DESPOP TUESDAYS! Straight from 1964…
Hey, welcome to DESPOP TUESDAYS, featuring the stellar art of British illustrator Des Taylor! That’s column spokeswoman Alice Gilmore above. She’s a reporter who’s gone undercover for Savoir magazine at the Cat’s Kitten Club. (Alice also is the masked crimefighter the Blue Lotus and she stars in Des’ next book The Blue Lotus Strikes.)
Savoir has its collective finger on the pulse of midcentury superherodom and so far we’ve run an interview with Superman (by Lois Lane) and an eyewitness account of a ’60s Iron Man/Namor brawl.
This week? Sue Storm is the cover story of the latest edition of the Magazine for Sophisticats and she gives you a transparent look at what it’s like being the only female member of the Fantastic Four — right out of 1964.
Dig it:
By JIMI DAVIS
Susan Storm, the light-bending vixen of the Fantastic Four, hasn’t been hiding in the shadows. And despite the fact that she can turn completely INVISIBLE, she is more striking than ever!
That’s right, the once “Invisible Girl,” now Invisible “Woman,” is baring it all for this magazine and for all of you. Metaphorically speaking, anyway: She’s giving us a glimpse into what it’s like to not only be a member of superherodom’s First Family, but how she manages to stay so glamorous while she does it!
Susan, daughter of Dr. Franklin and Mary Storm, along with her younger brother Johnny, joined aerospace engineer Reed Richards and his best friend, pilot Benjamin Grimm, on that fateful test flight to beat the Russians to space just a few years ago.
While the unscheduled launch was a success, unfortunately the unknowns of space flight reared its ugly head and the quartet were bathed in cosmic rays that gave them all their “Fantastic” powers.
We caught up with Susan recently at a charity event hosted at Cat’s Kitten Club in New York City on the arm of beau Reed Richards, the leader of the Fantastic Four, and were able to get some time with her away from the crowd. It was well spent as Susan had no problem with answering many of the burning questions our subscribers want to know the answers to.
Savoir: Well, I hope you don’t mind my saying, but you look absolutely stunning this evening.
SS: Why thank you! It’s nice to be able to wear something a bit more feminine.
Savoir: Oh, I’m sure. But I’m sure our readers would agree with me that you still wear that azure body suit very well.
SS: You’re so nice to say that. Reed wanted to be sure that the outfits were functional for our powers, but he doesn’t quite have the “eye for style.”
Savoir: Well, anyone who saw him tonight may disagree with you. He’s looking rather boss in that suit.
SS: You can be sure that he didn’t pick that out. I went to Savile Row to get that for him. When I heard about this event, I jumped at the opportunity, and I wasn’t going to be caught dead with him in that old Harris Tweed sport coat while I’m wearing this.
Savoir: One the subject of fashion, many of the other women in your industry have outfits of a significantly more stylish, and oftentimes more revealing nature. Yet yours, while it doesn’t leave much to the imagination, doesn’t have the same dazzle. Have you ever felt the desire to follow those trends or make it a bit more unique?
SS: I don’t know any girl that isn’t concerned about what she’s wearing, and, to be sure, I’ve given it a lot of thought and bother Reed about it. I think I might be able to get him around on it soon. I started working with my friend Janet Van Dyne on some designs that I might be ready to show him. I’ll give you a sneak peak at my favorite.
Savoir: Will this be something that we can print? It might help your case to get the public’s opinion to sway him.
SS: I think you might be right. I’ll have Janet send a shot over to you. It’s absolutely fab! I love working with her.
Savoir: So tell us a little about your home life away from the team? What’s a typical day like when you’re not saving us all from monsters and mayhem?
SS: I’m sad to say, without all the muss and fuss of running about with the team, I’m just like anyone else at home. Living with three men has its challenges, and thank goodness for the cleaning robots, or the place would just go to complete hell.
But when it all comes down to it, I just like to relax and have a little time to myself. Usually with a nice cup of coffee. Tony Stark recommended this Costa Rican bean that I’m absolutely in love with. Some days it’s the only way I survive.
Savoir: Tell us more about that. How is it living with three men?
SS: Well, I’ve always been kind of a second mother to Johnny, and he hasn’t grown up much since the accident. Mostly I think that he is enamored by all the fame from being in the spotlight all the time.
I seem to constantly have to remind Reed to eat most days. He just gets fixated in his labs and totally forgets what day it is. And Ben is just Ben. I’m still trying to get him to stop smoking those awful cigars inside the building.
Savoir: Recently, the Fantastic Four were involved in a pretty large altercation with some other heroes — the Avengers — and the Hulk. How scary is he up close?
SS: I won’t lie and say that it wasn’t pretty terrifying. Even with all of the heroes involved trying to stop him and limit the damage that we all were causing.
My biggest fear was not being able to prevent the innocent citizens of New York from being harmed in the process. It isn’t easy wielding the power that many of us have been gifted with. And doing it safely while under a stressful situation like that. I don’t know how I could live with myself if someone died because of my powers. It weighs on all of us, having that burden of power and needing to be responsible with it.
Artist’s rendition by eyewitness Jacob Kurtzberg
Savoir: I can’t even imagine what you all go through every day. Putting yourself in the path of all that violence and destruction. It’s no wonder why so many of you are looked at like heroes.
SS: I appreciate you saying that, but if I’m being honest, it’s not that hard to put yourself in harm’s way when you can deflect it with a force field, bounce back from it, burn it, or even just let it break across your rock-hard skin.
The real heroes are the ones that go out every day and do it without those abilities. Emergency responders like firemen, police, soldiers and medics who are doing what they do to protect us with only limited equipment to help or none at all. Those are my heroes.
Sue is even cutting a record!
Savoir: I couldn’t agree more. And speaking of soldiers…
You also got to meet Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, after that incident was over. Now he was just recently found in the North Atlantic and miraculously recovered from being frozen for 20 years. There are a lot of ladies out there who would have loved to be in your shoes just to have that opportunity. Heck, I would have too. What was he like?
SS: It was actually really thrilling to meet him. My dad was always a big fan and Johnny idolized him growing up. But I also think that a lot of people would be pretty disappointed since he’s just like any other guy. At least that’s what he’s always saying, “Just doing what I can ma’am.” (She imitates Cap with a little salute and a smile.)
Savoir: Well I, for one, would love a chance to interview him. Johnny isn’t the only one who idolized him, and I would have a lot of questions that our readers would love to know the answers to.
SS: I’m sure he would love to chat. As a matter of fact, here he comes now. You can ask him yourself.
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I’m sure that you can imagine my reaction to meeting a living legend like Steve Rogers. But we will have to save that exciting experience for a future article.
I do want to thank Sue Storm for taking the time to honor this humble reporter with an interview and sharing some insight into the fascinating lives that we can only imagine living. Until next time everyone.
Stay classy!
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MORE
— A TALE TO ASTONISH: An Eyewitness Account of a Bombastic IRON MAN-NAMOR Throwdown. Click here.
— FOUND! SUPERMAN’s Lost, EXCLUSIVE First Interview With LOIS LANE. Click here.
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DES TAYLOR is the man behind creator-owned comic properties Scarlett Couture, The Vesha Valentine Story, The Trouble With Katie Rogers and a new property in the works The Blue Lotus Strikes. His client list includes DC Comics, La Perla, FHM, Cosmopolitan, Universal Music, ITV Studios America and many more. When he’s not working on his own properties or churning out commissions, Des spends his spare time… working some more, hating Arsenal and raising his two baby daughters, Scarlett and Leia-May.
