I: Feature Story: "Calamity on the Campus!"

Pages: 20

Script: Stan Lee
Pencils: Jack Kirby
Inks: Chic Stone
Letters: Artie Simek

First Appearance: Dragon Man, Dean Menckin, Professor Gilbert, Hans & Wolfgang

Villain: Diablo, Dragon Man

Guest Appearance: Dean Menckin, Professor Gilbert

Cameo Appearance: Professor X, Scott Summers, Peter Parker, Hans & Wolfgang

Marvel Milestones: Reed proposes to Sue, Dead Man's Lake

Settings: Dead Man's Lake

Synopsis: The Fantasti-car lands on the campus of State U, Reed and Ben’s alma mater. Dean Menckin is honored by the visit and escorts the team toReed’s planned lecture. He gives them a tour of the campus and they run into Professor X and Scott Summers in the hall. The two X-Men don’t let on, but they’ve been testing students at the school that they believed to be mutants (turns outthat none were mutants after all.) Johnny sees what he thinks is a monster in one of the labs and calls the team over. Inside, they meet Professor Gilbert, a biologist who’s been working on a powerful synthetic creature for research and analysis.

Meanwhile, in Transylvania, two fellows named Hans and Wolfgang witness a slag heap that begins to glow. It finally explodes and they see that Diablo is now free of his earthly prison (see FF #30). He vows revenge on the Fantastic Four and vanishes into thin air.

Back at State U, the Thing has lost track of Reed. He tries to help Professor Gilbert study a giant meteor fragment, but the scientist is too focused on his experiments to be bothered. He bumps intoJohnny Storm in the hallway, and shortly after, Johnny runs into Peter Parker, whom he knows froman earlier meeting (see ASM #21). They have a pretty intense rivalry, and now that Peter thinks the Torch is about to enroll, he says he will make sure not to enroll there.

Reed is giving a demonstration of his powers on the football field and he and Thing challenge the entire team to a game. The defense hops on top of Ben and tries to slow him down, but Sue feels the students are still handicapped and stops Ben’s touchdown with a force field. As the fun and games continue, Sue spots a car passing by and she suppresses a shudder as she thinks she recognizes the driver. She followsthe car to satisfy her concerns but is unable tokeep up.

Diablo was driving the car and has come to see Professor Gilbert. He offers to give life to Gilbert’s creature, the Dragon Man. The professor is skeptical, but using a potionthat he filters through the rock from outer space, Diablo begins to breathe life into the creature! Thing stumbles into the lab and the newly-living Dragon Man tosses him out the window and through a tree. Dragon Man soars over the crowd that has arrived to hear his speech, and Reed seems to know theflying creature could only be the work of one man- Diablo! Sue agrees and is reminded that he was theman she saw driving the car! The Torch flies up to meet the creature and Dragon Man spouts his own flame from his mouth at the teenager. Johnny tries to absorb the heat but it’s too much, melting cars and lampposts nearby. He flies into the upper atmosphere to dissipate it awayfrom innocent bystanders.

Reed and Sue bring Dragon Man down to the ground and Sue goes to comfort it. Dragon Man responds to her kindness but just then Diablo throws a gas bomb that knocks them all unconscious. Johnny wakes them with his heat, but by then Diablo and Dragon Man are gone.

The Human Torch finds them by Dead Man’s Lake and Diablo snuffs his flame with one of his pellets. The Fantastic Four arrive in force but it is Dragon Man that turns against his master andknocks Diablo down. Diablo changes the lake to ice and tries to skate to safety but Dragon Man plows after him, crashing through the ice and pulling him down to the deep. Thing dives after them and gets caught in the current of underwater caves, and Reed has to pull him back to the surface. Diablo and Dragon Man are lost but Professor Gilbert promises to keep watch should they ever appear again.

Before they leave the campus, Reed takes Sue to Lovers Lane. They find a tree shaped like a heart in the path. Reed says it’s a campus tradition that any couple who hold hands and kiss by the tree will marry in a year. It’s his way of proposing and Sue happily accepts.

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

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