Auntmusic for Auntpeople

So. The panel from Fantastic Four #134 that I posted the other day featured one of the series' many references to Ben Grimm's mysterious Aunt Petunia:

Panel from Fantastic Four #134 (May 1973), written by Gerry Conway, art by John Buscema and Joe Sinnott, coloring by David Hunt, letting by Artie Simek

Aunt Petunia was "introduced"...so to speak...in Fantastic Four #25, in which although the Thing has been soundly whupped by the Hulk, he gets up and keeps going thanks to some well-remembered good advice from his Aunt Petunia:

Panel from Fantastic Four #25 (April 1964), written by Stan Lee, art by Jack Kirby and George Roussos, lettering by Sam Rosen

Anybody who uses the phrase "You can only live once" is either a Bond villain or one tough battleaxe, and nearly every reference Ben makes to her over the next few hundred issues—like the comparison to the Stridex-challenged Dragon Man—is of Aunt Petunia's...shall we say...unconventional looks. Listen to Ben Grimm long enough and you've got a clear mental picture of Aunt Petunia: sweet as a rose, but with a face that'll stop a clock. In fact, from everything Ben has said, you might think Petunia has appeared in comics before:


Well, let's skip ahead to FF #239, a few months into John Byrne's lengthy "Back to the Basics" run on the series, and check in with a mysterious stranger who's approaching the Baxter Building, as seen from one of Byrne's favorite angles:

Panel from Fantastic Four #239 (February 1982), written and drawn by John Byrne, coloring by Glynis Wein, lettering by Jim Novak


Momentarily baffled by the FF's robotic receptionist (and I think we all know how painful that can be), the mystery woman immediately falls into one of the most dangerous perils of entering the Baxter Building: Johnny Storm starts mackin' on her.:


Who is the mystery woman? Who is this gorgeous gal? Who could this supermodel-lookalike be? Aw, you've guessed it by now, haven't ya?:


Yep! What you certainly knew all along was a surprise to us in 1982: Aunt Petunia's a babe! As they say down on Yancy Street, hubba hubba!:


We never learn why Ben's been referring to her for years as unattractive—why, after all those years dating the delightful Miss Alicia Masters, the guy knows good-looking. Or maybe he just needed glasses when he was only a wee orange pebble. Anyway, even though pretty Petunia doesn't reappear for many a year (she popped up at Ben's Bar Mitzvah in the recent Thing #8), her appearance proves what we knew all along: knock-outs run in the Grimm family.