Fantastic Four #80
Where Treads the Living Totem!
The Fantastic Four receive a letter from Johnny' Storm’s old college friend, Wyatt Wingfoot. When Ben and Johnny stop house cleaning to read the letter this earns the ire of Crystal who has been pushing them to help clean the Baxter Building now that Sue is in the hospital. However, the letter turns out to be important as Wyatt is asking for the Fantastic Four’s assistance as his people, the Keewazi, are in trouble. That’s when Reed returns from visiting his wife in the hospital and when he hears that Wyatt Wingfoot needs help agrees that they should head out to the Keewazi reservation immediately.
Meanwhile, Wyatt is riding the Gyro-Cruiser given to him by the Black Panther around the desert that surrounds his tribe. He hopes that the Fantastic Four got his letter and that they will come soon. His worries are interrupted when something begins attacking the Gyro-Cruiser. With the device destroyed, Wyatt attempts to crawl away but he is stopped by his attacker, the giant form of Toomazooma, a Native American deity worshipped by his people.
Soon after, the Fantastic Four arrive in the region aboard their Pogo-Plane. As they fly over the reservation, Johnny becomes impatient and flames on to find Wyatt on his own. His flaming form is mistaken for a flame demon by the Keewazi at first and they shoot at him. The situation is quickly defused when Johnny flames off before Silver Fox, the tribal leader and the Fantastic Four quickly learn that the tribe is being protected by Toomazooma. Not far away, the massive form claiming to be Toomazooma incapacitates Wyatt by blasting him with knock out gas. Back on the reservation, the Fantastic Four learn that the tribe is being courted by the Red Star Oil Company, who seeks to obtain drilling rights to the oil on the land. However, Silver Fox refuses to sell, figuring his people will be protected by Toomazooma. Suddenly, there is an explosion at a nearby oil field, prompting the Fantastic Four to go and investigate.
There they find Toomazooma attacking the facility and try to stop the attacker, but the alleged god appears to be too powerful for the heroes to stop. By this point, Wyatt has recovered and returned back to his people to warn Silver Fox that Toomazooma is not their saviour. In fact, this so-called god is actually nothing more than a massive machine. Realizing that they have been deceived by the Red Star Oil Company, Silver Fox uses a radio to contact authorities in Washington. As it turns out, Silver Fox was warned by the government that Red Star was backed by a foreign power and this attack confirms it. Gathering the Kewazi people, Silver Fox and Wyatt launch an attack on Toomazoon, saving the lives of the Fantastic Four.
In the ensuing carnage, Mister Fantastic orders Wyatt to fire his balled up form into the Toomazooma’s maw. This allows Reed to get into and destroy the robot from the inside. With the battle over, Wyatt and his people thank the Fantastic Four for their help. That’s when Silver Fox points to the could telling them that the real Toomazooma was watching over them this day. Seeing a strange form in the clouds, Fantastic Four aren’t sure if they can believe what they are seeing.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Crystal, Wyatt Wingfoot, Silver Fox, Toomazooma
Continuity Notes
Sue is absent here because she is in the advance stages of her pregnancy and has been hospitalized as seen in Fantastic Four #79. She discovered she was pregnant in Fantastic Four Annual #5 and took a leave from the team in Fantastic Four #72.
Wyatt Wingfoot is using the Gyro-Cruiser given to him and Johnny by the Black Panther back in Fantastic Four #54.
The Thing’s one-on-one fight with Toomazooma in this story is briefly witnessed by the Silver Surfer in Silver Surfer #4.
The real Tomazooma is identified as a member of the Manidoog pantheon of gods as stated in Thor & Hercules: Encyclopaedia Mythologica #1.
The plot carried out by the Red Star Oil Company was duplicated with even less success by the Roxxon Energy Corporation in Original Sin #0. The plan was thwarted by the Avengers.
