Fantastic Four #29
It Started on Yancy Street!
Fed up with the constant aggravation of the Yancy Street Gang, the Thing leads the Fantastic Four down into Yancy Street, but the streetwise gang forces the team to flee the scene. After yet another explosive package is sent to the Baxter Building, Thing convinces the Fantastic Four to go once more to deal with the Yancys, once and for all.
However, this is all a ruse planned by the Red Ghost, who attacks the Fantastic Four with his Super-Apes. During the fight, Red Ghost takes Johnny prisoner, forcing the rest of the team to surrender. Taking them aboard a spacecraft, the Red Ghost dumps the group in an airless area of the moon to perish, in revenge for his last defeat at their hands.
Breaking free and protected by Sue's force field, the Fantastic Four tunnel to the Watcher's citadel. They are greeted by the Watcher, who is contacting them from light years away to advise them they are allowed to stay in his home while he's away, so long as they do not tamper with any of the technology found there
Disobeying the Watcher, they use a device to draw the Red Ghost back to the Moon, where they have a rematch. During the fight, the Red Ghost gets a hold of one of the Watcher's weapons. It creates a strange portal when he activates it, and he ironically becomes its victim when he is knocked into it by Sue. With their master defeated, the Super-Apes retreat to their ship. The Watcher returns. He is not upset by the team's actions, but cannot permit them to stay in his home, so transports them back to Earth, where the Thing is glad to be home, even if they did materialize on Yancy Street.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), The Watcher, Alicia Masters, Red Ghost, Super-Apes (Miklho, Peotor, Igor), Yancy Street Gang
Continuity Notes
The Yancy Street Gang torment the Thing due to the fact that he used to be leader of their gang, as seen in Thing #1. When he left the group it was seen as a betrayal.
The Watcher's citadel exists on the Moon's Blue Area. Avengers #133-134 reveals that the Blue Area of the Moon was constructed 10 million years ago by the alien race known as the Kree when they were in competition with the Cotati to construct a city that could please the Skrulls, who were looking to ally themselves with whomever won the contest. When the Cotati won, the Kree slew both the Cotati and the Skrulls on the moon, launching the opening salvo of the centuries-long Kree-Skrull War. The Blue Area was abandoned not long thereafter.
The Watcher is forbidden to interfere in the actions of others due to a solemn vow of non-interference. This was due to the fact that the last time the Watchers got involved in the lives of other races it led to the Prosilican race annihilating itself, as seen in Tales of Suspense #53 and expanded upon in Original Sin #0.
According to Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe A-Z #9 the portal the Red Ghost is tricked into crossing actually teleported him back to Russia where he was briefly incarcerated. This goes to explain how he appeared later in Avengers #12.
The Super-Apes remain on the moon here. The Red Ghost later returns to them to try and pilfer technology from the Watcher again. He gets caught in the Chronospike bringing them years into the future where he encountered future versions of himself, his Super-Apes, as well as the Future Foundation before being returned to his proper time as seen in FF (vol. 2) #13.
