"YECCH"

Real Name: Unrevealed

Identity/Class: Extradimensional (Negative Zone; see comments)

Occupation: Unrevealed

Group Membership: None

Affiliations: None

Enemies: None

Known Relatives: None

Aliases: "that apparition," "the creature from Sub-Space" (as called by Mr. Fantastic; see comments)

Base of Operations: Mobile in the Negative Zone

First Appearance: Fantastic Four I#56 (November, 1966)

Powers/Abilities: Having a slightly-humanoid body configuration, this blue-skinned creature appeared to have a pair of membranous bat-like wings, which extended below its arms -- presumably, these helped it to maneuver through the environment of the Negative Zone; it was unrevealed if it had any other special abilities.

It was unrevealed if it was an intelligent and sentient being, or just some form of native animal life; it was also unrevealed if it was unique, or one of a race of similar beings.

Height: Unrevealed (see comments)
Weight: Unrevealed
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Unrevealed

History:
(Fantastic Four I#56) - Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and the Thing (Ben Grimm) were in the space-time research lab at their Baxter Building headquarters, where they were investigating "Sub-Space" (see comments). The Thing warned Reed when he saw a creature floating into view on the dimensional portal and looming towards him; but Reed assured his friend that it couldn't break through the "temporal field" (Reed: "...at least not yet!").

   Reed mentioned that they had to learn what the creature was, and to learn the full extent of its power, if they were ever to make "Sub-Space" safe for exploration; but the Thing opined that he wasn't interested in "Sub-Space" if it was inhabited by creatures such as the one they had just seen (see comments).

   As Mr. Fantastic grabbed a motion-picture camera to film "that apparition" for future analysis, he instructed the Thing to use an audio device to record any sounds the creature might make; but they were suddenly both interrupted from doing so by Klaw's sonic attack on the Baxter Building.

Comments: Created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

When the Negative Zone was first introduced in Fantastic Four I#51 (see Ricardo Jones), it was initially referred to as "Sub-Space," and still identified as such in this particular story; it wouldn't be referred to as "the Negative Zone" (its technically correct name) until Fantastic Four I#61.

This creature was never actually named in the story, so I chose to identify it with the Thing's comment regarding its physical appearance in his word-balloon ("yecch" being a common vocal expression of disgust or revulsion).

But "Yecch" holds the distinction of being the very first Negative Zone life-form to ever be depicted. It was only seen in one story-panel, and to my knowledge, it was never seen again; however, it does have a slightly similar appearance to Annihilus' bat-like Scavengers (one of which was created from the Mad Thinker's "most powerful" android).

Based on this one image, there's really no way to gauge the size of this creature on the viewing screen -- it could be as large as 30 feet tall, or it might just be tiny and the equivalent of a "monster-sized" fly on a camera lens; also, it's unrevealed if that stuff coming out of its head could be considered as hair.

Profile by Ron Fredricks.

CLARIFICATIONS:
"Yecch" / "that apparition" should not be confused with:

images: (without ads)
Fantastic Four I#56, p3, pan2 ("Yecch" on Negative Zone viewing screen; Mr. Fantastic, Thing [foreground])
Fantastic Four I#56, p3, pan2 (Thing's word-balloon, commenting on this creature's appearance [underlined in red])

Appearances:
Fantastic Four I#56 (November, 1966) - Stan Lee (writer/editor), Jack Kirby (pencils), Joe Sinnott /inks), Artie Simek (letters)

First posted: 07/12/2026
Last updated: 07/12/2026

Any Additions/Corrections? please let me know.

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