This weekend’s escapist, light-hearted superhero post here at Balladeer’s Blog will look at 6 issues in a row from a memorable Fantastic 4 run.
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #158 (May 1975)
Title: Invasion from the Fifth Dimension
Villain: Xemu
Synopsis: Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and his wife Invisible Woman (Susan Storm-Richards) are debating the pluses and minuses of her rejoining the team full-time. Medusa from the Inhumans has been substituting for Sue during her and Reed’s son Franklin’s problems with his mutant powers. With Franklin now cured, Invisible Woman wants to come back.
The former Avenger Quicksilver, now a member of the Inhuman Royal Family through his marriage to Crystal (who had replaced Invisible Woman during her pregnancy with Franklin), uses his speed powers to break into the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four. The Human Torch (Johnny Storm), annoyed after striking out at a singles bar, arrives home and, encountering Quicksilver, attacks him.
The pair fight it out, fueled largely by their former romantic rivalry for Crystal. The Thing (Ben Grimm) and his girlfriend – the blind sculptress Alicia Masters – arrive back from a night at the Metropolitan Opera and the Thing joins the Human Torch in attacking Quicksilver. Mr. Fantastic calls a halt to the fighting and asks Quicksilver why he invaded the Baxter Building.
Pietro (Quicksilver) explains to the Fantastic Four, including Medusa and Invisible Woman (which makes 5) why he came. The Human Torch’s old foe Xemu, the ruler of the Fifth Dimension, led an interdimensional army in an invasion of Attilan, the Inhumans’ high-tech hidden city in the Himalayas. Continue reading
A TRIP TO THE MOON BY MR. MURTAGH MCDERMOT, CONTAINING OBSERVATIONS AND REFLECTIONS MADE BY HIM (1728) – The real author of this is unknown, since it was published using the pen name Murtagh McDermot. Unless, of course, the writer used their real name for the main character. 
THE PRISON ON DEVIL’S ISLAND – Near the mouth of the Orinoco River in French Guyana a huge deposit of diamonds has been discovered. Inmates of the notoriously hellish prison on nearby Devil’s Island have been making frenzied attempts at escape to go diamond hunting. 
GADGETMAN 
CAT-GIRL 
CAPTAIN MORS IMPRISONED – Far above the ocean, Kapitan Mors commands his Luftschiff (Air Ship) on its latest voyage along with its part European and part Indian crew. A carrier pigeon brings our masked hero a distress call from Miss Else Martens. She is in the clutches of a tinpot dictator who wants to force her into a marriage. 
THE STRUGGLE FOR EMPIRE: A STORY OF THE YEAR 2236 (1900) – Written by Robert W Cole. I left out the first half of the title for the headline, since The Struggle For Empire sounds like a mundane history book. In reality this novel was a very, very early example of the Space Opera sub-genre. 
Initially the Earth colonized and inhabited the planets and certain moons of our own solar system all the way out to Neptune. (Pluto was not discovered until 1930.) In a quaint quasi-Steam-Punk way, all of those planets and moons have Earth-like atmospheres and conditions. 
GOLDEN GIRL 
For Balladeer’s Blog’s overview of the entire Kapitan Mors der Luftpirat series click 
THE AIRSHIP IN A WHIRLWIND – As the early pulp adventures of Kapitan Mors continue, his Luftschiff (Air Ship) is still incredibly damaged in the aftermath of his first clash with Ned Gully, his archenemy. That battle happened in the previous installment. 
CABALLERO ROJO (Red Cavalier) 
CYBERSIX
Von Reichter’s creations developed free will, including Cybersix and the pantheroid Data 7, and they rebelled. Von Reichter exterminated all of them except our heroine Cybersix and Data 7, who escaped and have opposed their insane creator, his new creations and other forces of evil ever since.
Powers: This heroine possesses super-strength, greater than human speed & agility, and can see in the dark. Like her panther Data 7, Cybersix can make spectacular leaps due to her incredible strength. 
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