearance of the Monster from the Lost Lagoon (later identified as the alien Mowfus of the Quon race) and his mate. Beyond its firsts, the issue is a snapshot of the Lee-Kirby partnership in its final months, when the duo were producing done-in-one stories that consciously echoed Marvel's pre-superhero monster tradition — a deliberate creative gear-shift at the dawn of the Bronze Age. The Kirby cover's composition, showing the whole family on vacation while a creature looms behind them, is a small masterwork of domestic-superhero storytelling that encapsulates the era's humanizing approach to the Fantastic Four.
In "The Monster from the Lost Lagoon!", the Fantastic Four trade the Baxter Building for a Florida beachside getaway, but their relaxation is interrupted by a strange fish-man prowling the swamps—and Reed Richards is determined to uncover the truth behind the legendary Lost Lagoon. With Jack Kirby’s dynamic pencils and inks bringing the action to life, and Stan Lee’s sharp storytelling weaving mystery into the sunshine, this 1970 classic blends adventure and curiosity in a way only the early FF could. Cover by Jack Kirby, with inks by John Verpoorten.
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We Buy Collections ▸History
Published with an April 1970 cover date (on-sale early 1970), the issue was produced by Stan Lee (script and editor-in-chief) and Jack Kirby (pencils), inked by Frank Giacoia with lettering by Sam Rosen. It falls squarely in the troubled twilight of the Lee-Kirby collaboration: Kirby had already relocated to California and the two men were communicating minimally, with Marvel's editorial mandate pushing single-issue stories rather than continued arcs. Kirby's margin notes for this issue reveal he intended the creature to have spoken dialogue, a character nuance that Lee dropped entirely in his scripting — a concrete illustration of the breakdown in creative communication that would end the partnership with Fantastic Four #102. The cover inks were originally credited to Joe Sinnott, but Sinnott's own records do not support that credit; researcher Nick Caputo brought the discrepancy to the Grand Comics Database, leaving the cover inker's identity unresolved.
Trivia · 8 facts
- First appearance of the Monster from the Lost Lagoon, an amphibious alien later named Mowfus in the Marvel Encyclopedia: Fantastic Four, and identified as a member of the Quon race (from the Byjak system) in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #8.
- First appearance of the Monster's Mate (later named Bisq in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z #9), along with the first appearances of their three unborn children (named in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A to Z Update #4).
- First cover appearance of Franklin Richards as a baby — son of Reed Richards and Susan Storm-Richards, created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.
- Story titled 'The Monster from the Lost Lagoon!' — scripted by Stan Lee, penciled by Jack Kirby, inked by Frank Giacoia, lettered by Sam Rosen; cover by Jack Kirby with inks disputed (originally credited to Joe Sinnott, but unverified by Sinnott's personal records).
- The creature is explicitly drawn as a homage to the 1954 Universal horror film Creature from the Black Lagoon — an inspiration acknowledged in the Marvel Database and multiple fan reference sources.
- The Human Torch's subplot involves his heartbreak over Crystal, a member of the Inhuman royal family, who had been forced to leave in Fantastic Four #95 and does not return until Fantastic Four #99.
- The Monster from the Lost Lagoon returns in Fantastic Four #124–125 (July–August 1972), drawn by John Buscema and inked by Joe Sinnott.
- The story was reprinted in Marvel's Greatest Comics #78 (July 1978), and has since been collected in Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four Vol. 10, the Fantastic Four Epic Collection Vol. 6 ('At War with Atlantis,' 2020), and Fantastic Four Omnibus Vol. 4 (2021).
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Reprints
Reprinted in Hit Comics Die fantastischen Vier #226 (1971), Fantastic Four #11 (1972), I Fantastici Quattro #95 (1974), Une Aventure des Fantastiques #14 (1977), Marvel's Greatest Comics #78 (1978), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #10 (2006), Marvel Gold. Los 4 Fantásticos #3 (2013), Marvel Masterworks: The Fantastic Four #10 (2014), The A-Z of Marvel Monsters #[nn] (2017), Fantastic Four Epic Collection #6 (2020), Fantastic Four Omnibus #4 (2021), Die Fantastischen Vier #93, Fantastic Four Pocket Book #25, HIP Classics #19166, I Fantastici Quattro #14, Los 4 Fantásticos #124
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