Fantastic Four #35 p 8 “Calamity on the Campus” (February 1965)
by Jack Kirby (1917-1994) and Chic Stone (1923-2000)
13 x 20 in., ink on paper
Coppola Collection

A comic featuring two noteworthy milestones in the history of comics: the origin of Dragon Man and the marriage proposal between Reed Richards and Sue Storm.

In this issue, Reed Richards has been invited back to his old alma mater at State University to deliver a lecture and has brought the rest of the Fantastic Four along with him. They stop as they pass by Professor Gilbert’s laboratory and are shocked at his latest creation, a massive android fashioned after a dragon.

While the male members of the team play against the State U football team, Sue happens to partially recognize Diablo as he drives past in a car, but the man exits the vehicle before she can get up close enough to examine him. Diablo pays a visit to Professor Gilbert and offers him a means of using alchemy to bring his android to life.

In the aftermath of the battle, Reed takes Sue down to the sweetheart tree on campus and proposes to her.