Art by Bob Powell
The Yancy Street Gang have always found a way get to under the rocky, orange skin of Benjamin “Thing” Grimm. “If those crummy Yancy yahoos think they’ll get me mad, they got holes in their head,” he tells his superhero cohorts after receiving a package from them in Fantastic Four #34. “I won’t even open it! I won’t look at it! I won’t go near it!” When Sue Storm suggests that it might the gang’s way of making up for the past, however, Grimm quickly changes his tune.
“Then take it out!” he says. “Let’s see it! What’re you waitin’ for?” Consenting to the Thing’s wishes, Storm pulls a Beatle wig from the box. Staring in disbelief, the recipient of the gift asks in puzzlement, “What am I supposed to do with that?”
Ben Grimm is later alone with his blind girlfriend Alicia Masters and again inspects his unexpected present. “I guess I shouldn’t have blown my stack, baby, but whenever I think of those Yancy crumb-bums I see red,” Grimm tells Masters. Alicia replies that she understands and suggests that Grimm simply throw the gift away. “Are you kiddin’?” the Thing asks after placing the Beatle wig on his head. “I always wanted to try one. Wish you could see me, baby! I’m a livin’ doll!”
In 1956, John Lennon formed a skiffle band in Liverpool, England, called the Quarrymen. After watching the group perform on July 6, 1957, a fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney was introduced to the sixteen-year-old Lennon and joined the band shortly thereafter. An even younger George Harrison soon became a Quarryman as well. The group eventually decided that they needed a new name – since they were all fans of Buddy Holly and the Crickets, Lennon’s art school friend Stuart Sutcliff suggested Beetles. Lennon liked it but changed the spelling to emphasize the “beat” music that they played.
By 1961, the Beatles were regular performers at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and were soon noticed by the manager of a local record store named Brian Epstein. Epstein was immediately impressed by the group and offered to be the band’s manager. He cleaned up the Beatles image – which by now included their famous mop top haircuts – and began making regular trips to London in the hopes of landing a record deal. After being repeatedly turned down, he finally found success at Parlophone.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney had been writing songs together for years. Now that they had a record contract, the pair insisted that their songs be the ones recorded. Despite being against the norm at the time – professional songwriters wrote the songs performed by other artists – producer George Martin consented. The first, “Love Me Do,” reached number seventeen on the British charts. Their first album, Please Please Me, reached number one.
More significantly, the popularity of the Beatles extended beyond radio as they quickly became a cultural sensation in England, with thousands of screaming fans launching what became known as Beatlemania. As journalist Michael Braun noted in his 1964 book Love Me Do: The Beatles’ Progress, “The island that had bravely withstood invasion from the outside for nearly 1,000 years had been conquered from within.”
In Marvel Comics’ Strange Tales #130, Benjamin Grimm and Johnny Storm are ordered by Reed “Mr. Fantastic” Richards to repair a “blasted cornball thingamajig” – Grimm’s words – while Richards and Sue Storm attend a conference at City Hall. With more bickering than teamwork, the Thing and Human Torch cause further damage to the device before receiving a phone call from girlfriends Doris Evans and Alicia Masters. The pair were out shopping when they not only discovered that the Beatles would be performing that evening but scored four tickets to the sold-out show as well.
Although Benjamin Grimm declares that he would rather be “goin’ bowlin’” than see the Beatles, he quickly gets caught up in the hysteria and moves cars out of a traffic-jammed street so that their taxi can make it to the concert on time. The Human Torch assists as well, shooting fireballs into the air to distract the crowd. Grimm then uses his strength as the Thing and lifts the cab to a second-floor fire escape ladder so everyone can enter the theater on time, and Doris and Alicia immediately find themselves surrounded by the Beatles.
“It’s them!” Ben Grimm declares upon entering the building. “My ever-lovin’ idols! Be still, my patterin’ heart!” Before he can get near the legendary rock band, however, a man rushes into the hall declaring that the box office has been robbed. “Some idiot set off some fireworks in the sky, and while everyone was looking at it, three hoods stole our payroll!” he tells the Fab Four. “We can’t pay you!”
Realizing that the “fireworks” in question were actually the Human Torch distracting the crowd, the pair of superheroes forego autographs from John, Paul, George, and Ringo in order to catch the culprits.
NBC, CBS, Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times had all reported on Beatlemania, but their coverage was on the phenomenon sweeping England, not the band itself. Capitol Records passed on early Beatle songs, telling producer George Martin, “We don’t think the Beatles will do anything in this market.” Finally pressured in November 1963 by the British EMI – which owned both Parlophone and Capitol – plans were made to release “I Want to Hold Your Hand” as a single and a full-length album called Meet the Beatles. Their resilient manage Brian Epstein, meanwhile, was able to book the band on the popular Ed Sullivan Show.
During the first week of 1964, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” entered the American charts at number eighty-three. In week two, it jumped to forty-two. Week three it landed at number one, with one-and-a-half million copies sold. Capitol was now fully onboard, spending $50,000 to promote the Beatles’ arrival in America – ten times more than they had spent on any previous promotion. New York City was flooded with posters and bumper stickers declaring, “The Beatles Are Coming,” a million copies of a four-page newspaper about the Beatles were distributed, and Capitol executives even sported Beatle wigs.
To ensure a large crowd for the band’s arrival at Kennedy Airport on February 7, 1964, two local New York radio stations enticed fans with dollar bills and free Beatles T-shirts to stake out their landing gate, resulting in 5,000 screaming fans welcoming the Beatles to America. “Outside, what looked like the entire teenage population of the Greater New York area were waiting,” journalist Michael Braun – who accompanied the Beatles from England – later wrote. “From the window of the plane they seemed like a photo mural against the blue sky. The mural quickly came to life when the plane’s door opened. The shouts of a hundred photographers crouched on a hydraulic crane blended antiphonically with the wailing wall of pubescence.”
During the subsequent press conference, the Beatles proved to be their own best publicists, demonstrating a natural wit that quickly won over the New York Press Corps. When asked, “What do you think of Beethoven?” Ringo Starr replied, “Great, especially his poems.” The questions and answers continued in rapid succession. “Will you sing for us?” “We need money first.” “Do you hope to get haircuts?” “We had one yesterday.” “Do you hope to take anything home with you?” “The Rockefeller Center.”
When the Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show two days later, seventy-three million Americans tuned in to watch, the largest in television history at the time. The Beatles had officially conquered the United States.
While the Human Torch takes to the sky in pursuit of the thieves who stole the box office receipts from the Beatles, the more slow-moving Thing is forced to make his way back to the Fantastic Four’s headquarters and retrieve the Fantasti-Car. They then track the trio to an amusement park. After a brief scuffle near a roller coaster and Ferris wheel, the Fantastic Two apprehend the would-be thieves, tie them up and leave them hanging in a diving pool for the police to arrest.
“I hope we haven’t missed much of the Beatles,” Johnny Storm remarks on their way back to the concert. “Not a chance, kid!” Ben Grimm replies. “You know that they’d never start the show until we get back!”
With the stolen money now returned – and Grimm sporting his Beatle wig – the Fantastic Two head for their seats only to be slammed against the wall as the doors to the theater open and an enthusiastic crowd rushes out. “Johnny!” Doris Evans declares upon seeing her boyfriend. “I’m glad you’re here! You’re just in time to take us home.” It turns out that John, Paul, George, and Ringo didn’t wait for Johnny and Ben after all.
“This is very humilifying!” Benjamin Grimm cries out. “We wuz robbed!”
Anthony Letizia