“The Threat of the Torrid Twosome.” It doesn’t really get more suggestive than that, does it? I mean, that title HAD to be intentional.
The twosome here is Johnny and a villain masquerading as a hero, called The Acrobat.
Reed Richards pisses Johnny off, so Johnny quits–marking the second time the Fantastic Four broke up in the space of 6 months of comics. And for the same reason: Johnny rebelling against Reed.
Anyway, in the panels above, Johnny makes his own costume, which is the first (and only?) time that a new costume wasn’t designed by a woman. No, not the only. Peter Parker designed his own Spider-Man outfit.
By the end of the issue, the rest of the FF saves Johnny from the villain.
Also in this issue: If you found it completely implausible that Human Torch, who regularly appears in “non-flame” form alongside the rest of the Fantastic Four, was able to keep a secret identity: You’re right. In the panels above, it’s revealed that people in the town he’s living in know the truth and are just playing along.
So odd–and yet, kind of a neat idea that I wish had been explored more.
This story is really dumb, but for some reason I don’t hate these early Marvel stories. I’m rating this as only slightly below average.