Fantastic Four #237
The Eyes Have It!
Having returned home from their battle against Doctor Doom and the Puppet Master, the Human Torch leaves his teammates on the roof of the Baxter Building so he can go off and check in on his girlfriend Frankie Raye. Reed then instructs Ben to carry the inert body of Doctor Doom down to his lab where the body is put in stasis where it will remain until Reed has a chance to call the Latverian embassy and arrange to have Doom turned over to them. When Reed and Sue decide to take their son Franklin out, they offer Ben and Alicia to join them but they decline opting to spend some time alone. Going to the gym, Ben and Alicia begin talking about their recent episode in Liddleville and how her step-father the Puppet Master tricked them into thinking they were married. When Alicia begins asking Ben when they will do it for real, he tells her that as long as he is the Thing, they can't get married because he won't be able to provide her with a normal life. Meanwhile, Sue has caught Reed getting back into his work after getting ready to go out. Even though Reed has detected a strange object that has fallen out of the sky, Sue has no interest in Reed not spending time with the family and uses her powers to push him out of the lab.
Meanwhile, Johnny arrives at the apartment where his girlfriend leaves. Knocking on the door he is surprised when it is answered by Frankie's roommate, actress Juliette D'Angelo -- who insists that he call her Julie Angel. Frankie calls Johnny into her room and she tells him that something horrible has happened and she has been trying to get a hold of him for days. Calming her down, Johnny tells her to explain what is going on. Frankie has Johnny sit down, and she removes her bathrobe -- exposing herself to him -- and what Johnny sees comes as a sudden shock.
Later that day, Reed and Sue are out horseback riding with Franklin in Central Park when suddenly their afternoon together is interrupted by the sound of an alarm. Going to its source, Reed finds that a nearby jewelry store is being robbed by what appears to be some homeless men. As Reed tries to subdue them a seven-foot blue-skinned woman emerges from the robbed store and suddenly strikes Reed with powerful vertigo that sends him into unconsciousness. Witnessing this from an alley, Sue tells Franklin to wait for her and tries to approach the alien woman and hobos invisibly. However, the strange alien -- called Spinneret by the vagabonds -- is able to see her and use its powers against her as well. Seeing both of his parents hurt angers Franklin lashes out with is mutant powers, felling Spinneret with his powerful abilities. The homeless man then grabs the strange woman and flees the scene. Franklin rushes to his parents who are just recovering from the attack, just as the authorities arrive. With the police, Reed and Sue investigate the scene of the crime and learn that after stealing pieces of silver, the alien woman left some strange ball bearings while the homeless men looting the place.
The investigation is interrupted when another burglar alarm begins to blare down the street. Reed and Sue rush to the scene where they spot Spinneret and the homeless men fleeing from a pawn shop. Once again the crooks manage to elude the two heroes, but Reed manages to nab one of the homeless men as he flees. Questioning the pawnshop owner, Reed learns that the alien took some calculators that operate on solar cells and left behind more ball bearings. Getting an idea of what might be going on, they question the homeless man they took prisoner. He learns how he and his fellow drifters came across the strange alien woman on the outskirts of the city one night. After seeing her power and noticing her interest in a watch worn by a derelict named Archie, they managed to convince her to help them commit robberies even though there was a significant language barrier between them.
Realizing what is going on, Reed and Sue return to the Baxter Building where he recovers their universal translator. Telling her that they have to stop a diplomatic blinder, they go out and catch Spinneret and the homeless men involved in yet another robbery -- this one surrounded by the police. Reed tells the officers to stand down while he tries to communicate with the alien using his universal translator but finds that it is only translating gibberish. Realizing what is wrong, Reed tells Sue to place a force field around Spinneret. Complying, Reed explains that the oxygen content in Earth's atmosphere is too rich, and the alien they know as Spinneret was intoxicated by it the whole time. With her mind finally clear, "Spinnerette" explains that she is an explorer named Solon Stabilizer and her people were on a mission when they crash-landed on Earth.
With the truth revealed, Reed and Sue assist Solon in collecting the things she needs to make repairs on their ship. There they meet the rest of the Solons who are genetic clones of each other. Reed explains to Sue that they each have powers tailor-made to deal with the rigors of space travel, Solon Stabilizer was tasked with protecting her crew from vertigo caused by space travel. With the ship repaired, the Solons bid the couple farewell and blast off into space.
Recurring Characters
Fantastic Four (Mister Fantastic, Invisible Girl, Human Torch, Thing), Franklin Richards, Alicia Masters, Frankie Raye, Julie Angel, Doctor Doom
Continuity Notes
Doctor Doom's inert body remains in stasis at the Baxter Building until it is liberated in Fantastic Four #246. His mind is currently trapped in a tiny robot body as seen last issue. Doom's robot body is next seen in Micronauts #41 when Liddleville is visited by the Micronauts. Doom's mind is also recovered in Fantastic Four #246.
The Universal Translator is revealed this issue to explain how the Fantastic Four has managed to communicate with various alien races throughout the years without any apparent difficulty.
The Solons are identified by name in Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe #9.
