I: Feature Story: "A House Divided!"

Pages: 20

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Chic Stone
Letters: Sam Rosen

First Appearance: Gregory Hungerford Gideon, Thomas Gideon, Mrs. Gideon, Smedley

Villain: Gregory Hungerford Gideon

Guest Appearance: Alicia Masters, Thomas Gideon, Mrs. Gideon, Smedley

Cameo Appearance: Commander Van Vroot, Tamiroff, Judson Faversham

Gadgets & Technology: Time Displacer

Synopsis: A package from the Yancy Street gang is delivered to the Baxter Building. Ben refuses to open it but the suspense gets to Sue and she lifts the lid of the box. It’s a Beatle wig! Ben complains but once he’s alone with Alicia, he tries it on.

Across town, Gregory Hunterford Gideon is running his fvast inancial empire. He video conferences three peers of his that are CEOs and swears to run them all out of business, as he is the most powerful manin the world, he bellows. One of the CEOs tells him to prove it with an impossible challenge: he must defeat the Fantastic Four! Gideon agrees, with the wager being that if he fails, he will give up his plan for worlddomination, but if he succeeds, they must sell out to him immediately.

The next morning, Reed finds workmen taking apart the Fantasti-car, the pogo plane and their personal ICBM. According to the repossessors, Ben has signed away his share of their corporation. Just then, the Thing bursts in with the police and accuses Reed of being a Skrull. He takes his fingerprints and they are identical to the Skrull that impersonated him. Reed all but calls Thing an idiot for thinking such a crazy thing, since Skrulls can imitate fingerprints along with the rest of a person. Trying to reason with his animated friend, he snaps his body free.

Meanwhile, Sue arrives at her suburban home to find her living room wrecked and a warning burned intothe wall. It says "Am fighting Doctor Doom...Can’t hold out any longer—Beware, sis-Doom’s robot". Johnny enters the room unaware what is going on and Sue assumes he is Doom’s robot! When she attacks him, he assumes she’s once again controlled by the Puppet Master. They fight and Sue runs away invisible, with Johnny hot on her trail, as he is able to detect her movement through the grassand bushes.

Gideon has paid one million dollars to turn the Fantastic Four against one another and he considers the money well spent. His wife interrupts him and he snaps at her. He is kinder to his teenage son Thomas, knowing that one day he will turn the whole world over to him. Thomas has been reading the Fantastic Four comic., about his favorite heroes, and Gideon gets a grim look on his face.

Thing has chased Reed- who he still thinks is a Skrull- down into the street when Sue and Johnny show up. An agent of Gideon plants a weapon near Reed's feet, and when Reed thinks the other three have gone overboard insane, he picks up a strange gun he finds on the ground in a bid to stop them. Thegun is a concussion gun and it stuns all four of the FF.

Thomas overhears Gideon gloating over his defeat of his heroes the FF, and how wiping out the three CEOs will make him the richest man on the planet. He runs out to warn the FF about his father.

Back in action, Reed grabs Sue and races away, his legs shaped into wheels. Johnny tries to pursue but passes out from the strain of the fight. Reed carries Sue to the steps of the Baxter Building and Thomas tries to stop them, but they ignore him. Gideon's agents have installed a time machine in the lobby that is modeled after Dr. Doom’s. When their victims step into the lobby, they’ll be sent into the past forever.

Thing and Torch chase Reed and Sue up the side of the building. Thomas runs into the lobby to follow them, hoping to save them from his father's master plan, but he steps straight into the time machine. He screams for help and the Thing busts through the wall. Unfortunately he’s also caught in the machine and they disappear. The team chases away Gideon’s guards and scientists and Reed shuts off the power to the machine.

Gideon has seen his son disappear and offers Reed anything to bring him back. Luckily, the machine’s automatic recall brought Thomas and Thing back to the present after Reed shut off the power. Gideon is so moved by the return of his son that he vows to give away his fortune and make amends to his family. Thing is annoyed that he didn’t get to clobber Gideon, kicks a wall and sprains his “little pinky toe”.

II: Pinup:

Pages: 1

The Fantastic Four on Yancy Street, with Dr. Doom in the background

--synopsis by Jonathan Clarke, aka doesitmatter, with Gormuu

--letter pages and house ads provided by Crusher Creel