|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jun 29, 2020 1:24:12 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #221"Tower of Crystal... Dreams of Glass!"Cover Date: Aug, 1980 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain: Primus & Plastoid Droids (Only Appearance of Both) Special Guests: None Official Plot:At the North Pole the Fantastic Four observe the crystalline structure Reed thinks is responsible for last issue's power blackouts and the threat to the Earth's magnetic field. As the structure is surrounded by hundreds of alien creatures, the task of further investigation falls to Sue. In spite of being invisible, Sue manages to trip a perimeter alarm that alerts the aliens to her presence, and so Reed, Ben and Johnny join the fray in the hope of distracting them while Sue completes her mission. Unfortunately the aliens prove to be a composite being capable of splitting into apparently limitless, multiple versions of the same form or combining into a single huge mass, and they prove well-matched against the three members of the Fantastic Four. As Sue examines the crystal tower, she notices a hole in the ice and evidence of activity below the surface. Descending through the ice hole she discovers an alien space ship and on entering is confronted by its inhabitants, three strange telepathic aliens. Their leader, Primus, explains that they hail from the Beta Lyrae system and have been stranded on Earth for half a million years since the Earth's electromagnetic field last reversed and rendered their ship incapable of flight, the three aliens having been in suspended animation while their mindless drones worked to find a way to reverse the EM flow. Primus realizes that the inhabitants of Earth are now an advanced culture and that to continue their experiments would seriously endanger life on Earth, and so hostilities are ended. Reed helps the aliens repair their spaceship and the Fantastic Four prepare to return home, though not before Ben has demolished the crystal tower in his own inimitable fashion. Brodie's View:We get the second part of John Byrne's Two Part audition story for his eventual take over of this book for a good 6/7 year period, as the team must stop an alien race from reversing the magnetic poles and endangering all life on Earth. However, and this is very much Byrne starting the work he would do (well, he would do work with all four of the main characters....and a lot of their supporting cast, but he takes very special care with a few specific characters) with Susan Storm, it's the Invisible (then still) Girl that ends up saving the day, as all the male characters are overwhelmed by the "aliens" we saw at the end of last issue. These are revealed to not be the aliens themselves, but rather little droids that operate much like The Leader's Humanoids. In other words, they can merge together to form a bigger threat, and in the case of these specific robots, they adapt to be able to counteract Reed, Ben, and Johnny's powers. While this is happening, Sue force bubbles herself underwater, and discovers an alien ship. Once aboard the ship, she comes across a small group of aliens that have been hibernating underwater for thousands of years, as the Earth's magnetic field's reversal ruined their ship's flight ability. Hence, the reason they are currently trying to re-reverse the magnetic poles. However, when they discover that human life has evolved way farther than they had thought, they stop their plans and call off the shape changing droids. After talking with Reed, the leader of the Fantastic Four offers to fix their ship, and they fly off into outer space, thankful for the Fantastic Four's help in allowing them to go home. Awwwwwww. ( ) Joking aside, this is what I really did like about this story. The fact that it didn't go the typical route of needing some power mad supervillain, or even a ruthless alien race like the Skrulls or the Brood. This was a harmless race that were just trapped on Earth, and even though there was a bit of mistaken fighting, the problem was solved just by communication between the two races. This is a perfect example of the different approach Byrne would take with the book, once he got the full run of things, and this is most definitely something we'll see at times throughout his run. As I mentioned in the last paragraph, we will also definitely see characters evolve and transform (in a few cases literally) throughout Byrne's run, into what they would basically be by the 1990's and beyond. Byrne's FANTASTIC FOUR run is admired much in the same way Claremont's X-MEN run is, and for many of the same reasons, as both writers moved the books they were writing WAY beyond where Stan Lee and the classic writers that followed him up to this point had established them as being. But enough hype, it's time to look towards the next review, and the actual beginning of the Byrne run, as we'll see the team re-established, while also fighting threats that have been custom designed (or created/summoned ) to counteract their Fantastic powers. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 1, 2020 0:56:38 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #232"Back to the Basics"Cover Date: July, 1981 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Diablo & The Elements of Doom (Air, Fire, Water, & Earth----1st Appearance of the Elements) Special Guests: Doctor Strange, Frankie Raye, Alicia Masters, Mrs. Mulligan, Milo Tindolini, Don, & Jan----1st Appearance of the Last Four Official Plot:Having laid low for many months, the alchemist known as Diablo begins plotting revenge against his long time foes the Fantastic Four. Working on his most recent potion, Diablo almost exposes himself when Mrs. Mulligan -- the landlady in the boarding house he has rented -- comes banging on his door to make sure her tenant is not cooking in his room. Assuming his guise of the elderly Mr. Olbaid, he assures the old crone that he is not cooking. Once she leaves, Diablo resumes his normal form and completes his potion, setting in motion his latest scheme to destroy the Fantastic Four. At the Casa Tindolini hair salon, the Sue Richards is getting her hair restyled when suddenly the salon is attacked by a creature comprised of earth. As her hair dresser runs for cover, Sue removes her street clothes as her Fantastic Four costume turns visible, a trick she has been practicing for easier changing in combat situations. Realizing her opponent is too strong, she turns invisible and tires to rush to her purse and her flare-gun. Detecting her presence, Earth unleashes a torrent of dirt upon his prey, surrounding her in hardening grit. Meanwhile, Ben and Alicia are exiting a Broadway performance of the Elephant Man, which has brought Ben to tears. Suddenly it begins to rain, but the Thing soon realizes that it is only raining around him. Before he can react, Ben suddenly finds himself surrounded in water. Trying to break free to prevent himself from drowning, the Thing tries to smash through the ground, but to no avail. While in Central Park, the Human Torch takes a more subtly approach when it comes to reconnecting with his old flame Frankie Raye. Frankie and Johnny admit their feelings for one another, but before they can discuss her issues with his being a super-hero, he is attacked by a creature comprised of air. While at the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four, Reed Richards is working in his lab when he is suddenly attacked by a creature made of fire, he initially mistakes for Johnny. When the creature engulfs the upper floors of their headquarters, Reed curls up into a ball and bounces outside, then unfurls like a sail in order to glide to Central Park to seek out the Torch's aid. There Reed runs into Frankie who tells him that Johnny is in trouble. While Reed tries to smother Air, Fire manages to catch up to them. Reed deduces that the best way to defeat their foes is to switch opponents. Challenging Fire, Johnny flames on and flies off into the sky with his foe not far behind, leaving Reed to tackle Air alone. Meanwhile back at the hair salon, Sue manages to free herself with an invisible force field. Seeking to get the rest of her team, she tries uses her invisibility powers in a new way: like a means of transport, she begins to race across the city with Earth not far behind. Elsewhere, Ben manages to get the better of Water by rushing into a sporting goods store where he is given an oxygen tank to breath with. However Water tries to kill one of the patrons, forcing Ben to let it try and envelope him again. Instead of surrounding the Thing, Water strikes Sue's invisible force field as she arrives on the scene. Sue then contains Water in a force bubble while the Thing smashes Earth to bits. However Earth is far from defeated, as it begins to reform it strikes him with a powerful blow. Also arriving on the scene is Reed with Wind still trying to battle him. Realizing what is needed to defeat their foes, Reed has Sue free Water and contain Air. Grabbing some jumper cables, Reed destroys Water by exposing it to electricity. He then instructs Ben to destroy Earth by breaking open a water main. Exposed to water, Earth dissolves into harmless mud. Lastly, he has Sue increase the pressure within her force bubble, forcing Air -- a gas-- to assume a liquid form destroying it as well. High above the city, the Torch and Fire battle it out. Realizing how to defeat his foe, Johnny flies as high as possible an unleashes his nova flame, consuming all the oxygen from the immediate vicinity, causing Fire to extinguish. With his powers exhausted, Johnny safely lands in the East River where he is recovered by a tugboat. Back at the Baxter Building, Reed explains to Ben and Sue that he has determined that their foe is Diablo. When Ben mentions how Diablo likely perished in their last encounter, Reed points out that their foe had cheated death before. Knowing how to catch Diablo, Reed puts in a call for help. Later that night Diablo tries to make his escape from the city, but is quickly nabbed by Reed Richards, who was waiting for him. Surprised his enemy was able to find him, Diablo learns that Reed was able to track him down after hearing that Diablo had stolen a number of mystical artifacts and enlisted the aid of Doctor Strange to help find him. With Diablo subdued, Reed thanks Doctor Strange for his help and takes Diablo off to prison. Brodie's View:Jeez, so many thoughts where it concerns this issue. First off, I'll say that back when I was a kid, the Food Town near me used to have the 3 comics for $1 packs in their book/magazine section, and this issue was one of the main ones in the Marvel centered versions of those 3 packs. In other words, I saw this cover quite a bit as a kid, so, its importance as nostalgia is just as big of a factor for me as its importance to comic book history in the 1980's, which can't be undersold. However, let's take a look at how important this issue was at the time; in 1981, John Byrne was officially a Superstar Artist, as he was coming off of his historic run on UNCANNY X-MEN with Chris Claremont, and in addition to tasking over this book, he was also spearheading a title involving characters he had a hand in co-creating, the Canadian superhero group, ALPHA FLIGHT. In other words, John Byrne was a HUGE deal in 1981, and his taking over Marvel's first hit book was just as big of a deal, as the book had been kind of treading water, sales wise, since Stan Lee and Jack Kirby departed the series in the early 70's. Not saying it was a poor seller, but it wasn't the "World's Greatest Comic Magazine" anymore, despite the claim on the cover. Byrne sought to change that, and he did it by taking the advice of the title of this story, and went "Back to Basics" in a lot of ways, while also doing his part to modernize the series and its characters. Specifically, he wanted to go back to the feeling he had reading the title during the Lee/Kiry era of the 1960's, and a lot of these early issues definitely have that feel. He also really wanted to re-establish the Fantastic Four (and their supporting cast) as their own specific characters, and like #220, we get some of that before they're forced to deal with the threats that have been sent against them. Speaking of those threats, I'm glad that Byrne decided to use a third rate villain like Diablo as the main villain for this story, as it definitely made the focus of the issue the heroes, rather than having to split time with the villain. However, I do love Diablo's bit at the beginning of this issue, as he's doing his "Nah, ha, ha, ha! I will have my revenge on the Fantastic Four!" speech, only to have to interrupt it to assume a false form to tell the landlady of the apartment he's doing his alchemy in that he's not cooking anything in his apartment....lol. Using four elemental statues he had stolen, he summons the four elemental creatures to attack the FF members that their abilities would have the greatest effect against. For example, the Thing is attacked by the water elemental, which surrounds him in a bubble of water that renders Ben's strength pretty much useless, as he spends half the issue trying not to drown where he stands. The Invisible Woman is attacked by the earth elemental, which makes her invisibility power useless, while the Torch is attacked by an air elemental that does the same. Finally, Mr. Fantastic is attacked by the fire elemental, which makes him have to try and escape the Baxter Building to find the others. Once this starts happening, the elementals are forced to disobey Diablo's orders and do battle with the FF members with similar powers, which they all lose. Finally, there's the case of locating Diablo, which they do with the help of Doctor Strange, and off he goes to jail, ending the first issue of the new FANTASTIC FOUR. Once again, being that the focus of this issue was on the heroes themselves, the apprehension of Diablo pretty much happens on the last page, and happens without any kind of a fight, as Diablo is shown for being the Third Rater he always was, but then again, he did play his role well. Byrne knew he didn't have to spam the BIG villains like Doom or Galactus, as he knew they would come in time, but he also knew he had to re-establish who the Fantastic Four were as characters, and as a team, in these first few issues, and he does a, pun intended, Fantastic job here. We see a base level representation of Reed, Sue, Ben, and Johnny, while also starting to modernize them for a new audience. We see little hints of this happening in this issue, specifically Susan Richards and her new haircut/look, which now would probably be called a "Karen Haircut," but back in 1981 was the cutting edge of style. We'll see her change in many other ways throughout the course of this run. Speaking of which, in the next issue, we'll see a focus issue on Sue's brother, Johnny Storm, and a story that definitely hearkens back to the days of Stan and Jack. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 2, 2020 1:13:54 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #233"Mission for a Dead Man!"Cover Date: Aug, 1981 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Hammerhead & Morrie (Only Appearance of the Second) Special Guests: David George Munson (Dies), Mrs. Munson, & an Unnamed Deedan Warden---Only Appearance of All Official Plot:At Deeden State Correctional facility career criminal David Munson is spending his last day on death row. Having finally made peace with his fate, he tells Father Albert Vito that he is innocent of the murder of which that put him on death row, the only crime he has ever been innocent of committing. With all avenues of appeal exhausted, Munson can do nothing more but accept that the end is near, but asks the Father to deliver a letter for him to someone he hopes can help clear his name. Vito agrees to deliver the letter personally, and soon Munson takes the final walk to the electric chair where he is executed for the crime he claims he did not commit. Watching the execution, Father Vito is horrified by the sight of the last moments of George Munson's life. Later the Father looks to whom the letter is addressed to and is surprised to find that it is addressed to the Human Torch of the Fantastic Four. Two weeks later Father Vito finds himself outside the world famous Baxter Building. Entering he tries to access the FF's private elevator but finds that the button is non-responsive. He is startled when the Invisible Girl appears next to him and explains that the elevator will only open via a solenoid signal device in the belt buckles worn by the Fantastic Four. Opening the elevator, Sue takes Albert up to the main floor of the Baxter Building, assuring him that the security scanners within the Fantastic Four's headquarters has already scanned him and he has been deemed non-threatening. When they enter the main floor of the FF's headquarters, Father Vito is shocked when he finds the Thing trying to hurt the Human Torch after he taped a picture of Christopher Reeves with a mocking note about what a real hero looks like to his bathroom mirror. The Thing manages to douse the Torch's flame with a pipe he ripped from the floor, but before he can hurt Johnny, Reed intervenes. Still very upset, the Thing composes himself and decides to go out, telling them that he'll come back once he's cool down if he cools down. Meanwhile, Johnny gets a tongue lashing from his sister for aggravating Ben, especially when they have a guest -- a priest no less -- over for a visit. When they learn that that Father Vito has come to see Johnny, Sue, and Reed leave them alone to discuss the Father's business. Vito turns over the letter to Johnny, and it contains the final wishes of George Munson, who apologizes for his past treatment of Johnny and asks for his help in clearing his name for the crime he died for, for the sake of his mother who is apparently unaware of his criminal background. At first Johnny doesn't recognize George Munson, but quickly recalls that George "Georgie" Munson was one of his chief tormentors back in his early days at Glenville High before he became the Human Torch. When Father Vito asks if Johnny can help clear Munson's name posthumously, the Torch agrees to look into it and see what he can do. Johnny then takes a section of the Fantasti-Car to his old stomping grounds in Glenville where he quickly establishes his credentials the police and is allowed access to the police files regarding the murder Munson was sent to death for. The evidence is damning: Munson was accused of robbing a liquor store and gunning down the clerk. He was witnessed fleeing the scene and was arrested, the murder weapon was found at the scene with George's fingerprints all over it. When Johnny later compares notes with the detective who originally investigated the case they both find it suspicious that Munson would commit so brazen a crime, yet the murder weapon was armed with a silencer. Johnny decides to check out the scene of the crime, although the murder was committed years earlier, in the hopes of finding a clue. Arriving at the liquor store, the owner is agreeable about letting Johnny look around up until the hero tries to look in the back room. Accused of being a fake, Johnny flames on to prove he is who he says he is, but the owner still demands that he leave the store. Johnny realizing how foolish it was to flame on in a store full of flammable liquor and that he has no legal grounds to search the shop he decides it is better to leave. But he returns that night and begins watching the owner as he closes up shop. The shop owner, in a panic, goes to a nearby payphone to contact his boss, a man known as "H", but Johnny interrupts him in the process. The shop owner tries to flee, but the Torch traps him in a flaming cage, but the liquor store owner has no information on who is a mysterious employer is, but he manages to recover the phone number the man was trying to call. Doubling back to the Baxter Building, Johnny traces the number to a warehouse in New York City. There he finds a gang of thugs and easily melts away their weapons. When one tries to flee, Johnny stops him and when he refuses to talk threatens to burn him. To bluff, the man into talking, Johnny burns away half the hair from his face and is given the address to a nearby penthouse. There he is surprised to learn that it is owned by the super-powered Maggia leader known as Hammerhead. He interrupts Hammerhead and his men arguing over who is in charge of things and confronts Hammerhead for the murder of Munson. When the other mobsters try to flee, Johnny fuses the lock on the door and battles it out with Hammerhead, who surprises him with his sudden strength. Realizing that Hammerhead is just a regular guy and how he wasn't harmed when he grabbed Johnny's burning leg with his bare hands, Johnny realizes the truth. Using his flame, the Torch burns away Hammerhead's outer clothing revealing a strength enhancing exosuit underneath. Their fight continues, taking them out onto the patio where Johnny uses his powers to melt the exosuit's battery pack, rendering it useless. Hammerhead then surprises Johnny by leaping off the side of the building, but when he goes after the crook he has somehow vanished. Soon the police are called and arrive on the scene. When discussing things with the detective, Johnny get's a luck break in his case: The detective explains that Daredevil recently turned in all the files of the Kingpin, [1] and offers to let Johnny look through them for any clues that might help him. Sure enough, Johnny manages to find the evidence he needs to clear Munson's name. About a month later, Johnny meets with Munson's mother at the grave of her son in a prison graveyard. He explains to her that George was framed by the liquor shop owner, back when he wanted to take over the store. He tricked George into handling the murder weapon before the killing and then left it at the scene to frame Munson. Munson's mother surprises Johnny when she reveals she knows that her son was no good the whole time. When Johnny tells her why he helped Munson out, she thanks him because he is the kind of boy a mother can be proud of, and because he is a hero, before she walks away from the grave of her no good son, leaving Johnny to reflect on the entire experience. Brodie's View:After the last issue brought us "Back to the Basics" of the Fantastic Four, this issue gets even more specific with its focus, as the Human Torch is the focal character for this story. We do get a bit with the rest of the team, but most of that is showing Johnny Storm in his most recognizable role, as antagonist for the Thing, who most of the time can blow off the various pranks and insults the hot headed (and bodied) youngster tosses at him. However, the fight between the two get a little real, after the Torch sticks a picture of Christopher Reeve on his mirror, with a sign saying that Reeve is what a super person is SUPPOSED to look like, which of course sets the walking pile of orange rocks that used to be a man off, and after being separated by Reed and Sue, Ben storms off to wallow in self pity....or break stuff, or both. A little bit before that, we see Sue Storm showing a priest (who is delivering a letter to Johnny from a former bully that wants him to investigate the death that led him to be executed in the first part of the issue), and through that, us, some of the technological advancements Reed had made to the Baxter Building in order to heighten security after the HERBIE fiasco. This would be a hallmark of the Byrne run; the need to show the different technological advancements for both the Baxter Building and the FF themselves, which is pretty damn cool, and shows off what a brilliant mind Richards has without it having to be stated by the man himself. Anyways, once Johnny receives the letter, he is honor bound to investigate the events that led up to the former bully turned criminal, David Munson, ending up on Death Row. After doing a bit of digging, it turns out that Munson was indeed innocent of the charge that led to his being given the chair, as he was set up by the criminal organization known as the Maggia, and more specifically (working through a proxy), the Spider-Man villain known as Hammerhead. Hammerhead's connection to the Wall Crawler is important to this story, as due to his constant thrashing by Spidey, Hammerhead had a powerful exo-suit designed, which allows him to give the Torch a bit of a tussle once his role in Munson's death was officially uncovered. However, this all wasn't the point of the story, so, after Johnny shorting out his suit, Hammerhead makes a quick escape. No, the point of this story comes at the end, as Johnny ends up meeting Munson's mother at Munson's grave site, and the older woman states that while her son was kind of a bad apple, and deserved hit fate, Johnny Storm was a true hero for at least trying to clear her son's name. This wasn't as bombastic and awesome as last issue's story, but it was definitely a good issue that deconstructed and rebuilt the idea of the Human Torch as his own separate hero, while also reaffirming his role within the team. I never read any of his STRANGE TALES solo stories, but I have to imagine this story was meant to hearken back to those stories, as other than the fight with Hammerhead, this issue was pretty much a crime story and a mystery that the FF's youngest member had to solve. The artwork, which I didn't get a chance to mention in the last review, really adds to this, as it's a mix of both a classic and modern look. I love the fact that Byrne is inking his own stuff here, as it gives a lot more shadows and definition to his art than a lot of past inkers haven't bothered to do, in their attempts to make things look very bright and vibrant. That works sometimes, but Byrne's work looks best when there are a lot of shadows and definition, so, I love his work on the series so far. Anyways, this was a solid story, and we'll see Byrne do these little "focus issues" on the other three members (as well as doing another focus issue on the Torch before this run comes to an end) throughout the series. In the next issue, we'll have another "classic style" issue that will lead to the team's first EPIC adventure, as it will deal with a perfectly ordinary man with an EXTRAORDINARY power. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 4, 2020 0:48:57 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #234"The Man With the Power!"Cover Date: Aug, 1981 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Ego: The Living Planet Special Guests: Frankie Raye, Mick Clancy, Skip Collins, Leroy Collins, Jr., Louisa Collins, & Mr. Wilkins (First and Only Appearance of the Last Four) Official Plot:L. R. ‘Skip' Collins is an ordinary Joe, a typical middle-aged family man who holds down a regular job for a regular day's pay, lives in an unexceptional suburban home, drives an unexceptional car, and has a wife and a dissolute hippie son who are something of a disappointment to him. His is an ordered but frustrated existence, an anonymous existence, and almost crushing in its mundanity were it not for the fact that he possesses a singular super-power that grants his every wish. But being an unimaginative ordinary Joe he is completely unaware that he has these powers, so when he wishes his house were a little tidier, so it becomes; when a traffic jam threatens to makes him late for work he unwittingly turns back the clock a half hour to avoid the jam. His life takes a startling upturn when he gets a once in a lifetime opportunity to travel to New York, where he sees the tourist sights, the Statue of Liberty, the Twin Towers of the WTC, the Flatriron Building, the Empire State Building, Radio City Music Hall, and last but not least the Baxter Building. ‘Skip' is fortunate enough to catch sight of Reed and Sue Richards on the sidewalk, and decides to follow them in the hope of getting their autographs. He is on hand to see the Mr. and Mrs. Fantastic rescue a young girl from a derelict building due for demolition, just before the building unexpectedly collapses. Reed is convinced the collapse was no accident, and sure enough a series of powerful shock waves begin to rock the city, reducing the proud skyscrapers of Manhattan to rubble. The tremors are felt downtown by The Thing who is passing the time with an old test pilot buddy in Clancy's Irish pub when the building is completely destroyed. As Ben emerges from the rubble he surveys the utter destruction of New York. Across town at the same time, Frankie Raye and Johnny Storm feel the effects of the shock waves as Frankie's apartment collapses underneath them. The Human Torch is able to rescue the other quake victims in the block, but wonders what could have caused earthquakes in a city built on solid bedrock. The answer is found back at the Baxter Building, where Reed discovers that the effects are not just localised, but world-wide, with all the major cities of the world now lying in flaming ruins. Reed has some theories he wants to explore, and sends the other three members of the group out to help the city-wide rescue. As Ben tries to hold together a collapsing Brooklyn Bridge long enough to allow a ship to pass beneath it, ‘Skip' Collins suddenly appears and unwittingly helps Ben hold the cables together until the danger has passed. Unfortunately ‘Skip' is thrown off the bridge and into the river, but Ben's search for him is fruitless and he heads back to the Baxter Building. There Reed reveals that the gravity waves that have destroyed most of the cities on the planet originate from outer space, and as the FF leave Earth to investigate, ‘Skip' surveys the damage and destruction and wishes it gone, and so his powers kick in for one final time, restoring all the cities to their former state and exhausting his powers in the process. In outer space ship the FF finally confront the source of all the devastation: Ego The Living Planet, threatening the total destruction of the planet Earth. Brodie's View:The third issue of the John Byrne FANTASTIC FOUR run gives us a very Lee/Kirby type of story; the type of story that, other than the involvement of the title characters, could almost be one of those Sci-Fi/Fantasy tales that Marvel relied on during the 50's/early 60's, or basically the type of stories that the success of the FANTASTIC FOUR put an end to. However, it's done to great service, as it's the lead up to Byrne's first MAJOR EPIC story involving the team, even though we don't know that until the very end of the issue. Up until then, most of our focus is on a regular middle aged schlub named Skip Collins, who thanks to being exposed to the radiation of a nuclear bomb during the testing of the effects of the bomb on U.S. soldiers during the 1950's has the ability to alter reality to be what he wants it to be, without even realizing he's doing it. We see little examples of this throughout the story, as he ends up cleaning his house by wishing it so, as well as removing the traffic jam that was blocking his path to work. His job ends up sending him to New York City, where he ends up being caught in massive earthquakes that start to hit the city (and as we find out, the rest of the world as well), and destroy most of it. This is where we see the Fantastic Four, as they are forced to jump into actions due to these earthquakes, and finally are forced to take a rocket into space to see what could be causing all of this (as Reed deduces that the cause of these earthquakes is coming from space). It's here that Skip Collins ends up using up all of his power to make things on Earth as they were before this disaster hit, which he does, leaving him a 100% normal guy once again, oblivious to all the lives he saved and property damage he repaired simply by wishing it so. Meanwhile, the FF, unaware of Skip's fixing of the damage on Earth, come across the cause of the massive earthquakes, only to discover that they are being caused by EGO: The Living Planet, who is using his own gravitational pull to destroy Earth's. Definitely a great "Oh Shit!" capper to a great little story that showed the FF's heroic actions through the eyes of a "normal Joe," even though this "normal Joe" was secretly more powerful than all four FF'ers put together. Once again, such a great throw back to the Lee/Kirby era of storytelling, while also using said techniques to transition into a more modern feel. We'll see Byrne do this quite a bit in the early part of this run. I love how the artwork transitioned as well, with a classic look moving into the more dynamic look of the very end of the issue, and Byrne draws EGO quite menacingly. In other words, EGO definitely doesn't look like Kurt Russell here ( ). I also really like the fact that Byrne has taken in the in these issues to establish/re-establish the FF's civilian life outside of their superheroics, which also goes hand in hand with re-establishing their supporting cast, some of whom will be very important to the next year or so of stories. Specifically, I'm talking about Frankie Raye, the woman Johnny Storm was currently involved with; a woman that has a fear of fire, and therefore a dislike of Storm in his Human Torch form, that will most certainly explained in due time. For now, though, we will move on to the next issue, which will see the Fantastic Four have to deal with a psychotic Living Planet before he/it ends up destroying their planet. After that, we get the first of our MAJOR FF villains (if EGO wasn't major enough) showing up just in time for the team's 20th anniversary issue. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 4, 2020 23:08:56 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #235"Four Against Ego!"Cover Date: Sept, 1981 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Ego: The Living Planet & his Antibodies Special Guests: (In Present) Frankie Raye (In Recap/Flashback Form Only) Galactus, Thor, & The Wanderers Official Plot:With a device strapped to his back, the Thing travels deeper and deeper into the organic tunnels that run inside the form of Ego the Living Planet. The heat and internal pressure is intense, sapping Ben of his strength and endurance. Pausing for a moment to rest, Ben begins to think back to the moments that led to this point... It all started when New York City was rocked by a devastating earthquake. Rushing back to the Baxter Building, Ben learned that the source of the quake originated from outer space. the potential threat to the Earth, Reed prepares a ship and the Fantastic Four travel out into space to intercept the menace heading their way. Soon they reach their destination and are shocked to discover that their attacker is Ego -- a massive living planet, who is seeking revenge against those who were responsible for his last defeat and had tracked them on a course heading to Earth. Ego then unleashes a force blast on the FF's ship, causing the craft to crash land on Ego's surface. The Fantastic Four survive, thanks to Johnny getting out and using his flame powers to burn clear a path so they can land safely. Exploring the strange world of Ego, Reed quickly spots a massive propulsion unit stuck on the planets surface which is acting as the means Ego is using to get to Earth. Seeking to stop his advance, Reed and the rest of his team load up on sky-cycles to go and investigate the massive engine. Detecting what the heroes are up to, Ego's face appears on the side of a mountain and blows them off their jet cycles. When the Fantastic Four safely land on the ground, they are attacked by an army of Ego's Anti-Bodies. The four heroes manage to fight past them and reach the propulsion unit where Johnny erects a flame barrier to keep the Anti-Bodies at bay. He is horrified when the seemingly endless armies of Anti-Bodies begin throwing themselves into the flames, appearing to commit suicide to stop them. Reed tells his team to hang tight as he is formulating a plan to solve the current crisis. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Johnny's girlfriend Frankie Raye has just finished taking a shower. When she realizes that there are no towels in the bathroom, she is forced to go out into her apartment to find one. As she worries over her roommate coming home and catching her in the nude, and thinking about what Johnny might be up to, Frankie catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and is horrified by what she sees there. While back on Ego's planet, Ben's recollection continues... Back on Ego's surface, Reed has instructed Ben on how to remove one of the mini-packs that powers one of the jets of the propulsion unit. Reed tells the rest of his team how he intends to use it to destroy Ego's brain, hopefully rendering him harmless. Suddenly, Ego forms a new massive body towering over them and begins attacking again. The Fantastic Four manage to flee their attacker through one of the pores on Ego's surface. They follow the complex tunnels until what they come across what they think is Ego's brain. However after close examination, Reed concludes it is a fake, constructed by Ego to trick them and orders Johnny to destroy it with is flame. Ego protests, but the Fantastic Four continue on their path to the real brain of Ego. But the deeper they go into the living planet, the hotter it gets and the more the pressure increases. Reed is the first one to give into the environment, forcing him to stay behind. However, soon Sue and later Johnny are unable to go any further, leaving Ben to continue on the trek alone.... ... Finishing his recollection, Ben gets to his feet and presses on eventually he finally reaches the true brain of Ego the Living Planet. Suddenly his mind is flodded with images being pushed into his mind by Ego: He witnesses the birth of Ego during the Big Bang that created the universe, his conflicts with Galactus, and how he once allowed Thor to have a group called the Wanderer's settle on his surface, only to consume them after the thunder god was gone. Lastly, Ego shows the Thing how his last encounter with Thor and Galactus ended with the propulsion unit being attached to his planetary mass and sent him hurtling into space. Realizing that Ego was coming to Earth because it was the last place Galactus had been, the Thing then tosses the mini-pack at Ego's brain, but misses. Despite this, Ego angrily reacts, trying to activate the propulsion unit to send him on a collision course with the planet Earth. However, because only one of the engines on the propulsion unit is active, Ego instead veers directly into the sun. The resulting heat and gravitational pull of the sun tears Ego apart, sending Ben hurtling into space. However, the Thing is rescued from the vacuum of space by his teammates who arrive in their ship to pull him to safety. With Ego seemingly destroyed and his threat to Earth now gone, the Fantastic Four rejoice before heading back home. Brodie's View:This issue begins with a dramatic shot of a weary Thing walking through the ear canal of EGO (The Living Planet!!!), and most of the rest of the story is told in flashback form. We see a brief recap of the events of last issue, at least from Ben's perspective, before we quickly pick up where we left off at the end of the last issue, with the FF face to giant face with EGO. The team manage a crash landing on the surface of EGO, but they are soon attacked by EGO's Antibodies, which after a bit of a tussle, they are able to fling the Antibodies off into space. It's here where we see that someone has attached a giant jet rocket on the back of EGO, which is how the Living Planet is able to travel through space. Finally, the FF are able to access EGO's ear canal, and they try to make the journey to EGO's brain in order to detonate the giant bomb we saw Ben carrying at the beginning of the issue, however, the heat and the pressure are too much for the other three FF members, so, it's up to the Thing to finish the mission. Once reaching the actual brain of EGO (the team encounters a fake brain earlier, which they quickly destroy, pissing EGO off even more), Ben is hit with a psychic wave that shows the history of EGO, who we learn, due to the fact that he's a Living Planet, is the mortal enemy of Galactus, who devours planets. In fact, this is the main reason EGO is drawn to Earth in the first place, as Galactus had very recently traveled there to help the FF stop the Sphinx. Being even more resolute in his purpose after learning what a bastard EGO is, Ben tosses the bomb at EGO's brain.....only to fail. However, when EGO tries to jet towards Earth, we learn that one of his jets had been damaged during the FF's fight with EGO's Antibodies, and the jet ends up sending him right into the sun. It seems like it might be curtains for Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew, but the FF were nearby in their ship, and are able to save him before he floats into the sun as well, ending the threat of EGO....for now. (He comes back in the pages of ROM) This was a pretty cool issue that showed off the heroics of the Thing much in the way the Human Torch was showcased a couple of issues ago, as he was very much the focal character for this story. It's kind of cool to think that the second GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY movie ended up taking quite a bit from the main plot of this story, as blowing up EGO's brain with a bomb was how the Living Planet was taken down in both stories. Of course, we didn't get to have a scene where Ben and Johnny were trying to find tape to prevent the bomb from being detonated prematurely, but I'm sure Byrne would have put that in there, had he wanted a goofier tone for this story ( ). I will also say that Byrne tries to give this story as much of an epic feel as possible with his artwork, which absolutely shines when the FF are doing space/Negative Zone missions. We will definitely see an example of the second about 20 or so issues from this, but for now, it's definitely a nice little taste of what we're going to get later. I kind of wonder what the team's reaction would be when they got home to see all the damage created by EGO suddenly gone as if nothing had ever happened, but sadly we never get to see that scene, as the next story, which will mark the 20th Anniversary of the comic, takes us in a very different direction. In that next issue, which will mark the return of two classic FF villains, will ask the question "What if the Fantastic Four had never gotten their powers?" GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 6, 2020 0:12:08 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #236"Terror in a Tiny Town"Cover Date: Oct, 1981 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Doctor Doom (& his Guardian Robots) & The Puppet Master Special Guests: Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, Various Synthe-clones, (All Constructs) Betty Lou Anderson, Mrs. Lucas, & Singh Official Plot:Part 1: As I Lay Dreaming... Reed Richards, Ben Grimm, Susan Storm and her younger brother Johnny all sneak onto a military facility so they can launch Reed's new experimental rocket before the government can cut their funding. After blasting into space they are about to activate the new experimental Star Drive, but are suddenly bombarded with Cosmic Rays. As the ship hurtles back toward the Earth, Johnny feels like he is about to burst into flames while Ben becomes so heavy he can barely lift himself from the the floor. Just as the rocket crash lands on Earth and explodes.... ... Johnny Storm awakens to discover that it was all just some crazy dream and that he is safe and sound in his home in the quiet town of Liddleville. Realizing that he has to start get ready for work, Johnny thinks to himself about how simple and happy his life is and wonders if he should talk to his sister and her husband about the strange dreams he has been having. When he arrives at the Richards home, he does so just as Reed is leaving to the university to teach class, almost forgetting his lunch in the process. Sue tells her brother that Reed has been acting very absent minded of late and suspects it's because Professor Vaughn has been giving Reed so much grief lately, on top of these strange dreams that Reed has been having about he and Ben Grimm taking a rocket flight. Shocked by this similar dream, Johnny debates telling his sister of his own, but decides against it. Johnny then continues on his way to the garage, passing by Ben Grimm's bar where he waves to his old friend. Ben is soon joined by his wife Alicia, and after a tender moment where Alicia remarks how weird it is that she is so happy to be able to see her husband the pair share a kiss. Across the street is Alicia's step father, Phillip Masters, who is pleased by the what he sees as things are going according to plan. He finishes sweeping the front steps of his toy shop and then returns inside. Later that evening, Sue and Reed are retiring for the evening. Sue asks Reed if he got any more grief from Professor Vaughn, Reed remarks that he actually spent the day talking to Professor Singh about his problem, as he has come to believe that Vaughn is paranoid. Sue goes to sleep shortly thereafter and begins to have a powerful nightmare... Sue is in a meeting with Reed, Ben and her brother Johnny. Ben is warning Reed about the potential dangers to his rocket flight that might be posed by cosmic rays in space. Reed tells Ben that the dangers are worth the risk for the sake of science. When Ben continues to warn Reed against this plan, Sue calls Ben a coward. This angers Ben, who suddenly begins to transform into a misshapen monster. Starting with lizard like skin, Ben's form continues to mutate into a rock-like form as he tries to attack Reed. Much to Sue's continued horror, Reed is able to stretch his body and use it to try and subdue Ben. But Reed is no match for Ben's strength. When Johnny tries to smash a chair over Ben's monstrous form is has little effect. In retaliation, Ben grabs a burning log from the nearby fireplace and thrusts it into Johnny, causing him to catch on fire, but with no apparent harm to himself.... Sue wakes up screaming, Reed asks his wife what is wrong, but she dismisses the experience as a bad dream and goes to check on their son Franklin. Reed also begins getting out of bed, concerned for his wife and also with the doubts over his ability, wondering if Professor Vaughn is correct in his assessment that he truly incompetent after all. At lunch time the next day, Reed and Johnny have a meal together at Ben's bar. There they share their recent bad dreams. Ben tells them how in his, all four of them have super-powers: Reed can stretch, Johnny can burst into flame, Sue can turn invisible, and he himself has super-human strength. Ben remarks that the strangest part of his dream is that he and Alicia are not married, and that Alicia is actually blind. When Reed begins comparing the similarities between their dreams, this line of conversation is interrupted by the arrival of Phillip Masters and Alicia. Later when Reed returns to work at the university, Professor Singh shows Reed the school's latest addition: A LeSalle-Devaney Particle Accelerator. Reed marvel's over it's ability to recreate any form of radiation and can't wait to begin experimenting with it. However these hopes are quashed thanks to the arrival of Professor Vaughn, who tells Richards that he is forbidden from using the device as he is too incompetent to operate it. As Reed walks away defeated, Professor Vaughn gloats silently over his victory. Reed returns to his classroom where he begins trying to figure out what connection their strange dreams he and his family have been having. Focusing on this thoughts, Reed begins to drift asleep, and suddenly he remembers: He and his family are members of the Fantastic Four. He recalls the rocket flight that endowed them with their powers. He also remembers recent events when the team last returned to their Baxter Building headquarters. Suddenly they felt compelled to gather up their things and take Franklin with them into the Fantasti-Car and fly out to a castle out in upstate New York. There they found they were enthralled by their old foe the Puppet Master, and his mysterious employer.... .. Before Reed can remember who the Puppet Master was working for, he falls backward out of his chair and wakes up from the fall. Deducing that the Puppet Master somehow transferred their minds into robot bodies, Reed decides to test this theory by cutting open his arm with a scalpel. Reed is shocked with the sudden pain that causes him to black out, splayed out on the floor or bleeding out. An hour later at the Richards home, Sue is entertaining Ben, Alicia and Johnny, and they are worried why Reed is late. When Richards finally returns home he explains to them what has happened but they are reluctant to believe the truth, but Reed refuses to give up on making them believe the reality of their situation. A day later, Phillip Masters is opening his store for the day when he is suddenly attacked by Ben Grimm who is furious that Masters would manipulate them so deeply. With the threat of more violence, Phillip tells them that their bodies are in synth-clones and that he had created all this for Alicia's benefit. When Reed asks the Puppet Master who employed him, that employer speaks up, making his presence known to his foes. Looking up into the night sky of Liddleville, the Fantastic Four are surprised to see the towering foe of their greatest enemy of all, Doctor Doom. Part 2: If This Be Doomsday! Liddleville is actually a miniature town within the American castle of Doctor Doom. The former monarch of Latveria stands over the small town which is surrounded by machinery hooked into the minds of the real bodies of the Fantastic Four, young Franklin Richards, and Alicia Masters. Doom explains his plan to trap the Fantastic Four in Liddleville in bodies without powers as the ultimate revenge. He explains that he was controlling the body of Professor Vaughn the whole time as a means of further taunting Reed. With his explanation complete, Doom departs leaving the Fantastic Four to their fate so that he can focus his attentions toward regaining the Latverian throne. Taking Phillip back to their home, Reed continues to interrogate him for answers. They learn that both Doom and Masters transfer in and out of their duplicate bodies -- actually robots instead of synth-clones like the FF -- using a special ring. Upon closer examination they find that the ring's ability to recall a mind to its original body has been terminated. As Reed and Ben talk it over, Phillip manages to slip away and escape out the front door. When Ben finally realizes it, Reed tells them that the Puppet Master is not important, getting back to their original bodies is. While Reed begins working on a plan, everybody goes to sleep for the night. The next morning at breakfast, Alicia arrives at the Richards house and tells them that she and Ben had an argument. Ben had come to believe that their entire marriage in Liddleville was a sham and a perversion cooked up by Doctor Doom and the Puppet Master and storm off into the night. Reed goes out looking for Ben tells Reed that he had decided that he does not want to go back to his old life, because even though Liddleville is a lie, at least he has his normal body back and he and Alicia can have a normal relationship. When Reed tries to rally Ben and convince him that what they are doing is more important than anything, Ben chooses not to listen. Unable to get through to his old friend, Reed decides to leave and continue on with his plan without Ben Grimm at his side. Later at the university, Reed, Sue and Johnny break into Professor Vaughn's office and find the inert robotic body used by Doctor Doom during his time as "Vaughn". There they find a key to the LeSalle-Devaney machine where Reed hopes to recreate the cosmic radiation that gave them their powers. As Reed starts up the machine, he decides that he is going to test it on himself first, when suddenly they are interrupted by Ben who has come up with a change of heart and offers hismelf to test it instead. Reed explains that the process will actually give them increased powers more in line with their actual human proportions. Ben steps into the machine and is transformed into the Thing once again. When Alicia enters the room, Ben is horrified and tells her to go. Physically seeing Ben as the Thing for the first time, she reassures Ben that his appearance means nothing to him and that she loves him no matter what he looks like, just like when she was blind. Hours later, Johnny goes to the edge of Liddleville where he is stopped by an army of Doom's Servo-Mechs, but they are caught off guard when Johnny flames on and they are ambushed by the rest of the Fantastic Four. Using their powers in tandem to leave the confines of Liddleville, Reed pilots them to the power supple where he hopes to restore their minds to their proper bodies. But they find that the power supply unit is gone and they need to lure Doom into their clutches. To this end, Reed has Ben pull an electrical wire from Liddleville's computer systems and they break free the water from the river. When no alarms sound, Sue convinces the rest of the team to let her go out and seek Doom herself. Sue attacks Doom as he is playing the piano with his mask off, but he manages to pin her under a drinking glass. Putting back on his mask, Doom goes in to look on his prisoners. Spotting the exposed wires in the flooded room, Doom blasts it with his gauntlet, unaware that Reed had anticipated this and the energies used have begun charging the Liddleville device. The three remaining members of the Fantastic Four then ambush Doctor Doom, tripping him over. When Doom reaches out for purchase, he grabs hold two ends of a circuit that Reed constructed that not only jolts Doom with electricity, completes the process of returning the Fantastic Four, Alicia and Franklin to their original bodies. In the aftermath of the battle, the Fantastic Four find the inert body of Doctor Doom laying on the floor. Reed decides that they should take Doom back to their headquarters until they can turn him over to the Latverian embassy. As the Fantastic Four leave Doom's castle, they are unaware that they are being watched by Doctor Doom himself, whose mind fled into the body of Professor Vaughn. Doom then plans to wait until his hated foes are off guard before he activates the ring to return himself to his original body. But before he can do so, a rock hits the ring, damaging it. Doom is then shocked to see that Phillip Masters has gathered up all the mock-citizens of Liddleville into a lynch mob. Angered that Doom foiled his plans to make his step-daughter happy, Phillip Masters thirsty for revenge. Doom is then sent fleeing into the countryside of Liddleville, an angry mob of faux-citizens chasing after him from behind. Brodie's View:I'm going to start this review off by saying that this is the best issue of the run (and the Pre run) so far, as it is, pun intended, truly a Fantastic issue that reaffirmed what heroes the FF are, as well as their importance to the Marvel Universe. It's crazy to think that John Byrne was able to beautifully illustrate this by taking the foursome's powers away, and other than Reed, who we'll get to in a second, giving them the normal life they would have had, had they not went on that catastrophic space flight that gave them their powers. Of course this is all an illusion created by two of the team's oldest foes, The Puppet Master (who deep down agrees to this to give his step daughter, Alicia Masters, the life she deserves to have) and their ultimate enemy...DOCTOR DOOM, who basically does it to stick it to his most hated enemy, Reed Richards. However, it's interesting to note that despite being happy, the three non Mr. Fantastic members of the FF are all plagued by nightmares depicting the flight and their gaining their powers. Once again, being the true heroes they are, they subconsciously reject the fantasy scenario created for them by PM and Doom. All except for Reed, who Doom keeps under his thumb by muddying his thought process, as well as causing him stress and grief by posing as the dean of the college Reed teaches at. Finally, the pieces all come together, as Reed realizes that they've been duped, and after slicing his arm open, realizes that they are in artificial bodies. It is revealed that the situation is far worse than even they imagined, as they are actually little puppet clones in a miniature town. However, Reed is able to use a particle accelerator to give the team their powers back (as their clone bodies were made up from cells of their actual bodies, which are in stasis), and despite being tiny, they are able to trick the arrogant Doom into frying the machine keeping them asleep, while also trapping Doom in the robot body he had inhabited earlier. That's a nice little synopsis, but it really does sell short a lot of the little things (no pun intended) Byrne puts into this issue, as the biggest tragedy involved in the FF leaving their perfect lives is the one of Ben Grimm, who in this reality is married to Alicia (who can see) and owns a pub. At first, Ben rejects Reed's plan to fight Doom, as he doesn't want to give up the happiness he has found, but being the true hero he is, he ends up being the first to get his powers back. However, once everyone is in their own bodies, Alicia reveals that she's always known that Ben was a giant pile of orange rocks as the Thing, and still loves him. It's kind of bittersweet, given how things end up after Ben stays on Battleworld in the Post SECRET WARS period, but that's still a few years away, so, we'll let the couple enjoy their happiness for now, right? This is just one of many great moments that happen in this story, as Byrne knew he had to come with the fire for the FF's 20th Anniversary issue, as if finally bringing the team's ultimate foe, Doctor Doom, into the mix for this story wasn't enough. And don't worry, Doom will most certainly be back a few times in this run, and he will have some pretty awesome moments even past his actions here. Let's not forget the kicking cover as well, which pretty much depicts every major Marvel hero in play at that point (and Stan the Man) celebrating Marvel's First Family. This issue is a winner from top to bottom. Also included in this issue (but sadly not in the trade I'm using to cover these issues, hence, no review for it) was a small comic book adaptation of one of the 1978 FANTASTIC FOUR cartoon episodes, drawn by the Legendary Jack Kirby, which is also in itself an adaptation of an early FF issue involving Doom (FF #5). We'll cool it down a little bit in the next issue, as the FF will encounter a group of aliens in a story very reminiscent of the two part story Byrne did for #220/221, however, we'll also start to learn the truth behind Frankie Raye and her fear of fire. GRADE: A+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 7, 2020 0:46:47 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #237"The Eyes Have It!"Cover Date: Dec, 1981 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Spinerette & the Bums using her (Only Appearance of All) Special Guests: Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, Frankie Raye, Doctor Doom, Mr. Raymond, & Juliette Angelo (First Appearance of the Last) Official Plot:Having returned home from their battle against Doctor Doom and the Puppet Master, the Human Torch leaves his teammates on the roof of the Baxter Building so he can go off and check in on his girlfriend Frankie Raye. Reed then instructs Ben to carry the inert body of Doctor Doom down to his lab where the body is put in stasis where it will remain until Reed has a chance to call the Latverian embassy and arrange to have Doom turned over to them. When Reed and Sue decide to take their son Franklin out, they offer Ben and Alicia to join them but they decline opting to spend some time alone. Going to the gym, Ben and Alicia begin talking about their recent episode in Liddleville and how her step-father the Puppet Master tricked them into thinking they were married. When Alicia begins asking Ben when they will do it for real, he tells her that as long as he is the Thing, they can't get married because he won't be able to provide her with a normal life. Meanwhile, Sue has caught Reed getting back into his work after getting ready to go out. Even though Reed has detected a strange object that has fallen out of the sky, Sue has no interest in Reed not spending time with the family and uses her powers to push him out of the lab. Meanwhile, Johnny arrives at the apartment where his girlfriend leaves. Knocking on the door he is surprised when it is answered by Frankie's roommate, actress Juliette D'Angelo -- who insists that he call her Julie Angel. Frankie calls Johnny into her room and she tells him that something horrible has happened and she has been trying to get a hold of him for days. Calming her down, Johnny tells her to explain what is going on. Frankie has Johnny sit down, and she removes her bathrobe -- exposing herself to him -- and what Johnny sees comes as a sudden shock. Later that day, Reed and Sue are out horseback riding with Franklin in Central Park when suddenly their afternoon together is interrupted by the sound of an alarm. Going to its source, Reed finds that a nearby jewelry store is being robbed by what appears to be some homeless men. As Reed tries to subdue them a seven foot blue skinned woman emerges from the robbed store and suddenly strikes Reed with a powerful vertigo that sends him into unconsciousness. Witnessing this from an alley, Sue tells Franklin to wait for her and tries to approach the alien woman and hobos invisibly. However the strange alien -- called Spinneret by the vagabonds -- is able to see her and use its powers against her as well. Seeing both of his parents hurt angers Franklin lashes out with is mutant powers, felling Spinneret with his powerful abilities. The homeless man then grabs the strange woman and flee the scene. Franklin rushes to his parents who are just recovering from the attack, just as the authorities arrive. With the police, Reed and Sue investigate the scene of the crime and learn that after stealing pieces of silver, the alien woman left some strange ball bearings while the homeless men looting the place. The investigation is interrupted when another burglar alarm begins to blare down the street. Reed and Sue rush to the scene where they spot Spinneret and the homeless men fleeing from a pawn shop. Once again the crooks manage to elude the two heroes, but Reed manages to nab one of the homeless men as he flees. Questioning the pawn shop owner, Reed learns that the alien took some calculators that operate on solar cells and left behind more ball bearings. Getting an idea what might be going on, they question the homeless man they took prisoner. He learns how he and his fellow drifters came across the strange alien woman on the outskirts of the city one night. After seeing her power and noticing her interest in a watch worn by a derelict named Archie, they managed to convince her to help them commit robberies even though there was a significant language barrier between them. Realizing what is going on, Reed and Sue return to the Baxter Building where he recovers their universal translator. Telling he that they have to stop a diplomatic blinder, they go out and catch Spinneret and the homeless men involved in yet another robbery -- this one surrounded by the police. Reed tells the officers to stand down while he tries to communicate with the alien using his universal translator, but finds that it is only translating gibberish. Realizing what is wrong, Reed tells Sue to place a force field around Spinneret. Complying, Reed explains that the oxygen content in Earth's atmosphere is too rich, and the alien they know as Spinneret was intoxicated by it the whole time. With her mind finally clear, "Spinnerette" explains that she is an explorer named Solon Stabilizer and her people were on a mission when they crash landed on Earth. With the truth revealed, Reed and Sue assist Solon in collecting the things she needs to make repairs on their ship. There they meet the rest of the Solons who are genetic clones of each other. Reed explains to Sue that they each have powers tailor-made to deal with the rigors of space travel, Solon Stabilizer was tasked with protecting her crew from vertigo caused by space travel. With the ship repaired, the Solons bid the couple farewell and blast off into space. Brodie's View:After the dizzying heights of the last issue, we get a few cool down character story issues until the next BIG EVENT, and this is the first of those "cool down" issues. We do get a little bit of fallout from the events of last issue as well; first, we see Doctor Doom's body, which will be inert for a while, as his mind is still trapped the Dean Vaughn body in Liddleville, and will stay that way for a little while, being put in stasis until the FF can figure out what to do with it. With that all settled, we get some character stuff between the Thing and Alicia Masters, as the two try to heal any scars that were ripped open due to their experiences in Liddleville. Meanwhile, the Torch goes to visit the woman he is currently seeing, Frankie Raye, who shows him one of her major secrets by undressing, and it isn't the "secret" that most would guess that would come from such a scenario. We'll find out a good portion about Frankie Raye in the next issue, so, we'll leave that hanging for now, much like Byrne does to us in the issue itself. However, I will add that we are introduced to Frankie's roommate, Juliette D'Angelo, a struggling actress that Johnny will soon find himself being drawn to, womanizer that he is....lol. However, this is all side story stuff. The main story concerns Reed and Sue having a day out with Franklin that ends up being interrupted by a jewelry store robbery where the robbers are being aided by a large female alien that has the ability to cause massive vertigo to those she sees as threats. Both Reed and Sue get messed up trying to stop her, which makes Franklin attack her with his powers. This causes the alien and the robbers to flee, and Reed realizes that things may not be what they seem where it concerns this alien. He winds up getting a universal translator, which allows him to speak to the female alien, who originally came to Earth to find parts for her crashed ship. However, the Earth's oxygen levels end up making her "drunk," and in her altered state of being, she was able to be manipulated by a group of bums into helping them with their robberies. Once this is all uncovered, the female alien takes the two FF'ers back to her ship, which is full of male and female aliens that look similar to her, and Reed helps them fix their ship, which allows them to go back to their planet, ending this story. As I stated in the last review, the basic thrust of this story is very similar to the resolving of the Two Part story Byrne wrote/drew in FF #220-221, although, I will say that this alien's actions wasn't as dire as the actions taken by the aliens in those issues. However, in both issues there was a case of mistaken intentions between the FF and the aliens in question, which is solved in a very similar way, and with the same end results. I guess Byrne figured that not as many people read that last story as were reading the book by that point, so, why not rip one's own story off for a larger audience? That all being said, this story wasn't as good as the one for #220-221, and it most certainly wasn't as good as last issue's story, but it was solid, and I did enjoy the character/story stuff on the side. We'll get a lot more of that in the next issue, as we will get two short stories instead of one long one; the first will spill the beans where it concerns Frankie Raye, her fear of fire, and the secret she showed Johnny by disrobing in this issue. The second will concern the Thing, who will be going through a MAJOR change in the attempt to cure him of being the Thing once and for all. GRADE: B+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 9, 2020 1:25:07 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #238"The Lady Is for Burning!/The More Things Change..."Cover Date: Jan, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: None Special Guests: (1st Story) Frankie Raye (Origin Revealed), Aunt Petunia Grimm, Jake Grimm, (1st Appearance of Both), Sam, & Phineas Horton (In Flashback Form Only) (2nd Story) Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, & H.U.B.E.R.T. (1st Appearance of) Official Plot:(1st Story) Frankie Raye has disrobed in front of her boyfriend Johnny Storm, revealing to him a strange costume that she is wearing underneath. She explains that she doesn't know where it came from and that it seems to disappear whenever she puts on clothing. When the couple begin talking about this bizarre discovery, Frankie begins to dimly recall waking up in a warehouse surrounded by ash wearing nothing but a trench coat draped over her, with little memory of her past. Remembering at least where she lived, Frankie lived thanks to money that was anonymously mailed to her. Other than her name and the name of her step-father Thomas, Frankie had little luck at remembering her past. When Frankie begins talking about the night she first met the Human Torch at the Last Disco night club, she was both attracted and disgusted by him due to a fear of fire. Johnny keeps pushing Frankie to try to remember and as she gets more and more upset something startling happens: she bursts into flame as well. Suddenly set free by this newly discovered power, Frankie Raye rockets into the sky with complete abandon. Seeing that this might be trouble, Johnny absorbs the flames around the apartment and follows after her. Catching up to Frankie, Johnny begins to coach her on how to properly use her powers and convinces her to exercise some restraint after she had a head-on collision with a billboard. With her powers exposed, Frankie feels long held mental blocks beginning to fall away, allowing her to remember her lost past. She explains that her step-father was an older man who married her mother long after Frankie was born. After her mother died, Thomas raised Frankie as one of his own. A caring man, Thomas Raye became upset when reading the news about the birth of the Fantastic Four, particularly regarding the appearance of a new Human Torch. As it turned out, "Thomas Raye" was actually Phineas Horton, the inventor of the original Human Torch android from World War II. Believing his creation to be destroyed, Horton decided to show the world what a real Human Torch was like by creating a new one. Taking Frankie to a long abandoned warehouse where Horton stored his long discarded scientific equipment they began working on doing just that. However tragedy struck when Frankie's foot broke through a floor board while she was carrying a barrel of volatile chemicals. The chemicals spilled all over Frankie, setting her ablaze. Horton quickly realized that the flames were not harming his step daughter and used his trench coat to smother the flames. He then hypnotized her to forget the whole ordeal, his involvement, as well as instilling her with a fear of fire. Frankie went about her life for a year in complete solitude until one day she received a package from her step-father which contained the costume and recorded instructions. Putting on the outfit, Frankie listened to the recording creating another hypnotic suggestion to make her forget about it. Finally feeling free, Frankie decides to soar as high up into the sky as possible, ignoring Johnny's warnings that the oxygen is thin in the upper atmosphere. As the Torch feared, Frankie's flame was eventually snuffed out by the lack of air and he quickly saves her. With Frankie's flame restored, the couple then decide to go to the Baxter Building to give the news to the rest of the Fantastic Four. They arrive just as Reed and Sue are working on expanding Sue's powers. As Sue successfully turns herself and the stool she is sitting on invisible, Johnny and Frankie enter the room. After explaining everything to Reed, Mister Fantastic decides to run some tests on Frankie to see what they can learn about her powers. After a full analysis, Reed concludes that Frankie's powers are very much similar to Johnny's only she has more precise temperature control and can burn much longer. When Johnny asks, Reed tells him that Frankie can go on probation to be an addition to the team. Later, Ben is in for a shock after grudgingly carrying a massive crate into the Baxter Building when he witnesses both Johnny and Frankie hovering in the air sharing a kiss. Meanwhile, in the town of Benson, Arizona, another local has been scared seemingly to death. The two doctors examining the body conclude that this latest victim is like all the others and agree that it is time to finally call in the help of the Fantastic Four. (2nd Story) Sue and Franklin pay a visit to Reed in his lab, just as Richards is putting the finishing touches on a new robot nanny for Franklin. Reed hopes that the robot can not only keep an eye on their son's needs while they are away, but also keep tabs on the boys emerging mutant powers. When Ben and Alicia return to the Baxter Building, Ben mistakes this new robot as the formerly deranged HERBIE and tries to smash it. Reed stops the Thing and assures him that this robot lacks the personality programming that caused HERBIE to turn on them in the first place. Telling Ben that he has a surprise, Reed shows the Thing his latest invention that he hopes will cure the Thing forever. Reed tells Ben that this will be a permanent transformation that cannot be reversed. Initially, Ben has his reservations, citing all the times that Reed had failed at curing him in the past. Those gathered are unaware that Ben secretly harbors doubts that Alicia actually loves the Thing, and that if he were cured she might leave him. After some convincing, Ben agrees to undergo the transformation and at first it seems to work as Ben is reverted back to his human form. Suddenly the machine begins to short circuit and then explodes. As the smoke begins to clear, Reed is shocked to see that instead of being restored to normal, Ben has been reverted back to the leathery skinned form that he had during the early days of the Fantastic Four. Brodie's View:We get a Two For One deal with this issue, with both stories dealing with character/storyline development, and beyond that, both stories involve change. In the case of the first story, it's Frankie Raye finally remembering her past and the fact that she has fire powers similar to her on again/off again boyfriend, of course, the Human Torch, who listens to her origin story before having to play coach to her in the ways of dealing with flight and fire power. Frankie's origin goes back to her father, who secretly was Phineas Horton, the scientist who designed the original Human Torch. This wouldn't be the first time Byrne would reference Horton, as both he and the original Human Torch would factor in to the later part of Byrne's WEST COAST AVENGERS run. Back to Frankie, though, her becoming a second Human Torch would briefly lead to her being part of the team, but as we soon will discover, Frankie is kind of in the whole super hero things for the wrong reasons, which will shuttle her on a far different path than readers were probably expecting at the time. However, that won't come for a few issues. In the meantime, we get the tease for the story that will follow in the next issue, and the introduction, although we don't know it during the brief interlude we get, of some of the Thing's family, and more specifically, his Aunt Petunia that he always references. We get her proper introduction in the next issue, as the team will help her deal with a rash of mysterious deaths that are happening in her town. Going back to Petunia's favorite nephew, the second story deals with a major change that happens with him, as Reed once again tries to cure Ben Grimm of his being the Thing. However, things (no pun intended....or is there ) go array with the process, and instead of returning to his human state, Ben is devolved into his original Thing form, which makes him look more like a hardened lava flow than a walking pile of orange rocks. This is probably due to Byrne's hating having to draw all of the Thing's specific rocks, or perhaps he just wanted something different for the iconic character. I will say that it's strongly implied, both in this story and future ones, that Ben subconsciously is sabotaging these attempts to cure him of being the Thing (this being no exception) due to his fear that his beloved Alicia Masters is in love with the Thing, rather than Ben Grimm. We'll eventually learn that Ben, at a certain point, had the power to change back to human any time he wanted, but he was subconsciously choosing to remain the Thing. This will become known some time in the Post SECRET WARS period. That all being said, this was definitely an important issue, at least in the short term of things. One cool thing to note about the second story is the reuniting of Byrne and Terry Austin (who was his inker for most of his run on UNCANNY X-MEN), which gives the story a different look and feel than the first. However, the first is definitely the more important story when it comes to the long term (or semi long term) future of the Marvel Universe. I won't spoil too much about that though, as it contains some major spoilers of what's to come. I will also mention that we see the first appearance of H.E.R.B.E.R.T. in the second story, as Reed rebuilt HERBIE to act as his son Franklin's baby sitter. Of course, HERBERT is just about as doomed as HERBIE was, but at least I can say that HERBERT isn't corrupted and turned against the team the way HERBIE was. All in all, both stories were pretty solid, and as I said before, important, in both the short and long term when it comes to the FF. In the next issue, we'll continue the storyline that was teased at the end of the first story, as the FF will investigate what exactly is making people die of fright in the little town of Benson, Arizona. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 10, 2020 19:22:04 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #239"Wendy's Friends"Cover Date: Feb, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Wendy's Friends (1st Appearance) Special Guests: Frankie Raye, Aunt Petunia Grimm, Jake Grimm, Alicia Masters, Jimmy O'Hoolihan, Quicksilver, Crystal, Lockjaw, Wendy, Dame Ruth Efford, & Roberta (1st Appearance of the Last Three) Mike & Carol (Dies) Official Plot:A young woman approaches the Baxter Building in the and asks Mr. O'Houlihan the doorman how to reach the Fantastic Four. He informs her that the FF have recently installed a public reception desk just below their headquarters. The woman then uses the elevator to go to the reception and is shocked to learn that the receptionist is really a robot being installed by the Human Torch. When she says she needs the Fantastic Four's help, Johnny agrees to take her up, telling her that she has already been deemed non-threatening by the building's security systems as she entered the room. Upstairs, Reed is going over data of the Thing's recent reversion from his rock-like exterior to his previous form that he had when the Fantastic Four was first mutated by cosmic rays. Reed is stressed out because the change is apparently permanent but can't seem to fathom how Ben can be taking it so well. Sue tries to assure Reed that Ben is good at masking his feelings and that he knew the risks when they took their original space flight. Reed agrees with her, but it does nothing to dispel his grief and frustration over the situation. Elsewhere in the training room, Alicia and Frankie Raye are on hand as Ben tests out the strength of his new form and is surprised to find that this transformation has done nothing to his strength levels. Suddenly, Johnny enters the room with the woman from the lobby. Ben shocks them all when he identifies the woman as his often mentioned Aunt Petunia, which is something that Johnny finally figures out after Ben does a round of introductions. Later in the residential level of the Fantastic Four's headquarters Petunia explains that Ben's constant references to her age is a bit of a in-joke with him as she is much younger than his uncle Jake's first wife when they first got married. She explains that not long after Ben was turned into the Thing, both she and Jake left New York to open their practice in Benson, Arizone and this is why she has come calling on the Fantastic Four's for help. She explains that for some strange reason the people of Benson are being scared to death. Soon the Fantastic Four arrive in the town of Benson to investigate the mysterious deaths that have been plaguing the town. When they land, Ben complains about having to wear the original uniform that was designed for him during the early days of the team. Reed explains that in order not to increase the amount of fear in town, Ben has to keep a lower profile, and needs to cover up his appearance. Ben's griping soon ends when the local sheriff arrives with his uncle Jake. After a warm reunion with Ben, Jake takes Reed in to examine the bodies of the victims at the local doctors office. There, Reed emerges with more questions than answers and tells the rest of the team that the looks of horror on the faces of the victims was unlike anything he has seen before. After probing the sheriff with questions on local happenings yield's no clues, they are interrupted by the arrival of occult expert Dame Ruth Efford with a young local girl named Wendy. Having heard of Efford's work, Reed welcomes her to their discussion and the Fantastic Four learn that she had come to examine something that young Wendy had discovered out in the desert: an arrowhead in a location where there is no record of an indigenous tribe having ever existed. They are soon taken out to the dig where Reed examines the strata layers and is surprised to find that the evidence came from centuries earlier than known settlements. While Reed and Ruth go through the dig, Sue and Ben talk to Wendy about her discovery. They learn that she used to come out to the desert when her mother was dying and discovered the place, but was disappointed when her correspondence with Dame Efford led to the dig happening. Wendy makes mention to her friends living out here. Not taking Wendy literally, Ben jokes that she has made better friends. Wendy is clearly amused by this, telling him that she has amazing friends. All the while some unseen things seem to shimmer ominously behind her. Later that night, two of Efford's students -- Mike and Carol -- are out near the dig. Carol wants to go back to camp, but Mike is insistent that they are going to find something amazing. They do, but not in the way they expected as the temperature begins to drastically drop. Soon they are enveloped in a white fog that swallows their screams in the still nights. Meanwhile, far away in the hidden city of Attilan a war is raging. Quicksilver rushes into check on his pregnant wife from the battle field. Crystal is not doing well the doctor tells him, due to the fact that the strange illness affecting the Inhumans now affects her as well. The doctor isn't sure what will happen to their unborn child due to her mixed heritage and suggests that the only help they can get rests outside the walls of the hidden land. Back in Benson, the bodies of Mike and Carol are found the next morning. The Fantastic Four and their allies go out to investigate the bodies, but Reed's scans of the area yield no results. When Ruth decides that young Wendy should return home, Frankie offers to fly the girl home. When they arrive, Frankie is shocked to see that Wendy lives in little more than a hovel. When Wendy's father --clearly drunk-- angrily slaps the girl across the face with a newspaper for not cleaning up before leaving, Frankie tosses fire balls at him and is about to pummel him when Wendy tells her to stop. When Frankie asks if her father hits her often, Wendy says no, only when he drinks too much. With no other real options, Frankie decides to leave but warns Wendy's father not to lay a hand on the girl again or he will face her wrath. While back at the hotel that is the makeshift operations for the Fantastic Four, Reed and Ruth continue to compile data but find no clues as to what is killing the people here. As dark clouds begin to roll over Benson, Reed admits to the fact that they may be facing a force that they have no idea how to fight. Later that evening after Wendy's father has passed out from yet another night of drinking. Bruised from her most recent beating, the young girl sneaks out of the house and wanders out into the desert to be with her friends. Out in the wilderness she is caught up in the swirling mist but she is unafraid as it lifts her up off the ground and then drops her again. Suddenly the blackness descends on the town of Benson, taking on the form of small demons. They attack the Thing, and he tries to fight them off waking up the rest of the team. Going outside they notice that the town has been set ablaze. Johnny and Frankie then spring into action and use their powers to absorb as much of the flames as possible while the rest of the team evacuates the locals. With the flames getting closer to a fuel depot, Sue encloses it in a invisible force field while Ben topples a water tower to flood the fire. In the aftermath of the chaos, half the people in town decide to flee in fear in order to avoid their own deaths. Among those who remain behind are Wendy and her father. When Frankie spots Wendy's father she confronts him about the fresh set of bruises, but before she can do anything she is ordered to stand down by Mister Fantastic. When Frankie balks at his orders, he tells her that they are in no position to pass judgement over their fellow man. He then points out that if anything, Wendy's father learned what it's like to earn the wrath of something of a higher power instead. Realizing that the creatures were punishing the town for what he did to his daughter, Wendy's promises to try and make a change. With no conclusive answers to be had, Reed determines that whatever forces at work in this area were testing the people in this town to determine if they are worth to stay here. The Fantastic Four depart shortly thereafter. After saying her goodbyes to the Fantastic Four she ventures out to the desert and a secret cavern not far from the dig. Inside she finds a seat among the rubble and soon finds herself surrounded by her little friends, the very creatures that besieged the town the night before. Brodie's View:This is an interesting little story that takes us away from the trappings of the usual super villain stories, or even the science based threats that the Fantastic Four would usually face. This story takes us into the realm of the mystical, and thus delivers a threat that the team, even with the brilliant mind of Reed Richards, is kind of useless against. What's funny is that while the threat, little demons that can cause massive damage or death by fear, would have been something the residents of the little town of Benson, Arizona would never have encountered, were it not for the fact that the demons had become friends with a little girl named Wendy, who was being abused by her alcoholic father. This caused the demons to basically punish the town by killing various people by confronting them with their own dark sides, which caused the fear based deaths, and finally destroying the town itself, as all but 28 people flee the town by story's end. The FF only realize part of this, as only we, as readers, are shown the true reason why the demons acted the way they did, so, the best they can do is damage control when the demons unleash their major onslaught 3/4's of the way through the story. However, going back to the beginning, we do get the proper introduction of the Thing's beloved Aunt Petunia, who is one of Benson's fed doctors, and the one who comes to the Baxter Building to seek the team's help in the first place. As we saw in the last issue, Petunia is younger and more attractive than the years of Ben's referencing her would have hinted at, which flabbergasts the team (especially Johnny, who tries to lightweight hit on her as she enters the main part of the building.....never change, Torch....lol. Another couple of things to note about this issue is that this is the first story where the Frankie Raye Human Torch actually gets to go on a mission with the team. Unfortunately, she doesn't make such a great showing for herself by threatening to kill Wendy's abusive father, as justified as that killing might have been. This causes Reed to force her to stay back at the Baxter Building during the team's next adventure, which probably contributes to the path her life will take a few issues for now in much the same way the Jedi Counsel kind of set up their own demise in the Star Wars prequels by ostracizing Anakin Skywalker. Speaking of the FF's next adventure, we do get a bit of a tease of that in this issue, as we see the plight of long time FF allies, The Inhumans, as they seem to be going through some kind of war with Black Bolt's brother, Maximus, and his forces. We don't actually get to see the battle, but we see a wounded Quicksilver coming back from one of the battles to check on his wife, Crystal, who is about to give birth to their child. However, there is something that is making the Inhumans sick, so, there is worry that Crystal might not survive the birthing process, which leads to Quicksilver leaving to seek the FF's help. I'll get back to all of that in a second, but I will comment on this issue by saying what I said at the very beginning of this review; that this was an interesting story that took a more moral lesson/ironic turn than one would have expected from a story like this. I do like the fact that the team failed to stop the threat, as they never understood the true cause of the creature's actions, at least not the full extent of it. I will also say that although I enjoyed seeing the Byrne/Austin artist/inker team reunited in last issue's second story, I much prefer Byrne doing his own inks, as it gives a more darker, well defined look to the characters than someone else inking his artwork, particularly when it comes to this older/newer version of the Thing, who looks MUCH more impressive and cool with the Byrne inking. Anyways, leaving all that behind, in the next issue, we will see a major shift when it comes to the lives of the Inhumans; one that pretty much would last for a good twenty years worth of continuity. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 12, 2020 1:16:36 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #240"Exodus"Cover Date: March, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: The Enclave & Maximus Special Guests: Frankie Raye, Quicksilver, The Watcher, HUBERT, Franklin Richards, SHIELD (Nick Fury & Dum Dum Dugan), The Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Triton, Gorgon, Karnak, Lockjaw, Crystal, and the unnamed Daughter of Crystal & Quicksilver), Glytra, & Marak (Only Appearance of the Last Two) Official Plot:Quicksilver speed through New York City on a direct route to the Baxter Building, headquarters of the Fantastic Four. He enters the building as the Thing is busy hiding Franklin's Christmas gifts. Because it is dark, and because he does not recognize the Thing in his new form, he mistakes him for an intruder and attacks. The sound of battle attracts the Human Torch and his girlfriend Frankie Raye who try to subdue the speeding blur that is in their headquarters. Realizing who it is, Johnny stops Frankie from make a fatal error and killing Quicksilver with her flame powers. Still not realizing who it is, Ben is still trying to subdue Pietro, but he zips out of the away. Sue enters the room and tries to halt him with an invisible force field, but Reed steps in and shield's Pietro with his body. When everyone realizes who has come to their headquarters, the hostilities stop instantly. Quicksilver is surprised to see the transformation the Thing has undergone and is introduced to the Fantastic Four's new trainee, Frankie Raye. With the introductions out of the way the Fantastic Four and Pietro get down to the matter at hand. Quicksilver explains that Attilan is in a deadly conflict and that it's people are dying from some strange illness. He explains that one day while they were out picking flowers, Crystal and Medusa were attacked by members of the Enclave. Soon after Crystal returned home to warn them the Enclave launched their full scale assault on Attilan. During the course of the battle the royal family learned that they were betrayed by Maximus. He finishes his tale by saying that the Inhumans began falling ill to some strange plague, which prompted him to see out the Fantastic Four for help. When Johnny berates Quicksilver for not using Lockjaw to get to them sooner, Pietro explains that the loyal dog would not leave Crystal's side until he could assure the Fantastic Four's aid. When Reed pledges the Fantastic Four's aid, Quicksilver activates a device that summons Lockjaw. Before departing, the Fantastic Four tell Frankie that this is a private matter and that she is to stay behind and teleport away. With nothing to do, Frankie checks on Franklin and finds him sleeping quietly then goes to the nearest phone to call her roommate. Thousands of miles away, the Fantastic Four and Quicksilver materialize in the center of Attilan and the group is shocked by the level of destruction that has affected the kingdom. They are soon greeted by Medusa and Gorgon who inform them that the battle with the Enclave is now over and the battle won from the most unlikeliest of corners: from Maximus himself, who seemingly sacrificed himself to save the Inhumans. The Fantastic Four are then taken to the great hall where Black Bolt has been expending his weakening energies to try and fight off the plague affecting his people, at the point of exhaustion Black Bolt faints when Reed checks to see how he is doing. Reed gets to work immediately trying to isolate the problem and determines that the illness affecting the Inhumans is the same that affected Crystal years earlier during her time with the Fantastic Four: pollution from the outside world. With no clean air left on Earth, Reed is at an impasse as to what to do, telling them that he can develop a drug to help them ward off the effects, but does not feel right making the Inhumans chemically dependent for their survival. When brainstorming on a solution, Medusa and Karnak mention how the Great Refuge was moved once before in the past. When it's obvious that there is nowhere on Earth they can stay, Reed suddenly has the solution to their problem: The Blue Area of the Moon. Those who are still able bodied begin working together to lift Attilan from its foundation and relocate it the moon. With Reed and Black Bolt working on the anti-gravity generators and sealing up the city, Ben and Sue prepare a path of travel. After Karnak and Gorgon work together to crack the foundation around the Great Refuge. With only one task remaining, Black Bolt silently enters the tunnels of the Alpha Primitives, who have been faced with starvation and death since they were freed from the Inhuman's slavery and offers them a chance to join them in the stars. The Primitives grudgingly agree and Black Bolt then uses his voice to destroy the base of the mountain surrounding Attilan so the city can take off for the stars. Before joining his kingdom, Black Bolt then uses his powers to leave a marker commemorating Maximus for his sacrifice. As Attilan flies over the Earth, its passage is detected by a S.H.I.E.L.D. satellite. Aboard are Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan. They don't know what to make of the strange craft, but their attentions are soon diverted to some strange energy readings coming out of Africa. As Uatu the Watcher looks on, Attilan makes its final descent onto the Blue Area of the Moon, where it's pure artificial atmosphere will be safe for the Inhumans to breath. As Attilan lands on the surface, it buries the spot where the Phoenix sacrificed her life to save the universe. Not long after the Inhumans touch down on their new home, Crystal goes into labor. Reed assists in the birth and Crystal gives birth to a healthy baby girl who, much to the surprise of everyone, is a totally normal human being. Brodie's View:I will start off by saying the same thing I usually say whenever there is an issue that involves The Inhumans, I'm not really a big fan of them. Not to say that I hate the characters; good writers can get good stories out of them, such as we see here, but as a whole, they really do nothing for me as a concept. That all being said, since this issue is VERY Inhumans centered, I will do my best to try to not let my feelings towards the Inhumans as a whole sully my judgement on this issue. It starts with Quicksilver locating the Baxter Building, only to be instantly attacked by most of the team, other than Reed, who is in his lab. Frankie Raye, once again, tries to actually kill Quicksilver before Johnny stops her, which is probably a major reason she is left out of the rest of this issue's story. Once Reed shows up and calms everyone down, Quicksilver fills the team in on what has been going on in Attilan (the hidden city that the Inhumans inhabit) since the FF last dealt with the Inhumans. Basically, there was a war between the Inhumans and a group known as the Enclave; the Inhumans won the war, but at great cost, as a mysterious illness started to weaken and kill some of them. To make things worse, at least for Quicksilver, his wife, Crystal, is in labor with their child, and Pietro is frantic to get back to Attilan with the only people that he knows that might be able to help their situation, Reed Richards. The FF, minus Frankie Raye, journey back to Attilan with Quicksilver to find the city deserted. However, it's revealed that the Inhumans were only in hiding, as they are greeted by Medusa and some of the other Inhumans. They are taken to Black Bolt, who has been using his own power to lessen the effects of whatever sickness has been taking his people out, but even his powers have limits, and he collapses as soon as he and Reed exchange pleasantries (well, at least in motion, as Black Bolt speaking would have vaporized Mr. Fantastic). This causes Reed to run some experiments, which leads to the discovery that the "sickness" which has been affecting and killing the Inhumans is their inability to deal with the rising pollution levels on Earth. After wracking his brain on where the Inhumans could go, Reed figures that the safest place for Black Bolt and his people would be on the Blue Area of the Moon, which is where the Watcher resides. With the combined abilities of the FF and the Inhumans, Attilan is separated from the ground it was rooted to, and flown to the moon by the Thing. They finally crash land down on the exact spot the Phoenix killed herself in UNCANNY X-MEN #137, and happily explore their new home. Finally, we get the birth of Crystal and Quicksilver's child, who ends up being neither Inhuman or Mutant (I'm not going to acknowledge that shitty retcon that happened a few years ago that took away Pietro and Wanda's being mutants and the children of Magneto.....I always thought that was REALLY petty by Marvel, and I hope a future writer comes along and un-retcons that little tidbit), as apparently their mixed genes wound up cancelling each other's superhuman abilities out. This would all come to a head during the BLOODLINES storyline of the early 90's, as Magneto's Acolytes would kidnap Crystal and Quicksilver's daughter, only to be disgusted by the fact that she was a mere human. However, here, we're just left with the happy event of her birth, and the Inhumans being safe once again on the moon. I do believe the Inhumans would find their way back to Earth in the last decade of continuity, but I'm not entirely positive about that. Once again, don't give a shit enough about the Inhumans to do THAT much research on the subject. My Meh-ness when it comes to the Inhumans aside, this was a good story that handled a lot of business in such a short time, as this story could have easily gone a few issues. However, Byrne was able to wrap it up in one, without anything, other than the war that seemed to just kind of instantly be over the second Quicksilver left Attilan to find the FF. Then again, the war wasn't really the story here; it was the Inhumans leaving Earth and Quicksilver and Crystal's child being born, which Byrne delivered quite well. Of course, we'll see later on that the future for the Inhumans is not going to be as smooth as one would expect from the ending of this issue, but we'll get to that a bit later. In the next issue, we'll journey to another distant land that the FF know quite well, as that land's ruler is another character that made their first appearance in the pages of the FANTASTIC FOUR comic. That's right, in the next issue, the FF will travel to the land of Wakanda, and you know what that means. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 15, 2020 0:51:50 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #241"Render Unto Caesar!"Cover Date: April, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Emperor Gaius Tiberius & the alien he stole his technology from (Only Appearances of; Both Die) Special Guests: The Black Panther, Frankie Raye, Nova, Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, & M'Naka Official Plot:Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan are visiting the Fantastic Four at their Baxter Building to get Reed's input on a strange energy signature that SHIELD has picked up coming out of Africa. They quickly realize that the signature is coming from the nation of Wakanda, the kingdom ruled by the FF's ally the Black Panther. Fury admits that the reason why they came to the Fantastic Four was because T'Challa would be more receptive to the Fantastic Four coming to investigate over SHIELD. When discussing the situation, Fury also mentions that they picked up a strange UFO that flew over the area when the picked up the energy signature. When Reed tells them it was the kingdom of Attilan when the Fantastic Four assisted in moving it to the moon. Learning this Fury angrily chews out Reed for so reckless an act, pointing out that they could have been blown out of the sky flying over Russian air-space. After Fury and Dugan leave, the Fantastic Four are off in a ship heading for Wakanda. While on board, the Thing tries to impress the team by wearing an Indiana Jones costume, but is met with only laughter. Soon after they arrive in Wakanda, Ben is suddenly attacked by a group of Wakandan warriors. The fight is soon broken up by the Black Panther who recognizes the Thing despite his most recent transformation and invites his old allies into his kingdom. After Reed explains why they are in Africa, the Black Panther tells them how a party of Russians posing as explorers set out to the Tower of M'Kumbe, a mountain in the region some two weeks ago and were never heard from again. Deciding to check this out, the Fantastic four disguise themselves as explorers and with a company of Wakandan warriors head out into the jungle. Unwilling to let his friends go out into the wilderness alone, the Black Panther doffs his costume and follows after them, disguised as one of his own warriors. After two days of travel, the Fantastic Four and their guides make it to the base of the Tower of M'Kumbe. There they find the Russian camp and a startling discovery: the Russians have been stripped clean of their flesh, leaving nothing but skeletons behind. No sooner have they made their discovery, they are surrounded by an army of African natives who are dressed in the armor of Roman soldiers. Reed tells everyone to stand down and not use their powers and see what happens, although he commands Sue to turn invisible so she can view things unrestrained in case there is any immanent danger. The Fantastic Four and their guides are taken prisoner and taken inside the Tower where they are shocked to find some kind of primitive elevator system that lifts them to the summit. There they are even more shocked to find a Roman style society has been established consisting exclusively of Africans. They are soon taken to the ruler of this hidden kingdom, a masked tyrant who calls himself Emperor Gaius Tiberius. When Gaius Tiberius expresses an interest in Frankie, she loses her temper and flames on, blowing their cover. But Scollio manages to easily bat her aside, stripping her of her flame powers in the process. When Ben, Reed and Johnny try to leap into battle they are stripped of their powers as well. Caught in this power nullification as well is Sue, who becomes visible and is taken prisoner along with her comrades. Having had enough of this affront, Gaius Tiberius orders his captives to fall asleep and then orders them to be thrown into the dungeons awaiting a suitable punishment. Inside a massive cage below the palace, T'Challa revives and recovers parts of his costume that has been hidden among his warriors. Dressed as the Black Panther once again, T'Challa then breaks out of his cell, intent on freeing his friends. Sue awakens to find herself in a bed, she is soon greeted by Tiberius who orders her to get dressed and prepare to watch the games. Reed meanwhile awakens to find himself locked in a cell with his arms in shackles and none of his stretching powers to save him. Elsewhere in the dungeon, the Black Panther finds Frankie Raye suspended over an open flame, in order to free her the Black Panther attacks the guards in the room. While above, Flavius shows Sue the arena, where she asks Gaius where he and his kingdom originate from. Gaius explains that centuries ago he was a simple soldier in the Roman army named Flavius Scollio. His troop was sent to explode Africa where they soon came across a crashed alien ship. Although the alien on board slew Flavius' comrades, the Roman warrior managed to get sneak up on the strange creature and slay it. Scollio then stole the alien's armor, which apparently prolonged his life. Deciding to set himself up as an emperor unto himself, Flavius rechristened himself Gaius Tiberius and set up his kingdom atop the Tower of M'Kumbe, creating his perfect Roman society, even though he disliked the native he was forced to make as his subjects. Having finished his story, Gaius then turns Sue's attention to the arena below where he is about to force Johnny and Ben to fight to the death. Pretending to be horrified by the possibility of her friends dying, Sue waits until Tiberius has his backed turned. Seeking to learn the secret of his long life, Sue removes his helmet and is horrified to find nobody underneath. Apparently nothing more but a life force within the armor, Flavius Scollio's essence escapes with the removal of the helmet causing the armor to fall to the ground inert. With the death of Scollio, his power over the region fades, causing everything he built to disappear and his subjects to crumble to dust as they rapidly age. At that moment the Fantastic Four's powers also begin to return. As the realm of Gaius Tiberius crumbles around them, the Fantastic Four, Frankie and the Black Panther manage to escape. At the bottom of the tower, they are shocked when it suddenly explodes. Reed calls out to Sue, worried she was caught in the blast. Sue assures him she is fine, but invisible, as with the apparent death of Tiberius her robes vanished leaving her nude. Reed passes her a jacket to wear for modesty. After hearing Sue's story, he explains how the alien armor preserved Gaius for so many centuries and it failed when the helmet removed. With the mystery now over, the Fantastic Four and their allies head back to Wakanda. Brodie's View:After last issue's story concerning the Inhumans re-locating to the Blue Area of the Moon (which is referenced here, as Reed Richards explains what happens to Nick Fury, who was prepared to fire on the moving land mass before it flew out of their jurisdiction), we're back on a little more familiar ground, as far as their being a typical (if you can call the villain of this issue typical) antagonist for the heroes to have to find a way to defeat. However, this is a One Off threat that is pretty much ended within this very issue, and a real piece of work he is. I mean that in the sense that Emperor Gaius Tiberius (a Roman soldier from ancient times that happened across alien technology, and used that technology to gain great power, and transforming a small region of the land near Wakanda to re-create ancient Rome) is a heel on the level of Colonel DeBeers; a vile racist that most certainly wouldn't be allowed in today's comics, even in the sense of portraying a vile racist villain. Case in point, as he recreates his vision of ancient Rome, he enslaves some of the citizens near Wakanda, but mutes their voices, as he hates hearing their "monkey" tongue. Yeesh! In short, the FF are enlisted by SHIELD to discover the source of a strange energy signature that has been detected near Wakanda. The team (plus Frankie Raye) journey to Wakanda (with Ben dressing like Indiana Jones....lol) to discover said source, and upon arriving to Wakanda, are given a transport to pretend like they are tourists exploring the region. Little do they know that within that transport is the Black Panther himself, disguised as one of the transports. They end up arriving at Tiberius' region, and after confronting the false Caesar, are depowered by the insane "Emperor's" alien power, and captured. Reed is chained up in the dungeon, as is Frankie Raye, who is held up over a slow roasting fire. Ben and Johnny are forced to fight each other for Tiberius's amusement, which leaves Sue (who is brought up to be Tiberius' sex slave) to have to get to the bottom of all of this mess. It's cool to note how much Byrne has strengthened both her power as well as her importance as a character, as once again she must save the male (and Frankie) characters from certain death. Anyways, she finally ends up pulling a moment from the original PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, and removes Tiberius' helmet to reveal....nothing. See, Tiberius had indeed gained great power by stealing the alien tech that he did, but little did he know that the alien outfit he wore basically ate up his physical form, and he was basically being held together by the alien armor. When Sue removes his helmet, what was left of the physical form of "Emperor" Tiberius simply faded away, ending both the threat and the story entirely. This was a pretty cool one off that got it's business done pretty quickly and neatly. Emperor Tiberius, as stated earlier, was a real piece of work, character-wise, and while he definitely worked for a one off, it's probably a good thing he wasn't a re-occurring villain. That being said, it's too bad that we never got a proper confrontation between he and the Black Panther, as I would have loved to see T'Challa beat the piss out of Tiberius' racist ass. Still, it's cool that Sue wound up being the one to defeat Tiberius, as she is slowly being built up as an equal, both power and character wise, to the other three FF members. In the next issue, we end our "Cool Down" issues with the eventual return of one of the FF's biggest threats (and sometimes ally), and things start to come to a head where it relates to Frankie Raye. We're starting the build towards #250, and the threats are going to get bigger and nastier from here. GRADE: A-
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 16, 2020 0:04:58 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #242"Terrax the Untamed"Cover Date: May, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Terrax & Roach (and his gang)(1st Appearance of the 2nd) Special Guests: Frankie Raye, Alicia Masters, Franklin Richards, Thor, Iron Man, Spider-Man, Daredevil, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Aunt May, Julie Angel, HUBERT, Angie, & Garth (1st Appearance of the Last Two) Official Plot:In the vastness of space speeds Terrax, Herald of Galactus, and he is on a direct course for the planet Earth. At that moment in New York City, at the Baxter Building headquarters of the Fantastic Four, Reed shows off his latest invention: a Christmas tree that collapses into itself to be easily put away. Sue is upset at Reed for taking the fun of cleaning up after the holidays, but they are distracted when Franklin launches one of the toy missiles from his Christmas gift. They are about to scold Franklin for setting it off in the house when Reed suddenly notices that the device has a label on it identifying that it does not fly by any means, bringing up old fears about Franklin's blooming mutant powers. Meanwhile, out in Central Park, the Thing is going for a walk through the snow when he is suddenly stopped by a gang of muggers. However, they flee in a panic when they remove Ben's hat and reveal who he really is. He is soon joined by Alicia who has come seeking Ben as he has been avoiding him for a while after their encounter with the Puppet Master. Happy to see her, Ben takes Alicia into his arms and they walk off together. While in the Bowery, Frankie takes Johnny to the Village Theater where her roommate Julie Angel is participating in their latest production. This mundane visit is suddenly interrupted when one of the actors spots something strange going on in the sky. When Johnny and Frankie go outside, they see a massive dome being erected around the city and quickly flame on and make their way back to headquarters. The Fantastic Four all convene in Reed's lab as he analyses the strange phenomenon and identifies it as some kind of space warp. Rushing into the Baxter Building are the two Torches who warn the rest of the team to look out. Suddenly the upper floors of the Baxter Building are blasted apart by Terrax, who has finally arrived on Earth intent on giving it to his master to feast upon. When the Thing tries to attack Terrax head on, he is slammed through the floor and goes tumbling through the Baxter Building to the ground floor. Terrax then makes short work of both Johnny and Reed, but the Thing soon returns to the battle and punches Terrax into the building across the street and down into the street on the opposite side of that building. Recovering from the fall, Terrax spots the World Trade Center and decides that he will complete his mission from there. Raising his Cosmic Ax from the top of the WTC, he begins creating a barrier around the island of Manhattan that cuts it off from the rest of New York City, cutting off bridges and flooding tunnels. As this is happening, reports reach the neighborhood of Queens where Peter Parker is spending time with his Aunt May. Hearing the news reports, Peter rushes out so he can change into Spider-Man. On the George Washington Bridge is Doctor Donald Blake, who slips away to change into Thor, and away at Stark International on Long Island, Tony Stark also sees the danger and changes into Iron Man. Daredevil also senses the danger and tries to swing into the city, but finds some barrier blocks his path. As the island begins to rise out of the ground and fly into the sky, both Thor and Iron Man pool their abilities to stop the worse of the flooding and free those trapped in the traffic tunnels that lead into the city. Meanwhile, Spider-Man tries to hitch a ride on the floating island but finds that the force field around it prevents his webbing from sticking to it. Inside the force field, Reed orders Sue to use her powers to make the field opaque so as not to start a panic among the other New Yorkers trapped with them. Putting on space equipment, Reed, Ben and Johnny head after Terrax, ordering Frankie to stay behind to keep an eye on Sue. As the Fantastic Four head toward their enemy, panic and looting happen in the streets, earning the attention of J. Jonah Jameson and Joe Robertson of the Daily Bugle. Soon the three male members of the Fantastic Four reach the top of the World Trade Center where they confront Terrax. When they reach their foe he decides to show them where he is taking them: lowering the force field below the top of the WTC, he shows the heroes that they are quickly approaching the ship beloning to Galactus as it is en route to Earth, the next planet to be devoured by Terrax's master. Brodie's View:Holy shit! After a few issues of One Shots and character/subplot issues, we enter our next EPIC story, and an epic story this will be. One can tell from the very first page, as Byrne gives a very cinematic beginning set in the vastness of space. However, we see an asteroid rocketing towards Earth, and on that asteroid, piloting it, is the current herald of Galactus, Terrax the Untamed, and he's come to wreck some shit. Before Terrax arrives on Earth, we get some nice character stuff with the various FF team members, oblivious to what is coming. Reed and Sue take down their Christmas Tree, while dealing with Franklin, who has been using his mutant powers to alter reality to what he wants again. Johnny and Frankie Raye go visit Frankie's roommate, struggling actress, Julie Angel, who is currently performing in an Off, Off, Off Broadway play near the spot where the Torch once found a homeless Sub Mariner (waaayyyyy back in FANTASTIC FOUR #4), while Ben and Alicia try to enjoy a winter day in New York (with Ben stopping a group of thugs trying to mug him with a giant snowball). However, this peace doesn't last, as the skies over New York suddenly go wonky, and shortly after the team are assembled back at the Baxter Building, they are attacked by Terrax, who quickly gains the upper hand on the Foursome. Meanwhile, he uses his cosmic powers to break off the island of Manhattan, and we see various heroes: Spider-Man, Daredevil, Iron Man, and Thor, trying to stop the giant bubble that Terrax has encased Manhattan in. The FF finally catch up to Terrax, who reveals that he has brought them (and Manhattan) into space, as his master, Galactus, who he is currently on the outs with, is approaching to devour their world, and if the FF doesn't destroy Galactus before he arrives, Terrax will destroy Manhattan by flinging it against Galactus' ship. Oh Snap! Wow! What an issue, and we haven't even gotten to the meat of our story yet. I like the fact that while this issue has an Epic teaser, Byrne slows it down for a bit, and allows us to catch up with the team members enjoying their personal lives before they're forced to go into "super hero mode" again. However, when Terrax does arrive, things get crazy REAL quick, and we get some pretty epic fighting between Terrax and the Thing. The Untamed Terrax makes his presence known initially by knocking Ben down through the Baxter Building, but Ben returns the favor by knocking him out of the Baxter Building and through a few more buildings. I love when we get these demonstrations of just how powerful these characters really are, and Byrne draws these blows as epic and cinematic as he can. I'd love to see a film version of this storyline. I also love the fact that Byrne brings in various Marvel heroes to try to deal with the chaos that is happening, rather than just pretending that there aren't a CRAPton of superheros in New York, as Marvel would do at times in the 90's and beyond. We get even more guest stars added to the mix in the next issue, and speaking of that, in the next issue....everybody piles on Galactus for the sake of the planet Earth! (Double ) GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 18, 2020 14:58:49 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #243"Will Earth Endure?"Cover Date: June, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Terrax & Galactus Special Guests: Frankie Raye, The Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, & The Wasp), Spider-Man, Daredevil, J. Jonah Jameson, Joe Robertson, Doctor Strange, & Edwin Jarvis Official Plot:On the ruined top floors of the Baxter Building, Frankie Raye learns from Sue Richards that the stone man attacking their teammates is Terrax, herald of Galactus. Realizing that Galactus is actually a real being that exists in the universe sweeps the young woman with awe. Meanwhile at Avengers Mansion, Captain America and the Wasp arrive to learn from their butler Edwin Jarvis that all the auxiliary generators to the mansion have been mysteriously cut off. While they frantically scramble to make sense of what is happening in Manhattan, Jarvis finally notices that there is something wrong with the sky. Indeed there is, as Sue Richards strains to keep a force field around the city visible so that a panic doesn't start when the locals realize that Manhattan is now speeding through space toward the ship carrying Galactus. As it gets ever closer, above the top of the World Trace Center, Reed, Johnny and Ben face off against Terrax. Terrax offers the three male members of the Fantastic Four an ultimatum: free him from his bondage to Galactus or the entire island of Manhattan will be destroyed and Galactus will be set to feed the Earth. With no other choice, the trio of heroes speed off toward the ship carrying Galactus. On board, Galactus is getting dangerously weak after his various trials and must feed soon. In order to preserve his strength, Galactus uses the last bit of energy stored upon his vessel to revitalize himself temporarily. Grimly, Galactus realizes that he must be the victor in the coming battle or face his demise. Elsewhere on the ship the Fantastic Four make their way to Galactus. Along the way, Reed reminds Ben that Galactus can now feed upon the Earth after he was lifted from his promise in exchange for helping the Fantastic Four defeat the Sphinx. [1] When they finally find Galactus they inform him how Terrax has taken the entire island of Manhattan hostage in order to force the Fantastic Four into bargaining with Galactus to release Terrax as his herald. Before Reed can make a proposal as to how to deal with the issue, Terrax grows impatient with the lack of battle, and decides to face Galactus alone. Having had enough of his errant herald, Galactus unleashes his power, teleporting Manhattan and everyone on it back to Earth. Back at the Baxter Building, Sue collapses after straining herself to keep the force field visible. Frankie is at a loss as to how to deal with the situation, still in awe over Galactus. While at the top of the World Trade Center, Terrax unleashes an furious attack on his master. Having had enough of Terrax, Galactus ends the charade by stripping the rebellious herald of the Power Cosmic within him and send him falling into a trash strewn alley below. As weak as ever, Galactus has no choice but to feed on the planet Earth in order to save himself and begins constructing the device that will allow him to consume the planet. When the device is completely constructed on top of the WTC, Reed begs Galactus to stop. His pleas go unheard, but before Galactus can activate the device that will drain Earth's life energies, he is struck by a bolt of lightning summoned by the Asgardian thunder god Thor. He is joined in the attack by his fellow Avengers: Iron Man, Captain America and the Wasp. The four additional heroes join the battle and are able to stagger the ever weakening Galactus. The battle also draws Spider-Man and Daredevil, who feel that Galactus is way out of their class and resign to the fact that all they can do is sit back and watch. The battle continues to go in the heroes favor as Doctor Strange arrives and uses the Images of Ikonn to make Galactus see the ghosts of all he is killed. Horrified, Galactus begins to scream as Reed lands the final blow that sends Galactus toppling. With Galactus down for the count, Reed notes how the world devourer does not have much time left, and shocks everyone gathered when he tells them that they must work together to save Galactus. Brodie's View:After the promise of awesomeness in the last issue (which was pretty awesome in its own right), we get that fully delivered in the most epic fashion possible in this issue, as we get two major fights. The first, Terrax vs. Galactus, lasts a LOT longer in the lead up than it does the actual fight, as Galactus, after talking with the three male FF members, who sneak into his ship under threat from Terrax, reveals that he knows Terrax has forced them to try and attack him. This leads Terrax to try and attack Galactus directly, but Galactus, even in a weakened condition (which we'll get back to in a second), has the ability to transport them all onto the World Trade Center towers, and then he owns Terrax completely by simply taking away the cosmic power he granted him to make him a herald to begin with. Terrax, who was in the process of using his powers, transforms back into his original form (Tyros, who we'll see again), and plummets into a dumpster below....Hardcore, Galactus. However, this effort weakens him even more, which leads to our second major.....and it is MAJOR....fight, as Galactus attempts to feed on planet Earth to restore his depleted energies. This leads to the FF and a four person crew of the Avengers all attacking him (as we see depicted on that kick ass cover), which shakes the force of nature up even more. The heroes manage to bring him down to ground level, and then Doctor Strange shows up to deliver the KO, as he hits Galactus with a spell that makes him come face to face with all the lives he snuffed out by eating planets, and this causes Galactus to scream, and after Reed slingshots Ben into him, Galactus Falls! I will mention that the 90's FF cartoon (which is on Disney+) does a pretty awesome adaptation of this storyline, but didn't have the rights to use Doctor Strange. So, they wound up using Ghost Rider for that role instead (which is even more awesome), as GR drops Galactus after hitting him with his Penance Stare. Still, a pretty epic battle that ends with the heroes realizing that even though they beat and stopped Galactus from eating their world, they can't let him die, as he's basically a function of the universe in physical form, and must be saved. Of course, this decision will come back to haunt Reed Richards later, but it's wonderfully heroic of him to value the life of ALL creatures vs. just letting Galactus die, ridding the universe of him. This is the great thing about stories like this, as in addition to all the action we saw, we end with a moral dilemma of whether or not to save the very threat they were all just fighting. Byrne brought it on all levels here, both in a writing and art sense, as he depicts the battle between the heroes and Galctus as being as awesome as it really could be, and I love how he had Spider-Man and Daredevil just kind of kicking back and watching the battle, as they realize that their powers are kind of useless against the power of Galactus. Not entirely true, as I think at least Spidey could have done a bit, but still a pretty funny moment, as well as J. Jonah Jameson trying to look for some way to blame the Wall Crawler for all of this....stay you, Jonah. Stay you. Lol. Anyways, as I said above, the end of this issue leads to a major dilemma for our heroes, and in the next issue, we'll see the resolving of that dilemma, as well as the fate of Frankie Raye, who makes a MAJOR decision involving her future by the end of the next issue. GRADE: A+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 20, 2020 14:54:12 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #244"Beginnings and Endings"Cover Date: July, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Galactus, Leopold, & Doctor Doom (or a Doombot) Special Guests: Frankie Raye/Nova, Julie Angelo/Julie Angel, Walter Collins, Franklin Richards, HUBERT (Destroyed), NYPD, Officer, The Avengers (Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, & The Wasp), & Doctor Strange Official Plot:Julie Angel is exercising in the apartment she shares with Frankie Raye when there is suddenly a knock at the door. Answering it she finds the Human Torch just barely standing there. Absolutely exhausted, he tells her that Frankie is gone before collapsing in her arms. Julie brings Johnny to the couch and then makes an emergency call to the rest of the Fantastic Four. Not long after, both Reed and Sue arrive at Julie's apartment and she learns that Johnny went missing five days previously after what happened to Frankie. Reed tells Julie that what he is about to tell her is incredible.... Galactus has fallen in battle against the Fantastic Four and the Avengers and is on the very brink of death. However, Reed Richards is unwilling to let anyone -- even the devourer of worlds -- die. After explaining the series of events leading up to this battle to the Avengers, Reed insists that they must save Galactus. While they all discuss the ethics of deciding if Galactus should live or die, they all eventually agree that they need to save him. Reed then sends Iron Man to collect equipment from Stark International that he will need in order to complete this herculean task. Soon Reed builds a massive device around Galactus that will re-energize him. He then commands Thor to unleash the full fury of his hammer Mjolnir. But Galactus is greedy and begins absorbing more and more energy, threatening to drain Mjolnir of all it's power. Quickly thinking, Captain America tosses his shield at the device, damaging it enough to sufficiently to stop the flow of energy. Emerging from the ruins of the device is Galactus. Galactus tells the gathered heroes that he must still consume the planet Earth if he is to live. Reed offers another solution and they all head back to the Baxter Building. There, Reed uses his computers to find the location of six worlds that contain the energies that Galactus needs to survive, but without any life existing on them. Galactus notes this, but insists that there is no way to be sure unless the worlds are visited and Galactus cannot do this at his current energy level, not without a herald and so Earth still must be destroyed. Before Galactus can say anything further, Frankie Raye enters the room and offers to be the new herald of Galactus. When Galactus mentions that he has not the energy to expend to grant her powers, Frankie shows that she already has some by flaming on. Galactus finds this acceptable and agrees to make her his herald. When Johnny tries to stop her, the rest of the Fantastic Four holds him back as Frankie is transformed into a being capable of travelling through the depths of space unaided. Johnny calls out to Frankie, who embraces this new form for the freedom it brings and flies off into space. In a panic, Johnny flames on and tries to fly after her, but she flies to high up and the lack of oxygen causes his flame to snuff out and fall out of the sky. When Reed chastises Galactus for choosing the girl, Galactus tells him that she chose her own fate. He then thanks the Fantastic Four for saving his life, having now considered the closest thing to friends that a behind such as himself can get.... ... With the story done, Angel is completely floored by it. Reed and Sue then convince Johnny to come back home with them and thank Julie for her help, leaving her to think over what she has been told. Prologue One: Construction has begun in earnest to rebuild the six floors of the Baxter Building that were destroyed in the Fantastic Four's battle with Terrax, with Reed and Tony Stark overseeing the operation. Arriving by helicopter is Walter Collin's the Fantastic Four's long time landlord. He is furious over the recent damage done to his building and begins making demands. Finally having had enough of Collins' constant threats, Reed decides to take advantage of a clause in their rental contract and buys the entire Baxter Building outright. After seeing the amount on the cheque, Collins walks out without another word. Meeting up with his wife Sue, Reed then places a call to the Latverian embassy to see if they can send sthe inert body of their former leader Doctor Doom. The Latverian embassador tells Reed that the FF can bring him on Thursday. However as the ambassador hangs up the phone, Doctor Doom -- or at least someone posing as him -- commends the ambassador for following orders and vows that he will destroy the Fantastic Four. Prologue Two: Reed and Sue are going out for the night and leaving Franklin in the care of Ben and his robot HUBERT. After Franklin's parents leave, Ben begins trying to solve a Rubix Cube that was sent to him by his long time tormentors the Yancey Street Gang. Giving up on the toy, Ban hands it over to Franklin to solve. The boy tries his best, but cannot solve the puzzle. Becoming incredibly frustrated, Franklin's powers flare up, solving the puzzle, but also causing HUBERT to explode as well.... Brodie's View:We get the resolving of the Galactus story here, although, most of it is told in flashback form, as we pick up with a beaten up/emotionally destroyed Johnny Storm showing up at the old apartment Frankie Raye (who we'll get to in a second) used to live in with her roommate, struggling actress, Julie Angelo (AKA Julie Angel), who is kind of our "focal character" for most of this story. I say this because she gets the flashback told to her by Reed and Sue, who we soon see have followed Johnny to her apartment. We basically see the heroes debating over whether or not to save Galactus, with most of them voting FOR (other than Iron Man, who we'll see has a history of wanting to take out big bads despite the long term cost of such actions). With their course set, Iron Man does fly back to Stark Towers to get the tech they will need to revive Galactus, and they soon have constructed a giant machine over the fallen force of nature. Thor ends up providing the power that revives Galactus, and the giant, while grateful, reveals that he still will need to feed on a planet soon or he will be back in the same boat. This is where Frankie Raye comes in, as she volunteers to be his new herald, as it will give her the GRAND experience that she has been lacking since being a part of the Fantastic Four. After a little bit of convincing, Galactus does, and she becomes Nova, who will be Galactus' herald for a few years before losing her powers (and regaining them) at some point. With that all said and done, we get two little prologues that will set up both next issue's story and the story to come down the road. I'll talk about the second first, as it involves the teasing that a certain Doctor might not be as inactive as we all were led to believe. That is the story to come, but before I set up the next issue, I do want to mention a few things. First off, this was a really good issue that ended up the Galactus saga (although, this won't be the last time we'll see the planet devourer in this run, as Reed Richard's decision in this issue will come back to haunt him at a later date. See, the rest of the universe kind of sided with Iron Man in the sense that they would have been perfectly happy to have seen/known that Galactus had died once and for all. Of course, we'll see why that thinking is kind of wrong, but not until a good 15 or so issues down the road, so, we won't dwell too much on it here. It was sad to see the usually high spirited Johnny Storm being so wrecked over Frankie's decision, but then again, he'll have the rebound relationship with Julie Angel to look forward to, at least until his next MAJOR relationship begins, but that won't be until the Post SECRET WARS period, and that's still down the road quite a bit as well, so, I won't get to into that either. One thing I will mention before I go is that one minor thing that happens in this issue is Reed Richards finally buying the Baxter Building from his long time landlord, Walter Collins, which isn't too terribly important, but it did wrap up a long time storyline of the greedy landlord giving the team shit over the various things that had happened to the building. Plus, it happens in a pretty funny scene, so, it's worth mentioning it for that reason alone. Getting back to my next issue set up, though, at the end of this issue, we see Franklin Richards being given a rubix cube by a frustrated Thing, who steps out for a second. Franklin, too, becomes frustrated, and uses his mutant power to solve the cube, at the same time that he hears someone on the television telling another character to "Grow Up." We don't see the end result for Franklin (at least until the next issue), but we see that the massive power surge from the young mutant causes HUBERT to explode. In the next issue..... GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 21, 2020 23:37:43 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #245"Childhood's End"Cover Date: Aug, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Avatar (Grown Up Franklin Richards) (First Appearance of) Special Guests: Franklin Richards, Alicia Masters, the NYPD, HUBERT (Inactive), (First Appearance of All of the Following) Barbara Walker, Sharon Selleck, Jerry, Smitty, & Rob Official Plot:Susan Richards is participating in an interview on the television program "Woman to Woman" hosted by Barbara Walker. Right off the top, Walker's begins to irk Susan by referring to her by her maiden name. When Sue correct Walker, the newswoman suggests that the belief that Sue is accepting the "subservient role" to her husband Reed. Sue corrects her by saying that she loves her husband and that it was her choice to take his last name when they got married. When Barbara questions her use of the codename the "Invisible Girl" as counter to a "liberated woman" of today would use, Sue again explains that she doesn't make herself a prisoner of labels. Barbara continues her interview showing an early photo of the Fantastic Four prior to their rocket flight, and footage of it's take off an internal cameras during the cosmic ray storm that gave them their powers. After going over the powers of the other members of the Fantastic Four, Barbara asks if Sue feel's her own powers are overshadowed by the others. Sue shows the contrary opinion by using her invisibility powers to create a column that lifts Barbara high above the stage. Sue then goes on to explain that with her powers she was able to rescue the Fantastic Four during their first battle with Doctor Doom, as well as knock out the Hulk. Barbara continues to dig deeper, bringing up Sue's past love affair with the Sub-Mariner. Sue brushes it off as youthful indiscretion and that after she made up her mind about Reed and they were married, she has maintained a friendly relationship with Namor. Sue then goes on to explain that the Fantastic Four are more than just a team of super-heroes, that they are a family and she has a role with them as wife and mother. Meanwhile, in the control room of the studio, the crew notices that the Fantasti-Flare has been fired into the sky, but none of them are willing to interrupt Barbara's interview due to her tyrannical nature on the set. Soon after the interview is ended and Barbara expresses her regrets that Sue couldn't be "completely open" with them. Sue resigns to the fact that she could not convince Walker of anything and takes a cab back to the Baxter Building. When she gets into the main lobby, she is shocked to find that her selenoid belt buckle is not calling the elevator to the main floor. Suspecting trouble, Sue uses her powers to lift herself up to the top floors of the Baxter Building. Fearing that they have been vulnerable while Reed has been busy reconstructing the top floors of the Baxter Building, Sue frantically searches for her teammates. She comes across the unconscious body of Reed. She is relieved that he is still alive but she believes that his mind has somehow been shut down. Further down the hall she finds the Thing in the same condition. Turning invisible, Sue then searches their headquarters further. In on the of the rooms, she finds Johnny being restrained by a strange man with long hair and a beard wearing nothing but rags. The man rants about finding answers and tries to probe Johnny's mind. Not finding what he is looking for, the man also shuts down Johnny's mind and tosses him aside. Raging like a madman, the mysterious intruder turns and is actually able to see Sue even though she is invisible. Dropping her invisibility, Sue tries to flee and when her attacker almost catches her, she tosses her overcoat on him. The man simply reforms it into an outfit for him to wear. When Sue tries to hold him back with an invisible barrier, he causes her great mental pain, simply by touching it. When the man gets too close, Sue bombards him with a flurry of invisible spheres and flees further into the Baxter Building. Entering Ben's quarters, she sees that the doors were blown open and inside Franklin's nanny robot HUBERT had been destroyed, leaving her to wonder what happened to her son. When the man sneaks up on her and places a hand on Sue's shoulder, the Invisible Girl turns his hand invisible. The ruse works, and the man panics as Sue flees once more. Back at the Woman to Woman studio, the tech crew alerts Barbara Walker that there is a news story about a battle going on at the Baxter Building. Seeing this as a golden opportunity for her career, Barbara orders the crew to get a mobile van rolling so they can try to capture footage for their Sue Richards interview. However when they arrive they find that the police have already cordoned the area off and are refusing to let anyone pass. Suddenly there is an explosion from within the Baxter Building, and Sue is sent flying out -- protected by an invisible bubble. She safely lands by creating a cushion on the street below. Barbara manages to break past the police cordon and begins asking questions. Sue tells Barbara that it's too dangerous and that she and everyone else needs to get away. Before she can say anymore, the strange attacker exits the Baxter Building and floats down to the street below. He is confused by the appearance of both woman and demands answers. When the mystery man grabs her, Sue looks into his eyes for the first time and finally realizes who he is: her son Franklin. When Sue' voices this, the man recoils and suddenly the memories begin flooding back to him. The man-child recalls how his powers flared up while trying to solve a Rubix Cube, transforming him into the form he now wears and confused as to his own identity. Suddenly, Reed, Ben and Johnny -- now back to normal -- exit the Baxter Building to investigate what is going on. Reed is shocked by this news and suggests that they get Franklin inside so he can run some tests. Just then Alicia arrives on the scene and is reunited with Ben. Reed tells Franklin that he must return himself to his proper age, otherwise his powers may burn out his body. Franklin agrees, but before he does he goes to Ben. Explaining how his father's last attempt to turn Ben back to normal caused a permanent regression to his previous dinosaur-skin like form, Franklin uses his powers to try and restore Ben. However instead of changing him back to his human form, Ben is returned to his trademark rocky exterior and Franklin is restored to his proper age. Reed explains to Ben that Franklin was unable to restore Ben to normal, so the boy undid the permanent nature of Reed's last transformation. Satisfied with this, Ben decides to take Alicia out. When he is out of ear shot, Reed explains to Sue that the real reason was more likely the fact that Ben has had fears that Alicia only loves him for being the Thing and that Franklin reverted him back to his previous rocky form so as not to cause mental trauma by restoring Ben back to human form when he is not mentally capable of accepting the fact that Alicia loves him for who he is, not what he looks like. Brodie's View:We follow up the epic Galactus story with a story that is equally epic in its own way, especially where it relates to Susan Richards (and Franklin), as this is a HUGE turning point for her, or at least the beginning of one. In a way, it also calls back to Byrne's last issue of UNCANNY X-MEN (#143), as it depicts a female character having to fight for her life, alone, against a near unstoppable threat. Unlike that issue, however, Susan is only alone because the rest of the team has been taken out by the mysterious figure that seems to be near limitless with his power, although, has a childlike understanding of things that is Susan's only saving grace, as it allows her to catch him off guard a few pivotal times during the conflict. However, before we go too much into that, I'm going to take a step back and talk about the first part of the story, as Susan is being interviewed by a character that's obviously meant to be Barbara Walters (or Barbara Walker...lol), as it very much leads into the second half. Barbara uses her television time to kind of put Susan on the hot seat, wanting to exploit any perceived resentment she would have over her role on the team, which, up to the point Byrne took over the book, was very much a submissive role compared to the rest of the team members. Barbara even brings up her code name (The Invisible Girl), which at that point still reflected the young adult she had been when she first got her powers, and didn't really reflect the (mostly) confident woman she had become over the years. Sue is able to deflect Barbara questions, but as we'll see later on in the run, there's definitely some resentment Susan holds over both her name and her role in the group (and even her role within her marriage to Reed). However, for now, we'll do as Susan does, and kind of let such issues lie, as her actions when dealing with the danger she is forced to confront once she returns to the Baxter Building very much shows how much she's changed as a character since the beginning of the team. I'll save a lot of time when discussing that danger by saying that the figure she is running for her life from turns out to be an artificially aged version of her son, Franklin, who is confused as to who he is, and, as we reveal through Susan's eyes, has knocked the male FF members out by trying to steal the information from their minds. Eventually, Susan realizes this, which ends the conflict immediately, as she recognizes her son once she looks directly into his eyes. Reed and the others rush out to try and engage in battle with the older Franklin, but Susan shuts that down instantly, and Reed tries to figure out how Franklin could have used his powers to artificially age himself, and whether that process could even be reversed due to the rise in power. However, before things (or Things) can go too far, Franklin offers to use his power to cure Ben Grimm of his being the Thing, but upon reading his mind, reverts him back to his Classic rocky form instead (expending the extra power in the process, which returns him to his child form). Ben seems decently happy with this, and walks off with Alicia, however, Reed reveals that right before Franklin changed the Thing, he reached out to Reed, mentally, in order to try to process what he had found by reading Ben's mind. What he found confirmed Reed's long suspicion, and the reason why the last attempt to cure Ben failed so badly. Basically, due to Ben's feeling that Alicia was in love with the Thing rather than him, he subconsciously has been making these cure attempts fail. The truth of this will finally be made plain in the post SECRET WARS period, but for now, Reed allows Ben to be happy rather than ruining his mood with the truth. Wow! A lot of things happened in this issue, and Byrne was able to handle all of them wonderfully. It's kind of interesting that Byrne decided to play with things with the team at this point; altering Ben and temporarily adding Frankie Raye to the team. He'll end up playing with things even more down the road, but for now, we get the classic FF back in the form we all know and love, and it's a good thing too, as in the next issue, a certain Doctor will be making his presence known once again. GRADE: A+
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 28, 2020 0:49:24 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #246"Too Many Dooms"Cover Date: Sept, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Doctor Doom, Various Doombots, The Puppet Master Special Guests: Alicia Masters, Ambassador Leopold (Death), & The Micronauts (Behind the Scenes) Official Plot:Reed Richards is conducting another test to try and find a way to cure the Thing. However this is merely a facade, as Reed has recently discovered that Ben's inability to return to human form is due to a force of will as Ben believes that his long time girlfriend Alicia Masters only loves him because he is the Thing, and it is this idea that hinders any attempts to cure him. Still, Reed maintains the appearance that he is doing what he can until such a day that Ben can come to terms with the fact that Alicia loves him for who he is no matter what he looks like. The most recent test is interrupted when Sue enters the room to inform Reed that the Latverian ambassador is on the line. Answering the phone, Reed makes arrangements to have the inert body of Doctor Doom turned over to the embassy, unaware that someone or something posing as Doctor Doom is plotting against the Fantastic Four. Meanwhile, at Doctor Doom's castle in the Adirondack Mountains, the Micronauts are leaving the area following their battle against the Puppet Master and Doctor Doom, who are still trapped in miniature robot bodies in Liddleville, a miniature community the two villains constructed to try and defeat the Fantastic Four. Within the Puppet Master gloats over his victory of Doom, whose robot body -- it's face horribly melted in the battle -- is now inert. The Puppet Master then brags about his new scheme: using some of his radioactive clay he has constructed a puppet of Doom's real body so that he can use it to destroy the Fantastic Four. Before he can do so the castle in Liddleville is torn open by yet another Doctor Doom, who crushes the Puppet Master's robotic body and then takes the tiny robot form of the real Doctor Doom and flies away. At that moment, the Fantastic Four have arrived at the Latverian embassy in New York with the inert body of Doctor Doom in order to turn it over to the ambassador. Inside this other Doom prepares to spring his trap. When the ambassador suggests that the plan might fail, this Doom angrily snaps his neck. When the Fantastic Four enter the embassy they are suddenly caught in a trap that dumps them into separate rooms. Johnny's flames are doused in fire retardant foam, Sue is bombarded with a vertigo ray, Reed is horribly stretched beyond his limits, and Ben is electrified before being dumped in the room. All four members are confronted by who they believe to be Doctor Doom. Each member tries to fight back, but their version of Doctor Doom appears to be equipped to deal with their unique powers. It soon becomes obvious to each member of the FF that they are not fighting the real Doctor Doom, but a robot duplicate of their long time foe. No longer having to hold back, each member of the FF unleashes their full strength to destroy the Doom bots they face. While this is going on, a trio of Doom's meet -- each in reality a robot duplicate of Doctor Doom -- and they use a device to transfer the mind of the real Doctor Doom into his inert body. By the time the Fantastic Four free themselves and regroup, the real Doom is revived. When they try to attack him, they are surprised to find they cannot. Doom explains that he has used a will sapping ray on them to make it impossible for them to attack. He then reminds them how they ousted him from the Latverian throne and how he now seeks their aid to regain his rightful place. He reminds them how in the past they once sought out his aid and that they are indebted to him. When the Fantastic Four still refuse, Doom shows them that they have no choice, calling up an image of Latveria, showing that his former kingdom is now in ruins and runs rampant with crime and corruption. Brodie's View:DOOM IS BACK!!! Aw yeah! After his major plan for revenge on the FF backfiring in #236, this story is basically a drawn out telling of how Doctor Doom returns to his own body after being trapped in the robot body he created for himself to be able to mess with Reed Richards when the team was trapped in Puppet Master created bodies in the manufactured town of Liddleville. This is after both Doom and the Puppet Master encountered the Micronauts, whose ship is shown for one panel, flying out of Doom's castle, so, I won't go too much in depth on that crossover, other than just mentioning that it happened. We do get to see the Puppet Master tormenting Doom, who is trapped in the now inert (and melting) robot body after said encounter, only to have the robot body being taken away by a Doombot. This leads to one of Doom's various plans that would go into action on the event of his death, or in this case, his becoming incapacitated, and I love the fact that Doom has all these plans to bring himself back in those cases. We'll see another one come into play before this run is over. Anyways, one of the Doombots forced the Latverian ambassador to set up a meeting with the FF, in the guise of returning Doom's actual body, which was equally inert after #236, to Latveria. Of course, the ambassador makes the fatal mistake of showing doubt that the plan would work, causing the Doombot to straight kill the guy, as NO ONE QUESTIONS THE ORDERS OF DOOM!!! Lol....yet another reason why Doctor Doom is my favorite Marvel villain, even if he is working through Doombots. We'll see an example of the actual Doom flipping out on someone for something similar later on in this run as well. Anyways, the FF end up walking into Doom/the Doombots' trap, and they are separated and attacked by amped up Doombots, who seem to have an answer for each of the team's abilities (as well as a real vicious streak). After a while of getting their asses kicked, the team members each realize that they're not fighting the actual Doom, which leads to each of them defeating the Doombots. However, this all was just distraction to allow other Doombots the chance to transfer Doom's mind back into his body, bringing the REAL Doctor Doom back into the game again. Now, one would think that the real Doom would be chomping at the bit, once again, to get revenge on the heroes that caused him to be trapped in a robot body for a while, but Byrne pulls a swerve on us by having Doom actually seek out the foursome's help in his regaining rule over his beloved Latveria (this was after the FF helped Prince Zorba overthrow Doom as the ruler of Latveria in FF #200). The team will end up helping him due to what Doom shows them at the very end of the issue, and this story does kind of raise an interesting point about countries stepping in to overthrow rulers, only to end up with someone worse in the ruler spot instead. Doom may be a ruthless MFer, but he kept Latveria in order, which is the opposite of what happened to the country under Prince Zorba, as he allowed crime and corruption to ruin the once beautiful land. However, before we get to next issue, let's talk a little bit about this one, as I loved the use of the Doombots, who are all programmed to believe they are the real Doctor Doom, unless in the presence of the real Doom. This leads to Doom being able to have his hands in a lot of different pies without actually having to do a lot of the dirty work himself, which is pretty awesome. It also allows writers the ability to explain away Doom's presence in stories that might not be super flattering to the character. Later on we'll see Byrne use this story device to explain away Doom's presence in UNCANNY X-MEN #145-147, where Doom found himself kind of being played and clowned on by Arcade. It's also how Doom got out of getting any kind of comeuppance at the end of the ACTS OF VENGEANCE storyline. Anyways, in the next issue, we'll get the FF teaming up with Doom to get Latveria back from the corrupt Prince Zorba, as we move closer and closer to our big 250th issue. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 29, 2020 0:04:11 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #247"This Land Is Mine!"Cover Date: Oct, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Doctor Doom, Zorba Fortunov, Servo-Guards, & Killer Robots Special Guests: Boris, Josef, Kristoff Vernard (1st Appearance of), Kristoff's Unnamed Mother (1st Appearance of/Death) Official Plot:Doctor Doom has brought the Fantastic Four to Latveria to show them how the rule of Prince Zorba has led to the nations ruin. When the Fantastic Four question how Doom himself ruled with an iron fist, Doom explains that he did so to ensure that his people remained happy and productive. As they talk a young boy named Kristoff runs into Doom from behind. The woman's mother rushes out to the boy because it is dangerous to be out past curfew. However she is shocked to see that Doctor Doom is alive and well and kneels before her former monarch and praises his return to his people. When the Fantastic Four are still unconvinced if restoring Doom to power is the right thing to do, Doom has the woman tell what has happened in his absence. Kristoff's mother explains that following Doom's last defeat at the hands of the Fantastic Four, Prince Zorba took over the Latverian throne, promising to install a democratic government eventually. However without the constant fear of Doctor Doom to keep the people of Latveria in line, the country still fell to crime and corruption. Zorba in turn put the country into a state of martial law and a curfew was put in place, one that was enforced by Doom's old Servo-Mechs. With the woman's story now over, Doctor Doom promises that now that he is back, his people are now under his protection once more. Just then they are spotted by some of the Servo-Mech's who shoots Kristoff's mother in the back, killing her instantly. Doom and the Fantastic Four make quick work of the Servo-Mechs and are soon greeted by a group of townspeople who are shocked to see their former ruler back. One man, Josef, helps Doom and the Fantastic Four seek shelter so they can make plans to remove Zorba from the throne. There they are told that Zorba went from beneficent ruler to a total tyrant when he was unable to maintain Latveria's economic prosperity. Doom chimes in reminding his people that that was the case during the rule of Zorba's father, who ran a feudal monarchy that would have been absorbed by a surrounding nation had he not taken over. The Fantastic Four then begin to plan, knowing fully well that Zorba must be aware of their presence by now. At the castle formally occupied by Doctor Doom, Prince Zorba has his men torture Doom's confidant Boris for information, but he passes out without saying a word. Zorba tells his men to cease as the old man is far too loyal to betray his former master. Zorba quickly loses his temper, furious over the fact that the people of Latveria have been fighting against the very freedom he had given them when he ousted Doom. Having had enough of rebellion, Zorba unleashes Doom's Killer Robots upon the people of the city. With the robots terrorizing the people, the Fantastic Four go out into the streets and begin fighting off these robots. Meanwhile, Doom slips away and enters Castle Doom. There he uses his secret passage ways to free Boris from his cell. Doom then confronts Zorba and easily overpowers the would be ruler. Zorba tells Doom that Latveria is his to rule by birth right and that so long as he lives, Doom has no right to the crown. Doom completely agrees with Zorba's contention.... ... Later, when the Fantastic Four arrive they find no trace of Zorba and that Doctor Doom has reclaimed his home. Doom in turn thanks the Fantastic Four for their assistance and rewards them with leaving Latveria with their lives. The Fantastic Four have no choice but to comply because the inhibitor ray preventing them from attacking him is still in effect. Doom warns his old enemies that now that he has his nation back, he will refocus his energies on his ultimate goal: destroying the Fantastic Four. Brodie's View:The FF teaming up with Doctor Doom. As insane as that sounds, this is the main thrust of this, the second half of our little story involving Doom trying to get his throne back from Prince Zorba, who has gone insane. As we saw at the end of the last issue, and the beginning of this one, Latveria under Zorba's rule had fallen into complete chaos, as, like a lot of civilizations that aren't used to total freedom, freedom eventually meant the return of crime and corruption. This led to Zorba eventually using robots Doom had created to act as his "Secret Police," stopping crime by causing the citizens of Latveria to fear even going outside of their homes. We end up seeing this through the eyes of a young boy that is on the run from the robots, and his mother, who is killed by said robots, despite Doom's promise to protect them. This causes the FF to be at least somewhat convinced that Doom is on the level in his claim to want to right the wrongs Zorba has caused in his country, and Doom and the foursome team up to destroy the robots. While the heroes and Doom hide out to plan their next move, we see that the cheese has indeed slid off of Prince Zorba's cracker, and he sends other robots, Killer Robots that were kind of a fail safe Doom had created, in case his country had been invaded, to slaughter the people he once promised freedom to. This leads to an all out assault on the former castle Doom, as the FF end up battling various robots while Doom sneaks off to confront Zorba himself, and confront him he indeed does. Doom quickly takes Zorba down, and dangles him out the window of his former throne room long enough to let him know he was taking his country back, before dropping his ass....lol. Once again, this shows what a ruthless person Victor Von Doom is, even when he's fighting for a somewhat just cause. The FF realize they had been basically used as a distraction while Doom took back what he wanted, but they are unable to do anything about it due to an inhibitor ray Doom had used to make them temporarily unable to attack him. Doom states that they are permitted to leave Latveria with their lives due to their helping him, but the next time they met he would be trying to kill them again....never change, Doom. Lol. That's the main story for this one, and a kick ass little story it was. Of course, the main purpose of this two part story was returning Doom to his rightful place; ruler of Latveria and arch nemesis of the Fantastic Four, and we will most definitely see Doom try to make good on his promise to try and take out Marvel's First Family sooner rather than later, but there are a couple of things to note before we leave this story behind. The biggest thing would be the introduction of the young boy named Kristoff, who Doom will take under his wing due to feeling somewhat responsible for his mother's death. Of course, we'll soon see that Doom rarely does things purely out of the goodness of his heart, and Doom taking Kristoff "under his wing" might have more sinister implications than one would guess from reading this story. This would, as one would expect, be the last appearance of Prince Zorba, as Doom did indeed kill him during the climax of this story. Of course, Zorba was only really a tool to take Doom out of his seat as ruler of Latveria for a time, as well as having something BIG happen during the FF's 200th issue. Once a few years worth of issues had passed, it was clear that Byrne wanted Doom back in charge of Latveria, hence, this story happening. In the next story, however, we'll leave Latveria behind for now, and move on to the Blue Area of the Moon to check in on how things are going for the Inhumans, who had recently relocated there. Then we'll enter another Two Part story that will bring us to issue #250, which will have some....interesting Guest Stars. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 30, 2020 0:34:44 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #248"Nightmare!"Cover Date: Nov, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: The Temple of Nightmares Special Guests: The Inhumans (Black Bolt, Medusa, Triton, Lockjaw, Gorgon, Karnak, & Crystal), Quicksilver, & Luna (1st Named Appearance) Official Plot:Triton of the Inhumans is swimming deep below the surface of Attilan in the vast underwater tunnels. He comes across a secret chamber with a strange crystal device that suddenly unleashes a blinding flare of energy... Meanwhile, the Fantastic Four have been teleported to the Moon to participate in a celebration being thrown for the Inhumans in honor of Quicksilver and Crystal's child, who has just been named Luna, after their new home on the moon. They are greeted by the Inhuman royal family and they visit upon Crystal and Pietro and their daughter when suddenly the entire city is rocked as suddenly the moon is pulled out of Earth orbit. Rushing outside to see what is going on, the Fantastic Four and their Inhuman allies are shocked to see a massive ship swallowing up the moon. With the moon now captive, the Human Torch flames on and flies out to investigate the massive ship held therein, regardless of Reed's warnings that the ship is far too massive for him to navigate on his own. Seeking to explore themselves, the Fantastic Four follow Black Bolt to one of the Inhumans many ancient ships. They fly out from the moon to investigate the strange craft, landing on a (relatively) nearby shelf where the group begins trying to examine the strange ship. Suddenly a massive door opens up and a massive alien creature emerges. They watch in horror as the creature begins breaking down the moon. As the Torch just barely manages to reach them, they watch on as the Inhumans launch ships to attack the creature to no effect. Black Bolt then uses his powerful voice to call out to the massive alien and inform it of their existence and that they pose no threat. As Reed finds it all very impossible that they can see so far and that Black Bolt can unleash his voice without any collateral damage, the massive alien turns their attention to them. Johnny and Ben try to attack and are easily swatted away. The creature then begins to spray gas as though they are nothing more than uncommon pests. When Sue suddenly dies in his arm, Reed screams and suddenly everything is back to normal... He and his allies are back on Attilan and the moon is in space. Reed theorizes that whatever has caught them in this strange illusion broke when they all began seeing logical holes in their collective nightmares. While deep below Attilan, Triton revives having smashed the crystal at the last moment when the combined anguish of those around him temporarily broke him free from the nightmare crystal's control. With the threat gone, Triton dives back into the waters to return home. Brodie's View:Okay, I'll start this off by saying that I'll skip the statement I usually make when I have to review an issue that involves The Inhumans, as they really only play a major part in the first third of this issue. Well, Triton plays a bigger part overall, but he only shows up for the very beginning and end of the issue, as he encounters a hidden cavern while swimming through water hidden under the surface of the moon. In that cavern, he is attacked by a psychic force that ends up taking over both the various Inhumans and the Fantastic Four, who are the guests of the super powered group due to the official naming of Crystal and Quicksilver's child, who was born in FF #240. Before that happens, though, we do get to see Crystal and Quicksilver's child named (Luna, which is awesome, as that's also my nieces' name), and the start of some sort of kinship between Quicksilver and Johnny Storm, who used to be in love with Crystal way back when. That all ends when it appears that a giant alien ship swoops in and captures the entire moon, which catches everyone off guard. Once aboard the alien ship, the FF and the main group of Inhumans try to make sense out of what has just happened, with Reed, being the scientist that he always is, constantly questioning the possibility of what seems to be happening. A giant alien comes in, and inspecting the moon, pretty much destroys it, seemingly killing most of the Inhumans. The FF and the main group of the Inhumans try to stop the alien, but being that they are so tiny compared to him, it regards all of them as little more than pests, and starts killing them off as if they were. The Torch dies first, swatted away as if he were merely some common house fly, as is the Thing, who seemingly takes most of a day to fall to his death. The alien then begins spraying his room with the equivalent of bug spray, which pretty much kills everyone but Reed (we get the lovely visual of Sue Richards literally melting in his arms from the spray), who screams out at the impossibility of it all. This, however, ends up being the key that defeats this psychic wave that had affected them all, as it, little does anyone but Triton know, gives the scaled Inhuman the mental strength he needs to defeat the entity that has attacked all of them. This was a pretty cool issue, as I love the whole idea of a "nightmare" type of story; an idea Byrne would use a few times in the years following. Heck, we will end up being an even more brutal version of this scenario later on in this run, but with Sue Richards being the one having to go through seeing her teammates die. There will be an equally crazy reasoning for that, but I do think this was probably one of the more effective "one and done" threats, as we never see the Temple of Nightmares again. I loved how Reed kind of kept poking holes into how a lot of the things we see depicted in the nightmare portion of the story could be happening, such as the alien, being as large as he is described, even being able to walk or stand due to his size, or Black Bolt's voice (which he uses to try and fruitlessly communicate with the alien) not completely destroying everything, as it usually would due to it's sheer power. It's like Byrne was using Reed to acknowledge the holes a smarter reader would have poked into the events as they happened, and used that skepticism as the backbone of this story. Probably one of the best uses of the Inhumans that I've seen in a comic.....of course, that's not saying much for the Inhumans, but, hey, a compliment is a compliment, backhanded though it may be. Regardless, it's time to move to the next issue, which will be a Two Part story that will bring us to the 250th issue of this comic, and will depict the FF (and a few Guest Stars) going up against threats both familiar and unfamiliar, with the second being a character more familiar to UNCANNY X-MEN readers, but will somewhat satisfy the dream match up of Marvel's First Family going up against a certain red, blue, and yellow wearing DC character. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Jul 31, 2020 0:05:16 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #249"Man and Super-Man!"Cover Date: Dec, 1982 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Gladiator & Various Skrulls (Henkor---1st Appearance of, and 4 Skrulls that impersonate Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, & Nightcrawler of the X-Men) Special Guests: Franklin Richards, Julie Angel, & Jennifer (Only Appearance of the Last) Official Plot:A group of four Skrulls are fleeing into Earth space trying not to be captured by Gladiator, of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard who has been pursuing them since they made an unauthorized passage through Shi'ar space. With nowhere to run the Skrulls decide to execute a special maneuver to defeat their foes. Just as the Gladiator gets within range, both he and the Skrull ship are lost in a blinding flash of light.... Meanwhile on Earth, the Thing and Human Torch are taking a stroll through Central Park. Ben remarks how well Johnny has been taking his loss of Frankie Raye. Their discussion is interrupted by Frankie's old roommate Julie Angel who is performing as a clown in the park. When introduced to the Thing she can't help but act a little scared. The Thing takes it as a moment to depart, leaving Johnny and Julia to reconnect. In another part of the park, Ben mulls over how she was scared of him and the usual motions of coming to terms with his appearance when he suddenly hears a woman call for help. Ben sees that a horse is riding out of control with a young girl on it. Quick thinking, Ben stops the horse and saves the little girl from a nasty tumble. The mother is so grateful that the Thing saved her daughter, she kisses him on the lips. Just then, Ben spots the Fantasti-Flare and has to depart. Johnny is the first to arrive at the newly reconstructed floors of their Baxter Building headquarters. There he finds Reed and Sue and learns that Reed has detected a strange energy reading within their solar system that might be a threat. At that very moment, Gladiator arrives in New York City and his arrival is witnessed by the Thing who is trying to get the Baxter Building by taxi cab. Unable to understand the Gladiator's alien language, Ben decides to step in when the Shi'ar warrior begins tossing cars around. Ben tries to fight his foe, but is no match for his superior strength and is thrown right into the upper floors of the Baxter Building. Suddenly the building is rocked at Gladiator lifts the Baxter Building right from its foundation. While Sue protects the rest of the team and Franklin from tumbling out of the hole made by Ben, Johnny goes outside to face their foe. The Torch is also no match for the Gladiator's super-human strength and invulnerability to fire. Gladiator then snuffs the Torch's flames out with a gust of breath. After catching Johnny, Reed uses his universal translator to see what the Shi'ar warrior wants. As it turns out, Gladiator believes that the Fantastic Four are really Skrull impostors. Reed tries to reason with Gladiator, but he does not listen and incapacitates him. Going back into the Baxter Building, Gladiator then faces off against Sue. She contains him in a force field, but he easily breaks out, knocking Sue unconscious in the process. Witnessing his mother being hurt, Franklin tries to attack, but is easily knocked aside. Furious at his inability to do anything, Franklin tries to use his powers but they are dormant. By this time the Thing has revived and gets the drop on Gladiator, but this is a short lived advantage as the super-man knocks Ben outside the building and then throws a city bus on top of him. As Gladiator cries out in victory, he is told the battle is not over. Turning around he is shocked to see what appear to be Cyclops, Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler of the X-Men! Brodie's View:As one can tell by the title of this story, Byrne is not being the least bit subtle concerning what he's going for with this Two Part story, as Gladiator (The leader of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard) is very much meant to represent Superman, and this story specifically seems to be Byrne playing out a fantasy of a pissed off Man of Steel attacking the Fantastic Four. Of course, Gladiator isn't the only threat the FF will have to deal with before this storyline is over, as there is also a squad of Skrulls heading towards Earth to take out the FF. In fact, it is on the way to Earth that the Skrulls are attacked by the relentless Gladiator, who they end up discombobulating with a weapon that basically simulates hitting the alien with a star. This will lead Gladiator to come to Earth looking for the Skrulls that zapped him, and thinking that the FF were those Skrulls hiding in human form. However, before we get to that, we do get to see a little of bit on the end of Johnny Storm's love life, as he and Ben end up encountering Julie Angel (his Ex Frankie Raye's Ex Roommate), who is doing some sort of live theater performance in the park. She is very receptive to Johnny, but is clearly freaked out by Ben, which bothers Aunt Petunia's favorite nephew, and sends him on one of his brief self pity walks before he ends up saving a child on a runaway horse, and gets a big smooch on the lips from the boy's grateful mom, which, as one would expect, makes him feel a bit better. It's on the way back to the Baxter Building (after being summoned by Reed by the 4 Symbol, as he had detected the explosion in space that sent Gladiator to Earth) that Ben first encounters Gladiator, who lands in the middle of the street, looking for the Skrulls that attacked him. When Ben tries to confront the purple skinned alien, Gladiator assumes he's a Skrull, and attacks him, knocking him through several (thankfully) empty cars. He then snatches Ben up and throws him at the Baxter Building (which we see earlier in the issue, has been completely redesigned after being messed up by Terrax a few issues ago), and then before the FF can properly react to seeing their strongest member being just discarded like he was, they're suddenly being jostled, as Gladiator literally picks up the Baxter Building to try and shake the team out. The FF go into action, but when then occurs is an ass kicking so one sided that it makes the team getting thumped by Terrax in #242 look like a back and forth battle. Gladiator laughs off the Torch's strongest attack, drops a bus on a weakened Thing, stretches Reed out to the point that it knocks him unconscious, and despite her best effort, ends up breaking Sue's force field, which knocks her unconscious as well. Franklin tries to use his mutant powers, but after the events of #245, he subconsciously put blockers on his reality warping abilities, making his threats meaningless. Once the FF has been properly thumped, Gladiator turns to see himself face to face with what appears to be four of the X-Men (Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, and Nightcrawler), but are really the Skrulls he has been looking for the entire time, and we end on that cliffhanger. Wow! Am I right? One can tell that Byrne was enjoying getting the absolute most with the whole "pissed off Superman vs. the Fantastic Four" concept, as he allows the Kal El substitute to completely wreck the team. During his battle with the Invisible Girl, Sue notes that in addition to his strength, she senses some sort of psychic backlash at play as well. We'll see this explored further in the next issue, as there is more to Gladiator's powers than meet the eye. We'll definitely have an interesting scenario as we go into that next issue, but first I will say once again that this was a pretty awesome little issue that satisfied the reader on both a character level, as well as on the level of just good old fashioned comic book violence. Gladiator, up to that point, had always been seen with the rest of the Imperial Guard, so, it was pretty cool to see him in action as a solo threat, and what a threat he was, single handedly handing one of Marvel's greatest teams their asses to them without much of an effort at all. In the next issue, we will see the aftermath of all of that, as the FF, as beaten up as they already are, have to fight both Gladiator and the four Skrulls posing as X-Men members (with weapons replicating the powers that their shape changing abilities doesn't cover). However, being that we've reached the 250th issue of this comic, there will be a few cool Guest Stars that will show up to help even the odds a bit. It's going to be pretty kick ass. GRADE: A
|
|
|
Post by BrodietheSlayer on Aug 2, 2020 0:19:12 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #250"X-Factor"Cover Date: Jan, 1983 Writer: John Byrne Artist: John Byrne Feature Characters: The Fantastic Four (Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Girl/Woman, The Human Torch, & The Thing) Villain/s: Skrulls impersonating Cyclops, Storm, Colossus, Angel & Nightcrawler of the X-Men Special Guests: Gladiator, Spider-Man, Captain America, Franklin Richards, & Alicia Masters Official Plot:Spider-Man is swinging through New York City when he spots the stretched out body of Mister Fantastic, defeated in his battle against Gladiator of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. Reviving Richards, Spider-Man learns of the battle he just fought. Spidey agrees to lend a hand and swings Reed to the location of the fight. There they see Gladiator being approached by what appears to be Cyclops, Storm, Colossus and Nightcrawler of the X-Men. When the "X-Men" suddenly attack, Gladiator is confused, as the last time he fought along side the X-Men, and begins to wonder if they are in league with the Skrulls. While not far away, the Human Torch revives from his thrashing at the hands of Gladiator. Remembering how the Thing was crushed under a bus, Johnny rushes to his aid and melts through the bus to get to him. Unable to do CPR for Ben due to his unique physiology, the only thing that he can think to do is generate heat to keep the Thing's body temperature up in order to prevent shock. While high above in the Baxter Building, young Franklin Richards tries to revive his mother following her brush with the Shi'ar warrior. She comes around just as Spider-Man and Mister Fantastic arrive. When Sue explains how Gladiator was able to fight through her invisible force fields, it causes Reed to figure out how their foe's powers work. As Reed and Sue rush off to work a plan, Spider-Man decides to return to the battle down below to see what he can do. Not far away at a nearby cafe, Steve Rogers is spending time with his girlfriend Bernie Rosenthal, who is still getting used to the idea that her boyfriend is secretly Captain America. When a piece of debris from the battle outside comes crashing through the window, Steve gets Bernie to safety before slipping away to change into Captain America. He arrives at the scene and sees what he believes to be a battle between the X-Men and Gladiator. As Gladiator and these "X-Men" battle it out, "Nightcrawler" gets into danger and is pulled away by Spider-Man. However the wall-crawler is shocked when he is attacked by the man who he just tried to save, and the strange language he is speaking. "Nightcrawler" manages to knock Spider-Man to the ground and is about to sink his fangs into the heroes throat when he is suddenly knocked aside by Captain America's shield. As Cap deals with "Nightcrawler", "Colossus" manages to sneak up behind him, catching Cap off guard. As Cap battles "Colossus", Gladiator fends himself against "Cyclops". Not far away, the Torch succeeds in reviving the Thing who is more than eager to return to battle. As the Thing and the Torch enter the battle, radio reports of the fight reach the home studio of Alicia Masters, the Thing's girlfriend. Hearing of this latest battle upsets Alicia, who begins to wonder just when they will be able to have a relationship that isn't rife with fear from attack by one of the Fantastic Four's enemies. Back at the Baxter Building, Reed is toiling away at his mento-projector, telling Sue that he has determined the secret behind Gladiator's super-human powers, confident this device will help him defeat their enemy. While down on the streets, the battle rages on. As Spider-Man revives he is surprised to see "Nightcrawler" slip behind a wrecked car and "Angel" emerge. Going to investigate the other side of the vehicle, he finds no trace of "Nightcrawler" anywhere. "Angel" then joins "Storm" and tells her to toss him one of the weapons she is using to attack Gladiator. They then bombard him with the radioactive energies of the weapon. When the Torch comes in to see if he can lend a hand, he is shocked when "Angel" suddenly attacks him. As Reed and Sue rush to the scene, "Cyclops" blasts the Thing, and having felt Cyclops' optic blasts before, knows he is not facing the leader of the X-Men. The truth comes out when "Angel" tries to toss a piece of debris at the Torch. Johnny dodges the sharp weapon and it instead impales "Cyclops", as he falls down dead he reverts to his natural form, revealing these "X-Men" to be Skrulls in disguise. Mister Fantastic pulls "Storm" away from Gladiator and faces him. When the Shi'ar warrior tries to strike Reed, he is shocked when the blows do nothing against his foe, even his optic beams have no effect. When his confidence is severely shaken, Reed commands Sue to attack and she manages to knock out Gladiator with an invisible battering ram. As it turned out, the "Reed" that Gladiator was fighting was really Captain America, disguised by Reed's mento-projector, dodging the alien's blows with his indestructible shield. Cap explains that Gladiator's powers are psionic in nature, and that they are based on his own faith in his powers. When Reed was able to successfully shake Gladiator's confidence, it left him vulnerable to Sue's sneak attack. With Gladiator taken care of, the Fantastic Four and their allies make short work of the Skrulls posing as the X-Men. Gladiator comes around shortly there after and the truth is revealed to him. Realizing the error that he has made, he sheepishly tells the Fantastic Four that he will take the Skrulls into custody. As Gladiator leaves with his prisoners, the Thing surveys the damage asking who is going to pay for all the damage done. Brodie's View:We get the second half of our story (Double Sized for the comic's 250th issue) involving the FF vs. Gladiator (from the Shi'ar Imperial Guard) and 4 Skrulls pretending to be the X-Men, which, of course, gives Byrne the chance to draw the X-Men again without actually drawing the X-Men. However, before we rejoin that battle (which is really just the Skrulls ganging up on Gladiator, and blasting him with radiation, which causes him more pain than anything he experienced wrecking the FF last issue), we open our issue with the Amazing Spider-Man swinging through the city only to find the body of Reed Richards stretched out over multiple buildings. Finding the main torso of Reed, Spidey revives the leader of the Fantastic Four, and in a panel inspired by that famous AMAZING FANTASY #15 cover, carries Reed back to the Baxter Building to try and create something that can stop Gladiator. Meanwhile, the Human Torch recovers, and tries to help fellow FF'er, the Thing, who has been knocked clean out by having a bus dropped on him in the last issue, recover by using his fire powers to create heat for the fallen hero. Back to the main fight, though, Gladiator is repeatedly blasted by the Skrulls, and winds up, in a desperation move, using his strength to tunnel underground. While all this is happening, Spidey and Reed make their way back to the Baxter Building, where they find Franklin and a recovering Invisible Girl, who gives Reed the missing piece of information (that Gladiator's strength has a psychic undertone to it) that he needs to put his plan into effect. Satisfied that he's done all he can do for Reed and Sue, Spidey swings off to rejoin the main battle. Another hero that also joins the battle is Captain America, as he and his girlfriend narrowly escape being killed by flying debris during the fight between the Skrulls and Gladiator. The Torch and the Thing also rejoin the battle, although, they're a bit taken aback by fighting what appears to be allies in the form of the X-Men. However, that doesn't last too long, as one of the Skrulls are accidentally killed, which reveals their true forms. This turns the tide of battle, as the heroes realize that they're just dealing with Skrulls, and don't hold back with their fighting. The Skrulls are quickly taken out, which just leaves Gladiator, who makes his reappearance only to be confronted by Reed Richards himself, who dares the purple skinned alien to come at him. Gladiator does, but to no effect, which make him try to use his full attack on what appears to be Mr. Fantastic, only to have that attack be meaningless. Gladiator hesitates, which allows Sue to knock him out with an invisible force field. "Reed" is then revealed to be Captain America, who was using his shield to absorb Gladiator's blows. See, it's revealed that a lot of Gladiator's Superman like abilities are psychic in nature, and by causing Gladiator to doubt his abilities, it created a weakness that Reed and Sue were able to exploit to defeat him. Once Gladiator recovers, he apologizes for mistaking the FF for Skrulls and attacking them, and then flies away with the Skrulls, leaving the heroes to wonder who would pay for all the damage caused during the battle....lol. Damage Control maybe? Anyways, yeah, this was a pretty kick ass way to celebrate the team's 250th issue, and more than that, this is kind of the end of the first "chapter" of Byrne's FF run, as the next one would stretch the better part of several issues, and pretty much take us up to the point of SECRET WARS, which would change the team entirely. It was great seeing Spidey and Captain America fighting alongside the FF against the Skrulls, and it was even cooler that, until the Skrulls were revealed to be Skrulls, it looked as if they were fighting members of the X-Men. Byrne does a great job drawing all of these characters, so, it was very cool seeing these characters battling against each other. I like that while the last issue had the FF getting their asses handed to them, this issue showed the team bucking up and doing what they had to do to defeat the threats of both Gladiator and the Skrulls. Like the X-Men, the FF are kind of at their best when things are the most hopeless for them, and we'll see a few examples of that happening throughout the rest of Byrne's run. Speaking of which, as I stated before, we're kind of entering the next chapter of the book in the next issue, which will see the team go on a multi-issue journey....into the Negative Zone! GRADE: A
|
|