Fantastic Four #21: Three/Two/One/None 2

Written by: Stan Lee

Drawn by: Jack Kirby

Inked by: George Bell

Lettered by: Art Simek

Goodness, it's been a long time since I've used this category. I guess the team was far more stable in the early days than popular memory might suggest

Anyway, under the influence of the Hate Monger, the team decide that if they can't beat each other to death, they can at least go their separate ways. And so, without consulting Sue at all, they decide to call it a day and disband the team. For the next few pages, at least, the Fantastic Four doesn't exist.

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #21 on our twenty-first episode: Powered By Hateful Hate From A Hate Raygun, with special guest host David Wynne.

[audio http://traffic.libsyn.com/ffcast/FF_Episode_21.mp3]

Fantastic Four #3: Three/Two/One/None 1

Fantastic Four #3, page 23, panel 4

Writer: Stan Lee

Artist: Jack Kirby

Uncredited Inker: Sol Brodsky

Uncredited Letterer: Art Simek

One of the key elements that differentiated the Fantastic Four from other super-hero teams was that they didn't always get on. Like any family, although they love each other, they have arguments, disagreements and fights. Sometimes these fights get too big for the team to bear, and the team fractures for a while. This is where Three/Two/One/None comes in, tracking each and every time the core four members of the team break apart and, when they appear, their replacements.*

Johnny was always the hot-head of the early issue, both figuratively and literally. Throughout the issue, he had been butting heads with The Thing, and when Ben tried to argue that Johnny wasn't responsible for the Miracle Man's defeat, enough was enough. Only three issues into the series, the Fantastic Four are down to Three, and at the time of publication, there was no guarantee that Johnny would return to the team...

Check out our coverage of Fantastic Four #3 in our second episode: Secret Invasion Tie-In

*I am so very glad that I'm not doing this for The Avengers, who went through more lineup changes in four issues than most teams do in several years!