Fantastic Four (1961 series) #8

Johnny and Sue Storm try to keep Ben Grimm out of Reed Richards' lab where he's working on something secret. But Thing gets angry because he thinks they don't trust him. Human Torch creates a circle of flames to trap Thing who threatens what he'll do to Johnny when he gets out. Reed joins them with a fire extinguisher and starts to explain what he's been doing, but angry Thing walks out of the Baxter Building. Sue follows him as Invisible Girl and tries to reason with him but he won't listen. However 2 men see him apparently arguing with himself and make fun of him, until invisible Sue kicks 1 up the backside and Thing helps the other keep standing up by wrapping a lamppost round him.

Then Sue spots a man climbing up a river bridge. They know they can't get to him quickly but maybe Reed or Johnny can help. Sue fires the 4 flare signal over the bridge and Reed uses binoculars to spot the man in trouble. Mr Fantastic stretches his elastic arm but can't quite reach the man who's now standing atop 1 of the bridge's supports. So Torch flames on and flies there. He's sees the man in some sort of trance. And we see a man calling himself the Puppet Master with a little figure on a scale model of the bridge. He moves to push the puppet off the bridge expecting it to make the man jump. But HT deflames his hands and transports the man to safety. And at the same time the villain cries out as he burns his finger. But he deduces this could only be the work of the Human Torch.

At this point his blind step-daughter Alicia comes in to find out what's wrong, but he tells her to go to her room. He then tells us the plot. He found some radioactive clay and discovered that he could make 'voodoo dolls' out of it that would make the victim do what he wants. He takes a piece of clay and quickly sculpts a figure of the Thing which he places in a handy replica of his own room. This compels Ben to walk there, but invisible Sue follows. However when they enter the house blind Alicia hears 2 sets of heartbeat and breathing. Her step-father immediately deduces it must be the Invisible Girl. So he puts gas masks on himself and the other 2 and releases ether which renders her unconscious.  Now he notices a similarity between Alicia and Sue, so he quickly makes her an FF uniform and blonde wig and sends her with Thing to 'play a prank' on the other FF. But before they go she feels Thing's face and declares that she detects something gentle and tragic inside the powerful features. When they've gone he initiates a separate plan by controlling with strings a puppet of the trustee of the Warden of State Prison and making him steal the master key ring.

But we follow our 2 'heroes' to the Baxter Building where Johnny lets them in and Reed is continuing his experiment. Thing goes on a rampage. Reed lures him to the lab where Ben smashes the glassware of Reed's experiment, spilling a liquid all over himself. A liquid which turns the monstrous Thing back into the human Ben Grimm. Reed now explains that this was the experiment he was working on but he kept it secret because he didn't want to get his hopes up prematurely. Ben apologises for his behaviour and Reed tells him to forget about it. Suddenly 'Sue' speaks for the 1st time to ask them to tell her what's happening, and they realise she's not their teammate. Ben comforts her and she traces his face with her hands again and detects the change. But then the liquid evaporates and he becomes the Thing again, the good person she met before that she feels safe with. Ben realises the cure is only temporary but Alicia prefers him as the Thing.

In the prison the trustee turns 1 key which unlocks all the prison cells at once. Puppet Master has a model of the prison too and is absorbed with moving models of prisoners about, so he doesn't notice the real Sue wake up, turn invisible and try to escape. A creaky floorboard alerts him so he grabs a pre-prepared puppet of her and makes her trip as she leaves the house. But she fires a flare which the others see as they fly in the Fantasti-Car searching for her. They enter the building to find Sue tied up and a large robot puppet to fight them. Thing lands the decisive blow but PM escapes with Sue as hostage on a winged horse puppet. Mr Fantastic's long arm rescues Sue but the horse switches to jet power to escape Human Torch.

The FF see a news bulletin on the prison break and all 4 go there by Fantasti-Car. The prisoners have the Warden hostage. But HT uses his flame to melt his way underground to emerge next to the Warden and fly him to safety. Thing smashes into the prison, throws around some prisoners and cages them in bars from their cells. Others shoot at MrF but his elastic body makes their bullets rebound at them and his long arms grab their guns. Torch surrounds some more in flames and Invisible Girl makes a gun threaten another prisoner. The prison break is over.

Puppet Master sneaks back to his house and tells his weeping step-daughter his master plan. He's going to use the radioactive clay to become ruler of the world. Including making the FF pull his royal chariot around. He's even got a puppet of himself in regal robes and crown. Alicia grabs for the puppet, they tussle and he knocks her to the ground. The puppet falls too and as he rushes to retrieve it he trips over his daughter's arm and falls out of the (high) window. The FF arrive. Thing consoles Alicia. And they wonder if the puppet made him fall.