One of my earliest memories of Medusa came through an unusual item of interest pointed out to me by a couple of my friends. These guys were fervent Fantastic Four fans, and it was through them that I learned of the “history” of a lot of Marvel’s greatest icons.
Anyway, Marvel had just released this paperback book reprinting several Fantastic Four strips in B&W, and on the cover they depicted Doctor Doom fighting the Fantastic Four in spectacular fashion, with Doom blasting the Human Torch as the rest of the FF looked on. Passing around the paperback, one of my friends said to the other, “Hey look, they drew Sue over Medusa!” I didn’t understand, until they explained to me that the picture was taken from Fantastic Four issue #146, and at that time a character named Medusa was temporarily filling in for the Invisible Girl. When they used the pic for the Paperback, they’d changed Medusa to Susan so the cover would reflect the “real” line-up featured in said book.
When we got home, they showed me the issue, and that’s my first recollection of the gal with the unmanageable hair. Of course later she would be very well known to me as a member of the Frightful Four, the Inhumans (and bride of Black Bolt), and I really dug her guest appearance in Amazing Spider Man #62, but she didn’t hit the “babe” mark til I managed to collect the Roy Thomas / Neal Adams stories in AMAZING ADVENTURES…
Neal’s artistic take the Inhumans was probably one of the most original, as he REALLY depicted them as “real” people, additionally, this was the first time I saw Black Bolt, Gorgon and Karnak in civilian clothes! In this storyline, the Inhumans are in the real world, and to go unnoticed, “borrow” clothes from the Muscle Beach locker rooms. When It came time to illustrating Medusa, he drew her as the sexiest swingin’ chick this side of Barbara Eden!
Medusa
First Appearance: Fantastic Four #36 by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby
Favorite Artists:
Jack Kirby
John Buscema
Neal Adams
