Fantastic Four (1961 series) #19

3 of the Fantastic Four are wondering why Thing doesn't answer their signal flare. Human Torch goes looking for him and finds Ben Grimm walking with his blind girlfriend Alicia. Ben prepares to light a cigar sent by a fan, and Alicia hopes it wasn't from the Yancy Street Gang. A jet of flame from Johnny Storm lights it (and it *doesn't* explode). Ben gets angry but Johnny says Reed Richards wants to see him and Alicia asap. When they get to the Baxter Building HQ Ben continues his anger by telling Reed he can't order Alicia around, but of course she doesn't mind. However Reed says he's discovered something that may benefit the girl.

He tells them that while researching an unaccounted for stretch of Egyptian history in the Natural History Museum he came across a tablet that suggested that a Pharaoh was cured of blindness by a radioactive herb. He reminds Ben that (in #5) Dr Doom sent them back in time, and his time machine may still be in his abandoned American castle. So they may be able to use it go back to Ancient Egypt and bring back some of the herb and cure Alicia. So all 5 get in the VTOL Pogo Plane, go to the castle and indeed find the machine still there. They leave Alicia there with instructions how to bring them back after 24 hours (their time), and the 4 adventurers pop back to old Egypt.

They can tell they're in the right place and time because they land in front of the Sphinx which looks brand new. They are immediately attacked by soldiers in somewhat anachronistic armour throwing spears at them. Human Torch melts the spears and Thing blunts a physical charge and ties them up in their own armour. Sue Storm warns them of approaching chariots and Mr Fantastic uses his flexible extensible limbs to trip them up. More soldiers attack Sue from all directions but she turns into Invisible Girl and leaps out of the way leaving them to collide with each other. HT is flying around giving soldiers hotfoots when a vacuum douses his flame. Thing uproots a palm tree to use as a club but suddenly he loses his strength. MrF dodges more soldiers but then stops being stretchy. And IG becomes visible and weakened. They all lose consciousness ...

... and awaken in the Pharaoh's throne room. He explains in English that he is Pharaoh Rama-Tut and that he knows who they are. Richards deduces that he is from *their* future. PRT shows them the Ultra-Diode Ray gun that sapped their powers and tells them that it was invented in the year 3000. He says he comes from a time of enlightenment and peace but he found it boring. He loved watching old Westerns and the recorded exploits of heroes like the FF. He found the remains of an old time machine created by an ancestor, and found plans which enabled him to restore it to working order. He encased it in the form of the Sphinx and headed back to make Ancient Egypt his base from which he could loot other future times of their inventions. But the 'vehicle' crashed and was damaged, and he himself was blinded. But his future weaponry was still enough for him to subdue the natives. And they brought him a rare herb that when affected by radiation from his time machine was able to restore his sight. And he's ruled here since then but can't get his damaged time machine to work so his plans are frustrated.

He then uses his weapon at low intensity to sap the FF's wills and make them his slaves. Thing is set to work on a slave galley. Mr Fantastic is employed to use his extensible height as a lookout. Human Torch becomes a court jester. And Tut intends for Sue to become his Queen. Will-sapped Sue allows herself to be dressed and made-up appropriately.

But the heat of the Egyptian sun causes Thing to revert to Ben Grimm. Ben's mind has not been affected and his smaller hands easily slip out of his shackles. He fights his way to the side of the boat and swims to shore where he commandeers a chariot to take him back to the palace. He sneaks in and steals Pharaoh's gun and uses it to free Sue's mind even as he collapses and becomes Thing again. She picks up the gun and turns invisible, forgetting that her Egyptian clothes aren't made of unstable molecules to go invisible with her. So she fires the gun at Johnny to free *his* will and he attacks Rama-Tut with flames. But Tut escapes via a secret passage to the Sphinx.

Sue fires the ray-gun at Thing who wakes up. Soldiers attack them until Thing pulls free a massive support column and rolls it at them. Sue sends HT with the gun to find Reed and free *his* will. He finds him acting as a defensive shield as Tut's army attacks another city. In his right mind MrF turns his body into a hoop and rolls back to the palace. Reunited (and with Sue back in her FF uniform) the 4 run through the passage to the Sphinx. At the far end they suspect the exit is boobytrapped, and tossing the gun through proves it. So HT burns his own way out to an empty control room. Tut contacts them via a vidscreen and then floods their room with water. But Johnny melts the water pipe shut and then vaporises the water already there. They each in their own way search the Sphinx looking for their foe, and converge on a central globe which then takes off with the Pharaoh inside it. He tells them (by screen again) that he's going back to the future and he'll leave the Sphinx as a mystery for the ages and his reign will be forgotten.

They speculate Tut's ancestor might be Dr Doom (and his time machine was the 1 they've also used), or maybe Tut is even future Doom himself. Sue finds the (handily labelled) vial of optic nerve restorative and they leave the Sphinx before its hi-tech insides self-destruct. They get back to where they originally arrived as the planned 24hr period expires and the time platform materialises to take them home.

But when they get back to Alicia they discover that the vial of radioactive herb mixture hasn't come with them. Reed says he was afraid of that because Doom's time machine can't transport radioactive material (he could have mentioned that sooner!). Johnny thinks their trip was a waste of time but Reed says that now he knows a cure is *possible* he can try to recreate it in his lab. Alicia says that their safe return means more to her than her sight. Ben tells the other 3 that he'll never forget how they risked their lives for her.